The Motherland

A lot has happened since I last posted, it's been a busy month! After the Swierenga's left I had a few days to myself before Allie, a girl from the York program, and her cousin Lindsay came to stay with me for the weekend. They were lovely to have here and I think saw a lot of London. They even got me a box of Ben's cookies from Covent Gardens, SOO good and so generous of them! That weekend Paige's friends were also in town so it was fun to hang out with them. I got to go see Vivaldi's Four Seasons at St. Martins-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square with Paige's friend Liz who had to go for her music class. It was beautiful.

The next week on St. Patrick's day I met the girls from York at the London Bridge station to go to Gatwick airport. We tried to sleep there to no avail. Our flight left at 6:15 to Amsterdam where we were going to meet Nikki and Hilary who had got there a day earlier from the States. Running on pure adrenaline, we traipsed around Amsterdam wide-eyed. It wasn't how I pictured it, and the dreariness probably didn't help, but it was still pretty awesome. We were starving for some Dutch pannekoeken (pancakes) and poffertjes, the most delicious thing in the world, so after plenty of walking we happened upon a cute little cafe along a canal. After satisfying our appetites we made our way to Anne Franks house.  There was quite the line but we stood in it graciously as we reminisced about the Calvin days. The museum was really interesting. Otto Frank, Anne's father, was the only one in the family who survived and the exhibits were made according to his orders. The the house was not to be furnished so it was easier to walk through. We saw Anne's actual diary's so that was cool.

Nikki, Kaitlin, Jessie and I went off to Den Haag after that to stay with Nikki's cousin. I really enjoyed walking through that city. The next day we went to Leiden which was the cutest and most quaint Dutch town. It had tons of canals and little alley ways with shops. We also got to walk through the very busy market running through the streets full of scrumptious treats, fresh vegetables and fruits, and all sorts of interesting fashion. I, of course, had to stop at the candy and get a bag of Dutch treats for myself :) Stroopwaffles were also purchased by almost everyone in our group. Sean, a Calvin grad getting his masters at Leiden University, was our tour guide and we got to rest up at his place for a bit. Grace, Karie and Jessie resided there for the weekend. We went on a small walking tour and got to see Rembrandt's house and place of birth. The house led us to the Rhine river where we of course had to take a picture "Over the Rhine". That in turn led us to a beautiful little windmill that we got to climb up into and peer out.

We also surprisingly encountered a small parade that was for the International Day Against Racism. After meandering about the city we got some groceries and had a lovely picnic in the park. That wrapped up our glorious day in Leiden and ended the night takin it easy in Den Haag.

The next day was spent in Delft. It was Sunday so not much was open, especially as early as we had gotten there. But it was wonderful to walk lazily around in the sunshine strolling along canals and admiring old Dutch architecture. We went the the center square of the town and did some souvenir shopping and got some beautiful Delft gifts for the parents :) I went to the Vermeer museum by myself and that was educational yet lacking in any of his original work. I joined the girls at a outdoor cafe and we bathed in the sunshine while eating toasties and pannekoeken once again.

We headed back to Den Haag and regrouped at Nikki's cousins house. We decided that 3 of us would ride bikes to the beach while the others took a tram. Hilary, Jessie and I decided to try and conquer this task which started off a bit rocky. We may have almost gotten ran over by cars and yelled at by Dutch natives but once on the right road it was practically smooth sailing. Their very different street signs and rules were difficult to navigate and follow to say the least. Great experience all in all! We met the other girls and Hilary's distant relatives joined up with us to show us around. We walked down the boardwalk at Scheveningen beach which was quite enjoyable and nice to feel the North Sea breeze. We all tried pickled herring which was disgusting because I hate fish.. and had some gelato to wash it down. After the beach walk we headed back to where Hilary had been residing at her relatives house to have a traditional Dutch meal. While it was being prepared the girls and I were trying to learn Dutch from the oldest daughter but all failed miserably which she found hilarious. It was sausage, mashed potatoes with cabbage, another dish with sausage, cheese, vegetables, and mashed potatoes, and much more. It was soooo very good and had a delectable dessert, homemade by the youngest daughter.

Our last day in the Netherlands was spent in Amsterdam. We had a quick lunch upon arrival and went on a delightful canal cruise. The house boats we saw were cool to look at and the architecture was awesome to see from canal as well. We did some short souvenir shopping and hung out in Dam's square for awhile. Then we relaxed at a corner pub and had a Heineken as the sun set. That concluded our wonderful trip to our very own Motherland :)

Friends and Family

The week after my last post was spent mostly desperately trying to come up with ideas for my projects and working on different approaches. Paige was in Paris visiting her boyfriend so it was a little more quiet around here. Last Thursday I was nervous to show a rough video for the Acme project but it thankfully went over well and I am just tweaking things now to make it even better. We also got 2 new briefs which means more work, even a paper to write! I wish I had known about them when I first came so I could've gotten a jump start on it seeing as I had not a lot to do for a month. That night I was excited to pick Kaitlin up from Kings Cross and welcome her to lovely London and my apartment on the south bank. We went into central London that night just to give her a feel of the place and see Westminster lit up at night.

Friday she went to meet her family at Heathrow and then went straight to Bath for two days. Grace, Jessie, and Karie arrived at at Kings Cross Friday night and I picked them up also and brought them back to my humble abode. We also took the bus into central and walked around for awhile, got some food and called it a night.

Saturday I showed the girls around London some more. We walked to the Tate Modern, across Millennium bridge, over to St. Paul's, down Fleet Street to The Strand, and through to Covent Gardens where we picked up lunch at Benito's hat, a nice little Mexican restaurant. We then made our way through Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace where I ran into Joe and Cassie! (my old neighbor from back home in Lombard) Talked with them for awhile and glad to hear they're settling into their new place, hopefully going to get dinner with them sometime soon. We continued on to Westminster Abbey and attended Evensong at 3:00. It was absolutely beautiful and the choir sounded angelic with the acoustics of the cathedral. We wandered through the gift shop afterwards and eventually met up with the Aussies that are also international students at York with the girls. We took the tube to Shoreditch where we went to a Queen Tribute exhibit. It was pretty interesting and I learned a lot about the band. I also saw some graffiti by Banksy in the surrounding area which was cool. We headed home after that, ate some dinner and hung out with Paige and Kinne in the kitchen for awhile before going out to the bar. It was a busy day but I loved hanging out with the girls again!

Sunday the Swierenga clan arrived and I met up with them at their hotel right next to the London eye. It was so good to see everyone! They wanted to go to Evensong also so walked to Westminster and went to the service at 3:00, this time the service had a sermon since it was Sunday. We then walked to Buckingham Palace and walked around the area and St. James park. We walked to Trafalgar Square and into Leicester Square to eat dinner at Garfunkel's. It was delicious and nice to warm up seeing as the temperature was unusually cold that day. After dinner we made our way to the London Eye and stopped to take some pictures at 10 Downing Street, the prime ministers house. We strolled along the river and made it to the Eye right before it closed. It was a gorgeous view at night and I'm proud of everyone in our group who are wary of heights, it was really fun. We walked around the corner to the hotel afterwards and had a lovely evening in the bar/restaurant of the hotel.

Monday I met the group at the hotel to go on the Big Bus Tour. We enjoyed the ride to the Tower of London where we got off and took a tour of the Tower. It was really cool inside and there is so much history there. We listened to a Yeoman Warder/Beefeater and heard all about the royal family, the executions, and everything the tower has been through. We saw the execution site where Anne Boleyn was beheaded and went into the chapel where numerous figureheads are buried. After that we went to see the crown jewels which were absolutely amazing. I saw the Cullinan Diamond which is the largest rough cut diamond ever found at 3,106.75 carats. The crowns were gorgeous and just dripping with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other precious stones. We wandered into the White Tower after that and saw the armory of all the kings and their horses. We walked around the grounds some more and eventually left to go have some lunch and continue the tour.

The group split up here and Kaitlin, Aunt Ginger, Josh, and Megan went to St. Paul's and Becky, Mike, Megan, Kim and I went to ride the bus for awhile and go to Harrod's. It was quite an experience seeing Harrod's and it felt more like a museum than a store. I can't imagine what the people do who can actually afford to shop there. Unfortunately the bus tour was being incompetent and running very late supposedly because of traffic so it was hard to plan and get places. After Harrod's I met Grace, Jessie, and Karie at the V&A museum right down the road and the others took the bus tour and tube back. The girls and I came back to my apartment where we hurriedly made pasta and changed to go see our musicals. Grace and I met the Swierenga's at Queen's Theatre to see Les Miserables and Jessie and Karie went to see Billy Elliot at Victoria Palace Theatre. Les Miserables was absolutely AMAZING! This was my third time seeing it and it was definitely the best, I was so giddy and basically cried through the whole second act. I could see that musical a hundred times over. 

Today I said goodbye to the girls and Kaitlin and them headed back to York. The Swierenga's went to the Churhill War Rooms Museum this morning and I met them at their hotel at 1:30 to send them off to Edinburgh. It was so great to see everyone and be able to experience London with them!