Spring Break was an amazing adventure filled with beautiful sites, wonderful people, delicious food, and all the emotions!
So before spring break started I went into a clinic and found out that I did in fact have bronchitis – I know myself so well! I was given antibiotics and cough syrup to take for 10 days. With spring break around the corner, I was excited to get the medicine in my system and get passed this whole being sick deal. But my next struggle was getting my cough syrup on spring break with me: (1) it was way more than 3oz (2) the medicine was in a glass bottle. My travels thus far have taught me that Europeans are pretty chill about their flying rules so I thought I would try to throw it in my carry on and if it got taken away I would still have my antibiotics – not the end of the world. Guys, I got through security with a glass bottle that was nearly full of cough syrup without them giving me a second look. I am convinced that the United States is the only country that actually cares about flying rules and passports because I have officially gone to three different countries without needing my passport – that means no stamps in my passport!! So disappointing.
My first day in the Netherlands was spent in Amsterdam. We arrived late but we took the time to stop to take a picture of the “I am Amsterdam” sign.
We started our day early the next morning with Dutch pancakes. My first Dutch pancake was strawberry. We meandered around the city looking at old buildings and stopping in every cheese shop and eating all the free samples – we even made a lunch of it with all the stores we went in J
We then made our way to the outdoor market and did a little shopping. We started the following morning with the VanGogh museum because it was raining and walking in the rain with a jacket without a hood is no fun. I felt right at home surrounded by all the VanGogh art – thank you, Tulip Time!
The rain did not let up and neither did the freezing temperatures so we made our way to another pancake place after the museum. Here, I bought an apple cinnamon pancake that was AMAZING! Seriously, so good! The apples were baked into the pancake. Afterwards, my shivering got the best of me and I bought a cheap, tourist-y hat – I had tourist written all over me wearing it but at least my ears were warm.
On the 30th we braved the elements to wait in line to see the Anne Frank house. Two hours and 40 minutes waiting in line to see the Anne Frank house – my whole body was frozen! We even arrived before the place even opened. It was a long wait but it was worth it. It was great to climb the stairs and stand in the rooms that I have read about so many times. At the end of the tour there was a video that I wrote down two quotes from: “All her would-haves are our opportunities” – Emma Thompson and “One doesn’t have to be a great hero to change the world.”
After a long morning in the Anne Frank house we decided to go tandem bike riding. Everyone bikes in the Netherlands and we thought it would be fun to tandem bike because there were four of us. Also, renting two bikes is way easier than renting four bikes. Guys, riding a tandem bike is actually really difficult. I was on a bike with Monique and we had people taking pictures of us because we were struggling so much. People were actually stopping, laughing, and taking pictures. We finally made it to Vondelpark without getting hit or hitting anyone and we found our rhythm. We round around together until we found a playground that is for big kids. Of course we had to stop and play!
The next morning our group of four divided into two groups of two. Leeana wanted to visit Groningen because that is where her family is from and Amanda and I continued on to Den Haag. We took a train and then struggled a little bit trying to figure out how to get to our hotel. After asking the information desk 3 times the exact same questions, we finally got on the right tram towards our hotel. Then we had to go and miss our stop and walk all the way back to the previous stop to find our hotel. On a positive note, we passed the entrance to the Westbroek park along the way which was really pretty. After checking in and dropping off our bags at the hotel we made a picnic and ate it in the park. We then visited pretty much every historic site in Den Haag: Binnehof Castle, the parliament buildings, old churches, the peace palace. My favorite was the peace palace. The Peace Palace is the international justice building where the United Nations meets. Is that not the coolest thing? Outside the palace there is a world peace flame surrounded by the names of all the participating countries. On the other side of the drive there is a tree where you can tie your wish for world peace. Ahh it was honestly so cool. I was giddy excited the entire time we were at the palace.
Monique and Leeana joined us later that night so we repeated some of the same sights Amanda and I had seen and also visited the Escher Museum – an optical illusion museum. After the museum we took a tram out to the beach because we were close so we thought why not? It was freezing! I had been cold the entire trip thus far but this had hit a new level of cold. Amanda was a crazy person and went in the water while I stayed nice and dry on the beach.
Our next city was Rotterdam. Our first stop after checking in to our hotel was the cube apartments. Super cool but they would be such a pain to live in. We then found this market filled with amazing food where we ate freshly made syrup waffles – SO GOOD! After eating all the free samples we made our way to Laurenskerk Church. While looking through the signature book I found the most precious, anonymous message written by a little boy. After the church we went to the Erasmus Bridge and found a restaurant to eat our final dinner with Leeana before she returned to the U.S. I thought I had a 25% coupon so we ordered the good stuff off the menu. After we finished, I gave the waiter our coupon. He came back to tell me that the coupon was only good for salads, not our meals. Wow, can one struggle any more than that?! We took the long way back to our apartment, got lost on the trams, took a nearly 2 hour detour/mini night tour of the city and then said our goodbyes to Leeana. She made is back to the states safely, but she will surely be missed by all of us in Oviedo. Our last day in Rotterdam was spent in in a little city outside of Rotterdam called Delfshaven. It is super cute and historic which is very different from the modern city of Rotterdam.
Antwerp was our final destination. I was so excited to see the zoo in Antwerp!!! That was honestly the only thing I cared about for the entire spring break trip. We had to walk through the train station to get to the zoo but were stopped by a large crowd of people. There was a break dance competition going on in the train station! How cool is that? There we kids as young as 6 years old just busting a move in the middle of the train station. It was the cutest thing. We stayed and watched for well over an hour. We got to the zoo and they had jacked up their prices for Easter Week – not cool. We had set a limit at the beginning of the trip that we weren’t willing to exceed to museums and zoos and the Antwerp zoo was above our budget… I took a picture of the outside though so that kind of counts right? Oh well, I will just have to visit the zoo in Grand Rapids this summer. Antwerp brought many more adventures, though. We went to one of the many chocolate shops and tried the famous Belgium chocolate – SO GOOD! We also ate Belgium waffles in Belgium because why not? Equally as good!
We made our way to the main plaza of Antwerp by following the music. In the plaza, there where a bunch of people dancing away. In the plaza in front of the cathedral there was a violinist and a bassist playing so of course I had to listen to that for a while! We went to bed early because the next day was filled with many hours of travel to get back to Oviedo. We woke up at 6:45 to take a 30 minute train ride to a bus station. The bus then drove us 30 minutes to the next train station where we boarded a train to Amsterdam airport which took an hour. The bus ride in the middle was because of rail construction. Our flight left at noon and landed in Madrid around 2:30pm. When leaving the airport we passed a wall of people with welcome home signs and happy reunions. I was so close to tears it was ridiculous. It may have just been lack of sleep but I wanted to go home so bad. Our bus for León left at 4:45pm: that bus ride was three and a half hour long. We then waited at the León bus stop for many hours until or bus from León to Oviedo showed up – 30 minutes late might I add. Around 10:30pm we finally boarded the bus and started the final leg of our journey back to Oviedo. At this point I am crazy motion sick, sleepy, and ready to be in bed. Our bus driver was a crazy person and the worst driver I have ever met in my life. She should have her license taken away because I have never been so motion sick. She took ever turn way too sharp and way to fast and then add the whole driving through the mountains – Emily = done. We arrived in Oviedo a little past midnight and then I needed to walk the 15 minutes back to my house. I was so tired when I got back that I fell asleep with all my things on my bed/on top of me. I woke up late and not ready to start the day or go to class for that matter.
I got back from class and had to write a 4 page paper – procrastination is my best friend and my worst enemy… After my 4pm Calvin class my throat started to hurt which is weird because I finished my antibiotics for my bronchitis 4 days ago. This is a different kind of sore throat though. It hurts to swallow and even move my tongue. Sonia told me that I need to go back to the doctor but I really don’t want to but I know I should. The struggle is real. Honestly though, I haven’t been sick in the longest time and now that I am in a different country I get sick back to back – not cool.
On a positive note, after class today I planned a trip to Paris for the week before my birthday and I am going to Denmark the end of this month. Trying to get all the traveling in while I am in Spain!
Con Amor,
Emily jo koops
emily.jo.koops 