Amy and the Great World

Archives for December 2014

Belgium

Christmas Abroad + BYOP!

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Merry merry Christmas from Belgium!

I had some trepidation about Christmas abroad, away from my family and everything familiar.

While it was a strange Christmas, and certainly different, it ended up being a wonderful day.

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We ate a delicious breakfast at our little hotel, wandered around the always charming Bruges (which was definitely not deserted on Christmas!), ate Belgium fries, had Belgium beer, exchanged a few small gifts, talked to our families, had Indian food that we’ve been craving for awhile, and watched a few of our favorite Christmas movies–namely Christmas Vacation, Love Actually and Die Hard (obviously). While I’m far away from almost everyone I love, Christmas was still full of what it should be full of–joy, laughter, family, love, gratitude, expressions of love from those near and far, Christmas lights, a festive atmosphere, a few little gifts, great food and fun.  What more could a girl ask for?

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I’m grateful we decided to take a trip and try to make the most of Christmas in Europe. I’m especially grateful today, now that Christmas is over (tear) that we still have over a week of traveling, and week to look forward to in PARIS!

Wherever you are, whatever you do, I hope Christmas was wonderful for you and yours. As always, thanks for reading and sharing in my experience.

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Welcome to BYOP! A bring your own type of event, Bring Your Own Post to be exact! Join us every Friday for an uncategorized link up.

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Travel

On the Road + a $140 Holiday Cash Giveaway!

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Hello from the road!

Since we last talked, I’ve been left Belgium, spent two days in Cologne, one day in Valkenburg, and now I’m in Brussels–just for tonight! Tomorrow it’s off to Bruges!

I’m just popping in to share a giveaway with you, but first, here are a few sneak peeks of our trip so far.  I admit I spent ages stressing about this trip–too much? not enough? wrong places?–but I’m very happy so far. I’m glad we’re going to Bruges tomorrow, though, because the main thing missing from our trip so far is relaxation! Especially in Cologne–I just couldn’t stop seeing as much of as many Christmas Markets as we could.

Although internet access has been spotty (but not enough to keep me from feeding my new addiction to Serial…thanks to a recommendation from Jessi and the rest of the internet, haha) I’ve been posting snippets on Instagram. Follow me (@amygreatworld) or check out the hashtag for our trip: #eandaeuroxmas.

Our first taste of glühwein in Cologne:

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Lots of quality time with my favorite guy (with sparkly Christmas lights which make everything even better):

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I knew Valkenburg would be charming, but maybe not this charming: 

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Tell me! What have you been up to? Festivities, travel, fun, relaxation, preparation?

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Just in time for the holidays, I am teaming up with the other sponsors of The Overseas Escape to give away $140 in cash money. In case you need some ideas, see our holiday wish list below. Happy Holidays! (and p.s. my wish list item is my favorite mug back home that I’ve been missing sorely as I drink tea out of my tiny discount IKEA cup…).

HolidaySponsors
a Rafflecopter giveaway

True Colours – JCrew Fair Isle Leggings // Melanie Fontaine – ONA Bowery Bag // The Overseas Escape – ‘Yes Please’ by Amy Poehler // Team Starnes – Hunter Neon High Heel Chelsea Boots // Bristol in my Pocket – Fujifilm Istax // Amy and the Great World – Anthropologie Gold Monogram Mug // Around the World in 80 Pairs of Shoes – Personalized Red Lizard Aspinal of London Passport Cover // Ink & Adventure – 2015 A Beautiful Mess Planner // Channeling Audrey – World Map Mug

 

Czech Republic

Christmas Break! & Lately

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If you are reading this, that means that I am officially on Christmas Break (!!!) and we are headed out on our Christmas tour of Europe (well, parts of Europe)!

First stop: Charleroi, Belgium for one night (we got a steal of a flight here from Prague) and then an early train over to Cologne! I simply cannot wait for my first German Christmas Market.

To fully appreciate this vacation–as much of a vacation it really is when you’re running around Europe–I’ll be taking some time off from this blog. I’ll pop in a few times, but for the most part, I’ll see you in January!

However, I will be updating regularly on Instagram. Make sure to follow me: @amygreatworld, and for more of our trip, check out the hashtag #eandaeuroxmas.

But first, here are a few things from this week:

So much Christmas love.

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Another package in the mail from my family (!!!!!!) which made my week. I’ve always loved getting mail, but getting mail abroad is a whole other high. I’ve also received so many well wishes and little gifts and tokens from my students. One of my favorites was the giant, musical Christmas tree full of shortbread. Another one? A tiny toy dog with a cape…this one may have just been because I gave her a candy cane and in that moment, she loved me so much she had to give me something in return. I’m keeping it in my purse for now in case said student has giver’s remorse! I also loved a tiny gingerbread angel with a broken ring one little girl was too shy to give me, so her mom had to. I’m so ready for break but I may already miss my students!

A highly anticipated afternoon of chocolate.

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I met Andrea (who will be moving on to Germany before we return from our trip–and will be sorely missed!) at the Choco Café earlier this week. I’ve been meaning to go for ages and I’m so glad we did! The hot chocolate, pictured above, was certainly rich–and I ordered the one that included milk, some of them were only “spoon” chocolate. Since we also split an old Czech delicacy called hořice rolls, I was glad I didn’t go for the even more chocolatey chocolate. The hořice rolls were surprising good–they didn’t look too impressive, kind of like plain, crunchy crepes. However, they were filled with a light cream and cinnamon and sugar, and of course, anything you can dip in chocolate sauce is never plain. Read a history of the rolls here–according to the story, the original recipe was given to a Czech villager by Napoleon’s personal chef, after she saved his life.

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Evolving Christmas decor in our place. 

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Gifts and candy and a few more candles made this little corner of our flat feel extra festive this week.

More Christmas Markets in Prague. 

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Mostly Old Town Square because it’s the most classic, but we hit up a few smaller ones in between finishing up classes and packing. Our last visit to Old Town Square, we made sure to sample the potato chips we kept seeing everywhere, and wow! Who knew fresh, warm potato chips could be that good? Sadly this week I was avoiding alcohol since I was still mostly feeling terrible, so I only imbibed hot cider. Still delicious! One night at the market we caught a children’s choir singing Christmas songs. The best one was “Let It Snow” which was a creative mix of Czech and English. The Czech word for snow is “sníh” (sounds similar to “snee”) and it’s pretty funny listening to kids shouting “LET IT SNEE” over and over!

Finally (slowly) starting to feel human again. Just in time for Christmas! 

This illness has lasted waaaay too long but the last few days I’ve started to feel better…or maybe the anticipation of the next few weeks is just making me force myself to feel healthier! Either way, I’ll take it. I’ve been bummed to miss out on so many fun holiday plans, and everything else besides just getting healthy has taken the back burner these past few weeks. Now I’m off to inhale more Vitamin C and use some hand sanitizer…just in case!

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How are you feeling festive this holiday season? Do you have a break for the holidays and/or fun plans? And…what are your remedies to avoid getting sick??

Linking up with BYOP with Yalanda and Jamie! 

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