Rewind >>

Looking back at my travels that I did in Europe, it showed me a lot of different cultures in those places. Spain and French country are very affectionate people. French people kiss when greeting someone and then in Spain people drink water out of a water bottle. People in Greece are superstitious by some people there wearing the little blue eyes necklaces or bracelets to ward off evil and in Italy there's a lot of luxury cars in the streets. All these countries have some things in common with each other. Each country has historic places to look at, transportation to get to places and unique foods that reflects their own culture.

United Kingdom vs. Ireland

Comparing both Countries;

 In United Kingdom's history was raided by vikings and took over the UK for two centuries. UK has also defeated the Spanish Armanda in 1958 and establish a good navy. Parliament got tired of the monarchy having too much power and so the Parliament passed a bill that stated about limits on the king and queen. UK later industrialized their country and made colonies in the UK. The UK went through many wars and signed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO). British government  began to rule the north Ireland and after many years resolved to a Good Friday Agreement in 1988. Then later in 2005, Ireland Republican Army,Unionist and democratic unionist agreed to share power. Then Blair a new ruler decided to enter the war in Iraq, then later on Gordon Brown would take over Blair's prim minister spot. Later on in July 1,2005 the UK got bombed by the suicidal bombers of Al-Qaeda people. UK got in a recession after eighteen years, a new prime minister cut public spending cuts. Also  prince William got married and him and his wife became Duke and Dutches of Cambridge.

In Ireland's history vikings raided too and establish seaports in Ireland. Celts later defeated the vikings and then in 1171 king Henry of the UK forced Irish people to recognized his ruling. Then in the 1600s  the UK took over all of Ireland and UK and Ireland was establish the Act of Union. Not many Irish Catholics liked that but then a great potato famine killed many people in the 1840s. Because of the famine many people started rebelling and fighting for Independence.  The movement later resolved into a Anglo Irish Treaty and  a new constitution in 1937  changed the name to Ireland. Slowly Ireland became independent but then wanted the northern Ireland and Ireland to be together. It did not work well, many fights happen and peace making was also tried. Then many years later in 2005 Ireland Republican Army made a landmark statement by announcing the end of its armed campaign. In early 2007 the IRA and the Unionist party came together as a government and a financial crisis came in 2008. The Irish got into a recession and out of a recession in 2010. Ireland is still facing unemployment  and recently in 2012 Irish voted EU fiscal pact to bring stability to national governments in the euro zone crisis.

Similarities 
Ireland and the UK have many things in common with each other. Both of those countries have faced invasions from vikings and have been through a recession. UK and Ireland are both also looking for a way to bring balance to their country.

Living a Day in France

When I arrived at one of France's airport I tried  looking for Elodie. I found her quickly, Elodie and her family were holding a  big sign saying "Welcome To France".  I said "Bonjour!" then Elodie and her family greeted me and kissed one of my cheeks when greeting me. While on the way to their car me and Elodie talked about what were going to do while I'm here  in France and I tried to speak French to her.  When we arrived at her house, the house looked very modern and had a big sign hanging on the stairs saying" Welcome To France Renee".  Before eating we took an hour of talking to each other, her family members were funny and her dad told stories crazy stories. Then later on we ate salmon, cheese, fruits and crepes as desert. We all went to Paris in the night time to see the Eiffle Tower being lighted up and so many people were getting proposed while we were there. While we were touring around France, Elodie said to watch out for pic pocketing and so I put my backpack in front of me. Someone almost pick pocketed me and I took my wallet in a safe place before the pic pocket person could steal it. After that we went home and ate food at a fancy French cuisine. We went home and I watched a French movie with Elodie and her family. I fell asleep while watching the comedy movie and woke up the next day in the guest room.

Looking Back

The people in the Mediterranean  Europe are very different from the U.S. People in Spain drink water from a water bottle and most people in the U.S drink water wherever available. In Italy people kiss air on both cheeks and in America people just greet each other by saying hi. In Greece many people wear  jewelry that have little blue eyes to ward off evil and in America people wear jewelry for style etc. But all the things that America and those countries have in common is having transportation to go somewhere.

Bye Italy! Hello Greece!

While on the plane ride to Greece, the plane passed by fireworks. It was exciting and scary at the same time being that close to fireworks. We arrived at Ammons Hotel,we went to the bathroom,  I saw a lady who was cleaning the bathroom and the lady said to not put toilet paper in the toilet. I found it quite weird to not flush toilets.  Later on we went to the Parthenon and took pictures there. Then went to a restaurant, the restaurant served bread first, I asked for butter, the waiter looked at me funny and said that bread is not served with bread. I wasn't to found of eating the bread without any butter to put on the bread. The waiter suggested to order Chaniotiko Bourek and spankotyropita. We ordered that and the food tasted really good. While being there people there wear jewelry that had little blue eyes on their neck and wrists. I asked the waiter why is there many people wearing those jewelry with little blue eyes and the waiter said to ward of evil. After eating we went to the beach, the ocean was very blue and clear. While my sister was closing her eyes and laying down I went to climb up a hill to see a better view of the beach. When I was done climbing, in the back round I could hear hard breathing and when I looked back I saw my sister walking to me. We both watched the view and saw a lot of jellyfishes surrounding a guy in the water. We both looked at each other and shouted  really loud to the guy to  watch out for the jellyfish and the guy paddle boarding quickly went to the shore and said thank you. Then we packed our stuff and changed our cloths to go paragliding. The instructor went with us while going paragliding. While paragliding, my hair kept on getting in my eyes and I could hear the instructor and my sister screaming in my ear. We passed by many hills, mountains and grassland. Me and my sister took a break and ate at a resturant. I ate ratatouille ,my sister ate sea food very quickly and we both had qurabiya for desert. The food tasted so good!  After that we went to acropolis in Athens and took pictures there. While there I almost trip over rocks but luckily I gained by balance before falling. My sister laughed at me and I tried pushing her to fall while I pushed her, we almost bumped into someone and I stop  trying to push her to fall after that. Then we went on a bus to go tour around in a cave. While on the way there I saw bright blue turquoise painted buildings and the guide on the bus said that the colors are like that because before it was thought to ward off evil spirits  When we arrived at the cave, it was really dark, I saw many bats, pointy things, drips of water falling and very clear blue water. Then when we were done we went back to the hotel.


The last day.. we went shopping, we shop for souvenirs and other things. While paying our souvenirs the cashier said that all the shopping malls close on Sunday. Me and my sister talked about how weird that malls close on Sunday because the malls in the U.S just close early on Sunday. Later on we went on a helicopter tour ride seeing volcanoes  The view was amazing and beautiful. I took a video and my sister took pictures while on the plane. After that we went sightseeing on a bike, my sister kept on complaining of how tired she was,I got tired too, so we took a break and ate  snacks we brought and drank water. The landscapes I saw took my breath away, it was so beautiful. After that we went to a restaurant and saw two people getting kicked out of the resturant. While eating we saw the people who worked at the restaurant sing happy birthday to one of the tables and I was so tempted to say that it was my sister's birthday(which it was not). We went back to the hotel for another a massage, then watched a comedy movie.

Went on a plane back To the U.S...

Off To Italy!

My sister got back at me by poring water at my face while I was sleeping in the plane and I screamed so loud that I woke up a kid that was sleeping on the other side of the plane. I should have kept my guard on  while on the plane trip to Italy. We arrived at  a very fancy Kolbe Hotel Rome,with a lot of glasses and arches around the hotel. Later on, I geared up into my water proof cloths and tied my hair up for rafting in Noce River Italy. When we arrived, we went with two other tourists on the boat, the instructor explained all the things we needed to know, gave us the equipment's and the instructor went with us for safety. Throughout the river rafting splashes of water would go on my face, I could almost taste the water, I would hear my sister happily screaming in the back round, went through many rapids,  I could hear rapids roaring in my ear, the instructor would shout warnings,waves and small drops. While rafting one of the tourists almost fell when the boat would  make a small drop but the instructor grabbed him before he could fall. River Rafting was so much fun and when that was done we  all went to a shelter place.  We took a bus back to the hotel, while on the ride we saw Lamborghini, Maserati, and Ferraris passing by. Later on we went to a pizza restaurant, I ordered pepperoni pizza and the pizza came with peppers. My sister asked" Why is there peppers on the pizza?" the waiter responded by saying " oh, pepperoni means peppers." The waiter said sorry and later on when we were done eating she gave us gelato. Later on we went sightseeing on a boat through Venice's Grand Canal and while there saw people kissing both sides of the cheeks. Then the last sightseeing we took is the Roman Colosseum,the place has beautiful architecture. When we go hungry we went to a restaurant and  the restaurant was really empty. My curious sister asked one of the waiter " Why is there no one here?" the waiter said "Oh, most Italians eat late" and  my sister said "Oh,okay." While we were eating  many people started coming in and I checked my watch it was eight fifteen o'clock. When we were done eating we went to a thermal bath before going back to the hotel to sleep.


The next day I woke up to very loud music blasting everywhere and I tried sleeping again but the music was too loud. Strangely my sister was still  sound asleep and snoring very loud. She woke up and then we went downstairs for the breakfast buffet. When the waiter asked for drinks I said" cappuccino"the waiter said"Only order cappuccinos in the mourning and not the afternoon." The buffet was mostly American food and I wanted to eat other kinds of foods but the food tasted really fresh. Before we went out, one of the people at the desk check in shouted" Keep your wallets close!" When we were done we dressed up and went  to Trevi fountain we took many pictures and saw two people fighting. I saw the whole fight because while I was taking a picture of my sister in front of the fountain, the two people fighting got into the back round of the picture and we had to wait till they were done fighting. The fight seemed to be about a girl who cheated on her boyfriend because this random guy saw a girl holding hands with another guy and the random guy started hitting and punching the other guy. The girl tried stopping the fight but ended up being ditched by both guys and left her alone. I guess the girl got dumped? This mourning seems like a clip from a drama show. Later on we went to the leaning tower of Pisa and  many people were there. Me and my sister took a picture pretending to hold the Pisa. Then throughout the day we went sightseeing of landscapes and went shopping in Milan.

Off to Barcelona Spain!

Woke up from the sunshine through the curtains and saw that my sister was still asleep. For the fun of it I poured some water on my sister's face to wake her up, so we can go to Barcelona later. She  was startled from the water and  from reflex she slapped my hand from the water bottle. I laughed so hard from her reaction that I almost couldn't breath and sad that my water bottle fell on the floor. She gave me a dirty look while I was laughing at her and  told me to stop. I finally stop laughing  after a few minutes and  then took a sip of water from a new water bottle. Now I got my guard on because my sister is going to get back to me somehow. Later on we packed all of our stuff and went on a plane to Barcelona.

One Hour Later in Barcelona...

We arrived in W Barcelona another amazing hotel, the feel of the place is very modern and the people there are so friendly. Me and my sister set our bags in the room and then were off touring around Barcelona. We took a walking tour down the streets of Barcelona. The tour guide that was with us is very passionate of her job and were with a group of tourists. She made the tour fun while seeing very detailed architecture buildings,walls,statutes and we learned so many facts about Barcelona. After the tour was done, I was walking and looking at a brochure of where to go next in Barcelona and then I accidently ran into a angel person statue painted in gold . I was surprise and then talked to my sister of where we should go next but, then her thinking face turned into a surprise face and she step back a few steps from the two angle statues that were in front of us. I quickly looked at the statues and then the statues started moving. I was so scared because one of the statues was close to my face that I almost hit the painted real person and I said that I was sorry. The other people around us got startled too, a few people scream and this other person their had a panic attack. The two angels still acted like that the reactions around them was normal. The green angel got a boombox out of nowhere and  pressed play to break dancing music. Then I went beside my sister while watching the face off break dancing  between the two angels and a glob of people surrounded the two angles dancing. I don't know how those two angels danced in the things that they were wearing. The first moves of the gold angel is toprock and then went to used his arms to support his body above the floor and legs walking around in a circle( 6 step). The green angel wanted to top that, the green angle went close to the gold angle's face and started tutting close to his face and went into a flare while holding a hanker chief that came from the person beside me. I was so shocked and when I looked at my sister she was holding her phone recording the two angels. The moves were marvelous and so cool. I saw windmill move, flares, freezes, spins, suicide move, head spin and the worm. I didn't notice how long we have been there but my sister nudge me and said we should go. We waited until the dance was over and then the two angles went back to there original stance they were in originally the the we clapped,  the crowd clapped,  so many whistles around me, and encores. We moved on and walked across picturing things around us. We got hungry, tired of walking and went to a tapas restaurant. The food tasted really good and while eating we saw a guy proposed to his girlfriend. They were cute, the guy serenade her with a song, with a help with people playing  spanish guitar music around her, and the guy proposed her with a shiny ring. Later on we went sightseeing while on a funicular ride, it was fun we saw a lot of beautiful landscapes. We also went on so many tours such as la pedrera, Gaudi's Parc Guell,  cable way to go see the sea,flamingo show, ate foods here and there throughout the day.  The day was really fun but Me and my sister got very tired and went back to the hotel. When we arrived at the hotel, we fell asleep immediately.

Day One Of Spain :)

Eight Hours Later...
I woke up suddenly from my sister shaking me and saw that we were at Spain.  The plane ride was too long so I rushed down the stairs and  took a deep breath in the sweet fresh air. My sister stretched and then waved me over to the airport. Later on we arrived at the hotel Villa Magna. The hotel is amazing and beautiful. The first thing we did is took a shower, power nap and had complimentary montecado cookies.

After the power nap,when we pass by the customer service counter, a lady shouted to us to not drink the water and to bring water bottles. So we quickly went back to our room and  I quickly  stuffed a lot of water bottles in my bag. Later on we went to Gran Via shopping streets. While walking I saw amazing architectural designs and many large buildings.We took pictures next to so many of the buildings we passed by.  While shopping I complain to my sister that she took a long time to pick and then she complain to me for us to take a break and eat. We ended up eating after we were done shopping for so many hours. We got hungry and went to a churros eating place. Yum :) I dipped the churros in chocolate,  hot chocolate and milk. I was taking my time eating the churros like a food critique. I could tell that my sister liked the churros because she quickly ate it and then almost chocked from eating too fast. Me and my sister talked and ate for two hours in the cafe. It was funny  some random person in the cafe went to my sister, tried flirting, the guy didn't do good and the guy was pretty bad at speaking English to her . The random guy's friends drag him away from my sister after noticing that it wasn't going to good. After we were done eating  me and sister went out of the cafe. We went on a bus to Torres KIO  buildings that look like the Willis Tower In Chicago  The buildings are amazing, it looked like it was slanted and about to fall. We took a picture making it look like we were pushing the buildings apart.   Hours passed by and slowly night has fall and  I quickly looked for a sunset to picture. I felt so tired so I complained to my sister that we should go back  to the hotel before it gets really dark. We got on a bus and arrived at the hotel. I didn't notice until we arrived in our room that, my feet were killing me. We both changed our cloths and then I surf through the channels for a movie to watch. We ended up watching a romantic comedy movie, my sister called room service for food and we ate while watching the movie. Halfway throughout the movie, I heard snoring and saw that my sister fell asleep. I kept watching, I finished the movie and then fell asleep.

Departure

Me and my sister's departure is 5:30am, ugh to early but worth it. I got up this mourning dressed up in comfortable cloths,  took my small backpack on and saw that everyone in the house was either slap happy or tired.  Later on I drop the light and not dangerous bags down the stairs outside my room. Eh I was too lazy to carry all those light bags with the heavy bags and forth down and up the stairs. My mom snapped at me to stop dropping bags down the stairs because I accidently almost hit my brother.  My dad and brother helped bringing the luggage's and bags into the car. After that me and my family all went to the airport together. When we all arrived at the airport me and my sister did our goodbyes. The goodbyes got teary,joyful and sad. When we went on the airplane, my heart was thumping so fast. I quickly walked to the couch seats and prepared myself for the plane to fly. I squeezed my sister's hand and then I squeezed really hard on a pillow I brought. The plane finally took off, it wasn't that bad that I thought it would be. I release the pillow and I saw clouds outside the window. 

Ahhh!Tomorrow is the start of my two and a half month trip to Spain,Italy and Greece! Me and my sister are ready to travel to Spain,Italy and Greece. I have been dreaming of traveling out of the U.S. and now I am so close, just in a few hours. Too bad I have to possibly wake up early tomorrow but most likely not, my sister is a lazy butt when it comes to waking up early. Me and my sister are going to go over that stuff over dinner in Royal Buffet with the family before we leave. I already packed everything and double checked all my lists to make sure I didn't forget anything. Some of my  family members kept on dropping in my room to make sure I have everything I need for the trip tomorrow.  My mom and dad are worried of  what could happen while traveling but, they let it go because this much money doesn't come that often. The first destination were going to is Madrid in Spain and I'm hoping to experience different cultures.