Paux du coulis … por favor OR Three nights, one people

Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

 

Luxembourg is beautiful. Simply beautiful. As we drove into the city (after our 10 hour bus ride) it was snowing and grey and we couldn’t really appreciate the prettiness of the country.

Sarah had just visited a couple weeks before so she skillfully navigated us to the hostel. On the way there I got my first taste of the city, and it was just so classically European, it’s ridiculous. The streets were cobbled and the alleyways narrow. It was just so charming. And to get to the hostel we had to walk over a crumbly battlement that looked out over a valley in both directions. Cliffs fell sharply into nothing and quiet houses nestled in the nooks and crannies below. It was just so what I picture when I think of Europe.

Anyway I checked in to the hostel (Alex and Sarah were staying at a hotel, because the hostel was booked – later we found out because there were both a large team of soccer players staying there and there was a large music festival going on in the city). We were hungry so we decided on Chili’s (I know! Ridiculous, but everything else was just crazy expensive, and Sarah gave it a good recommendation) and had a good ole American/Mexican mean : ) The best part was I ordered a large Diet Coke and it was huge, and amazing and exactly what I needed after a 10 hour bus ride. We had quite a good time at dinner, mostly because we were loopy from all the travel and thought everything was hilarious.

But being so tired, we decided to call it a night afterwards and we went our separate ways.

We met the next morning at the tourist office, having already decided to do a day trip out of the city. We settled eventually on Echternact, a small town in a part of Lux called “Little Switzerland” and headed over to the bus station to catch a ride. The cool thing about Lux is that apparently anywhere you go in the country by bus costs 1.5 euro! (So our total day trip only cost 3 euro for transportation … score!) Anyway we pull into Echternact 20 minutes later (after a very pleasant and scenic trip through gorgeous countryside of rolling green hills and forest) and it too is adorable. The main street was lined with shops and everything was on sale. We browsed a bit, bought some postcards (and clothing and souvenirs for the other members of my group.) Then we got super pumped for a hike. There were signs everywhere (it was a very hiking orientated place) and we decided on a 2-3 mile (? I think) loop that seemed to have gorges through out. Also the weather was beautiful for about two hours that day, and it was the two hours we were hiking … the rest of the day it was cold, overcast, and snowing. We get to the top of our first hill and we have a spectacular view of the town below, and it was amazing. Just being in nature again was so cool. It was too funny, we were all so excited by the littlest things … like “oh look moss!!!!” and “holy crap trees!” We had been in the city for far too long, lol. Anyway it was a lovely walk with some great gorges. After, we grabbed a quick lunch at a Lux version of a snack shop and then treated ourselves to a Lux staple of gelato. They looked sinful, but really weren’t that intense (but still they were yummy!)

After exploring the town a little more, we headed back to Lux City, bidding Echternact a fond fare well.

I sort of forget what happened the rest of the night (that’s what I get for waiting a week to post) but some how we ended back at the hostel. This is where it got tricky. So Alex had been able to book a room for the last two nights, but since Sarah didn’t know she was going until a couple days before, she hadn’t been able to. So began operation sneak Sarah into the hostel unnoticed. It actually went ok, and Sarah ended up sleeping in Alex’s bed, but I think every one’s stress levels were definitely elevated. The next day we just decided to hang around Lux City. We started with the Wenzel Walk that took us down the battlements, along a river, and through a cute little town. It was all very pretty. Then we chilled at a café for a bit and watched British MTV for a long time and discovered this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMLCrzy9TEs which is the coolest thing ever (and we’re already talking about learning the dance)

Afterward we went on a calk by the casements (like the defensive walls of the city) and down into a charming park. The sun was shining but it was cold, so it was alternatively beautiful and chilly, depending on where we were standing. But it was always pretty. We took a short tour through the casements, which included some bad ass staircases : )

Sarah went back to the hotel to book a room for the night after that because she didn’t want to deal with the stress again (and good thing she did … but I’ll get to that). So Alex and I chilled in one of the main squares where the “New Orleans meets Luxembourg” festival was taking place. We listened to some good music, ate gelato, and people watched until Sarah got back. The problem started then when Sarah said she wasn’t feeling so hot. She just assumed at first that it was motion sickness from the bus. So we sat in the sun for a bit longer listening to the festival music and getting happy over puppies and babies around us. Then we decided it was time for dinner and we ate at … get this … pizza hut. Hahahaha. O well. So it was great, but Sarah wasn’t. After finally realizing it was more than a quick bout of motion sickness (Sarah later figured it was food poisoning) we decided it would be best to head back to Sarah’s hotel and just chill for the night. After a rough journey back we ended up just spending the night watching some more awesome British MTV. I headed back to the hostel and realized that all the beds were “taken” in my room. The problem was that housekeeping kept stripping my bed (I guess I forgot to put clothing on it or something) and then some one else would take it – it happened to me the night before as well. However that night all the beds were made up and/or had people in them. So that left two, and I knew someone was sleeping in one of them (who wasn’t in the room at the time) so I just made a decision, stripped one of the beds and tried to sleep. I was awoken with a “What are you doing in my bed” about a half hour later. Of course I picked the wrong one. Well try explaining that to a confused and flustered German girl, who speaks little to no English as the rest of the people in the room tried to sleep. Eventually I gave up, crawled into the top bunk, handed her a new pillowcase and went to bed. It was traumatizing, though. Our bus was leaving at 9, and after a little sketchiness at the station (it wasn’t the bus station it was the train station and Eurolines didn’t have an office there, so I was slightly anxious we were at the correct place) we got on our bus and had a decently nice trip home.

So I would definitely recommend a trip to Luxembourg if ever you get the chance. It’s beautiful, it really is. And this weekend it was exactly what I wanted. I had been doing so much of the big city hopping; it was nice to be in nature again … very rejuvenating.

 

On another note I had my first fall off my bike yesterday. Christy and I were biking to Leidseplein to meet Sarah and we were chatting as we were going (mistake number 1) and all of a sudden for some reason I swerve into the back of her bike and crash and I thought I was going to take her down with me (I didn’t thank goodness). So I quickly hop off, but I was going much too fast for that to work so I end up airborne (and of course I was wearing a skirt, I don’t even want to know who I flashed in that process) and tuck and roll into the middle of the road, thank goodness there was no traffic coming. I picked myself up and assessed the damage as C walked her bike back to me, aghast. I was mostly Ok except my wrist is incredibly sore and my elbow is pretty badly bruised/ cut up. But other than that I survived my first hard-core fall! : ) YAY

So today I’m about to start getting ready for Prague (I leave tonight). Donny will be there as well as Amanda, so I’m getting super pumped! : )

Wombats and Eagles and Bears … oh my!

Berlin combines the culture of New York, the traffic system of Tokyo, the nature of Seattle, and the historical treasures of, well, Berlin. Hiroshi Motomura

Friday night I headed to Berlin on a bus packed full of polish people. I love that my life has taken the turn it has so that I can write a sentence like that in my blog : )

Anyway, lol, I sat next to a sweet polish woman who worked in Rotterdam and made the 10 hour trip all the time … crazyness. I actually got about 3 hours of sleep I think, which was awesome! I got into Berlin at about 5:45 a.m. and Amanda was there waiting for me. It was awesome seeing her, as I haven’t since January. We actually just chatted for about 45 minutes before we decided to venture outside the bus station. We got hopelessly lost, which should have warned us about how the trip was going to turn out direction-wise, on our way to the hostel, but found it eventually after wandering for a good two hours. But since we had gotten in so early, we weren’t too annoyed with the wasted time, because nothing would have been happening anyway. And just side note – the Wombat City Hostel was the coolest hostel ever. It was clean, cheap, secure and just pretty much awesome, I would totally recommend it if you ever end up in Berlin – and only 9 euro a night! What a steal! We were too early for check-in so we left our luggage in the check-room and gathered ourselves in the lobby. There was a brochure for a free tour Amanda had heard about, so even though we thought it might be beat (I mean it was a free tour) we decided to try it out. We got hopelessly lost trying to find the meeting place (you’ll start to notice a trend here) and thought we had missed it, but we actually stumbled upon it with plenty of time. Our tour guide was Mike and he was awesome! They work on tips (why it’s free) so he was super energetic and informative and cool and hilarious. We learned soooo much, much more than if we had just wandered the city by ourselves. We hit all the big sites (including seeing where Michael Jackson hung his baby out of the hotel window) and got some great history trivia (this was a definite must if you ever end up in Berlin – they run every day.) We started at the Brandenburg Gate, which is in Paris Square. The funny thing is the Gate is where royalty comes in to the city. And to get a bit of German humor; because of their rough history with France, the reason the square is so named is because the first thing the royalty is stepping on when they come into the city is Paris (France). Also the statue at the top has it’s head slightly tilted so her gaze is constantly on the French embassy … lol. We continued on to the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe. It was very vague (purposefully) and very moving and huge! The design was actually based on the Jewish cemetery in Prague. It was very controversial because nothing significant happened in the spot they put it in, but the designers just wanted it to be in prominent place where people would be confronted with it every single day and be forced to think about the atrocity. We also saw a lot of other big Nazi sights, such as the parking lot over Hitler’s Bunker, the Berlin Wall, and Checkpoint Charlie – all intensely interesting. Also a fun fact; in Berlin you can tell if you’re in the East or the West by looking at the traffic lights. The ones in the East are cute and very cartoonish (because the designer wanted children to pay attention to the signals) and the ones in the West are boring. The cartoon ones are quite popular and have large sections of souvenir shops devoted to them … Amanda even got a shirt with them on it. We also saw some pretty squares, including one in which students and professors of Humbolde University burned 20,000 books that were against the Nazi philosophy. The university looks upon this even as one of its darkest days and apart from a memorial, they try to make up for it by allowing a book market to take place outside their gates every day. The tour ended on Museum Island after four hours of straight walking … it was kind of rough and we were quite tired. So we decided to head back to hostel to nap and then go out later. Well we got into bed at 5 and didn’t wake up until 6 the next morning!!! Hahahahahahaha yeah. We were in one of the hoppingist cities in the world, and we spent not only the night but the evening as well sleeping. What can I say, we were tired.

The next morning we got an early start (hahaha of course) and decided to make it the museum day (a good decision as it rained the entire day) We bought a museum pass for the day, which was a complete steal for 7 euro. We started out at the Pergamon, which was awesome (see Facebook pictures.) We also saw a couple other ones which were not quite as awesome … Germans are really bad at painting … I didn’t realize how bad a painting could be but still hang in a museum til I went to Berlin’s art museum. Hahah, but still it was fun and a good deal so … I’m not complaining. Plus each museum had a free audio tour, which was awesome (did I mention Berlin is really cheap too!! Which was also awesome.)

When we finished with the museums, we hit up a café and Amanda tried some good German beer, while I got some tea (I’m slowly becoming a connoisseur – Jasmine is really good!) We also had some pretzel left (OMG their pretzels were amazinggggggggggg) So Mike had suggested we go to the Parliamentary building at night to see the view from the dome. We stood in line for an hour in the cold rain, so by the time we actually got to the top we kind of had to force excitement. It was cool, but I would have to say I wouldn’t recommend it as a must-do. We were convinced we should at least go to the hostel’s bar, however us being lame was apparently a theme of the trip and we just ended up chatting and then going to bed.

Our third day was pretty relaxed, because we had seen most of the major sights we needed to. We decided to check out Potsdamer Platz, “Berlin’s answer to Times Square.” Again it was cool, but there were much more interesting things to see in the city. I would actually recommend just staying in East Berlin the whole time if ever planning a trip. We went back to the Jewish memorial because we hadn’t spent much time there. Also, we walked through the Topography of Terror, a scary/intense timeline of the Nazi regime. Amanda finally got some traditional German food and we spent some time souvenir shopping (though I have yet to get any from any of the cities I’ve visited)

We walked around some more, but we didn’t want any problems with the bus so we decided to head over super early. We hung out at the bus station for a couple hours before the bus came – and the drama started.

Well, I was kind of confident with the bus as I’ve taken it 6 or 7 times now, but I was still slightly nervous cuz I hadn’t printed out a ticket. So I waited for my turn to check in with the driver, who only spoke polish by the way. He asked me for my ticket, I tried telling him it was all electronic, and he didn’t understand. He just kept asking for my ticket (which funny enough I actually did have, from when I came out of Amsterdam, I just didn’t realize it) and I kept trying to explain. He even had a manifest with my name on it, and I kept trying to show him my passport and his helper kept trying to convince him to just let us get on the bus. So finally they got the boss, who told me to run over to a really close hotel and print off my “confirmation.” I drop my bags with Amanda (who then had to stand awkwardly with the three men) while I sprinted to the hotel. I told the guy at the desk I would pay anything for the use of his printer (and I think he was going to let me use it for free! D’oh!) then had to wait while an old couple putzed around. But then I finally printed it off, and hard core sprinted back. Finally, finally we were allowed on, after I had held up a whole busload of people for a half hour. Good times.

Anyway, the trip was pretty awesome. I was a little skeptical of Berlin as I’ve never had a strong desire to go there. However it was very interesting. It’s not pretty. It’s not like an old-timey European city. In fact about 90 percent of it was destroyed in WWII. But it was so rich in recent history. I mean, it’s ground zero for the Nazi regime, which apart from being tragic was also an extremely fascinating time period in history. And then the whole Cold War thing. Well anyway, I’m so glad I saw it, even if for different reasons than for why I’m glad I saw Paris. Also their pretzels are seriously delicious. The city is so confusing directional wise. Seriously Amanda and I kept getting lost, and we’re both pretty decent with that kind of stuff. We could not find our way back to our hostel for the life of us. Ok, so yeah, very cool city.

So I’m off to Luxembourg with Alex and Sarah tomorrow, so I’m super excited. It’s supposed to snow, but of well … such is life. Also I just booked my flight to Barcelona for April 11 so hoo-yeah … I’m a traveling lady.

Also I bought a pashmina at Waterlooplein today and it’s so pretty : )

Ok enough for now!

Much love

Brussels and Paris : )

So I left you last time with the events of the Thursday and Friday of Dana, Chris and Adam’s visit. Thought I would refresh everyone’s memory since I haven’t posted in a week (sorry!)

But anyway Saturday we had no concrete plans, so we just decided to walk around various sections they hadn’t seen yet. I took them by the Flower Market, Waterlooplein, China Town, New Market, and of course the Red Light District, where there were quite a few “Oh my goodnesses” and they weren’t coming from Dana lol. On the way we stopped at Rembrandt’s house. We weren’t going to go in until they heard by say it was a set up to replicate the actual rooms he lived in, and then we were all for it. (Chris also has a slight obsession with the painter.) We stopped at a little café for lunch, it was very Dutch and cute. Then we headed over to the train station for the boys to buy their tickets to Paris (and wasted two hours! Lol … sort of.) After that we headed toward Our Lord in the Attic, which they liked as much as I did. At night I decided to sleep instead of party with them (not that they did hardcore or anything) because it was the height of my sickiness and I felt like crap/needed to pack.

I felt really bad Sunday because I told Dana I would meet her in front of Centraal at 8:10 and through a series of unfortunate events (damn you public transportation!) didn’t get there until 8:25, which I think almost gave her a heart attack! But anyway our bus was slightly late leaving to Brussels, but we still made it on time to meet the boys (who had taken the train.)

We got into town and actually ate at the same restaurant I did when I was there last. Saw the market, went into a museum that was about it’s history and only cost 3 euro (score!) and saw the peeing boy statue. The coolest thing was in the museum there was a room that had replicas of the peeing boy dressed in the different costumes it wears through out the year. My favorite was the yellow jersey … I almost took a picture of it, but there was a security camera watching me, so I couldn’t get up the nerve lol. Anyway we chilled in a café (did I say it was cold and rainy yet? It was) until we had to leave for our bus. When we got there they told us we could take an earlier one so we hopped on and headed to Paris!

We got into Paris and to our hotel with no problem. Dana did a really good job at choosing it, it was a private four person with a bathroom attached and it was pretty nice.

The next day it was still cold and rainy so we decided to hit up the Louvre. It was pretty amazing to say the least. I hadn’t realized how much I had picked up about art history through my various classes til I went there and was like OMG I recognize that one, and that one, and THAT one. Lol. Also got to see the Mona Lisa, which was guarded like you would never believe. Some one actually pushed me to get in to take a picture!! We knew it was too huge to even contemplate so we set a time limit of three hours. It didn’t leave much time for pondering the pictures, but it worked out nicely and I think we actually saw quite a bit of it!

We took the metro to the Champs Ellysee (spelling?) and the Arc de Triomphe, both of which were super cool! And magnificent and awesome. We ate at a café where I got a cheese sandwich which tasted like butt crack. And I had everyone else taste it as well, and they agreed! After that we just decided to walk down the CE and it was pretty cool with all the stores – we saw the flagship store for Sephora, and some really cools ones exhibiting ‘concept cars’ of the future. They were neat.

We saw the palace, the little palace, the Seine, the Alexander Bridge, Napoleon’s tomb and the Eiffel tower from a distance. It began to rain so we took the metro to Notre Dame. It was pretty and very cool inside, but not the coolest cathedral I’ve ever seen. We also didn’t get there in time to take the tower tour, which probably would have been interesting.

We went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner, which we had at a lovely little pizzeria down the street from us. It was delicious! Then we headed over to the Eiffel. The tower is so bad ass man! You see it all the time and then you’re there and it’s so Paris. The top was closed but we got to go to the second level, which I have since heard is the best view anyway. And it was. It was spectacular. We got to see all the sights from the perfect height. It was a take-your-breath-away moment, looking over the amazing sprawl that is Paris. However it was intensely windy! Hahah we found the exact right spot to stand and avoided most of it, but when we ventured to the other side we almost got blown over!

After we finally descended, we wanted to do something, but everything around the tour was closed (lame!) We ended up at a little café and got crepes (of course we had to!)

The next morning we went up to Sacre Coeur, a huge cathedral about three minutes from our hotel. Now this one was breathtaking! It sat atop a butt load of steps too and looked over Paris. It was too cool! Plus on our way there Dana got scolded by the woman we ordered our breakfast from because the woman had said Bonjour, Dana hadn’t said anything and then ordered in French and got called out for not saying Hi even though she spoke French (that was unnecessarily confusing, but it was funny.)

We walked around Montemarte, a small area outside the city which is “untouched by time” and actually really sweet. Very windy, hilly streets, and cute old houses. It was a nice way to spend the morning. We also got to see Moulin Rouge which was disappointing to say the least, but I still got to see it which was cool.

Then it was time to go to the bus, and thus starts Dana and Bri’s bus adventures. First we get there and we hand the lady our tickets. She looks at them and say’s “here’s the thing, you (and she points to me) booked the right day. But she (Dana) booked it for tomorrow!” Arg! But it was ok we just had to go get Dana’s changed, there were plenty of seats. So then we actually get on the bus and these two guys sit across the aisle from us. About an hour into it we stop in this little city and the bus driver comes back and engages in a full-out screaming match with these two guys! Right next to us. I thought they were going to start throwing punches. Apparently they were on a no-bus list or something (Dana got a few of the words as it was in French.) But they were forced to get off eventually and we continued. Then we got to Brussels and a new bus driver got on. He drove about five minutes away from the bus station, stopped in the middle of the road, got off for five minutes and then came back with another passenger. SHADDYYYY. A couple hours later the announcement came on in French that was something like …. Blah blah blah police. So we pull into a rest area and the police board the bus, asking for passports. I thought it was just a routine check, but apparently they were looking for “two male suspects.” They left with one passenger.

After that we managed to get back ok, Dana slept on the floor (on cushions!) and we met up with the boys at the airport. They actually even took off on time, despite a severe storm warning.

Thoughts: Paris is majorly expensive! It’s like double the prices you would find in A’dam. It’s still beautiful. It’s so different than A’dam though its hard to compare the two. You don’t get the kind of majesty in the sights that you get in Paris. But still, while Paris is lovely to visit, I prefer living in the quiet coziness that is Amsterdam : ) It was also really nice seeing Dana and the boys. It was fun having someone from home (which I will get more of soon, as I am meeting up with Amanda in Berlin) It was also fun seeing A’dam again through new eyes, and sort of getting to be a tourist. I’ll miss them!

Ok sorry if that seemed rushed, because I am. I’m about to get ready for Berlin, and I have much to do! So an exciting post will follow!!

On other news, the parentals are getting a dog!!! Hoo-Yeah!!

Much love!

Dana’s in the ‘dam

“How do people make it through life with out a sister?” Sara Corpening

So after a horribly long and boring class on Thursday I excitedly hurried over to Amstel 144, where Dana said their hotel was. I get there around the time we had designated, 1:00 and waited around for a bit. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized there was no way she was going to be there, her flight didn’t even land in Schiphol until 12:03 (I checked during my break). So, having told her to take the tram to Rembrandtsplein, I decided to walk the two minutes to get there and meet them when they got off. After about a half hour of nervously pacing between their hotel and the square, I spotted Dana in the window of the tram (even though I barely recognized her with her red hair!) Anyway after a joyous little reunion I led them back to the Eden hotel. As we walked in we looked around and realized it was pretty swankyyy. Chris even said something to the extent of; “are you sure this is the right one?” Well! I had just trusted Dana’s email, but as it turns out, it wasn’t the right one. There’s an Eden group in A’dam that owns a bunch of hotels, and the one they were supposed to be at was on the other side of town (sort of). The problem was that I never take public transportation; we either walk or ride our bikes (or take one of two tram/buses that we know.) So though they were laden down with luggage, I told them it was walk able … ten minutes probably. Well 25 minutes later (I didn’t get lost, it really was the other side of the city) we ended up at the right hotel. It’s actually pretty nice, albeit very small – as is everything here.

They were pretty hungry, so after dropping their bags in their “5 by 5” room we went to look for a good place for lunch. Since we were near Leidseplein we headed that way. I immediately spotted the Pancake Corner, the place the girls and I went a while back, and suggested it, knowing it was decent (we don’t have much experience with eating out either, we just eat in our apartments.) I urged them to try the pancakes, a Dutch staple, and they obliged. Dana got one with Feta, Chris got a calzone type, and Adam got a hearty pizza one. After filling up we decided to hit up the Anne Frankhuis, since on weekends (even Fridays) the lines/crowd get nutzo. It was really interesting, but not what I expected. I think because its so built up as a museum, it doesn’t feel like it’s the actual house she lived in, which makes sense they get millions of visitors every year. I think the most impacting moment for me was seeing the bookcase, for some reason. I was like “wow” this is what you always hear about. The ‘secret annex’ was so unbelievable small, too. I can’t even imagine being cooped up there for two years. Quotes from her diary are written over some of the walls and one said something to the extent of; ‘there’s a voice urging me sometimes to go outside, breath the fresh air.’ Dana and I decided on who we thought gave them up to the Nazis, but I won’t say anything in print!

We left the Anne Frankhuis and headed over to Dam Square for some photo ops. Then we walked down Kalverstraat back to Rembrandtsplein. The group decided it was time to imbibe in some local refreshments so we found a café and got a couple Heinekens. People watching, we say quite a few people with frites, so we decided to get some for a dinner/snackish thing. We stopped at a stand on the corner of Rplein, and got the best frites I have had in the city yet. They were delicious! We wanted to bar-hop so we tried another café, and chilled for a bit. Looking around the table, though, we realized how tired the boys were so they decided to head back to the hotel and crash (understandably after an unbelievably long travel day(s)). After finally finding the right tram for them to take, I headed home, with the promise to see them bright and early the next day.

Because we wanted to get an early start, I had to get up at 7:15, which wasn’t that bad actually. I took the tram to meet them at their hotel and we headed out for breakfast. We found another pancake house (like I said, a Dutch specialty) and filled up on the deliciousness. Afterwards, having decided to hit up museums today, we made our way to the Rijksmuseum (and thanks to everyone who lent me their museum cards!!!). I actually liked it better the second time through, but I also wasn’t being surrounded by hordes of elementary students either. Then we hopped on over to the Van Gogh museum. It was also very nice, but crowded. Still I think the group really liked both. The only hitch came when we were ready to leave and couldn’t find Adam. We searched for about 15 minutes before locating him in the restaurant, having ordered food. But we didn’t want to eat there, so we waited for him to finish before we searched out a cozy Dutch café for lunch. When we finished we went on the hunt for an Albert Heijn (which weirdly enough there seem to be none in the Leidseplein area), but got sidetracked by a Dutch bakery on the way. We all tried different pastries and they were all quite good – I got an iced cake thing that tasted like cornbread a little, Dana got an almond/cream éclair type thing, Adam got an apple turnover and Chris got something he had to eat with a fork (lol.) We eventually did find an AH and loaded up on drinks (since they are so expensive at restaurants) and then made our way to Dam Square for a canal boat ride. Unfortunately it was raining this entire time (since lunch) and I don’t think it made for the best sight seeing day. On our way to the Square I made ONE wrong turn, I knew where we were, we just headed in the wrong direction of the street, and I fear I will never live it down! Lol. The canal boat was really nice, and all three agreed it was a great way to see the city and be sitting down. It was pretty much the same one we took during orientation, but it was still nice to see everything again from canal-level. However the rocking of the boat was putting everyone to sleep, and when we disembarked they decided to go to the hotel to take a nap. We’re meeting up again for dinner in a bit, and then we plan to try out the night life. So many pictures/stories will hopefully be coming up.

Misc.: I’m getting sick, which sucks! I woke up today with a very, very soar throat and a stuffy nose, but I thought I still might be able to beat it. However, no such luck. But I will push through and not let it ruin any upcoming good times/trips. It’s funny to see Amsterdam again through new eyes. Everything we were shocked about 6 weeks ago, Dana and crew are shocked about now: the soda they give you is like a shot glass! It’s so expensive! Dutch people are so tall! The bikers are crazy! Etc, etc. It’s very interesting. : ) Also I hate figuring out public transportation! Haha it’s so much easier just to ride bikes (I never thought I would say that!) or walk. It’s kind of sad that after a month of really nice weather (for the most part) it’s been grey and raining the whole time they’ve been here; still even a little bad weather can’t mar the beauty that is A’dam lol. Also stoked for Paris! The boys apparently aren’t bussing it with us, so that will be interesting … they’re going to end up paying an arm and a leg for travel, but they will have more time in the cities (something I’m ok with, since our whole trip – including stopping in Brussels – is only costing us 74 euro! Woot)

All right, more to come!

Much love!

Whoo to the Hoo

We know a little about a lot of things; just enough to make us dangerous. Dean Winchester

So some super exciting news (for me anyway) came in yesterday. The CW released a list of six of the shows that they are renewing for the fall, and my boy Jensen’s was one of them!!! : ) Yup that’s right, Supernatural is back for a fourth season, which weirdly enough I think is due in part to the writer’s strike. I can’t wait to hear about the fates of the other two shows I care about (Bones and House, which I think will both be renewed.)

Anyway on to slightly less trivial things lol. Yesterday was quite amusing. First of all I had my presentation on Polanski and The Fearless Vampire Killers for my film class. I think it went ok, we went after our professor and she had all the same information that we did, so hopefully we’ll get a decent grade.

After class I returned home and did some serious grocery shopping. I was thinking about going on a run, but then I looked outside and realized it was snowing/raining/hailing, so I revised my plan and opted to stay inside.

That night we wanted to go out on the town and settled on going to Paradiso. Sarah had heard that a really good DJ would be performing. Now that sounded good and all, but I really don’t know anything about the art of DJing, as my experiences with them have been limited to high school dances and ‘oh do you have the latest Britney Spears.’ But I was game.

We realized about the time we were ready to leave that the bus was coming in 5 minutes so we sprinted hard core out to the bus stop, only to the realize we were going to Leidseplein and needed to take the tram instead. However we didn’t have to wait long, so it worked out ok.

The only problem I have found with Amsterdam’s nightlife is that Europeans don’t dance. I had been super stoked for our plan to go hear a DJ and dance, but when we walked into the room everyone was just standing there. Bopping their heads every once in a while, but for the most part, still. Well, we would have none of that, and proceeded to make a minor spectacle of ourselves by dancing wildly in the middle of everyone. The DJ really was good, from what I could tell. He was funny too, a bit of a mook. Even though we were the only ones doing it, dancing was really fun as well. It’s something I look forward to doing more next year, even though Amanda and Angie probably will leave me high and dry (lol.) Anyway eventually his time was up, and another group took over after a wildly unique scratch off between the performers. It was interesting, more because I felt like I wouldn’t experience it many times in my life (being smack dab in the middle – literally – of a DJ battle) than because I could really tell who was better. However after the main DJ left (I mean really, apparently he’s like really famous in the DJing world) most of the people cleared out and in the end it was just our little group dancing on the floor and Tim and Nick looking on awkwardly. Eventually even they left and for about the last 10 minutes it was just Sarah, Christy, Alex and I and the DJs in the main room of Paradiso … it was pretty bad ass.

Anyway eventually the lights came on and we realized we should probably peace and headed home.

Today I woke up relatively late but justified it by the fact that I had gotten very little sleep the night before. I got ready for class, headed into PHK and made my way up to the designated classroom. Keep in mind, this is the class I’ve had one time (in the classroom – apart from excursions) and has been cancelled more times than I can remember. Well, you guessed it, after all of us had filed into the classroom and waited around for about ten minutes, an office worker came by to tell us, due to sickness of the lecturer the class was cancelled. Blarg.

So it looked like I had a free afternoon. I decided to wander over to find Dana’s hotel, so I could make it there easily tomorrow. It is in an awesome location and was super easy to find. I hope they make it there ok! I had about three hours before I had to meet Sarah, Tim, and Nick for our writing group (I’ll get to that in a second) so I decided to do what I do best – wander around and look at all the pretty. I found an awesome bookstore in the process that sells paperbacks for five euro, which is banging. I found some cool little side streets, but eventually made my way over to Singel around 2:30. I called Sarah and we ended up meeting up on the street. We made our way to the café, Greenwoods, which we had picked for our first meeting. We sat outside and shared a pot of tea and waited for the boys. At 3 (the designated meeting time btw) Tim called for directions, and called again at 3:20. At tops he should have been five mins away by this point. Sarah and I continued chatting, but every once in a while Sarah would look around and ask if we should be worried Tim hadn’t arrived. My standard response was, no if he can’t find the Singel it’s his own damn fault (lol.) Anyway, for all concerned, he eventually did, after cycling aimlessly for a while. Nick arrived shortly after because his class had run later than expected, not because he had gotten lost. And then our first meeting commenced. And it was interesting.

We stayed there until about 5:15, when Sarah had to leave for class. So after a productive day I decided to head on back to Funen.

So tomorrow kicks off Brianna’s crazy month, with Dana’s arrival. I’m very excited to see them and for them to see Amsterdam. I also am ridiculously stoked for Paris. But I know the week is going to fly by and then they’re going to leave and it will be sad … until I leave that Friday for Berlin and then it will just be crazy again.

My internet has been going crazy lately. Like it will stay on for like twenty minutes but then it will lose its connection – that’s kind of annoying, and also impedes my use of skype and or AIM just in case any one was wandering

Anyway, Dad I hope the ski trip was awesome!! I can’t wait to hear about it from Dana.

Stay tuned for some awesome tales about two sisters (plus Chris and Adam lol) in A’dam!

Much Love!

I procrastinate like it’s my job, what can I say …

My Grandmother is over eighty and still doesn’t need glasses. Drinks right out of the bottle. Henny Youngman

Anyway sorry for the lapse in postings! So let’s recap the weekend (in which most of our friends traveled and Alex and I, as the only ones left in A’dam, partied)

Friday:

The day began with my first Amsterdam Architecture (which I will hereby call it, because it’s full title is way too long) class since two weeks ago. Our excursion was a biking tour of the 17^th century part of the city, a.k.a. over by the Jordaan. I could not imagine how this was going to be a good idea – 8 or 9 students riding around behind our crazy professor trying to listen to his lecture as we pedal by architecture and then randomly stop and get in the way of everyone around. But I bravely headed over to the meeting place, the start of the Singel canal. It actually went OK for the most part. Although these outdoor field trips are hard because I only end up catching about every other word he says, its still interesting to see first hand some of the city’s design. The only big problem came when we tried to start up again after stopping on a steep (in relative terms) canal bridge. The entire time there was one of my peers constantly chatted about how terrible she was at biking. And every time she said something I would smile, commiserating with her. However, I didn’t realize how abysmal she was, I just assumed she was like me and complained a lot, but managed to get by for the most part. This was not the case. So the canal bridge was pretty busy and there was a car in front of me turning to go down the same street we were going down, which was fine, I was just letting him do that and then was turning inside of him. Well all of a sudden I hear a “no! no! no!” behind me and I try to veer but there’s a moving vehicle right there and I can’t really do anything as I feel the front of her tire collide with mine. I would have been pushed over into the car had I not quickly hopped off my seat and saved myself, but the whole incident was rather frightening for a moment or two. Other than that, and being yelled at loudly in by an old (very old) Dutch lady who was trying to walk her dog on the sidewalk we had taken over with ourselves and our bikes, the entire excursion was quite nice. It’s interesting to see how modern architects have tried to incorporate past styles into their new buildings, and how some have failed miserably and others have succeeded. We ended the tour outside the Bible Museum, which believe it or not I had been thinking about trying to find. So I figured it was fate and decided to pop in to see what it had to offer. It didn’t have much. It really would have been tragically disappointing had I not had a Museum Card to get me in for free, but as it was I was happy to just check another museum off my list and see a few cool things. These interesting artifacts included a mummy, a mummy head (unwrapped) and a to-scale replica of the Holy Mount (I think that’s what its called) in Jerusalem. Also interesting was a video on the battle between Jews and Muslim for that place; both have significant holy events taking place there and both want to claim it as theirs. I think the psychology of religion is just so fascinating. What causes these people to so fiercely identify themselves by their religions, and have such strong negative views of anyone from the other? I guess that’s the question of the day, but it really clearly illustrated the tensions that exists between the Jewish and Muslim population in the Middle East. Anyway, I don’t regret going, but I would not recommend it to someone who either had to pay or was only in town for a couple days.

That night Alex and I decided to try to find this hip-hop bar we hear was good. However we never actually looked up how to get there, so we ended up wandering around Rembrandtsplein for a little bit. Finally (both having to use the restroom) we decided to just randomly pick a bar to go into. We found the Old Bell, which was adorable. We walked in on a bunch of middle-aged Europeans dancing to 60s-70s music and singing. As juxtaposition to them there was also a large group of younger kids having just a good a time. We decided we had hit the jackpot. We ordered beers and sat back to enjoy the experience; which included some interesting compliments, chatting with an old couple who came to A’dam for the weed, and one of the middle-aged European woman rocking out on an air guitar. However the highlight was when they grabbed Alex and I and made us start dancing with them. It was a really good time, a great atmosphere and everyone was having fun with each other. All in all a wonderful bar! We stumbled out of there sometime around 2, and after a brief encounter with a group of English boys, headed off to try to get some frites, which we became mildly obsessed with obtaining. Miracles of all miracles we found an open snackshop and enjoyed some good ole greasy Amsterdam fries. When we finished a scarily intense Dutch woman asked us about the differences between the American academic system and the Dutch one (wanting us to tell her it was much better.) I wanted to scream at her how much worse it is, but restrained myself lol.

Saturday:

I decided in the afternoon I wanted to get out and so I went on a walk. I headed in the general direction of the Artis Zoo, which is near us, but in a way that is no where near anything else so I rarely go over there (arg poorly constructed sentence … sorry) Anyway, not far from Funen I saw a sign for DapperMarket (which apparently is a “hidden jewel of Europe” according to … frommer’s or lonely planet or something) and I had heard good things about it from Alex so I decided to venture in. Apparently it wasn’t in full swing, because it was mostly just shops, not vendors on the street … but I enjoyed it anyway. It was a bustling area and the shops had a large variety of offerings. I found a really cool clothing store, which I want to return to with money. After about an hour or so I returned home, and having previously decided to eat out for dinner, Alex, Dana, and I headed out to the windmill café, something we hadn’t tried yet even though its so close to us. We ran into Matt, an IES-er, who was studying there and joined him. I liked the atmosphere, but didn’t find anything on the menu I wanted. It’s a good place to go for a drink, but I’ll have to keep scouting for restaurants close to us. That night Alex and I tried out a The Green Elephant, a bar really close to us (are you getting the idea – we were feeling pretty lazy lol) Anyway it has a fantastic atmosphere – very quiet and chill. It’s small and out of the way and seems very Dutch to me. I definitely feel like it would be a good option if we aren’t up for the trek into the city (and back for that matter.)

Sunday and Monday:

As usual my Sunday and Monday were mostly just me hanging out. I did do laundry yesterday, which made me feel as though I had accomplished something! (and then spent the rest of the day looking up Jensen Ackles interviews on youtube lol) Today I also did some school work, went to the grocery store, and almost finished Amanda Quick’s book (yay for mutti sending me the new one!!!!!) Tim and I met with Adela to work on our presentation for tomorrow’s Europe-Hollywood-Europe class. It’s about Roman Polanski and The Fearless Vampire Killers … I hope its good, but either way, that will be 30 percent of my grade out of the way, and then all I have to worry about is my final paper.

I can’t wait ‘til Dana gets here!! I’m so excited, it’s only in a couple of days.

Anyway

Much love!

The week in which I did nothing

Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired. Jules Renard.

So I had big plans. I probably would have had bigger ones had I had time (also please enjoy how I managed to use had three times in that very short sentence). But a whole week off from school for one reason or another! Imagine! (And all my friends gave me hell for it as well, so I probably should have been at least semi-productive to prove them wrong … or something … yeah.)

Well surprises of all surprises, I wasn’t. My excuse is my upcoming weeks are going to be possibly the busiest I have ever had in my life and I’m resting up for them. As I have posted my travel/visitor schedule, twice I believe, now, I won’t rehash it, but simply add that now I’m also going to Paris with sister and company.

Well Saturday was pretty much recovering from Friday’s Belgium trip. I slept until 11:30, which for anyone who knows me is INSANE! But I think I needed it, so I didn’t feel too bad. It’s amazing how fast the day goes by when you don’t wake up until a little before noon! LOL! So at night we had decided we wanted to go out because, really we just usually end up drinking in some one’s room, so we haven’t discovered Amsterdam’s nightlife to the fullest. We gathered in Sarah’s room because her roommate was tripping to Belgium (as were most international students last weekend apparently.) Haha we ended up not leaving, though there was talk of biking to Haarlam (which I believe I stopped after stating the obvious deterrent of a two hour bike ride each way late at night lol.) But the “party” was quite enjoyable anyway. I got into a deep discussion about human nature, a more superficial one about music, and a fascinating one about writing (which I can talk about for hours.) In the end Sarah, Nick, Tim and I drunkenly agreed to form a ‘writers group’ where we all email each other a work every week and then discuss it the next day. If we actually do it, I’ll probably be surprised, but it could be interesting. I’ve already written my ‘work’ for this week, three short scenes of different emotions. Just creating those three pieces made me remember how much I enjoy creative writing, so if nothing else, something came of it. I ended up finally cutting off my part of the discussion around 4 in the morning (another insane bit of the day) and went to sleep. Unfortunately for some reason I only slept for about 3 hrs (and for a girl who only works well with 8 under her belt, that was kind of rought).

But still it was a gorgeous day and Sunday I went into the city to do some shopping for things like mousse (as I was running out of it) and bobby pins (to keep my hair from going crazy in the wind … for examples of such craziness just see Facebook pictures.) I started feeling sick about halfway through the excursion (cold-like symptoms), so after making my purchases I headed back to Funen to try to recover for the rest of the day. Well I ended up finally watching Supernatrual. I brought season two with me, after I got into season one (thanks mom … lol) right before I left. Well. This kicked off my Supernatural marathon in which I watched the show for three days straight … pretty much. I finished season two (ahhh fabulous!) and moved on to watching season three from streaming the episodes online. This was fine yesterday when it was ridiculously rainy and windy, but today’s gorgeous weather made me feel guilty enough to prompt me to go out in some manner. So I went on a run, and it was lovely. Not as lovely as Jensen Ackles … but you know, what is lol.

Anyway, I just finished the last episode available for season three (damn you writers, wanting your rights and everything…) But I just see no way out for Jensen (a.k.a. Dean). He made a contract with a demon to save Jared Padalecki (a.k.a. Sam) – who, ok so I hated him as Dean in GG but still, is much less hot! – and his year of life he was granted is coming up. Arg. Plus I really don’t like the Ruby, Sam’s love interest, or the fact that the show is turning into Charmed, with all its demonicness – I much preferred it when they were dealing with spirits (even though I would have to close my eyes half of the time lol) Anyway still top-notch. Much better than I had originally thought from watching previews of it (it came on after GG.) Really funny writing, and the bond between the brothers is so awesome and cute : )

Ok way too much about Supernatural, but as its what I’ve been doing for the last couple days it was obviously going to play some part in this post.

So Ok. I pretty much ‘wasted’ my week off, but it will be all good, because my next 6 weeks are going to be one adventure after another. Also I’m looking into travel afterwards. It seems with every minute I change my mind about what I want to do. This morning I was just putzing around online and stumbled across a kayaking excursion around the islands of Croatia. It would be ridiculously expensive, but it looks like it would be totally worth it. Still it will probably have to wait until I’ve become rich and settled in my life, lol. A less expensive version would be traveling around Ireland (which has some great kayaking at some places, so I could at least fit in maybe a couple day trips) and maybe make it more of an outdoorsy kind of trip. I had originally just planned to do the big-city hopping thing, but I’m going to Paris, Brussels, Luxembourg, Berlin and Prague as of right now, so I feel like that will give me that experience. I still haven’t ruled out Switzerland, either for afterwards as I think that would be beautiful in the summer. So we’ll see, I’ll probably change my mind ten thousand more times before it gets here, but that’s what I’m thinking at the moment.

Misc.: I cleaned!! Yay … the room looks much better now! : ) Also I made tacos! I was so excited and proud of myself for how inventive I was about making them … like I heated up the shells in a saucepan on the stove … it was exciting and sure to become an easy dish I can make. The weather here just continues to astound me. It’s absolutely gorgeous! Like every once and a while we will get a truly crappy day, but it’s the exception rather than the rule that I was expecting it to be. I finally got my debit card!!! Yay after two and a half week after mutti sent it, it arrived in my IES mailbox! So excited! Dana will be here in a week and it should be super fun. I’m so excited. The only down side at the moment is that I won’t be able to meet them at the airport cuz I have a class I have to be at, so boo.

Ok off to actually be productive and do reading for class … my first one since last Tuesday lol.

Much love!

We came, we saw, we jumped

Make a list of important things to do today. At the top of your list, put ‘eat chocolate.’ Now, you’ll get at least one thing done today. Gina Hayes

We knew we were going to have to drag ourselves out of bed Friday morning at the butt crack of dawn (actually even before that), so our philosophy Thursday night was ‘screw it’ let’s go out anyway. Well we never made it out of Hallie and Christy’s room but we ended up having an interesting time with Christy’s Book of Questions, which pretty much is self-explanatory. It was enjoyable except when I had to suffer through my own painful turn, answering such questions as: How do you see your funeral? And: Do you want people to mourn for you? But after a while, thinking of our 5 a.m. alarms, we decided to crash.

I’m not going to lie, it was a rough start, but eventually we left around 6 to head over to Centraal to take the metro to Amstelstation to catch our Eurolines bus. After a bit of speed walking and panic, we made it there super early. The check in went smoothly which hopefully bodes well for my other Eurolines trips, as I will be making a few. The bus ride itself was uneventful; we got to see a bit of the countryside of The Netherlands and Belgium, we slept a bit (or rather Sarah, Christy, and Alex did, luckyssss), and I started the Amanda Quick book I brought (and am all ready contemplating having her newest paperback shipped here lol.) We stopped in Rotterdam, and it reaffirmed my belief that it is a horribly ugly city that I never want to go to – you got to have at least one in each country.

Driving into Brussels about 3 hrs and 45 mins later was amazing. At the outskirts of the city there are all these awesome touristy monuments, like the royal family’s palace, the huge atom sculpture (see Facebook pictures) and a large, majestic cathedral (which was awesome, but I didn’t catch the name of it every.)

One of the funny moments of the trip came when the bus stopped at the station. No one was getting off, but we knew this at least was the city we were supposed to be in. But I started thinking to myself ‘maybe they’ll drive somewhere else for us to unload.’ Hahaha. Then people started boarding, and I thought ‘well that’s probably not right.’ So we made our way to the front (in which we had to crawl over a sleeping old man) just as the driver was about to close the door. “Is this where we get off for Brussels?” I asked. The driver gave me a shocked look and replied with a loud “yes! Get off here!” After we scrambled out the door (thank goodness we didn’t have any checked luggage) we started thinking about it. “Do you know where that bus was going … ” Hallie asked knowing the answer as did we all. “Paris.” We laughed at the situation of us never having thought to disembark, ending up in Paris, and having to do some kind of crazy maneuvering to get back to A’dam.

After some confusion we ended up getting to Central Station in Brussels. I think we were all hungry so we decided to find a place to eat then take a hop-on hop-off bus tour of the city. We ventured out to what seemed like the touristy area and found a cute little tearoom for lunch. It was very reminiscent of a diner; the menu even had pictures on it. I ordered a Belgian waffle (of course!) and it was delicious. Christy asked me if it was different than the American version, and I tried to explain how much better it was. “It’s like air … but good air.” And that’s still the best way I can explain it lol. But the awesome thing about Brussels is that, where A’dam has many walk-up windows for fries, Brussels has the same thing for waffles. It’s a pretty neat and unique part of their culture, that’s fun to learn about. (So one thing checked off our list!)

After lunch we went back to Central Station, to take the tour bus. Unfortunately, because it was winter the top of the tour bus was covered (unlike the one I took in England which had an open second deck providing a much better view of the city) but we had high hopes for it anyway. We quickly rumbled by all the beautiful sights (I’ll write about my take on Brussels in a bit) as the tour droned on in our ears (we had headsets to listen to a recording in English.) Honestly the woman’s voice sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher most of the time, but it was still lovely to see so many of the sights in Brussels, with out killing ourselves with walking the entire city (which actually would have been impossible to do in the time we had.) We “hopped-off” at the Triumphal Arc, a monument I definitely wanted to see in person, as everything I had looked up on Brussels had pictures of it. As we walked down the steps of the bus though the driver informed us the next one wouldn’t be coming around for another hour. We had to make a quick decision if we thought it was worth it or not, but came to the conclusion that it was.

The monument was built in celebration of the 50^th anniversary of Belgium’s independence and it is breathtaking. It’s like a combination of the Brandenburg Gate (spelling?) and a roman amphitheater. I was in awe. And definitely glad we stopped, although we had to amuse ourselves by taking pictures (through which we’ve decided to do a ‘jump picture’ every where we decide to go, and make a catalogue of it at the end of the semester) and wandering around a small outskirt section of the city. After frantically flagging down the next bus, we hopped back on and finished the rest of the tour. As I said we kind of went by everything pretty quickly, and having decided not to get off at any stops and loose another hour, had to be satisfied with mostly blurry pictures with other people’s heads in them and/or part of the top of the bus. One of the coolest parts of the tour, which I actually did not have high hopes for, was the Atomium. It was the site of the ’58 (I think) world fair and it’s this huge metal structure that looks like an atom. It sounds tacky, but it actually is really cool. After the mostly satisfying tour, we decided we wanted to walk around and find the peeing boy statue. We headed back to the touristy area and sort of magically stumbled upon the main square. Dutch people call it de grote Markt, so I will as well. It was once called the most beautiful square in Europe, and it really is quite amazing. Facing each other on either side are the Het Broodhuis or King’s House, and the Town Hall. Very gothic/ eastern European looking buildings enclose the rest of the square. It is just gorgeous. My favorite building though was the Town Hall, which spikes dramatically toward the sky. It looks like the dribble castles we used to make at the beach out of wet sand. Just put a ‘Princess Crabina’ at the top, and it would be exactly the same (lol). The rest of the day we spent wandering around the streets. We found a chocolate shop, where at first all we could do is gawk at the selections. We were like little kids grabbing up the candy. I ended up with a bar of white chocolate and a bar of milk chocolate, both of which look delicious. However, my purchase was modest in relation to my fellow trippers. After a quick dinner at a fast-foody/ethnic place, we decided we simply hadn’t purchased enough Belgian chocolate and found another shop to take over. I walked out with dark chocolate orange truffles, which look to-die-for. By the end of our two stops we were loaded down – I think Sarah spent about 40 euros in all on chocolate (though to be fair a lot of it is gifts) – and we had something else to check off our list. That left one more thing: The peeing boy statue. Just a funny side note, every souvenir shop in town sells about a hundred different replicas of this famous statue, in many different colors and sizes. Some are more interesting than others: for instance one such statue was a corkscrew, and the screw was in an interesting part of the body. ;p We found it easily due to the multitude of signs pointing us in the right direction and the hordes of picture taking tourists surrounding it, and it is quite amusing. It’s very small, but I can see where it gained its notoriety. Also we were all quite entertained by this angsty (to steal saran’s word) waiter leaning out a window at a nearby café, cynically viewing the masses below. (The last thing checked off our ‘to-do’ list!)

We wandered back to the town square, which was even more breathtaking by night. The sky, which had been cloud-covered and rainy all day, had turned a deep royal blue. It created a dramatic contrast to the white spire of the Town Hall. It was gorgeous and I simply stood in awe of it for a good five minutes, wishing my camera took better night pictures (although, hoo-rah I have just discovered the night setting! So better night pictures to come.) We decided to be better safe than sorry and made our way back to the North Station where our bus was scheduled to leave from. We got there way before we were even allowed to check in, so we just hung out biding time. Finally we were allowed to board. Although exhausted, I was going to attempt to read the whole way home, thinking there was no possibility that I would sleep on a bus. However my plan was thwarted when the driver popped in The Bourne Supremacy (in French, no less) and turned off all the lights. I decided to try to sleep anyway, and actually did. The journey goes by so much faster that way ;p We had a little bit of panic toward the end of our journey (the bus was a half-hour delayed in starting) because we didn’t know when the last metro ran and we all had terrifying visions of us hoofing it back to Funen for Amstelstation (which let me tell you, would not have been pretty.) However, everything went amazingly smoothly, and we made it back with out any travel difficulties at all. It was a fabulous day had by all : ) and we all thought it was pretty cool that we could say we daytripped to Belgium!

My thoughts on Brussels: The city is gorgeous pretty much. All the buildings are majestic and it feels very European. I very much enjoyed the ‘hills’. That’s something I’ve missed in Amsterdam, a good hill. There’s just something about being at the bottom of one and looking up at all the European houses lining the street and being happy. However, it does cut down on the possibility of bicycles ever taking on the same popularity as they have in A’dam. And you can really notice the difference. In Brussels there is traffic everywhere (and crazy crazy drivers as well) and all of the problems traffic brings. The most noticeable was the noise pollution. You don’t realize how quiet A’dam is until you go somewhere like Brussels and hear all the horns blasting through the streets. It also had a more big-city feel to it than A’dam. Where as A’dam has a quaint cozy feel to it, Brussels is more like NYC (sort of), more bustle. Another interesting aspect was that we heard English everywhere, way more than in A’dam. Clerks immediately switched into very impressive English when talking to us, but even more interesting is that we heard it on the streets; Belgians talking to each other in English, which is pretty much unheard of in A’dam. Brussels in all is definitely worth a visit. However, even after a long day I’m happy with the way we did it in one day. I was also reassured that my future bus travels are going to be fine (even though I think my fellow trippers had the opposite reaction). As long as I have a good book, and remember to charge my iPod, and don’t drink anything (this bus didn’t have a bathroom!!) it will be allllll good.

Although I don’t think I got a feel of what Brussels is really like, I got an overview and got to see some pretty amazing sites. I’m very happy with the way our trip turned out, but I was even happier to return to Amsterdam. This place really holds my heart. We’ve made a decision not to judge other cities by comparing them to A’dam, because there is no way any other one could compete (although I know I will.) I am looking forward to trying to find one that comes close J

Now I have gone on for far too long. Hope everything is well in the states! (can you believe it’s Thon weekend already?!)

Much Love!

paintings + diamonds = fabulousness

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.  ~St. Augustine

So this will be a short post, but since I was some-what productive today I would like to document it separately from our trip to Belgium tomorrow.

This morning I finally booked my ticket to Praha. YAY! I’ll be heading the Republic to visit miss Amanda March 28-31^st. I was reluctant to snap up the cheap bus ticket at first because the weeks following the 5^th of March to pretty much the end of the second week of April are going to be jam-packed. But I finally decided a 62-euro round-trip price was too good to pass up, and have prepared myself for the craziness that will be next month. An added bonus; Donny is visiting at the same time, so there will be a Penn State reunion in Prague : )

After purchasing that, I biked over to the Rijksmuseum. From the outside alone it’s an impressive place to visit. If the inside held nothing of significance it would still be a cool place to go. Now the problem with the Rijks, and with many other museums throughout A’dam, is that they are renovating and won’t reopen until 2009; as one of my professors said, “This is not a good time to be visiting Amsterdam for the museums.” But they still have part of their collection open, which ranged from weapons to Rembrandts and everything in between. Although before I got here I thought the Rijks solely exhibited art, I was wrong. They have pieces from everyday life in the Netherlands, like doll houses that wealthy merchant women would commission as exact replicas of their houses, Delft pottery, peace medallions, etc. It was all very interesting, but the best part for me was the paintings. I love the Dutch style. I’m not sure why, I just do. There were some great works by various artists, but my favorite were of course from Rembrandt and Vermeer.

There is the age-old question: Do we like Shakespearean plays because they’re actually good, or because Shakespeare wrote them? That seems the obvious, but things have a way of taking on a bandwagon aspect, even through out history. Do I like that painting because it appeals to me, or because it’s a Rembrandt and I’m supposed to like it?

Well I believe it’s the first choice. There were multiple times today I walked up to an oil painting thinking, this is beautiful, long before I realized who painted it. Both artists Vermeer and Rembrandt, use light so expertly, I think that’s what sets them apart. The techniques they use, and since I’m not an art student I don’t really know what they are, are so wonderful in drawing the eyes to a certain part of the painting … I don’t know they were just both fabulously talented. It was also nice to see Rembrandt’s Night Watch, one of his largest and most impressive paintings.

The only negative of the experience is that the whole thing felt more touristy than the other quieter, smaller museums I have visited. Instead of wandering mostly alone through a quirky canal house I was shuttled along like chattel through the exhibitions along with hundreds of other visitors speaking every language known to man. The other problem was that I seemed to have picked a day that there was a large school field trip (how cool to have your field trip to the Rijks!) and so multiple times I got caught up in a wave of children dressed in blue. I wonder what it’s like in the summer …

After the Rijks I moseyed on over across the street to the Coster Diamond shop. It was free, and I pretty much just got to see workers polishing the diamonds and replicas of crazy-big ones from the most famous jewelry in the world (i.e. a replica of the Hope Diamond was on display.) It was interesting to see, but there’s also a Diamond Museum I didn’t try out and hope to in the future, because diamonds are pretty cool. Lol.

Apart from that I just have finalized all my travel dates, which is kind of a relief. Now all I have to worry about is the traveling I want to do after my program ends. The following is a list of visitors/trips I plan to take:

Feb. 22; Brussels
Mar. 5-12; Dana, Chris, and Adam come to Amsterdam!
Mar. 14-17; Berlin with Amanda : )
Mar. 17-20; Amanda visits Amsterdam
Mar. 21-24; Luxembourg
Mar. 28-31; Prague to visit Amanda
April 4-6; Maastricht with IES
April 6-11(?); Donny visits Amsterdam
April 30; QUEENS DAY
May; Sara comes to Amsterdam!
June 9-24; traveling Europe

As you can see, tomorrow we’re off to Brussels (very early in the morning!!) so I’ll hopefully have a fun next post/ mucho pictures!

Now I have to go do laundry!

Much Love

We definitely have to get chocolate when we’re there

He has found the real problem with post-it notes is that they don’t stick in your head. Brian Andreas

Two significant things happened to me today of varying degrees of importance. But I’ll get to that in a second.

I woke up today to an email from my professor (or rather his secretary) reporting that our class for tomorrow is cancelled. Well. Considering that the rest of my classes for one reason or another have also been cancelled, that means I don’t have any until next Thursday. I wish I had known this earlier, as I would have planned a fabulous trip somewhere exotic. Lol. But I didn’t, and so I probably will try to make good use of my free time in other ways. There’s a town not far from A’dam that apparently is very old school and sounds very interesting. The museums there are all like working shops, so I could see an old-fashioned cheese store, bakery, working windmill etc. I’m very strongly thinking about it for a weekday trip next week.

After marveling at my weird situation for a bit I went with the girls to Centraal supposedly to buy our tickets to Brussels for Friday (we decided because all the cheap hostels had been booked by the time we decided to go we were just going to do a one day trip – if I haven’t already reported this, if I have, sorry for the repetition.) But once we got there and went to the service station we realized if we wanted to leave before 9 a.m. we would have to pay 60 euro, which none of us thought one day in Brussels was worth. If we left after that time we would only have to pay 45, but then we wouldn’t arrive in Brussels until almost noon. Then I remembered checking the bus schedule, and there being a 22 euro ticket available. It would take longer, but we would arrive at about the same time, if not earlier, and pay about half the price. So I suggested it, and we went to PHK to check it out, because we had to go there for a plagiarism lecture anyway. Tangent: more on my rant from yesterday — they actually made us attend a plagiarism lecture … may I just say WTF??!! We are all at least juniors in college, and at least mildly successful enough to be studying abroad. Most of us got this speech freshman year of high school. I sort of understand making us aware they have a strict policy on it (doesn’t everyone?) but it was probably the biggest waste of my time ever. They could have accomplished the exact same thing with a short email. But anyway …back to the more important significant thing that happened today: we booked tickets to Brussels (eventually.) So it’s official, we’re headed to Belgium this Friday (Angie’s birthday by the way!) We’re all very excited and on our list of things to do:

1. Get chocolate (lol Hallie)
2. See the peeing boy statue
3. Get a waffle

Don’t you like how two of the things on our list have to do with food? We have our priorities straight! But anyway it should be super fun, although I’m sure there will be some travel disaster involved … we have all decided that we’ll be ok with it if we have to sleep in the bus station for the night … lol … sort of. Tee hee … but seriously, first real adventure – it’s going to be awesome!

Well after the mandatory lecture Alex and I headed over to the post office to buy stamps (expect post cards soon! Lol) and then over to the grocery store, so we were at least semi-productive today.

Also, for the second thing, I guess it wasn’t really an event or that significant but oh well. Anyway, we were in Christy’s room booking our tickets and I began perusing her bookshelf – it’s what I do lol. I found a very odd looking booking so I began flipping through it and realized it was an awesome collection of random thoughts in story form. They’re heard to explain, because they are formatted like poems, but they’re not, or they are, I’m not sure. But anyway, they’re so cool, they make me happy : ) Here’s an example of one:

I’m a good jumper, he said,

But I’m not so good at landing.

Maybe you should stay closer

to the ground, then, I said & he

shook his head & said the ground

was the whole problem in the

first place

Anyway they’re all written by Brian Andreas and apparently he has like nine of these books. He’s also an artist and he incorporates these ‘people stories’ into his work. I put on some music and read one of the books in about a half hour. I plan to borrow the other two from Christy in the near future. They are fun and interesting and silly and definitely worth the time.

.

Much love

 

Time stands

Still best

In moments

That look

Suspiciously

Like ordindary

Life

Brian Andreas