Coreyoria World Tour

Today's travels went according to plan! I'm here in London, sitting beside a one Miss Sarah Larimer in an internet cafe located where else but atop the local McDonalds. Classy. So today we walked all over the place and I can't remember everywhere we went, but I do know this much - I think I'm in love with London. From what I can tell so far, it's quite great. Almost 11 and this place closes so I'd better jet.

Cor

*Alert: Screen name change for AIM underway ... lost the password for my old one. Whoops. E-mail me for the new one.*

So my stay here in Germany is coming to a close. Today Micha, Denise,
and I traveled about two hours, close to the Checkoslovokian border,
where we climbed up to a fortress in what has been deemed "Saxon
Switzerland." And despite being covered from head to toe with more
mosquito bites than you can imagine, I was still able to appreciate
the amazing view. The fortress stretched 1.25mi long and was nearly
2,000ft above sea level. You could see for hundreds of miles in every
direction and we had wonderful warm, breezy weather. I saw buildings
from the 1600's still in tact and some unbelievable things like an old
water well that was so deep, you could not see the end. Astonishing
that all of this has remained intact. Now, to go accomplish some
packing. Tomorrow I leave the open land of BMW's, Mercedes, and
Volkswagons for the packed streets of London. See you tomorrow, Sarah!

Cor

I'm covering all of Eastern Germany, or at least it seems like it!
I've been to Baützen, Görlitz, a dinosaur park (saurierpark), Dresden,
and today a little villiage made out of wood. I've had a meal at a
traditional German potato house and tried lots of new drinks. They
like to mix beer with everything here and I didn't know what it would
be like, but they know what they're doing. My favorite so far would
have to be a mixture of beer and a raspberry-lemonade kool-aid
mixture. I've also sampled all kinds of other great drinks. Hey -
they're on vacation right now and so am I! Dresden was wonderful ...
Michigan Ave. meets old style Baroque architecture and castles. It's
situated on the Elbe River and we walked probably the entire Old City.
I had been destroyed mostly by bombs after WWII, but it is almost
finished being reconstructed. On the way back, after figuring out some
calculations (which I have been having to do a lot!), I figured out
that we traveled 124mph on the autobahn! And that's normal for them.
Germany is, they said, one of the only countries with no speed limit.
Keep in mind there are far fewer cars on the road. The city of Görlitz
is Germany's easternmost city, and on the other side of the river is
Poland, so we were able to walk across a bridge and into Poland, which
I thought was really neat. I've seen lots of fascinating things, but I
don't have time now to recount them all. Thanks for checking in on me.
I'm doing great and absolutely loving it here!

Bye for now,
Cor

Hello! I made it here to Germany safe and sound. All of my flights
went very smoothly, no problems really. Traveling for about 15 hours
went by much faster than I'd expected. My sleep pattern is a little
messed up, but not bad. Everyone here is so friendly, but I feel bad
that I can barely communicate with anyone who's not speaking English.
The village I am staying in is very small. It's called Reichwalde and
there are about 600 people. Good news is that absolutely no one can
tell I'm American. Yay. They find out real soon, of course, when I
can't understand them or speak any German. Last night I went to the
annual summer festival. I've already whizzed around on the Autobahn
and traveled to the town of Bautzen for some sight-seeing. The
countryside is beautiful and covered in dense forest where it has not
been cleared for farms and fields. I just went to a race where the
contestants had to do old fashioned things like catch a fish with
their hands, cut grass with a syke, cut a piece of wood with an old
hand saw, wheel an old wheelbarrow, paddle through a lake seated in a
pig's trough. It was funny especially when a little boy accidentally
got smacked with a fish that jumped out of the holding tank and one
man's trough was leaking and sank in the lake. Well I'd better go.
Denise made me some tea and it's getting cold!

Ciao!
Cor

I leave in about a half hour for the airport. I'm a quarter nervous, three quarters excited, which is probably the definition of anxious. It's pretty surreal actually, to finally be going. I'll be in transit for about 13+ hours before arriving in Berlin, so it's going to be a long trip. I've got my ipod and some travel guides to look over. Of course, I've got a plush neck pillow so I can catch a few winks ... hopefully. Here's hoping the in-flight movie is a good one! Next time I post, I'll be on the other side of the world. Well, not really, but I'll be in Europe!

Thanks for stopping by,
Cor

I’m at it again. I have created another blog, but this time with a purpose (and hopefully more staying power)! Instead of mass-emailing everyone and filling up inboxes with annoying updates, I started this blog to erratically update everyone on my whereabouts and adventures. This way you can check in on me when it most suits you and everybody wins.

I’m going to be departing for Berlin on July 21. I will then spend ten days in Germany with my friend, Denise. I met Denise awkwardly in high school physics sophomore year. She, a brilliant but lonely foreign exchange student living with a family sans teenagers in Chesterfield. Me, a too-talkative student, horrible at physics. Thus, a perfect match. She came to pay another visit summers later with her sister, Caro. It’s my turn to do the traveling and I am more than willing to oblige.

On July 31, I fly from Berlin to London, where I will meet up with none other than the smiling face of Sarah Larimer, who from what I can tell has completely revolutionized the world of sports in Great Britain. Interning at the London AP Bureau, sports division, my good ol’ buddy from the J-Slums has been kind enough to extend an invite for me to sleep on her couch. I’ll take it!

Last, but certainly not least, I depart London on Aug 8 for what I have dubbed my “European MEGAtour.” Spanning 39 days, and covering 12 countries, I will leave no stone unturned! I fly back to the States from Amsterdam on Sept 14.

Please e-mail me while I’m gone, although I can’t promise speedy replies. And feel free to leave messages on my cell phone voicemail, which I will be checking intermittently.

Uncontrollably anxious, but ultimately excited,
Corey