spring break final part: family and sol
so this is going to be a long ass post, cause i want to finish writing about spring break.
so after Paris, i bought a way too expensive train ticket and went to Holland. The train dropped me off in Den Haag, where my cousins picked me up and drove me to their home just outside of Delft. Mirco is my age (19) and Nadie is 17, they are the children of Myrna who is the daughter of my Oma (Grandmother)'s brother. so myrna is my father's cousin, so i guess my second cousin, but i never know exactly what they are called, so i just call them all cousins or family.
it was interesting to see them, the last time was six or seven years ago when they came to the states to visit us. Luckily Mirco speaks english, and Nadie too, though not as well, jim (myrna's brother who lives with them) speaks probably as well as Mirco, but i didn't talk to him much. and myrna only speaks a little english. so language was only a slight problem. i wish i spoke dutch, though, cuase i would have liked to speak with all of them sin problemas. no one in Holland speaks spanish, or very few, so that didn't help me very much.
i went out the first night with Mirco and Nadie and his friends to a small dutch bar and the nice thing about this was that the cheap beer was heineken, which i happen to like, even if i can't spell the word (is that spelled right?). what i noticed about the dutch youth, is that they are very influenced by the states, and not just the states, but mtv. i found out that they (being Mirco and his friends) think that all americans fit into the mtv steryotypes when i was asked the question, "so what kind of american girl are you, a avril lavigne or a jessica simpson?". i replied, "neither, i'm not really american, i don't watch mtv, listen to pop music or eat at mcdonalds"
the worst part about Holland was that i got sick, i think i had something viral because i had a huge migrane headache and my body had the shakes like when you have a fever. it was wonderful. my sister came on sat. by bus and got to go out with Nadie that night while i stayed in bed and slept. on easter we tried going to Amsterdam for the day to see the photo exhibit in the Van Gogh museum. while waiting in line to enter, i felt like my body was going to cave in on itself, so i spent most of my time at the museum staring at a wall of quotes and drinking tea in the museum restaurant. but, while i was at the restuarant, i shared a table with a man who sketched a picture of me. we never talked (i don't think we spoke a common language) but he kept smiling at me and gave me the picture before he left. i wonder what he thought of me, if he thought anything at all, i wonder what world he created for me. i kinda wish he would have left before allie and nadie came back so that i didn't have to show him i was american. i would have liked it if he just didn't know anything about me at all, or if i was from some place beautiful and exotic and spoke italian or something.
we went home after the museum so i didn't spend that much time in Amsterdam, which is unfortunate. but i got to talk with Mirco a lot about the differences between our cultures and what i'm learning, and i got to know him better, which makes me happy, i like to know about my family. Mirco and Nadie might come to visit me in nyc. i hope so.
after Holland i flew to Málaga, the coasta del sol. it was warm and georgeous when i arrived. i needed to contact Chauntel, but my phone was still dead, so i went to a telefonica store. they were unable to fix my phone, but i did get chauntel's number, so i was able to call her. so after dragging my lugage around Málaga, i took a taxi to Torremolinos, where Chautel's hotel was. Torremolinos is right next to Málaga, and there is a bus that runs between the two (which i found out later). Torremolinos was wonderful. the weather wasn't ideal, a little chilly, but tons warmer than Holland, so i was content. on thursday it was too chilly for the beach, so we played a lot of Rummy with my Barcelona cards.
On Friday we rented a car and went to Gibraltar. i tried driving stick and failed twice, which was strange because i drove Mirco's car in Holland, which was stick, and did fine. but i couldn't get started, i have problems going from a stopped position to first gear, and since Endre knew what he was doing, and we wanted to get where we were going, he drove the whole time. on the way to Gibraltar we stopped at a deserted beach and sun bathed for a couple of hours. it was the first time i sun bathed toppless, so cool. i didn't get that tan, though, cause i put on 45 sun block. i don't want cancer or burning. but the beach was great, no sand only little rocks. i loved it, the rocks were beautiful, and didn't hurt that much under your feet. i loved the fact that there were moutains and then beach together. i've decided to retire on the coasta del sol, end my days speaking spanish and enjoying the sun.
Gibraltar was incredible. now i get to say i've been to great britain. and the view was amazing. i still can't get over the fact that on my left was the Mediterenean Sea, straight ahead was Africa (which was clearly visible), and to my right was the Atlantic Ocean. soooo good. amazing. and we got to see monkeys, baboons actually. but the view, was.... i don't even know how to describe it. we didn't have time to go into the caves, but it was still a good trip.
sat was the best day for beach going, the sun was strong and the day was hot and there was only a slight breeze, and i had to leave and catch an eight hour bus home to Madrid.
and that is basically it. it was long, and wonderful and i learned so much, and i want to keep traveling and seeing new things. but now i'm back in Madrid with only three weeks of classes left and one week of finals and then 14 days til a Pixies concert and then i return to NYC. damn
so after Paris, i bought a way too expensive train ticket and went to Holland. The train dropped me off in Den Haag, where my cousins picked me up and drove me to their home just outside of Delft. Mirco is my age (19) and Nadie is 17, they are the children of Myrna who is the daughter of my Oma (Grandmother)'s brother. so myrna is my father's cousin, so i guess my second cousin, but i never know exactly what they are called, so i just call them all cousins or family.
it was interesting to see them, the last time was six or seven years ago when they came to the states to visit us. Luckily Mirco speaks english, and Nadie too, though not as well, jim (myrna's brother who lives with them) speaks probably as well as Mirco, but i didn't talk to him much. and myrna only speaks a little english. so language was only a slight problem. i wish i spoke dutch, though, cuase i would have liked to speak with all of them sin problemas. no one in Holland speaks spanish, or very few, so that didn't help me very much.
i went out the first night with Mirco and Nadie and his friends to a small dutch bar and the nice thing about this was that the cheap beer was heineken, which i happen to like, even if i can't spell the word (is that spelled right?). what i noticed about the dutch youth, is that they are very influenced by the states, and not just the states, but mtv. i found out that they (being Mirco and his friends) think that all americans fit into the mtv steryotypes when i was asked the question, "so what kind of american girl are you, a avril lavigne or a jessica simpson?". i replied, "neither, i'm not really american, i don't watch mtv, listen to pop music or eat at mcdonalds"
the worst part about Holland was that i got sick, i think i had something viral because i had a huge migrane headache and my body had the shakes like when you have a fever. it was wonderful. my sister came on sat. by bus and got to go out with Nadie that night while i stayed in bed and slept. on easter we tried going to Amsterdam for the day to see the photo exhibit in the Van Gogh museum. while waiting in line to enter, i felt like my body was going to cave in on itself, so i spent most of my time at the museum staring at a wall of quotes and drinking tea in the museum restaurant. but, while i was at the restuarant, i shared a table with a man who sketched a picture of me. we never talked (i don't think we spoke a common language) but he kept smiling at me and gave me the picture before he left. i wonder what he thought of me, if he thought anything at all, i wonder what world he created for me. i kinda wish he would have left before allie and nadie came back so that i didn't have to show him i was american. i would have liked it if he just didn't know anything about me at all, or if i was from some place beautiful and exotic and spoke italian or something.
we went home after the museum so i didn't spend that much time in Amsterdam, which is unfortunate. but i got to talk with Mirco a lot about the differences between our cultures and what i'm learning, and i got to know him better, which makes me happy, i like to know about my family. Mirco and Nadie might come to visit me in nyc. i hope so.
after Holland i flew to Málaga, the coasta del sol. it was warm and georgeous when i arrived. i needed to contact Chauntel, but my phone was still dead, so i went to a telefonica store. they were unable to fix my phone, but i did get chauntel's number, so i was able to call her. so after dragging my lugage around Málaga, i took a taxi to Torremolinos, where Chautel's hotel was. Torremolinos is right next to Málaga, and there is a bus that runs between the two (which i found out later). Torremolinos was wonderful. the weather wasn't ideal, a little chilly, but tons warmer than Holland, so i was content. on thursday it was too chilly for the beach, so we played a lot of Rummy with my Barcelona cards.
On Friday we rented a car and went to Gibraltar. i tried driving stick and failed twice, which was strange because i drove Mirco's car in Holland, which was stick, and did fine. but i couldn't get started, i have problems going from a stopped position to first gear, and since Endre knew what he was doing, and we wanted to get where we were going, he drove the whole time. on the way to Gibraltar we stopped at a deserted beach and sun bathed for a couple of hours. it was the first time i sun bathed toppless, so cool. i didn't get that tan, though, cause i put on 45 sun block. i don't want cancer or burning. but the beach was great, no sand only little rocks. i loved it, the rocks were beautiful, and didn't hurt that much under your feet. i loved the fact that there were moutains and then beach together. i've decided to retire on the coasta del sol, end my days speaking spanish and enjoying the sun.
Gibraltar was incredible. now i get to say i've been to great britain. and the view was amazing. i still can't get over the fact that on my left was the Mediterenean Sea, straight ahead was Africa (which was clearly visible), and to my right was the Atlantic Ocean. soooo good. amazing. and we got to see monkeys, baboons actually. but the view, was.... i don't even know how to describe it. we didn't have time to go into the caves, but it was still a good trip.
sat was the best day for beach going, the sun was strong and the day was hot and there was only a slight breeze, and i had to leave and catch an eight hour bus home to Madrid.
and that is basically it. it was long, and wonderful and i learned so much, and i want to keep traveling and seeing new things. but now i'm back in Madrid with only three weeks of classes left and one week of finals and then 14 days til a Pixies concert and then i return to NYC. damn