Puerto Vallarta: Sun, Surf and Stitches

The week of our spring break is appropriately named Semana Santa or the week of the saint also known as holy week as it's the week before Easter. A friend of mine Anna and I decided to take a 13 hour trip up to Puerto Vallarta for this holiday week to enjoy some adventure mixed with some relaxation. We left Thursday evening to arrive around noon time on Friday in the Vallarta bus station. From there we found our way to our hotel located in the Centro, or center of the city near the Malecon (boardwalk). From there we dropped our stuff off and immediately set off to explore Vallarta. We had an incredible and huge lunch at a restaurant located on the river that runs through Vallarta overlooking the tree tops giving us a rather quaint view. We ate a huge lunch before heading out on a bus ride to no where allowing ourselves to get familiar with a few of the bus routes through out the city. Afterwards we took a walk through some shopping vendors looking for a shot glass for Anna as a souvenier while I just flitted through the items of interest not looking for anything particular. Afterwards we walked down the Malecon and watched the sun set on our first night in Puerto Vallarta, it was along the way we met up with a stand selling the tours we'd talked about trying to do before we'd arrived in Vallarta. We reserved our spots on two different tours for the following days and then quickly made our way back to our hotel to get ready for a night out on the town.

The next morning we awoke relatively early to make our way to the meeting place and begin our first day of adventure with an ATV tour. A quick ride up the mountain and we made it to the place, strapped up and were off Anna, myself and our instructor. We rode for several miles until we reached our destination where we sat and rested near a spring and watched the beautiful relaxing waters flow. Afterwards we drove around for sometime more enjoying the excitement and fast paced adventure that comes with driving an ATV. Afterwards we arrived back at the ranch where we'd begun the whole adventure only to begin our next adventure. Gliding over the Vallartan jungle on a metal cable with our wits and the supplied handle bar to aid us in our flight. Also known as zip lines. After a few quick instructions from our adorable little instuctor Ricardo we were set off and flying over twelve lines hung at precarious heights through the trees and forestation that existed. At one point I was even allowed to go down along with our instructor allowing me the chance to fly with out having to have both hands attatched to the bar, gaining speed along the way and with an incredible view. After all twelve lines (two practice lines and ten regular lines) we ate lunch at the restaurant located on sight and then headed back into town for a little bit of clothing shopping. After that it was once again time to hit up the dancing scene.

Sunday we over slept missing our scheduled boat tour and snorkling adventure. So instead we spent a relaxing day on the beach near by the hotel in the hot hot sun and then decided to go for full body messages to help relax and get rid of the tension that had been built in our bodies for some time now. It was an early night for both of us so that we'd wake up and have plenty of time to get ready the next day for our snorkling, boat tour, beach and waterfall adventure.

The next morning we awoke, dawned our bathing suits and headed out to meet our boat for our latest adventure. We boarded a water taxi to head out to the larger boat that would be taking us to the various sites on the tour. Within little time we arrived at Los Arcos or the Arks, a large grouping of shaped rocks in the middle of the ocean where we were given snorkling gear and little time out in the water. In the time alotted I saw nothing and became slightly agitated with the promise of fish that had not been there. I quickly returned to the boat upon their calling and we were off to our next stop. The beach. It was here we were seated for lunch and it was here Anna and I waited over ten minutes with no service while almost every other passanger on the boat had received drinks, and most others had already began or even finished their food, a drink order had not even been taken. So becoming more frustrated we finally flagged down a young boy who had been working and finally got our order placed for food. Another ten minutes later we got our food but still no drink order had been taken. After all had finally been received we finished and I went to sit while Anna went to go over and climb on the rocks shortly after she left they called us all back to the boat to go to the next location, aggravating me further by how little time we'd gotten to spend on the beach so Anna and I decided to stay. I decided to take up surfing while Anna went back to climbing around on the rocks. Shortly after entering the water and after finally getting up on the board I was thrashed by a wave and knocked off only to crash my knee against an extremely sharp rock. Cutting myself on my right knee, the side of my left foot, and on my hands as I tried to stand up and make my way out of the water. I quickly noticed that large amount of blood pouring down my shin from my knee and sighed forgetting my board and making my way back to the restaurant we'd eaten at earlier. Passing by several groups of American's who only stopped and stared at the badly injured leg with so much blood it was difficult to tell where the wound was coming from. As I reached the restaurant several mexican's rushed about to aid me one shouting off orders in spanish to call an ambulence, get the cleaning supplies, grab a chair and elevate the leg, get a tournequit, etc. I was quickly tournequitted and elevated and then carried to a boat by four rather strong and good looking mexican men and rushed over to another beach where I was told we'd meet the ambulence. I was quickly rushed off onto the beach by the lifegaurds there and attended too. They set to work cleaning the wound as best they could and wrapping it in an effort to stop the blood flow as we waited for an ambulence that was never going to come. After almost an hour of waiting they called in some other lifeguards to take me by truck to the nearest hospital. I was then carried away by two more cute lifeguards and on my way to the hospital receiving a most gorgeous and un seen by most view of Puerto vallarta from the ride to the hospital. As I arrived at the hospital I quickly came to learn that the reason the bleeding hadn't stopped was because I'd cut an artery in my knee. A stem of the femoral artery. They placed me into a bed almost immediately and the doctor set to work. Around another hour or so later I received somewhere around five internal dissolvable stitches and 20 external stitches, the whole while talking the poor doctors ear off in Spanish as Anna tells me the slight blood loss and possible anxiety of the whole situation might've made me a bit loopy. At one point in time I could've sworn the doctor wanted to give me an anesthetic just to shut me up, but through out the whole endevour I learned just how well my Spanish could hold up as I spoke almost no English the whole two and some hours. And as I left with a 4,000 some peso hospital bill and a ugly knee to hit up the pharmacy for an antibiotic to make sure I didn't receive an infection I realised maybe that wasn't a bad experience overall.

The next day was a day of relaxation as I was told no extreme physical activity. Anna had mentioned wanting to get a hair treatment and so we went off in search of a hair salon, and as she got a treatment a trim turned into a cut and slightly new style for my hair as I think the stylist was having fun playing with hair as blonde as mine as he continually told me how beautiful and shiny it was and healthy. After that we went back to the hotel and went off in search of parasailing only to find that is was more then double what it had been in Acapulco and we ditched the idea for a few beers and some delicious shrimps on a stick on the beach instead from a local and delicious vendor. That night was our last in Vallarta as the next day Anna had plans to move onto Mazatlan after we met up with Kelli while I was to return to Puebla since I was of little fun with the bummed knee. Ending an amazing and adventurous week in one of Mexico's more touristy cities.

Boys: The good and the bad

Thursday was the scheduled day of the tennis tournement that I'd been entered into. Tuesday evening at practice coach had talked with two guys asking if either one of them could pick me up as I had no other way of getting to the tournement. One responded saying he didn't know if he'd be going to the tournement or not as he wasn't sure if he'd get out of classes. Thinking plans had been arranged I waited around the dorms for one of the guys to come and pick me. 11 o'clock rolls around and no one's come, this was the time the tournement was to start. I was ditched apparently. Angered I returned to my room to take a nap quickly getting over it knowing I'd see them both Tuesday and would be able to reem them out for forgetting me.

That same evening myself as well as one of my friends Anna, my neighbor Erica, and a girl from down the hall Regina went out to some clubs near by in Cholula. Friday I spent my day running some errands. Spent a good 20 minutes at the post office arguing with the employees over a importation tax that they had placed on an important package I'd had sent in order to begin my studies for Japanese. Afterwards I left frustated and jipped out of $86 (USD). The rest of my day I spent chatting with the boy from Toluca, Erick, and getting a head start on my Japanese.

Saturday I awoke somewhat early and made a last minute decision after talking more with Erick to go visit him once more. So I traversed once more to Toluca and spent my weekend with Erick and some of his other friends. Saturday he had a small house party for the soccer game that was taking place that day Mexico versus Costa Rica. Mexico won 2-0. We then went out to a bar to meet up with some other friends including Alex whom I'd met in Acapolco as well. Sunday we made breakfast together and afterwards we spent the day in a town outside of Toluca with his dad and his brother. We hiked up a large mountain like hill where there was a gigantic statue of Jesus on top and a beautiful view of the town below. Afterwards we spent the afternoon relaxing by a lake watching the various couples and families all while listening to a mariachi sort of band at the restaurant nearby. After that it was off to Erick's brother-in-laws family's place for an amazing fish dinner and tequila where we spent the evening in good company and conversation. It was after several hours spent here that I had to take the return trip to Puebla saying goodbye to amazing people with whom I hope to visit once more as they warmly welcomed me into their home and hearts and I as well...

March 21- A USAC Trip

This past Saturday the USAC program had organized a group trip, much like the one's I'd taken in Spain, to a part of town in Mexico City called Coyoacon in order to visit some museums. First we stopped off for a shortwhile at the Frieda Kahlo museum which was once her house. Frieda Kahlo is a very famous artist who was crippled by an accident and later died because of complications from this accident. After exploring her house for some time we were then dropped off in the Zocalo like area of Coyoacon where there was a large market with vendors selling anything and everything. Here we explored for a few hours, grabbing some ice cream from what was said to be one of the best places around to get ice cream but after being spoiled by the Gilato of Europe I've found it's hard to compare. It was in the market that I bought a few little neat souveniers for myself and a few others. After we were done exploring Ignacio the director took us for lunch at what had to have been one of the most americanized restaurants in all of Mexico. The music as we entered should've been the tip as it was American but it was baaad music none the less. We were served a delicious minastrone soup, some pasta with practically nothing on it to which we all added a spicey salsa and lime noticing how mexican we all started to become by adding salsa to pasta. Although it tasted rather good with the salsa and lime in my opinion. For the main course we were given a choice between three dishes to which I chose Chicken Cubano, which was supposed to be chicken served with an almond sauce and freid bananas all caramalized and sweet sauce. The sauce tasted like nothing, but the bananas were good. The other options were beef with mole (to which I'm wishing I would've eaten now, and Mexican Chicken to which few people liked as they said it wasn't very tastey). After lunch it was time to go to the Diego Rivera Museum, another famous artist once the husband of Frieda Kahlo. While there we were forced to take a tour and "stay with the group." I'm not a fan of tours and don't like being told to stay with a group if I don't want to. Needless to say I became the rule breaker and lingered until the group finally left me, paid little attention to the tour guide (which was easy to do as she spoke in Spanish I could easily block her out pretending to not understand.) and after a while the others followed suit becoming bored with the tour guide. After some time we began to then play the self timer game where everyone who had a camera set the camera to self timer giving us each ten second to run to a spot within view of the camera and then make funny poses and faces giving each camera a different picture. It was after we had our fun with the self timer game that we got back on the bus and headed back to Puebla ending the first of two USAC trips... and beginning another week in Puebla!!

The Long Weekend: March 13-16

For the weekend a large group of all the USAC student plus two Mexican boys decided to take a trip to a small town a few hours away from Acapulco called Ixtapa/Zeohuatinejo. It's two connected towns with very lovely beaches and crystal like waters. The first day they had all gone on Thursday night, but because I was supposed to have tennis practice (even though it was canceled due to a thunderstorm that occured in the last minutes before practice) which allowed everyone else in the group to arrive on Friday giving them one more day over the rest of us. Alyssa, Ramon, Kelli and I on the other hand left Friday evening arriving early Saturday morning. We immediately went to the hotel to meet with everyone before getting some breakfast and heading out on a boat over to the island's beaches where we started off by grabbing some tables, chairs to lay out on and some shade. Where Chris ordered some beers and we sipped while cooling off and applying some sun screen. Afterwards we took a dip in the water. After an hour or so of cooling off in the water, Kelly, Haven, her fiance Fernando and I all went and got full body massages for an hour relazing us to the point of inability to walk.

After we came back from out massages a group of us decided to rent some snorkling gear and see what we could see in the reef below. An hour or so of snorkling later it was time to get abck on the boat and head back to the mainland to clean up and get some dinner. That night Ramon and I split a tray filled with the most delicious of sea food. We ate lobster, shrimp, octopus, fish and clams until neither one of us could eat anymore. Afterwards we parted ways and Kelly and I went salsa dancing while Haven and Fernando went to another club. The rest went home early to prepare for the next day as some would be waking up early to go fishing.

Sunday Kelly, Haven, Fernando and I went and had breakfast at a pancake house where I ate delicious waffles with strawberries on top as well as chorizo gravey. Afterwards we explored the downtown market for a little while before heading back to the hotel to get ready to spend another day beach bumming it. Getting on our suits Kelly and I found some shade and hung around for a while till we found Alyssa, Liz, and Erin, and Ramon later joined us as we sat around in the shade enjoying one another's company until it was time for Erin, Kelly and I to part as we all had things to do Monday even though it was a day off from school. Neither Erin nor I wanted to arrive at 7 am Tuesday and have to drag ourselves to classes on Tuesday. So instead we took a rather empty bus back to Puebla arriving early Monday morning in which I spent my day lazing around and doing very little. Ending my long weekend vacation.

The Weekend of The 6th

This proved to be a week of excitement as I found out one evening that I was going to be participating in a tennis tournement the next week. So that Friday I then went shopping for some new tennis necessities including shoes as mine were falling apart and I'd needed new one's ne ways, a new racket (my old one is on the verge of death), and the uniform needed to represent the University. Ana went with me and we decided to do some accessory shopping afterwards and enjoy a juice and that evening she and I went out dancing with the others in Cholula. The next morning we of course had our internship. As well I paid a visit to Erick and his friends whom we'd met in Acapulco because one of his friends Angel had invited me to a big party that weekend. So I went to Toluca for the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday. It was here I discovered how much of a party animal my friend Angel really was.

The next morning we all ate chilequiles and Erick took us around the city of Toluca where we went to an indoor garden that was once a farmers market. And Erick talked about the history as well as the story told by the beautiful mosaic windows that encircled the entire building. Windows that had been pieced together on tiny little glass shard at a time by one man. We also paid a visit to a small art museum as well as got ice cream and watched the hustle and bustle of the Sunday city life go by. Later we went back and watched the movie "The Boy In The Striped Pajamas." And after dinner it was time to say goodbye and return to life in Puebla with classes to complete and all.

Random Week of Puebla: I'm losing track of time

It was a few weeks ago that this happened at it was the beginning week for the internship in which I found out was not what I had been expecting nor what I thought had been promised to us. Two other girls, Liz and Ana work alongside myself at a center for cancer in children who can't afford treatment. The place is called "Una Nueva Esperanza" which means A New Hope in English and it's a very noble and worthwhile cause, it's just that the work we do there is more like volunteer work less like that of an internship. But I'll work my best to get the credits to transfer as without the internship I barely meet minimum requirements. The rest of the week was nothing much to talk about minus Sunday.

Sunday Liz, Morgan and I trecked to Cholula. Cholula is normally where the night life is at here, but we took a trip during the day to go visit a monumental piece of history. The pyramids of Cholula started in a narrow tunnel in which anyone much taller then myself would've found trouble venturing through. After emerging from the tunnel we found ourselves just outside the largest pyramids in volume in the world. It took a couple of hours of exploration and lots of stair climbing before we reached the top where there sat a gorgeous catholic church amongst the excavations. And down at the bottom we explored the excavated ruins learning about the history that once lived in said ruins. After some photos we left to grab a bite to eat and then head down to the zocalo of cholula where there was apparently some sort of celebration going on for carnaval in which they were shooting off old rifles and making all sorts of smoke and noise, as well as music, dancing, and a parade. After some ice cream and a little bit of the festivities we left to end a short but fulfilled week.

Carnaval: Veracruz

We decided at the last minute possible that we wanted to go down to Veracruz for the weekend of Carnaval and drove with our friend Ivan thinking it would get us there faster then if we took the busses that were scheduled to leave from Puebla. Turns out we were wrong and it was a relatively bad idea as the boys wouldn't listen to the girls advice and instead decided to keep driving around and continually get lost while we'd looked at the map and knew where it was we were going. But that didn't matter as we got in and found a hotel settling in for the night to prepare for the next day. (As that evening it had rained canceling the many festivities that were to normally take place in the streets of Veracruz.)

The next day we explored the marine life by going to the aquarium in Veracruz where I missed my chance to swim with the sharks by about 40 minutes afterwards we decided to escape the heat by using the swimming pool in the hotel, which is were we spent most of the afternoon. Afterwards we decided it was time to find some food and get ready to go to the parade that was taking place that night in the streets of Veracruz. We stayed for several hours watching the lines of dancers, people in costumes all imitating the traditional Brazilian carnaval. Drums, music, samba dancing, flashy head dresses, floats, and plenty of masks, and alcohol to go around was where we spent our night. Until the next day when we took the long journey back to Puebla to go back to classes leaving the parties behind.

Puebla How Time goes by: Week 5

Classes were of course the usual ordeal get up go and do the homework. Not much out of the ordinary for this weel. There had been a soccer game that was still part of the tournement in which foreign exchange students weren't aloud to participate. The girls lost 14-0 and the next day at practice we were ushered into a room to talk to a psycologists and perhaps reason out why we'd lost so horribly. I was completely at a loss all of it being in Spanish and not having participated in the game even making my first ever shrink a not so interesting experience for myself. That weekend I went out dancing once more and Sunday I procrastinated homework by making it a movie day with friends. We sat around all day in Ramon's room (Alyssa, Liz and I) watching a plethora of movies and then afterwards we decided to get a group together and go to the movie theater and see the newest in the Underworld saga. A simple but well spent weekend.

Cuerna what??

The next weekend we decided to just pick up on a Saturday afternoon and left on very nice bus ride to the city of Cuernavaca where we spent the night in the nicest Holiday Inn I'd ever seen. After checking into the hotel we went to the Zocalo or the town center for some dinner. We ate and sat around chatting for a little while before heading back to the hotel and get some rest so that we could wake up early the next morning.

The next day we woke up ate a nice breakfast and went to the ruins located in the city. We spent most of our day climbing up and down the tiny stairs not meant for the non indigenous person to be climbing on as they were narrow and small as well as taking several photos of our reinactments of the sacrifices held there once long ago. After some food we went back on another luxurious bus ride to Puebla where we ordered pizza and chilled in the safe zone between dorms since the curfew forbid us from hanging out in the boys dorms after 11 and vice-versa. Ending our random up and go trip.

Amazing Acapulco

We began the trip upon our arrival with a small trip to Walmart to grab some beach necessities that we lacked. Afterwards we spent our whole first day on the beach taking in the sun and relaxing. That first night we stayed long enough to watch the sunset from the beach all while sipping margeritas. Afterwards we packed up and headed back to our hotel in hopes of getting dressed and ready to go out dancing that evening but unfortunately we all fell asleep.

The next morning we woke up early and made our way to an old fortress located high up in Acapulco. After we explored the history of Acapulco we ate some lunch and then too a boat ride that lasted over an hour (after we'd been told would only last 45 minutes) to go over to an island. During the journey on the boat ride in which we watched a young boy perform a cliff diving act, a man in a speedo swim underneath the boat with sea urchins, and saw a statue at the bottom of the water we made it to the island with little time to spend enjoying ourselves there. On the island we found a more secluded area of the beach where we were able to do our own version of snorkling and watch the little fishies scatter about. After a while it was time to catch the last boat back to the mainland and that night we made it out to the club going to a place called Paradaise and paying 200 pesos for open bar till 4 am. It was there I met a guy named Erick and spent the night hanging out with and dancing until somewhere around 4 we decided to go and get churros. Finding the churro place closed we went instead to a taco place before parting ways with the boys and heading back to the hotel to sleep in until noon.

Once we were up and funcitoning we decided to spend the day at the beach once more where we went jet skiing, and built a sand castle. After our fun in the sun we went back to the hotel and got ready to go to a place called Senor Frogs where I enoyed my first mojito and wound up meeting with the guys from the club the night before. After a few drinks we decided to ditch senor frogs and go grab some drinks and chill on the beach outside the club we'd gone to the night before. And all of us chilled around on the beach splashing around the tide until Erick asked me to take a walk with him down the beach and of course I went with him. And as we walked along the beach chatting about life, ourselves, and everything in between. It was when we passed by another bar that a slow song came on and I could swear to myself that the film had to be rolling or the credits were going to pop up any minute as things turned into a scene straight out of a romance movie. And the two of us danced to the distant music. And as you would expect from any classic romance movie, as the song came to and end he leaned and we shared a very sweet kiss. Afterwards he dropped us all off back at our hotel, leaving me with a good night kiss.

And the next day was supposed to be our return to Puebla, as we woke up early to go to the bus station to head home on the 10:30 bus only to find out that the bus was already full. So we bought tickets for the next bus available being the 4:30 and decided not to waste the extra time given to us and made our way back to the beach, texting the boys to see if they wanted to hang out with us until we had to leave. I never received a response but was pleasently surprised when about two hours later he signaled his arrival with a kiss on the cheek. We spent the rest of the time lounging around and chatting before it was finally time to return and make our way back to little old Puebla.

Bienvenidos A Puebla

I arrived in Puebla to find it pleasently warmer then where I'd come from. I spent the first week here sorting out my classes as many of the one's I'd expected to be here and or pre-registered for were not here upon my arrival. We had our orientation where we took a tour of campus and then a tour of the city of Puebla on a double decker tour bus. I did my first shopping at walmart nearby for the new dorm room and started classes. After discusions with the director of the USAC program with all the missing credits we decided on allowing me to work at an internship at a local cancer center to receive three more college credits. And of course that first weekend we went to experience the club life of Mexico by going to Cholula where all the bars and clubs as well as the other university UDLA are all located.

The second week in Puebla I joined a tennis club where I'm receiving lessons for $55 for the whole semester. It was here that the girls from the last semester introduced us to some of their Mexican friends that also go to the University, it was this week I met Ivan, Ramon, Roberto, and Chepe who are all still relatively good friends as I continue to add more. We went to the local mall called Angelopolis where I tried mango beer (dangerous as it doesn't taste like alcohol) went once more to Cholula. We also went to the farmers market here where I saw everything fresh more then I could've imagined including fresh meat and every body part of every animal, cow hearts, livers, kidneys, anything was open to the imagination at the market and the imagination would not put a dent in the pocket book as we bought so much fruit and vegetables for less then 100 pesos which at the time and still is under $10. It was also here we got to see as a woman killed and defeathered chickens. It was this weekend that while going to take Liz to the doctor and Mariah to find out about soccer that we discovered the girls soccer team and here I decided to join and try something new by becoming becoming a member of the Ibero Girls soccer team. Making for an interesting first two weeks in Puebla.

New Year's Eve In Madrid: The last day of '08

I arrived in Madrid where it had begun and where it was to come to a close as well. I'd explored the city a little looking for a bite to eat before I had to go back to the airport and wait. It was in the airport I'd spent my New Year's Eve as I was to be on a flight the next morning at 7am to head back to Cleveland. I'd talked with my mom in the early stages of my trip somewhere in Dublin after I'd found out that there was to be a problem storing my extra luggage in Madrid's airport as they only allowed storage for an alotted 15 days before they charged more then you would pay to ship it back to the states. So because of this my mom and I worked secretly and diligently to rearrange all of my flights and save myself some money to be able to come home ten days early, hence why I was sitting at the Madrid airport partying by myself rather then out in the streets where everyone else was. After staying up almost all night talking with another woman who was to be leaving on the same flight as myself but her final stop was in London where I was to be boarding British Airways to London, the London to Heathrow (Chicago) and United Airlines Chicago to Cleveland where my mother and father where only two of three people that knew I'd be arriving ten days earlier then scheduled. I'd even called my family that evening from the airport to wish them a Happy New Year's telling both my brothers and my best friend that I was waiting to go to Germany surprised that they took the bait so easily. The next day came and I took my coordinating flights while my mother waited anxiously for my arrival. And as the final plane landed in Cleveland I'd called my mom to let her know I'd be on my way to baggage within moments and she readied the camera as my brothers, Omi, and best friend had all come to the airport with the thought that they were picking up my very good college friend Anh. So as I walked out of the gate with all the other passengers arriving all four stared at me for small periods of times before Omi screamed drawing all attention to her while mom caught the whole thing on camera.

I spent the ten days of a wonderful break with friends as well as surprising various family members. It started with a visit to MUC where I went to see the real Anh and surprised Keiko. Afterwards we took a short visit to Kent where Chad reacted rather cooly and Chad like and Jackie gasped and gave me a huge hug making a wonderful welcome home. After them came my Papa Chuck, Uncle Todd, Aunt Sue and Uncle Don. First we stopped in at Papa Chucks where he was surprised to find me standing behind my mom and Carlos but greeted me with a huge smile and a welcome back. Uncle Todd was then called out and he hugged me several times in order to make sure I wasn't translucent or something. After a pleasent chat with them we went over to Aunt Sue's who spoiled the surprise as she saw me through her window but Uncle Don was pleasently surprised to see me as well. The finals of the surprises were to come at Sam's basketball game that Tuesday but Monday evening while I was making dinner Aunt Susie came for a surprise visit and as I hid in the bathroom waiting mom grabbed the camera and positioned it to capture the moment on camera. As I came out her reaction was not what we'd been expecting as she didn't even register it at first but it was commical none the less. And jake couldn't stop hugging me all evening. That same evening we went to pick up Sam from practice as the final of the surprises. She had a huge grin on her face as she ran to hug me. It was great to be able to see everyone once more and say hello and goodbye as that weekend I left once more for Puebla Mexico where I sit catching up on all my adventures and thinking about all the wonderful memories I've made thus far and how many more there are to come.

One Night In Bologna: December 30,2008

I arrived at the Milan airport and immediately too a train to a random place close by in Italy as I'd visited Italy once before and knew I didn't want to stay in Milan. The random selection turned out to be an amazing little city called Bologna which I only selected because the name sounded slightly familiar. As I arrived in the small city I checked into a hotel at random which turned out to be one of the crappier hotels I've ever paid for as I felt I'd received more for my money staying in hostels then in what was supposed to be a three star hotel. But I didn't let it bother me as I just needed a place to crash for the evening. That night I had a delicious tortellini dinner and glass of whine before I went exploring and found beautiful scenery, buildings, an open air ice skating rink filled with couples enjoying the night air, and even some ancient ruins. And although the evening was short and I was to leave the next day I held a place in my heart for the small city of Bologna which one day soon I'd love to go back to once more. But as morning came I left to go back to the Milan airport and take a flight to Madrid wishing had certain circumstances not occured that I could've spent more time in Italy.

The Final Dutch Day: Amsterdam December 29,2008

The boys of the Glover family needed to go to Amsterdam in order to talk with the embassy about updating their passports and so we took a day trip to Amsterdam. While the family went inside and since I'd forgotten to bring my own passport with me I walked around a large park area for a little while on my own where I saw several neat buildings and the street (literally) of nothing but museums. Afterwards we went to lunch and continued exploring. I experienced Amsterdam's many sides, shopping, food, and even a bit of the "red light" district where I saw several cafes not meant for drinking coffee. I'd already known to expect the cafe culture as a little different from what I'd been used to and I knew that weed was legal as well but it still came as a shock just how common it had become. I saw many other interesting and amusing things including the grand central train station, the mall that appeared to more of a castle then a mall, and even the bicycle parking garage filled with bycicles. As well I experienced new flavors of puff pastry like things with powdered sugar on top, a Dutch version of the Croquet at McDonalds, and hot chocolate. A sweet ending to a sweet day. The next morning I was off for the airport to head to Italy with sweet Dutch memories to bring along with me.

Dutch Days 2: December 28,2008

That morning we woke up relatively early and decided to take a trip to the open air museum where I learned a lot of the history and culture of the Dutch. In the open air museum we went and watched a movie that talked a lot about history in this large egg like dome that moved. It was well presented and very interesting to experience. Afterwards we walked around looking at all the different stages of old Dutch life including the farming, housing, cooking etc. We took a few rides on the train, ate delicious pancakes for lunch, played on the playground for a little while. I also got to experience an old fashioned Dutch way of cooking by making what appeared to be some sort of friend porage with molases on top. It was here I was adorned in an old red and white apron and sat at an old fashioned Dutch oven with a large frying pan and spatula like thing wowing the crowd with my amazing cooking skills. Wowing is a bit of an over statement but I don't think anyone thought I knew what I was doing till they saw me in action. Afterwards we found a gigantic windmill adorned with large slide where we went "sled riding." As there was no snow we just slid down the slide with rubber tubes. As the day was drawing to a close the last thing we did was to go ice skating and it was here I got to share in the experience of teaching Mark-Jan how to ice skate. It took a minute for me to get my feet back as it'd been so long since I'd last gone ice skating but it was a glossy finish to a wonderfully spent day.

Dutch Days: The beginning December 27, 2008

I made it to Holland relatively quickly, landing in Eindhoven. From there I took a bus from the airport the train station so that I could hop on a train and head to Ede to meet with the Glover family. I soon found myself at the Ede train station relatively early with little way to contact the Glover family as I'd lost the number somewhere along the way there. I tried several times on the rediculous cell phone as well as a pay phone to contact them and let them know I had arrived but the Dutch pay phones are either very complicated or I'm just not all that pay phone saavy as I failed several times before I was finally able to leave a voice mail message on Matt's phone. It wasn't soon before long that Matt Glover arrived at the station to pick me up and we headed back to their house where I met his wife Winnie and his two adorable sons Mark-Jan, and Tim. After a little while Grandma came to pick up tim who would be staying with her for the weekend. After Tim and Grandma left winnie and I went out to see the large weekend street market where all sorts of fresh fruit and vegetables as well as goodies were being put up for sale. It was here I tried a fried fish dish with a dutch version of tarter sauce that was really sweet but delicious. After we walked around a little more picking up some items for dinner and the kittie before heading back home to enjoy what's called "hot pot" and wine. It was a fun and delicious make it yourself dinner where you selected meats and veggies sticking it in the fun dishes over a a small movable frier like thing which I have no way to describe. It was a long and enjoyable dinner before bed.

The Day After, December 26, 2008

My last day in London was a push to see as much as possible as I headed out quite early in the morning in search of several things. First I quickly went to where I thought the Wimbeldon stadium would be only to find out it wasn't where I thought it'd been located. Afterwards I made my way quickly to search for the infamous Abbey Road where the beatles took the photo for the appropriately titled album. Though once again my directions had been slightly off and so slightly defeated and feeling down I discovered to my great surprise a small pub where I grabbed a quick fish 'n' chips and a pint. After refreshing myself with food I made a quick stop at the Harley Store that had been closed the first time around and returned to the Chelsea stadium from earlier as well. If I'd had time I would've purchased tickets to the game that was taking place that day but instead I just made a quick stop in the store to purchase a gift for my dad and my youngest brother. Quickly I made a stop off at the Buckingham Palace where I watched as the guards stood their stillest only moving when they were scheduled to "march." It was all a neat show and after snapping a few shots I then made my way over to the London Eye as I'd scheduled a ride on the large enclosed ferris wheel. Along the way I stopped off in Westiminster Abby where I was able to see Parliment, Westminster Church and all the other beatiful buildings surrounding this area this of course included the most famous of London's buildings Big Ben.

After the pictures I made my way over and took a long ride on the London Eye while enjoying a cup of spiced/mulled/glu wine depending on who you talk to . After enjoying this I decided it was time to eat dinner and made my way over towards Hyde park where the Hard Rock Cafe was allegedly located near by. It was here I met Frosty Jack the snowman and claimed him as my boyfriend for the evening. We spent a lovely evening together in Hyde Park. But after walking around for a good hour and a half later I finally gave up on the search for the illusionary Hard Rock Cafe and hailed a cap to take me to the nearest underground station so I could head back. Along the way I got lost once more as the station nearest my hostel had been closed down for the day. After finally finding my way back I stopped of quickly to get a small dinner before calling it a night in the hostel and waking up at 3 am to get to the airport to catch a ride to Holland.

Christmas In London, December 25, 2008

Being Christmas not much was open but Duffy and I slept in and awoke the next day setting out in hopes of finding a legitimate fish and chips restaurant where we could grab some good old fashioned fish and chips and a pint. unfortunately there were no places around open and after walking several long tedious miles through London we settled for eating at a delicious greek restaurant where I played it safe sticking to calamari. Afterwards we made our way back to the hostel and having slept in extremely late it was already beginning to get dark but we traversed the city in search of something good to do. Finding nothing we settled on buying lots of candies and spending the night chatting, eating sugar untill our teeth rotted and sipping on bacardi breezers. The whole seemingly boring was packed that I forgot what the day even was before night fell and we once more decided to hit the hay so that the next day I could race around the city and catch up on all I'd missed out on.

London Lights: December 24, 2008

I arrived in London relatively early in the morning after a long adventurous bus ride and quickly made my way to the hostel to check in. After checking in and grabbing a quick breakfast, I went out to explore immediately. I took the undergroundand quickly went to the London Bridge and Tower where along the way I saw Ernst and Young, as well as the City hall which was very funkily shaped. I also saw the London Fortress and a huanted house called House of Doom or something tacky along those lines. Afterwards I went to see King's Cross Station. Later I found my way to the Chelsea Soccer Stadium, as well as one of the oldest Harley stores. I'd promised to find an awsome T-Shirt for my uncle while I was there but unfortubately arrived an hour too late but promised to make it back later that week. As it was getting late I made my way over to China town passing by Picadilly Circus along the way. In Chine town I took the suggestion of Fraser and ordered take out from an awsome restauraunt. Taking it home I found the chillies a little more then I could handle but enjoyed the meal none the less. It was at this point that I decided to make my way back to my room only to find my key didn't open the door to the room I'd been given. Going downstairs I talked with the desk to find that I'd been put into the wrong room. So I quickly threw my stuff together and left the room and moved into the other to meet my new roomate named Duffy. We hit it off and sat around chatting for a little while before we both decided to hit the hay wishing one another a Merry Xmas before turning out the lights and falling asleep.

Final Day In Scotland

The final day in scotland had saved all the best for last. It was finally time for meet the infamous Fraser of Smart Recovery as I received a call on the cell phone that was much more pain then it was worth stating that he would be around today and would like to come pick me up and show me Inverness. As time had passed by relatively quickly already and my bus that evening was set to leave sometime around 8 we kept the sightseeing close. First we went to Lochness in search of Nessie. But instead of finding Nessie I found the story of a man who held a passion for the search of the mysterious monster of the lake. This man's name I do not remember but I do remember his story. For his passion he sold everything he owned and bought a small trailer house moving out to lochness and taking up permanent residence with his new lakeside estate. It was here he spent his days searching for clues and answers to the msytery that is Nessie. On his days not spent traversing through online photographs and lake watching he sells small figurines to support his dream and is always willing to tell his story to a wayward traveler willing to listen.

After a few snapshots lakeside in the chilling rain we were shortly entertained by a small boy who decided to make lochness his own personal swimming pool soaking himself through his thick winter jacket and to the bone. Gives me chills just thinking of it each time. After a few chuckles we went to a local shop where the traditional scottish goodies were sold where I received my very own Nessie to take home with me. On the way back we stopped off at the park I'd been in just the day prior to look at the christmas lights all lit up only to find out that a rather idiotic bunch of children vandalized the beautiful display ruining the goodtimes for all to come. Instead we took photos by the bridge that had luckily been left untouched. After this Fraser showed me the history of Inverness as well as his history showing me the town where he lived as a small boy. Along the ride around I saw a peacock up close and personal but unfortunately my camera had stopped working for the day and wasn't taking my own pictures. As we drove we stopped at a locals only like pub where I had my first real scottish ale named Mr. Snowballs.

After filling up on a pint of ale we went over to pick up Fraser's wife from work and went home for dinner where I tried several new items as well including haggus, scottish style stew, and whiskey. The haggus and the stew were both delicious and the rumor that Fraser's wife was an excellent cook held more truth then even I can explain. I'd never been so full in my life with so many delicious scottish delicasies. The whiskey was very strong but I enjoyed trying it and the pudding for desert was like a piece of chocolate heaven. A delicous ending to a wonderful time spent in Scotland as afterwards I was loading a bus and on my way to London.