Quite a bit has happened and changed since then.
My Christmas vacation was amazing.
I left Cadiz on the 17th of December and flew to London to meet my sister. It was so good to see her and have a little feeling of home. We explored london together for a day and saw pretty much all the sites, including going to the Tate Art Gallery. During the time I spent with her, pretty much all we did was go around eating food various places. We ended up at Hyde Park for the Christmas Decorations and market there. :) Later that night, we took a bus to Edinburgh, Scotland. I barely slept at all on the bus, and we arrived the next morning at around 7:30 am. After dropping our stuff off at the hostel, we went on a walking tour of the city. Our tour guide was a Canadian girl, who studied abroad in Scotland and decided to stay there. After the tour, Nelly and I went to a German Market. We walked around drinking hot chocolate and eating crepes. It was decided that we needed to try Haggis, which is basically sheep intestine. We walked up to a bar/restaurant and ordered a serving of haggis. It didnt taste all that bad and we actually enjoyed the small dish. We looked in a couple travel books for local pubs that would have live music and decided to try and find one. The first place we went to had instrustments, but the musicians were nowhere to be found. After waiting an hour or so we decided to move on. The next little pub was packed. There were two guys playing music. One had a natural snarl to his face with a thick scottish accent. If anybody started talking he would snap and get all red in the face with anger for them talking and not listening to the music. We decided it was getting pretty late and the next morning we had to catch a bus back to London so we walked back to the hostel.
By the time Nelly and I got to London we had only a few hours before I had to leave for the Airport. We hung out at the hostel for awhile and ate Chinese take out and watched tv. I took the tube over to Victoria Station where I had to wait from 1am-4am in the freezing cold for the shuttle bus to the airport, which is an hour away. (Stansted) My flight dropped me in Cork, Ireland at around 7:30. My dad's friend's wife from Santa Cruz grew up in Ireland and has family there that were kind enough to take me in for a week or so. Anyways, Jeanienne was there at the Airport to pick me up. We went back to her flat, where her brothers had spent the night and were waiting. After they made a typical irish breakfast for me, which was bacon, pudding (kinda like haggis), and eggs, we went out to walk around Cork. That night, we went over to her brother's house to have a pre-Christmas dinner. It was a very good meal and had all the usual favorites. It was very cold that night, and the road to Cahir where the parents live was too icy, so we decided to just stay the night at William's house and the next morning go to Cahir.
Ok, im getting kind of tired of writing so much, so I will skip ahead a little.
After a week in Cahir, I went with one of the son's to Kerry for a new year's celebration/college kayakers club get together.
However, I had to leave the afternoon of the 30th to go back to Cahir so I could catch my train to Dublin the next morning at 7. New Year's eve was fairly uneventful, I went to a family dinner party and we stayed up and watched as fireworks went off across europe on the TV.
The next morning Mr. Mccarthy (Bill) took me to the train station and I took the 2 hour train ride to Dublin. However, the airport was closed as was all public transportation due to heavy ice and snow. So, I walked around Dublin for awhile and finally returned to the train station to find out the Airport had reopened and I found other people stranded with no way to get to the airport from the train station. So we all piled into a 8 person cab and made it to the airport in time for my flight to Aberdeen.
Upon arrival in Aberdeen, I was greeted and picked up by my old Bible teacher from Monte Vista. Mr Nigh. Fortunately, he didnt have his nerf gun with him this time.. :P
He brought me back to his house, and I had a delicious dinner with him and his wife.
The next morning, Adam walked around Aberdeen a bit. He showed me his school and all the old buildings.
That evening, I played Wii Sports with his son Calvin. Video Games these days are pretty fun. I played tennis, golf, and boxing. They were all pretty amusing. :)
I also went to church while I was in Aberdeen. It was interesting to be back in a Church again. Being in Spain, I don't really go to church at all. And during the summer, I'm usually out fishing.
It was just interesting..
On the final day in Aberdeen, I found this little coffee shop called books and beans. It was probably my favoritest coffee shop I have ever been too.
I spent most of the afternoon drinking chai and reading various books. It was a wonderful afternoon. After that coffee shop closed, I went to another one down the street. It didnt have any books, but it still was a place to drink some tea and read some of a book I bought about rock climbing in oregon.
The next morning, I had an early 6 am train to Glasgow. I love trains. They are pretty relaxing. Anyways, not much happened in Glasgow. Then took a train to Prestwick, walked around there took pictures. Slept, woke up at 4:30 am to walk in -10 weather to the airport for my flight to Malaga. I had 3 flannels on, a sweatshirt, and a jacket on. Then I had my flannel pj's, my sweat pants, and jeans on as well. I was almost warm.. :)
On arrival in Malaga, I was greeted by RAIN! But it was about 20 degrees warmer than Scotland.. So I was happy.
I was picked up at the airport by Michael Saunders, who is in charge of a company called SwitchBacksDH. A bike shuttling service in the Malaga area.
There were 2 other people he had picked up earlier who were from the States as well, but were living in Germany due to being in the army.
The next morning, after eating breakfast at a little cafe. Michael came and picked us up. The group was now, Lucky- the shuttle bus driver Michael- Owner Henrik- Pro Danish DH're/Guide Tim/Jess- Couple in the Army Johann- Austrian doctor and ME!
This post is getting long so I wont go into all the details of the week in Malaga. It was amazing, and the riding was amazing. It was great to be back on a bike.
After Malaga, I took a plane to Madrid. In Madrid, there were most of the kids who I had met in the first few days in Barcelona. InterHispania, had a trip that was tours of various Madrid sights that I had signed up for. It was really cool to see everybody again. It was also cool that there was about 40 girls and only 10 or so guys.. The tours were not too exciting, but it was nice getting to see various old relics.
In the evenings, we had free time to do as we pleased. During this time, I was able to explore Madrid with my friends.
The 3 days in Madrid went by quickly, and I was soon on a bus back to Cadiz. The bus ride was 8 hours long, and it felt even longer.
Finally, I was back in Cadiz after my month long break from the place.
I cant say it was too great to be back, I really enjoyed getting to travel around, but money was getting low and I had school to get back to.
That night, I went out with my fellow exchange students and somehow ended up swimming at 2 am in the ocean. i guess it was kinda nice being back with my friends..
For photos of my trip check out my flickr..
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