This is a Test

So as suggested, this is a trial of this whole blog thing.

Yes, my trip. So I'm going to Europe on August 18th and coming back sometime around November 30th. The first 3-4 weeks will be spent carousing through Western, then Central, then Eastern Europe, and then I will fly into Moscow and live there for a little over 2 and a half months.

Why am I going? Besides it being freaking cool? Well, I'm going to be wrestling in Russia, training as it were at the top club in Moscow. But I really want to go because I want to improve my Russian skills, I want to try out the abroad thing for longer than 3 weeks, and because I can.

Why a blog? Besides the fact that I'm wordy, self-indulgent, and like sharing my opinions endlessly? Well, no good reasons, really. Other friends have done cool trips and kept cool blogs, so I figure I can do at least the first half. My coach also suggested it'd be a good thing to do, and that we could link it to Duke's Wrestling page. He then proceeded to call me a square. Sigh.

Anyway, this will be a forum for me to relate stories and pictures and observations I make from the Old World. When I kept a journal on our team's Europe trip last summer, there was a lot of b.s. sociocultural observance as befitting a history major, so I guess I'm prone to that. I'm going to try to make this interesting, though, and as well-written as I can manage. We'll see how it goes. You're already probably bored.

So here's something exciting: My tentative itinerary. I have bought both necessary railpasses and the initial plane ticket. Sorting out the Russian visa and the plane tickets within Europe are the remaining big issues. With no further ado:

Aug. 18th - Fly from JFK in the evening to Paris, via London
Aug. 19th - Arrive in Paris in the morning, meet up with Ben Chang, best friend and traveling companion for the first leg of the journey. A family friend will pick us up, helping us out with transportation and a place to sleep. See Paris in the day and at night.
Aug. 20th - See Paris in the day, then get on an overnight train to Rome. Suffer first stages of travel fatigue.
Aug. 21st - Arrive in Rome in the morning, spend the day and night in the Ancient city, use my rudimentary Italian (one semester's worth of class, a few summer weeks worth of idle studying).
Aug. 22nd - Morning in Rome, then catch a train to Milan, from where we will likely immediately catch an overnight train to Barcelona. Sorry, Italy, we'll meet again someday for a good long time. Promise.
Aug. 23rd - Arrive in Barcelona (pronounced the cute Spanish way, Bar-the-lona), spend the day and night. Travel fatigue hits its peak as Ben takes the reigns with his high-quality Espanol.
Aug. 24th - Morning in Barcelona, at some point catch a train to Madrid, our first resting point.
Aug. 25th-28th - Stay in Madrid, recuperate. This is Ben's home for the next year. Much hustling after hostel girls and Spanish senoritas to ensue. On the night of the 28th, I will part from Ben and take a slow overnight train to...
Aug. 29th - Barcelona, spend the morning there and then fly to Prague. Get into Prague around 5pm. Spend the night.
Aug. 30th-31st - Spend two days and a second night in Prague, hopefully not yet withdrawn into introspection and distance from all strangers. Take an overnight train to Vienna.
Sep. 1st-2nd - Spend two days and a night in Vienna. Hopefully keep enough balance so that I'm not burnt out yet. Take pleasure in knowing this is my last euro stop. Late train to Bratislava on the 2nd, where I'll spend the night.
Sep. 3rd - Spend the day in Bratislava, take a late train to Budapest, get in just before midnight and spend the night there.
Sep. 4th-5th - The 2 day second night routine in Budapest. If my brains are not completely addled by Hungarian, I'll be in good shape. Then pull a really long and confusing route overnight to Krakow.
Sep. 6th-7th - Get in Krakow at the crack of dawn, hang for 2 days and a night. The last of the big 4 cities on my trip. Take a late train to Warsaw, get in late there and spend the night.
Sep. 8th - Spend the day in Warsaw, then take an overnight bus to Vilnius.
Sep. 9th - Spend the day in Vilnius, take an overnight bus to Tallinn.
Sep. 10th - Spend the day in Tallinn, hopefully encounter with lovely older Estonian woman friend, stay with her.
Sep. 11th - Fly out of Tallinn in the morning for Moscow, begin my adventures in the most expensive city in the world (while living on cheap rent).

Ok, whew. That makes me tired. The stats are 25 days (including the travel days), 3 flights, 10-11 railpass days on the train, 8 overnight trips (5 by train, 2 by bus, 1 by plane), 14 days in hostels (assuming accomodations in Paris/Estonia hold up), 11 European countries (not counting traveling through England and Latvia), 12 destination cities before Moscow, 2-3 nervous breakdowns, etc.
This is a second draft, and the post-Madrid section is certianly subject to change. I plan to do all this with a full backpack and a guitar (hold your laughter, please), and then get my dad to ship a suitcase of clothes and other stuffs to Moscow. If I understand how to work my digital camera and upload things, pictures will tell many words. Clearly I like using many words. That's enough for now.

-- Dan