Emma Joan

While still in Slovenia, we decided to take a day trip to Venice. We took the train which took us five hours, we left at 6am so we got there early enough. Venice is a beautiful city. It is obviously a very old city and it does have that medieval feel to it. However, as beautiful Venice is, it is really hard to navigate around, a lot of the streets look somewhat similar and there really are no proper signs that point in certain directions.

Morning Dolls,

Lake Bled has to be one of the most breath taking places I have ever visited. The photos do not do this place justice. This lake is hidden away in between Slovenian mountain, though it is popular among backpackers many other people have not even heard of this place before. For people who are after beautiful scenery, adventure sports or just looking to escape everyday life then you need to go here. Okay enough on trying to sell you this place, I’ll get to what we got up to on our trip there.

Afternoon Dolls,

So I finally have found the time to write up the next segment in my travel diary. For those of you who do not know Krakow is a city at the bottom of Poland. We decided to go here for one main reason and that was because it is only 45 minutes away from Auschwitz concentration camp. I am obsessed with this particular part of history, my thesis for Uni was based around the topic “coming to terms with Nazi past”, so I have a good amount of knowledge on the subject. Going there was something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time, so it was my mission to get to it during our travels.

I loved Krakow, it is such a pretty city, really nice to just walk around. It has got a real medieval feel to the town. In my opinion I found the city exactly like Galway city in Ireland. The reason being there both University towns, there not that big and they have the same night life vibe to them. One thing about the city is it has nice parks and a cobbled streets, which just adds to the old vibe the town gives off. Not to mention a really cool castle up on a hill that you can walk up to and walk around. You do have to pay to go inside which we did not bother with but the outside was really nice to stroll through.

There is a lot to do in Krakow, if you are looking for a little break. Not to mention it is dirt cheap, I almost died at the prices over there, for the whole five days including accommodation and eating & drinking out I spent 150 euro. For people on a budget it’s the dream place.              

For going to Auschwitz, we went with Cracow Tours, we priced around and they done the best deal. It was 15 euro for students which included a bus to the camp and a guided tour around both camp one and Birkenau. If that was anywhere in like the western areas of Europe it would properly be like up on 50 euro so you can see how cheap Poland is. On the way to the Auschwitz they showed a documentary on the camps liberation. It actually made me feel ill watching it, some of the images are very disturbing. Auschwitz camp one was where the main part of the tour was. It was very surreal actually being there and was hard to imagine what it had been was like. In camp one you get to go into the first gas chamber that was made, however, once they built Birkenau they built all the crematoriums in that camp instead. The first trial of gassing actually took 48 hours to kill everyone within. I do not how to describe what it was like walking through it as it really is just horrid to think of the happenings there. Also the room with all the belongings and hair in glass cases are in Camp one.  Side Note: One thing I will say about the tour that drove me mad was people taking pictures. I did not mind people taking pictures of the famous gate or the outsides of the camps, but talking pictures of things like the death wall or inside the gas chamber I just felt was unnecessary and disrespectful.  After the tour in camp one you move on to the larger of the camps, Birkenau. Which was huge! I never thought that it was that big, it looked as though it stretched for a good mile. Most of the buildings in Birkenau like the crematorium’s were destroyed as the Nazis abandoned the camps at the end of the war so all you can see is the rubble of buildings. Overall I would definitely recommend going there, it was something I have always wanted to do and after studying all about it for the past few months before I finished college I was definitely excited to go and see it. I am happy I went to it. I am not going to lie it is a bit of a depressing experience but one that’s totally worth it. There is a quote written up in Auschwitz camp one and that is “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat It.” which I think is a fitting quote to have up. People must go and see the destruction that mankind is capable of and grow from them experiences. The guides that work there are also very good and very informative to the history of the camps. So it is definitely worth going to see.

On to a lighter topic, for eating out there’s no shortage of really good restaurants. However, if you are looking for eating out on the cheap side but still getting really good food I would recommend staying away for the restaurants around the square as the can be more expensive than other places. Even though it is really pretty to sit and look out on the square all lit up. I would recommend MooMoo restaurant, they have the nicest burgers and are not too expensive.  Also there is the most adorable cupcake shop on your way from the square to the castle which has the nicest cupcakes (I can’t remember the exact name, but it’s called something cupcakes anyway). There are also no shortage of really cool clubs and pubs around the town. Everything is so close that your within walking distance from all the clubs so no spending money on transport, winning!

Hey Dolls,

So the next stop on our trip was Amsterdam. The train from Brussels went fine it only takes like 2 hours to get there so it was grand. The hostel was actually a boat called the Christina. It was way over priced though for what it was! But then again Amsterdam is super expensive, so I suppose it was reasonable enough for there.

What we done:

A definite must for Amsterdam is to rent out bikes and cycle around the city, the city itself is really big and you cover more ground by cycling rather than walking. Plus it is what everyone does over there. There is even separate roads for cyclists, not many people drive over there. We rented bikes from star bikes near the central station, the only cost 7 euro for the day which was unreal, most places are around 7-10 euro anyways. We ended up cycling around the city to Museumplein which is where all the museums are, including the Van Gough Museum. And it is also where the IAMSTERDAM sign is! We went to the Stedelijk museum which was all about contemporary art. I would defiantly recommend checking out this museum if you’re interested in contemporary art. It was really inexpensive to only 8 euro for a student and I think it was 12 for an adult.

We were only in Amsterdam for a day and a half because of how the train times worked out so we did not make it to Anne Frank’s house. However I would recommend booking it a day or two in advance before you go because of the queue.

Nightlife:

We stayed just on the docks outside the red light district which is possibly the tackiest place I’ve ever been (& that is during the day). However at night it is shocking. I’m not going to get into it too much. But the way the girls were in glass windows and people were just passing them by staring reminded me somewhat of a zoo! It literally was degrading for the women to be stared at behind these glass windows! That part of Amsterdam I was not at all impressed by. It really is something you must see though if you go it is crazy to think that kinda shit is legal.

As for the actual night life, it is for stag dos really. The ratio of men to women at night is probably 10:1 (excluding the ladies of the night of course)  There are some really good pubs there though, and of course if you want to try something different to drinking there is always the coffee shops which the city has no shortage off. There is a more chilled out vibe in them than the pubs which can be a nice change, especially when the city is filled with lads on holiday. We all know they can get a little cray!  

That’s about it for our Amsterdam adventure. Berlin will be coming up shortly.

                                                                Emma x. 

Evening dolls,

As college becomes more stressful and the end of my degree looms closer with every passing week, I am often left thinking what the next step is. For the first time in my life, I do not have a plan. There was always something to go back to once the summer had ended. While September always meant a new year be it school or college, it is no longer like that. Therefore, what am I to do, what is anyone to do when the time finally comes to dawn that cap and gown and step out into the real world. I have always had very high aspirations in life anyone who knows me will be well aware of this, but I have always felt a little discouraged in going after these dreams in fear of FAILURE! I think failure is one of my biggest fears, and it is stopping me from actually going out and giving my dreams a shot. I know I cannot be the only one that feels this way. Therefore, from now onwards I am going to take small steps in trying to work toward my goals and try to kick the fear of failure in the face. I wanted to share a bit of knowledge that helped me to be able to come to this positive realisation! I hope it can help you in coming to the realisation that you can do whatever it is you put your mind to! So without further ramblings the question I would like to pose is:

What if money was no object?

If you could do anything, you wanted what would it be?

Majority of people follow a safe guard in life and go for a career that they do not really want because they see getting the money as the most important aspect of a career. If you do this then you spend your life completely wasting your time. Do things that you enjoy doing, follow your dreams. The older you get the more you realise that life really is short. Each year seems to go faster than the next and life as much as we would all love it too has no pause button. Being in a job you do not enjoy in order to go on living really is not living at all. By doing something you love, you will eventually become a master in it. There is somebody interested in everything. You just need to find what it is you love doing. The real you is not a puppet not something the whole universe pushes around, to you, you are the whole universe. Everybody is an I. When it comes to your life, you are the only one who can truly know what path you should follow. Your parents only want to see you in a successful job with a stable life. However as stability is something most people crave it is not something that can guarantee happiness. Is it not better to do something you love than to do something based on how much money you make?

I believe that if you have a dream follow it otherwise you will be left wondering in years to come 'what if'? I do not believe that once you made a choice you should regret it, at that time in your life that is what you wanted! Something good always follows the choices you make no matter if you cannot see it at the time. Trust me you will eventually see that it was the right choice. It normally leads you to something or someone great. I don’t think that you should follow the norm if that’s not what you want to do! Do you really want to go through life hating your job? I do that already (it’s a part time job to feed the shopping addiction) but I have learned from it that, that is not what I want to go through for the majority of my life.

Not everyone is going to support you in your choices; they may even try to change your mind. It is just a matter of being confident in your decisions and knowing what your goals are. You can achieve anything you put your mind to and don’t let others tell you otherwise. It is important to remember that everyone started somewhere, and you don’t have to be great to start, but you need to start to become great.  People will always discourage you in life, but chose to ignore it, it’s not their life after all.

I think another think that is important to remember is for the most part you are not going to succeed on your first try. It is okay to fail, failure makes us stronger as people and makes us that little bit more determined to succeed. Life is a journey not a destination. Always keep that in mind.

I hope you can relate to this post and gain motivation from it. Everyone has aspirations; the question is what steps are you going to take to achieve them?

Emma x