World Domination Anyone?

I am staying in a really cool hostel in Budapest called the Aborgional Hostel. The hostel is basically an old flat that has been converted, so it feels pretty much like we're all staying in an apartment. There are quite a few of us here, most from Australia, Canada, the US and the UK (English speaking countries), and we have taken up late nights playing the Game of the Risk. As a child, and throughout most of my life, I didn't really have any interest in the game. It always looked like a game for boys, with soliders, war ships, etc... blasting all over the game box. But I have been proven wrong.

If you aren't familiar with the game, if basically goes like this: Everyone is dealt a set of countries and one at a time you place you men (soliders) in your assigned countries. Once all men have been placed you start battling and trying to conquer each other's territories. First person to conquer the world wins. I find this the most appropriate game to play given the situation - 20 people staying in a hostel, each from different countries, battling it out for world domiation. You find that everyone always seems to be somewhat partial to their home country. At one point tonight I had completely conquered Europe. I found it very symbolic. But then I slowly started being taken over, and eventually lost the entire continent.... I choose not to see the symbolism in that.

But it's not all "risk" here in Budapest. I have spent some time strolling through the city centre and fashion district, walking along the Daunbe River, hanging out on Margrit Island, and taking the worse the bus tour ever possible. At one point the (audio recorded) guide said, "And today Budpaest has abolished the death penalty. Why do you think that is? Your guess is as good as mine, but I think its safe to say that its probably because you can't take it back once it's already been done... but, anyways..."

1) yes, the audio recorded guide actually said "so anyways" and 2) really? do you really think that's why they abolished the death penalty? I have a feeling there was probably a little more thought that was put into than that. But that's just my guess...

but anyways....

Eva gets here tomorrow and the real sight seeing begins at that point. Till then it's more Risk, and less tour buses.

night.

Forget Greek Mythology, I've got a Greek Fairytale

So, sometimes things in life happen, plans change. Take this blog for example. I had planned to blog last Friday when I arrived in Athens about travel days and my love/hate relationship with them. But instead life intervined, things happened, and now I feel inclined to tell you, one week later, about how I went to Greece and ended up with a ring on my finger.... !!!!!!

That's right. I'M ENGAGED!!!! Total shock right? Yeah, me too! That's because Eric (my fiance!), did an absolutely amazing job of surprising me. So here's the story....

Last Friday I set out to Athens, Greece, where I was to meet up with my best friend Katie. Katie wasn't going to arrive till Saturday so I stayed a night in a hostel outside of Athens and then went back to the airport in the morning to meet Katie. Then the two of us were to head off to conquer Greece - girl style. Only "Katie" turned out to be Eric! I think the exact words out of my mouth when I saw him walk through the arrival gates were, (mouth gaping open) "NO WAY!" and then ran and jumped on him - literally. Then Eric proceeded to drop to one knee and propose in the middle of the airport.

Eric: "I've got a question to ask. It's an important one."
Me: "What's that?"
Eric: "Do you have plans for the rest of your life?"
Me: "No, not yet."
Eric: "Want some?"

And of course, I said YES. Everything comes full circle. (That was exactly the way Eric asked me out for the first time, only replace "the rest of your life" with "Saturday night".)

And that was just in the first 5 minutes of Eric arriving in Greece. We then spent the next 5 days in Greece, just the two of us. Who could ask for everything better? It's almost as if we are doing things backwards - taking the honeymoon before the wedding. But we deserved it. :)

We spent two days in Athens, doing the Athens thing - Acropolis, Pantheon, street markets.... and then off to the quiet secluded island of Agistri where we layed on the beach, explored the island, ate lots of greek food, played with Greek cats, and did a whole lot of nothing. We couldn't have asked for anything better.

So, that's my (short) version, of how I went to Greece and got engaged. But before saying goodbye I have to give props to Ms. Katie Simpher, who for the past 2 plus months had been feeding me emails about how excited she was to meet up with me with Greece - asking me about what she should pack, how much to bring, places we could stay at, etc, etc.... I totally bought into it. You are amazing girl and I love you.

And, lastly, I am sorry that many of you are finding out about all this through a blog. I wish I could call each of you personally, but international phone calls are ridiculous. I promise that I will have all the juicy details when I get home.

So now Eric is gone, on his way back to the states, and I am in Budapest, Hungry, missing him like crazy. It's weird how much life can change in two short months. If someone would have told me this was where I was going to be three months ago I would have never believed them. And I couldn't be happier.

And, oh yeah, I cut all my hair off when I was in London.

Love,
Nicole (soon to be Enger)

Nos Da Cymru.

(Good night Wales)

Hi all. Long time no chat. I've missed you!

I am back in London and recovering from what I think is some sort of virus/cold thing. It got me the last 2 days in Wales - sore throat, body aches, chills, etc... I think it was body telling me I need to slow down for a few days (but who really has time to slow down - there are things to see, people to meet!) I decided to listen to my body though and forego the trip up to Scotland and just come back to London and chill for a few days. Since there was no internet in Wales, I have a lot of catching up to do!

There is so much to talk about from the Wales trip that I thought the best/most fun way to go about it was through a picography (is that a word? If not, I just invented it.)

So, here you go....

This is home: The Camarthan Youth Center in Glanaman, Wales.

This was the main room where we spent most of our time: eating and preparing meals, playing cards, watching movies, and playing pool and ping pong.

This would be the city center (and only street) of Ammanford, Wales, the closest "town" to Glanaman and where we would go to use the internet and shop for groceries.


We laid about 5,768,4957,485,047,000 acres of turf. Okay, that might be an exaggeration. This was pretty typical work that we did. We were working with the rangers at the Camarthenshire County Council helping to keep Wales green, like these hills:

The rolling hills of Wales.


Cutting and slashing over grown path ways. This was the only day that it rained, but everyone kept their spirits high. Its hard to complain when you look out over the view of where you are working.


Europe Day at the Botanical Gardens of Wales. There were 170 students, representing 22 schools in Wales that attended. We helped in the cultural tent, letting students ask us questions about our countries and where we were from.


I built this bridge. Pretty impressive huh?

School visit. We lead a Q&A session about our respective countries with 3,4, and 5 year students in the local school in Glanaman. Everytime I would say that I was from the US all the kids would go "ohhh!" and get so excited. It was adorable.
Clockwise from the bottom right: Lina (Quebec, Canada), Bo Yeon (South Korea), Medea (Georgia), me (USA), Slavi (Slovenia), Danie (Austria), Yae Jing (South Korea).

Global Day at the youth center. This was the big event that we were working on over the two weeks. About 200 kids attended with activities such as origami making, face painting, writing in Georgian and Korean, Williow Wish Flags, Paper Laterns, Belly Dancing, Slovenian Folk Dancing, African Drum Workshops, and food from all over the globe.

It wasn't all work though.... There was plenty of play too!

Picnics.

Walking on the beach.

Much of the coastal areas of Wales are located on deep inlets from the ocean. During high tide the water receeds out of the bays and leaves the beach extending on for miles and miles. It is absolutely gorgeous, and unlike the picture of the youth center above, this picture doesn't do the view justice.

Visiting castles. This was my favorite castle.

It was quite windy on the beach....

Playing Cricket on the beach. I was a natural. :)

Friday night karaoke, what else? You should hear Last Christmas sung with 6 different accents.

Slovenian Folk Dancing!! We loved it!

France had kittens, Wales had puppies. This is a 2 week old yellow lab puppy.

Free time usually consisted of Musical Chairs at some point. It was a group favorite.

We did A LOT of hiking - and often got lost, but usually ended up seeing some of the best sites that way.

SHEEP! Need I say more.

That concludes the picography. There were a few things that I wasn't able to capture in photos that were true highlights of the trip. Such as, you ask? Well.... teaching American Baseball to a group of International students was probably the highlight of last week. Who knew baseball was so complicated! When they started running around the bases for a second time (passing through home and going back to first) I pretty much had to just let them. I mean, why not? It makes sense right? In the end I made them all lovers of baseball and that is all that really matters.

So, that completes my time in Wales and part 2 of my trip. Part three begins on Friday when I head to Greece and start the backpacking portion of my trip. I only have a little over three weeks left in Europe.

Now is for resting. Or maybe eating. I'm pretty hungry.

"Patrick, what do you have in the fridge..."

Wales of Fun

Ah, yes, finally a computer.

I arrived in Wales last Tuesday, after a hell of a time in London. Thank you Patrick for putting up with my tourist tendencies and taking me out for a night of british pints.

Wales is absolutely green. Lots and lots and lots of green, and it wonderful. I am volunteering for the Camarthan County Council. There were 5 other volunteers that arrived on Tuesday as well, and one more that arrived today. Along with the 4 leaders that makes 10 of total, and I am the only one that speaks English as my first language. Its pretty amazing really. The countries that are all represented are Canada, Austria, Germany, Wales, SOuth Korea, Georgia (the country), France, Slovenia and Uganda.

As far as work goes, Ive spent 2 of the last 6 days laying turf in some of the parks (keeping Wales green), but the rest of the time we have spent visiting all the nearby beaches, laying in the sun and walking around castles and hiking through the country side. And can I tell you that I love sheep! There are sheep everywhere and you can just walk through the pastures with them.

And I dont know what anyone was talking about when they said it was going to be rainy and gross in wales, because it has yet to rain. Its been absolultely gorgeous and I am getting a nice little tan.

So, I have to run now because the only internet access we have is at the library in town, so I have limited time to use the computers and I still have to figure out where i am going next on my trip. Hope everyone is doing well.

Happy early birthday to Kristin!