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Published: January 21st 2014
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Hello everybody, this is my second and last blog from the USA.
In Orlando I took Southwest Airlines to Baltimore and then continued to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Here I spent a couple of days with my mate Jochem and his family. As the plane approached, the landscape was covered by snow. The airport was too full of snow. Jochem and his whole family weren't home yet, they were abroad and coming that same night so a friend of Jochem picked me up. I spent some time with his friend and later he dropped me off at Jochem's house. Jochem left me a key somewhere so I went inside, used the internet, ate and slept until they arrived.
Grand Rapids has about 200.000 people and the whole area around the city has a big population consisting of Dutch people or people with Dutch ancestors. There is even a Dutch shop we've been to and I spotted a typical Dutch windmill too. The city itself is not a city you'd easily visit as a tourist and if I didn't knew Jochem, I probably would have never gone there. I was lucky enough to have a white Christmas which was great! Temperatures dropped
to -15°C and there was a lot of snow. I was very impressed by the icicles hanging down on the roof of the houses. For Christmas I got gloves and a headband of the Michigan Wolverines (American football) which were really cool! I loved the day we all went to sled on the snow, it was fun and we laughed a lot. For me it was the first time! Jochem has one little brother and three younger sisters, plus his girlfriend Jamie was around. So it was a "full house" and it was fun. We played games in the evening and laughed a lot. We also went skating one afternoon which was great. I didn't fall at all. The fact that I used to roller-blade when I was younger definitely helped me a lot! We also went one day to the shores of the Michigan Lake in a town called "Holland". We walked along the harbour with a lighthouse on the other side of the channel. It was very, very cold here and we didn't stay for too long. One afternoon Jochem took me also through downtown a little bit and show me where he used to work and we
also spoke a lot. I had a great time with Jochem and his family. They're the nicest persons you could meet; very friendly, warm and polite.
I took a Greyhound bus from Grand Rapids to Chicago, although I wasn't feeling very well that day. It all started one day before in Grand Rapids when I started to feel a little bit dizzy. These were all side-effects from a Lariam-pill I took a few days before, a pill for malaria. The bus-drive took about three hours. Chicago is also known as "the windy city" and is the third largest city in the USA behind New York and Los Angeles with about 10 million people in its metropolitan area. Chicago was a great city to visit and I wish I had just one more day there. The weather was nice the day I arrived to Chicago and although I wasn't feeling very well, I didn't stay inside. I checked-in at my hostel and then I took the subway to downtown. Here I walked around a little bit and went to Millenium Park, where the famous "Cloud Gate" (The Bean) is located. After wandering around a little bit in
the area I continued to the John Hancock Tower where they have an observatory but it was too crowded and the queue was ridiculously long! I started to feel a bit worse too so I decided to go back to my hostel where I went to bed quite early. Jochem and Jamie were coming to Chicago the next day too and they stayed at Jamie's family. I didn't meet them that day though. I woke up feeling a bit better and ready to see more of Chicago. The idea was to visit Wrigley Field, Chicago Cubs' stadium, but US$25 I found a bit too much. So instead I decided to visit the area of Museum Campus, where the Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium and the Field Museum are located. A football game was starting about 3 hours later at the Chicago Bears stadium and there were many fans all over the parking lot with their cars, buses and even campers. They were having barbecue, drinking, chatting and laughing. After this area I went to the Chinatown which wasn't too big really. I had lunch there and then went back into the direction of the hostel as the weather was deteriorating a
little bit and again I wasn't feeling too good. The next day I woke up feeling much better and I met Jochem and Jamie at the Willis Tower (former Sears Tower). Here we went up the Skydeck observatory (103rd floor) for some time. It used to be the tallest building on earth since its completion in 1973. Today it's not the tallest building in the world anymore but it remains the tallest in the USA. The weather was nice, so were the views. It was great to stand on The Ledge, a small part where you can stand on thick glass sticking out of the building for about 1,2m. It was a great experience to stand on that glass and look straight down! After this I said goodbye to Jochem and Jamie. I went back to the hostel to pick-up my luggage and continued towards O'Hare International Airport where I boarded American Airlines to London and then British Airways to Amsterdam, arriving in the Netherlands on Dec. 31
st. There I spent New Years Eve and during the first two weeks of January I saw many different family-members, friends, acquaintances and old students in the Netherlands which was great! 😊
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Naida
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Tonchi, danki pa mi karchi i felisitashon. Ta un plaser pa nos kada biaha ora bo share bo picnan ku nos ta manera komo sifuera nos tambe ta biahando ku bo ront munda, nos mi famia i ami ta enjoy kada pais ku bo. E sneu ta hopi bunita pero Tonchi ta hopi fffffffrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiuuuuuu friu no ? Hopi great ! Sigui disfruta pero korda kuida bo kurpa i tapa bon vooral bo pechu i pulmonnan. Bon Tonchi nos ta bolbe topa otro na e proksimo estado ku lo bo bai ! Groetjes Naida, famia Felicia i instituto FFAPM. DIOS BENDISHONA BO.