Reagan 'Round the World

The End

2008-09-13T12:06:00.002+10:00

Sorry for leaving everyone hanging for so long! As you can see, I did, in fact, fly home eventually. :)

This trip made such an impact on my life; I am truly forever changed. I vow to keep my experiences and observations from around the world close to my heart during my career, my friendships, and my life.

Thanks to everyone who read, commented, and followed along during this giant adventure. I loved knowing someone was out there caring! Please don't hesitate to contact me or ask me any questions about my experience. I can be reached at curvygirly8@gmail.com.

Wishing you health and happiness,
Reagan

Goin' Home

2008-09-13T12:05:00.000+10:00

Cool shape of the Frankfurt airport

A little curvy slide that the bags got to ride on

Ice crystals on the window that greeted me when I woke up

Last Night in Brussels

2008-09-13T12:04:00.000+10:00

Beautiful old building on my way to meet some friends for drinks and good-byes

Belgian Stock Exchange, I believe

Beautiful street scene

Train Ride Back to Bruxelles

2008-07-22T00:50:00.000+10:00

Another train on a parallel track

View of the amazing countryside that I got to enjoy

Beautiful evening on the train

Vehicles

2008-07-22T00:49:00.003+10:00

Bike with a big front basket (it's covered here, though)

Old Porsche

Beautiful pic- turned into a beautiful day after so much rain!!

More Tulip Stuff

2008-07-22T00:48:00.000+10:00

Vase for tulips- the rich liked each flower to be separated.

Text about the insane price of tulips (Shout-out to Ryan!)

More about the tulip-craze

The second-half

Museums

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Gotta get your pic at the Anne Frank House

Better pic

The Tulip Museum!!!! I loved it.

Photos of tulips

Bike and Homomonument

2008-07-22T00:44:00.000+10:00

Bike with basket where dogs, children, and packages ride

Text of the homomonument dedicated to people oppressed for their homosexuality- Amsterdam is verrrrryyyy gay-friendly.

One of the pink triangles of the monument

Another one (There were 3 total)

Flowers, of course!

2008-07-22T00:42:00.001+10:00

Pretty flower on the street

Better pic

Lighter color

Cool variety

After Brunch

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Pretty house with great flowers

Pic of the garden area

Ashes-like cat in an advertisement

The Van Gogh museum! It was wonderful. No pics allowed, but I got lots of postcards of my faves.

Jazz Brunch!

2008-07-22T00:39:00.000+10:00

The Hotel where we had Sunday brunch

Beautiful decor and unlimited champagne!

Beautiful stained glass windows with birds

The jazz musicians

Canal Tour 4

2008-07-22T00:36:00.000+10:00

Typical houses with a houseboat in front

Beautiful dark brick place with flowers

Attempt to take a pic of the hooks on all the houses

Here we go- a better view of the beams with hooks. All houses have these to help with moving furniture, etc. since they can't use the curvy circular staircases.

Canal Tour 3

2008-07-22T00:34:00.000+10:00

Neat draw bridge

A look down the tunnels

The residence of all of Amsterdam's mayors

I liked the dark brick houses

Canal Tour Cont'd

2008-07-22T00:32:00.000+10:00

Ole replica of a ship that sank on it's maiden voyage

Cool floating Chinese restaurant

I liked this little boat

Intricate lamppost, if you can see it

Bikes and Canal Tour

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Parking deck full of bikes

Closer look

We took a canal tour that started out in the Amsterdam harbor (it is freshwater!)

Huge barge

Out on the Town

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Me by the Palace

Next to a bike with a basket and childseat, and a kickstand that made the bike look like it was going to take-off

Phallic statue near the red light district- haha

Tess's Place

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Tess's room for her study abroad program- sparse, but big

View across the way

Gardens below

Food Time!

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Say "Cheese!"

Restaurant where I met up with Tess, my roomie and partner in crime from PNG

Tess modeling the awesome cherry liquer pancake we shared

Sights in Amsterdam

2008-07-22T00:22:00.001+10:00

Beautiful canals

Tons of bikes parked on that bridge

Colorful tower/spire

From a distance

Anne Frank House

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The Anne Frank House

Sign

The line went on for miles, so I didn't get to go

Arrival in Amsterdam

2008-07-22T00:20:00.000+10:00

Trying to get a pic of possible canal boating offices that my dad will be going to later this year

The offices right across from the central train station

Now I'm seeing Amsterdam!

So many gorgeous canals and bikes EVERYWHERE!

Lost in the Shuffle 2

2008-07-19T05:40:00.001+10:00

Ina, the class assistant, making a speech at the dinner

Dirty old man on the tram (I love Alison's face in this pic)

Jeremy got a pic of his face

Lost in the Shuffle

2008-07-19T05:34:00.000+10:00

Somehow these pics got lost in the shuffle-- here's Amanda and her sweet Italian boyfriend

Another carriage in Bruges

Beautiful scene in Bruges

Place where the nuns lived

Oh, Ben

2008-07-19T05:32:00.001+10:00

This crazy man needed a post all his own

More serious pic

Ben and the two Serbian students

And the grand finale... Ben is learning to do a back hand spring from Cerrone, and I was able to catch some of the lesson-- enjoy:

Even More Party

2008-07-19T05:31:00.000+10:00

Prof. Wilner giving one of his exciting speeches....

Me and my fave prof- but what a dirty old man! He kissed my cheek right before the pic-- oh, those Europeans!

More Partying

2008-07-19T05:29:00.000+10:00

Classic Cerrone posing, me in the middle, and Morgan with seductive eyes

A little closer- Ms. Cerrone wanted a re-do

Me and a rockin' American, Amanda

Hmm- maybe she's checkin' out her Italian boyfriend

Party at Le Mess!

2008-07-19T05:26:00.000+10:00

We had a fancy end-of-the-course party last night :)
In the pic, left to right- Amanda, Veronique, Me, Cerrone, Morgan, and my roomie, Alexandra

Better pic- I'm not giving camera instructions this time

Me and the roomie

Me and Jeremy

Dawn's House 2

2008-07-19T05:23:00.000+10:00

The room where I stayed- best night's sleep since I've been away from home!!! It was a little loft above the home office.

View from the bedroom

Another view from the bedroom

Benny!

2008-07-19T05:21:00.000+10:00

Their adorable son, Benny

He loved this birthday card he had gotten last month

So cute--- he had rings drawn around his eyes from daycare. Oh-- almost forgot- he speaks English, French, and German!

Benny after eating Nutella for breakfast

Dawn's House

2008-07-19T05:15:00.001+10:00

A family friend works at UPS Europe and I got to spend the night with her and her family in the Belgian countryside-- this is their backyard!

More backyard

Kitchen with Dawn, her husband Peter, and an intern at UPS, Allison

Dining and living room

European Parliament and a Video Message!!!!!!

2008-07-19T03:36:00.001+10:00

Bad pic

I was a little puzzled about American flags being sold in the gift shop...

From, Reagan

European Parliament

2008-07-19T03:34:00.000+10:00

Cool statue inside

View of the parliament and Robert putting on his headphones to hear translation

Really quite grand and beautiful

Also quite beautiful ;)

Signs

2008-07-15T20:32:00.000+10:00

These two pics are signs on a nearby office building that we pass everyday- makes me think of Paul, my sister's boyfriend (he's a vet).

Headin' Back

2008-07-15T20:31:00.000+10:00

Cerrone was, well, a little cold at the cafe

Windmill on our walk back

Pic without the power line in the way :)

Sweet ponies

Views and Cafe

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Cemetary of the church from above

Another great view

Delicious peach Belgian pancake!

Pancake and cider- you know I was happy!!

View from the Top 2

2008-07-15T20:28:00.000+10:00

It was so bright (white) and windy!

Better (Man, I'm plumping up on this delicious Belgian chocolate!)

View of a windmill

Sheep!

Views from the Top

2008-07-15T20:26:00.000+10:00

After a scary, old spiral staircase, we arrived to beautiful views!

The town of Damme

Beautiful field next to the river

Church of Damme

2008-07-15T20:25:00.000+10:00

The churh tower we were about to climb

The group heading toward the church

One of the paths around the church

The Walk to Damme

2008-07-15T20:24:00.000+10:00

We walked to the town next to this amazing river

Cows grazing

Hard to see, but there were lots of brown rabbits in the field

Pretty flowers next to this quaint house

On the Way to Damme

2008-07-15T20:22:00.000+10:00

Windmill country!

Cool tree-lined road (as seen out the bus's front window)

Sheep on our walk

Closer view

Bruges 8

2008-07-15T08:13:00.000+10:00

Just thought it was a cool skyline/cool architecture

Random pic

Cute dog escaping the wind

He showed his little face- wanted to take him and the old man home with me!

Bruges 7

2008-07-15T08:10:00.000+10:00

Tower- what more can I say? (Since I'm getting poor reviews on my shallow commentary! :)

There were tons of flowers at the foot of this statue

I bought a painting/reproduction from the man who was working on this one

This waffle changed my life.

Bruges 6

2008-07-15T08:07:00.000+10:00

The main square

Ornate museum

My favorite horse of the day- look at that beautiful blaze! The noise of the hooves on the cobblestones was magical.

Better view of the ornate building

Bruges 5

2008-07-15T08:04:00.000+10:00

Oh, you know me and my cool/pretty flowers :)

Restaurant with boats docking on the canal

View of a square

A fish market that turns into a regular craft market on weekends (I think I could still smell the fish)

Bruges 4

2008-07-15T08:01:00.000+10:00

View of the steeple- was once the tallest brick tower in Europe

Quite gorgeous, especially with the clouds

Statute of the angel of war stepping on the peace angel's dove- sad!

Enchanting fountain

Bruges 3

2008-07-15T07:56:00.000+10:00

The altar in the charity house for the poor. The poor had to pray for the person who donated the money for the house. Nowadays, the houses are a very desirable place for the elderly and there is a waiting list.

Pretty houses backing up to the canal

Cool bridge

Boat coming under the bridge

Bruges 2

2008-07-15T07:52:00.000+10:00

Me on a bridge over the canal (Thanks for the jacket, Barb!)

A statue representing a Bruges version of Roman mythology

Beautiful plants in the garden of a house for the poor

So many blooms!

Bruges!

2008-07-15T07:49:00.000+10:00

We visited the city of Bruges. First stop? Where the nuns live; we were a group of all girls...is the tour guide trying to tell us something??

Beautiful trees all leaning one way- cool

Beautiful river/canal with swans and ducks everywhere

The gate of the city- it let people know they could find sanctuary there and, in fact, I believe they kept criminals for five days or something until he had to turn himself over to the police.

Other School Pics

2008-07-15T07:43:00.000+10:00

A pic of our classroom with better lighting

Some of the students chillin' in the little courtyard area

Around Luxembourg 8

2008-07-09T22:38:00.001+10:00

Neat building- grand palace or something ;)

The faces in these posts followed you as you walk

I had to film this- This guy just walked back and forth doing this all day.

Around Luxembourg 7

2008-07-09T22:37:00.000+10:00

Me on the wall

Closer pic of me on the wall

Airplane flying by the church spire

Cool bay window with German writing on it

Around Luxembourg 6

2008-07-09T22:35:00.000+10:00

View of hilly road

The road and the wall of the city

Beautiful scene

Wow- This was so pleasant and beautiful

Around Luxembourg 5

2008-07-09T22:32:00.000+10:00

Gorgeous organ and architecture

The Prime Minister's office

Cliffs that a museum was built into

They had lots of miniature models of what Luxembourg looked like through the years

Let Me Bore You A Spell (Or, Everyone Loves A European Cathedral!)

2008-07-09T22:30:00.000+10:00

Awesome stained glass windows

Beautiful ceiling

Ceiling in better light

And...the windows again. Why did I take so many repeats?

Around Luxembourg 4

2008-07-09T22:28:00.000+10:00

Dramatic scene at the bottom of the gold lady statue

Bikes for rent all over the city

Pretty church

Tour guide showing the old map of Luxembourg territories and such

Around Luxembourg 3

2008-07-09T22:25:00.000+10:00

Golden lady statue

Castle-looking thing (Shout out to Ryan!)

Cool bridge

It was so windy here

Around Luxembourg 2

2008-07-09T22:19:00.001+10:00

This little square/park had so many flowers

More flowers

View of a bridge in the distance

High walls around the city

Around Luxembourg

2008-07-09T22:16:00.000+10:00

Cool performing arts building with many columns- great acoustics

Pretty valley (bus was kind of zooming by, though- sorry!)

Now a retirement home, but General Patton once stayed here during the war

Beautiful architecture

Court

2008-07-09T22:13:00.000+10:00

Me at the Court

Morgan modeling her new designer bag

A bank with a funny statue of a banker in front

Construction of banks is everywhere in Luxembourg!

European Court of Justice

2008-07-09T22:10:00.000+10:00

Field Trip! Here's the lobby of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg

A model of the future building

Inside the Grand Chambre

You can kind of see the translators in their booths- they operate in 23 languages!

School Days

2008-07-09T22:08:00.000+10:00

The building and sidewalk of our school

The sign

The front of the classroom with a cool marble fireplace and mirrors

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-06T21:46:00.001+10:00

The giant sandwiches and snacks

Lots of Belgian beer (That's Prof. Wilner in the background)

The little flag decorations

Wilner's pre-party speech

Playtime!

2008-07-06T21:44:00.000+10:00

Russ and Bin decided it was a good idea to roll down the giant hill

Here's Ben, mid roll

Walking toward a cool tunnel (That's Bin and Ben- probably discussing how ill they're feeling...)

Cool tunnel (Ben and Alexandra)

End of Tour and Lunch

2008-07-06T21:41:00.000+10:00

The little statues

Pretty view of the city

The city, and the famous tram!

A group of us at lunch this past Friday

Tour of Brussels, Part 11

2008-07-06T21:39:00.000+10:00

The stock market, I think

My first Belgian waffle-- with ice cream, strawberries, and chocolate. The chocolate actually wasn't sweet enough for my taste.

Another something or other

Cool little statues around a park

Tour of Brussels; Part 10

2008-07-06T21:37:00.000+10:00

Beautiful architecture around the main plaza

The group taking photos

More beautiful buildings

This building was being worked on, so they put up decorated coverings of how it's going to look

Tour of Brussels, Part 9

2008-07-06T21:34:00.001+10:00

Awesome chocolate fountain

Obscene fountain!

Pretty, though

Cool architecture (and Morgan's head)

Tour of Brussels, Part 8

2008-07-06T21:31:00.002+10:00

A social organization's office

Close-up of the poster- haha

Cool carved faces and pretty flowers

The bus was movin', but this balcony had a nice flower assortment

Tour of Brussels, Part 7

2008-07-06T21:29:00.001+10:00

Tour guide said this was a typical middle class neighborhood

The palace

Better shot of the royal palace

Cool thingy

Tour of Brussels, Part 6

2008-07-06T21:27:00.000+10:00

The group standing around at the atom thingy

Cool cylindrical bushes

Copy of a fountain in Rome

Cool Asian structure

Tour of Brussels, Part 5

2008-07-06T21:26:00.001+10:00

Same cathedral, only this is where they haven't cleaned yet!

You can see the contrast here

Atom thing built when Brussels hosted the World Fair

Closer look

Tour of Brussels, Part 4

2008-07-06T21:23:00.000+10:00

Beautiful church

Another look

Awesome cathedral

Gothic-style

Tour of Brussels, Part 3

2008-07-06T21:21:00.000+10:00

Quite a strong sentiment! This says: Agriculture, I love you!

A sign against torture with disturbing pics of tools

This may be a court (Can't remember- eeks!)

The city train station

Tour of Brussels, Part 2

2008-07-06T21:17:00.000+10:00

The arch as we were about to drive under it

Something relating to the EU ;)

Beautiful European buildings

Gorgeous buildings

Tour of Brussels, Part 1

2008-07-06T21:15:00.000+10:00

Approaching the arch

A little bit of the arch

Better look

Best look- very pretty

More Apartment

2008-07-06T21:13:00.000+10:00

Roomie demonstrating the balcony (Her name's Alexandra and she's from Sweden and I love her!)

Her bed (She offered many times to switch halfway, but I don't care at all- she's very sweet!)

The giant sink (No splashing here, for real)

Shower

Apartment

2008-07-06T21:09:00.001+10:00

The door to the hall with a little shoe cubby

The toilet

The living room with couch any my twin bed by the wall

The IKEA-esque kitchen

To Brussels!

2008-07-06T21:07:00.000+10:00

Cool set-up in Singapore airport (That place was amazing- I got a foot and back massage before my flight)

Cityhopper from Amsterdam to Brussels!

Entering the apartment where I'm staying (Roomie walking in from the left)

A second look

Time to Go!

2008-07-06T21:04:00.000+10:00

I believe this is called ablutions- where the men wash their hands and feet before worship

The friendly customs card. If you can't see, it says: WARNING DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKERS UNDER SINGAPORE LAW. Jaywalking and chewing gum are also illegal. I felt a little relieved to be leaving!

Inside of the cab to the airport (Saw this view a lot after I got heat exhaustion from walking everywhere the first day and then realizing that cabs were about 6 bucks!)

Cabbie's drivin' now

I'm In!

2008-07-06T20:59:00.000+10:00

I went back to the mosque on my last day, properly dressed. I took off my shoes, etc. but visitors were still not allowed on the carpeted area which is, as you can see; basically the entire inside.

Cooler lighting

Beautiful light with Arabic script on it

Cool doorway

Videos of the Laser Show

2008-07-06T20:56:00.000+10:00

Songs of the Sea Show

2008-07-06T20:55:00.000+10:00

Me and the Australians before the show

They projected laser images on fans of water- pretty cool

Some of the laser quality was more like a movie (There's a fish here)

Sentosa Stuff

2008-07-06T20:53:00.000+10:00

Me on the chairlift

Landing

Waiting for the water-laser show to start

Me with my new Australian buddy, Anne

More Chairlift Pics

2008-07-06T20:52:00.000+10:00

Quite beautiful

Other riders

Cool

Goin' down...

Flying Around Sentosa

2008-07-06T20:51:00.000+10:00

Awesome view of the city

And another

Time for a chair-lift

Beautiful night in the harbor

Another Transition

2008-07-06T20:49:00.000+10:00

Needed some refreshment after that fountain, so I got this delicious frozen yogurt with fresh peaches.

Took a cable car to nearby Sentosa Island (Allegedly to see pink dolphins- never happened, and I'm going to be writing the tour company for a refund)

View from the car

Great views

World's Largest Fountain!

2008-07-06T20:47:00.000+10:00

The main sign

Documentation, baby!

Cool design- The tycoon that designed it wanted it to symbolize money flowing in (to his pockets!)

Pretty

Walkin' Some More

2008-07-06T20:45:00.000+10:00

The National Library (Something to aspire to, Nick?)

Oooo, the DHL balloon! That was me!

Documenting the alleged site of the F1 race

Perhaps the site of the future race

Religious Experiences

2008-07-06T20:43:00.001+10:00

A Chinese Temple

People were lighting incense and shaking it back and forth (I followed suit :) These other religions are too much fun!

The Hindu Temple- also went in and lit some incense. There were lots of offerings of flowers and fruits.

This is a view looking into the temple

Continuing Adventures

2008-07-06T20:40:00.000+10:00

Landing...

Ewww! You sit in a tub and let fish eat your dead skin cells! They do that in Lake Lanier for free.

Cool famous street market- very crowded.

Flowers for sale outside of the temples.

More Balloon

2008-07-06T20:38:00.000+10:00

Gettin' level with the skyscrapers

The top- wow!!!!

A look down through the center

Look left- you can see the mosque!

Rising...

2008-07-06T20:36:00.001+10:00

Another look

Getting higher...

Okay, starting to panic! Please don't let us go crashing down...

Beautiful view

DHL Balloon

2008-07-06T20:35:00.002+10:00

This tethered hot air balloon takes you up 40 stories in the city- I had to try it!

The little bucket where people stand

View out the net as we rose...

View of the harbor

So Fun!

2008-07-06T20:33:00.000+10:00

This Singaporean couple let me join them and they showed me how to eat the little cakes and famous kaya toast. Here's the woman.

Here's the man. They were great.

They inisisted on taking my pic

Right after breakfast, I was in the district so I had to try some famous laksa (with my lime juice)- delicious! I miss it alredy.

Mission: Breakfast!

2008-07-06T20:31:00.000+10:00

Cute little Pernaken (I'll have to check on the spelling later) District

Took a 20 min. cab ride to eat at this famous place

It was bustling!

Later when I passed by and it wasn't so busy

Time to Leave!

2008-07-06T20:28:00.001+10:00

Tarantula

Scorpian (How did I manage to sleep that night?)

Giraffe made out of leather- I really wanted to buy it, but I decided to save money and just take a pic :)

Scary!

2008-07-06T20:25:00.000+10:00

Scary croc at night

That thing was huge

Wolf at night

Wolf lying down at night

Animals at Night

2008-07-06T20:24:00.000+10:00

Deer thingy

Weird rat-deer combo

The rat-deer combo

Deer thingy

More Fishing Cat Pics (Self-explanatory)

2008-07-06T20:22:00.000+10:00

Transition

2008-07-06T20:21:00.001+10:00

More fabrics

The beautiful cafe latte I had at my hotel while waiting for the shuttle to the...

Yay! It's the only one in the world.

There was a tram ride to see the animals, then a walking trail, where we saw this "fishing cat"