San Francisco Day 1

So today I left from Calgary to go to San Francisco for a week. The day started off with a LOT of now in Calgary and therefore it seemed like a perfect day to well... leave! To start off travel adventures I did drive to the airport with "flurries" however I would define it as a small snowstorm (that's just me!). Following that not surprisingly our flight got delayed for a hour or so. Finally, we arrived at San Francisco and called the hotel we are staying in for a shuttle. We were told " he is on his way... in a green car". After waiting at the airport for about 1/2 hour or so my mother and I decided we wanted to catch a cab and get to the hotel. The hotel was nice enough to reimburse our travel :). Following this adventure we decided to grab food and plan our day for tomorrow.

Well... there are 9 f-ing different transit operators (London with 8 million people does not have 9 different transit systems!!). So we are super confused and this is my way of taking a break from the logistics of SanFrancisco public transit.

On the bright side though the weather here is AMAZING! It feels like late august/ early september in Calgary.

Amsterdam

So hello again, major blog neglecting and being busy with life. That said, I had a ballin' time.
I went to Amsterdam in July, beautiful weather slightly too hot for my taste but thats ok! So after I landed there I had no difficulty finding my hostel. Due to uninformed booking, I ended up 45 minutes outside of the city in a place called Noorwich! Getting there was quite something and it cost nearly 12 euros (LAME!!). Travelling around Amsterdam is quite expensive. After I reached the hostel nearly midnight I discovered that that the  "large dorm" was a 25 person dorm (who the hell knew seriously?!!!), I decided to just chill out and sleep for the night.

The next morning I booked a shuttle that the hostel offered and spent the day in the city. I got to see the beautiful Museumplein which has the Rijkmuseum and the Van Gogh museum. Oh so many "did you know" moments.
No 1: Did you know Van Gogh did not start painting until his mid 20's. After that I definitely had a new respect for the man!
No 2: He is known for his rough and edgy artistic style (I think you all know!) however, he has some beautiful realistic paintings in the museum.
Another interesting thing that I saw all over Amsterdam was little signs saying "DNA spray", I was intrigued and then later when I googled it I found that, all the stores have this spray that is colorless to the naked eye and is fixed on top of entrances. So, when the intruder enters the spray is sprayed on the intruder and it clings on to clothes and skin for a long time. It is known to be non-toxic but something that clings on to DNA for that long...hmm I gotta wonder. The idea is that when the police go to find criminals, anyone who has the spray on them is convicted. Personally I think this is a pretty cool concept.

That evening, I went back to the hostel and just chilled out, had a beer and just went to bed.
The following day was nearly the same, chilled out in central Amsterdam. There are two very interesting things about Amsterdam that separate the tourists from the locals.
1) the local pedestrians know where they belong, ie the unmarked bike paths everywhere
2) they also know that cyclists are going to run them over and they don't hesitate.

Also, some other interesting things happened in the second day. There is a first time for everything right?
Firstly, due to my lack of map reading skills, I got lost in the red light district. I have to say I didn't love it. Also, getting hit on by 2 prostitutes is...well...fun (NOT!).
Secondly, I was sitting and chilling in Museumplein and some random guy came upto me to ask what would be a good gift for 200 euros for his girlfriend. I have never had that happen to me and I suggested a pendant. I hope his girlfriend liked it =).
That evening, I also got together with some guys from my hostel sat on the beach till about midnight... and did the very obvious thing (I'll let you figure it out!).

The next morning it was beach again and then it was back to London still a bit tripped.

Globally Legal

So, as most of you may know (or may not) it was my birthday on the 22nd of June and I turned 21. I am now officially legal all over the world. I will no longer have to ask my colleagues to buy me alcohol when I'm in the US. Fun stuff. It was a good day and a good time. The best being my present. I got to see Bon Jovi live for 3 hours non-stop in London's Hyde Park. So, I have seen them live before but let tell you what makes this super special

1) 65000 people! Imagine, as opposed to John Lennon I would say, "Imagine there is a heaven".
2) 3 hours, 3 whole hours straight. I must say that man has stamina. Phew!
3) The company I was with. Some of my amazing labmates. The awesome German lady, Lysann, the funny Portuguese man, Joao and the crazy but once again amazing portuguese girl, Nair.They were the reason I went and I have to say it was the best decision I have made.
4) I lost my voice without a pathogen this time!! For a week my voice was gone, no pathogens involved. No regrets though!

Overall, cheers to sunshine, beer, great music, the sexiest man alive and screaming my bloody lungs out. 

(Photo courtesy: Lysann)

Belgium Day 2

Day 2:

Starts off with breakfast in hostel. I met a lady (my room-mate) she woke me up for keys and I decided to join her for breakfast. There I asked her what her plans for the day was and she mentioned going to Ghent and Brugge (small towns in the outskirts of Brussels). I wanted to go as well, so I decided to join her.

We went off to Brussels-Midi station and booked tickets for 15 euros back and forth (cheap I know!!). We went to Ghent first. Small town, beautiful; town and people are once again concerned about energy conservation.

Bikes everywhere.

Heres something special. Have you seen shoes hanging from a wire in the city. If not here you go!

And, like any other European city there are plenty of beautiful churches.

and when you enter, you are not allowed to take pictures. I have learnt something called "shooting from the hip" and it turned out rather nice =D. Tee-hee thanks Brit

Amazing town square.....

Very typical Belgian architecture

 From there we went to Brugge, one of the most beautiful towns I have seen in my life. So serene, so amazing. I would retire there.

But first, I would like you to introduce " the smallest street in Brugge, it used to be a red light district. Its nice and cozy still."

And yet, some more chocolate.....

and did I mention random art??

...Soon after this point, my battery died. But all I can say is its one of the cutest towns I have every seen. Done and done!!

Belgium

Some notable things about Belgium, I think this would be interesting if you wanna visit in the future or something. I have not been to very many cities but here are some very peculiar things that I have seen in the cities I have been to.

# Art everywhere: This is kind of the essence of Europe in general but in Brussels each station has its own art, also stations are named after artists ex: Delacroix after Eugene Delacroix. There are also random pieces of clothing (banners) which hang across the town in Brugge. Art Art everywhere! Love it!

#People like to conserve energy: Huh, something us North Americans need to get a leg up on! We waste so much. Some examples of these are train doors that open with manual force rather than electrical force. Escalators that have sensors around them and only run if it senses people coming around.

# Snacks: I am sorry I can't help but comment on the food portions people have in Brussels. I went into a store (fast food kind of) and under the list of snacks was a "sandwich" which was 1/2 a baguette filled with fries and different sauces like ranch, mayo etc. I also saw a very small child (6-7 years appx) eat it at 11 pm at night. o.O 

Brussels

So the last weekend (18-20 June) I was off to Brussels. From what I heard before going, Brussels isn't a an interesting visit so my expectations were kind of low. I had chosen horrendous travel times for myself (alms for the student traveler no??) I picked 7 am leaving from St. Pancras International London so naturally I had to get up at about 4 am. Luckily due to amazing saturday service in London I made it and reached Brussels on time. From here it was a matter of finding the hostel which I did with little difficulty.

After checking into the hostel I went out into the city center, and some people tried to pickpocket me!! So, beware. It is kind of amazing how I found myself a bit stranded around this city because not very many people speak English. Dutch and French are the official languages in this country. Anyways, minus the fact that I almost lost my identity, this city is pretty nice. Lots of castle like buildings, waffffffles ... om nom nom and tons and tons of chocolates around every corner.

Although, day 1 was a bit crappy it ended with me hanging out with some amazing Algerian girls. They were fun and friendly and we went for dinner in the town and had mussel soup with fries (surprisingly filling). Oh oh! lots of variety in beer in Belgium as well (especially if you like the fruity kind).

Travel tips (perhaps nothing new for some)

So, I know I have been travelling a bit perhaps not as much as some of you. Here are some tips anyway. Hope you like them/find them useful.

# If you travel to a country where you do not know the language, find a map (from any local store should do), pinpoint where you wanna go and ask people how you can get there. You may not understand the language but you probably can recognize the name of the station and things like that. Plus hand language is pretty great!

# Dont look clueless. Seriously, this is how can get napped and people will take advantage of your naivety. Appear to know what you're doing.

# Please dont leave your things unattended. Not every country is Canada, you will lose your stuff.

# When you go to a different country, try their food. A lot of people are afraid of experimenting. Whats the worst that can happen? You wont like it, dont eat it ever  again.

# Be wary of company (especially if you are travelling alone). It is nice to get to know people but don't go all out and please dont accept any "stay over tonight" offers.

#Trust your intuition, if something feels sketchy, it probably is.

# A pocket tip. If you're in the city of a few days (2-3 even), make an effort to buy yourself food from the local grocery store. Eating out is unhealthy and will cost you tons especially near tourist attractions. Do eat out sometimes though =).

#Don't be surprised to see intestines in the bus (Courtesy-Brittany Staddon).Um I would flip shit!!!!

I will keep this updated as I find out more stuff.

Anything else? Enlighten me!