{Day 8 - Atlanta}

Hi!
So, today was way better than yesterday. First of all I slept like 12 hours :) Then I had a late breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts, my new favourite place. By the I was done it was already afternoon and we made our way to the World of Coca Cola building. There, we bought a combi ticket to go inside the Coca Cola building and the CNN studio's.
Although I don't like Coca Cola, I loved the whole thing. First there was an introduction, then we saw the long version of a commercial from 2007. Then I took a picture with the Coca Cola bear :D and there was an exihibition on the history of the Coca Cola company. After that there was a machine that showed how Coke is bottled, and a video of many famous Coco Cola commercials. After that I saw a 4D movie, with moving chairs and wind, which was fun. And then came the best part: tasting all the drinks the Coca Cola company ever produced, including Nestea, Fanta, Sprite etc. At the end I got my own mini bottle of Coke.
At the end of the afternoon we went to the CNN headquarters. With our combi ticket we went on the inside CNN tour. We literally saw someone presenting live, while it was broadcasted on tv, which was really cool. Also, we learned some tricks they use and we took our own picture in a CNN stdio. We also got to see the HLN studio, a sisterchannel of CNN, from which they were also broadcasting live.
If you are ever in Atlanta, definitely check these two out, it's lots of fun. As for the rest of the night, I didn't do anything really. I have found a new addictive tv series called Pretty little liars, so I watched some of that.
As for today, we're planning on going to the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site and then at 8.00 p.m. we are taking the bus back to New York...
Loves!

{Day 7 - Atlanta}

Hi!
Okay, so today was not my day. First at 2.45 a.m. we took the Amtrak from Charlotte to Atlanta. Well, I had hoped to travel comfortably and sleep the whole way, but since the air conditioning was on all night, it was freezing cold in the train. The chairs however, were comfortable, but because of the cold, I kept waking up.
At 8.00 a.m. we arrived in Atlanta. We wanted to take the backpacks to the hotel and then just chill, but first we had to wait for 30 minutes for the checked luggage to be available. Then, we decided to take a cab to the hotel, since we had no idea where to go, and without a map, walking around Atlanta wouldn't have been such a good idea.
On our way to the hotel, we ran into a marathon, so it took the driver about 20 minutes to figure out a new way to the hotel. Instead of 10 dollars the ride ended up costing us 22 dollars. So we got at the hotel at around 9.00 a.m. and off course were too early to check in, so we left the bags there and went looking for the next Starbucks for coffee and breakfast.
We found one, but, shockingly, it was closed. Since when does Starbucks close??? Well, after that we decided to go to Dunkin Donuts, where I had a bagel with scrabled eggs and cheese, or something that is supposed to be the same thing, I'm starting to miss Rita hall food :)
At noon we went back to the hotel, passing the Philips Arena on our way, were loads of people were waiting and buying tickets, probably for an NCAA game. We checked in, and once in our room took a shower and slept all through the afternoon. At 5.30 p.m. I woke up, got ready and we had dinner, then we made our way to the Phillips Arena for an Atlanta Hawks basketball game that we had tickets for.
We then arrived there, I looked at the ticket and saw the time was 2.00 p.m. and not 7.00 p.m., yes, we had missed the game...
We went back to the hotel, chilled some more and went to sleep. As I said, not my day, hoping the next two will be better :)
Loves!

{Day 6 - Charlotte}

Hi!

So, today was totally exhausting. We arrived with the bus at the Charlotte Transportation Center at 7.00 a.m., and where so tired. But then again, we were only in Charlotte for a day, so we had to get going and decide what we’d do. First of all, we had to store the backpacks somewhere, so we decided to take the bus to the Amtrak Station, which is located outside the city center. It didn’t cost us a thing this time, since we were taking the train at night.

We then took the bus back, and got on a kind of slow train towards the other end of the city to the Midnight Diner. Just like the South Street Diner in Boston, this diner had the typical “Diner-look” that you see in the movies. Also their menu was similar, with eggs, pancakes, French toast etc. I ordered the French toast, and it was amazing. If you want to know more about the menu or the diner, here’s their website:

After breakfast we had a lot more energy, and went to the Charlotte Visitors Information Center, to see what we could do there. We got a lot of info on museums and attractions from very eager-to-help staff. Also, today there were not only museums and attractions, there would be the St. Patrick’s Day parade, which is a huge celebration in all of the US(just an extra reason to drink and party, if you ask me). So we went to the Levine Museum of the New South, which exhibits the history of Charlotte and the South after the Civil War.

When we got out of the museum, we ran into the parade. Everyone was wearing green, and there were dancers, cheerleaders, veterans, race carts, in green decorated cars etc. We watched it for a while, then walked down to a market where people were selling food, jewelry, beer and other stuff. We then found a park where tanned for the rest of the afternoon.

At night I was so tired I fell asleep at like 7.00 p.m. in the waiting area of the Charlotte Amtrak Station. I woke up around 2.00 a.m., and we waited until 2.30 a.m. until out train to Atlanta was there and we could board it. The train chairs are so great in comparison to the busses, they are big and with a lot of space for legs and feet and they have 120V outlets. Only the Wi-Fi was missing. We are scheduled to arrive in Atlanta at 8.13 a.m., and I’ll let you know how that goes.

Loves!

{Day 5 – Washington D.C.}

Hi!
Sorry for the late update, the trip has been quite exhausting, so I didn’t find the energy to write. But now I do, so here goes.
So, my second day in Washington D.C., we first checked out of the hotel and walked to Union Station, where we wanted to store the backpacks. We did the same thing in Philadelphia and it cost us $ 3,-, but when we got to the counter, they told us it was $ 20,- per backpack for 5 hours or more. Well we didn’t have a choice really, so we left the backpacks and $ 40,- there.
After this I got on the Old Town Trolley again. I actually filmed some of it, so I want to upload that footage soon :) I got off in the city center, and made my way to Starbucks for breakfast, since the breakfast in the hotel sucked. In Starbucks, I read my email and found out that I got accepted into the American University of Paris!
After Starbucks I decided to go the Museum of Natural History, since I hadn’t been to a museum in D.C. yet, and my sister told me I should go there. Well, she is right, it is amazing, and since it’s a Smithsonian museum, it is also free! There is like huge whales and dinosaurs, they’re even kind of creepy. So, if you’re ever in D.C., definitely go check it out.
After that I went to the White house visitors center, which is not located next to the white house, but a few blocks down. I had seen the White house yesterday, but didn’t have the opportunity to go to the visitors center yet. Inside the visitors center you can get a virtual tour of the White House, which is great if you can’t go in person, and there is much more information about the presidents and their families. Also, I bought a poster of the 1799 painting of George Washington, for only $ 1,-.
With a few hours left in D.C. I decided to check out the place where my sister had lived last year, 400 Massachusetts Avenue. It is absolutely amazing, it is so close to everything :D Off course I couldn’t go in, so that was a short trip, and I went for dinner in Chinatown. While I was there I ran into a cinema, and since I still had some time to kill, I decided to go watch Red Riding Hood. The movie was so-so, but at least I wasn’t bored.
Now it was time to go back to Union Station, where I again checked my email and found out that I didn’t get into the University of Chicago :( We picked up our backpacks, and took the 11.00 p.m. bus to Charlotte, N.C., where we arrived at 7.00 a.m. the next day.
Loves!
Btw. I love Union Station, it is so pretty, although nothing can beat Grand central if you ask me.

{Day 4 - Washington D.C.}

Hi!

Again, sorry for the late update, but these sight seeing days are exhausting. So, after a long night of sleep, which I totally needed, I got on the Old Town Trolley, and went driving through Washington D.C. It cost me $35,-, but they had a promotion that I could use it for two consecutive days.

I walked to Union station, which is a totally amazing looking marble station building, where I got on the trolley. Nice thing about this trolley is that you don't have to walk every where, and my feet are grateful. So, I saw the Capitol, the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial. In the trolley, we drove by almost all of the museum on the National Mall.

This city has just so much to do! I can't choose whether I want to go to this museum or that one, or if i want a picture of me on the steps of the capitol or in front of the white house... So, I chose to take the trolley to Georgetown and visit Georgetown University. I went on a student guided tour there, and I now really want to go there, but I haven't heard back from them yet.

Well, after that I did some shopping and surfing, and took some pictures of the White House. Since it was St. Patricks Day the fountains where green :D Then I went back to the hotel for an early night, since the day had totally tired me out...

Loves from D.C.!

P.S. I got an email this morning, I got accepted into the American University of Paris:D Not sure if I am going, I'll wait for my other Uni's to reply and then decide. But I'll keep you updated on that one.

{Day 3 - Philadelphia}

Hi!

Sorry for the late update, my Philadelphia day was exhausting, so I didn't have the energy to update last night... We arrived in Philadelphia at 6.00 a.m. after just a few hours of sleep in the bus. First we dropped of the back packs at the Amtrak baggage depot. The Philly trainstation is huge and B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L. :D

Then, after taking the metro and walking through Philadelphia a little, I found Café Estelle, the café that I had planned to have breakfast at. But it wasn't as nice as I had first thought, so I decided to keep going. After some searching, I finally found a little place called Delicatessen, located on 703 Chestnut Street, between 7th and 8th street. The picture up on the right is the interior of this place. If you want to know more, check out their website: http://www.delicatessenphilly.com

So, after that I went on the constitutional walk. I started at the Independence Visitors Center, the went on to Independence Hall, Congress Hall and Old City Hall. After that I went to Liberty Bell, passed by Library Hall and went to Carpenters Hall. The last stop on my walk was Franklin Court. There are as much as 19 sights to see along the constitutional walk, but since I was so tired, I decided to leave it at that, I had seen the most important stuff :)

Then, I had well, eh, kinda lunch at Starbucks, with two of their newest treats, called petites. I had a Red Velvet Whoopie Pie and a Tiramisu Cake Pop. And they are amazing, my new addiction. Then, I decided I wanted to relax a it more, so i walked into a hairdressers called Charlie's, and since they had an opening, I got my hair cut. Nothing extreme, just the ends and my bangs.



After that it was already time to leave for the bus to Washington D.C. from where I am writing you right now. We arrived at aroung 9 p.m., went to the hotel and almost immediately fell asleep.

Well, that was my Philly adventure. I loved Philadelphia, have to definitely go back sometime soon.

Loves!

{Day 2 - Boston}

Hi!

So, as day two is almost over, I am writing to you from the South Street Diner in Boston, MA. It is a really American movie like looking diner, with great and cheap food 24/7. If you are ever in Boston, definitely check it out!! For more info on the menu or the diner, go to their website: http://southstreetdiner.com/

Today we started the day of in Starbucks, after the coffee at the hostel turned out to be worst than the coffee in Rita, which is hard, but apparently not impossible... So, after having a tall Pike Place Roast and some high speed Internet(perfect start of the morning), we took the subway to MIT, located in Cambridge, just across the river from Boston.

We went on the 11 a.m. campus tour, and our very enthusiastic tourguide told us all about the academics, facilities and student life at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT, duh). We then had lunch at the student center of MIT, and then walked to Harvard University. At Harvard there were no tours, since it is spring break, so we just walked around, took some pictures and then we went back to the city center. There I bought some postcards and an official Harvard T-shirt :D

At 7.10 p.m. we went to the movie Adjustment Bureau, for $8,- instead of $12,-, a promotion from the hostel. The movie was so-so, it was a typical love story with a happy end and some details about some guy making decisions for everyone. After that we went beck to the hostel, where we had stored our back packs for the day, and we walked to South street diner. I had a Sirloin steak with french fries and a hot chocolate with whipped cream, and David had the breakfast special with ham, eggs and pancakes and, off course, orange juice.

That's it for now, we are catching our bus to Philly at 12.15 a.m., where we are scheduled to arrive at 5.40 a.m. with a busy, but really cool day ahead.

Loves!

{Day 1 - Boston}

Hi!

Sorry for the late update, but the Wi-Fi at the hostel was too slow to upload anything, but now I am chillin' at Starbucks and the internet is great.

At 7.25 a.m. we took the train from Tarrytown to Grand Central, after which we walked to 9th avenue and 33 St., to take the bus to Boston. The bus was scheduled to leave at 9.10 a.m., and with like 10 minutes delay, we left New York City. We were traveling with Megabus, which provides Wi-Fi on the bus, so it wasn’t boring :)
At 1.30 p.m. we arrived in Boston in the South Station. We then walked to 40 Berkeley, our hostel for the night. We left our backpacks there and went walking to the city center. We followed the 2.5 mile long Freedom trail, a red brick line going through Boston past all the important sights in and around the Civil War. I took many, many pictures, so I just made a small selection. We also went to the Bunker Hill Monument, a huge tower where a one of the most famous battle in the Civil War was fought. I made a little video of this part, check it out!

After that we went to north Station, where the official Boston Bruins shop is, but we where there 1 minute too late, the shop had already closed. So we decided to take the “metro” down to the Boston Public library and the Prudential shopping center. Well, the Bostonian metro is like the slowest I have ever been in, but we arrived. The Boston Public Library is a beautiful building on Copley Square, with many elegant details :) Then, we went on to the shops, we bought some food, since we were starving and I bought a few postcards at the Papyrus store.
Then, since we hadn’t slept much last night, and had walked a lot today, we decided to call it a night and headed back to the hostel.
Today are going to MIT and Harvard, and late at night we’ll be boarding the bus to Philadelphia :D
Loves!

{It is heavy}

Hi!

So after saying goodbye to my friend Jenny yesterday(I miss you already), today I focused on my trip. I have planned out the first few days, packed my stuff and tried on my packed back pack. And it is heavy :s But I might survive, and it isn't totally full.

So I am leaving tomorrow on the 7.25 a.m. train from Tarrytown to Grand Central. From there we walk to the bus stop on 9th Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets, where we take the bus to Boston. We the arrive in Boston at 1.25 p.m., check into the hostel called 40 Berkeley, and want to walk the freedom trail. It leads along all the historical sights of Boston :)

And then for dinner I found this diner that is like over 60 years old, called South Street Diner, so we might go there for dinner. Tomorrow I'll post some pics and let you know how our first day was!

Loves!

{Back pack - Jansport Big Bear 78}

Hi!

Just a quick picture of me & my big, huge back pack. I could have bought a smaller one, although choice was limited, but I was afraid my stuff wouldn't fit in. So now I got a back pack with space of around and about 75 liters :) Well, at least my make-up collection will fit in ;)

Down below is a link for a review, it is supposed to be really good for such a low price(I pay $100 incl. tax :), but I'll let you know while traveling how it is working out.

xx

http://www.backcountry.com/store/review/200047875/Jansport-Big-Bear-78.html

{Term 2 = over}

Hi!

So, as of today 12:50 p.m. EST term two, for me, is over. I have spend nine weeks, 16 hours per week in a classroom and double those hours eating, partying and just chilling with friends.

The core classes this term, were kind of fun, though my electives were more fun. I'll just quickly list the classes I took this term(5 core classes, 3 electives), the amount of hours per week, and my thoughts about the classes.
- Academic writing & grammar(3 hours/week)
This subject was more writing than grammar(thank God), and it was actually kind of fun. Every week we wrote and handed in one essay, and each different week, we wrote a different kind of essay. I have written persuasive, comparative, narrative and cause and effect essays, a personal commentary, a fictional story and lots more. We took one hour per week to explain the kind of essay we were writing and to brainstorm and do some pre-writing. One hour per week for actually writing the essay, and one for revising and handing in the essay.
- Reading(2 hours/week)
I did not enjoy reading at all. Maybe it was the book, maybe the teacher, maybe just me, or a mix of all three. We were reading 1984, a dystopian novel by George Orwell, but as usual with reading books in school: I did not read it. I did however read the first 25 pages, a summary from sparknotes and passed the subject.
- College survival(2 hours/week)
In this class we had a book called "Ethics and college student life" which you should definitely buy! Haha, no not really. The book has some case studies, which we discussed in class, and that was fun. We also kept a journal and wrote twice a week about each topic we talked about in class: sex, drugs and rock 'n roll :)
- Application workshop(1 hour/week)
Instead of the 2 hours in the first term, we only had 1 hour of application workshop this term, and we'll have none next term :( But thank God, Megan is teaching a literature class next term(for which I signed up), so hopefully I'll still have classes with her. As for the subject, it was fun and helpful, just like last term.
- Biology Elective(2 hours/week)
This was a class that I actually hadn't chosen, but I changed into it, since it fitted my schedule best. I am not crazy about biology, but it was fun. I especially enjoyed the last class in which we had a "science fair" where we had to do some experiments in front of our "celeb judges" :)
- Journalism Elective(2 hours/week)
For journalism we wrote 1 article per week, from interviews, to personal commentaries to eyewitness reports. We have published 3 UP times in those 9 weeks, filled with the articles we wrote. I doubt anyone read them, but it was a fun class to do.
- Economics Elective(2 hours/week)
In economics class we mostly revised thing I already knew, but had forgotten over the years. We first did macro economics, then micro. You either love economics or not, so for those who didn't it wasn't all that great, but I loved it. The midterm and the final were thought, but it was a good preparation for university level studies.

Well, overall a positive outcome for my second term at EF New York, following the University Preparation program. Now I have two weeks spring break and I'll be traveling along the east coast and blogging about it, so follow me pls :) As to school, on the 28th of March, term 3 starts, so another 10 weeks of UP and then, on June 7th, I am flying home.

Time flies, but I really am enjoying it.

Loves!

P.S. The pic was taken in D'Espresso, a café on 42nd street, between Park and Madison :)

{University of Chicago}

Hi!

So here's part 2 of my posts on the universities I applied to. Today I'm gonna talk about the University of Chicago. As the name implies, it is located in Chicago, Illinois. It has an urban campus of 211 acres, and has around 5.000 undergraduate and 10.000 graduate students.

The University of Chicago was established in 1890 by the American Baptist Education Society, with a donation from John D. Rockefeller. The first classes were held in 1892. The university has more than 2.200 faculty members, and 85 Nobel prize winners are affiliated with UChicago, of which 8 are current staff members.

And, again, I haven't been to the University of Chicago, but I have been to Chicago. Eh, 4 years ago. They call it the windy city, and they are right. It is cold and windy, but it's also a beautiful city, with subways above the streets and, as I remember, a huge bookstore :)

For more info: http://www.uchicago.edu/

That's all for now,

talk to you later!

{Last week of the term}

Hi!

So my birthday has come and gone, and I got some more wrinkles :P

No, not really. My birthday was fun. I had Birthday songs is five different languages, one brownie and two birthday cakes, a singing card form my sister Mariska(thanks for that one, it's hilarious) and loads and loads of happy birthday messages :D

Then this weekend I went o manhattan with Jenny, Kadda and Regina :) We went to a café on 42nd street that looks like a library. Then we took the subway down to Battery Park, then to Brooklyn, where I bought two dresses in a vintage store(I'll upload pics later). After that we went back to Fifth avenue and back to T-town.

Loves!