Day 41

Today Trysha and I woke up at 5:30 and got on a bus to the airport. Then, we got on our plane back to Rotterdam. We took the train to Leiden, went and got our bags that we left in our classroom, and made our way to our hostel in Amsterdam. Now we are getting ready to go see the I AMSTERDAM sign, and get some last minute things before we leave tomorrow. Our plane leaves at 10:25 for Denmark, and then we have a 3 and a half hour layover there, until we offically head back towards the states. We get in at 5:30, and that is that!

It has been an amazing time, and a great learning experience along the way!

Day 40

Today Trysha and I woke up and got on the bus to the Vatican. Sadly, the Vatican and Sistine Chapel were both locked and we could not even see them because it was Sunday..that was sad. BUT, we saw many many other things including the Pantheon, St. Peters Basilica, the Coluseum, and the ruins of the beginning of Rome, which was really really cool! The Coluseum was amazing and will remain my favorite part of Europe. After that, we went back to our hostel, and went to the swimming pool to listen to some live Blues music. Then, our hostel hosted a Toga Party where we all wore our bed sheets as our togas..it was the first Toga Party for the both of us, so it was a lot of fun!

Day 39

Today we got up, checked out of our hostel, and headed to Rome. We got into Rome around 1, and got to our very nice hostel around 2. We are really tired and worn out, so we are going to lay around at the pool and rest to go see all of Rome tomorrow. The only problem is, I just found out that since we arent going to go see Rome until tomorrow, which is a Sunday, we will not be able to go inside the Sistene Chapel because it is closed on Sundays...for that, I am really sad. Oh well though, I think I have seen many other things that are just as awesome. I am excited to see everything else Rome has. Monday morning, we are leaving on a shuttle for the airport at 6:45, and then landing in Rotterdam and going to Leiden to get the rest of our bags. Then we are heading to Amsterdam for the night to stay before we take off for home on Tuesday morning at 10! It has been an amazing trip, and I am sad to leave...yet very happy to see home again.

Also, these pictures are from Venice.

Day 38

Yesterday (Friday) we attempted to make our way to Florence. We got to the train station in Venice around 11, hoping to get to Florence by 1 or 2. Well, all of the machines in the train station were broken and there was only 1 window working to get tickets manually, so we waited in a line for over 2 hours to try and get tickets (while contemplating getting on the train without a ticket and just paying the fine) until I finally went to check a machine, and it somehow worked. Then a bunch of people came over because they saw I actually got a ticket. So we waited for another hour and a half to get onto our train, and it took almost 3 hours to get to Florence. Needless to say, we saw most of Florence in the dark. It was still really neat though. We saw the Duomo, which is amazing and the Basilica de Santa Maria Novella and many other Basilica's and David of course. It was cool.

Day 37

Today we got up and tried to make the 9 oclock bus to Venice..but we failed. ha. We got in line to buy tickets, and we missed it. So, we were early for the 10 oclock bus...that didnt show up until about 1020. Anyway, we got to Venice and went on a gondola ride...if thats how you spell it. We bargained for it of course. ha. It was really really neat. The water here is really clear. Then we went to see St. something basilica. I should know the name, but I forgot. We went inside also, and it was really cool. We walked around for another 3 hours and it was really neat. Then, we came back to the campsite and laid out by the pool! We are tired, but excited to go to Florence tomorrow. We about covered Venice today, except for going to a beach. We will see what tomorrow brings! Only 5 days left before we head home.....

Day 36

Yesterday we got up in London and went to Winsdor Castle, which is where the Queen lives...It was just huge! So so big. It was really really cool. Sorry to everyone for the lack of pictures (I have not been able to use my computer to get on the internet lately). After that, we went back to get our stuff and headed for the airport where we flew to Venice. They shut the lights off about 10 min before we landed and you could see a lot of Italy all lit up, and we also saw fireworks. It was really really cool! Then we made our way to our hostel, which is a campground. Our room (which actually has four real walls and is not a tent as others are) is about 8 by 8, but it will do. It is an interesting place but has a nice pool and hot tub along with a couple restaurants..it will do the job! Tomorrow we are going to Venice!

Day 35

Today Trysha and I got up and went to see many more sites. We first went to The Monument and then to Diagon Alley (from Harry Potter). Then we went to see St. Paul's Cathedral which was really cool. After that, we went to London Tower and the Tower Bridge which were both really really cool too. Then we went to see platform 9 and 3/4 (also from Harry Potter) and finally the London Eye. When we came back, we went with Kiley and the girls to the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince premier. We got their early, but not quite early enough! We had an ok view of the stage they would walk on, but about a half hour before they arrived, it started POURING. It kept raining and raining....so we finally got a glimpse of them, but then it just kept on raining harder and harder and harder so we went to go back to the train station and saw all of the on the big screen being interviewed about 100 feet from us...it was soo cool!!!! Tomorrow we are going to Winsdor Castle where the Queen lives and then we leave for Venice, Italy!

Day 34

Today we slept in for a little while, and got up around 9:30. When we got ready, we went with Kiley to Pickadilly, which is a huge place to shop; it was really fun! Then, Kiley had to leave at 1 to go to her internship, and Trysha and I kept shopping. Then, we took the tube to Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and finally Buckingham Palace. After that, we came back to where Kiley lives and met them. We went out to eat for supper, and are now about ready to go to bed. Tomorrow Trysha and I are going to see Diagon Alley, platform 9 and 3/4, the London Tower, the London Eye, St. Mark's Cathedral, and some other things I probably forgot about for the moment. Then at 3, we are going to get in line for the red carpet premier of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince! We do not get to see the movie early, but we will get to see the cast and maybe get some autographs...hopefully we are there early enough to get a good spot in line!

Day 33

Today we got up and went with Kiley and everyone else to eat at Bagels and Beans. Then after that, we walked around for a little while, going into some stores, and looking at some stuff because there were a lot of things going on for the Leiden Festival. Then, we bought them train tickets to Amsterdam, and went back to pack the rest of our stuff. We left our house for the final time at 5 pm...it was really sad to turn in our keys! :(

We took the train to Rotterdam, and then a bus to the airport there....luckily we decided against trying to walk to the airport!

Our plane ride was fine, and we landed in London-Luton airport. Then we had to go through Border Patrol which took like an hour. Then we bought Coach tickets, and the charter took us to Victoria-London which is the main train stop there.

We waited there for Kiley and her friends to get back, and they took us to their house. When we got there, we got right to bed because we were all exhausted!

Day 32

Today was a crazy crazy day. When we first got up, we went up to our final market day...tear. We walked around and got some things and stopped at Bagels and Beans. Then on our way back, there were all of these men dressed up in 1800 outfits singing as they went down the street. One of them drug Kiley into the mix and she started walking with them, then they grabbed Megan too. It was pretty funny. When we left for the beach, we saw there was a parade, and those same men were in it...we wondered where they were going to! The beach was another wonderful day. Then, Cooper decided to go check out the Bungee Jump, and Cooper, Kiley, Trysha, Megan, and myself all ended up Bungee Jumping! I never in a million years ever thought I would do it, but it was sooooo much fun. I dont know how many people can say that they bungee jumped over the North Sea :) Then we just hung out there for awhile, and came back and ate some big pancakes...almost as big as the ones we ate the first night :) Tomorrow we leave for London! Goodbye Leiden! :(.

Day 31

Today was our final presentation day. We got to the school at 9:30 and our presentations lasted right up until 1. Then right at 1, we headed to the train station to pick up Kiley, Megan, Kara, Miguel, and Cooper. When we got them back to our place, they all took naps because they were exhausted. Then Trysha and I had to go to our final group dinner. We went to a Chinese restaurant. We started with chips, and then we got our starters, then we got our meal, and then candy. By the time we left, we were stuffed! It was really good though...no rice for me!

Then when Kiley and the others got up when we got back, we went out around Leiden. It was really fun; I am so glad they are here! Tomorrow we are planning on going to the beach! It should be fun, I can't wait!

Day 30

Day 30 already! Wow! So today was another great day...we went to the beach again. I put some sunscreen on this time, and ended up getting burnt exactly where I didnt put it..funny thing! We didn't stay quite as long this time, but it was just as fun. There were even more people there today than on the weekend when we went last...we are not really sure people actually work here. :)

Then when we got back, we heard some massive music, and found out that there is a 4 day Leiden Festival (that is what we will call it because we dont know the real name) going on. There are boats decorated everywhere in the canals and music and tons and tons of people. It is something we are going to have to check out!
Anddd, Kiley is coming tomorrow so she will get to spend 3 days of it with us and it will all be a great time of course.

Tomorrow is when we all present our finals....which means I should go finish mine!

Day 28 and 29

On Tuesday, it was our last day of class. We had Photography, and it was a fairly short class. We just went over our homework, and then people could talk to Lotte about their finals or we could just leave. After that, we just hung out and worked on our projects. Then on Wedesday, we went to the Wednesday market, and ate at Bagels and Beans (basically our favorite place to eat here). At night, we went out to the pancake restaurant that we LOVE! It was magnificent, and the pancakes were, again, as big as tires. Then we just worked on our projects some more.

Day 27

Today was our last day of graphic design. We went over our image, text, color contrast homework and looked at everyones to start. Then, he taught us about InDesign, and how to make Master Pages and how to make text families and stuff. Then we got on the computers and started making our portfolios...even though it was not an assigment. Then he told us we could stop and each one of us talked to him and Lotte about what we are doing for our final. Then I went up town and developed my pictures for tomorrows photography class and did some shopping. Then I went back to the classroom and put my picture collages together while Trysha was taking her pictures for it. When I got back to my room, I started working on my final and thats about all I did. Tomorrow is our very last day!!

Day 26

Today was a good day. Trysha and I got up and went to Den Haag, which is only 14 minutes by Sneltrain :). We did some shopping and stuff while we were there. We ate at McDonalds and then came back. Then we did our homework for graphic design thats due tomorrow, and then I started to work on my assignment for photography. Tomorrow is our last graphic design class, and Tuesday is our last Photography class...oh how fast time goes! Then we have Wednesday and Thursday off to work on our final projects that are then due on Friday. On Friday, everyone shows their final projects and then we all have one final dinner together. Then Kiley and the gang will be here for the 4th of July weekend!

Day 25

Well today, we slept in and woke up more towards the afternoon. We went to the market and ate at Bagels and Beans instead of our normal McDonalds...and it was pretty good. Then we did some shopping and came back. It started raining so we stayed in for the day, and then watched a terrible movie. Then Trysha and I started to book our plane tickets to London, then to Venice, and then from Rome back to Amsterdam the day before we fly home. All of Trysha's flights went through...but only one of mine worked... sooooo I have been trying to figure that out all night. Not sure what we will do tomorrow...maybe go to Den Haag to shop!

Day 24

First of all, Happy 27th Anniversary Mom and Dad!!! Really sad I cannot be home for it, but I'm glad I got to talk to both of you :). Today was a more than terrific day. We left for the beach at noon and got there around 2...even though we should have gotten there sooner...but thats the story of our lives..we just roll with it :) It was the perfect temp out and the beach was perfect and everything else was perfect. Just a great day...we stayed at the beach from 2 until about 10:30 to watch the sunset...even thought the sunset was a little disappointing because storm clouds were coming in and there were not a lot of cool colors and stuff...but it was still neat to be there at 10:30 and the sun was not even down yet. We saw a lot of things....maybe more than we needed to see. ha. We got to swim in the North Sea..which was a little chilly, but after awhile you didnt notice anymore :). We got tan...or maybe a little burnt, but it was all good. We may possibly be going back tomorrow after we go to the market, but we are not sure.

Day 23

Today was a pretty normal day. We had our last day of Drawing class. We went over our homework from last week, and then started three 30 minute assignments. We drew three different things pertaining to letters or "characters". They were kind of weird assignments, but we went along with it. After class, Trysha and Kelly went out and sat by the canal to get some sun...and that they did! Tonight we just went out to see what was going on around town..then some guy told us that Michael Jackson is dead, and we were mad at him for saying it. We thought that maybe it was about the only English he knew, but we were still mad. Then when we got back, we found out that it was actually true! How crazy...

Tomorrow we are going to the beach. It is supposed to be 76...that will be about the hottest it has been here yet. We are not really thinking we will get any swimming in...it cannot be that warm yet. But, it will be nice! Then on Saturday I am planning on going to the town of Tenboer..something I have been wanting to do forever!

Day 22

Well today is offically a day past halfway for us here in Europe. Of course, it has gone way too fast. Today we had a very long day in Amsterdam. We were there from about 9-9. We did not see too much as far as buildings go because there are not that many in Amsterdam, but we did go to 3 different museums...two of which were very modern. We also went on a canal cruise all around Amsterdam that was an hour long and saw most all of Amsterdam. After that, we went to the Anne Frank House which was really really neat to see...it was by far the highlight of our day. We then got ice cream and headed back to Leiden. Now we are all doing our drawings that are due tomorrow. At 1 tomorrow, it is offically the weekend. We do not have a whole lot planned, just maybe going to the beach and the market of course...(which always includes McDonalds). Besides that, we will see what comes up!

Day 21

Today has been a pretty good day. We had photography this morning, and for the last hour of it, we went to the Botanical Garden here in Leiden to take some pictures and look around. It was pretty neat actually. After that, I went to the park and took some pictures for class. It is beautiful here today!! (which is 70, not the 90+ you all have back home :) ) It never gets above 70 here, which is good and bad. We are going to the beach this weekend but we dont know what day yet. We are waiting to see which day will be the nicest (Friday, Sat, or Sun). Also, we set the fire alarm off while making supper tonight...oops! All we did was put butter in the frying pan, and there it went. It was really annoying, and of course the fire truck came and all the guys. Then when we finally went outside, all of the people in the building were out there...we were rather embarrassed to say the least. So now I am drawing and working on some graphic design things on the computer...tomorrow we go to Amsterdam!

Day 20

Today was a rather long day for us. We had our normal graphic design class from 10-1, but then we also had photography today because it got cancelled last week...so we ended up being in class from 10-5. It was not as bad as we thought it was going to be...but still. :) After that we came back and had supper; spaghetti and greeen beans. Then I went out and took some pictures for our photography class thats today (when it's normally suppposed to be). After that I came back and drew a little and read and thats about it. Today we just have class. We found out that Kiley and her friends that are in London are coming next weekend (the weekend of the 4th) to visit, so we are pretty excited about that!!

Day 19

Today we woke up about 4 hours after we went to sleep and headed to the train station to get back to Leiden. We got to the train station and, because its Sunday, found that we could not buy tickets from a person. We tried our credit cards in the machine, and they didnt work. They do not take bills, only coins, and we didnt have enough, so we took a free ride to Chatlet (where we had to get on another train) and hoped that when we got there, there would be a door open to go through because in France, they do not come around and check to see if you have a ticket, you just have to use your ticket to get out of the train station at your destination....and we didnt have tickets! Luckily somehow this door was open and we went through it, walked to McDonalds, bought something cheap, and got change. Then we took our change to buy tickets to the airport. After that, it was smooth sailing. The flight was short, we got on the train, came back to Leiden, and slept a lot of the rest of the day. Tomorrow we have Graphic Design and Photography both, so we will see how that goes!

Day 18

Today was another very eventful day to say the least. We started out by going to Pompidou and then made our way to Notre Dame and Saint Chapelle. From there, we went up to the Opera and Galleries Lafayette which is a HUGE 7 story place to shop and is beautiful. We liked looking at all of the clothes...just looking at most because it was like 300 euro for a pair of jeans. I actually bought something there, which is hard to imagine. From there, we at the the Cafe Opera and then made our way down to the Siene River. We then bought tickets to go on the boat tour, but did not want to go on it yet because we wanted to go when all of the lights were on. We decided to go to a couple cafe's to waste time, so we did, and I had fabulous Creme Brulee! It was amazing. Then we went and sat on our boat until it left. About 5 minutes before we took off, the lights of the Eiffel Tower came on and then started sparkling..it was awesome! The boat tour was about an hour long (from 10-11), and we saw soo many things. It was really really cool. Then during the last loop, which took us past the entire Eiffel Tower, it had just gotten completey dark and it started sparkling again. We lucked out!! Then, we thought it was a 20-30 minute walk back to the train station....well that turned into 50 min of walking as fast as we could. We thought that the last train that left for our stop was at 12:13 am.....we were wrong!! So there were no more trains going to our stop from Chatlet (where we were). We had no idea what to do. We were going to stay there and figure something out (or wait until 5 am when the busses started again) but instead we decided to take the train to Saint George's, the closest stop the train went to where we needed to go. On the way there on the train, you could not believe what was going through our minds. We hoped maybe we could get a cab there...which would cost like 100 euro, or maybe a bus?? If not we were going to get a hotel or stay there for 5 hours, ride back to our hotel at 5:30, pack up all of our stuff, and then head back towards the airport to catch our plane. When we finally got off at St. Georges, we were o so lucky to find that there were 2 more trains going our way; we were more than happy....words cannot even explain how happy we were! So tomorrow we head back to Leiden. It will be nice to hear people speak English again. :)

Day 17

Well today will be another one for the memory book. Ha. We have decided that coming to a place where we no less than 5 words of their language, and only about 5 people in this country speak English....makes for a bad combination. After asking 5 different people, 3 of which had high powered guns attached to them, how to get back to our hotel from Chatalet (the middle of Paris), we finally made it, which we thought would never happen. Paris was great today though. We saw a lot of things and ended up walking the whole time...to equal a good 15 miles or so. We did a little shopping along the way and saw the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, the Arc de something that starts with a T, and many other things we dont exactly know the names to. We got to see the Mona Lisa though! Also, we walked up a good 1,000 stairs today, which actually seemed more like 10,000. We got to go up to the 1st and 2nd level's of the Eiffel Tower and also went to the top of the Arc de...Tromphile maybe?? haha I will have to look it up. Our map was very helpful and so was the river...we basically followed it the whole time. Anyway, we are very very tired and are going to get some sleep so we can do it all over again tomorrow! And for some reason my pictures are not loading here, so I will put them up when I get back to Leiden.

Day 16

Today has been quite an interesting day to say the least. We started off with drawing class, which went perfectly fine..except we were a little giddy and time went rather slow because all we really wanted to do was leave :). We got out of class at 1 and made it to our gate in the airport by 2:30. We boarded at 2:50 and finally took off about 45 minutes later. Our flight was only 42 minutes long and went by in a flash. When we got to Paris, we had absolutely no idea what to do, considering we got a deal on the internet with a flight + hotel thing...the only problem was, our hotel is like 40 minutes south of Paris...who knew that even though the hotel is called Stars Paris Envy Hotel, that is actually is not in Paris. So we paid a good 15 dollars to get a train ticket to our hotel. Also, we only found a total of 2 people who spoke any kind of English on our way to the hotel..that was great. We had a guy trying to give us directions about which bus to get on once we got in Envy and we never had an idea of what he was saying...then as we waited some more, we could see him standing by his friends pointing at us and telling more people about how we had no idea what was going on. So after asking another woman who ended up calling the hotel for us, her son walked us to the hotel...even though he didnt speak a word of English besides "mother". The man at the hotel was the best English speaker of the day; he gave us a lot of info. Our hotel room is bring blue and red and the back of our beds is a sail...weird. We found one place that was open and it was a pizza place. We could not read a word of it and they did not speak a word of english (surprise surprise) so we ended up ordering the pizza with the least amount on it..and ended up with a cheese pizza! But we actually got 2..even though we only wanted one. (We forgot that they eat their own pizza's over here). So that concludes our day. We came back to the hotel and ate our pizza's and drank the coke that he gave us and now we are going to bed and will be headed to Parris tomorrow if we can find it! :)

Day 15

Today we woke up early and went to Rotterdam where one of our professors lives. We went to a few different museums and walked around the city all day. We also got to see these knew architectural apartments that are cubed shaped, but sitting on a point basically. We got to go inside one and see it..they are so cool! We also walked along the harbor..which is the 2nd largest in the world, only to the one in China. They also have a pretty cool bridge there. We were there literally the whole day, walked about 10 miles, and saw a lot of things. Rotterdam is a very modern city compared to Leiden and others around becuase it was bombed in WWII and has been rebuilding ever since. It is a fairly large city (3rd largest in the Netherlands) with a lot to see. When we got back, we ate supper, and Trysha finished her drawing for class tomorrow...I am just about to start on mine! Then we are going to this international night thing..hoping to meet some other international students that are studying here. Tomorrow we have drawing and then off to Paris!!

Day 14

Today we were supposed to have Photography class. Instead, when we got there we found out that our professor was stuck on a train that had lost power and was not going to get it back anytime soon. Instead, we decided to work on our graphic design homework which was to design something using photography textures and lines and shapes to create depth in a piece that showed Holland and it being under sea level. It's a rather open ended assignment as are most. I was there for about 5 hours working on it, but finally got it done. Then we came back and took a nap and ate lunch then went on an hour long walk. THEN Trysha and I got to play catch!!!!! It was greattt. We played in the middle of the street...moving out of the way for bikers and cars of course :). Luckily we did not hit a car...we were nevered worried though :) duh. Now we are both working on our drawing assignments that are due Thursday. Tomorrow we go to Roterdam until 4:30 and then we are packing to leave on Thursday for Paris! Yay!