Finalmente, he llagado en Oviedo. ¡Estoy en España! Boy did it seem like forever to get here...Oviedo was more beautiful than I had imagined. The plane ride over was amazing. There wasn't a skyscraper in site, just beautiful rolling hills and countryside and miles upon miles of mountain range! Little villages speckling the immensity of green made it seem so real yet at the same time surreal. Asturias is truly the paradise of Spain.
So anyways, I meet one of the other girls Natalya in the airport and we pile on a bus to go to the city of Oviedo. I realize now how extremely exhausted I am. We arrive at the bus station and Dana, Ivan, Clara and my new house mom, Marta are there waiting. Apparently they had thought that I was coming two hours earlier! But Dana had forgot that she emailed me and told me to wait for Natalya. Poor Marta. No worries though...Marta seemed very sweet, she was dressed very stylishly, not exactly what I had expected. My nerves started kicking in, it was now that I truly realized I was in Spain and would be here for five months...living in a house where speaking Spanish was my only option. Phew! Breathe Sara. Why I thought that the Spanish families would be able to speak English at least a little, who knows. Marta and I got to her apartment and I stumbled over my Spanish as if I had one class of it. GAH! C'mon, get with it, YOU KNOW THIS STUFF! My brain and body were so tired. I think Marta could tell, cause after our cafe con leche (coffee with milk) she proposed the idea that I lay down before the program dinner (espicha - typical asturian meal) later that night. I guess I was really out cause a couple hours later Marta was banging on the bedroom door to wake me up and I was dead to the world. Hah. Finally I got up at about 10 minutes to 9 when we were supposed to go to the dinner. We walked to the restaurant and Marta walked me through the campus which I found out was only about two minutes from her apartment. Talk about convenient :D So we got to the dinner and I met some of the other students in the program. It ended up being a very chill night, filled with a lot of food, sidra (hard cider), sidra sangria and desserts. Everyone was going out after (minus the homestay families obviously) but I opted out and decided to go home with Marta so I could get a good night's sleep before my first day of classes. Hah...good night's sleep, I think not. Let's just say the sheets were a bit damp the next morning. I had cold sweats and was tossing and turning all night. Culture shock? Mmhmm. But nonetheless, the next day came and I made it through. Classes seemed like they'd be beneficial to my learning the spanish language...hard, but interesting. This was definitely going to be a completely different and exciting cultural experience!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Not so Home for the Holidays...
So, it's December 18th and I'm rushing around UMass after my last final trying to get all my stuff together and say some slightly teary goodbyes at the same time. But it's all good...only 6 months right?
It's hard for me to be all that nervous or sad to leave, I was about to be in Europe traveling with Mr. Curry for three weeks! I figured it would make my transition into a completely new culture a lot easier (I'll find out later that it is not nearly as easy as I think - but hey, what's life without its many challenges?)
Right, ok...so December 19th - Mum and Dad take me to the airport and after a couple beers to calm our nerves and hopefully help me sleep on the plane, I'm making my way through security. They watched me until I was no longer in view...>*tear*<>
Touch down in Budapest! And after 4 or so months, it's great to see Mike. Poor kid was feeling the aftermath of a long night and then had to come wait for me at the airport. pleh. He was still able to smile for me though :) And well I couldn't stop smiling, hah. I was very excited, for everything...I mean, we were having Christmas in Hungary and New Years in Denmark! How crazy is that?! Anyhoo, Mike brought me back to the apartment and I met his two very nice roommates, Alex and Kyle and then later at the all you can eat/drink, I met all the rest of the Buda Crew. Quite the crazy bunch...very fun time full of pretty intense hangovers on my part. They all showed me up hardcore, hah. Excellent times though...Alex took me to one of the Christmas Markets, I had my first hot wine (mMmMmMmmm)...unfortunately everyone had to leave to go back home a couple days after I got there. But Mike showed me the city and Christmas was very relaxing and very cold. We made some pretty decent meals and were able to live through the week extremely cheaply, thanks to the forrent. Besides the cold and dreary weather and the sore throats and stuffy noses, it was a fantastic time.
Next Stop - Denmark.
Hell yes. We get to see Snorre! (for those of you who don't know, this is our friend who we met when he came to study at Lunenburg High School our senior year and well everyone fell in love with him) He is the twinkle in my eye. The sweetest little Danish Doll I know! :) So he came to meet us in Copenhagen and Mike and I were both very impressed at how good his english still was. We de
cided to stay in Copenhagen for the night and then tour around the next day before going to Snorre's apartment in Odense. That night we walked through the lively streets and made some stops, one of which was a candy store - Snorre has a very big sweet tooth! It didn't take us long to discover that this would be a much more expensive stay compared to Budapest! Phew! (Kroner>>$) The next day we got to see "The
Little Mermaid" statue that Copenhagen is so famous for. Unfortunately it was raining though so we couldn't take any pictures. Sleep in the hostel wasn't the best, but the rest of our trip was amazing. When we got to Snorre's he very generously let Mike and I stay in his room. It was great to finally have a nice bed, shower and kitchen all to ourselves. Snorre showed us his studio, which was awesome - there was a pool table that we made use of. The few games Mike and him played and the one game Snorre and I played, Snorre took the 'W' (however, it must be said, i think the danish rules are a little skewed...;)
Time to head to Viborg! This is where Snorre's parents live. It's very quaint. Benny and Anya (Snorre, correct me if I'm wrong on the spelling) treated Mike and I as if we were royalty. The house was beautiful. We finally got to meet Josefine, Snorre's girlfriend. She was everything Snorre talked her up to be, an all around beautiful person! Breaking the ice with everyone was
nothing, Snorre's family and friends were some of the nicest people I've been around. We came at a perfect time too, New Years! Anya cooked up an AMAZING, beyond words meal. The display was fabulous and the taste was really undescribeable, definitely Food Channel quality. There were 10 of us and still left overs! For the celebration we went to Snorre's friend Tejs'. It was an awesome New Years filled with lots of dancing, laughing, naked Bastien and Martin hahaha, and a 2 hour fireworks display at 12!! All in all it was a fantastic night, definitely top New Years as of now. Even in our slightly hungover states, we managed to go on a little hike with Benny and Anya the next day. It was sad to leave, but we still had a couple days with Josefine and Snorre back at their apartment. They were just as hospitable to us. Mike and I couldn't have asked for better hosts or a better time. We left Denmark having made many new very awesome friends and growing much closer to the most lovable Danish boy :)
A 13 hour bus ride and 20 min ferry later and Mike and I land in Amsterdam. Good ol' Amsterdam. We decide
to avoid taxi $$ and walk to our hostel (the Flying Pig - I recommend it). Unfortunately, I discovered why the new backpack I just bought from EMS was marked down half price. Poor Mike had to deal with my sour mood and wining because my hips and back were burning and very sore. He's so patient. But we made it and I wasn't dead, so all was good. Unf
ortunately, however, the sickness that had started for both Mike and I in Budapest was at its worst. I had contracted pink eye before leaving Denmark and now my body was too weak to function. We decided to lay down when we got to the hostel, but my laying down turned into 'in for the night'. Mike had gone to the store and bought soup and bread. Such a great guy, eh? The next day was much better, the weather wasn't cold and the sun was out. We decided to go to the Van Gogh museum. It was very cool. Mike had been to Amsterdam once before with the Buda crew so he was able to show me around, my own personal tour guide. We went to the flower market, Vondel Park, the big Wind Mill, 'coffee shops' and of course the Red Light District. The Flying Pig hostel was very chill, we had some problems with our key cards and couldn't get into our rooms so the guy gave us two free beers. All in all the whole week was very laid back and relaxin
g. It went by faster than I'd expected though and before I knew it Mike and I were piling our stuff into the shuttle to go to the airport. We decid
ed to save our money and sleep/try and stay up all night in the airport for our last night because both of our flights were around 8 in the morning. I, however, could not stay awake for the life of me, even with all the candy I bought at the candy shop. Mike was able to stay awake only sleeping for like an hour or so. He wanted to so his jet lag wouldn't be as bad. Anyhoo, check-in time rolls around and we figure out a meeting point once we get through security and such. But stupid us failed to consider that his flight was international and mine wasn't so we would be in separate parts of the airport. So there's me frantically looking for Mike as the time winds down, I hadn't even thought about the fact that he still had the camera that I was supposed to have for Spain, all I ca
red about was sayin bye, huggin and
kissin the boy I'd been traveling with for three weeks goodbye! Finally, I found where his gate was and realized that I had to go back through passport control to get there. I didn't give two shits, I was seeing Mike before I left for Spain for five months. hah. I get into his section and still can't find him, so finally I decided I'll have them call his name over the intercom, right as the lady is about to do it I turn around and see him!! Praise the Lord! Phew! I hugged him and he was shocked at the amount of sweat seeping through my shirt. Yeah, I was freakin out a bit much. Couldn't keep the tears held in either. Oh silly sentimental Sara...anyways, we did the goodbye thing and I got the camera (without the charger that is now being sent out to me, hah) See ya in 5 and a half months! And back through security I went...It was an amazing three weeks and now I was going to SPAIN!!
It's hard for me to be all that nervous or sad to leave, I was about to be in Europe traveling with Mr. Curry for three weeks! I figured it would make my transition into a completely new culture a lot easier (I'll find out later that it is not nearly as easy as I think - but hey, what's life without its many challenges?)
Right, ok...so December 19th - Mum and Dad take me to the airport and after a couple beers to calm our nerves and hopefully help me sleep on the plane, I'm making my way through security. They watched me until I was no longer in view...>*tear*<>
Touch down in Budapest! And after 4 or so months, it's great to see Mike. Poor kid was feeling the aftermath of a long night and then had to come wait for me at the airport. pleh. He was still able to smile for me though :) And well I couldn't stop smiling, hah. I was very excited, for everything...I mean, we were having Christmas in Hungary and New Years in Denmark! How crazy is that?! Anyhoo, Mike brought me back to the apartment and I met his two very nice roommates, Alex and Kyle and then later at the all you can eat/drink, I met all the rest of the Buda Crew. Quite the crazy bunch...very fun time full of pretty intense hangovers on my part. They all showed me up hardcore, hah. Excellent times though...Alex took me to one of the Christmas Markets, I had my first hot wine (mMmMmMmmm)...unfortunately everyone had to leave to go back home a couple days after I got there. But Mike showed me the city and Christmas was very relaxing and very cold. We made some pretty decent meals and were able to live through the week extremely cheaply, thanks to the forrent. Besides the cold and dreary weather and the sore throats and stuffy noses, it was a fantastic time.
Next Stop - Denmark.
Hell yes. We get to see Snorre! (for those of you who don't know, this is our friend who we met when he came to study at Lunenburg High School our senior year and well everyone fell in love with him) He is the twinkle in my eye. The sweetest little Danish Doll I know! :) So he came to meet us in Copenhagen and Mike and I were both very impressed at how good his english still was. We de
cided to stay in Copenhagen for the night and then tour around the next day before going to Snorre's apartment in Odense. That night we walked through the lively streets and made some stops, one of which was a candy store - Snorre has a very big sweet tooth! It didn't take us long to discover that this would be a much more expensive stay compared to Budapest! Phew! (Kroner>>$) The next day we got to see "The
Little Mermaid" statue that Copenhagen is so famous for. Unfortunately it was raining though so we couldn't take any pictures. Sleep in the hostel wasn't the best, but the rest of our trip was amazing. When we got to Snorre's he very generously let Mike and I stay in his room. It was great to finally have a nice bed, shower and kitchen all to ourselves. Snorre showed us his studio, which was awesome - there was a pool table that we made use of. The few games Mike and him played and the one game Snorre and I played, Snorre took the 'W' (however, it must be said, i think the danish rules are a little skewed...;)
Time to head to Viborg! This is where Snorre's parents live. It's very quaint. Benny and Anya (Snorre, correct me if I'm wrong on the spelling) treated Mike and I as if we were royalty. The house was beautiful. We finally got to meet Josefine, Snorre's girlfriend. She was everything Snorre talked her up to be, an all around beautiful person! Breaking the ice with everyone was
nothing, Snorre's family and friends were some of the nicest people I've been around. We came at a perfect time too, New Years! Anya cooked up an AMAZING, beyond words meal. The display was fabulous and the taste was really undescribeable, definitely Food Channel quality. There were 10 of us and still left overs! For the celebration we went to Snorre's friend Tejs'. It was an awesome New Years filled with lots of dancing, laughing, naked Bastien and Martin hahaha, and a 2 hour fireworks display at 12!! All in all it was a fantastic night, definitely top New Years as of now. Even in our slightly hungover states, we managed to go on a little hike with Benny and Anya the next day. It was sad to leave, but we still had a couple days with Josefine and Snorre back at their apartment. They were just as hospitable to us. Mike and I couldn't have asked for better hosts or a better time. We left Denmark having made many new very awesome friends and growing much closer to the most lovable Danish boy :)
A 13 hour bus ride and 20 min ferry later and Mike and I land in Amsterdam. Good ol' Amsterdam. We decide
to avoid taxi $$ and walk to our hostel (the Flying Pig - I recommend it). Unfortunately, I discovered why the new backpack I just bought from EMS was marked down half price. Poor Mike had to deal with my sour mood and wining because my hips and back were burning and very sore. He's so patient. But we made it and I wasn't dead, so all was good. Unf
ortunately, however, the sickness that had started for both Mike and I in Budapest was at its worst. I had contracted pink eye before leaving Denmark and now my body was too weak to function. We decided to lay down when we got to the hostel, but my laying down turned into 'in for the night'. Mike had gone to the store and bought soup and bread. Such a great guy, eh? The next day was much better, the weather wasn't cold and the sun was out. We decided to go to the Van Gogh museum. It was very cool. Mike had been to Amsterdam once before with the Buda crew so he was able to show me around, my own personal tour guide. We went to the flower market, Vondel Park, the big Wind Mill, 'coffee shops' and of course the Red Light District. The Flying Pig hostel was very chill, we had some problems with our key cards and couldn't get into our rooms so the guy gave us two free beers. All in all the whole week was very laid back and relaxin
g. It went by faster than I'd expected though and before I knew it Mike and I were piling our stuff into the shuttle to go to the airport. We decid
ed to save our money and sleep/try and stay up all night in the airport for our last night because both of our flights were around 8 in the morning. I, however, could not stay awake for the life of me, even with all the candy I bought at the candy shop. Mike was able to stay awake only sleeping for like an hour or so. He wanted to so his jet lag wouldn't be as bad. Anyhoo, check-in time rolls around and we figure out a meeting point once we get through security and such. But stupid us failed to consider that his flight was international and mine wasn't so we would be in separate parts of the airport. So there's me frantically looking for Mike as the time winds down, I hadn't even thought about the fact that he still had the camera that I was supposed to have for Spain, all I ca
red about was sayin bye, huggin and
kissin the boy I'd been traveling with for three weeks goodbye! Finally, I found where his gate was and realized that I had to go back through passport control to get there. I didn't give two shits, I was seeing Mike before I left for Spain for five months. hah. I get into his section and still can't find him, so finally I decided I'll have them call his name over the intercom, right as the lady is about to do it I turn around and see him!! Praise the Lord! Phew! I hugged him and he was shocked at the amount of sweat seeping through my shirt. Yeah, I was freakin out a bit much. Couldn't keep the tears held in either. Oh silly sentimental Sara...anyways, we did the goodbye thing and I got the camera (without the charger that is now being sent out to me, hah) See ya in 5 and a half months! And back through security I went...It was an amazing three weeks and now I was going to SPAIN!!
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