1. My family was with me, and since they are the primary readers of this blog, I feel entitled to slack a little bit since they could experience Europe themselves.
2. I got home two weeks ago, so the days are a bit of a blur now.
3. It’s the end of the semester. Like my homework, anything that requires concentration for more than 15 minutes just seems way too difficult of a task and I’m getting lazy. Plus, I think being abroad is an automatic diagnosis for ADD.
Anyways, back to travel break. I got back into Copenhagen around 9:00 pm on Saturday night and basically ran towards the Palace Hotel, dragging my suitcase with me through the city because I was so excited to see my family! My parents barely recognized me when I walked through the door, because I’ve changed so much since being abroad. Ha. Just kidding, I look exactly the same (except I’m in dire need of a haircut –which my mom felt the need to remind me of every day). My parents, sister, aunt and uncle all came to visit and it was so nice to just relax and have dinner with my family, something that I’ve missed a lot!
On Easter Sunday, my
family was invited to Smorum to have lunch with my host family. To be honest, I
was a little nervous about this. All I could think about was how awkward it was
going to be if for some reason either family ended up not liking the other and
we just sat in silence! It was also a strange feeling to be the common ground
between two sets of total strangers from different parts of the world! I knew
my worrying was for no reason though. We had a great lunch and I think everyone
really enjoyed themselves. Plus, it gave my real parents a little ease of mind
knowing that I was staying with a good family. It was really fun listening to my family ask
my host family all different questions about Danish culture and society and
comparing it to the United States. I felt so cultured knowing about both sides,
for once! The food was delicious as well and I could have eaten the entire
dessert bowl (I will definitely need to get the recipe before I leave) myself
if such a thing as manners didn’t exist.
I also think my parents were impressed (and surprised) at the ease at
which I use the public transportation system every day. It was a total role
reversal, being the one telling my parents what to do for once!
On Tuesday, we headed
to Amsterdam! Amsterdam is gorgeous, which I was not expecting at all because
of its reputation (yes, we took a family stroll through the red-light district
after dinner). There are so many canals running through the whole city and the buildings
have a very distinct design to them. A lot of them are slanted in all different
directions too and some even look like they could fall over any minute! It is
also a haven for bicyclists. I thought Copenhagen was pretty big into the bike
craze, but Amsterdam is insane! Everyone bikes. There are barely any cars on
the streets and there are huge parking garages completely dedicated to housing
bikes. It’s awesome…and also really scary if you don’t watch out! There were a
few close calls, but all present members of the Esposito-Franeta clan survived
Amsterdam without any collisions.
We did a lot of walking
in Amsterdam and just took in all of the awesome sites, but my favorite was
definitely the Anne Frank house. You wouldn’t believe how long the line is for
it, every day of the week. It’s pretty mind boggling if you think about it. I
doubt Anne Frank ever thought there would be hundreds of people waiting to just
walk through the apartment she lived in just from reading her diary. Anyways,
it was pretty sad but so interesting, especially after learning so much about
it in my class.
A quick fun fact about
Amsterdam: they are known for their cheeses, apparently. There are cheese shops
all over (with so many free samples….it’s a study abroad students heaven) with
all these interesting flavors and varieties of cheeses. My mom bought a pesto
cheese that I hope is still unopened when I get home (hint, hint). They are
also known for Stroop Waffles, which are basically just wafers coated in maple
syrup and sugar that would put Aunt Jemima to shame. We also wandered across a
few outdoor flea markets in the city, which are my favorite and a lot of fun to
browse through, even though most of the stuff there is pretty much just going
to build up dust in your closet. We also took a tour through the Gassan Diamond
company headquarters in the city (apparently Amsterdam is also known for Gassan
diamonds). Some of these diamonds were incredible, and it was really
interesting to hear how they are made and learn about all of the different cuts
and styles.
We also took a trip to
the flower fields in Keukenhoff, Holland which is just a short drive outside of
Amsterdam. We rented bikes for a few hours to take us on a route through the
fields and along the coast. I realized where I get my horrific map reading
skills (which have drastically improved though) from because no one in my
family could interpret the map they gave us and after taking multiple wrong
turns, we decided to just create our own route. We still saw the majority of
the flowers though, which were so pretty! They had tulips in so many different
colors and they had just bloomed, so they looked gorgeous…and smelled really
good too. It was so fun riding our bikes around too. I know my Dad was totally
embarrassed to be seen on that contraption (they looked like the bikes the
Wicked Witch rides in the Wizard of Oz) riding at our slow pace every time we
got passed by the intense road bikers that my Dad usually is one of. There was
also this random old couple that was riding around that kept yelling at us in
Dutch (they speak Dutch in the Netherlands!) that also provided some
entertainment. After the bike ride, we walked through the gardens which were
also beautiful. We probably took enough family pictures there to provide us
with a lifetime’s supply of Christmas cards. 
On Friday, we headed to Brugge, Belgium for the day. We left really early in the morning, but due to a train accident on the track we needed to take, we had to make three transfers and it ended up taking four hours to get to Brugge. Lucky for us, we didn’t realize that we were sitting in the first class car (they are only labeled with little numbers outside of the car: 1 or 2…very easy to miss!) and when the train worker came around to check tickets, he let us stay. Somehow, we managed to sit first class on the way home too. My Dad asked one of the train workers a question about which stop to get off of and they suggested we just sit in the first class cabin since all of the second class seats were full and it was dangerous to stand. It’s all about connections, clearly.
Anyways, Brugge is a quaint little town in Belgium. It is probably one of the prettiest towns I have ever been to. The architecture is amazing and it was a really nice place to just walk through. There isn’t really a whole lot to see or do though –we hit all of the “tourist spots” in about a half an hour. However, the trip was made worthwhile in the lone fact that Brugge is located in Belgium, and who hasn’t heard of Belgian chocolate (I really think my Mom planned this trip just for the chocolate…she was on a mission!)? There are “chocolatiers” all over the place –I counted at least nine on one street! This was honestly the best chocolate I have ever tasted in my whole life, and like the cheese shops in Amsterdam, all of the chocolate shops gave out free samples. I literally ate myself sick in chocolate, but it was totally worth it –being in Europe, I have become totally addicted to it. Sadly, (or maybe to some it might be impressive) my sugar binge did not end there. I figured I would never be in Belgium again, or at least not for a very long time, so I felt required to indulge in a Belgian waffle. It was a little crispier than expected, but delicious none the less…and even cured my stomach-ache, for the time being. Since Brugge is a pretty small place, and we (okay, I) had eaten to our heart’s delight, we headed back a little early and broke the cardinal Esposito family trip rule: you must stay in a place for longer than it takes to travel there and back combined.
On our last day in Amsterdam, we took a boat tour of the city, which was so nice…although a little rough for me because my stomach was still experiencing the post-Brugge effects. Afterwards, we spent the day walking around the city, window shopping and enjoying (finally) the nice weather. For our last dinner, we asked the hotel concierge for a place he recommended. I was really excited to hear that it was Italian, and my whole family had pretty high expectations –every other place they had recommended was awesome! This place though, ended up being one of the most bizarre dining experiences. First, they didn’t give us a menu until about 20 minutes after we sat down, so we weren’t sure if we were even going to get to order anything or just be served! Then, when the waitress finally came over to tell us about the menu and the specials, she only talked to my dad. She was literally kneeling down next to him, with her face about 6 inches away from his and didn’t look at anyone else at the table. It was so odd and I had to actively try to stop myself from laughing in the middle of it. Talk about an invasion of personal space! Our food came out about 2 hours later (they like to take their time in Europe, I realized). My dad and aunt both ordered lobster risotto, which we determined from looking at the table next to us, looked pretty darn good! When it came out though, there was a pile of risotto on the plate that was about the circumference of a tennis ball –I don’t even think it would fill a baby up. The waitress told us that there was a “problem in the kitchen,” but I think they just ran out of risotto, forgot to tell us and decided to split the dish into two! Then my pasta came out. It was close to 11:00 pm now, so my stomach was grumbling and ready to eat. My dish? Six tortellini. I think even the lady at Servo gives me a bigger scoop of pasta than that! Don’t get me wrong, this was excellent tortellini, but six was just not going to cut it! By this point though we were all just laughing and completely confused by the peculiarity of this restaurant and ready to get back to the hotel. So although our, “concluding dinner” did not go as expected, it was a pretty funny night and seemed to be fitting for the end to my travel break. Also, I realize that I spent probably 75% of this entry talking about food (what else is new?), but as my aunt even said herself, it is such a huge part of the European experience!
It’s almost May, which means that I have only three weeks left in my semester abroad. I can’t believe how quickly that came! I’ll try to update this in a few days so I don’t get too far behind before I leave for my final trip next weekend. I’m super excited, but I’m not going to tell you where I’m going because that will spoil the surprise and then you might not read! I will say though, that if I spent 75% of this blog talking about food, I’ll probably have to dedicate 99% for that entry…or so I’ve heard. Stay tuned! See everyone somewhat soon!
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