Saturday, November 24, 2007

Thanksgiving Trip

So, it was awesome!

On Saturday we woke up very early and I didn't sleep well since my throat was really sore. But so we went to Boston via Chicago, walked the Freedom Trail, visited Harvard campus area and walked through Newsbury Street which is "European shopping street". Our hostel was great. It was clean and we had total of six girls in our room. Also breakfast was included! We also could sleep well since the girls were quiet :) We also went to eat some sea food (Boston lobster) to a restaurant that was recommended for us. The food was good and we had some wine with it too. Though I now know that I'm not that big fan of sea food. It was ok but now that I've tasted it, I don't need to taste it again. Plus it was quite expensive :P

After Boston we headed to New York where our hostel was in Harlem. Though it was easy to get in there, metro was close. On the first night we went to see Broadway and it was overwhelming. Bright lights all over. We also went to see the city from heights (Empire State Building) at the night. It was beautiful. We came back to the hostel and we had this obnoxious woman in our room. She was in her 40ies and for some reason she had all her stuff all over and a dog at some of her friends place and it seemed that she just had gotten some new job and left there early making a lot of noises, swearing in the middle of the night to some girl who snored (snoring really bothers me but I woke to her shushing, not to the snoring). She was really annoying. We also had a mouse in there (it ate Paolas milkyway bar and chips) and ten girls in one room. It wasn't that nice place but it was cheap. The next morning we headed to see Wall Street (ate our breakfast at Dunkin Doughnuts where there was nice and friendly men who laughed at us) and the Statue of Liberty and all that stuff. Unfortunately it was raining and we got wet though it stopped raining after we got to Ellis Island. After that we went to see WTC (really not much to see) and what else? We went back to the hostel quite early to pack our stuff and go to shower... We slept a bit better the next night. In the morning we went to see Central Park (it was really beautiful!) but I got really cranky as I didn't get my morning coffee. So we went to get my coffee and ate lunch. After noon we headed to the airport to go to Washington.

Kaisas friend Ingrid picked us up and we drove to Charlottesville to her place. On our way we ate at IHOP (international house of pancakes, what was the international? Maybe the Swedish pancakes??). Next day we just rested (our feet were screaming some rest) though we went to see the university and helped a bit with the Thanksgiving dinner the girls made. We spent most of the day watching Gilmore Girls :) The dinner was at the next door apartment and it was really good. Kind of Christmas. We ate a lot! Finally after the dishes were done we got to bed. One day rest was really nice since my feet were really sore for some weird reason. I've walked great distances before and it's never been like this. And I had good shoes! But anyhow, on Friday morning we got Greyhound bus back to Washington DC.

calling there a weird looking man opened the door, he was talking in theAnd oh my god but the driver was annoying! He got lost!!! And we arrived over an hour late to Washington since he drove really s l o w l y on the town area. Annoying! We kept swearing to him in Finnish with Kaisa (I really will get in trouble after I get back in Finland as I really need to remember that people CAN understand what I'm saying :D). So we went to eat some lunch and headed to our hostels. Paola slept in different hostel as she booked her stuff later than we did so there was no space left. In the bus we seemed again to be the only white people... We found the hostel (it was someones house!) but the door was locked. We tried to open it but nothing happened. There was a sticker that said that we should call someone... Just when I was phone. For some reason he didn't have our reservation but we finally got a bed for us (it was king size so we shared it and it was cheaper than the original reservation!). He showed us the place and he was really nice and sweet (though still looked weird...). So we left our stuff there and headed back to downtown to see all the sightseeings. White House etc... We were already quite tired and mine and Kaisas feet were still not playing with us and they really hurt. So Paola saw a bit more than we did since we really couldn't walk anymore that much. We got something to eat and headed back to our hostels. The keeper was sitting on a sofa and said "Welcome Home" when we came in :) There we watched some tv and some South Korean guys tried to get us in the bar but we had to get up at 5 am the next morning so we said thanks but no thanks. Again we slept badly (it was really cold since someone left the window open!). So we got up and got a bus. The hostel keeper waited at the door watching us to depart safely. He was really sweet! Even though we were first a bit worried, he was really nice and the place was the comfiest place of all the places we stayed :) There was even a cat there and he was so cute! Made me miss our cats really much...

So we headed to Amtrak train and to airport and came back to Iowa City via Chicago. The week war really hectic though we got one day "off". But we saw a lot. And it was an awesome trip! So fun! And every evening we got hot chocolates from Starbucks so I don't know how I can now cope without it!!! Need to drink some tea...

Today after I came home I just unpacked my stuff, cooked some food and did laundry. I also talked with Tarmo (he had his birthday today!). And in a half an hour I'm going to Kaisas to see some movie.

It's so quiet in here! Everyone's somewhere else and it's nice. I plan to sleep late tomorrow. Though I need to read tomorrow... I have an exam on Wednesday... It's under month left! Cool! I really miss everyone. And I'm starting to be more than ready to leave back home.

Under one month... Time has gone by so fast. It's been awesome time though it hasn't been easy. But I'm happy I came here, I've learned a lot from myself and the world. But it's not time to talk this talk yet, that comes in a month :)

But I'll head downstairs to see the movie. Oh how nice it's to be back home again :)

I bet I forgot thousand things to mention but as the week was hectic I can't remember everything :D And if I wrote everything this would be a book... :P

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