All Over

My experience in Leeds is something that I will never forget. The time I was there and the people that I met really helped my grow into the person that I presently am. I may not seem different, but I feel different. I feel that traveling to an unfamiliar place not knowing anyone really helps you grasp hold of the person you really are as an individual. Everyone should get a chance to experience this, but it is unfortunate that most will not due to the fact that everything is based on money. Everyone is not capable of affording an amazing experience as this, but I am totally grateful that I was able to. If it was not for my parents I have no idea what I would have done. I truly appreciate them letting me study abroad for a semester. As for the people that I met there, some I will probably never see again which is very sad because they are amazing and we had some amazing times together. Others I know that I will see again and will be life long friends with! I will never forget anyone and everyone will always be in my memories. It seems unreal to me, but I am so glad that I got to take this opportunity. If I am able to afford a trip back to Leeds I am most certainly going to go back and see everyone that made my time there unforgettable. Thank you!

DaY 132

I woke up around nine this morning feeling very well rested. It felt so good to finally sleep in my own bed! My family was coming over for a BBQ today so I was just going to hang around the house for most of the day. I helped my mom with preparing things in the kitchen. Aunt Maria, Uncle Mike, and Richie were the first to arrive. Well actually, Grandma and Grandpa were, but I they were at my house yesterday and spent the night. Then Aunt Louisa, Uncle Ed, and Corrine came. It was really nice to see everyone. Of course everyone wanted to hear stories about my time. I wound up telling the same stories over and over again, but I don’t mind telling them at all. Another popular question that everyone loves to ask me is always about the guys. Everyone always seems to be interested to know if I have met an English boy. I love seeing their faces when my response is no. It makes me laugh.  After dinner I had a missed call from Dawn. I went inside, sat on the couch and called her back. After I got off, I lie down and fell asleep for about a half hour. Obviously that was jet lag at its best. I woke up around 9:30pm and then got ready to head over to Dana’s house as she was throwing a party for Memorial Day weekend. By the time I got there everyone was wasted. I finally got to see Dawn and the rest of the gang. I spent some time over there and then I headed home around 12:30. When I got home, my mom and brother were still up, as they were waiting for my luggage. The guy called earlier that day saying that it would arrive between 11 and 1. I woke up the next morning to find my luggage in the hallway, which I was so excited about, but I later found out that it did not arrive until 5 in the morning. Luckily Keith heard the doorbell and got it. Talk about not delivering in the time frame you originally said. After I ate breakfast, I started unpacking my luggage. I was excited to give everyone their gifts. I opened the second front pouch, but there was nothing in it. I was pretty sure that I packed things in there, but I figured I had mistaken myself. After everything was unpacked and scattered around my room I realized that I didn’t have everything. Turns out I was missing two pairs of shoes. I knew I packed something in that front pouch! Now, I am just ticked off because the one pair were a nice pair of heels that the twins bought for me from Bulgaria and the other pair were the heels that I bought for Kim. I was so excited to show of my shoes and give Kim hers and now I couldn’t. The thing that bothered me the most was that I knew that I was not going to be able tot get them back. I spent half my morning on the phone with representatives and on the computer. Now I had to print out a form, fill it out and then fax/mail it over to the airline. I will get reimbursed for the shoes, but I don’t know how much, as that is there decision based on my filed report. Needless to say I have been home for about two and a half weeks and I have not heard anything back yet. Besides the shoes missing everything else was there and everyone loved their gifts. 

Day 131

TODAY IS THE DAY!!!!!! I am so excited! I woke up around 6:45 to make sure that I would be up and ready. Richard, Melody and Pierre had just arrived home from Amsterdam and we were all going to get breakfast, but there would not be enough time for that so we all just hung out in the twins flat. Emily, Philip, and Ben soon came over as well. Emily had made a slideshow of the time she had been there and showed it to us. It was so nice. I rang a taxi around eight and it literally showed up within seconds. That was the fastest Amber taxi has ever arrived. Everyone helped me with my luggage and then it was time for goodbyes. There were not that many tears, but I was surprised to hear that Philip was quite upset when I said goodbye to him. I was not expecting that. As I said goodbye to the twins they were crying a bit, but I know I will see them soon. I said goodbye to Brian last, as everything started with him anyway. I got in the taxi and watched everyone wave to me as the taxi drove off. I was not that upset, but when the thought began to sink in that I was actually leaving I began to get al watery eyed, but I didn’t cry because I don’t like crying in public. When I arrived at the airport I went over to check-in, which was quite a big line. When I got to the counter I checked my bags and had my two carrions. I didn’t think it would be a problem because that is exactly how I traveled over here, but apparently Leeds Bradford Airport only allows one carry on to every customer, so I had to check one. My backpack had my computer and all my other belongings I needed to get through the airport and my other bag had all my souvenirs and breakables in it. I checked the one with all my souvenirs because there was no way I was checking my computer and such. I was really worried, because I know how the airport personnel handle luggage. The guy was really nice and put all these fragile stickers on my bag and then told me where I could bring it so that it was actually handled with care. He also put a sticker on my bag saying that it was to be picked up planeside after the first flight. I was happy about that. After I checked everything in I went through security and then found a seat to wait for my flight. I was holding back tears while waiting, but I tried to keep busy by playing Sudoku. That did not really work so well, so I just people watched. When it was about ten the gate was available and I went over to board the plane. The flight was only about an hour to Amsterdam. Of course I slept the whole flight. Once the plane landed I got my carry on, picked up my other carry on planeside and then headed towards my gate. It was nice that I was in this airport just a few days ago because now I knew where I was going. I headed over to my gate, went through security once again and then waited for the flight to board. My layover was only two hours, which was not bad at all. At around 1:30 boarding had started. This plane was a lot bigger than the one that I was last on and there were a lot of people to board. We boarded by seat number so it was pretty organized. I was in seat 36D, which was middle row but I had an isle seat. I was really glad I had an isle seat. The girls I sat next to were from Russia so it was not so bad. The plane was late departing, but that was not a big deal. The only thing that got on my nerve sometimes was the guy who sat behind me. He was as tall as Keith and had long legs, which meant that they were stretched out completely under my seat so when I went to put my feet back I would always hit his feet or when my feet were back and he went to stretch out he would hit my feet. It was a bit annoying, but it could have been worse so I dealt with it. I slept for about the first hour and then I did not sleep the rest of the flight. When I woke up the attendants were coming around with drinks and a snack. It looked like peanuts, but they were smoked almonds, which were delicious. After that they handed warm towelettes right before our main meal. We had a bit of turbulence at one point and had to secure our seatbelts. Of course I was in the bathroom when it started to happen. Thank god I was exiting the bathroom and heading back to my seat at that point. After the ended the attendants came around with our next meal. For dinner or lunch or whatever meal it was at this point, I had a choice of pasta in a spinach sauce or salmon. Of course I chose the pasta. It came with this potato salad, which was not so good so I left that after a couple of bites. Then I moved on to the pasta and bread. The pasta was little shell shaped noodles covered in spinach sauce. Then for dessert I had these mini cream puffs that were drizzled with chocolate. It was quite delicious for plane food. To keep myself occupied on the plane ride, I updated my blog, as I was behind about two weeks. I also watched a movie called Sherlock Holmes. I enjoyed that. During the movie the flight attendants came around with little things of ice cream. It was some sort of toffee nut and caramel flavored ice cream. I could not really figure out what it exactly was, but it was tasty. Once I finished that I returned to watching my movie. After my movie ended the attendants were coming around with another snack. You had a choice of an English muffin size pizza or a slice of pecan pie. I chose the pizza, which was not the best, but it was edible. After that everyone had to fill out custom cards. Mine was pretty easy because I was a citizen returning to my home country, but it was a bit more complicated for the two girls next to me. They had to fill out these two forms and were a little lost as to how to do it. I asked them if they needed help, but they said they were ok so I let them be. Even the guy behind me asked me what something meant. Towards the end of the flight I was getting very anxious and antsy. There was about forty minutes left to go and I could not do anything but wait. The television was turned off and all electronics had to be put away. Those forty minutes were so long! We finally landed and I was so excited. I was so close to getting to see my parents! Little did I know it was going to take about another two hours until I actually got to see them.  Once everyone filed off the plane I got my things and headed to immigration and al that jazz. I loved how I got to go on the shorter line this time, as I am a citizen. I got through that line in about ten minutes which was not bad. Now all I had to do was collect my luggage. I got my first piece of luggage within the first ten minutes of standing there. Then I waited for about another half hour. At this point there was no more luggage coming down onto the belt and there was so much luggage going around, but of course mine was not there. I must say I was not the only one with missing luggage. I went over to this lady to ask what I do if I am missing a piece of luggage. She had this list of names and of course my name was on it. I had no idea what the list was for and was worried that something was wrong with my luggage. It turns out that my luggage didn’t make the flight and was on the next one. Figures. So now I had to file a report with the lady about my luggage. She told me that she would call later in the day with a reference number and I that I should be receiving my luggage tomorrow. I mean it was no big deal because I really didn’t need anything from that piece of luggage. I mean all it had was all my gifts for everyone and my clothes! I still had clothes back at home, but I wanted to wear some new clothes. Anyway, after that was all filled out I got myself excited to finally see my mom and dad for the first time in four months! I walked through the doors and around the wall to see all these people standing there waiting for their family members. I scanned the area for my parents, as it would be easy to spot a shiny baldhead, but to my disappointment there was no one there. I had always pictured this moment in my head and it went the total opposite of how I thought it was going to go. I always imagined me walking out and seeing my parents standing there with a sign saying welcome home and then tears would have been shed as we embrace each other in a big hug. Well, that didn’t happen. At this point I am just highly annoyed, aggravated, and upset, and to make things worse my phone had no battery. I have no idea how that happened because I never turned it on while I was overseas! So, I go to find a plug to charge my phone and see if my parents called me. I am standing at a corner in the airport all by myself, with my luggage charging my phone. Sure enough I have a message from my mom. I didn’t even bother to listen to it and I just called her cell. She picked up and I asked her where she was in a bit of an attitude and she said they were waiting for me to come out. She said look towards the back and you will see two balloons. Of course now, my vision would have worked, but it was too late. I told her I already walked out and I was over by a corner charging my phone. I directed her toward me. I saw the two balloons traveling through the crowd before I actually saw my mom and dad. When I saw them, I left my entire luggage and just started walking towards them. We all just began to cry and then we all embraced in a big hug and just cried in the middle of the airport. It was so nice to finally physically see my parents! It was not how I envisioned it, but it was still a great feeling. After that, I filled my parents in on what had happened with my luggage and then we headed towards the car and headed home. It was not that weird driving on the correct side of the road again, but I did forget how crazy New York drivers were. I mean Englanders are crazy drivers, but nowhere near to how crazy New Yorkers are. When we arrived home I went inside and say my little puppy. I missed him so much! He is so luscious. After saying hello to my puppy, I began to unpack my things. Keith arrived home first and then Cheryl came home. It was so nice to see both of them! I had dinner with everyone that night and then I got ready to go over to Ciano’s as she was having people over her house since she was home for the weekend. I first picked up Stack and then we picked up Michael and then we went to Ciano’s. I got to see Bogen, Erin, Melissa and some of the guys, which was really nice. I was really tired around ten but I knew I to try and stay up. I stayed up until about 12:30 and then headed home to bed as I was falling asleep on Ciano’s couch. It was a long day of traveling and jet lag has started to kick in, but I am so glad to finally be home!

Day 130

Tomorrow I go home!!!!!!!!! I am so excited! I have been talking about this day for the past week! It is bittersweet leaving, but I am so ready to go home. Of course the fire alarm woke me up at 9:30, but it is the last time that it will happen. I was too excited to go back to sleep, so I had some breakfast. Steph rang me about ten minutes after I was up to have some tea. She came up and we chatted over some tea. She then left to get a quick nap before she headed back to York for work. After she left I was in my room getting ready to head into town, but I wound up talking to a friend from home for about an hour. He had just gotten in from being out all night. Time differences are strange. Here I am starting my morning and he is just ending his night. After we chatted for about an hour I headed into town to get some last minute things. I got Dad a shirt and some clothes for myself at Primark. I also picked up some England candy to take home with me. When I got back to my flat Steph stopped by to say goodbye, as this was the last time we would be seeing each other for a while. After Steph left I began to pack my stuff up. After doing that for a while I went downstairs for a break and to hang out with Marieta before she left for work. After she left for work I went back upstairs to shower and continue packing. Then I went downstairs to have dinner one last time with Brian and Valentina. We had tacos. After dinner I went upstairs and put the rest of my things in the suitcases. Once I was officially done packing we went to the shop, picked up some beers and then started to drink and play beer pong in the kitchen. Ash had all his DJ stuff set up as well. It was nothing big, but it was nice to hang out with everyone for one last time. Luke had already left for home earlier, which was upsetting, but we said out goodbye earlier. It was sad saying goodbye to Luke, as he was always there for me whenever I needed him. While we were drinking with everyone Brian had to get his camera out of my room. I tossed him my keys to unlock my door, but he came back in the kitchen saying that it was not working. It turns out that my lock was acting up again as it did one other time. It would beep green, but it would not open. At this point it is eleven at night on a Friday. All my luggage is in my room and my flight is tomorrow! If I can’t get into my room I am so screwed. Of course I had no more money left on my phone so I could not call UPP. Luckily Ash and Brian let me use their phones to phone UPP. At first I could not get in touch with them but after about a half hour, I called again and got them. They arrived about twenty minutes later and I got let into my room. He could not fix the lock so he just told me to leave the dead bolt on so that it would not lock me out again. That is exactly what I did while I was in my flat. Before everyone left to go out and such, they all gave me a going away card. It was a big card and was signed by most of the people that I met while I was in Leeds. I was not expecting that at all and it was so nice of everyone to do that. I love that card so much! After everyone left my flat I took all my luggage downstairs to the twins since I was spending the night with them anyway and this way I would not have to worry about my door locking me out again. After everything was moved out of my flat I got ready for bed. Brian, Valentina and myself waited for Marieta to get home and once she did we all chatted for a bit and then fell asleep. I slept in the bed with Marieta and Brian and Valentina slept on the floor. 

Day 129

We woke up at seven to get our stuff ready and head over to the train. On our walk over to the train this beggar came over to us and began asking Brian for money. He actually walked with us and continuously asked for money. He asked Brian for change multiple times, asked him to check is pockets and is wallet for chance. After Brian said no every time, the guy told Brian to find him change. Brian told him to find his own change. At this point Brian was getting really annoyed with the guy and kept asking him to leave him alone. The guy kept walking with us and kept asking for money. Brian kept saying I have no change. The guy then said, “Ok, give me five euro.” Brian said he needed it for the train and told the guy to leave him alone in a very angry voice. The guy then started walking with another guy walking in the opposite direction. That poor soul had no idea what was coming to him. After that whole fiasco, we got to the train station and caught the 7:40 train to the airport. At the airport we checked in, went through security, boarded the flight and were on our way back to Leeds. It was funny because our flight was at 9:30 and landed in Leeds at 9:45. You have to love the time differences. I slept the whole flight, as I was exhausted from the past two days. Getting back into England was a hassle. The guy asked me so many questions, such as “How long are you here for?” “Why are you here?” “What’s your purpose here for the last two days?” “When are you leaving?” “Where are you flying out from?” The girl before me was being detained, as the guy didn’t like how she was cooperating and answering her questions. Of course that was the same guy that I got. When we walked out of customs and everything and through the doors where everyone waits for their family members I got all excited, as in two days that would be me walking through the doors at JFK and seeing my family waiting for me! When I got back to my room I put laundry in down at the twins, as my machine was in use. I then had some cereal, took a shower and went for a nap. After my nap I got dressed for the night and then went downstairs to make pasta for everyone while they were getting ready to go out. The four of us went out to Oceana together one last time. After we got back I went over to Andy’s flat to hang out with him and Steph. Steph actually came from York for the night to see me before I left for home. After hanging out with them for a while I began to fall asleep and decided it was time to go to bed so I went over to mine and got some sleep.

Day 128

Today we got up early to get the day going. I had a shower before we left for the day. The showers were not as bad as other hostels, but it was still small and a hostel shower. We left the hostel around 10:30 and then got some breakfast. We got breakfast at this corner bakery. I wound up getting this breakfast sandwich. It was funny because Pierre who is French got a baguette for breakfast. That is such a French thing to do. Haha We then made our way to the floating flower market and looked around. After that Brian and Richard went to the Heineken factory while Melody, Pierre and myself did some shopping. We stopped to try some Dutch food along the way. We all got croquettes. It is basically this breaded “mystery” meat. We ate it with mustard and it was delicious. At around five we all met up at the hostel. We hung around there for a bit chatting with Richard’s, Melody’s, and Pierre’s roommates. They were in a room of eight including them. The roommates were from Texas and then two of them were from Ireland. They were cool to hang out with. Brian and myself were on the next floor up in a room of six including us. Our roommates wound up being from Leeds and actually went to the other University in Leeds, which we found weird. They were nice as well. After that the five of us headed out to go to the ice bar! We had to wear these special coats, gloves, and hats. Everything inside was made out of ice. The bar, the seats and even the glasses! It was so awesome. We were in there for about forty minutes, which was perfect because by that time I was pretty cold and ready to get warmed up. After that experience we headed back towards the hostel and went to a bar. We were all tired and were not really in the mood to drink, but it was our last night in Amsterdam, well at least for Brian and myself, and I was going to try Absinthe before I left. Everyone had a shot. It tasted like black licorice and burned on the way down. It was really nothing special. To me, it was just a shot of really high percentage liquor. There was no green fair either. Haha. After that we all went and walked around the Red Light District. It is completely different at night than during the day. At night with all the lights on the girls lingerie glow from the lights and plus, there are so many girls working. You walk down the street and there are these glass doors lining the street. One right next to the other on some streets and others spread out on other street. When no one is in the room, there is a red curtain that is down, but when there is a girl in the room the curtain is pulled back and you see a girl in really really skimpy lingerie behind the glass. Some girls just had underwear on and then these strap things that just covered their nipples. The girls would wink and tap the glass at the guys. If a guy was interested he would go up to the door and the girl would open it enough to tell him prices depending on what he wanted to do. Then if a guy accepted, he walked in the door and the curtain was pulled close. The Red Light District is something that I have never experienced before and is definitely one of a kind. I’m pretty sure my jaw was open the whole time while I was walking through it, as I was kind of taken back that this was actually real. It was something else. After walking around we headed back to the hostel and went to bed.

Day 127

My alarm went off at 4:30am and I got a call from Brian to make sure that I was up and getting ready. It was a rough morning as I was still a bit tipsy from the night before. We rang a taxi around 4:45 and headed over to the airport. I was exhausted! We checked in, went through security and then waited to board our flight. Once on the flight I immediately fell asleep and slept the whole flight. It was only a forty-five minute flight. We arrived at the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam around ten and got some maps to figure out where we were going. This is a huge airport. We had a bit to eat and then bought our train tickets to get to our hostel. It took us a while to figure out which platform we had to be on and which train we had to take as most things were in Dutch. We were on the right platform at first but didn’t see the train we needed to take so I asked someone. They said we needed to take the number three. Now Brian thought this meant platform three, so we headed up and over one platform. While we were standing there a train arrives at the platform we were just one and says it is going to the city center, which is where we needed to go. I tapped Brian and pointed over to the train. He gave me an “oh” and then we ran up, over and down to catch the train. We made it. The train ride was so nice and quite. It was a double decker train and it rode so smoothly. They were nothing like the trains and subways in New York with all the squeaks and noises. It was about a fifteen-minute train ride. When we got of we headed outside and looked at the map to figure out where we were going. We found our hostel and checked in. We were on the third floor, which was fine, but the stairs were so vertical and narrow it was a bit scary. When we got into our room all the beds were slept in and Brian and I were so confused. We asked someone if the sheets would be changed and they said yes. So we put down our things and walked around for a bit. We then went back to the train station to meet up with Melody, Richard, and Pierre to show them back to the hostel. Pierre and Melody took quick showers and then the five of us went on a free three hour walking tour at 1:15. It was nice and sunny out so the tour was enjoyable. Nothing like the one we went on in Paris, where I was freezing my butt of and could not concentrate on what the guide was saying at all. On the tour we found out why the stairs are so vertical. Due to the marshy land that the buildings are built on in Amsterdam they figured that leaning the buildings slightly forward would help form the buildings sinking. You could also see that most of the buildings were crooked and lopsided from this. OH, on the tour I totally knew someone. His name is Harry White and he used to hang out with my roommate freshman year at Purchase. I only knew him through her so I didn’t say hi or anything, but it was certainly him. I just found it so weird that out of all the places in the world and all the tours he was there and on that tour. Crazy. The tour ended around 4:15 and then we headed back to the hostel to have a quick nap. We all met downstairs at 6:30 and then headed out to do some more siteseeing. We went to a coffee shop and then to a couple of pubs. It was a bit of an early night as we were all still tired from traveling.