Malmo, Sweden and Rome, Italy
I was in Malmo, Sweden for Oredev, an awesome tech conference, October 31 through November 7. I then vacationed in Rome for a few days, from November 7 through November 10. I'm lazy so I have notes to share, but not a polished, fancy blog post. Having blogged extensively about my time in Europe and China, I thought I should at least make a small post 
. Hello, goodbye, and I hope you enjoy!
Malmo:
* Emil, Tobias, Tara, Eric, Peter going to Tapas in Malmo, being confronted by Rupert, the creepy dude with the arabic ID.
** Made sexist jokes to Tara
** Made strange references to killing
** Told of a story where he rescued a family in Beirut
** Wouldn't tell us his name or his business
** Wanted our business cards
** Bought us raspberry vodka shots
* Gave a full day workshop, two talks, and ran a panel
* Taxes, including sales tax, are about 75%
** Minimum wage is super high
** Quality of life seems very high
** Healthcare is very attentive, at least form the stories I heard
** Everyone is able to take 18 months maternity and paternity leave. Staggered between husband and wife.
** Most people takes 6 weeks off in the summer time
* Jumped in the Baltic sea, naked, after a sauna
** Ocean was 45 degrees F
** Sauna was 188 degrees F
* Had Swedish cuisine!
** Starter: pickled Herring with mayonnaise, bread, lettuce, tomato, dill, lemon
** Dinner: delicate potatoes with cod, carrots, peas, and mustard sauce
** Desert: vanilla pudding with apple sponge cake
* Enjoyed the beautiful park with Dan
* Wonderful dinner in city hall
** Pig blood soup
** Duck with potatoes, cabbage, prunes, apple sauce, apples. Delicious
** Port for desert, great company
** Michael asked me to moderate the Cloud Computing panel, and give a Cloud Computer talk
* Had another awesome Swedish meal: BBQ deer with potatoes
* Observation: everyone is beautiful here. Guys and girls.
* Dan and I did a day trip in Copenhagen
** We ate and drank on the famous street, Nyhavn. Cool place.
** Girls were unbelievable there
** I was rather sick, so we mostly just hung out and walked around
* Had a good organic dinner with Emil, several CS people, and Dan
** Good food, good wine
* Met Julia and her friend, Matilda, with Dan at TGI Fridays
** TGI Fridays is pretty posh in Europe. They had a DJ, etc.
Rome:
* Ate lunch in Ariaccea (a famous food village)
** Had starters, which were mostly meats, cheeses, vegetables, and other things
** Totally delicious
* Got a coffee, which in Italy is the tiniest amount of liquid, along with an Amaro, which is a digestive that's good
* Got a beer Saturday night in Trastravere, which is a really cool hip scene
* Ate pizza and delicious fried starters at Pizzeria la Montecarlo in the city center
** Starters: Fritto misto (from Southern Italy)
** Dinner was at 9:30pm or so
* Went to a club Saturday night called Cearcolo degli Artisti -- outdoors and indoors; cool place
* Sunday had breakfast at Mateo's house; cake and coffee
* Sunday lunch was Silvio's mom's pasta with meat and salad
** Unbelievable
* Sunday went to Pigneto (street: Via del Pigneto) to get a beer. Really cool area
* Sunday dinner was Silvio's mom, cooking onions + potatoes along with a fried steak (like wienerschnitzel). Soooo good
* Had desert wine called Passito in the Monti area, which is by the colosseum. Really cool area, and the wine was good
* Monday we relaxed, spent time in Trastravere, and played soccer with Silvio's friends
** Europeans are totally fine showering naked with each other
** Ate dinner at around 10:00pm at Economica (pizzeria)
*** Had potato and sausage pizza, with bruschetta to start, and two half liters of Nastro Azzurro. Super good
** We then went to San Lorenzo, which is a very Mission-like hood
** Had a beer in Piazzetta, which is a little square in San Lorenzo
* Bought three Italian coffee makers (called a Moka), and Silvio's mom gave me some coffee
The Drain of Traveling
Starting June 18th I ventured off to Europe on a 7-week-long backpacking trip, returning to Los Angeles on August 7th. Just a week later I traveled to Cape Code, Massachusetts on the 14th of August and returned to Los Angeles on the 20th. I'm now going to hop on a plane for Shanghai on the 22nd, hoping to return in December (depending on China's visa policies).
As insanely excited as I am for Shanghai, I'm feeling the weight of hopping around so much. I'm very excited to be living in one place for at least a few weeks, especially since that place is Shanghai, a city that will be unlike anything I've ever experienced. I long for sleeping in the same bed night after night, showering in the same shower, and even spitting my toothpaste into the same sink.
I have an unexplanable appreciation for traveling, but the lesson I have learned now is that travel should perhaps be spaced accordingly. Otherwise moving and sleeping in different beds and adapting to different shelters takes a toll on you, rather, it has at least taken a toll on me.
Shanghai, I'm ready .
Photo credit: here.
Europe, In Summary
My Europe backpacking trip began and ended in London, England. My best friend, Dustin, his sister, Lindsay, and I flew directly from Los Angeles to Heathrow International Airport to meet another best friend of mine, Dan, whom I hadn't seen in four years. The four of us started our 51-day journey the following day. The trip went as follows:
London, England – 6/19 – 6/20 (1 night)
Amsterdam, Netherlands – 6/20 – 6/21 (1 night)
Brussels, Belgium – 6/21 – 6/23 (2 nights)
Paris, France – 6/23 – 6/26 (3 nights)
Caen and Bayeux, France – 6/26 – 6/28 (2 nights)
Nice, France – 6/28 – 7/4 (6 nights)
Barcelona, Spain – 7/4 – 7/9 (5 nights)
Rome, Italy – 7/9 – 7/12 (3 nights)
Florence, Italy – 7/12 – 7/14 (2 nights)
Venice, Italy – 7/14 – 7/15 (1 night)
Salzburg, Austria – 7/15 – 7/18 (3 nights)
Munich, Germany – 7/18 – 7/23 (5 nights)
Prague, Czech Republic – 7/23 – 7/28 (5 nights)
Berlin, Germany – 7/28 – 8/3 (6 nights)
Amsterdam, Netherlands – 8/3 – 8/6 (3 nights)
London, England – 8/6 – 8/7 (1 night)
We started and ended in London because a roundtrip ticket in and out of Heathrow was much cheaper. The same thing goes with Amsterdam being on each end of the trip -- flying in and out of Amsterdam was cheaper. Other than the journeys between Los Angeles, London, and Amsterdam, the only other flight we took was a one-way between Barcelona and Rome. All other journeys were made on train using our Eurail 15-day flexi-passes. Dan left us in Rome, and Morgan, Dustin's girlfriend, met us in Rome.
We realized very fast that traveling with four people during the busiest travel time requires that hostels be reserved a few weeks ahead of time. This was unfortunate in some ways because we couldn't be as free and agile as we would like, but making reservations also allowed us to usually stay at the best hostels.
There is no way I can sum up such a trip in a matter of paragraphs, so all I'll say now is that my backpacking excursion across most of Western Europe was utterly amazing. Very soon I will have completed a post for each of the cities listed above, and these posts will be an attempt to share my experience with you. I'll update the list above with links to these posts as I make them and also link each individual post to this summary post. I'm not going to write a post for London, though, because we barely spent any time there -- the pound-dollar conversion was too terrible (1:2.11).
I hope you enjoy, and please, please comment or email if you want any advice or have any questions.
Dan, Me, and Dustin in Rome.
Me, Dan, Dustin, Morgan, and Lindsay in Rome after eating really, really good food.
Another Big Travel Purchase
When will they end? Not yet. I still need a better pair of shoes.
- Canon Rebel XTi Digital SLR (body only) - $509 from Dell
- SanDisk 4GB Compact Flash Card - $28 from Dell
I'll be using my dad's lenses from his 35mm SLR that he never uses anymore. I believe he has a 75-300mm lense and a 28-105mm lense.
More Travel Purchases
The travel purchases never end.
- Traveler's health insurance - $66 for all seven weeks of Europe
- International Student Identity Card - $25
- International Phone and SIM Card - $39 (includes $10 of talk credit)
I'm not even finished yet. In other news, my mom and I sewed an old sheet into a sheet bag for the hostels that don't have bedding.
Bonus purchase: my team and I won our Google APM scavenger hunt, so I got a $50 gift certificate to the Google Store. I bought a Google bike jersey. Now all I need to buy to make my outfit complete is a nice pair of tight, short bike pants. Mmmmm.
San Juan Island Cycle
Last weekend my roommate, Matt, and I cycled around San Juan island. I thought I would describe our trip for those of you who might be interested. It was a ton of fun, and I would recommend it everyone.
Drive from Seattle to Anacortes
The trip started with Matt and me leaving Seattle at 6:00am. We arrived in Anacortes at around 7:30am, just in time for the 7:45am ferry. Look here for a complete ferry schedule. The drive was quick and easy.
Ferry from Anacortes to Friday Harbor, San Juan Island
The ferry ride cost us around $14 each -- $10 per person and $4 per bike. It was very empty and very pleasant. The ferry weaved through the San Juan islands and stopped at Orcas Island before arriving at Friday Harbor. The ride was about 90 minutes and probably would have been around an hour without the Orcas Island stop.
Cycle around the Island
We started and ended our loop in Friday Harbor. The route we took is mapped here. Google says it's 25 miles, but I have no way of confirming that. The roads were constantly changing pitch, giving us short amounts of time on downhills and long amounts of time on uphills. The island is generally flat, so each hill was relatively moderate but still challenging. The whole ride took us about three hours, including at least 45 minutes of site seeing, relaxation, and photography. The scenery was totally diverse -- we traveled along cliff-side roads, through thick forests, beside farms (including Alpaca farms!), and across small prairies. It was tons of fun!
About half way around the island was a national park and campsite. If I were to do this ride again, I would pack a sleeping back and tarp and spend the night at this campsite. The site is right on the water with a view of Victoria Island, and it was relatively deserted when we stopped to rest.
We ate awesome fish and beef burgers at The Hungry Clam restaurant after our ride in Friday Harbor's quant downtown. We also took a short stroll around the town, which consisted mostly of souvenir and tourist shops.
Ferry to Anacortes, Drive to Seattle
The trip back to Seattle was more or less the same as the trip up. However, this time our ferry had come from Canada. This meant that we had to go through customs on our way off the boat, which took all of two or three minutes. We didn't have our passports, and the border patrol officer was content with that.
Conclusions
All in all the trip was awesome, and I'm totally glad I did it. It's a relatively easy ride, but the scenery and isolation make it worthwhile. I wish I would have camped one night at the national park, but I suppose it was nice to pack light. Actually, come to think of it, it would be pretty challenging to bike around the island twice in a row. Maybe I'll do that next .
Mmmmm. DVDs.
I arrived in Los Angeles earlier this evening to spend the weekend with my family. I won't get a chance to see them that much this summer seeing as how I'm going to Europe four days after school ends, and I'm going to China two weeks after I arrive from Europe. It's always great seeing my family, and it'll for sure be time well spent. This'll also give me an awesome opportunity to put my family's insane DVD collection onto my newly purchases iPod classic. I don't think I'll be able to fit all 300+ DVDs, but I've chosen 19 of my favorites including all three Lord of the Rings extended editions, all three Austin Powers, Gladiator, etc. Mmmmmm.
Preparation Purchases for Europe and China
I've been buying things like mad in preparation for Europe and China. Take a look:
- 80GB Black iPod Classic - $250
- Plastic Classic iPod Case - $24.95
- 3x 2GB SD Cards - $7.99 each
- 8GB USB Flash Drive - $31.99
- Compact Card Reader - $11.99
- Universal Plug Converters - $17.99
- Lonely Planet Shoestring Guide to Europe - $18.47
- Pocket Journal - $10.95
- Black Passport Money Waste Strap - $11.95
- Some sort of power adapter + extra battery - $?? (my Dad bought it for me at the Sharper Image sale)
All these new gismos are giving me something to play with. I've already encoded 20GBs worth of DVDs onto my iPod, and I'm absolutely astonished at the quality of the sound and video.
In other news, I've began researching the current culture in hopes of fitting in better. I've found some notable YouTube videos related to dancing and hair styles. It's pretty unfortunate that I erased the mullet, because apparently they're the cool thing in Europe along with strange dance moves. Take a look. I got some practicing to do.
I must admit, I'm a pretty big fan of the pump-up shoes. I'm gonna look to buy a pair while I'm over there.
Boulder: An Awesome College Town
This post was written on Monday, February 18, 2008.
I'm writing while in my compact airplane seat on my flight back to Seattle from Denver, Colorado. I spent the last four nights in Boulder visiting my two best high school friends. I had such an awesome time in Boulder that I wanted to share my story.
This plane ride marks the end of my third trip to Boulder, but this trip was exceedingly better than my previous trips. I got some quality time in with my two friends that I miss a lot, and I got a good opportunity to really soak up the town in all of its wonderfulness.
First, the weather
It snows in Boulder a fair amount, and often when it doesn't snow it's sunny and relatively warm. This feeling of contrast is as beautiful as the feeling you get when being splashed by a cool ocean wave after laying in the sweltering sun for an extended period of time. You get to enjoy the fun of being snowed on, while only days later you can enjoy a game of shirtless outdoor sports at the nearby park. I love it.
Second, the food. Third, the food
I could name at least 10 different food joints that are open until at least 2:00am. I would say that 80% of these joints offer unique, unbelievable food such as joints (mini-calzones), cinna-sticks, and steak-and-chee (sandwiches). The other 20% offer the basics – pizza, sandwiches, etc. All 100% of these joints are cheap. Dirt cheap. We bought 30 wings, four tacos, and a pitcher of good beer for $25. Boulder is filled with insanely good eats that are cheap and open late. What more could a college student ask for? Oh yeah, most of them deliver.
Fourth, the people
I find myself to be much more like the people that I've met in Boulder than the people I've met in Seattle. That's not to say that I don't enjoy the people around me in Seattle. No. In Seattle I'm surrounded by really good, fun, smart people, and I'm not trying to say that people in Seattle are inferior. I'm saying they're different, as almost all inhabitants of a unique city are. I'm making the very general claim that I have more in common with the people I've met in Colorado. For example, most of my friends in Colorado, new and old, are goofy. They wear cowboy outfits to the cowboy bar, or they make odd gestures while riding the mechanical bull. They dance like morons when no one else is dancing, and they sing along to all the most rocking songs. When I wear my big blue flannel in Seattle, I get referred to as "Lumberjack Alex." If I wear my big blue flannel in Boulder, I get complimented on how awesome it is. When I sing to a song and play air guitar to a song while in Seattle, I generally get weird looks. If I do the same in Colorado, then I'm usually joined by a collection of my friends in a multi-part, off-key harmony.
Fifth, the skiing
The mountains 90-minutes away from Boulder are great (Vail, Copper, Breckenridge, Keystone, A-Basin, etc). They offer multi-mountain, cheap seasons passes to college students, and most mountains have great terrain. I like Mammoth better, but I think it's safe to claim that the Colorado resorts are better than Washington resorts (Stevens, Crystal, etc), except for maybe the exception of Baker.
Sixth, the school
The University of Colorado offers so many more services to its students than the University of Washington; it's disgusting. They have a Buff Bus that busses students around so they don't have to walk alone late at night in the often-cold weather. CU makes it easy for their students to eat well and get exercise, while the UW doesn't provide carpool discounts for the gym parking lot past 3:00pm. I feel that these points I'm making are slightly out of scope, so I'll leave it at that. I will say that my trip to Boulder has motivated me to begin writing a post about ways the UW could improve, so stay tuned for that. And, to UW's credit, I think its academics are generally better.
If you have friends in Boulder, then go visit them. You'll have an awesome time in an awesome college town. I definitely did.
Whistler: Too Many Nachos
I just got back from the official Redfin Whistler trip. We ate a lot of nachos.
The trip was pretty typical Whistler - great snow, great company, a few too many drinks, and too many nachos. Check this out:
This sucker cost $30 and probably weighed 10 pounds. We ordered these suckers after already have another plate of nachos at a different bar, 2 rounds of buffalo wings, and pitang (French fries w/ gravy and cheese). I think I ate more food that night than I've ever eaten. It was disgusting:
Rob returned from a leave to find that only crumbs were left. He proceeded to put the crumbs in the guac and eat with a spoon. That's innovation right there.
On a side note, I managed to get terrible whiplash due to a huge air with a rocky landing. It sucked. See you soon, Whistler! Next stop: Colorado.