Tuesday I was so tired all day. I only got four hours of sleep before I had to be up early for class. Then the lecture was so boring and pointless and I had an hour in between my classes but it wasn’t enough time to leave for a nap. Lame. After my last class I came back to my room and had lunch, then took a nap. Then I got up and folded my clothes and packed for Holland. After that is was dinner time so we ate together in Dani’s kitchen and hung out with our friends and told them about Scotland. Then Dani and I watched Glee in her room but were interrupted by Liz coming in and sparking random conversations about death penalties, bad ways to die, and September 11th. After that really random but interesting conversation we finished Glee and I came back to my room to Skype with family and have some ice cream. Then I finished last minute packing for my early start tomorrow and went to sleep since I was so exhausted!! I am excited/nervous for tomorrow and travelling alone and meeting all of these people. Should be fin! Yay!
End Day 67
Nov 18-Wed (Holland day ½)
Wednesday Oh what a day! I woke up crazy early to get on the National Express to London. Luckily I was on time and there were no issues. I slept on the way there since I was exhausted still from the weekend. Then we got to Victoria Station and I went to the Easybus stop but was too early and they wouldn’t let me get on. So I went souvenir shopping and waited for my bus. A bus came at 12:30 and I thought it was my 12:40 bus but it was the 12:20 running late and again the guy wouldn’t let me on. Then at 12:50 another bus came but it was for the 1:00 bus and he wasn’t going to let us on but me and this other girl persuaded him. Then there was horrendous traffic, (surprise, surprise) out of London from a car accident, apparently a lorry (truck) overturned! Then I started getting nervous about missing check in which closed at 3:10 and we did end up pulling in at 3:10 and missed it. Great. First time travelling alone and I miss the plane. Luckily I got on the next one but then I realized people would be waiting for me off the earlier plane and I had no way to contact them and let them know. So the next three hours was devoted to that. My dad e-mailed them and I tried Ada’s number on the pay phone, my phone, and the airline lady’s phone. Nothing. Then I thought I should call the Amsterdam airport and have them make an announcement but I couldn’t get through with anything again. So I gave up and got some food from Burger King then went to board the plane.
Everything was fine after that and I was greeted in Amsterdam by Heleen and her brother-in-law Lex and they drove me to Aty’s (great aunt) where tons of cousins were waiting for me. Ahhh! Crazy! But they made me very welcome at home and I ate a sausage, cabbage and rice dinner, yum! Then we talked about family, saw old pictures, and they gave me a family tree thing to remember everyone. Then we went over the plan for the next few days and I called my mom then went to sleep. Crazy day! Ahhh! Looking forward to tomorrow!
End Day 68
Nov 19-Thurs (Day 1 in Holland)
Thursday started at about 10 am with breakfast then walking to the train station to spend the day in Amsterdam.
We took the train from Huis ter Heide and Den Dolder to Utrecht central and then to Amsterdam. I was with Aty, Johan, Lex, Carolien, Antionette, Merel, and Wouter and we walked around the city with them showing me important things and telling me about the city. We went souvenir shopping and I took a picture in a wooden shoe. Then we went on a canal tour of the city on a canal boat! Very cool! That was a lot of fun and I got to see a lot of things you can’t see while walking. Then we went to the Anne Frank house and it was very interesting but also very sad. And it wasn’t crowded so it was nice. Then we had some juice and tea and Wouter(22), Merel(18) and me decided to stay in Amsterdam and look in shops or get dinner, while the adults went back home. We went into a shopping mall and looked around and we went in H&M! Yay! Then we went to a “brown café” and they call it and I had some traditional Dutch food like bitterbolen, which are deep fried meat balls. Then we sat and talked and hung out before going back to get a train back to Aty’s house. After getting back I showered and went to sleep. P.S. We started the day eating at Smiths Koffie Haus and we walked through the red light district! Ladies in lingerie in windows! Weird!End Day 29
Nov 20-Fri(Day 2 in Holland)
Friday started with breakfast at Aty’s house then saying goodbye to her house since we were going to Johan’s then to Ellen’s and her children’s, my second cousins. We had a snac
k at Johan’s in Ijsselstein then drove to Ellen’s house in Alphen. We had lunch there and I got presents from Sinterklaus (the Dutch Santa Claus who comes on Dec 5 and puts candy in shoes) and we played piano together before I had to say goodbye to Johan and Aty. Then Ellen and her 2 children (of 3) Evelien(26) and Daan(22) took me to Leiden where Evelien and Daan study at university. We got to see the Pilgrim Museum where the pilgrims left Leiden and sailed to America. Very cool and very old museum set in two 14th century rooms that really housed poor pilgrim families. After that we went out into the rain, and Ellen left, and we walked across to the church but we weren’t allowed to go in since a UNICEF conference was going on and there were ‘important’ people there. Then Evelien asked the police men who “important” is there and he told us the queen (of NL) was coming around the back in 10 minutes. So we went back there and her car pulled in front of us and I got a picture of her, only about 2 feet away! Wow!After that we went b
ack to Evelien’s flat for hot drinks since it was raining and we talked and she showed me aeroarobics, or acroyoga, moves and tried them on me. Then we decided to eat dinner so Evelien and I went to the grocery store to get frozen pizza, ice ceam, and Dutch treats for me. Their friend Kevin from Holland/Florida then came to hang out and we went to see Daan’s friend sing in a show after we played table tennis. Then Annemarth, their older sister, joined us for a night out in some pubs and bars to see Holland night life. It was very fun and random with Daan teaching me salsa dancing, learning the special “Kruyt” dance and taking a funny picture with a Yetti to maybe win a trip for winter. Then I got tired and need to be up early to catch my plane so we went back to Ellen’s house (their mom) and went to sleep.End Day 70
Nov 21-Sat
Saturday started bright and early at 7:30 am when Ellen and I left to go to the Schipol airport so I could fly back to England. Thankfully everything with this flight was fine and I made it in time. Then I slept on the plane and went to catch my Easybus back to Victoria Station. Oh, I forgot, I got soooo many Dutch goodies that I had to pay 22 Euro to check an extra bag, haha. Anyways, at Victoria I had lunch then had about 3 hours to wait until my National Express coach came, so I bought some sweets, nestled with my luggage in a corner and read a book. Finally it was time to come back to Cheltenham and I slept the whole way home. So nice! But then I had to lug all my bags back, like 5 miles to Regency in the cold, wind, and rain. And it was super crowded on Sat evening. Awesome. That wasn’t so fun, but I made it back alive (barely) and in one piece. I unpacked all my stuff when I got to my room and then decided to look at all of my gifts and souvenirs. I’m not sure what happened next, but I remember falling asleep at the computer, so I went to sleep early from sheer exhaustion.
End Day 71
Nov 22-Sun
Sunday I slept until 3pm but I didn’t even feel bad about being lazy since I really badly needed the rest. I had “breakfast” then Dani called me to go to Tesco with her and maybe go out to dinner too. I wasn’t so hungry since I’d eaten an hour and a half before, but I ordered nachos at Wetherspoons because I knew I’d be hungry later. Then we went to go to Tesco but it was closed since it was Sunday so we came back to Regency and watched Glee! Then Kelsey was back from visiting her friend in York so we hung out and then decided to watch a film. We watched “She’s the Man” in my room since Dani had never seen it and we just saw Twelfth Night in Stratford, which it was based off of. Jesse joined us too, in my room and I shared my plethora of Dutch sweets with everyone. Oh and I locked myself out of my room before we watched the movie. Smart. Then I took a shower after everyone left and uploaded my Scotland and Holland pictures then went to bed. Oh, and Rome is all booked for this weekend! Yay!
End Day 72
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