SPICE UP YOUR LIFE

My Czech family is going to some super posh resort in Spain for one week starting this Sunday. I'm not going because it's too expensive to take me. I was a little bit sad until I checked the Student Agency bus services and booked a ride to London. Then tonight I phoned national express to buy a 7-day hobo pass to get around the UK (yeah I'm hoping to hit England, Scotland, and Wales) and I swear it sounded like I was talking to one of the Spice Girls...Brit power! Got me excited. I heart English boys!

BIRTHDAY WISH

I forgot my birthday is coming up. Hard to believe huh, since I love celebrating birthdays so much. So, what do I want...well, besides a plane ticket to a new continent I've yet to step foot on or any of the items listed here, I kinda really love this:

hand-made with real license plates from Aaron Foster
But since it costs $3900, I'll settle for this one on canvas for a price of $39.99. It combines two things I love: my America and art.

CAN'T GET ANY swedeR THAN THIS

My CZ family informed me I had a free weekend so I had 3 words on my mind: student agency bus. I grabbed my American friend Chris from the German speaking countries vylet before (the other 2 girls Jackie and Britny were headed home to Utah) and we went to visit Denmark and Sweden. After 30 hours on bus roundtrip, 6 ferry rides, and 3 currency exchanges, we had 3 days of F-U-N.

Hitting up Prague for a few hours before getting on bus #2

Our bus was on a boat...on a boat! as we left Germany.

We made sure to eat danishes, world famous Ost (cheese), and salty black licorice as we searched for the Little Mermaid, Hamlet, and Squash in Elsinor, Denmark.

We stayed with our new friend Szilvia in Sweden 1 night then hit up the town in Helsingborg for my list of Swedish treats: IKEA, swedish fish, swedish meatballs, princess cakes, and dala horses. Done and done. Back to Plzen.

FREE WEEKEND

I was told I have a free weekend while my Czech family goes to Austria to some super posh Kinderhotel. (I went last month so I'm not too heartbroken). So I decided I will hop on a student agency bus and go to Sweden, Denmark, and whatever else happens to be in between tomorrow.
Then I had someone tell me I have a travel bug. This is my response:

It's true
I want to see the world
the whole thing
all of it
green and blue parts
and the little white and yellow pieces too
every longitude and latitude line possible
I love it

PHOTO CLASS

Even if you have never taken a single photography class in your life, you should be able to take a camera, look through the view finder (or at the big digital screen), push a button, and take a decent photo.
I kinda hate to love and love to hate having other people take photos for me. I mean, if I'm at some tourist site and ask you to take a photo of me in front of something...I don't just want a photo of me...I want that something in there too.
Examples:
I think the Eiffel Tower is behind us


The most beautiful tree in SLC. Oh wait...there is a temple behind that?


Both the castle and I barely made the photo


My other favorite is getting their thumb in on the action


I know I shouldn't complain. I mean, I am the one who asked for the photo and they are doing me a favor (I think), but I try really hard to take nice photos for other people. Sometimes self-timer or long arm is a better option. I just wonder what their photos turn out like... It's good for a laugh at least.

3 GERMAN SPEAKING COUNTRIES

I spent 9 days in the Sumava forest with 2 Czech moms and 3 children who hate to love and love to hate playing with eachother. Then my new 3 American friends came on a rescue mission and picked me up. We left Borova Lada and made it through 3 German speaking countries in 3 days:

Salzburg, Austria (where we danced to the Sound of Music and Mozart, ate weinerschnitzel and Almdudler dinner with Meryl Streep, and walked the streets through the rain).

Munich, Germany (where we toured the town with men in lederhosen, went into cool churches with great organ pipes, and traveled across the green country roads to Bavaria to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle). This was my favorite city of the trip--Munich is gorgeous!

Zurich, Switzerland (where we paid for 3 pots of fondue but could only eat 1...remember to order it with no alcohol next time..., ate some stinky Swiss cheese, saw our friend Martin, and bought cuckoo clocks).

Nuremberg, Germany (where we made a 1 1/2 hour stop to eat some sausage, get scared by little kids on the street next to the castle, and stock up on Haribo before leaving Germany and heading back to Czech.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA

Not quite sure what the Constitution is, Ivanka heard us practicing this in the garden and called down from the balcony asking, "Is this really necessary for him to learn?" Well, after watching this video clip I think you will agree that it was absolutely necessary!

(yes, that's the Preamble...4 year old little Willy style)
This July 4, I may not be IN America, but I am still definitely OF America.

I DO NOT INTERNET DATE

For months, my dad joked about signing me up on eHarmony.com so he can marry me off since I haven't done it on my own. Funny...kinda. All of the sudden, I have started getting a lot of emails from that site (that I do not open I just delete). Is my father a jokester or is God trying to tell me something?
PS I do NOT internet date!

ANIMAL SOUNDS

Did you know, just like humans, animals in different countries speak different languages? Check the differences between American animals and those living in the Czech Republic:
Bird
A- tweet tweet
C- pip pip

Cat
A- meow
C- mnau

Dog
A- woof woof
C- haf haf

Pig
A- oink oink
C- chro chro

Frog
A- ribbit ribbit
C- kvack kvack

Duck
A-quack quack
C- taj taj

Cow
A- moo
C- bu
Yeah...so apparently, a cow says bu and a ghost says mu and an owl says hu and when you want to scare someone you don't jump out and say "Boo!" (because that is what a cow says) you say "baf!" I'm so confused.