Try to imagine the most outrageous costumes you've ever seen. Now multiply that by 10. Even just waiting in the train station was quite a spectacle; there's a life-sized version of Lumier to my left (from Beauty and the Beast of-course), a 20s flapper girl to my right, and oh yes, there across the track was a jouster with a stuffed horse around his waist. Pretty normal, right? Sure if you're going to a Venetian celebration of Carnevale.

One of my favorite things about studying in Europe is that all of the surrounding countries are so accessible. It is so easy to just hop on a plane or train and travel to another country. How neat is it to just say - okay, what is everyone doing next weekend? How about buying tickets to Vienna? - That is just the coolest thing in the world!

Every day and every weekend brings the opportunity for new adventures and I plan to take advantage of them all. After making a lot of day trips around Northern Italy (so far I have been to Bologna, Parma, Treviso, Venice, Ferrara and Verona), this past weekend I took my first trip out of the country and flew to the Netherlands.

My host parents warned me that nobody can really have a satisfactory visit to Bariloche, a resort town in the western part of Argentina, in only three days. Yeah, they were right. Bordering Nahuel Huapi National Park, the third oldest national park in the world after Yellowstone and Banff, the area must be one of the most beautiful in the world. The kids from the West Coast could hardly believe how much it resembled Lake Tahoe and other parts of northern California. Though the public transportation system of Bariloche was a considerable downgrade from the colectivos of Buenos Aires, I think that I will remember the weekend for much nicer reasons.

Yes, termites. My room has a bed, a closet, a vanity area with a sink, a desk built into the corner of the room with windows overlooking the cricket field, and a chair, which, when I tip it from side to side, makes a sound as if it were filled with sand.

One week off before classes have even started? But who am I to argue with the Czech educational system. So what should I do? Go to Italy, obviously. Monday morning after returning to Prague from Karlovy Vary, Holly and I set off for Italia.

You only live once, right?

One of the biggest holidays in Russia this semester in Maslenitsa, the final week of gluttony before the beginning of Lent. My host cousin invited me to the Russian village outside of Vladimir with his friends and close family to celebrate.

Giant floats, a parade lasting until three in the morning and dancers in scandalously clad costumes. No, this was not Mardi Gras, but rather Gualeguaychu, Argentina, the site of the country's annual Carnaval. Every weekend in January and February party-goers from across Argentina flock to Gualeguaychu to witness a truly incredible spectacle, as a seemingly never-ending parade travels through a stadium specifically created for the event.

Growing up in Maryland, watching the Preakness every May and generally keeping track of wins and losses in the annual Triple Crown series was a rite of spring. Pimlico Race Track in Baltimore is an image burned forever onto the television screen of my childhood. My father and I would watch on the living room couch as the horses were paraded in their face masks and bunting, their glistening flanks not yet encrusted with dirt and sweat. Face buried in the newspaper, he would rattle off the odds in between checking the progress of whatever was cooking on the grill as I, heedless, chose a favorite horse based solely on aesthetics and clever nomenclature.

When my friend, Whitney, told me that a horse race -- the Gold Cup, sponsored by the expansive, swanky Sandy Lanes resort, where Tiger Woods got married -- would be run this past Saturday at Garrison Savannah, I jumped at the chance to go.

Wooh!!! Spring Break '09!!! While most spring breakers often head off to tropical hot spots with Carson Daly to celebrate their break from class, I was headed to Argentine Patagonia, on the southern tip of South America. I know you are worried that I might have fallen off the bottom of the globe, but I managed. From Buenos Aires we flew into Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world (check that one off the to-do list)!

From there, we flew a bit north to our destination of El Calafate. Patagonia, a mecca for hikers and climbers, is a beautiful area filled with glaciers and jagged peaks of the Andes. More or less, it is like Alaska but without the imminent threat of Russia (thanks Mrs. Palin).

It seems like all my exciting days center around cross-country skiing! I love being outside -- especially with good company -- and I love learning about the unique ecosystem that I'm living in!

I will assume you are one of the billions of subscribers to my blog, you have been fervently refreshing this page waiting for my next post and you have been obsessively tracking my every move for the past few months. If this is true, you may recall an article about all nine of the super-cool study abroad bloggers posted on Bucknell's website on Dec.3, 2008. When asked what would make a perfect study abroad experience, one of my responses was that "I need to take a picture with a llama at Machu Picchu". Mission accomplished? Well, sort of. I did take a picture with a llama, but I will have to replace "at Machu Picchu" with "outside of a random rest-stop in Patagonia."

(Did you really think I would put the picture in the introduction? Come on, the continue reading button is so close. Do it.)

Well, I would love to tell you about all the classes I took this past week, but 95 percent of them are subject to change. The class structure at Czech Tech is set up VERY differently than schools in the United States. First of all, one class usually only meets once a week and lasts anywhere from an hour and a half to up to six hours! Most students take somewhere between seven and 10 classes, unless they're working on a thesis.

The professors are a whole different story...

Hey friends! ? Candan? Yes, I'm picking up bits of porte lang. I suppose that is what should happen as I spend more and time getting to know a city like Buenos Aires.

Unlike the last two posts, I really see no way to create a unifying theme for all that has happened over the past week and a half. Classes have begun, though there is still no real sense of normality or true routine. I've had some very enjoyable nights out in the city and some less pleasant nights out. I've hung out in the middle one of the most upscale shopping centers in the city, Patio Bullrich, and have seen a whole family spend a night hidden among cardboard boxes. I've seen professors that double as priests in UCA and Marxist murals that cover the stairwells of UBA de Ciencias Sociales (the public university's college of social sciences). I've visited both a Methodist church and a Buddhist cultural center. And most importantly, I bought a mate with a bombilla.

After nearly 26 hours of flights and layovers, we finally arrived in Australia! Over the maybe 22 hours of different flights, I didn't get up from my seat once - almost like a sitting marathon, if you will. I don't really know why I never got up, but it may have something to do with the Tetris rip-off that I couldn't stop playing on the plane.

On the way down into the Melbourne area, the landscape was extremely brown, sparse and almost a bit desolate. We soon found out that most of Australia is in a severe drought and that some places in the Melbourne area hadn't gotten any rain since Dec. 12. As a result, we were told that we should try to limit showers to three minutes ... or four if we are washing our hair. You can imagine the reactions of the 20 American girls when we heard that news.

There are no bigger fans of Michael Jackson than the Czechs. They rock to Michael Jackson's beat almost as much as they jam to songs from the Grease soundtrack. It's so interesting to find which parts of American culture have found their way to Prague. I've literally heard "Summer Nights," "Grease Lightning," and "Grease is the Word" multiple times since I've been here. Apparently, there was even a statue erected of MJ after the Communist Era crumpled.

Unfortunately, it's been replaced by a giant metronome.

Sidenote: I've recently entered a comment war with Corey Schwitz, so you should probably skip over reading his blog and comment as much as possible on mine. (Who cares about South America anyway ...)

This past weekend I visited the Egyptian Museum. The content of the place was breathtaking and displayed in true Egyptian fashion.

No more llama sightings, but I did get the chance to go to my first futbol match! The game featured Arsenal de Sarandi against the extremely popular River Plate squad, who were playing at home. While the game was exciting, the true experience was being among the fanaticos in the stands. During the entire game, the crowd was constantly singing and jumping, and though NFL fans with huge beer bellies could not have stood the punishment, I am sure it was a similar scene to when my former kickball team took the championship a few weeks ago. There were some slight differences though, as the police tank and swat team outside the stadium welcomed us in.

First uploaded video in this entry!!!

After our mini-vacation on the Mornington Peninsula, we were scheduled to go visit some kangaroos at a local wildlife park, but due to raging brush fires our group was advised to stay away from wilderness areas and cancel the trip. Ironically, we woke up to rain the next morning but we still couldn't visit the roos. Oh, and I took a five minute shower, but don't tell the Aussies.

The Melbourne (pronounced Mel-Bin) Skyline

Planning trips around Italy can be difficult only because there are so many wonderful places that deserve to be visited. When I was in high school, I was lucky enough to have taken a tour around 13 cities in Italy with my family, although there is just no end to the places I still wish to go. A weekend in Sienna? Sounds fantastic! Touring the Tuscan vineyards on bike tours? Incredible! Visiting the national chocolate festival in the city that recently held the Winter Olympics? Alright, now I'm sold!

When I found out that the national festival was being held in Torino, there was no hesitation on my part; I was going. Then the weekend just got better when I was able to find tickets to an AC Milan soccer game on the way home to Padova. A weekend of chocolate and the chance to watch some of the greatest soccer players in the world (including David Beckham as a visiting player) compete? Now you're talking!

Jazz clubs, salsa clubs. Class in dilapidated office building, class in a spotless, ivory tower complex. Running past railroad tracks barricaded by barbed wire, walking through a massive ecological reserve. There are a lot of contradictions and fine examples of juxtaposition in Buenos Aires, just as there are in any major world city. Much of the time I just feel like sitting back and contemplating all of it. And then I realize that I have to be 20 blocks away in half an hour. It's a good thing this city runs on "Argentine time" and not the maniacal pace of much of the U.S.

No ... although it's a wonderful place and I probably would have requested to live here if I had to choose. Google Earth was right! I now reside in the right half of a whimsically pastel colored house located in the suburb of Sydney they call Randwick. Our location is awesome because Randwick has a lot of stores and things to do and is just two blocks from campus. We also live 60 feet from a supermarket, 80 feet from a gym and only 100 feet from a spectacle-making shop!
This is what I call my group of friends here

In case life in Cairo isn't wonderful enough, I took a weekend vacation to Dahab. An eastern beach of the Sinai peninsular attachment of upper, right-hand, Egypt, it faces Saudi Arabia. In fact, you can clearly see the mountains of Saudi across the Red Sea. Not that any of us spent too long gazing far away. Dahab was the best weekend retreat we could imagine.

I did dedicate some of my weekend retreat to cultural enrichment. Our final night, we drove two hours to Mount Sinai. An exhausting 12 hours later I had followed in the footsteps of Moses and seen the miraculously transported remains of Saint Catherine. Not to mention experienced quite the work out.

Wednesday is my day teaching English to the adult refugee community in Nasr City. There is always a bit of pandemonium involved with a volunteer organization; teachers don't show up, times are miscommunicated, materials disappear. This past week had more than its usual share of complications. In the end, our class period turned out better than anything I could have designed in a lesson plan.

WOW! What a city. I spent a whirlwind weekend in St. Petersburg, the former capital of Russia-- way up north. We took overnight trains to and from the city, which was an experience in and of itself!

After arriving in Vienna at 4 a.m. (I have no idea who thought that was a good idea), Holly and I attempted to sleep in the train station. I say attempted because we were, surprisingly, unsuccessful. Viennese train stations are sleep-proof. Not a single bench in the place! Seriously? This is the ONLY time I've ever wanted to sleep in a train station. Go figure. After we got over the fact that sleeping wasn't option, we became very thankful that the Viennese are famous for their coffee houses and camped out there until daylight.

So whoever said the Viennese were brusque and harsh gave them a terribly false rep...

Barbados is divided into parishes, each of which, as I understand it, is named for an Anglican church in its boundaries, though these namesake churches are not the only ones; if I took a photo of every church I passed on foot or by bus in Barbados, I would have quite an album indeed. One Saturday, when I was walking from Frank Worrell Hall to the cricket field for a morning run, I noticed a crowd of people sitting on folding chairs in the veranda and standing around some tables weighed down with huge dishes of food. At first, I thought it was a reception of some sort, but as I started to run, they started singing and saying, "Hallelujah!" and "Praise God!" So I guess it was church.

After class on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon, Sara and I decided to embark upon a legendary journey that many Australians and tourists strive to complete before their death: The Coogee to Bondi walk. The walk (which is reversible, hah) starts at our 'home' beach of Coogee and ends at Australia's arguably most famous beach, Bondi beach. The walk is about four miles long one way and is full of bays, cliffs, shops, and most importantly ... BEACHES. You are about to embark on a 40-plus picture photo documentary of our walk, so prepare yourself before clicking into the entry. Here are a few teaser pictures:

(They will all appear again and be explained within the entry)

And just like that, I have less than 24 hours until I depart from Buenos Aires, when I will be headed off to Lima, Peru. While a heartfelt reflection on my two months here will be in an upcoming blog, this entry will be devoted to my final adventure in Argentina: Iguazu Falls! A legend from an ancient tribe tells the story that a god's sought-after aborigine bride fled with her human lover. Out of rage, the god spliced the river, sending the two humans to eternal punishment while creating Iguazu Falls. You are probably thinking what I was thinking, that this is a rather unlikely tale. It seems like this god was pretty powerful, and could do some pretty cool things. But you are trying to tell me that he couldn't attract this girl, but he pretty easily created over 275 waterfalls, some as high as 270 feet, with no problem at all? If he really wanted to attract this girl, maybe he could have created a really nice restaurant with a great dessert menu. It would have been a rather nice evening. Instead, he chose to act very irrationally, and kind of dropped the ball. All in all, the story just has some holes in it and leaves many questions unanswered. In order to find out for myself, I needed to visit Iguazu and discover the true story.

After a long hiatus, I am FINALLY back... I am now at least the fourth in my program to fall victim to laptop technical difficulties, and dealing with these troubles overseas is a PAIN. I'm quite certain that insurance is pretty useless, and the jury is still out on if it actually covers anything at all. Either way, the last three weeks has essentially been a computer detox, but I'm glad to be reconnected once again!

Last semester at Bucknell, I had a lot of fun learning about environmental planning and various "sustainable living" practices that are being tested out not just in private homes, but in special "eco-villages" throughout Europe in Prof. Peter Wilshusen's Environmental Planning class. These eco-villages attract ecologically-minded people who are interested in living sustainably -- that is, not consuming more than their "fair share" and thus preserving a high standard of living for future generations. Last night, I had the opportunity to sit in on a talk by a girl who lived and worked in one notable eco-village in Germany, 7Lindens.

"¡Que nunca olviden este día el 24 de marzo!" The amplified voice boomed across the open space packed with young porteños (and at least one young American). That we could be in the area at all would have been totally outrageous 30 years ago. We wouldn't have wanted to even imagine who was doing what to whom in the sprawling military complex next door. But that was a generation ago. Now only five blocks away Radiohead was playing live for thousands of youths with lip rings, tattoos and civil liberties that most Western people take for granted.

I've mentioned my attempts to volunteer at an orphanage. My contacts finally went through and I now spend my Sundays at FACE Orphanage in Maadi. I discovered the organization online and started emailing, which turned into calling, which turned into me bumping along in a taxi hoping to find the building. I did find it, after asking for directions several times (that Egyptian pride that makes up directions rather than refuse help kept me going in circles). Now my only wish is that I had more FACE time to spend!