Melbourne (Pronounced Mel Bun)

It's New Years Eve Eve here in Australia. And it's amazing how many places close down for pretty much the entire week of Christmas - New Years. We've tried to visit a market in Adelaide, a few restaurants in Melbourne, and boxing day (Dec. 26) forget about it...

Last night was spent traveling on a night bus (Greyhound Australia) from Adelaide to Melbourne. Our friend James was totally great; riding the shuttle with us to town, feeding us a ramen noodle type dish beforehand (me goreng it's called, and it's MUCH better), and taking us to a great Chinese place for chicken and dumplings before boarding. He even waited for us until we got on the bus right at 8:00PM. The Aussies in general are extremely considerate and polite people. Bus drivers, locals, the people at hostels and supermarkets... all overly nice.

The lifestyle is very care free here (like you said, dad). For example, it's not looked upon as wrong or uncommon to take a sick day (or vacation) from work. America allows 3 weeks of vacation and sick days combined, on average, whereas Australia allows 5 weeks. Our host Josh just took off 2 weeks of work and he is not looked upon any differently for doing so. I know my dad has a hard enough time as it is taking off one day of work even when feeling very ill. Also, healthcare is universal here, the wages are much higher (James gets paid $21/hr working at a supermarket) and college loans work much differently (much better).

• Nobody has to worry about getting hurt and not having insurance to cover the hospital expenses in Australia.
• There are 3 different types of pay at jobs in Australia: full time (same as America but with the longer vacation and sick time allowances), part time (less per hour, but still have sick time and vacation time), and casual (which is what James works as; not promised a certain amount of hours, no vacation or sick, but get paid a higher rate).
• College loans are apparently forgiven if the total debt is below $27,000 (I could be wrong, but James thinks that's the case) and best of all, students don't have to start paying off their loans 6 months after graduating from college, which they do back in The States. Instead, they will get placed into a job related to their field AND ONLY THEN will they start paying back their college loans.

Talk about a better socioeconomic system, right? But the grass is always greener on the other side... Australian's will have their fare share of problems to talk about in terms of their own country. Everyone here is very up-to-date on current issues, compared with America, and Australian's are a lot more water conscious. They have to be with the frequent droughts that occur. I've also noticed the architecture being extremely different, specifically in residential neighborhoods. Brick and cement houses are very common and the roofs are made of metal (either tin or aluminum) or terra cotta.

A typical residential house in Adelaide, Australia.

The last thing I'll mention is that Elisha and I are currently "couchsurfing". Most of you have probably heard about this from me already, but couchsurfing is a social networking website that connects travelers to other travelers worldwide. How it works is that everyone makes a profile about themself, then finds other "couchsurfers" in the city they are traveling to. Melbourne alone has over 1000 couchsurfers who live there. Amherst has about 75 - 100. This year I've had one person from Pittsburgh and another person from California stay with me and my roommates. Now I am the guest (Elisha, too) instead of the host!

This is Amy and Josh, our couchsurfing hosts. Both are from Oregon and they moved to Melbourne in February of 2007.

We arrived in Melbourne at 7am this morning, took a commuter train to a suburb called Northcote, and walked a short distance to Amy and Josh's apartment. They greeted us warmly by making us a fruit salad and tea/coffee breakfast, showed us our air mattress / bedroom for the next 3 nights, and gave us a key for us to go in and out as we please. Elisha and I needed a bit of relaxing before venturing out for the day, so we took a seat on their couch and spent the next hour or so using the internet. Amy then came back from her friend's place and the three of us (Elisha, Amy and myself) went to the NGV (National Gallery of Victoria, a museum with aboriginee art among other things in the main city).

The National Gallery of Victoria, where we went today.

To wrap up, tonight Elisha and I are making diner at Amy and Josh's and then head down the street to where another friend of mine from Europe is playing music. His band is called the Lost Note Foundation (for a sample of his music you can check out his myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/lostnotefoundation) and he will be playing live tonight around 8:30. It will be good seeing another face that I met in Europe again.

Well, that will probably be the most comprehensive blog entry that you read during this Australian adventure. So I don't blame you if you stop reading after getting through with this! No no, I'll try keep up with this as I am only connected through most of you through this website for the next 3+ weeks. But in return, you must leave me more comments! Thanks to those of you who have already left them, but I expect more of the same from you as well as others! See you all soon, and how is the weather back home?

The weather here is pretty much...

Sunny, sunny and sunny - EVERYday! Knock on wood...

Adelaide

Our flight to Adelaide was a piece of cake compared with the time warp from Boston to Sydney. The flight took us just under two hours but we were at the airport about 3 hours ahead of time. That's due to our brains still operating on east coast time (it's proving very difficult to break that). Elisha and I are routinely waking up anywhere between 4:30am - 6:00am. This morning I amazingly didn't arise until 7:30ish...but also didn't get to sleep until about 3:00am. That's traveling for you... you can always sleep when you get back home.

The past couple of days have been great. December 26th here is a national holiday called "Boxing Day". Hardly anything was open but luckily we arrived at our hostel without much of a problem. Originally we had canceled it and planned to stay with my friend James whom I met traveling Europe this summer. James, however, typed his mobile number wrong by mistake and we were unable to reach him until later that night. We ended up meeting him the following day; all works out in the end.

Here's an outline of what we did since arriving in Adelaide:

December 26:

• Flight arrives at 11:45am, we arrive at our hostel around 2:00pm.
• Immediately upon arrival, we are told there is a soccer match about to be played (our hostel versus a neighboring hostel). I quickly change and gear up for my international debut.
• I play soccer in the scorching heat for about an hour with other travelers from Ireland, England, Germany, Australia, Hungary, Switzerland and The States (me). Probably a few other countries as well. Our hostel won 2-1 and I was very proud of my performance.
• We made a trip to the supermarket later that night and made a delicious meal that consisted of rotini, cream sauce, chicken, salad, and some veges.
  
• We met some great people at the hostel and talked with them for a few hours that night. Overall, a much better hostel experience than in Sydney.

December 27:

• We had an early breakfast (7am) and walked around what we thought was the royal botanic gardens. We've seen some extremely colorful, noisy, and exotic birds already on this trip.
  
• James met us at our hostel around noon. We walked around Adelaide and James bought a few things from the city. The after-Christmas sales were crazy and everyone was out shopping yesterday.
• A friend of James met up with us and we all drove together to the real Adelaide botanic gardens. We sat there and talked about Australian and American life, told some stories, and listened to each other's funny accents. Elisha and I hadn't laughed that much since before we arrived in Australia. Great blokes.
• We drove to where James is living: showered, took a nap, and had some dinner.
• We went to another friend's house and we stayed there for about 4 hours total. It is great knowing a local anywhere you go and being able to have a real cultural experience. We had some drinks with our new Australian friends and it was just a very cool thing being in a foreign country and playing games with 15 Australians (all our age).
• We went to a pub and were very tired by this point. Elisha, James and I took a taxi home around 2:30 (hopefully we are over jet-lag now, but only time will tell).

Today James is going to a music festival so Elisha and I are just going to explore the city and hang out at his place until he returns. Tomorrow night we hop on a bus to Melbourne to explore an even more southern part of Australia. Then it's flying up north after the new years.

A tree at the royal botanic gardens

At the Adelaide Botanic Gardens

Cheers.

a LONG trip to Syndey

Well, we made it! Our flight departed a bit late from Logan... and this caused us to almost miss our flight from San Francisco to Sydney. Technically, we did miss it. Elisha and I had accepted the fact that we were spending the night in San Francisco, when suddenly a flight attendant from United Airlines informed us that our flight had yet to board (due to technical problems). We arrived at our gate about 90 minutes after it was scheduled to leave, yet we still made it! Somehow these things always seem to work out for me..

So after 3 hours in Logan Airport, 6 hours flying to San Francisco, 2 hours in that airport, another 14 hours flying to Sydney... we have arrived at our hostel and have just begun to explore the city. No pictures in this entry, as we have literally left our hostel 1 hour ago and come to the public library to use free internet.

Happy Holidays and we hope that everyone is doing well back home. We miss you, but not the snow!

Going Down Under!

The time has come for me to travel once again. This time, however, I'm not doing it alone! My girlfriend, Elisha, will be backpacking with me through Australia for 4 weeks. We leave tomorrow (hopefully we will...all of this damn snow!) at 5:41PM. We arrive in San Francisco at 9:28 PM (West Coast time) and board our second flight which goes directly to Sydney, Australia. We arrive in Sydney at 8:05AM Wednesday (Sydney time). You have probably noticed the clocks on the right side of my blog, showing East Coast time and New South Wales time.

Some interesting facts:

• Sydney time is 16 hours ahead of Boston time
• In terms of land area, Australia is the 6th largest country in the world (Russia, China, Canada, U.S., Brazil are larger). It is slightly smaller than the U.S. contiguous 48 states.
  
• Australia has a population of just over 21 million people. (New York City alone has over 8 million...)
• Government type is: federal parliamentary democracy

Anyway, this blog will most likely not be as comprehensive as the last Europe blog as I will no longer be by myself and needing to write to keep me sane. I'll have Elisha this time who I think will be a phenominal traveling partner :)

Elisha and I outside after the massive storm, Dec. 22, the day we leave!

More updates after we arrive.

Cheers!

My Final Day in the U.K.

It has been nearly two months since I arrived in Europe. 54 days ago, at this very moment, I had just arrived in Bristol, England. I had no idea what was in-store for me over the next 8 weeks... but I was fairly certain that this trip would be an experience that I'd always remember. 

Looking back on my European expedition, I am proud to say that I have no regrets whatsoever. The places I visited, the people I met, and the experiences I had were all supposed to happen at this point in my life. I am returning to Massachusetts a changed person. I consider myself much more enlightened, self-assured, and clear-minded than when I departed for Europe 8 weeks ago. I've had the time to think and self-reflect, and this has taught me a lot about myself and about other cultures. Most importantly, I now realize what I must do over the next few years to become the person that I want to be; professionally, personally, and spiritually.

Thank you to everyone who has come into my life over the past 8 weeks. You have all changed my life in some way or another and without you, I would not be the same person that I am today.

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Now for the fun part. Giving out awards to the cities, hostels, experiences, etc. that were most influential on my journey. In my 8 weeks abroad, I visited 8 countries and 16 cities. 

(England: Pensford, Bristol, Bath, London), (Belgium: Brugge), (Netherlands: Amsterdam), (Germany: Berlin, Munich), (Czech Republic: Prague, Kutna Hora, Ceske Krumlov), (Spain: Seville, Barcelona), (Portugal: Lisbon, Sintra), (France: Paris)

1.) Favorite city(s):

This is not an easy question to answer. I have multiple cities in mind that I both enjoyed and would return to on another occasion. In no particular order, my 3 favorite cities were:

• Berlin, Germany
• Barcelona, Spain
• Paris, France

2.) The city I want to return most to:

Berlin, Germany without a doubt. I only spent two full days in Berlin yet I could have easily spent two weeks in the city (and I still would not have seen it all).

3.) Best Hostel:

For those who have been committed to reading my blog, you already know the answer to this question. It is The-Tent, located in Munich, Germany.

4.) Best experience(s):

• Euro-cup finals in Munich, Germany. Walking 5 kilometers to Olympic Stadium and standing in a crowd full of screaming Germans. I played a game of futbol with a few Germans prior to the start of the match.
• Climbing Mt. Klet in Ceske, Krumlov. This was one of the most rewarding experiences both mentally and physically. I hiked 18 kilometers all by myself that morning, which felt amazing (after I was done, of course). 
• Couchsurfing in Paris, France. I met some of the greatest people in Paris. Thank you Patrice for hosting myself and the other couchsurfers I met. Noam and Yonathan are GREAT, and seeing them perform outside of the Sacre Coeur (and under the Eiffel Tower on my final night) were some my favorite experiences all trip.

5) Most difficult time all trip:

Ceske Krumlov without a doubt. Leaving The-Tent was hard enough. Traveling east in Europe (where less people speak English, therefore making it more difficult to find your way), and doing it alone, was definitely the hardest part of my trip. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but it was something that I felt I had to do. Looking back, I felt more lonely in Ceske Krumlov than anywhere else on my trip. I also felt extremely proud of myself for getting through those four difficult days, climbing that mountain, and finding my way in and out of Czech Republic without a single problem.

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I could continue with more awards such as my happiest moment all trip (arriving in Paris), my scariest moment (waking up at the last second on my night train to Seville), and my most pathetic moment (faking sick for three hours in a train bathroom, in order to arrive in Paris on-time!). However, it is getting late and I have a long day of travel tomorrow before returning home to The States.

I hope you all enjoyed reading my blog, and definitely check back in the next few days as I will be putting up a slide show of my favorite pictures that I took in Europe. It will be worth looking at them, I promise!

There are plenty more things I could write, but I will wait to do the explaining in-person when you all see me next :) I have been somewhat slacking on the last few blog entries only because I am saving some of my stories for when I get home. So call me and lets get-together for lunch or a coffee anytime after August 5. I will have my phone re-activated then. 

See you all soon and keep an eye out for some more pictures in the coming days.

Ryan Harb

Senior European-Traveler

In Paris!

Greetings everyone! I am in Paris and absolutely loving the city. Patrice happens to have the same camera as I and therefore I am able to upload some of my pictures. So here they are. Descriptions when I have time.



Patrice, on the left, my couchsurfing host, with Yonatan, my roommate, on the right.


Counting the money...


...From a long days work... that is 242 Euros!


Noam, left with their audience member Carlos in the middle and Yonatan on the right.


Wondering what they do at this point?


Well...


They street perform!

You must watch this video! Click the play button to see my couchsurfing roommates!

Then there is usual tourist attractions: The Eiffel Tower

The Sacre Couer

Myself, extremely happy, on my first full-day in Paris. I am wondering alone at this point from The Louvre to Arc de Triumph.

A fountain, with the Eiffel Tower in the background,

Me at The Louvre.

More Louvre...

And finally, Patricks place with some balloon animals made by the talented street performers whom I lived with for three nights.

Barcelona Pictures

Descriptions soon. For now just some pictures. Gaudi architecture is everywhere!







Descriptions soon. For now just some pictures. Gaudi architecture is everywhere§!

Recap of Lisboa, Portugal

In short, Lisbon is an absolutely beautiful city. It is located right on the coast of Portugal, (a nice change of pace from the rest of my travels, being so close to the ocean). On Wednesday I took full advantage of this; taking the train to Carcavello beach and swiming on the other side of the Atlantic! It was a bit frigid, but definitely worth it (for story purposes of course). Because it is right on the water, the weather was not nearly as hot as Seville, which was very very refreshing.

Carcavelo beach - 20 minutes by train from Lisbon (Cais do Sodre)

Thursday was another beautiful day, and again I took a train, with two Australians I met, to a small town called Sintra. Sean, George, and I had a great day trip walking around the palace which, "In the 184os, Ferdinand de Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the Germanic husband of Queen Maria the II, built. It is described as an immense, almost farcical castle, combining all the luxurious elements of previous ornate and gothic masterpieces."

Visitors will feel as though they have entered a Moorish palace, the kind of which fairy tales are made.

See what they mean?

The place was spectacular. It is located in the center of a large park which has paths running throughout, small ponds / waterfalls, and amazing views of the town.

The hostel was like most other hostels, except free internet, free breakfast, and two good-sized kitchens (loved that aspect). I stayed in most nights and had some good conversations about traveling with George and Sean. It is looking more and more like my next backpacking trip will be to Australia, although it would have to be during the winter (our summer). Maybe you all will be reading this blog again a few months from now... we will see.

The remaining days in Lisbon were quite low-key. Sean and George both left and I was running out of energy. Traveling takes a lot out of you, and as my friend Jeffrey Kane puts it, "Traveling and vacationing are two completely different things." Traveling involves work, moving from location to location and having to be constantly thinking about what to see during your short stay in the city. Vacationing is, well, a vacation. I prefer traveling at this point in my life.

I went to a free concert one night which was called, "Festival de bandas de Lisboa". It was much different than I thought - more of an orchestra than a small band, which is what I was picturing in my head. The crowd was mostly older folks, locals I would say, but it was great nonetheless. My last day entailed going to a few museums, an outdoor market, and catching an unexpected parade.

Some really cool stuff I saw at the contemporary modern art museum. Here is one picture that I found extremely odd, but very interesting.

So much going on in this painting. I cannot remember the name of the artist, but I wrote it down somewhere. I will have to post it later if anyone is interested. Then there was this video... two videos actually. Ana Mendieta was the artist. Maybe some of you have heard of her before...

...body tracks and sweating blood were the names of two of her works. She has a fascination with blood, is what I gathered by those two pieces. Feel free to look her up on youtube if any of you are interested in seeing some graphic and rather taboo artwork.

I also visited an Egyptian artifacts museum, which was extremely cool. Alright that is Lisbon in a nutshell. Here are a few pictures that I will leave you with before ending this post.

The main street in Lisbon - "Rua Augusto"

Praca do Comercio - where the free music concert was located.

I obviously did not take this photo. This is the statue in Lisbon which is very similar to the famous statue of Jesus Christ which is located in Rio De Janiero, Brazil. They also have a bridge that looks very similar to the Golden Gate...interesting.

Well, I am in Barcelona at this very moment and very tired tonight. It took me 20 hours to get from my Lisbon hostel to my hostel in Barcelona. Another long night train, but I made it! Only two weeks left on this European expedition. More updates coming soon. Ciao for now.

A few more pictures from Seville, Spain

All of us at the dinner table, following the completion of our delicious meal.


A picture of Caitlin and I. As mentioned before, she goes to school at Boston University.


Myself, Caitlin, and Ronnie hanging out poolside at the rooftop terrace.


Me trying to get a little reading done by the pool during the mid-afternoon heat!

Cooking in Europe!

Some of you may be wondering, "What has Ryan been doing for food? Has he been eating out at restaurants every night, cooking a lot, eating lots and lots of cereal?" Well, two out of the three of those are true.

• I am eating a lot of cereal (my breakfast consists of cereal most mornings, because that is the breakfast that most hostels provide). I buy yogurt at the supermarket (every morning I will take a walk to get it, or if the hostel has a refrigerator in the kitchen, I will get two - three days worth at a time)
• During the afternoon, I tend to eat fruit (bananas, apples, peaches or pears, and sometimes an occasional orange or clementine). I still have some granola bars and cliff bars left that I brought from home to go with my fruit. This hostel in particular has lots of bread in the morning, so I bought "Mortadella" at the supermarket and made cheap sandwiches for lunch.
• At night, I always cook. I rarely dine out in Europe (only once or twice since I have been here due to being on a tight budget). Tasting the local food is certainly part of the cultural experience, and I have been trying to do that in each country as I go. For instance, I tried incorporating sausage into all of my dinners while staying in Germany, and in Spain, I would cook Spanish style rice with beans and vege´s (we made Sangria´s to drink). Tomorrow I will buy some fish and potatoes for a Portuguese style meal.

I am extremely sick of spaghetti (or any type of pasta at this point) and even more sick of tomato sauce! It has basically been my cheap and safe meal during this trip, and now I cannot imagine eating it for weeks to come. This week I have been living off of frijoles and salad. Lots and lots of greens (lettuce, cucumber, zuccini, with some onion, garlic, and tomato mixed in) with some bean and potato or rice all mixed together.

This blog post is dedicated to you, Mom, who wanted to know where I am eating, what the kitchens are like in my hostels, and how I am living my daily life here. The pictures below are from Seville, Spain. They show a few of us cooking a big pasta and chilli meal. It consisted of minced meat, beans, tomato, peppers, onion, garlic, and sauce, accompanied by two bottles of cheap Spanish vino tinto (red wine).


On the left is Travis. He is a 26 year old teacher from Portland, Oregon and has travelled around Europe twice, both times by himself.


Preparation for the meal...


All of us cooking in the kitchen of Oasis, Seville (the kitchen was on the top floor, and going out the door you step foot onto the rooftop terrace, which had a pool!) Left to right: Travis, myself, Caitlin from Pittsburgh who goes to school at Boston University, and Joe from Australia. Most of the people I have met are not Americans, but on this particular night there happened to be 3 Americans eating dinner with 2 Australians.

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This is an older picture, taken by James from England. Adam (left), me, and James enjoyed a pasta with mushroom and chicken dinner at Old Prague Hostel (obviously located in Prague, Czech Republic).


Same night as above. Not the greatest picture of me.


I felt this blog needed a little bit of immaturity. Most of my entries have shown a mature side of me, and this picture certainly shows the opposite. Bon Appetite!

In Lisbon, Portugal

Not the best map I know, but you get the idea.


I will try to keep updating the map to show you where I am / where I have been, if you like seeing it. Leave comments on what you think of the blog or what I should add more of!

Anyway, the overnight train from Madrid to Lisbon was...pretty awful. It was just that I thought I had a sleeper compartment and instead I had just an uncomfortable chair to sleep in. I was under prepared... warm clothes packed deep in my pack and my pillow from the last train was hijacked by the last hostel cleaning woman! I survived, but I am very tired right now.

After arriving at the hostel, I made myself some breakfast and ventured out to a market that only occurs on Tuesday and Saturday (until 11:00). It was tough to find, but a pretty cool experience. They sell some of the randomest things, however,...

More to come after I catch up on sleep and explore the city!

Seville, Spain and a story from The-Tent

The four nights I spent in Seville were great. The people I met were interesting, fun to be around, and in general, warm-hearted people. I have found that most travellers are all of these things and will gladly help out a fellow traveller in his / her time of need.

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Here is a story that I have yet to talk about in my blog. It happened at The-Tent in Munich (I know, I talk A LOT about this place). When I arrived in Munich from Prague, I had just left my two travelling companions and I was still new to being on my own. The first few people that I met in Munich were from England and The States. One girl, from Colorado, was 25 years old and had been travelling alone for about 3 months. Her name was Joy.

Joy seemed like a very caring person - I sensed that immediately after meeting her. When I told her that I was also from The States, her eyes widened and she asked me, "I know this will sound random, but what bank do you use?". When I told her Bank of America, her eyes grew even wider and a big smile appeared on her face. What she told me next was that her wallet had gotten stolen a few days prior, and she had no way of getting any money until Bank of America sent her a new card. She was broke at this point: No ATM card, No Credit Card, No Money.

"I know that this will sound a little bit crazy because I just met you and all, but how would you feel about letting me transfer money into your ATM account?" Of course I wasn´t going to keep the money, but take her money out of my account (from the ATM) and give it to her. One day after meeting Joy, we went to an internet cafe to make the transfer, then to the ATM, and this resulted in her having cash again...and being able to survive. For the two days prior to me arriving, she was basically stuck at The-Tent, and her friends she met there would cook extra food for her to eat. She wasn´t able to ask anyone else for money because nobody else at the camp site had a Bank of America account. I was glad to help this girl in her time of need and she greatly appreciated the help.

Sharing food when there is extra, cooking meals with new people (I have become the king of this), and exchanging travel stories / life experiences are all daily rituals that I am observing on my journey. I see myself becoming more and more confident each day when it comes to meeting new people. I can start up conversations with just about anybody at this point, and oddly enough they are some of the best conversations of my life. Easily the most interesting (hearing about places they have travelled and different cultures they have experienced).

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Well, Seville was great and below are a few pictures of the places I visited. My best experiences were easily the conversations I had, the night we cooked a big spaghetti and chilli meal for 4 euro each, and the late nights spent walking around the city - glasses of wine in hand. That is definitely a cultural difference that I feel a lot of Americans take advantage of when coming to Europe. Having a drink in the streets.

The Cathedral (it is massive)!

"Caños de Carmona", old Roman Aqueduct.

Plaza de toros... aka bull ring (there were no bull fights when I was here)

Plaza de Espana.

Finalmente, La Garten de Alcazar.

My proudest moment from Seville was ordering tickets at the Santa Justa train station using only Spanish and no English. Although I haven´t studied the language in over four years, I remember enough to get by and have small conversations when I need directions, tickets, etc. It is a great feeling after communicating with someone in a language other than English. It made me consider studying Spanish again, which is similar to how I felt after visiting Italy (I had signed up to take an intensive Italian language course at UMass, but it ended up not fitting in my schedule). I do want to learn another language, though...

Ciao for now!