confessions of a doodler

Sorry dears, I have neglected you.

It was one year today that I was gallivanting through Greece and a few days away from starting my semester in Prague. Ever since coming back from my adventures abroad I have been busy and constantly neglected this little blog. I want to try and get back into swing of things with some photos. I have been consumed by school and much travel has not happened since last January.

Worthy to note though its my amazing trip to California about a month ago. Visited Los Angeles, and San Francisco with a roadtrip in between on the PCH 1. Most incredible drive I have ever taken to this day.

Some photo trip highlights:

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West coast you will see me soon again. I promise.

Currently diving straight into a year of Architectural Grad school to complete my B.Arch. so I will be pretty grounded until next May. I will be updating with some older photos I have not shared though.

check ya later.

Posted September 11, 2011

2010 Review: A year in travels

As I prepare to receive the new year from my humble abode in Raleigh all I can think is about how this past year has gone by. I have realized that 2010 has been my year of travels. or what I hope to be the kick start to even more adventures!

I took some time to break it down and wrote down all the new places I have visited in 2010:

9 countries

10 States

39 Cities around the world.

Here are the specifics....

Starting the year off right:

Cruise ship for New Years around the Caribbean:

Key West

Roatan, Honduras

Costa Maya, Mexico

Cozumel

Across America: roadtrip from North Carolina to California

Tennessee

Nashville

Memphis

Arkansas

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City

Elk City

Texas

Amarillo

New Mexico

Santa Fe

Truth or Consequences

Arizona

Tombstone

Tuscon

Scottsdale

California

Los Angeles

Hermosa Beach

Random Trips:

Florida

West Palm Beach

North Carolina

Linville Gorge

Blowing Rock

Virginia

Lexington

Study Abroad Fall:

Turkey

Istanbul

Ankara

Goreme ( Cappadoccia)

Pammukale

Fethiye

Greek Isles

Rhodes

Santorini

Greece

Athens

Sparta

Gythio (Caves)

Mavrovouni Beach

Czech Republic

Prague

Cesky Krumlov

Hubvlar Castle

Budweiser Budvar tour

Kutna Hora

Jindrichovice pod Smrkem (north bohemia)

Germany

Berlin

Netherlands

Amsterdam

Hungary

Budapest

What an amazing year. I hoping for even better things 2011. Wishing everyone a happy new year!

Posted December 31, 2010

Goodbye Prague, until next time...

A nice little picture of the institute all covered in snow...

I don't even know where to begin...these past few weeks have been a whirlwind to say the least. We had final reviews for our architecture projects, papers in philosophy, exam in beekeeping and then final things like cleaning, packing and saying goodbye to everyone. Its been bittersweet to say the least. I'm going to miss this city A LOT. I have learned so much about this city that the last few weeks have just felt so normal in routine and everything we did. I'm excited to see friends and family back home and eat a lot of different foods that I have missed but other than that, I know I'll feel like I'll want to be back within the month.

Right now though, completely exhausted from the past few days and running around for last minute errands, and packing my life back into a suitcase. Tomorrow bright and early I am off to one last trip to Budapest, Hungary before flying back to Raleigh next wednesday. Looking forward to exploring one last european city.

I'll update once I'm back home. I'll have plenty of time to share photos too.

Posted December 11, 2010

Sunset of the fall

When late evenings were still clear and cloulds were scarce, we enjoyed these beautiful views from the back porch in our Pension.

The colors just got progressively better and better...

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I have not seen the sun for about 5 days now. Oh Prague....

Posted November 23, 2010

Reminiscing about those fall days...

Currently about average 38 degrees F with overcast skies and rain. Its the most terrible weather that just makes you want to stay inside all day.

I realized I had not put up some fall sites from this past October when the weather was still wonderful. These past few weeks have been exhausting to say the least and come wednesday afternoon I'll be on thanksgiving break and on a plane on my way to AMSTERDAM. Looking forward to a nice little vacation away from Prague.

Early October me and a couple of friends ventured out to the Prague Zoo which has some wonderful grounds and lots to see. Here are some of the animal highlights:

side note: Okay... this is not an animal but right before the zoo we had brunch at this delicious place called Bohemian Bagel. What a beautiful sandwich I had...
Anyways to the actual animals:

Vultures, Flamingos,Eagles and sleeping tigers:

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The view from the zoo. One could even see Prague Castle in the distance!

The beautiful Giraffes were my favorite!

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While the Gorillas were the most intriguing for sure. (note the little fella)

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Besides the Zoo, I went to explore what I think its one of my favorite areas of Prague. Vysherad which is located upon a hill overlooking the city has the most incredible river views. There is a beautiful gothic church and a cemetery where a lot of famous Czech people have been buried.

We could have not picked a better day to be up here...

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Gothic architecture has the most incredible details than any other time period.

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The cemetery:

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They had some of the coolest and interesting tombs I have ever seen. We spent a quite a bit of time just wondering around...

Posted November 21, 2010

All about honeybees

Its been quite a while since I have updated with any photos. School has kept me pretty busy during the week, and between sleeping and exploring this wonderful city time slips on by..

I wanted to share some photos about our Bee Institute trip from a while back. One of the classes that I'm taking this semester is Bees & Bee Keeping with a Czech professor/bee keeper to fulfill one of my sciences. As we found out not long ago, our professor is legit! ( in the Bee world that is...) He is a pretty well know Bee keeper around the Czech Republic. He has done a couple of movie documentaries, written some books, and seems to know a lot of people around the area. He is quite a quirky guy but keeps the class bearable with random movies, a few powerpoint slide shows, and we can't forget we get about the 30 minute breaks halfway through the class to have coffee and some sort of honey-related snack he brings each week.

Our class group took a 30 minute train ride to the outskirts of Prague. It a was pretty little area where the train dropped us off. We then had to take a small boat ride to the institute just because it was located on the other side of the river.

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Once we arrived he took us over to the Beehive boxes where the bees produce the honey. These bees are all very friendly according to our proffesor so we did not need to wear any sort of gear protection. I don't think I saw one bee flying around at all.

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We even got to pet the bees! so bizarre.

up close and personal.

Then we took a tour around the institute where they produce the honey and all sorts of things that I wont bore you with...
But the best part was that we got to do a nice tasting of all different types of honey the produce. Sunflower honey, dew honey, and other 4 types I can't remember the name. Also, 3 types of mead they make there: 'Honey wine' is what they call it. Really tasty like a very sweet liquor.

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Posted November 7, 2010

Mirror Maze

On top of Petrin Hill near the center of Prague there is a small building, so called 'mirror maze'. I would put it to be more of a hall of mirror since the maze is not so big and meant for children. I did see children run into the mirrors thinking it was the right way to walk and I felt horrible yet it was kinda funny.

At first we just kinda walked through it quickly as we figured it out pretty easy. But then we stopped at this one mirror that just gave the most bizarre angles I have ever seen. I started to snap photos and looking at different angles. The way the mirrors are set-up its incredibly crazy and makes you see almost every angle of your body.

Most of the pictures I took was straight on to the mirror which was the most strange thing I have seen. Also one could never tell where other people were coming from.