UNESCO World Heritage Site - Porvoo, Finland

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If you’ve been following my blog then I’m sure you were expecting Part 3 of my recent series about why I’ve moved to Switzerland. But, we have to keep things in order here. There were some big things that happened between Tuscany and getting back to San Diego and I can’t forget about them. My time in Europe was coming to a close. I had one final trip planned after leaving Slovenia to go visit my friend Tiki in Helsinki, Finland. Tiki works for the same corporation that sent me to Slovenia and she had done the exchange program the summer before in our officeRead More →

Zip line - Bovec, Slovenia

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If you’ve been following my blog then I’m sure you were expecting Part 3 of my recent series about why I’ve moved to Switzerland. But, we have to keep things in order here. There were some big things that happened between Tuscany and getting back to San Diego and I can’t forget about them. In my last weeks in Slovenia I squeezed in as much as possible. With the discovery of my new found love of the Julian Alps during my Canyoning and Rafting trip, I wanted to spend most of my time outdoors. Luckily I had made some great friends to enjoy it with.Read More →

Panorama of one of the Seven Lakes where we took a chilly dip in the water

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In: Slovenia, Travel
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If you’ve been following my blog then I’m sure you were expecting Part 3 of my recent series about why I’ve moved to Switzerland. But, we have to keep things in order here. There were some big things that happened between Tuscany and getting back to San Diego and I can’t forget about them. In my last weeks in Slovenia I squeezed in as much as possible. With the discovery of my new found love of the Julian Alps during my Canyoning and Rafting trip, I wanted to spend most of my time outdoors. Luckily I had made some great friends to enjoy it with.Read More →

Lake Bled at Dusk

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If you’ve been following my blog then I’m sure you were expecting Part 3 of my recent series about why I’ve moved to Switzerland. But, we have to keep things in order here. There were some big things that happened between Tuscany and getting back to San Diego and I can’t forget about them. In my last weeks in Slovenia I squeezed in as much as possible. With the discovery of my new found love of the Julian Alps during my Canyoning and Rafting trip, I wanted to spend most of my time outdoors. Luckily I had made some great friends to enjoy it with.Read More →

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Part II of III Read Part 1 here. After the Switzerland trip Alex and I decided to plan a trip to Tuscany for my 30th birthday. I have wanted to go to Italy since I was about 15 and saw the movie Stealing Beauty which took place there. It has been the #1 place on my list and so what better way to spend my 30th birthday than there. Granted I had technically already been to Italy. I went to Venice earlier in the summer but it wasn’t a great experience and I didn’t get to eat any good Italian food so I don’t thinkRead More →

Saoseo Switzerland Hiking the Alps (4)

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In: Switzerland, Travel
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Part I of III With a couple of wool blankets a bottle of wine and some cheese, we found a grassy spot by the farm shed and waited for the first stars to appear. Things didn’t look promising at first as there was a pretty heavy cloud cover but as the night darkened the clouds dissipated and we were left with a stunning night sky speckled with millions of stars. At this point I just had to keep pinching myself. How did I end up stargazing in the Swiss Alps? Switzerland was another adventure in couchsurfing as it started. I had been contacted on theRead More →

Soča River-Bovec Slovenia (90)

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I’ve not made many CrossFit posts since I’ve been here. I was doing pretty well in May and June and probably went once or twice a week. Maybe I even hit 3 workouts sometimes. I felt like that was pretty good considering I was keeping myself really busy and traveling most weekends. Plus with all the walking and bike riding I was doing I think I was staying on track. July however has not been quite as good. The workouts at CrossFit Plamen weren’t fitting in my schedule so well and I was lacking the motivation to WOD on my own. I’m really looking forwardRead More →

So?a River-Bove? Slovenia (10)

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I have found my calling in life. When I found out I was coming to Slovenia one of the first things I read about was canyoning in the Soča River Valley. I’ve always loved cliff jumping and swimming in the mountains so this seemed like something I would like. Plus, from photos I could see that the Soča River was not to be missed. So I had the opportunity to go on an organized rafting and canyoning trip in Bovec, Slovenia with InterNations. For 110 Euros we got to go on a guided rafting trip, have a BBQ, stay in Hotel Kanin with complimentary breakfast,Read More →

Zadar, Croatia (33)

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I am behind on these posts again so let’s catch up a bit with the rest of my trip to Croatia. After visiting the Plitvice Lakes we headed to a house rental in Zadar, Croatia and joined back up with the rest of our group. The place we rented was perfect. Two adjoining apartments on the top floor with balconies overlooking the sea. I roomed with Idil, an awesome Turkish girl who lives in Vienna. After having lunch we walked to the beach and caught up on some much needed sleep in the sun. The water in Croatia is beautiful, turquoise, and clear. The beachesRead More →

Brda Dok Wine Day Slovenia (41)

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The International Club of Slovenia had an event planned for Brda Dok Wine Day. We met and took a bus into the wine region of Slovenia that borders Northern Italy and visited six different wineries. Since it was wine day this meant you paid 10 euros for a wine glass and then drank all the wine you wanted. By the end of the day I had tasted many great wines to the point of not wanting another sip, seen a beautiful region of the country, met many new and interesting people, ate cow tongue by mistake, and enjoyed a wonderful family style dinner of SlovenianRead More →

Plitvice Lakes, Croatia (1)

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So as mentioned in my Vienna post, I was invited on a trip to Croatia with Oliver (my host in Vienna) and a group of his friends. The journey started on Wednesday night when I hopped on a train to Maribor, Slovenia. The group would meet me there on their way to Croatia and give me a ride. The train got in sometime around midnight and since not much was open at that time I grabbed a Kebab and waited outside the station. Then I got a text from Oliver with bad news. Two of the people had forgotten their passports after having already droveRead More →

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My friend Will from Melbourne who I met years ago at a work conference in Las Vegas has been traveling through Europe for the last few weeks. His most recent stop was Vienna, Austria so I decided to take a trip to see the city and meet up with him. Will was in Budapest until Saturday evening and was staying with some friends in Vienna. So I decided to try couchsurfing for the first time and logged on to see if somebody would host me. I wasn’t sure what to expect with couchsurfing. I know that some hosts will show you around their city whileRead More →

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The day after Venice I had agreed to go on an “easy” hike with Anne and some members of the International Group of Slovenia. What I didn’t know is what the definition of an easy hike is here. After walking around all day in Venice, getting lost on the way home, and only getting 4 hours of sleep I figured I could just power through. The plan was to hike Sveti Katarina which is in the hills outside Ljubljana. At the top we would eat at a traditional restaurant before hiking back down. Turns out an easy hike is actually 18km! But I soon forgotRead More →

A day in Venice Italy (8)

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Piggybacking off my last post, my trip to Venice further reinforced that I enjoy feeling like I’ve discovered something for the first time. I’m not going where you think I am with this though… Venice feels like every inch of it has been discovered already. Its an interesting place, Venice. There are two opposing energies happening in this city. On one hand you have these awe-inspiring buildings and bridges that are hard to imagine were carved out of stone without the help of modern technology. If you just stand in any one spot in Venice you will see something that will take your breath awayRead More →

Piran, Slovenia (30)

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I’m working in the Events Department at Casnik Finance and a major part of what they do is organize all sorts of conferences and forums in the financial sector. I had the good fortune to attend a financial conference last week in Portoroz, Slovenia which is a coastal town right next to Piran which I posted about previously. Now, since I can’t understand Slovene and this particular conference was in Slovene I was instructed to go enjoy the day sightseeing and maybe visit the Hotel Spa. What a rough job I have! The next conference on Marketing will be in English though and I lookRead More →

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Getting a little backed up on blog updates. Which is a good sign I guess… Last Saturday my plan was to get up early and go to the open air market. I ended up sleeping in (11 hours of sleep!!) and woke up around noon. I got ready quickly as the market is only open until 2pm and headed down. It was really hot Saturday afternoon (82 F) and quite humid. I wanted to take my time at the market but I ended up hurrying because I needed to get the food I bought home and in the fridge quickly. The market is open allRead More →

Ljubljanski Grad

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In: Slovenia, Travel
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In the city centre atop a hill there is a castle. It took me all week before I found time to take the 10 minute walk up the hill and explore. My guidebook said basically all roads pointed toward the castle will eventually lead there so I found one and followed it uphill. Of course I picked a rainy day and didn’t pack an umbrella. Halfway up it started to really come down. Luckily I found a little alcove in the wall to take cover for a good 20 minutes before it died back down. It just so happened it was the only shelter onRead More →

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I attended the coachsurfer meeting again for the second time. This is really a great way to meet people as there are some new faces every week and some returning ones as well. This time however there was an American traveler in the group named Mike. I asked Mike about his travels and almost immediately he mentioned that he is traveling while working on a business idea that has to do with CrossFit. Obviously the CrossFit nerd that I am got excited and we realized we both had attended the same CrossFit here in Ljubljana. Then I remembered he had said he was from CincinnatiRead More →

smoker lunds

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I have to post this now as its one of the coolest things I’ve seen in quite awhile! During lunch today I walked down to Prešeren Square. There was a tent set up for a non-smoking campaign. I passed by from behind it and didn’t pay much attention. On my return walk I passed by the front and I’m so glad I did! They had actual lungs set up to demonstrate the effects of smoking! There was a healthy pair and a destroyed pair. I’ve seen this kind of campaign before in pictures but let me tell you that its totally different to see itRead More →

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I didn’t know it was possible but I think I’m all sugared out! On Saturday at the coast we had some ice cream. Sunday I treated myself to a dessert after my lunch. Monday at work my boss took me to lunch at a restaurant called As and we ordered dessert at the end. After work she took me grocery shopping and insisted on buying me a bottle of wine and 3 chocolate bars. I kept trying to explain to her that I can’t have that much chocolate in my apartment at one time. Even so, I got home and discover FOUR bars in myRead More →