it’s no good saying “hold it” to a moment in real life

I believe in the photographer’s magic — the ability to stir the soul with light and shape and colour. To create grand visual moments out of small and simple things, and to infuse big and complicated subjects with unpretentious elegance. He respects classic disciplines, while at the same time insists on being fast, modern and wild. – Amyn Nasser

I love photography. I really do. Taking pictures, yes, but more looking at pictures. I also love art museums, but I would still rather study a photograph than a painting (even though I must say I do enjoy the paintings.) Anyway this was reaffirmed by a visit to the Old Church. I had happened to see posters through out the city promoting a World Press Photo Exhibit, with a tragically compelling photo of a murdered gorilla being carried out of the forest. So Tuesday after class (which was wonderfully shortened by the fact we had no viewing – it was film) I headed over to check it out.

Also a bonus was that it was completely covered by my museum card, even though it was a special exhibit!

Anyway, the exhibit was fabulous. World Press’s “mission is to encourage high professional standards in photojournalism and to promote a free and unrestricted exchange of information. World Press Photo aims to support professional press photography on a wide international scale.”

The exhibit displayed winners of the Press’s international photojournalism contest and had categories such as; Spot News, the photo that won was a devastated man standing in the wreckage of the car bomb that killed Benazir Bhutto; General news, a man cradling a wounded boy who was hit with shrapnel during a U.S. air strike; People in the News, a group of mourning teenagers holding a vigil for two murdered friends in Baltimore. Etc. They were divided into Single shots and “Stories” (the above is a mixing of both winners). It was ridiculously compelling, moving at times, funny at others. And a mix of both.

There was a story about circus performers in Poland. One of the most interesting photos there was an old man dressed in his clown attire, but look so solemn it was heartbreaking. I had two other favorites; one was a close of Bhutto adjusting her head scarf, and it conveyed grace and power and submission to old traditions all at the same time; and one of the back of a rebel soldier, a girl with impossibly long hair and a automatic firearm slung over her back. These images and many others make this exhibit a must-see, I’m even heavily considering a return trip.

Also it was kind of cool how it was set up in the church. It’s such an old church (haha get it – actually it’s newer than the New Church, but still, it’s pretty ancient) and the feeling of solemnity and worship conveys an interesting atmosphere to view such contemporary forceful photos in. Plus some of the floor is devoted to graves, so it was interesting walking over them, while surrounded with pictures of war and death and tragedy. All in all it was a great/interesting experience. My only let down was the winner of the entire contest. It was by far one of my least favorite photos of the whole exhibit.

After I left, I had decided to check out the Stedelijk Museum (I think it’s technically a modern art museum) because I had heard there was an awesome photo exhibit there as well. It was an exhibit put on by one of the top organizations for photographers in the world – or something like that. Unfortunately, very sadly, I missed it by a day! So instead was treated to a weird modernist exhibition. I don’t have anything against modern art per se, but it does not appeal to me. Seeing a white canvas on a white wall is not intriguing, it’s lazy. (joking … sort of). Anyway I’m sure if I had stayed longer and studied that artwork I could have found something to appreciate, but I didn’t want to, so I didn’t. I breezed through, making sure I saw the whole exhibit. It wasn’t a waste of time, because I’ve been meaning to check out the museum, but after such a moving and memorable experience at the Old Church I was slightly disappointed.

In other news; Sarah and Christy are house-sitting for one of their professors. Tuesday night Tim and I headed over to check it out. It’s a bit of a way aways, but we made it eventually. It is super cool, too. I would definitely live there, for sure. Also she has the most adorable cat ever. His name is Honore and he is huge. But loveable. And a little persnickety, as every cat I’ve ever met has been, but mostly just shy. The second time I saw him he was little more welcoming. Anyway that was lovely, but while I was there I felt slightly ill, so peaced out. And I felt slightly food-poisoned the rest of the night. However after recuperating on Wednesday by not leaving my apartment, I felt much better. And was all ready to venture to the beach (a big one, not the one that’s close to us) on an IES field trip. However, unfortunately, due to lack of participants and turning weather, it was cancelled : ( which was sad.

Thursday night we just went out to Leidseplein and found a nifty little bar with outside seating and it was fun and lovely. However, I potentially had a presentation the next morning so had to call it a night a little early. The rest of the group sans Alex who also retired early, tried to go to pop trash, but made the unfortunate discovery that it does not exist anymore. Which is really a tragedy!

Anyway on Friday Sarah and Christy hosted a wonderful dinner party at Letje’s place. It was a nice change, and a good night : )

Today I’ve been working on my final paper for Social Trends, and it is not going smoothly. First of all I’m not really sure exactly what I want it to be focused on. I’m writing about Dutch Newspapers to some extent, though so I had something to go on. I think I’m going to concentrate on declining circulation and the methods the Dutch newspapers are taking to combat this international trend … or something. It really sucks. Oh well.

Other thoughts: Only three more weeks : ( It’s really sad I can count the remaining time in weeks, rather than months. Tragic. Though I am looking forward to Ireland! Woot! I found out that my advanced fiction writing prof is super awesome (it was just put up who the prof was, and apparently he’s really smart and good at writing, so yay!). Also the weather has turned a bit to rainy, which I’m actually enjoying. After two straight weeks of perfect warm weather I was getting a little “burnt out” as a fellow IESers punned. I was actually craving a good rain for a while, and I’ve got it. Not much else to report, except trying to get everything I want to do done, while at the same time writing a bitch of a final paper. So …. Peace!

Much Love!

Symphonies, sand and sun

Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think. Robert Henri

Last Wednesday (May 7) us scruffy IES kids got all dolled up and took a trip to the symphony. We went to a lovely Indonesian restaurant where I had a lovely dinner with Drew (penn state kid) and Troy (narwal kid) and others of course, but with how the seating turned out … anyway. After dinner we made the small trek over to the concert house.

OH! Side note, earlier in the day I met Sarah and Christy at Greenwoods for some tea outside by the canal … it was gorgeous and hot, but I love that café, so cute and the owners are adorable!

Anyway, the Concertgebouw (spelling might be off, I’m just too lazy to look it up ;p) was beautiful inside, not decadent in decorations, but pretty nonetheless. The seats filled pretty quickly and then the symphony filtered in. We listened to good music for the next two plus hours and it was an enjoyable experience. It was a bit dainty for me, I like a little umph behind my music, but it was fun to watch the conductors, and then a pianist came on for one of the sets and she was magnificently talented. The first song after the intermission was my favorite because it had a beautiful little bit of melancholy in it, which made it more compelling to listen to.

I’m glad I went, it was a (not to be repetitive in adjective choice but … ) lovely evening. It was fun to get dressed up, and I finally used my heels that I brought (and biked in them too!!)

Compared to other cultural events, with this actual concert, I see myself liking theater better (though I have a broader range of experience with that, obviously) and opera less (an equal selection, as I’ve only been once, and don’t plan on going again – opera is HORRIBLE!! Just btw)

The rest of the week passed uneventfully. I took a walk with Sarah one evening and we sat on the docks by the Nemo and talked about how scary the idea of space is. Went bike riding to the beach multiple times, and even remembered to take my camera once.

I’ve really started to like biking out of the city (it’s so much better when you don’t have to think about dodging cars, trams, posts, pedestrians, etc and can just enjoy). Worked on (and finished!) one of my final papers. Unfortunately it’s the one that was easy – straight research, not much original thought – but it turned out to be somewhat interesting, I believe. Saturday night we took advantage of the beautiful weather, Sarah’s lack-of-a-bike-due-to-lost-keys, and our own laid-backness and enjoyed a low-key night at our neighborhood bar, The Green Elephant. The rest of my time has been spent working, watching Bones episodes (whoo hoo!), walking in the city, and riding to parks, just enjoying Amsterdam in May. Which is easy to do. The weather has been in the high 70s for about a week and a half now. I don’t remember the last time it rained – it’s been sunny every single day.

Donny and Amanda’s programs ended Saturday, which is a scary thought. Though it would be even scarier if they had gone straight back to America – they’re traveling around England/Scotland, and I hope they have a blast! I don’t think I could take the shock of seeing them in pictures in America, though. Scary.

Mom and I have been further planning details of our trip! We’ve gone from renting a car for the whole 9 days to renting it for only one, and figuring out public transportation, but it seems to be for the best. We’ve decided on taking a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren area one day, which I am super stoked about. Also we’re going to rent bikes and ride around the Aran Islands (we’re staying on one for one of the nights) and horse back riding in Conemarra National Park. It should all be super fun! : ))) Dana and Dad should both be super jealous! Lol

Anyway, nothing much planned for the coming week … just enjoying a’dam of course. There is a world press photo exhibit in the Old Church that I think I’m going to go to tomorrow after class, so if it’s cool I’ll be sure to add a post : )

Until then …

Much love!

a night at the movies

You’re not a soldier.
Damn right I’m not. I’m an army.

So for those of you who don’t know, movies are pretty expensive over here, well less so than I thought, but still 10 euros, which now adays equals about 600 dollars. Lol but seriously about 17 dollars to go to a movie – its not something you can afford to do every week.

Now, that has been, not quite bothering me, but something I wish wasn’t. At home I see on average at least one movie (in the theaters) a week.

So when Christy suggested we use our awesome vouchers (that we won from the orientation scavenger hunt) yesterday to go see Iron Man, I was pumped! (pun not intended)

We rounded up the crew (including Alex’s mom who is here visiting!) and minus Sarah (so sad, she was exhausted) and headed out toward Rembrandtsplein, which houses our movie theatre.

We buy our tickets and walk into the lobby – the first sign that this isn’t going to be a normal theater. It looks like a live theater lobby, decked out in style and richness. The “concession stand” looks like a bar you’d find in a restaurant and sells beer I believe. We walk into the actual theater and plush seats, balconies, a stage with a curtain, and unbelievable art deco-ish decorating greet us. We settle in with excitement. Then the room goes dark and the curtain creeps open. Advertisements. The curtain opens a little further; Hallie claps her hands. Previews! Oh how I’ve missed you! There was one for Deception which made me think of the parentals (bad ending right?) and the next Indiana Jones (looked super animated if you ask me). And then the main event, where we sat entranced by Robert Downey Jr.’s pimpness and the robots’ cuteness for the next two hours.

The movie was typically super hero-ish. To call it formulaic is too vague and pedestrian for me (very few movies aren’t, if you really think about it), so I’ll just say it’s what you would expect. You won’t be blown away by the writing or plot, but the actors are fun to watch and so are the visual effects. There are some funny lines, and RDJ’s performance was spot on (except when he tried to emote.) Seriously, wish I could have one of his cars. Sometimes it was a bit silly, maybe a bit nonsensical, but it was fun, a good time, and as long as you don’t go in expecting an Oscar-winning movie, you’ll like it.

I don’t know, that might just be the four-months without a movie talking, though. It was such an entertaining night. Definitely something I, if not needed, wanted. I’ll probably see one more; it was just too good of a time to pass up again. And seriously seeing the inside of this theatre was a cultural experience all on its own – we all kept saying, “I wish I’d brought my camera.”

venturing

Cherish all your happy moments: they make a fine cushion for old age. Christopher Morely

Today, out of a desire to see more of the Netherlands, I ventured outside our home city to Haarlem.

It was another gorgeous day and even in my skirt and short sleeves I was quite toasty as I headed toward Centraal. By train it only takes about 15 minutes to get to Haarlem. I had already decided I didn’t want an agenda – I wanted to wander and just take in the pretty. And so I did.

The city is adorable. It’s like a countrified (in a good way) version of Amsterdam. It retains the charm but also offers a quieter atmosphere to enjoy it in. There were pretty streets and glittering canals. One thing I noticed was that there were the most charming cafes I have ever seen. There were a ton of them and they all had a different vibe and decorations, but they were all too cute. Haarlem is also home to a shit load of shops. Lots of high-fashion clothing ones, departments stores etc, but there were also a lot of specialty ones. I walked into one that was solely selling candles, and it smelled like a crayon. It was all very lovely.

Grote Kerk is the big outside thing to see. It’s this magnificent church in the middle of a square, and so not what you would expect to see in Haarlem. It’s huge and the city is baby. It’s quite cool.

I spent about two hours wandering aimlessly, enjoying the crooked alleys and open squares, and then headed back into A’dam. I’m really glad I went exploring. It was definitely worth the time, energy and money to go there.

Tomorrow I have the concert field trip I signed up for way back in February. It seemed so far away at the time, and now it’s tomorrow night. I’m excited for it though, we get to get somewhat dressed up, go to dinner and then hear some (hopefully) good music. It will be quite the cultured night!

Also I think we’re all getting a bit panicky about how close the end of the program is. We have about a month left, and that is just plain depressing. It also elicits a nervous response that we have to jam-pack everything in to the next four weeks. I’m going to Oosterpark with Christy today and I’m going to bring my Amsterdam guidebooks to see what else I’ve missed that is a “must – do”. But more I just want to soak up Amsterdam’s vibe as much as possible, enjoy the sunny days with every fiber of my being, and as corny as it sounds live life to the fullest, because it’s all gonna end way to soon.

But for now we’ve put the “program ending” on the “not allowed to talk about” list.

Much Love!

bri

long live the queen!

Koninginnedag is the national holiday celebrating the Queen’s Birthday, a tradition begun initially to honor the previous Queen, Juliana.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Queen’s day occurs every April 30, a.k.a. yesterday. Pretty much it’s a whole city party. Everyone, including about 800,000 tourists (accurate number, not exaggerated) flood the streets of Amsterdam, all decked out in orange, and celebrate. It is a rocking good time.

The festivities start April 29, with Queen’s Night. The whole crew, a.k.a. Alex, Hallie, Christy, Sarah, Tim, and Nick, gathered to pre-game. We then headed out, prepared to join the mob of drunken revelers. At first we didn’t see anyone (of course not, we weren’t quite in the city yet) but then we heard music. And saw people. We headed toward Rembrandtsplein because we desperately needed a bathroom and figured we could duck into The Devil. We quickly realized that we were not going to be able to find free bathrooms anywhere, so eventually settled on paying at MckyD’s. Anyway we had heard a lot of bass coming from the Waterloo area on the Amstel on our way to Rembrandtsplein, so decided to head back over there. There was a large crowd and we dived right in. We were immediately swallowed up. We listened to the music for a bit, but having lost half our group we went in search of them. We were body, to body, and everyone was ridiculously having a good time. By some miracle the halves of our group found each other. Sarah went off to meet up with some friends who had come into town and we went over to Spuistraat. More good time celebrating. Apparently the Queen’s Night is when the young people go ape-shit crazy.

Eventually we returned to Funen and hung out for a bit. A couple of people talked of staying up all night to be able to hit the free markets as early as possible, but I knew I needed sleep, so I admitted to my lame (or very smart) status and turned in for the night at 4, thinking of waking up by at least 10 to get a good day in for Queen’s Day.

Well, two hours later I hear knocking on my door. A little discombobulated, I find myself starring blankly at Christy, Tim and Nick, who have been up all night and were waking everyone else up to go to the free markets. Shit. Ok, two hours of sleep. Interesting. So we gather up Alex and Hallie as well and leave Funen at about 7:30 – due to some confusion. We immediately start toward the Jordaan, because apparently that is where the good stuff is. Oh, part of Queen’s Day is that all the restrictions on sales are lifted and people can and do jus set up along the streets. They sell whatever. They sell food (I got some delicious strawberries.) They sell furniture. They sell movies. They sell whatever junk they’ve accumulated over their entire lifetimes. It’s amazing. We spent the morning wandering through the streets. Prinsengracht seemed to have the best selection. I got a Kitsch Kitchen coin purse for one euro!! I was so stoked about my purchase; I just wished I had it the whole time (considering everything under five euros is in coins, I’ve been longing to have one so I don’t have to dig around in my Coach for an hour every time I want to pay for something.) There were also some other great purchases made; from Tim’s one-euro Ajax scarf to Christy’s prize of a one-euro picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was like reallllyyyy young. I’m not even really into markets, and it was just so cool to see all the things being offered up. Plus the people doing the selling – priceless. From cute little Dutch children hocking wares to old women dressed in head to toe orange doing shots of orange liquor. Amazing. Anyway we started making our way towards the center and then Museumplein (where we heard was a center of the party.) Until this point we hadn’t seen the crowds I expected. But then as we went south, I realized there were people pouring into Leidsestraat from all directions. It was a stream of orange. Most people I believe were drunk and had been for a while. It was fabulous being caught up in the crowd and carried along on the happy force that united every single person. Eventually the three who had gotten zero sleep cried Uncle and returned to Funen to, I believe, grab a few hours of sleep. Those of us who got two hours in, a.k.a. Alex, Hallie, and myself, continued on to Museumplein. We walked into party central. There were tents sent up everywhere, music blasting, people celebrating. We grabbed some lunch and then pulled up a spot on the lawn, which wasn’t easy as most of it was already full. We sat around for a bit just people watching, and then the concert started. The first two performers were amazing. The first was like a Dutch Usher, and the second had so much ridiculous energy it was fun to be just watching them. We hung out there for about two hours, enjoying the rowdy crowd. We saw some wild outfits and even wilder behavior, and it was perfect. Eventually, mostly due to the cold, we decided to move.

We didn’t exactly know what to do next, but we just decided to wander the streets, and that did provide us with enough of a party. Every street we walked down was filled to the brim with celebrating people. Every step we took was accompanied by music, because there were enough stages/d.j.s/random people playing stereos that the whole city was a concert. It was like the whole of Amsterdam was a party, and everyone showed up with bells on (almost literally.)

Eventually the two hours of sleep hit us hard and we wearily trudged our way home (it was really rough, as no public transportation was running.) I must say, it was a super cool experience to be here on this day!

Thoughts: It was interesting to be caught up in so much Dutch pride. Flags were out everywhere, a sight we don’t usually see. People randomly burst into versions of what I can only assume is the national song. People swathed themselves in red white and blue (also The Netherlands’ colors, fyi) as well as orange (because that’s the house of the royals, from back in history with William of Orange). I felt downright proud to be (associated, sort of, with the) Dutch.

Also it was cool to be caught up in something that was so big. It was like a Penn State football game, but on the scale of an international city. Everyone there is hyped up about the same thing, looking for a good time, and ready to share the fun with everyone around him. You become just another snowflake in a blizzard, but you’re part of that snowstorm. And it is a rush.

I’ve never seen so much public drunkenness (I mean PSU games come close, but you can’t beat a whole city + tourists lol) and outright crazy outfits. Everyone is happy and singing and celebrating – I feel like I’m repeating myself here, but I just can’t reiterate enough. What a fun holiday!

Tulips, dancing and flair

I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance. ~Friedrich Nietzsche

Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn’t music. ~William Stafford

There is a bit of insanity in dancing that does everybody a great deal of good. ~Edwin Denby

Dance is the only art of which we ourselves are the stuff of which it is made. ~Ted Shawn, Time, 25 July 1955

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. ~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Excuse the plethora of quotes, please, but when looking for dancing quotes I simply found too many that I loved and were just so appropriate, so I thought; why not?

Anyhoo, it has been far, far too long since my last post, I do apologize. I just have been putting it off for a bit, but no longer!

So I shall start with last Saturday. Alex, Sarah, Christy, Hallie and I went to Keukenhof to see the tulips. It is the famous flower gardens of the Netherlands. In fact after a quick google search (for spelling accuracy) I have discovered that it is also termed the Garden of Europe and is the world’s largest flower garden.

We got up early last Saturday and started our adventure. We got joint transportation and admission tickets at the tourist center at Centraal (after waiting for an hour). We then took a tram to get to the bus that took us to the airport where we waited for another hour to board a bus that took us to the gardens (near Lisse). We and about 20,000 other people then entered the gardens. They are beautiful. Flowers of all colors and variations lined pathways throughout the gardens. Apparently this year (they pick a theme each year) the theme was China, so there were pagodas everywhere too.

I was pleasantly surprised about how much fun I had. I’m not really one that especially enjoys flower gardens but I thought, hey we’re a couple bus rides away from the largest in Europe, I should probably go. But it was so lovely and we had a great time so it was definitely worth the time and money.

It was kind of funny, because a lot of places I’ve been visiting I’ve felt like I have to justify to myself taking shit loads of pictures as being super touristy, but everyone at Keukenhof had their cameras out, it was so acknowledged that this is what you do when you go, take pictures. There is nothing else to do. And we got pretty creative, starting with a return of our jump pictures and progressing to crazy “senior pictures” poses.

By the end of the day we were all quite tired and people-d out (seriously there were like a million people involved in every stage of the day – the gardens are only open two months and during that span they get 11 million visitors, you do the math) but it was amazing to see. (See Facebook pictures, if interested in flowers).

We rested up that night then Alex, Sarah, Christy, Tim and I went to BBQ at the Bitterzoot. It was an awesome time! Best dance music I’ve heard since being here – some European techno crap, but a lot of recognizable hip-hop/dance rap stuff. And everyone was into it, although I think we were the most intense dancers there, shocker. It was packed, and we had to constantly fight for space, but that was part of the fun, too. It’s a shame it’s only once a month, but the Bitterzoot is definitely a great venue, that I think we’ll go to more often.

The next couple days are a mix for me, by now. Had class, walked around a great deal, enjoyed the nice weather. At one point I went back to FOAM (the photography museum) and the exhibition was on the Stasi secret rooms. It was interesting, but I didn’t find it as interesting as WeeGee. All the rooms were shot at the same angle and vantage point, so it was cool to see how they were decorated (and sort of enlightening) but the photography aspect was lacking for me (although I know it took skill, don’t get me wrong). Still I hope there is another exhibit before I go home, it’s a really cool museum.

I actually did do quite a bit of walking around and biking this last week. I’ve really taken a fancy to Oosterpark. It’s really close and pretty and hundreds of dogs are always running around playing. I also biked yesterday back to Flevopark (the wetland one that reminds me of Wildwood) and further to where Donny and I went. It was so pretty. Like I said, we’ve been having awesome weather here.

Also, Thursday night we re-fell-in-love with Pop Trash. It’s this party that’s held every Thursday at Milkweg. It’s lots of dancing and European techno but it’s a great time. We got really into it (again see Facebook pictures) and had a lot of fun. It was awesome, because we got there semi-early and were the only ones dancing for a bit of time, and we were dancing like crazy, so pretty much we were badass. Also they played “beeper” twice – so that got us extra super pumped up.

Yesterday, all worn out from pT, we mostly chilled. At night we went to the Eastern Docklands and found a really cute bar, had a couple drinks (well I didn’t) and sat outside on the terrace for a bit. When it got too cold we went inside and decided to play Dutch monopoly. It was amusing.

OH! Also we’ve all become addicted to flair. What is flair, you ask. Well it’s a Facebook app that let’s you put whatever buttons you want on the board in your profile. It is awesomeness personified (sort of). I’ve gotten multiple people addicted already, so watch out! : ))))

Anyway Queen’s Day, the mother of all Amsterdam shit shows, is on Wednesday. Apparently A’dam gets so crowded it can take a half hour to get from Centraal to Dam Square, usually a walk that takes about five minutes. It shall be awesome. I will provide more details for it’s post, but I’m getting really excited.

Other than that I have two weeks off of class (for Queen’s Day and other holidays around this time) so I’m going to buckle down and try to finish – or at least really work on – my two big papers I have due at the end of the semester.

And I think most of our Ireland trip is worked out (thanks mutti!) We’re going from Dublin (after a day there) to Galway. We’re planning on just staying in that area and exploring the sights around there, such as the Cliffs of Moher. We’re also going out to the Aran Islands and spending the night on one of them. I’m tre, tre excited : )

Anyway I believe we’re riding out to a “beach” today.

So I must go prepare,

Much Love

p.s. please excuse my overuse of both the word “pretty” and the phrase “had a great time”,  neither are that desripitve or useful, but they are the truth ;p

So I don’t think this got posted the first time

So this past weekend was our IES field trip to Maastricht and Liege (M is in the southern part of the Netherlands, and Liege is in Belgium.) Out of my friends, only Alex and Tim were coming on it (Hallie was going to, but got sick, unfortunately.)

After an uneventful train ride (except the fact that Chantal – our program director – brought her puppy with us and he entertained me for a good few minutes) we arrived in Maastricht. We hoofed it a little way (a very little way) to the StayOkay hostel we were staying in. By the way, it was extremely lovely to have all the details of travel and accommodation already arranged for me … no stress or thinking involved at all. The hostel was pretty sweet (it’s a good company, I’ll probably stay in the one in A’dam for my few extra days here that I won’t have housing) and I shared my room with Alex and Dana (roommate, not sister obviously) for the first night. We went downstairs after settling in and hung out on the terrace bar with Tim for a bit. At night the view was lovely – the hostel is right on the main river dividing the newer section of town from the ancient one. Also Maastricht is one of the oldest cities in The Netherlands.

The next day we awoke bright and early for an unofficial city tour given by Chantal (she grew up there) and that was nice, but we also realized how small the town was.

We had about a twenty-minute break and then we met up at the boat that was going to take us to the “caves” of Maastricht. The boat “tour” was not really a tour, more of a ferry ride, but it was nice to be on the river and get a semi-decent view of everything. But the really cool part was where it took us. They have this yellow limestone in Maastricht and with that came “caves” or the galleries that were created from centuries of mining it out of the hills. We got a private tour of the mines, and it was seriously bad ass. They were huge, and it felt like we were in like an Egyptian pyramid or something. There were also these really old painting all over the walls, mostly done for tourists. And at one point our guide left us in a nook in the wall and walked away with lights, and it was crazy dark/oppressive. I would close my eyes and then open them and I couldn’t tell the difference. If I ever got lost in those “caves” I would be completely screwed. As Alex said “I would just sit down and cry.”

After the caves we had a bit of free time, so Alex and I popped into a café (it was pouring) and waited out the bad weather. After the sun peaked through again, we headed out again to explore the little bit of Maastricht that there is. The whole town is pretty much a shopping mall. Stores are everywhere, it’s ridiculous.

We headed back to the hostel and joined up with the two other girls who came a day later to venture out to the IES dinner. Props to IES for restaurant choice – it was really nice and involved a marathon dinner of like three courses (but they had a lot in each course.)

After stuffing ourselves, Alex, Dana and I went to a bar (we felt we should at least get a small taste of the Maastricht night life) and it was nice, but nothing out of the ordinary. We then headed back to the hostel’s bar, where we hung out with the rest of the lazy IESers who had also decided not to really go out that night.

The next morning we trained it over to Liege. IES scheduled us a trip to the HUGE market there, and it was interesting, but we walked through it pretty quickly. The saddest part though was that there were stalls selling animals. I mean it was cool to see, because they were adorable (they even had chipmunks!!) but they were all shoved into tiny cages, and most of them were probably destined to be on someone’s dinner menu. : (((

We walked about Liege a bit, but realized it doesn’t really have much to offer (sorry, Liege, but if you’re ever in Belgium, this is a town you can skip) so we ordered some frites, found a bit of sun, and relaxed until it was time to meet up with the group to go back to A’dam.

Over all, a very lovely trip, that was made even more so because everything was handled for me. : )

Also the Sunday we got back was the Sunday Donny was arriving in A’dam. It was a bit of a rough start – his flight was delayed two hours so that he didn’t get in until 12:30 – which meant we had to walk back from Centraal instead of taking the bus. But we got back, and I set him up with his cushion bed (haha sorry) and we hit the sack.

The next morning came way to quickly, but I (and Donny as well) wanted to get an early start on exploring. After a stop at Spar for some breakfast products, we started on our walking tour. We hit all the high points and even ordered some frites (which resulted in Donny ordering a large – which was about the size of a bucket hahahahaha.)

We pretty much walked the whole city, so those of you who follow this at all know what that entails, as I’ve taken two other groups of visitors on it, so I won’t rehash all the details. But I think Donny appreciated the pretty, and I got to re-appreciate it, as I’ve been out of town a lot recently.

For dinner we bought stuff for tacos etc. and just made some food at my apartment. It was a lovely evening so we decided to go for a walk (haha – yeah, after walking the entire day.) But Donny saw that there was a park, Ooster (spelling?) to be specific, that was near here (and I hadn’t been there) so we walked toward that. And I’m so glad we did. It was awesome, and only about five minutes away, I already plan to go back many, many times. The park got a little empty after the sun set, so we decided to keep walking, and wandered all the way back over to Dam Square, before I cried Uncle. (My knee has been holding up pretty well, but all the travel over the last six weeks I think has been wearing on it, and it’s been the most painful since a while, but after Barcelona, I plan on resting it hard core.)

The next day I had to go to class, so Donny spent his time renting a bike, and then seeing the Anne Frankhuis and Van Gogh Museum. We met up after I got out, and decided to be crazy and head out of the city on a bike ride. I had visions of us getting lost and dying, but I pushed those fears aside and decided to brave it. It was awesome. We rode by the harbor area, through a lovely wetland park (it reminded me of Wildwood, for those that means anything to) and then along a canal for a while. It was really cool.

We rode for about two hours total, and then came back to relax/shower before going out for the night.

I managed to round up the usual crew, with some persuasion of a couple people. But we pre-gamed in Christy’s room and then headed out to Rembrandtsplein to the hip-hop bar there. It was fun, but the group called it a night around 12:30. Donny, Alex and I stayed out and headed over to the Red Light District. We stumbled upon a group of English students who took us into their group, and we proceeded to have an amazingly awesome time with them.

Unfortunately today Donny had to leave a go back to Seville, where he is having an awesome time, for those who care. It was great visit. : ))

On other news, it was GORGEOUS today. Like seriously beautiful (isn’t it always?!) but beautiful weather wise, as well as scenic-wise. It made me realize how much I love Amsterdam (Ok, I already realized it, it just reaffirmed it once again.) Although I miss things from the U.S. – most notably free refills and my family & friends (in that order, haha!) – I don’t know how I’m going to leave here. Donny’s and Amanda’s programs end in like a month, and it has me thinking how sad it will be when mine ends. It’s ridiculous. But also in a good way, because I know I picked the exact right program for me, which is good! : )

Ok well anyway, Friday Sarah and I head to Barcelona, and I am ridiculously excited for it!!

All right time to go do laundry, unfortunately.

Much Love!

Dabbling in (with?) photography

so i’m kind of into photography at the moment.

I went out today for about three hours and just walked around the city. For one it allowed me the opportunity to enjoy Amsterdam on a beautiful sunny day (I didn’t even need a jacket!) but it also allowed me to experiment with my new hobby.

Obviously these are just beginer shots, but if you wanna check out what i did with my day/ see some of Amsterdam go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/25757283@N04/

also, if anyone feels inclined to comment/offer tips, please do, i obviously don’t want to become a professional, but I would like to improve! anyway, today really was lovely. A’dam is just so gorgeous : )

No! Yesssss … (a.k.a. Barcelona)

“Here in Barcelona, everything was swept aside. The world was turned upside down and stayed there.

Has it ever occurred to you that maybe the world was upside down before, and now it’s right side up” Barcelona, 1994.

Barcelona was one of my favorite places I’ve been. It’s gorgeous and amazing and powerful and calm. It has such a distinct and charming vibe; it is a definite must on the life list.

So, anyway, our travel on Friday was uneventful, nicely. I loved not having to take the bus, Ryanair was great, an efficient cheap way to get around Europe, and the in betweens of getting to the obscure cities the airline flies into was relatively self-explanatory. We also saw a whole Dutch soccer team wearing CLOGS!! Woot, it was awesome.

Anyway we checked in to our hostel, and Whitney (Sarah’s friend who was in Barcelona the same time we were) met us there in the lobby. We somehow ended up in the same room as her (we had booked separately) and ventured up. And it was awesome. It was like this lofted area that had two twin beds, but it was more like a fort than anything else, and we instantly fell in love with the unique charm of it.

We headed out on the town, since it wasn’t late, and unfortunately it was quite rainy. I was not happy, since I thought I had finally come to a city of sun and warmth. We wandered around a bit, walked up La Rambla, the main boulevard of the city, found a market that was a visual feast, and traveled down many palm-tree lined streets. We stopped for some melted chocolate deliciousness and then went back to the hostel. I was exhausted, so I read a bit and went to bed; while Sarah and Whitney tried out a bar we had seen earlier. Still, I think it was an early night for all of us.

The next morning we decided to see Tibidabo. What is that you ask? Awesomeness, pretty much. Really, it’s this mountain on the outskirts of the city. We climbed up a bit (it was a sidewalk/road so don’t be too impressed) and then took a tram-thing to the top. There, rested both a gorgeous church and an amusement park. Odd combination, but somehow it worked. What can I say, its Barcelona. Of course we checked out the park and bought tickets for a Ferris wheel. When we got to the top of the rotation, words failed me. It was spectacular. We could see all the way to the ocean, and the whole city in between. There’s something about being high up and looking over urban sprawl. It’s a feeling, as Sarah said, that very few people dislike. Anyway, after our fun ride we checked out the view from the ground, which was still just as breathtaking, and then wandered over to the church, which was also badass. We eventually decided to go back down, but for anyone traveling to BCN, I would definitely say do Tibidabo … it’s so worth it. We stopped in Parc Guell, a Gaudi laced park. It was neat, and lots of people were chillaxing in the sun.

We went back to the cool market we had discovered the night before to pick up food for a picnic. We took it to the beach and enjoyed the beauty. There’s something about the beach for me. I need it, it makes me happy. It was so lovely. The water was a blue that was beautiful. The sun was shining (which we later paid for with sunburn). We sat there for hours, with out any concept of the passing time. Eventually we found a beach restaurant and ordered drinks (one of the strongest drinks I’ve ever had – they pretty much just added food coloring to vodka and called it Blue Lagoon.)

We sat there as the sun set over the water, and then saw Whitney off to the bus station (she was leaving for Bilbao.)

The next day was “animal day.” We walked to the zoo via the Arc de triomf (spelling?) and the park that follows it. Both were super cool.

The zoo was also so fun! We saw the dolphin show and monkeys and the cutest brown bear ever. And an elephant! And peacocks were wandering freely over the grounds. Plus we saw a giant sea turtle desperately trying to escape the bars. It was a good time! Then we desperately tried to find the aquarium, apparently “the second largest in Europe” (it was not large – and then I thought about it and realized there probably aren’t that many aquariums in Europe). It was not easy. Some how we sat right next to it on a break and didn’t realize it, and walked in a large circle until finally doubling back. But we were walking along the harbor and it was sunny and beautiful, so I didn’t mind too much.

After we decided to head back to the beach, of course. On the way back we stopped and listened to a street band that had a large, a very large, group gathered around them. I usually am not interested in street music, but they were fantastic. Very engaging and talented. We went back to the same spot eventually and stared into the ocean (or sea, depending on who you are talking to) for hours. Also another fun thing about Barcelona beaches is that there are these guys with backpacks and they travel up and down the many bcn beaches muttering “cervesa? Beer?” Also there are these women who come up to you and offer 5-euro messages. The same one came up to us everyday and every time we send ‘no, gracias’ she would grumble a very persistent ‘yesss’ under her breath, but she said it as she was walking away. It amused us to no end.

We ate dinner at another beachside restaurant and then started to head back to the hostel. However, at one point we looked down the road and could see the Sagrada Familia. So we decided to walk to it, and view it at night. After a couple more blocks than we had originally thought, we arrived. It is magnificent. I’m always slightly skeptical of “sights to see” but this was just mind-blowing. The details were crazy. How did he ever conceptualize such a building? Gaudi was a genius, seriously and obviously. We stood in awe for a good amount of time, before retiring for the night.

Monday was our last day in Barcelona. We first tried to find more Gaudi in the city. We found his last project for the city, which was actually public housing. It’s obviously a museum now, and very impressive. I don’t know how he came up with these designs, it’s just insane. It was more expensive than either of us wanted to pay, but still just seeing the outside was enough to give us an extreme appreciation.

We then climbed Mont Juic. It was an interesting climb in flip-flops, but it was all paved, so that made it easier. At the top was a castle. We went inside and got another great view of BCN from a high up place : ) It was beautiful and we were closer to the ocean, so one side you could just look out and see nothing but water. And we could clearly see the many beaches that are all lined up in a row on the coastline.

After the mountain, we walked down La Rambla again and down to the beach, which was actually quite a long walk, but we got to pass a lot of sights again, which was nice. But by the time we reached the sand I was ready to collapse for a couple hours and not move again. The problem was that there were clouds. And while it was the perfect temperature when the sun was out, it was quite cold when the band of clouds covered it, which was the majority. I had my backpack with me and I just started taking all of my clothes out and laying them on top of me in a futile effort to stay warm. Eventually we lost the battle, and said goodbye to the beautiful stretch of ocean we had called ours for three days. We went to the bus station to take one to Giorna, the city the airport we were flying out of was located. We had a lovely hotel, where they offered to pack us our continental breakfast, since we were leaving so early. We had to get up at 4 a.m. for our flight, which was rough, but we managed to get home fine. And Amsterdam welcomed us home as it always does.

I loved Barcelona. It was an amazing city, throbbing with an undercurrent of awesomeness. I can’t imagine living there for a long time, I feel like I would get too hot, but it is definitely one of my favorite cities I’ve ever been to.

But I’m also ready to enjoy the rest of my time in Amsterdam. This will be the first weekend I’ve been here in the last six weeks, which blows my mind. I’m so glad I did all the travel that I did, but I’m ready to be in my city.

In the last month and a half I’ve seen so much. I’ve experienced many beautiful cities, and fell a little bit in love with each of them for different reasons. But I’ll always be coming home, when I return back to Amsterdam.

oh yeah and p.s. i have a post for maastrict and donny visiting, that i’m not sure got posted, but ill but it up in the next couple days

Czech me out, I went to Prague (sorry, had to)

 

“My mouth tastes like purple” Alec Baldwin on 30 Rock

Going to Prague (and returning, I guess) was my longest and (hopefully) last bus ride. It actually wasn’t horrible, because I spent most of the night trying to sleep (trying being the essential word there.) But it wasn’t crowded, the driver was nice and spoke both Czech AND English, a major plus that you don’t find that often in Euroline drivers (the English thing, not the Czech thing) and we didn’t stop too many times.

Anyway we got into Prague a little before 13:00 and I had a couple minutes of panic that if Amanda didn’t find me I had no idea what I would do. I didn’t know where her apartment was located, or more importantly even what part of town I was in. But then I heard my name, and all was well : )

Amanda informed me that we were going to meet Donny at the end of his half-marathon, so off we went on the metro. We emerged right by the river and the view was beautiful. Right across on top of a large his was Prague Castle, and it was super cool, and majestic and such. Also the weather was beautiful … sunny, but not too hot. We had a bit of time, so we hung out by the river for a little, just enjoying the view of both the city and the ridiculously tired runners swathed in foil blankets and yellow ponchos.

Donny finally finished and after letting him catch his breath for a second, we realized we were all pretty hungry. Amanda took us to Pizza Einstein, one of her favorite quick/cheap bites. It was good, and we got to meet one of her roommates, who was super sweet.

After lunch/dinner we went back to A’s apartment, which is gorgeous. Like seriously. It’s huge … it even has a separate living/guest room, along with the girls’ bedrooms. But probably the highlight is the bathroom. It’s simply fabulous. It’s yellow! And has an old-timey bathtub and big windows and the shower is in an alcove … and it’s yellow! Too cute.

We hung out, cuz we were all exhausted, for a little before Donny got a call from his cross country friends who were in Prague for the marathon as well. They decided to go for dinner, but A and I being lazy and or cheap decided to pass for a few more minutes of relaxation.

We had all decided to meet up to go out that night, so after a few 30 Rock episodes, A and I finally dragged ourselves out of the apartment to go to a cute bar. It was pretty cool, it looked like a dungeon and had a bunch of staircases and rooms in it. We ordered all kinds of fun mixed drinks, and I even tried Czech beer, which I was not a fan of – give me a good ole Heineken any day over that. Anyway it was very chill and fun, but funny cuz I came prepared for clubs I think, and felt way over-dressed the whole time.

Since most the people at the table had either run a half-marathon or taken a 15-hour bus ride earlier, we called it a night semi-early. But of course we had to try the traditional Czech “drunk food” a.k.a. a round patty of fried cheese on a bun. Apparently you’re supposed to get sauce on it (which Amanda kept yelling at me for not doing – but hey did I make her try frites and mayonnaise?) but with out anything on it, it didn’t really taste like anything. I gave the majority of mine to Donny, but at least I got to try it.

We hit up one other bar, but then decided to go back to the apartment and crash. (Also, it was daylight savings for Europe so we lost an hour of our night – also for the parentals, that means once again I’m 6 hours ahead of you.) The next morning Donny and Amanda went to mass in the Prague Cathedral … but deciding that I would rather sleep for four hours, instead of three, I opted to meet them afterward. I had a lovely tram ride up to Prague Castle (its like a huge complex btw.)

After meeting them, we walked around a bit, and got some great views of the city. I also got to see the Cathedral, which was beautiful and reminded me so much of Notre Dame. After touring the Castle area we headed back down the hill and walked around the city a bit, more specifically we got to see Old Town. The square was filled with Easter Market vendors, which was pretty cool to see, and reminded me of Amsterdam : ) Donny also wanted to do some souvenir shopping. Before we knew it, it was time for Donny to peace out (his flight was at like 2) so we went back to the apartment and sent him off on his merry way. It would have been more sad, but he’s coming here on Sunday, so … Amanda and I regrouped with a couple episodes of 30 Rock and then we went back out to explore the city a bit more. I got to see some of the must-see touristy things; Charles Bridge and Wenceslas Square, for example.

For dinner we had some delicious “Czech-Mex” food. And instead of chips and salsa they “gave” you this thick doughy bread with garlic butter, which was just yummy. By this point, we were both really tired (collectively we had probably gotten about 12 hours of sleep in the last 48-72) and A had class in the morning, so we just headed back to her apartment, and yes, continued our 30 Rock marathon : )

After an embarrassingly lazy night, we got up to go to A’s class. Her study center is on top of another hill so I just walked around the area on top for the hour she was in Czech language. The weather was amazing! I was in my t-shirt and the sun was shinning in a blue sky. It was gorgeousness and actually felt like spring versus my snowy trips of past weeks. We wandered a bit more after she got out of class, and then we got lunch again at Pizza Einstein (or Einstein Pizza, I forget now.) Then it was time for me to leave : (

The bus ride home was pretty uneventful … but a couple stops in a guy that smelled like old pickles sat behind me and stunk up our entire section every time he so much as shifted in his seat. Other than that, it was fine, and I’m just celebrating my bus-free future!

Thoughts on Prague: Prague was pretty cool. I finally settled on that description, because I was trying to find one for a while. Paris was magnificent, breathtaking; Berlin was interesting with its history; Luxembourg was just plain gorgeous. (And Amsterdam has too many positive descriptors to even put down here.) It took me a while but I think I would say Prague is pretty cool. It had a very Eastern European feel to it, but didn’t seem scary communistic at all. It was hard to believe that it was only a couple decades ago. I’m so glad the weather was nice, it would have been a good trip had it not been, but it was just an extra bonus. I really liked the views from the river, when you could look up and see Prague Castle. The trams were also very cute, and metros unbelievably deep (like seriously we had to take some intense escalators to get down to them!) It kind of reminded me of Amsterdam in a way that the houses all had the same feel to them (obviously a different style than A’dam’s, but they were all similar in their appearance/architecture, which I always like.) Oh! Also, it’s not as cheap as everyone says it is. I mean, it’s probably better than A’dam, but just because the Euro is so strong now. The prices are still like comparable to what you would find in some cities in the U.S. Anyway, I’m happy I got to see it and hang out with the homies again : p

So, today we head to Maastricht and Liege with IES. It should be fun, and it will be nice not having to plan anything myself, just have things handed to me.

Also I got my hair cut off!! I was a little nervous about it, but Alex kept talking about how she wanted to get hers cut, and I was like, you know, so do I! I was tired of my long hair, I’m just not a long hair kind of gal. So it’s completely short now, which I love. It went pretty smoothly as well, and now I don’t have to worry about it for a while.

Oh yeah and Christy’s birthday was on Tuesday (woot!) and we had a party and it involved a piñata, confetti and tequila, and that’s all I’m saying ;p

Anyway gotta pack/be semi-productive now I guess!

Much Love