at the Versailles Gardens
In front of the Chateau De Versailles
I don't think I have to explain this...
Bryan, Jennifer, Tymona, Bev, me, and Nicole in Paris
Emily and I in front of Moulin Rouge
Tymona and I

So where to start????
Since London I have been very very busy. The week after London I was getting ready to welcome my parents, sister and brother to the Netherlands plus doing like a million other things like a volleyball tournament, Alpha bible study, joffer, and anything else that looked interesting. I hardly saw my host family that week. Then Friday rolls around and I have to be on the 5:48am train from Zwolle to Amsterdam in order to meet my brother's flight ..... my aunt had emailed me that my parents and sister were unable to make the second flight so they were going to fly to London and get a flight from London to Zwolle later. ......... Long story short ..... my parents and sister don't make it to Zwolle until 4:45pm.
My host family had invited my family to dinner that night so we had a gezellig time together. I think that everyone liked each other which is a wonderful thing.
My parents had rented a small house about 25 min drive from Zwolle so I stayed with them that weekend .... we did a lot of driving around the country....I am surprised at how small the Netherlands really is ...I knew that it was small but I never realized how small.
Meanwhile my host mom and kids went to my host mom's parent's house while my host dad started redoing the flooring in the living room and dinning room area.....when I came back on Sunday evening the housed looked in disarray. But by the end of the week the house was back to normal.
My parents had a good time and I really enjoyed seeing them. I took Ginger and Leland to the Joffer on Tuesday night and had fun with them too.
They left on Thursday.

Friday I left right after class to go with Jennifer, Tymona, Nicole, Bev, Emily and Bryan to Paris!!!
So that was amazing.... we saw all the cool sights and I took lots of pictures. We went to the Louve and I saw some really famous works ...Mona Lisa and many others.... we only had 1½ hours there ....... not nearly enough . Paris was awesome but it rained a lot on Saturday but it was still fun. Sunday the group split up and Nicole and I headed out to the Chateau de Versailles. The one word that came to mind was Ginormous!!! The palace was great but the 'Gardens' or forest *(whatever you want to call it) was beautiful! Even with out the fountains running and with nothing in bloom it was breathtaking! I think it is my favorite place that I have been so far. (I think it even tops London!)

We got back to Zwolle about 10:30 last night and I wish that our weekends were longer!

London Baby!!!!
The excitement started early this past week.... I knew that come Friday I would be headed to London, England, I could hardly concentrate on my school work (having just gotten back from Prague and Berlin and looking forward to leaving for London) and was greatly anticipating being able to understand people and not struggle to make out a foreign language.


The week went by faster than I expected and soon I found myself packing for London. Laurie came over on Thursday night so that she wouldn't have to bike all the way from Stadshagen to the train station in the snow at 5am (the bike ride takes about 20 min normally and with the snow about an hour) We had to get up at 4:45 in order to make the train ... we ended up leaving a little late from my house and bookin' it to the train station (10-15min bike ride) but we made it on time and so did our traveling companion Nicole!

We got on the train and were soooo ready to go to London. We made our transfer in Amersfort and got to Amsterdam airport (about an 1½ hour ride) in plenty of time ... in fact we were early... There was NO WAY we were going to miss our flight. We check in and wait to find out what gate we are to go to....we wait ...and wait ... we go pass the passport check... then wait .....and wait some more.... finally its about a half hour before the departure time.... but then bad news "delayed until 10:44"..... 'jammer!!!!'..... o well it is only and hour and we will still have lots of time in London.....10:15 rolls around and we wait to see what gate our flight will leave from..... "delayed until 11:45"....... this is starting to piss me off!!... we are thinking "good thing we had booked the early flight and have plenty of time" .... 11:35......"delayed until 12:20" ... this WOULD happen to me! ..... finally at 12 we get to go through security and head to our gate!!! We are finally going to be on our way to London!!!

The flight takes off about 1-ish... and we get to London about 40 min later but with the time change it is about 1 o'clock there too. So we are a few hours behind where we would like to have been but what can you do?? We flew into London Stansted Airport which is a bit of a drive from central London so we had to get on a bus for a 55 min ride to Liverpool Street Tube station.. there we bought an all day pass on the Tube and made our way via underground train to our hostel. We had made it!!!! By this time it is getting later and later... we get to the hostel and check in, drop our stuff off, and head out to the city!!

We decided that we wanted to go to a show that night so we headed out to find cheap tickets. We went to Leicester Square and found some cheap tickets to a Musical "Fame" for 8:30 that night... By this time it is getting towards 4 -4:30 ish and kinda getting darker but we want to get the most out of the day so we head to Westminsterer to see the abbey and Big Ben. We timed it perfectly!!! When we got there the lighting was awesome against Big Ben and the Abbey (hands-down the best Abbey I've seen) . The weather on Friday was beautiful. Sunny and clear with bright blue skies!!

We then decided that we could head to Buckingham palace. We got there ...tried to take pictures but it was getting dark and the cameras didn't work that well so we gave up and decided to come back again the next day.

By this time we were getting pretty hungry... so we got some cheap but good pizza and ate it quickly before we headed to the show. We ate outside and were just looking around when out of nowhere I see... well lets just say I almosted choked I was laughing so hard.... what first caught my attention was these hairy legs... as my eyes moved up I notice that these legs were wearing a dress .... and it was the ugliest dress I have ever seen... my eyes continued in their upward inspection and it is then that I notice that this is not a woman but it is a man... he is wearing this getup and to top it off he has a hat with fake braided hair on top of his head... I look over to see if Laurie or Nicole had seen this character and I turned just in time to see Laurie's reaction..... Priceless!!

The show was pretty good. We liked it but decided that the performers were chosen mainly for their dancing and singing abilities and not so much for their acting abilities ... It was fun though.
The show ended at 11 and we (being very very very tired after such a long day ... remember we got up at 4:45 and now it was 12 Netherlands time) slowly made our way back to the nearest Tube station...thinking that we were very smart to pick a hostel that was directly across the street from a tube station...

We get on the train.... which was packed because we were in the theatre district and shows had just got out ... but we braved the crowds ... thinking how good it would feel to take a shower and go to bed.... We don't have that far to go... so we have been on the train for a while and I notice that our station (Great Portland Street) is the next station on the map... so I turn to Laurie to make sure that she knows that our station is next.... not 5 seconds after I finish telling her this anannouncementt comes over the speakers "the next station is closed .... this train will not be stopping at the next station... this train will not be stopping at Great Portland Street station" ... WHAT???? oh well I guess we will just have to walk from Bakers Street... so we get off at Bakers Street and make our way outside. Once outside we notice a sign that says "Regent Park" and because our Hostel is by regent park we follow the sign.... it isn't until we have walked for about 15min that we realize that this is not the right direction.... So we turn around and start walking back to Bakers Street...

That late at night I have a hard time functioning properly... I get extremely tired (especially after such aneventfull day) and crossing the street is sometimes hard ... it is even harder when the cars are coming from the wrong direction... so I am doing pretty good until I try to cross one street ... I look both directions ...trying to be very careful... no cars.. so I make my way out in the street and when I reach the middle of the street I notice this car flying in my direction.... it is getting pretty close so I quickly jump back a few steps and watch as it flies by..... It is at this time that I decide that I really need more sleep.

Well we finally make it back to our hostel and get some sleep. The next morning we get up about 9 and get ready and headed out to see the rest of the sights.

We first headed to Hyde Park. I love it!! It was a gorgeous day ... it was warm and sunny (way different from what Zwolle had been this week) we saw the Marble arch and then walked around the park a bit. We were about to leave the park when I turned to my friends and said "it would make my day if I saw someone riding their horse here, but I don't think I will get to see that" two mins later what do I see coming towards me but two people on horses!! My day was made!!

We them made our way to the Wellington Arch, Green Park, Buckingham Palace, the Mall, St. James's park, and up to Trafalgar Square (we had Cadbury McFlurries here... we had to because we were in England) We then took the tube to Tower hill and went to The tower... this place is really cool I strongly suggest that if anyone is going to London they have to go in the tower. Here again we saw a man in a skirt... it was 'really attractive' especially with the ugly tatoo that was plastered on his legs...people are sooo weird sometimes. We saw lots of weapons and such but also the crown jewels and other very impressive things... we were almost done when we saw that the chapel was roped off ... we kinda had wanted to go in but we couldn't ...it is then that we saw a woman in a wedding dress beinescorteded through the courtyard of the tower to the chapel. I think it would be a bit weird to get married in the Tower but memorable.

We then made our way over to the Tower Bridge and walked over it and back again. I think it is one of the prettiest bridges that I have ever seen.

We then made our way over to St. Paul's Cathedral and saw that real quick. Pretty soon our bodies were crying out for food so we went to a nice cheaper restaurant and had a good meal. Then made our way to the last attraction on our list ....Tate Modern.. an art museum. We were very excited to find out that this was open until 10pm so we had saved it for something to do at night. We got there at 8 and didn't even get to everything but had to leave at 10. We were all very very tired so we made our way back to the tube station (following the helpful orange street lights that point the way) and made our way to Baker Street (knowing that our station closed at 10) This time we made sure that we went the right way.

We had to leave our hostel at 6:45 this morning and we were very sad to go ..... but at least our flights were not delayed ... We made it back to Zwolle and now I have to think about homework and reading Calvin's intstitutes....

I'm sorry that I have gone on sooo long ... I really didn't mean to write so much but I guess thats how it goes and if you don't like it well you probably gave up reading after the second paragraph and thats your loss.

Ever try biking through about a foot of snow .... while it is snowing..with kids throwing snowballs at you...and you have crazy drivers who don't know how to drive in snow....driving so slow behind you even though they could easily pass you (after all you are in the bike path ...closer to the snow ...and they are on the actual road that is clear of snow)?? Well I have!!They (meaning my dutch prof) say that Zwolle only sees this kind of snow once every 35 years or so.... So which winter did I choose to come here?? Thats right! The lucky year of the 'blizzard' ...actually it isn't that bad just a few days of snow .... but boy how it snowed... today it started out snowing HARD (only two of us were on time for our classes...bike rides that normally took people 20 min ended up taking them an hour ... some had their host parents drive them in a CAR.. and that took one and a half hours for what normally would take 20 min to BIKE...... people don't know how to deal with this on the roads, But by mid morning it was sunny and bright.... Beautiful with all the fresh white snow. (I'm dreaming of a white Easter....... well maybe not!!)

Weather aside it has been a great week. Only four days of classes so tomorrow I am headed for London with some friends! (and hopefully some nicer weather) I am excited about being able to understand people for a few days!!! I love english speaking countries!