My Journey Concludes

I'm back in New York now, and have successfully survived my trip to Israel. In the end it wasn't as wonderful as people claimed, and the birthright organization has a ton they need to improve on. I am glad I went, and the more times I can go to Israel the better, but as I mentioned in my previous entries it didn't even compare to Europe. I did however meet some nice people, and do some cool things.

I would recommend doing a birthright trip to anyone with the following stipulations.

1. You don't mind a complete lack of freedom or choice
2. You can pretend to like people you may not
3. You don't need to sleep more than 5 hours a night
   
4. You aren't a picky eater
5. You don't mind long bus rides

I would also recommend that anyone who goes on birthright extend their trip. I think I made a huge mistake by not doing so, and I would have a true good Israel experience.

Anyway, I'm home now, so pleas call me, and let me know whats up with all of you.

I also have switched my email since I will no longer be at the University, You all can reach me at SethBrian@gmail.com. So, let me know whats up, and Ill talk to you all later.

My Frustrations Continue

So, Ive been on this trip for five days now, and things haven't been looking up. I continue to feel like a six year old, while I'm told exactly what to do when. We are grated no free time, and have no sense of freedom. The wort thing is that on this trip that we must do exactly what the group is doing we don't do the things I want to do. We spend so much time at bars, or on the beach, and I'm bored out of my mind. While we spend so much time doing this nonsense, we only spent 4 hours in Jerusalem. This is an abomination, the holy historic city of Jerusalem, we chose to spend the mourning there, while we spend a whole three days on different beaches. Its getting ridiculous.

Anyway, my staff member is a raging bigot. He gave me a 20 minute lecture on why homosexuals should die, and how its unnatural. It was terrible, I hate him, he always harasses me because I voiced my disagreement with his comments.

That's about it, I hope things turn up, but I doubt they will. I think the worst moment during Europe was much better than the best moment here. Its really a shame, because I wanted to love Israel, but I'm having a horrible experience.

Well, home in 5 days, so I have that to look forward to.

Israel begins

OK, Israel has been nice so far. I say nice, because it hasn't been great.

Yesterday we arrived at 4 am, and they didn't let us go to sleep until 9 that night. So, everyone was ridiculously tiered, and couldn't pay attention to anything. I also have these three friends from long Island on my trip that I want to hang. Imagine the most obnoxious ten year old in the world and give him three friends who are all encouraging themselves, and put them in twenty year olds bodies. that's pretty much what I deal with everyday. The next thing that sucks is that everything is a production. When I travel alone, or with two, or even three, things go smoothly and quickly. You can go from thing to thing in a moment. This trip it takes 15 minuets to exit a building, and the four schmucks from Long Island are always keeping the group behind.

Finally I dint like our guide. He is a very strict man who runs us on military efficiency, which is tiresome, so not only are we wasting time with the big group, but we have no time to kind of putz around these areas, it sort of sucks. I also don't think he is very knowledgeable, today he told us the color of a shull is meant to scare away satin, and hell. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but Jews don't believe in a hell or satin. Those are christian ideas. I didn't say anything, but I really think hes wrong. Another example of this is when I first got there I asked what the deal with tish bah ave was, and how crowded and unwieldy it would be in the old city. I said this after having already voicing my concerns via email weeks earlier. He assured me it would be fine. Two hours latter he told the group that the old city was impossible to go to that day, and we had to change the schedule. Why did it take him to the last possible second to figure out what I knew the moment I saw the schedule. He is an idiot, and a poor tour guide.

The are some good parts. Most of the group s pretty chill. I have enjoyed the few things we've seen, and am finding things interesting. Svat was cool, and I enjoyed our rafting down the Jordan River today. So, I hope things get better, and I continue to have a good time.

Belgium

So far I have loved Belgium. There is something about this place that just gives me a good vibe. The people are cool, and I have really had a good time everywhere I went. There is something to be said for a culture that has adopted a peeing boy as its symbol (Manneke Piss seen to the left), its an odd but good sense of humor. The people are very relaxed, and enjoyable to be around. They love to eat and drink. There is a running joke that while many of their neighboring countries were in the middle east fighting during the Crusades, the Belgians were just getting drunk.

The people love beer. They love beer so much that the word for "cool", or "awesome", is "beer", no joke. I was asked where I was from, and when I responded close to Chicago the man told me that "Chicago was very beer", and was serious about it. Also in Flemish culture the highest complement you could pay someone is to say they are as grand as the beer maker: interesting isn't it?

As far as food the Flemish know how to do it right, nothing but chocolate and pastries, mostly waffles. The waffles are a must here, seriously they force you to eat them. I went to a sandwich shop yesterday in Bruges, and when I was done the lady asked me what kind of waffle I wanted. I replied that I didn't want one. She asked why, and I responded I was poor and it wasn't in the budget. She told me that everyone should have a waffle, then left, and came back with a waffle and a liter of beer. She informed me it was on the house, and left with a big smile. Now, how could you not love this culture, no one said any ting about beer, she just thinks all people should have a beer and waffle, so she made sure I did.

As for the sights All the cities have been cool. I started in Brussels, and thought it was a really cool town. The streets are very ornate, and their is always some one playing instruments in the streets around people drinking. Its really cool and very multi cultural. their are different streets that you would swear that you were in Greece or Poland, or anywhere in Europe. Since it is the capitol of the EU it has become one of the most diverse cities in the world.

Then I went to Bruges. I really liked Bruges. The city is this old medieval layout, which hasn't been altered since the 13th century. Its really quaint, and their are a fair amount of things there as well. I saw a vile of Christs blood, which was strange but cool. I also saw Michelangelo's Madonna and Child, which was the only one of his work to leave Italy during his life. Their are also many windmills around (as seen to the right), which add to the rustic feel.

After Bruges I went to Ghent. I didn't know what to expect, and honestly I just went because it was on my way back from Bruge to Brussels. So I got off the train, and thought the town looked deserted. So I walked around a little and soon discovered everyone was in the center of town. Apparently it was their annual festival and I just happened to get there. I was pretty cool their were stages set up with people playing music everywhere, and a lot of different other performances. It was actually really nice. I don't know if the city of Ghent is nice or not, but they do know how to throw a festival. I had a blast.

Finally today I went to Antwerp. Antwerp is pretty cool, but not really the city for me. Its known as one of the fashion capitals in the world and is a great place to go shopping. Since I'm now broke, and unable to purchase fine garments at the moment there isn't much to do in Antwerp. The train station was really nice, they boast its the prettiest in the world, but I don't know how official this title is. They also have a ton of medieval buildings including a castle from the 9th century (seen on the right). The city is pretty cool, and I'm glad I came, but a shopper with money would have died and gone to heaven in Antwerp.

All in all Belgium and the Flemish people are awesome, and I'm having too much fun here to be going home tomorrow. Ive met a bunch of really interesting people, like two days ago I went to a bar/cafe, and ordered a sandwich. I got to talking to the guy next to me and it turns out he was a congressman from the Congo. It was pretty cool (or "beer" I guess), he was a really interesting guy. Yesterday too, I was at the hostel and I met there to guys from Whales. They were really cool, and fun to hang out with.

I'm looking forward to somethings from home, but I'm going to miss all the different people one meets while traveling, especially alone. Its been a crazy experience, and I'm sad to see it end.

Anyway, stay tuned to the blog, because Ill try to do a few Israel updates (July23-August2), and let you all know how that's going, but as for Europe, I think this will be my final entry.

See you in the States,

Seth

Paris Post #4, Bastille Day

Ok, so Bastille day was great and all, but it was no Pamplona. The night of the 13th started by us going to Bastille square, and listening to a free Reggae concert. This is the historical sight of where the prison was before it was destroyed during the revolution. The concert was cool, they even played ha-yirushaliem shel zahav, but a reggae version which was pretty sweet.

Then following the concert everyone in the city going to their local fire station. There were huge parties at every fire house in the city. It was pretty cool, and there was pretty good music going on, so I had a good time. While there me and my newly acquired friend, Mark, met two nice Hungarian girls, and were hanging out with them. Everyone would be happy to know that one of their names was Ester, so it was all good. At the fire house the firemen got on stage and did a little strip show. It was really strange, and I kept thinking how all over the city people are playing with fireworks, and the firemen are drunk and stripping at a party. It just didn't seem safe to me.

I didn't get home until like 5am, and when I got home, there was some one in my bed. Apparently I had switched rooms, but no one had told me, so I went to my new room, and there was someone there. I started to get really pissed, because I had a reservation and prepayed, so I should have a bed. Following this me and the reception guy went room to room looking for an open bed. Finally we found one, but it was some girls bed that just never made it back that night. The man in charge told me to sleep there, and it was like 6am, so I did. Then around 10:30 or so the girl came back, got angry at me, and started to yell in french at me. She got the man at the reception, and I was subsequently moved to the couch in the office. It turned out to be ok, it was a comfortable couch, but a real hassle.

I then woke up at three when me and this Mark guy met our Hungarian friends and walked around the festivals that afternoon. At seven we met up with like 20 other guys in our hostel, and sat in the Eiffel tower park listening to a free concert. Then at 11 they started to fireworks. It was awesome, because they were right behind the tower, so it was very picturesque. It also happened to be the greatest fireworks show of all time. There was never a dull moment, it was really spectacular.

Anyway then I went to bed, woke up, and arrived in Brussels today. It seems nice, but I just got here, so Ill keep you all posted. Three more days left its getting kind of sad that its ending so soon, bu I go to Israel soon after so no worries.

Paris Post #3, food in France

I thought I would go ahead and explain how strange food is in France for you all. For any given meal there are a few options.

First just bread. This seems to be a crowd favorite hear, and I see many people sitting in the park just eating bread. I must admit I have indulged myself in a giant loaf of bread or two while here.

Second, you could go to a restaurant, and pay like €17-25 for your meal. I have stayed away from this, having not yet ate a in a restaurant while here.

Your third option is my favorite, grocery stores sell prepackaged sandwiches for like €3-4, while this is a huge rip off, its cheaper than a restaurant, and better than just bread. The only issue is that they only sell pork, or veggie, so Ive eaten a lot of veggie sandwiches.

Your fourth option is trusty McDonald's, I have gone to McDonald's while here, and its weird. I know that people in America are fat, but in France most people at McDonald's order this golden meal which is your favorite value meal plus a six piece McNugget, it crazy, isn't the sandwich and fries enough? Needles to say, when in France, I also ordered myself Golden meal, and immediately after felt sick.

This brings me to my last observation on french food, candy bars are not sold individually, they are sold in packs of three. This is brilliant. Most people eat all three at a time, and don't even flinch. Even in vending machines, they are only sold in these three packs, again needless to say yesterday I had myself three Snickers bars.

Anyway, I just thought people would want to know what I'm eating, so that was a pretty good run down on my daily consumptions while in France. In two day Ill b in Belgium;, and I plan to eat nothing but waffles, so lets see how that works out.

Paris Post #2

I had some time on my hands, and I know how you are all clamoring for an update on ,y adventures, so I thought I would write a second entry in as many days.

I decided not to go anywhere today, and just chill in the city. This is mostly because I met up with this 37 year old guy from Charlotte and the two of us went out last night. We went to the highest point in Paris, figuring the view at night would be awesome, and we found 300 people all hanging out listening to music. There were these two guys in front with amps giving a concert of mostly English music, and the crowd was really into it. It ended up being a ton of fun, and the two of us stayed up there until like 2am. It was because of this late night escapade that I didn't wake up in time for a day trip.

Everything ended up pretty cool today. I read in the park for a while, its a gorgeous park, right in front of the French Senate. After that I just wondered the streets, and now I find myself at an Internet cafe writing a blog entry.

Tonight I'm meetiong up with a bunch of guys from my hostel, and were all going out to celebrate Bastille day. So, that should be fun.

Anyway all is good, looking forward to the festival tonight and tomorrow.