Stopped in Belgium… to have a waffle.

Brussels. Carly and I were a little late on reserving our train from Amsterdam to Paris. We were forced to stop over in Brussels on the way, however we strategically planned our train rides so we had just enough time to hit up Delirium (bar with selection of over 2000 beers) and to devour a famous Belgian waffle. Our stay in Brussels was short, but well worth it! I’m still thinking about that waffle.

Beer Capital of the World.

Munich. After arriving around 2 p.m. in the region of Bavaria, Carly and I headed straight to arguably the most famous beer hall in the world, Hofbrauhaus. We met some friends from Canada at our hostel (EuroYouth- one of Europe’s famous hostels) and spent a good 4 hours in this giant beer hall laughing, drinking, and of course making fun of Canadians.

Our second day, we took a Sandeman’s free walking tour all around Munich and saw some of the most famous sights including the Glockenspiel, the Jewish Quarter, and Marienplatz square. After this walking tour, we decided to continue on to take a tour of Dachau, one of the first permanent concentration camps in Germany. Our tour guide, Travis, took us around for about 3 hours at this camp ground and we saw some really sad stuff including the Roll-call square, cremation tanks, and many memorials. For a tour guide having to do the Dachau tour 6 times weekly- he did an amazing job.

More photos to come later!

And then there were two.

business partners

John Lennon Wall- Parkour?

Czech Republic. After two full days of wandering through fairy-tale land, I can safely say this city is magical. We were lucky enough to stay with Pranadhi, who was the bomb-dot-com host. She lives in an area called Prague 2 near the baby-building by David Cerny. A couple of the night spots we hit in Prague were Redroom and Bar & Books (there’s also one in NYC!).

During the day on Sunday, we went to a not-so-touristy spot called the Metronome which overlooks the entire city. This ticking red structure actually used to be a 200 ft. statue of Joseph Stalin. The three of us grabbed a beer from the beer garden nearby and enjoyed the view in a city where beer is cheaper than water.

The next day we did a walking tour of the city and got to see some of the main sights of Prague including the Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, and Kampa Island. Some of the highlights were..

1. John Lennon wall: Since pop music was banned during the era of communism in Prague, the Lennon Wall was a place where the people would speak out and graffiti famous lyrics, sayings, and random things to demonstrate the freedom they wanted.

2. Peeing Men: There is a structure by artist David Cerny (same guy who did baby tower) that is of two men painted blue, pee-ing into a pond shaped as the Czech Republic. Right beside this structure, is a plaque in the ground that has a phone number engraved on it. Apparently, if you SMS this number, your message will be written out by the man urinating. (quite the aim)

3. View from the Metronome- as I said earlier, this view looks over the entire fairy-tale-like city. On the left you have a far view of the baby tower, in front you have the gorgeous river, and on your right in the distance you can see the famous Charles bridge and Prague castle.

just chillin

Now we know how Gilligan felt...

Jenna Carly and I are literally stuck in Syros. Both ferries Tuesday and Wednesday were canceled to Santorini, so we decided to stop off at the first Island that sounded cool. )

We haven’t found any coconuts to make radios but we did pick up a friend at the port named Jenabi- a really fun Chinese guy from Malaysia who is studying in Australia but doing a semester in Poland. Oh, and he watches Gossip Girl.

We are staying in a really cute family run hostel here in Syros. Today we hiked for a few hours through the island of Syros and saw beautiful views from a church at the top of a mountain (see pictures)

Next stop is Athens to see the Acropolis and then we are catching a flight to Czech Prague out. Carly and I will be staying with a long-time childhood friend, Pranadhi who is there for the semester. Interestingly, my passion for business and entrepreneurship stems back to my friendship with Pranadhi. It was in her very backyard that we entered into the lemonade stand business, eventually helping quench thirsts of most West Bloomfield residents..

That’s it for now, catch ya in Prague!

Mykonos- helping the economic crisis, one gyro at a time...

We are 3 gyros down in the Greek Island of Mykonos. After getting off the 5 hour ferry from Athens, we pulled an ultimate go with a flow and grabbed the first van that said "Paradise Beach."

The following day, we rented ATVs and explored the entire island and found every beach we could. We were supposed to go to Santorini today but the ferry was canceled due to strong winds. This means one more night in Mykonos and then Santorini until Friday!

Ultimas Dias (accent on U, accent on I)

My semester abroad is coming to an end. I am sitting at "the cafe spot" with Carly (pictured above) right now trying to figure out how time passes by SO incredibly fast in this incredible/diverse/lively/insomnious (yes, it's a word) city!

If all gets better with glacier Eyjafjallajokull, Carly and I will be heading on our Eurotrip starting this Saturday with our Eurorail passes. Here is a list of cities we are seeing before coming home!

1. Athens

2. Mykonos

3. Ios

4. Santorini

5. Prague

6. Munich

7. Dusseldorf

8. Amsterdam

9. Paris

10. TBD

Then, we are back to Barcelona for one last night! Here are some pics from our last nights out here...

Starting out at the residencias

Brandon, putting the "crappy" in crappy Tuesdays at Apollo

This past Sunday, FC Barcelona became closer to becoming the "campeones" (champions), not be confused with "champiñónes" (mushrooms) as they inch towards La Liga.

A bunch of us had a great table at a popular dive bar called L'ovella Negra and watched FC Barcelona cream Real Madrid. Pretty much all of Barcelona was in the streets of Catalunya and La Rambla, burning the Real Madrid flag and setting off fireworks to celebrate.