Well, it's been forever since I've written! So much has happened.

At the end of my last entry, I wrote how I had one last mega-trip of the summer left -- and that was to Latvia and Russia! What a blast It was so fascinating to go there especially since it was the 40th anniversary of the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia (Wiki & Video ) when I went to Praha only a few days later [21.08]

But the people in Russia were lovely. I memorized the alphabet before I went so I could get me and my friend around without a hitch, and I communicated with them through some mix of Czech-Russian which I made up but all the people I spoke to immediately burst out into smiles (well, most of them) and helped us out Luckily, I could understand about 60-70% of what they were saying so

Latvia was really great too. It's a country that I think most people wouldn't think about going to, but I highly recommend it. I'd love to go back and explore outside of Riga. Riga was great in that we were basically the only tourists there. Great food nice people. Fun city to wander around in We spent over 6 hours in the Occupation Museum which was incredible! It was so thorough and free! I couldn't believe it.

After that, I went to the Czech Republic to see my family We went up to the mountains (Teplicko-Adrspasske skaly) for a week, and then up into Poland for a day to Wrocław and Kłodzko.

Since then, I've been studying abroad. That's coming to an end now too! I'm going to be bawling I love everyone here so, so much I also went to Praha a few days ago, completely last minute, to see my friends & family and just be a tourist -- something I've always wanted to do! Success.

But I have to admit.. I'm really excited to go home and play in the snow, see my doggies/family/friends, drive the Scoobadoo in the snow -FINALLY- and chill [literally..].

I also bought a ton of amazing books off Amazon which I can't wait to tear into, and I finally got some RallyArmor mud flaps! Can't wait to put them on


Merry Christmas & all the best in 2009!!