My trip to Granada to see Ally was awesome, and a welcome respite from the cold Scottish weather. Maddie and I made it to the bus station where Ally met us with virtually no trouble at all...my horrible Spanish helped out, but I should have brushed up a bit more haha.
Our hostel was really nice. Turned out to be an apartment across the street from the office, with 3 double bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and bathroom. There were people staying in the other bedrooms but Maddie and I only met two of the girls, and they left sometime during the weekend. The kitchen came in handy when we went to the BEACH on Saturday. It was so amazing. We packed up some snacks and sandwiches and headed out first thing in the am. The beach was amazing, and even though the water wasn't that warm I couldn't not swim in the Mediterranean!
That night we also got to see a flamenco show, which was incredible but I will admit that after walking around all day Friday sight seeing, and being in the sun all day on Saturday I nodded off a couple times...whoops! Still, though, it was so fun to see the dancers, and not understand a word of the announcers or commentary hahaha. The accent there is thick, and I'm lost with it.
(shout out to Ally here) It was so nice to see Ally, a little bit of home to get me through this whirlwind of a semester =]. Plus, despite all that we did, the trip was incredibly laid back and relaxing. Maddie and I also had the chance to meet up with a friend from GW and get dinner with him and his friend and a drink afterward. We had to get to bed early though so we could make it to the beach, so we didn't get to hang out with him too late. But it was nice to see him nonetheless.
My overall impression of Spain: it is beautiful, and I need to brush up on my Spanish. And also, there's no way I could handle the heat of a Spanish summer. It was in the high 70s while we were there and its only March, yikes! Oh, and they have a strange obsession with ham. Apparently there's even a palace of ham in Madrid...weird.
Monday, 23 March 2009
Sunday, 8 March 2009
Homestay
So far this is my favorite experience in Scotland. The woman I stayed with is named Wendy Dover and she is quite possibly the nicest woman I have ever met. Her house is amazing. She lives in a Glen, surrounded by hills and her nearest neighbors are a 10 minute walk away. It's a perfect country home made of stone, with a garden outside.
She picked me up from the bus station and we proceeded into the middle of nowhere. We got into the house and what I found was basically the house my mom wish she had. It was decorated like an old farm house with fresh flowers about. She showed me which room I would be sleeping in and I think I am now inspired to change my room at home. I posted the pictures on picasa. Then, I went downstairs where she made me the most delicious cup of tea I have ever had, and we watched the news while we waited for dinner to be ready. She had made delicious stuffed peppers and a rhubarb crumble with ice cream for dessert. That commenced the weekend of being full, possibly the most stuffed I have ever been. The next night I was actually in pain, she made roast chicken and potatoes with stuffing and vegetables that weren't boiled to death. I was in heaven. But enough about the food even thought that was probably one of my favorite parts haha.
So the first full day, and the whole weekend, the weather was not on our side. But we made the best of it. After breakfast, which was lovely and served by her boyfriend Samuel, I told Wendy about the Flat Stanley project and how I had forgotten to bring the Flat Stephanie I have along. So, she helped me make a Flat Stanley so we could take him out and about with us. She spiced up my horrible drawing with a nice kilt and hat and he became Scottish Stanley, those pictures are also on picasa. We went to perth, walked around the shops and got lunch. Then we went to Falkland Palace and walked around the town and shops.
Finally, we went home for dinner and while she was preparing it I took the chance to do some assigned reading by the fire while I drank a glass of wine. I'm pretty sure this is my mother's idea of heaven. ;)
After dinner we all spent some time by the fire, but the weather had tired all of us out and Wendy went to bed while I took a bath before bed. Upon waking up I was greeted by Wendy's calls for breakfast: almost a full english breakfast with toast and eggs and bacon and tomato. I'll be having a heart attack anyday now...
I was scheduled to go back to campus for 7:40, which was way later than I wanted. And since buses don't run frequently I would have been in transit for 2 hours instead of less than one. Wendy, thank goodness, thought this as silly as me and designed the day so her and Samuel could drop me off at St Andrews. So, we started our journey along the coast of Fife and I got amazing views of the fishing villages and beach...even though it was brutally cold. We had a nice picnic in the car by the waterfront that Wendy packed, tea of course and cheese sandwiches and apples and clementines and lemon cake. What a woman. hahaha.
I loved every minute of my homestay, and I would love to go back in the Spring when it's nicer if she'll have me, and Maddie as well since that's where she had her homestay the weekend before me. Last summer she had her daughter's wedding at her house. They built the marquee and she made all the salads for 150 people from her garden and prepared potatoes from her garden as well for those 150 people. I looked at the pictures and it looked amazing. Some of the guests stayed in tents on the lawn. She even designed and sewed her daughters dress. She used to be a clothes designer, among many other things. She is definitely one of the most interesting people I have ever met, and I was so glad to be in a house with a dog again. A black lab named Chloe, and a cat also named Willow.
Well then, another 4 days and I will be off to Granada to see Ally =D I cannot wait! I don't know how I am going to get through this week I will have to keep myself busy!!!
She picked me up from the bus station and we proceeded into the middle of nowhere. We got into the house and what I found was basically the house my mom wish she had. It was decorated like an old farm house with fresh flowers about. She showed me which room I would be sleeping in and I think I am now inspired to change my room at home. I posted the pictures on picasa. Then, I went downstairs where she made me the most delicious cup of tea I have ever had, and we watched the news while we waited for dinner to be ready. She had made delicious stuffed peppers and a rhubarb crumble with ice cream for dessert. That commenced the weekend of being full, possibly the most stuffed I have ever been. The next night I was actually in pain, she made roast chicken and potatoes with stuffing and vegetables that weren't boiled to death. I was in heaven. But enough about the food even thought that was probably one of my favorite parts haha.
So the first full day, and the whole weekend, the weather was not on our side. But we made the best of it. After breakfast, which was lovely and served by her boyfriend Samuel, I told Wendy about the Flat Stanley project and how I had forgotten to bring the Flat Stephanie I have along. So, she helped me make a Flat Stanley so we could take him out and about with us. She spiced up my horrible drawing with a nice kilt and hat and he became Scottish Stanley, those pictures are also on picasa. We went to perth, walked around the shops and got lunch. Then we went to Falkland Palace and walked around the town and shops.
Finally, we went home for dinner and while she was preparing it I took the chance to do some assigned reading by the fire while I drank a glass of wine. I'm pretty sure this is my mother's idea of heaven. ;)
After dinner we all spent some time by the fire, but the weather had tired all of us out and Wendy went to bed while I took a bath before bed. Upon waking up I was greeted by Wendy's calls for breakfast: almost a full english breakfast with toast and eggs and bacon and tomato. I'll be having a heart attack anyday now...
I was scheduled to go back to campus for 7:40, which was way later than I wanted. And since buses don't run frequently I would have been in transit for 2 hours instead of less than one. Wendy, thank goodness, thought this as silly as me and designed the day so her and Samuel could drop me off at St Andrews. So, we started our journey along the coast of Fife and I got amazing views of the fishing villages and beach...even though it was brutally cold. We had a nice picnic in the car by the waterfront that Wendy packed, tea of course and cheese sandwiches and apples and clementines and lemon cake. What a woman. hahaha.
I loved every minute of my homestay, and I would love to go back in the Spring when it's nicer if she'll have me, and Maddie as well since that's where she had her homestay the weekend before me. Last summer she had her daughter's wedding at her house. They built the marquee and she made all the salads for 150 people from her garden and prepared potatoes from her garden as well for those 150 people. I looked at the pictures and it looked amazing. Some of the guests stayed in tents on the lawn. She even designed and sewed her daughters dress. She used to be a clothes designer, among many other things. She is definitely one of the most interesting people I have ever met, and I was so glad to be in a house with a dog again. A black lab named Chloe, and a cat also named Willow.
Well then, another 4 days and I will be off to Granada to see Ally =D I cannot wait! I don't know how I am going to get through this week I will have to keep myself busy!!!
Amsterdam
So I never wrote about my trip to Amsterdam...I'll keep it short because I also need to write about my homestay.
So Amsterdam was my first big traveling adventure alone, and I will say I was a bit nervous. It took me a little bit longer to find my way out of Amsterdam Schiphol airport than it should have, but I managed to find my way to the correct train and from the train to the correct exit. Luckily, the hostel was fairly easy to find, and I happened to run into Tom and company on the way over because their flight had been delayed. So, we walked over together to Hotel My Home. It had possibly the steepest stairs I have ever encountered, but it was nice as hostels go I suppose. There were 4 of us, and a random Chinaman in our room haha. He was quiet and nice. The hostel served breakfast each morning which was good to have included in our price and day.
The weekend is a bit of a blur, and I was absolutely exhausted when I got back. We spent the majority of our time walking in the gray an drizzly weather. It was still beautiful though, I would love to see it in the spring. We went to the Van Gogh museum almost first thing, and that is one of the higlights of my whole trip abroad so far. It was incredible. Starry night was there, as well as the paintings leading up to it. The museum was multiple floors and exhibits, and like I said before I would love to go back to the city in the spring to see a lot of the things in the lighting and weather Van Gogh painted them in.
Our small group of four then attempted to meet up with the rest of the GW Madrid group, who were spread out in different hostels and hotels. The problem was, only Tom's phone worked and he had no balance so he could only receive calls...quite the comical yet frustrating situation. We eventually managed, with luck on our sides to find each other and we proceeded to wonder about the city more. Of course the boys were anxious to see the red light district, so we went. It is as scary and outrageous as you can imagine. We went back in the daylight and it wasn't so hustling and bustling, but it is by far one of the strangest things I have encountered in my life.
We all went to the Heineken experience together, that was a lot of fun...a lot more interesting than the Anheuser Busch brewery! Anddd delicious half pints were included with our ticket. After the experience, some people went to the Anne Frank House museum, while others of us who were quickly running out of money decided to go see a cathedral and take more pictures around the city. There were really cool people as standing statues...one as a gorilla one as darth vader. They would get mad if you took a picture without putting money in their bin. So we tried not to anger them.
My last day there was cut short by the fact that my flight was at 1pm. Tom was nice enough to come with me even though his flight wasn't until 3 hours later, and unlucky for him his flight was delayed another hour. :( And unlucky for us both, we were at separate gates so he wasn't allowed through to the same one as me to hang out :(
It was a long journey back between being at the airport an hour early, waiting, being on the plane for an hour, then having to take a bus to the train station in edinburgh and from edinburgh back to leuchars train station and from leuchars train station a bus to st andrews. Despite the fact that I had the hour time difference on my side: I left Amsterdam at 1:10 and got to edinburgh at 1:40, it was no consolation for my level of exhaustion.
But, I made it through, got some sleep, and set out the next weekend for my homestay!
So Amsterdam was my first big traveling adventure alone, and I will say I was a bit nervous. It took me a little bit longer to find my way out of Amsterdam Schiphol airport than it should have, but I managed to find my way to the correct train and from the train to the correct exit. Luckily, the hostel was fairly easy to find, and I happened to run into Tom and company on the way over because their flight had been delayed. So, we walked over together to Hotel My Home. It had possibly the steepest stairs I have ever encountered, but it was nice as hostels go I suppose. There were 4 of us, and a random Chinaman in our room haha. He was quiet and nice. The hostel served breakfast each morning which was good to have included in our price and day.
The weekend is a bit of a blur, and I was absolutely exhausted when I got back. We spent the majority of our time walking in the gray an drizzly weather. It was still beautiful though, I would love to see it in the spring. We went to the Van Gogh museum almost first thing, and that is one of the higlights of my whole trip abroad so far. It was incredible. Starry night was there, as well as the paintings leading up to it. The museum was multiple floors and exhibits, and like I said before I would love to go back to the city in the spring to see a lot of the things in the lighting and weather Van Gogh painted them in.
Our small group of four then attempted to meet up with the rest of the GW Madrid group, who were spread out in different hostels and hotels. The problem was, only Tom's phone worked and he had no balance so he could only receive calls...quite the comical yet frustrating situation. We eventually managed, with luck on our sides to find each other and we proceeded to wonder about the city more. Of course the boys were anxious to see the red light district, so we went. It is as scary and outrageous as you can imagine. We went back in the daylight and it wasn't so hustling and bustling, but it is by far one of the strangest things I have encountered in my life.
We all went to the Heineken experience together, that was a lot of fun...a lot more interesting than the Anheuser Busch brewery! Anddd delicious half pints were included with our ticket. After the experience, some people went to the Anne Frank House museum, while others of us who were quickly running out of money decided to go see a cathedral and take more pictures around the city. There were really cool people as standing statues...one as a gorilla one as darth vader. They would get mad if you took a picture without putting money in their bin. So we tried not to anger them.
My last day there was cut short by the fact that my flight was at 1pm. Tom was nice enough to come with me even though his flight wasn't until 3 hours later, and unlucky for him his flight was delayed another hour. :( And unlucky for us both, we were at separate gates so he wasn't allowed through to the same one as me to hang out :(
It was a long journey back between being at the airport an hour early, waiting, being on the plane for an hour, then having to take a bus to the train station in edinburgh and from edinburgh back to leuchars train station and from leuchars train station a bus to st andrews. Despite the fact that I had the hour time difference on my side: I left Amsterdam at 1:10 and got to edinburgh at 1:40, it was no consolation for my level of exhaustion.
But, I made it through, got some sleep, and set out the next weekend for my homestay!
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