Aaaaaanndd... we're back
In Holland... again. its really really nice being so familiar with the city. we know where the grocery store is and where our hostel was and what we have left to do. its great. after 2 days in Brussels we went to Brugge. it was the most beautiful city ever. its really old and there are canals and swans and old churches and the palace is magnificent. we had a really nice time there exploring. for dinner i broke the no pasta rule. :-( i ate a deli pasta salad from the grocery store and a can of fruit cocktail for dinner. we had a GREAT breakfast, saw the tombs of Mary of Burgundy and Charles (look it up) and a Michelangelo sculpture (madonna and child) and a bunch of empty sarcophogi in a church. then back on the train.
today were going to explore more of the city and probably tomorrow too. except tomorrow everything is going to be closed because its new years day. thats probably okay for me though. there is a bar/lounge on the first floor of our hostel and i think we'll ring in the New Year there. we bought chips and salsa and some candy to celebrate. and oranges. i finally caved and bought a big bag of navel oranges. it seemed cheaper and more practical than buying a single orange everyday. We're hoping to take a canal tour and see some of the other towns around here. theres and old town with a traditional working clog factory. and there are some museums in Den Haag that Ann wants to see. and we're going to meet some friends from Malta the day before we go back. the trip is starting to wind down. I'm still having a lot of fun. though my shoes are waaay stinkier than they were before i left and my socks have gone from white to black.
any bozo with a phone cord and a computer can set up an internet café
in belgium the keyboards suck... Or rather, they are very difficult to navigate. my first impression of belgium is... "lets get out of here". the weather sucks. today it was rainy and cold and we couldnt figure out any of our maps. the room at our hostel smelled really bad and so we walked in the rain for several hours until finally just as we were about to give in and call it a day we found a shopping mall yay. so we went and for the first time on the trip we seriously splurged. so i might be eating out at the grocery store for the next few days... at least i will be warm in my new sweater and my new watch will tell me what time it is and i can look stylish in my new vest. nothing was expensive... its just, i havent bought that many nonfood items in one day since i left the states. and now faithful readers i will leave you before i pee my pants.... I do miss free toilets
Hello from Holland!
Its very beautiful here. The Canals are just great. The bus ride from Copenhagen was the longest 13 hours of my life! we had a baby crying the WHOLE way. and for the most part the bus was full to capacity so we couldnt really stretch out or get any good napping in. So far we have seen the Anne Frank Huis (kind of a downer) and the Van Gogh Museum and we've walked all over this city. Christmas was a bit strange... kind of hard. I was in a hostel with 4 Mexican guys and 2 girls and 2 mystery guys who leave around noon and dont come back til 2am... (i found out today they're british). They All left today though so now its just me and Ann. On Christmas morning we ate pancakes with ice cream... i had chocolate syrup and ann got strawberries. Everything was closed yesterday and a lot of people dont have work today... so there are a lot of people out and about. the weather is very nice. it rained a bit yesterday but today it has been quite sunny and nice. Tomorrow we are going to Belgium. I'm pretty excited about that. I cant wait for the waffles! I'm not very excited to return to malta though... the people around here are so nice. they dont try to kill you with their cars and they dont walk into you on the sidewalk. the food is much better here too. oh well... the cold weather is getting a bit tiring and i do miss the sunshine. I dont really have much else to report. its been kind of slow because of christmas and all... hope you all had a merry christmas. enjoy your new year!
alright. i'm still in copenhagen. tomorrow is our last day. we're having a lot of fun too. it was a 13 hour bus ride from holland. We've seen the Strøget (shopping street) Christianina (hippy town) and the old Stock Exchange Building, and the Carlsburg Brewery. We met a bunch of new people too. we met a guy from Walker MN, he knows some of Anns friends and a girl i worked with over the summer. that was pretty weird. He had a swedish friend with him who had done an exchange in Walker. and then last night we met 3 canadians, an egyptian, a norwegian, and a dane. they're all pretty cool too. and we met some girls we'd recognised from UMD! its so strange all of the people you meet while you're abroad... i'm just waiting to run into some old high school friend. Tomorrow is free museum day, so thats what we'll do tomorrow. then on Thursday we head back to Holland for Christmas. It's a little snowy here and pretty cold. not as cold as at home... but cold enough to be uncomfortable. i'm glad i brought my hat and scarf and mittens. Thats about all i have for right now. Happy Holidays.
Right now i'm in Copenhagen, Denmark... where are your children? i'm having a great time.
i have a half hour to kill...
I'm getting really excited for my trip! I leave tomorrow. in 24 hours i will be flying high above europe! And wouldnt you know it, i have a cold! again! I'm going to have the worlds best immune system when i get back home. I'm okay though. i figure if it gets too bad i will be going to some of Europe's finest countries in terms of medicine. I think I trust the Dutch and the Danes with my health more than i trust the Maltese. And maybe a bit of cold weather is what i need. after all, if your boogers are frozen those germs HAVE to be dead, right? Though, i dont think it will be that cold. I'm looking forward to all of the good food i've been reading about. lots of sandwiches and beef and buffets and chocolate and waffles and salads and hot dogs.... mmmmmmmmm... sure beats ramen and salad dressing ;-) just kidding mom. i only have that once in a while for lunch. last night i ate the last of my spaghetti and the night before i had grilled cheese and tomato soup and tater tots. Thats about all i have for now. I return on the 5th. Wish me luck. Have happy holidays! i love you all.
Happy St. Nick's!
So, its some kind of holiday here. St. Nicks... where the kids get candy in their shoes. Soooo, Ann and Zdenka and I are going to Burger King. I've forgotten what BK tastes like, so i'm excited. Also, Wednesday is some national Holiday here and everything is closed. Its going to be a fun week i think.
My eye was bothering me most of the week so i didnt really do much. it was better by friday though.
Friday night was very exciting for me. I stayed home and washed my clothes and cleaned my room. I wash my clothes in the sink so that took most of the night.
Saturday the residence organised a trip to Gozo for us. It was so beautiful there. I loved it! It was quite and laid back and relaxed and GREEN. soooo green! like ireland. I took some pictures and hopefully i'll get them up on the web for you soon. it was beautiful. and we could walk along the street and not worry about being taken out by a speeding car. it was what i was hoping Malta would be like. Malta is much more crowded and pushy it seems. The trip included the ferry and lunch and a bus tour. i like bus tours. Then once we got back Ann and Zdneka and I went to a movie. we saw The Incredibles. The theatre was very nice. nicer than any theatre i've been to at home. Zdenka thought it was like being in a spaceship and it kind of was. all the chairs were like capitans seats and we had so much leg room! there were hundreds of seats too. the AC was up too high, like usual. but i brought my scarf so i was okay. We also found some Mint Chocolate gelato at the food court next door.
Sunday I cleaned some more and had Mac and Cheese with Ann. (thanks mom) and then we watched Silence of the Lambs with Juan, Phil and Zdenka. Phil rolled his ankel earlier in the day and was on crutches. he came by earlier in the evening asking if i had any ziploc bags for ice. I did, of course. its funny, they have ziplocs here but no one uses them. the only people who seem to appreciate them are americans. I'm glad i brought some from home though because they cost a small fortune here.
Today i bought some books for 99cents ($3). just cheap $6 paperbacks that you get at wallmart. they usually sell for around 4 lira ($12) each, so i snapped up 3 right away. I hope they're good.
This weekend some of my friends are going to Egypt. and people start going home this week too. Lori is going home to cananda on wednesday... i told her to bring me back some snow.
They have been doing construction on the flat next to ours for a few weeks now and it's starting to really get to the french girls. the one girl says when she speaks in her room she cant be heard its so loud. so we went to the manager to complain. its getting quite annoying. they work monday through saturday and its all hammering and chiseling and you cant relax until sunday. so, we went to the manager to see if we could get a discount or something since we pay waaay too much for our rooms to not be able to use them. and he said there was nothing he could do and on thursday we can change rooms if there are any availible. then, claudia, the german girl a few flats down came to complain about work going on outside her room and she thought free laundry tokens would make her happy. so now we get free laundry. i dont know for how long though. its very interesting. i dont want to move really. i like my location. i just cant stand the noise. they start at 8 everyday. except saturday they start earlier because the manager isnt around. and they play britney spears all day long. its so strange. hopefully it will be done soon. the manager said they will be done by january. i doubt that, but we'll see. thats all i have for now.
