London, England!!!

Hey guys, man it's been a whirlwind of a weekend let me tell you! So as you know this pst weekend I was in London and it was so Amazing! I didn't get to see and do all that I wanted too, but that's okay. Wanna know why it's okay, because I plan on going back in December for a week! 

Okay, I'll spend maybe a Day in London then and then the rest of my time in Leeds. But I digress that is for another blog, this blob post is about my weekend.

So it started on Friday night when I . went to the train station, and then to the bus station which is ontop of the train station lol. I waited for my Eurolines bus for 8:15pm, and then got on it. I managed to get my own seat and keep it the entire way! It was awesome, and heres where it gets not so awesome. I had my Nook Tablet with me, however in all my haste and trying not to forget anything I forgot my charger,.....

I was so bummed, but I didn't realize that until maybe 3 hours into the trip when I realized that I needed to charge it but the charger was nowhere to be found. And the Nook charger isn't available anywhere in Europe, I know because I checked only on, as the item is sold exclusively at Barnes in Nobles, which is an American Bookstore.. So with that in mind, I shut off my music and put away the Nook(which really blew as I had bought books specifically for the long ride there)

Anyway I made myself try to sleep, and since I had my own two little seats along with a neck pillow and blanket, I was more or less set. I didn't sleep very good, but anyway not that it matter, we stopped a lot of times. It was a different experience this time as the Driver of the bus spoke English, British English to be exact. And the door was on the left side instead of the right, and the driver's seat was on the right instead of the lelf. It was an eye opener.

I had read about London, and even seen on movies and stuff about England but being there is a different story entirely. So Because we were going by bus, we had to take the ferry, but before we go there we went through UK customs and Border controls, and they asked you all types of things, like what was I planning to do there, why did I want to come there, and etc. What the hell was I doing in Europe and just totally nosy. Anyway, I was approved to go through and I have a stamp on my visa part of my Passport that says I'm free to come and go for the next 6 months lol.

After customs we ride into the ferry, where we then get off and head upstairs, it was around 3 am at this point, and instead of the livelyness and all, everyone was decked oout on the benches, seats, chairs, tables all sleep. Lol, it was funny, and it was nice to see. Inside the Ferry, there was Video Arcades, a Casino, Bars, stores, Food courts, Family Lounfe area, and more. It was so cool.

After the ferry ride which was 90 minutes but I spent most of it curled up like a cat in a window seat. We then had to rush back to our coaches, but I got slightly confused thankfully, I found us though!

We then were back on our way and I dozed off again, I woke up around 5:00am looking around to find us in England somewhere, they're was double Decker buses and just a lot of people. By 5:30am we arrived at Victoria Coach Station and then I trooped out with everyone else. When I got there it was still pitched black. 

And I didn’t know where to go so I just went back into the coach station and curled up in a chair and fell asleep. I dozed off an on for the next 3 hours and finally when it was like 9am, I got up and made my way to information who was finally open and got directions to the bus stop for my bus.

I bought a tourist bus ticket deal, one ticket good for 48 hours. And bascially saw the sights that way. It was a hop on hop off tour, and it was really fun. However I still had my backpack as I couldn't check into my hostel yet so that bit sucked, I did get to see the London Eye and Big Ben that was amazing. I loved it. 

I rode the Tower Bridge and I saw the London Bridge, it was just crazy the amount of people there. I took pictures of course, I'm just not in any of them, because it as depressing, I went alone so I didn't want to ask random strangers to take a picture of me. It was just super sad. I wanna go back again, but this time with a friend.

Anyway, that's enough of Saturday for now, I'll be back tomorrow to continue it. Enjoy the pictures I took.

It's almost here!!!!

It's finally here, I'm going to the Train station in about 15 minutes, my bus leaves at 8:15pm but I wanna be there early to get a good seat. Not to far in the back and not to far in the front. I hope a lot of people aren't on it, either way I'm gonna be a seat hogger lol. Anyway, I've got a dozen or so books downloaded on my nook and I'm ready for the trip, with some drinks, and a bit of food. WHen I get to the station I'll get more.

This time Tomorow, I will be in England, Finally! That right there, signifies that I can acomplish anything, it was always a dream to go here and now it's happening. I'll keep you updated tomorrow as this bus I have now has no wifi. I know I said I would never travel with Eurolines again, but when you can find an extremely cheap bus ticket round trip to London for 63 euros...you suck up that pride and use it lol. Until then

Munich Germany Pics!

So I know this is late, to be honest I just havent felt like writing anything, ror doing anything. The mundane daily tasks are really stretching me thin. This past week went by super slow, but that could be the fact that I'm forced to throw myself out their and make more friends, as all of the ones I met are gone home. I'm not gonna dwell on that, but living abroad has opened my eyes to an assortment of things. For instance, I never thought that I would miss something as simple as grocery shopping in America. It's not the size of the store honestly, I got over that though, it's easier here in a way.

  But the issue I'm having is when I ask for help to find something, the answer they give me is a blank look, as they don't understand that word and I have no clue what it is in dutch. The other day I took my 9 year old to the store with me, to look for Parsley. Now I know what it looks like, but it had a few other plants/veggies that looked like it so I asked her what it was in dutch. She wasn't sure but gave me the dutch word(which turned out to be correct but we ended up asking a woman to clarify lol) So far I've got by this year by finding everything myself, or bringing my host kid Floor who loves grocery shopping with me. She knows where everything is. But like today I didn't have her, so I like went down every bloody isle, just to find dried fruits! And no, it wasn't by the blloody nuts.

 Okay, that's over, lemme tell you about the city of Munich. I didn't have like a tour I had Marcy and Camilla and they were more interested in the souvenirs shop or the Beer halls. So I'm just going to show some pictures.

 On another note, my swimming lessons are really going well, I can swim across the pool, underwater, and kinda dive lol. The class yesterday she made us swim underneath this floating like table in the pool. It was scary slightly at first, because right after the fear of drowning is gone, the fear of not being able to get to the surface because something I blocking you comes out...therefore it goes back to the fear of Drowning lol. 

Anyways, I've made a lot of progress, definitely going to have to look up swimming classes when I go back to the states. I hope I can find some like my host mom found here, she pays 37 euros a month for my lessons which are 45 minutes long every Friday.

Octoberfest 2014!!!!!

Hey there guys!

I know this is a bit late, but I've been exhausted after Octoberfest, and needed to sleep a bit extra before I could even attempt to write anything about my experience. So lets see, we left off I explained a bit about Friday and Saturday but Sunday was when Octoberfest started for me. We chose to go from Sept 20-23 as the 20 was the opening day but I didn't go then, it just was super tired only having slept 4 hours in the bus ride.

We all ate breakfast(which was leftover dinner btw lol) and then dressed in our Dirndls before we walked 20 minutes to the train station, took the train for like 10 minutes before getting off and walking about 10 minutes to the big festival grounds. I took a TON of pictures so I'll show you a few here . 

 

My friends had gone the previous night and had scoped out the beer tents, which lemme tell you right now...the word tent is misleading. The 'tent's are like these HUGE Resturants/Assembly rooms. I The picture to the left is one of the tents, but thats not even taking in what the hell was behind me!  It's intense and a lot of people, but I did have some fun. We got slightly tipsy beforehand before we went though, where we were then served this and that glass was huge!!!

 It's a liter by the way in case you can't see. MY drink there to the right was a Radler, its like the lowest content of a alcohol in it, and it taste like a lemon soda with a slight beer taste. I HATE the taste of alcohol and beer in general so this was awesome, however  Marcy and Camilla took great pleasure in switching our glasses around, so I ended up drinking some of theres! Blech! It was so gross!   

It had alot of rides there as well, but unlike and American Carnival fair thing where you buy a wristband and can ride everything, this one(and all the ones in Europe I'm finding out!) You have to buy each one seperately which can end up costting you quite a bit of money, so I only rode one ride. Alone but not really. It amused me alot as I had literally just swallowed the last of my food before I went up to ticket booth and immediatly got on the ride. The guy gave me a worried look, but I have never gotten sick on a ride..*knocking on some serious wood right now* My stomach is strong which is why I am the perfect companion to take to a Theme Park, I will ride EVERYTHING! My friends get  motion sickness and didnt even want to ride even one. I'm not gonna go into that, but I was extremely disappointed on that front. Next time  I go to Octoberfest(and I will be back!!!) I'm going with people who want and can ride the rollercoasters. 

Now to end this post, We did go see the City of Munich but that is another blog post in itself.  I'm not a drinker but I drank for this, and had an amazng experience! I cant believe it! If you get a chance to go, go, you won't regret it I know I didnt. And I'll also let you know about my Trip to England next month, I've already booked my bus and hostel!!! Until next time, which will hopefully be very soon bye!

Octoberfest! Arrival in Munich, Germany 2014

So im writing this on my Nook, so forgive me for the typos. So lets see our adventure started at Friday when we left at 9:30pm, to Germany from the Hague. When we got on it was empty until we got to Amsterdam and then it really filled up. We Ended up sittng in front of some immature girls who I swear was still in high school. They were making fun of everyone and was kicking our seat the majority of the ride. Good thing I like keeping the piece.

So we started on our trip, i didnt sleep much maybe four hours in total. We stopped throughout the ride so we could stretch and stuff so that was good.  But then after a particular stop we got on the road only to get stuck in literally standstill traffic in Germany. I had been typing to keep my sanity as it was 2:45am to about 4:30am that we hadnt moved! And I saw a police car riding on the side of the highway so I thought their might be car accident up ahead.

Then when we finally get to the damn station the previous bus had already left! We arrived at 5:30am and we were supposed to catch the bus at 5:00am We've been waiting for two hours until finally we called their emergency line.  We got stranded with two other people, a guy and a girl travelng solo. Which is good as the guy speaks, a bit of german and every ones english here is so bad!

We were then told that on today the 20th only one bus was available..the one the other bus made us miss at 5. What the hell? The lady in the office spoke no english...and so far, the german people I've seen have been so rude. worse then the dutch people.

I'm tired and annoyed, and we were then told they may have a bus for us at 12pm but we would get there at 6pm...one whole day wasted by the damn bus! Its frustrating. Spent a few hours with these people lol, and didn't know their names. Just got their name Mako was the asian girl and the guy was dutch and named Rueben.  We were told another bus would leave at 10:30am and we would arrive at 4:00pm, but we had to pay an additional 20 euros. I think they wanted to do a carpool thing, 20 euros a person...I only have 60 euros with me. The ticket is apparently non-refundable or non endorsable.

The bus company Mein Fern had shady wifi. It sucked but Eurolines was worse. They advertised wifi and there was none! I was so bored and my neck is killing me. I got used to reading signs in dutch, however now its all in german. Lol.

We arrived about an hour ago and met up with Camilla at the place we would be staying at. They went to the festival but I stayed back I'm auper tired right now. And if I go out, I will be a grouch. That's all for now, just an update for you guys. It Saturday now around 6:30pm, and I'm going to be in an hour. Hopefully tomorrow will be fine.

Prince's Day, in the Hague 2014!

So I'm really tired right now, but I know if I don't blog about this now, I will procrastinate until a week or more has gone by so here it Is. This pass weekend the people in the Hague were gearing up for PrincjesDag, which is basically Prince's Day. 

And it is where the Royal Family comes through the town of the Hague, and walk through with their carriages and horses so you (the people) can wave and see. Kind of like a parade I suppose. It was intense because the weather was so good, so there were ALOT of people there..

On Monday we went down to to the beach to watch a show, involving the police and their horses, and Military people and their tanks. They had loud noises, so that the horses wouldn't be spooked for the next day which was Prince's day. It's only celebrated in the Hague, and not all of Holland like I originally thought..

So the next day Prince's Day, it was pretty busy, with bike lanes and streets totally closed off. And I was manuerving a bakfiets on a sidewalk, I bumped into some things lol. I've included some pictures, of the things. 

One bit that truly stood out to me, was they had 3 guys bulding sand scupltures for it. And they were magnificent, I took a picture of them, but they were in progress so I really need to get the finishing touch.. Oh well, it's still pretty  darnn awesome.

 And this below is a picture of 2 of the 3 girls in their Prince's day Mask.  

















And yes this golden Carriage at the bottom has the King and Queen in there. I know that bit was super exciting. 

Embassy Festival and getting Ready for Prince's Day

Okay so I said I would have another post super soon, and here it is!

So last week there was an Embassy Festival in the Hague, suposely to represent the different types of cultures and heritages and Nationalties that make up Den Haag. However, quite a few were missing, like the Canandian and American one. And I know a few expats from those particular country. Anyway I went with the girls, so I didn't get to try any exotic food or really do anything for myself. I found myself babysitting last Saturday. There are a few pictures below.

This weekend though, I was pretty busy. On Friday I went out with Marcy to look at the town, it's her last full weekend here in Holland. So naturally she's pretty bittersweet about it. Friday we went to Fiddler's its this British pub in the center, and it's nice if I wanted to get a drink or something.

Which we did, however Friday we had both had a busy week and worked and I had just got back from swimming class, so when we went out, we each had a pint of beer(which I managed to fnish and it was gross!) and something else, and then the next thing I know, We're kind of drunk and hungry, but also exhausted. We didn't do much, but we rode back to her house and made fries. Though while the fries were cooking we passed out on the couch and chairs respectively. Lol, we were tired, then woke up to eat then passed out again. Yeah so that was that.

Saturday we went into town and it was Open Monument Day we found out. So there were a ton of lines to go into things. We didn't get a chance to do anything but that's fine honestly. Got some pictures and stuff though. Later on that night we went out with two other Au Pair girls and checked out the tiny carnival they had there. I really miss rollercoasters, these just aren't cutting it for me. I need my adrenaline rush!

Sunday, which is now a lazy day, I decided to stay in, I turned down an invitation to go see a Castle with Marcy and her host family on account I had already seen it. Tomorow, the girls are out of school because Princesdag, which is Prince's Day in english is on Tuesday and the Queen, and King and their family will ride through Holland through in their carriages. Everyone is super excited about that. I think I would be too, if I didn’t have to baysit, But oh well. Then Octoberfest is Satturday. Can you believe it's nearly here? It's unreal. We leave Friday at around 10pm on the bus. It has wifi but I'm going to be sleeping. Until Tuesday then!