Magical City of Prague

So, Prague is a city to experience. Definitely my favorite place so far and absolutely amazing. The nightlife is fantastic. Shoutout to Danny Baker for great recommendations there though you'll have to ask me in person about Night 2 cause some things should not be shared in this blog! Anyways, I had delicious food including chocolate covered strawberries, Indian food, and this crazy vegetarian buffet brunch that I loved. Also, this thai massage place was literally advertising themselves with Pokemon Go... Pics

White People

So like, it happened to be Prague Folklore Days the weekend I came in? This sounds bad but tbh this was a great reminder that non-American white people do actually have culture. Somehow, I manage to keep forgetting that...

Lmao

 I mean, ok, so Prague has McDonalds, Subway, and Starbucks all right next to each other. But, they have Hooters too!? Not to mention, the one Hooters I saw was playing Evanescence, like wtf?

 

But then, there's also this really cool wall called the Lennon wall and it has some historical significance that idk but it's constantly covered in graffiti like something about Trump about "Fuck Brexit"

The Loving Hut

Note: Loving Hut is NOT a brothel. It's actually an international chain of vegan pan-asian food. I first stumbled across this place with some friends while on a science olympiad competition... #jetslyfe. Anyways, I happened to pass by it in Prague, was totally shocked that one actually existed here, and couldn't be happier x) The food wasn't as good as the first loving hut or the one in Houston, but delicious nonetheless. Oh also, got literally fresh squeezed apple juice. Like they took apples and grinded them in front of me to make the juice.

Prague Night 1

So, I'm already falling in love with this city. I grabbed dinner at this vegetarian lounge (literally so much vegetarian food in prague...). I hit up a bar/club afterwards. Definitely got hit on, Definitely danced #dubdub14 when Rather Be came on, Definitely made a fool of myself, Definitely had a great time :) Pretty great start to a weekend if i say so myself!

Soren in Prague

If you came here from Facebook, well, a plot twist to a blog about me being in Germany is me in a different country in case Italy didn't tip you off. Twas a wild ride finding the bus, but I'm here, I have wifi, and I'm still failing at staring out the window all pensive like. Still, excited for an awesome weekend :)

Geeking Out Part 4

Ok, so I'm over Troye Sivan (though now I'm obsessing over his brother Tyde Levi) and I'm still obsessing over Clean Bandit and Years & Years (mostly Olly Alexander) but I still have moved on and am being a musician whore and am obsessing over Alessia Cara. Seriously, why did I ever stop being a youtube junkie. I would've found all these people so long ago and been able to enjoy them so much longer. Still, on this topic, today I bought tickets for Alessia Cara (Ruth B opening and I'm so excited for her), Hasan Minhaj (like I'm Indian American so duhhh), Troye Sivan (ok I'm done obsessing but I still like his music), and Jai Wolf (cause like brown + EDM = me). Also debating Lindsey Stirling... What am I doing with my life.

Geeking Out Part 3

So, I geeked out about Clean Bandit and I'm still waiting for their new album. They're collaborating with Romans, Sean Paul, Labrinth, Marina and the Diamonds, Louisa Johnson, and ELTON JOHN. Like, I'm dying with anticipation. I also had my Troye Sivan geek out day but over him and now I'm geeking out about the band of ex-boyfriend of Clean Bandit's violinist. Literally, Years & Years are so damn good. I just need them and clean bandit to come to the US now so I can watch them. It's unbelievable that they haven't come to Germany ugh. Anyways, check out this great song by them:

I make it rain

So, I left my clothes to dry on a clothesline over the weekend... they got dry, but my towels got thin and scratchy so I tried to steam them to make them better. I did so by putting my shower on hot for half an hour and closing the bathroom door... When I opened it, it literally started raining. I had to deal with that and my toilet paper being wet and disgusting. The only good thing is, it helped clean my bathroom! After all the water collected on the floor, I just mopped it up and was good to go :)

My First Pride

So, title says it all. My first time going to pride and that too in Berlin! #CSDBerlin. It was an amazing experience being in what is basically a giant party celebrating openness, love, and understanding. Pretty fucking fantastic. There were one too many naked people for my taste, but other than that, amazing outfits too :) Had a great time and got to met up with my short time roommate, Jack, from the conference in Heidelberg two weeks ago! Oh also had bubble tea for the first time in AGES. Pics.

Big Bite Night

So, I headed to Berlin for the weekend. I hung out with my friend Alex from Northwestern and A&O (furthering my inability to forget about A&O). But yeah, we headed to big bite night and had some good food :) Also, my first time staying in a hostel with strangers and the place was FANTASTIC. Like props to Smart Stay Hostel (despite the sketchy name).

Geeking Out Part 2

Ok, so I've had a lot of downtime at work recently. So, I'm a big fan of Troye Sivan. What I didn't know that I discovered today is that...

- he's worked with some pretty famous people like Ian McKellen
- he was actually young wolverine in X-Men Origins
- he was the lead character in a movie called Spud that I actually saw (though not it's sequels) way back in like 2010 or 2011
- he became youtube famous not for his music but just as a youtube personality and he's hilarious

For the 5 of you that actually read this stuff, check out his Blue Neighborhood Trilogy cause I can't get enough.

Shoutout

Kicking off the second half of my stay in Germany with a video call from Cory and Kate in New York!! Ok, yeah, it's 1:25 am, but I would stay up at any hour of the day for Kate <3

Oh, and Cory's cool too ;)

Halfway

I'm officially halfway through my time in Germany! This means...


40 days into my shitty blog...

40 days of German Apfelschorle...

40 days of not being able to stop thinking about A&O...

40 days of binging Netflix...

but most of all,
40 days of a lot of fun :) I can't wait for the next 40! Thanks for reading and stay tuned :)

Geeking out

Ok, so I've mentioned Clean Bandit before. I can't wait for their second album that's supposed to come out soon. They already have two singles - one with Marina and the Diamonds and one with Louisa Johnson (Youngest and Most Recent Winner of X Factor Britain). So, I had some spare time during work and decided to check out interviews with them. Cool facts you never cared to know:

- they all went to Cambridge
- Jack and Grace were dating, then Jack started mixing the classical tunes that Grace and Neil played and their first song, Mozart's House, came about
- Jack and Grace broke up but the band is A ok, Neil was dating Olly Alexander (lead singer of Years & Years, another great band) until the musician life was too demanding for both of them :(
- Neil got a masters in economics, graduated top of his class, was offered a job by MI6 and turned it down to stay with Clean Bandit
- Jack watches Shameless and referenced the Gallaghers in an interview xD
- Luke is the 4th member, Jack's younger brother, the percussionist, and seems to be really boring but really talented and can rock out on the sax when he needs to :)

My encounters with the Third Kind

So, the plane from Rome came back a bit late, and so getting back to Magdeburg was tough. I grabbed a train separate from my traveling companions unfortunately and ended up in Potsdam... which was fine cause I had free wifi. Then, I grabbed a train to Brandenburg and had to wait for almost 3 hours in the main train station there. Except, this train station, despite being the main one for the city, wasn't near the city center and the station actually was closed so I was outside in the dark and the cold... I decided to brave it and walk around hoping I could find a hotel or a hostel or someplace where I could sit in the warmth. I happened upon an office building where I tried doors halfheartedly and discovered that one hadn't been closed properly and was just barely open... So I found my shelter. At some point in the night, I hear this wailing. And I put on am movie and drown it out and then it gets louder... At this point I'm scared out of my mind but whatever it was, I didn't look for them and they didn't find me. After finishing the princess diaries, I got back to Magdeburg. Safe and sound thank god. Shout out to Amber for staying with me during these times (via facebook) and she can attest to the crazy wailing I heard.

Rome

So, I don't actually have a lot to say about Rome. Delicious food, plenty of things to see, but best of all, great company! Shoutout to Nathan, Kurt, and Sky for an awesome trip and thanks so much for inviting me to come along :) Also, blast from the past, I ran into Nick/Jesus!! (He's an old camper/counselor from math camp and coincidentally also a PhD student at Northwestern now!) You can see all the pics here, I just put the food ones + Nick up on the blog.

     

Soren in Italy

 Surprise! Maybe I need a new blog?! Today I came to Italy :) Remember how I made some cool friends last week? Well, a few of them invited me to come to Rome with them so I hopped on the plane to CIA with a dream and my... nah, not gonna quote Miley Cyrus, but first night in Rome and already saw a pretty sunset and enjoyed some fantastic Italian pizaa. Stay tuned for more :)

Düsseldorf

 So, remember that exchange program I went on two years ago? So, my old high school teacher, Herr Buck (below), was back again so I joined him and the group in Düsseldorf :) I only knew Rena (to the right) and most of the kids on this trip came to high school after I graduated, but one of them actually remembered my name so woot! Anyways, it was a fun few hours in Düsseldorf and I'll always be Team Buck!

Movie Star

 So, no, I didn't suddenly get discovered on the streets of Bonn. But, before leaving the city, I did hang out with my friend, Stephanie, one last time. We saw this movie scene being filmed over and over again... passed by the Haribo store and just had a good, chill time :) What else could I want?