Home Sweet Home

After something like 30 hours of travel (sleeping at the Dublin airport), I arrived safe and sound at home! Mom, Dad and Carrie were waiting for me at the RDU airport with flowers. I can't believe I've made it home! See you soon!

Dutch Holiday

I am staying with my (distant) cousin, Margriet here in Hallum, in the Netherlands. Hallum is a beautiful little town with manicured gardens and streets paved with bricks. Everyone trims their bushes to 90 degree angles and the streets are quiet and friendly. Everyone says "Hai" to each other as they pass. Today was a classic Dutch holiday. We rode our bikes along canals and past cow pastures under the big sky (since the land is so flat, you can see the sky arching from one side to the other), passing little towns and farmhouses. Our destination was Burdaard, where we toured a windmill. The feeling of being inside a windmill as the wind picks up speed and the sails start to spin faster was awe inspiring. I could see the sails wooshing past the little windows and hear the machine grinding grain into flour. This windmill was multi purpose - they could hook in the grinder or a saw mill to the same gears.

From Burdaard we biked down to another little town where we has a late lunch at a canal-side cafe. We had a sampler of appetizers (little fried things, cheese, sausage, and salmon on crackers) and "sorbet" -- which in Holland means a wonderful parfait of rich creamy ice cream and fresh fruit. We biked back home over a famous bridge in Bartleheim, where people come to watch the Elfstedentocht, the speed skating race that happens only once every 15 years or so. And now we're back at Margriet's house!

I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon for a VERY long period of traveling. I have to take a train from here down to Amsterdam, catch a flight from Amsterdam to Dublin, wait in Dublin all night for my flight to Newark, switch planes in Newark, then arrive in Raleigh at about 5:00 pm. I'm going to be exhausted.

I'll probably be home before I email you again. See you soon!

-Val

Oxford and Ireland

Today I got the phone number of my cousin here in Ireland! I went to the post office here in Dublin and asked if they had phone books. No luck, but they pointed me to the library down the street, where a super sweet lady not only helped me find the right phone book, but she helped me look up bus schedules to their town. She went way beyond what I'd asked for, which is an example of classic Irish hospitality. I called my cousin, but her husband told me to call back again tonight. So I'll have to let you know later how this part of my adventure works out!

By the way, I had a GREAT time in Oxford. It's a beautiful town with lots of gothic buildings and cobblestone streets. I had some veggie soup in the Eagle and Child, where the Inklings used to hang out, and I strolled down Addison's walk, where CS Lewis used to walk and talk with his colleagues. I also went punting, which is where you stand up in a long low boat and push yourself along with a pole. With the sun getting low in the sky and shining through the leaves, and ducks falling asleep and roosting on the shore, it felt like a moment from the Wind in the Willows (incidentally the author of that book, Kenneth Grahame, is buried in Oxford)

This poem is posted on Addison's walk. I already knew & loved it, so it was awesome to see it on a plaque:

What the Bird Said Early in the Year
by CS Lewis
I heard in Addison's Walk a bird sing clear:
This year the summer will come true. This year. This year.
Winds will not strip the blossom from the apple trees
This year, nor want of rain destroy the peas.
This year time's nature will no more defeat you,
Nor all the promised moments in their passing cheat you.
This time they will not lead you round and back
To autumn, one year older, by the well-worn track.
This year, this year, as all these flowers foretell,
We shall escape the circle and undo the spell.
Often deceived, yet open once again your heart,
Quick, quick, quick, quick! -- the gates are drawn apart.

Addison's Walk

Loving London!

Today I explored Charles Dicken's house, the British Museum (loved the Assyrian art), and the British Library (the Magna Carta, Beowulf, the original handwritten Alice In Wonderland, the Gutenberg Bible...). I can't believe how many excellent sites they have here (and mostly for free!) In a couple of days I'm taking a bus out to Oxford to see the town where Tolkien and CS Lewis hung out!
Very limited time here. Internet Cafes close early here for some reason :(

Cheers!

-Valerie

Pamplona!

I'm in Pamplona, Spain for Sanfermines (the festival where they have the Running of the Bulls). It's really quite crazy here, with people partying in the streets all hours. I've got it good though because I'm staying with some wonderful people named Satur and Beatriz, who have given me a bed to sleep in and washed my laundry (oh how I love the smell of clean clothes!) and let me call home from their phone (my first time talking to my parents in 7 weeks). They've also brought me all around Pamplona to see historic areas, and they've taught me a lot about the whole Sanfermines event. Yesterday morning I got to watch the Encierro (the running with the bulls) from a balcony, which normally people have to pay a lot to do. In the afternoon, my hosts brought me to their Sociedad Gastronomica (a cooking club) where they made excellent steaks and salads and roasted red peppers. While we ate and talked, the men would spontaneously burst into song, singing traditional tunes of Navarra (the region where Pamplona is located) or old classic tunes like Old Man River. They asked me to sing a traditional tune from North Carolina, but sadly I couldn´t think of anything except James Taylor´s Carolina In My Mind. The Navarran culture is rather like the Scottish and Irish in a way, with very strong feelings for their history and independence, and a love of music and traditional dancing.

Last night Spain won the World Cup over the Netherlands. It was an interesting feeling to be in an area where a lot of people really consider themselves Navarran rather than Spanish. There are a lot of Basque people here, and many of them actually wanted Spain to lose. So though there was some cheering and honking horns here, it was not at all like the previous game when I was in Granada. After the game we met up with some of my hosts' friends. When she asked me 'Que tal?' I responded 'España ganó!' (Spain won!) and she kind of made a face and shrugged her shoulders like, 'Yeah, too bad.' Things are rather complicated here in Pamplona.

Tonight I'm taking a train to Paris so I can be there for Bastille Day! Tomorrow I get to reunite with my French exchange student from 10 years ago. Last time I saw her I was 15 years old.

Greetings to everyone! I'm sure your prayers have been with me, because I've been unbelievably blessed on this trip!

-Valerie

In Arcos de La Frontera

Undoubtably the most beautiful place I´ve stayed yet. I have a wonderful large hotel room with a giant window overlooking the Andalusian landscape (for only 55 Euros). As I only have one day here, I´m off to explore. This is just so amazing though, I had to share it with you. Seriously, I almost cried when I saw how gorgeous this place is.

http://www.lacasagrande.net/

I decided the moment I arrived that I will return someday.

Estoy En Madrid

I went to Pamplona from Barcelona and really enjoyed it. I stayed with a 24 year old girl named Irene who showed me around the town and let me sleep on her couch! Pamplona is without a doubt one of the prettiest places I've been to yet. The whole city is a garden, with trees and parks everywhere, very well maintained flowers and trimmed bushes, and fountains. They still have old walls from the 15 and 16th centuries, which they have used as boundaries for these parks. They also have a free zoo of sorts with goats and deer, peacocks and swans in different areas.

I'm in Madrid now, and I'm off to explore it. It was kind of difficult getting to the hostal because Madrid's metro is on strike (seriously, what is it with the European transportation systems and strikes?)

Hope everything's going well at home!