Dear Blog,

It's me, Dave. How are you? I'm good, thanks for asking. Sorry I've been neglecting you these past few weeks, I've been quite busy. Anyway, remember my last post that pertained to my travel plans? I lied to you, Blog. My Spring Break itinerary has drastically changed since then, so I'll take this opportunity to update you.

March 23-27: Prague, Czech Republic
I've heard that this city has amazing nightlife, a fun culture, and lots of sites to see. Furthermore, things are more reasonably priced in Prague than they are in Ireland, which will be a relief on the ol' wallet. I also hope to explore my family history -- my grandma was born in Czechoslovakia, so if I feel adventurous enough I will see if I can find her old town or any information on her immediate family.

March 27-April 2: Athens, Greece
Getting to Greece is pretty difficult (expensive, flight timing, etc.) so I'm pretty glad I was able to fit this in. My flight from Prague to Athens is at 11 p.m. on the 27th and lands after 2 a.m. I obviously can't check into a hostel that late at night, so I will sleep in the Parthenon and hope Zeus protects me, I guess.

April 2-8: Italy
Woohoo! Always wanted to go to Italy. Fly into Rome, and loop around Italy hitting all of the major cities. There is much to see, but I especially want to visit the ruins in Pompeii, and I hope there is time to get to Venice as well. Fly out of Milan on the 8th.

April 8-16 (?): Spain/Morocco (?)
Land in Granada nice and early and start exploring Spain. Some of my fellow travelers are visiting Morocco for four days in the middle of the Spain trip, which would be a very cool and different type of place to see, but I have to decide if I'm up for going to Africa after almost a month of traveling and wearing the same four T-shirts. So either travel around Spain for eight days and then go back to Cork on a flight from Barcelona, or fly Madrid to Morocco to Barcelona to Cork. What do you think, Blog?

I have plenty to do before break even starts. I am already booked to go to Northern Ireland and Scotland this month, and maybe I can squeeze London in. And after break, I have most of May off, which might allow me to visit a few more places (Germany, France, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Austria, etc). Sound good?

I know what you're thinking, Blog -- "Wow, with all this time off, you must really be working hard during the weeks when you do have class, right?" Umm, about that ... no. I hate to admit it, but I have had very little work to do. Each class only requires a test and a paper, or two papers, and the material is usually not at the level of the Bucknell classes I have taken. Sometimes I wish the work was more challenging. I enjoy learning and pushing myself, and I fully expected that to continue in Ireland, but at least this gives me the opportunity to travel Europe, experience different cultures, and see natural and historical wonders. My time traveling will provide me with different kind of educational value that I won't find in any textbook, so it works out.

Sidebar:
News from the home front -- Bucknell has joined hundreds (or thousands?) of other American colleges by deciding to arm public safety officers with guns. Interestingly enough, regular police officers in Ireland (a.k.a. "The Garda") aren't even armed. So Ireland doesn't think it's necessary to provide weapons to police officers responsible for stopping crime and protecting cities, while American colleges are arming officers that are solely responsible for the protection of campuses. Interesting.

Thanks for listening, Blog. I love you.

Your friend,
Dave

P.S. I was in the scenic town of Dingle last weekend, which National Geographic once described as "the most beautiful place on Earth." Some highlights from the weekend included standing on the beach while it was hailing, chatting with Irish surfers in the hostel until 3 a.m. and enjoying an amazing view while horseback riding up a mountain. It was pretty spectacular, despite the bad weather.