I was up early on Wednesday to pack and make sure I was ready to leave. Dad and Wanda dropped me off at the Dordrecht train station. After spending every day for two weeks with them I felt very sad to say goodbye. (The next day they were flying to Poland to spend 5 weeks there, visiting Luiza and Bartek and doing some travelling around the country.) I am very thankful to my Dad for taking me around Holland and being able to learn more about my heritage through and with him. And to Wanda for being a lot of fun - shopping, laughing, sight-seeing, playing cards, etc! They were waving bye as the train pulled away and I was on my own again. It’s only about an hour train-ride to Schiphol Airport. I arrived with ... read more

The title quote is from "The Dutch, I Presume?" a great book about Holland and the quirky things Dutch people do. A gift from Judith - thanks so much!! Well, I’m down to my last week here in Holland. The trip went by so quickly! On Thursday we took the day off from shopping and exploration to relax and play some cards. It rained most of the day so good timing. In the afternoon we went to Tante Aartje’s for a bakkee. Friday was another shopping day with Judith and Wanda. We have so much fun together! This time we took the ferry from Alblasserdam to Rotterdam - now that’s the way to travel! No worries about traffic - just sit back and watch the other boats (busy river!) and the pretty awesome Rotterdam skyline. We ... read more

Fact: All Hollanders are from the Netherlands, but not all people in the Netherlands are from Holland. Holland is just 2 provinces of the Netherlands. It might be a little confusing since many people refer to the Netherlands as Holland. I've been in the Netherlands since last Wednesday. It's now Sunday afternoon and I'm at my Tante Rite's house taking advantage of her internet since we don't have internet at my Oma's house. So much has happened this week already! All of my family on my dad's side lives here and it's great to be here again. 7 years is way too long to go without seeing my Dutch family but it honestly doesn't feel like 7 years in many ways since it's just like being at a second home. I flew to Amsterdam with a ... read more

Wow. The best way I can explain my Saturday and adventure to Poland is to do a timeline, so here goes: 9:58 am - had just finished a leisurely last walk around outside and breakfast, back at my hostel and leisurely checking email before checking out of my hostel and leisurely making my way to the airport for my 1:30 pm flight. 9:59 am - thinking hmm, maybe I should just check the airport website to make sure my flight isn't delayed. 10:00 am - discovering my flight time has been changed from 1:30 pm to 11:05 am!!!! Panic sets in. 10:01 am - running up the 4 flights of stairs to my room, grabbing my luggage, running back down with all luggage in tow (already packed - phew!), throwing the key on the hostel desk ... read more

I guess I didn´t really explain why I came to Barcelona of all places. Most of you probably know, but just in case some don´t, here it is. In the fall of 2002 I came here with my classmates (about 25 of us) from the University of Calgary to study planning and architecture for a semester. We all lived here for 4 months and I had an apartment with 3 girlfriends. We got to know the city quite well - after 4 months it felt quite like home. It was an amazing time and an experience I´ll always cherish. So I wanted to come back and see the city again. THURSDAY Today was another great day! In the morning I walked around the gothic quarter a little more and up La Rambla again. I heard that ... read more