122 Days in Europe: May 2012

When In Rome!

Day 112: Wining and Dining with Rats!

Well this morning started off with me finishing packing then we headed off to Schipol. It didn't feel like I was going on a trip really, maybe I am imune to traveling now. The flight was so so, of course I had a seat in the very back of the plane, but oh well KLM is great and gives us really good snacks and drinks! I think that I have said it before, but I highly recommend flying with them if you have the chance! Then we got to Rome and the real adventure begins. We have to find a way into the city, which is really hard. We ended up taking a private shuttle to our hotel, which ended up being great because one we got to see the city and two we didn't have to try and find our hotel. After this we got food as all of us were starving. Brittany and I did the typical travler thing and split our meals so I had lasagna and mushroom shrimp fettuccine, SO GOOD! During dinner I had a white wine which was also really good, but the best part of dinner was when a rat who was sitting under the table next to us showed up. Jazmyn didn't like this of course and said she was going to punt him. Me on the other hand was ready to defend him. Oh I forgot to tell you about who we met in Rome....a person from Des Moines! How crazy is that! Then we also had a nice talk with the people from Oklahoma that sat at the table next to us. The rest of the night was awesome. We hit up Trevi fountain and saw the Colloseum all lit up at night, I drank out of one of the public fountains and had amazing Gelato....after all of this excitement we hit the hay.

Mr. Rattatoei!

My feet in Rome! Check out the lock on my bag to prevent sneaky sneaks from getting all my money!

Trevi Fountain.

The moon was really cool.

Roma!

Colosseum at night!

Another Colosseum picture.

Photography Finals and Some Other Final....

Day 111: Goodbyes!

I started the day off with a mochachino from Bagels and Beans and man was that good! Well today is my last final here in Leiden and it is weird. It is really kind of bitter sweet. I was the first to present my final and almost started crying when Tyler reflected on it. Here is my final.... I am.... (copy right Kristin Shaw)

Lotte really liked it.

Then everyone presented their's. I almost started crying during Jazmyn's and Brittany's. While they presented Lotte gave us tea and chocolate which made the day better. After our final Brittany, Jazmyn and I just hung out waiting for the final dinner to start. Finally we headed off to the school and met with all the professors for dinner at a chinese restaurant and then for drinks afterwards. The food was amazing! We had three courses and I had wine and a diet coke, odd combo I know, but it sounded good and I wasn't paying for it. For dinner we had everything from duck to chicken and then we had lots of candy for dessert. I of course stole a bunch of it, but so did Lotte so I don't feel bad. After dinner we headed back to Central and had drinks. We hung out and said goodbye to everyone as it was the last time that we were going to see some of these people for awhile. Then we left and Brittany and I watched the fourth Underworld movie before we packed our bags for Rome and got some sleep.

Some of the food from dinner!

Loved the big mirror on the ceiling.

Globalization and Netherland's final

Day 110: My brain is really Kapot!

Well I woke up early this morning to study and I don't think that it helped too much, at least for my globalization final. The Netherlands one I rocked and got an A on, but I got a B on the other one. After this final that was super early I walked back to Hugo by myself, which was weird, then started my photography final. It is a final all about me, well entitled I am....I didn't finish it tonight as us girls sat around and talked about going home and well girl stuff for a little bit. My pictures are below, but I won't share what each of the photos symbolizes so that the final is a surprise!

History Final!

Day 109: Khrushchev, Brezhnev.....Dang it!

Today was not very exciting at all....I spent the entire day studying for my history final that was at 7 pm. I think that I did pretty well, except for the question that required we put the leaders of the S.U. in order, even though I really knew the right answer, I put the wrong one! So mad about that, but I did learn some of the U.S. presidents in order for the final and put those on there! After my final I ended up studying for my Netherlands final that is tomorrow then hit the hay. The high light of the day was when we (Frazzy, Brit, Mom, Mac Daddy, and Lea) all went to McDonalds and got our last stroopwaffel Mcflurries. Of course they were amazing like always.

Happy Queen's Day!

Day 108: Blah Finals Ruin All the Fun!

Well today is Queen's Day and I have to wear orange. I don't particularly like to wear orange as I feel like a pumpkin in it and like I should be going door to door asking for candy, but I will wear it as it is a part of the Dutch culture. Today is the Queen's "Birthday", not really, it is her mom's but they celebrate it this day anyway, and everyone goes crazy! Not just like a little crazy, but I mean full out crazy. You spend all day completely decked out in orange attire including, but not limited to, tiaras, fake orange hair, body paint, etc. I only wore an orange tank top necklace and headband, but it is ok because all I did was attend the city wide garage sale. Oh I didn't explain that. In the morning before the really heavy drinking and partying starts (3 pm) there is a city wide garage sale in which people take all the stuff they don't need and sell it by the canals. Little kids sell lemonade and dance, sing, and play their instruments for money. It was quite interesting to watch. But we ended up just walking around and observing people until about 2 and then we got Turkish food, or course! We got back and I found out that I had gotten sunburnt! What I know! The weather was beautiful! We ended up coming back and studying in the afternoon because we have a final tomorrow evening and all want to do well on it. We studied outside though so it made it bearable.