As I write this I over look the mountains. The picture accompanying this entry is the view from my window, I know it's amazing. So I've been in Europe since June 30, 2008, and it has been an amazing adventure. So where to begin?

Mike and I arrive in London, I arrive after not sleeping on the most amazing plane ride. It takes me an hour, but I eventually find Mike and we head off to the hotel. We arrive and we are early so our room is not ready, so we trudge off on a tour of London. Tired, hungry, and most importantly jet lagged the two heroes trudge along. We visited Buckingham palace, we think we saw the changing of the guards, and then went all over London. We saw as much as we could that day, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben, and the such. Tues, we saw the rest, the Eye. The last day we saw the Tower of London. What else did we do, well...since we arrived early in the morning and we were both tired, we slept for a couple of hours before dinner. We ate at a Tapas restaurant not too bad, but not great. We asked our waiter what was good on a Monday night, and he sent us to a club called Heaven. Well, we arrived to find a line so we dipped into another pub across the street for a pint. After a few I ask the bar tender how the club across the street was, his answer, "if you like those types?" We had no clue what he meant, but when we entered, we noticed nothing initially out of the ordinary, that is...until I made a comment that, "Mike there sure are a lot of dudes here..." Yup, if you guessed it, we went into a gay club. After paying a 10 pound entry fee we decided to stay, we were only hit on by a couple of times. After that night we went out to a different place after eating an amazing Indian dinner. We went to a place called Tiger Tiger where we met tons of Canadians, it was Canada day, so we had fun with them. By the way if you eat in London, eat ethnic food, English food from what I experienced is pretty bland, plus my buddy also found a slug in his salad eating English food.

Speed ahead, we are in France. When we arrive in France we met up with another friend of ours, but not before we had no idea of where we were going. I forgot to write down the hotel information and so we needed to find an internet cafe, one would think they were everywhere, they're not. It took us about an hour to find a cafe, and then we were on our way to the hotel. I forgot to mention we missed our first train from London to Paris, oops. We meet our friend Tiffany there and from there we go eat dinner. After an amazing dinner Mike and I decide to go to the Irish pub down the street, it was amazing. The next day we went to the Louvre, the Eifel tower, museum and another museum. That night we ate another amazing dinner at a side cafe, enjoying wine, cheese, and meat. Alas, a terrible thing happened, when we came home the second night we were there, we come to find both Mike's and Tiffany's laptops were stolen, mine left alone. After this ordeal I left Tiffany and Mike to do a police report so I went on a tour of Paris alone. It was amazing! If you make it to Paris, you must do the following things; 1) Climb the Arc de Triomphe (272 steps), 2) go to the Eiffel Tower just before midnight to see an amazing light display (you MUST bring a bottle of champagne and cheeses while yhou watch, it will take your breath away - thanks Russ), 3) go up the Eiffel Tower, 4) Notre Dame cathedral, and finally 5) go up Notre Dame cathedral.

After an amazing time in Paris, we were on our way to Innsbruck. We now have amazing, luck because our first train is delayed, and we can't get on a train since all trains are booked. Well after much prodding and dealing with a ticket agent we were able to get on a delayed train. This normally would not have been a big deal, but that meant we would miss our connection and the first day of class. Well we get on the train and were able to have them hold the following train so we could board. All in all it was an easy trek, the trains were amazing. We arrived to train station and make our way to the Karwendal my new home.

Innsbruck has been amazing. The people, the culture and the food are all great. Every morning as I walk to and from class, I'm surrounded by the Alps. You can tell who the Americans are not only by there dress, but because they are the one's still looking up into the sky as they walk. My first week of class was great, the Chief was interesting to learn from, especially his takes on the court. We began the week with a reception at a Castle in the mountains, what a way to start. We ended the week with a reception at a hotel, I ended that first week by winning 100 euro at the casino, apparently foreign casinos are better for me. Anyhow I am currently taking two classes and will be looking forward to the many trips left.

Mike and I after our first week went to Munich, with two other guys. We arrived to Munich with only our bags and what has remained of our dignity. We went to a hostel, no room, so we tried a second there were a couple of beds but in different rooms, so we stayed. It was an interesting place, Wombat, I would recommend. It is clean, safe, and definately fun. So Mike and I decide to go out because our other two travellers were delayed, but when we actually left the hostel, we bumped into them so we waited. Well while walking to the best pub I've ever been to (all beer drinkers will shed a tear, when you see her), it began to rain and I being the intelligent law student forgot to pack a jacket. I had to then purchase the most awesomely Euro jacket I could find, it will make appearences in Texas. Continuing our trek to the Hofbrauhose, we ended up in a square celebrating gay pride day. We walked through the crowds, many in drag, and made it into the pub. Well, it's packed and we have to wait a while, and strategically place ourselves in different parts to sit down. Well, we sat down next to a group of Russian hockey players out for a stag night (equivilant to a batchelor party). As soon as they heard we were Americans, and especially from Texas, the libations flowed like the waters of the Alps. We drank the stein which is 1 liter of beer. In our particular case we drank four of those, the equivilant of 1 gallon. the Russians were pretty crazy, and definately a treat to party with into the night. After our hours with the Russians we decide to go back to the hostel to take a quick change and party. At this point, different stories will emerge, Mike thinks he fell asleep, and Jean and Paul don't know where they went. I forged ahead, and while changing was greeted by an Australian lass, and asked to go to the bars with her and her friends, I couldn't find my friends so I made new ones. The next morning is still a blur but Mike and I eventually find each other and then take tour of Dachau. This was an experience I will never forget, to see the very worst in humanity, and the great loss of life. We returned to Innsbruck.

I have just returned a couple of days ago from Rome. I want to thank Alex, and her boyfriend Lorenzo for showing me such a wonderful time. I would like to thank Enrico Bruschini and his wife Gianna for an amazing experience. All of you have made Rome a place I want to return again and again, and have made this the highlight of my European journey thus far. Rome is amazing, I saw as much as I could, with the best guides possible. If you can, Enrico is the most intelligent person to the arts I've ever met, literally he wrote the book on the Vatican, you will see his name on it. I learned more from him in two days than in 4 art classes in college. Rome is an amazing place, with many hidden secrets yet to be discovered and many that will remain a mystery.

This week I will be heading to Amsterdam...more to come.