Saturday, December 19, 2009
Leavin' on a train, Don't know when I'll be back again
So . . .It's saturday and I'm leaving Maastricht tomorrow and leaving the NL on monday. Oh My God. I can't believe this has gone by gone by so fast. This past week and the week before have been semi-interesting. Ok reallly interesting. So last friday was the ESN final dinner and after that we went to the highlander. I at that point already had about 4.5 pages of my essay for Intro to Psych. My topic? The Efficacy of Select Dopaminergic and SSRI treatments for cocaine dependence. OY. P.S. I picked it out myself. I had an exam on Monday and one on Tuesday. On Tuesday right after my exam, I came home and made fried rice for the week then finished my essay and emailed it off so I was done with everything tuesday. I had wanted to go out but I was too tired. Elsa fdyed my hair and we had a beer while watching my favorite episode of American Dad. On wednesday, after spending the day christmas shopping with Elsa, I went out and partied it up with Holly, Ruth, Fiona and Brian. I wasn't that drunk. . .actually I was kinda sober by the time we got to the Meta so i danced on the bar (I can't dance on the bar drunk! It requires coordination). Thursday I went shopping with Ally again and we bought helllla belgian chocolate (YUM!) after which we had a dinner in the third corridor so I made latkes because its apparently the only thing I can make. I was sooo full but it was hella good. I also sold my bike to Sophie so I had more money for booze. LOL. So Thursday I drank a few beers at the dinner then went to katies for a little bit to have some vodka and chill, then I brought the vodka back to the GH and proceeded to chase it with sangria. Hence I was wasted. We then went to the highlander and then the Meta but I got back really soon after because one of my friends got a little too drunky drunk drunk. Goodness gracious, I apparently have such a strong will, I sobered up at will even though I had had a ridiculous amount of booze. Last night I also got wasted, after spending much of the day packing/ at Pascal's goodbye brunch. I brought vodka and figured out how to make lemon drops (YUM! lemon vodka+lemon wedges covered in sugar). Then since I had bought more vodka just in case, I had more booze hence I had to drink it. We played a different kind of kings cup and went to the highlander when we got kicked out of the kitchen (fucking annoying security guards). At the highlander I had 2 or 3 more beers and tried to play Jenga with Davina and her boyfriend who had come to visit her and drive her home today (awww). I was kinda wasted. Tried to pole dance again. that was amusing. Went to the meta again and danced my ass off again. Got home at around 5 or 5:30 (went to sleep at 6am). Then since I though that we were having brunch at 11am, I woke up at 9am and showered and went to the kitchen. It was a mess so I cleaned it and then we had brunch croissants and turkish sausage, jam, nutella, hard boiled eggs, mashed potatoes, bacon YUMMM. The rest of today was spent basically freaking out and obsessively weighing my luggage to make sure it was ok on the weight. My carryon is heavier than my checked luggage i think. lol. Mainly because it has textbooks in it. Now I'm going to go out with the girls for a last cocktail in maastricht. In the morning, I'm checking out at 10:30 and Simon is driving me and Elsa to the train station and then when I get to the hotel, I'll update the blog. <3
Saturday, December 5, 2009
An Eventful Week ends in Procrastination
Last weekend, November 28th and 29th, I went to Belgium and had a bit of fun with ESN, the Erasmus Student Network. Which I found is chock-full of gorgeous men. This made me happy. On saturday, we left the guesthouse at 9am and went off to Brussels. At brussels all we did was pretty much walk around and see some cool buildings. Also, Ally danced with some kid. It was chill but I wasn't that impressed. We also stopped by a cafe where I got some calamari (yum!) and hot chocolate and on the way back to the bus we stopped by a supermarket where I proceeded to purchase 2 1.5L bottles of Belgian Beer, you know for pregaming . . .We then went to antwerp where we stopped by the Rubenshuis (a museum), then the the hostel, dropped off our stuff and went off for dinner and the bar. I drank (with a little help from Ally) one of the bottles of beer before we left the hostel to go to dinner. I got rather drunk at the bar but not as drunk as I expected from how much I drank: close to 3 liters of beer, tequila and some blue shots. I was really tired and falling asleep at the bar so i left earlier (around 2am) with Ally and passed out. The next day we went to Ghent and Brugge. In Ghent, we took a boat tour which was kinda interesting because we fit so many people into such a small boat and brugge was gorgeous: and we found a store with cheap delicious belgian chocolate. MWAHAHA. we then went back to maastricht, overall it was rather fun
December 30th I had class and I finished making my presentation for tuesday. On tuesday, I did my presentation on happiness data and a happiness study and was very relieved. I then proceeded to do something I can't remember at this time but I think it involved food. That night we also had thanksgiving dinner with the corridor and it was the night of cantus, a giant drinking game (basically) and I had wanted to go but tickets were sold out but luckily for me (and sad for matthew), he had a presentation on wednesday so he sold me his ticket. I got lost on the way there but eventually found it. I lost count of how much I drank there after the 8th or 10th beer, then I walked fiona and somebody else back to the guesthouse and decided to have some tequila while I was there and then proceed to the twee heeren. There I had another 3 beers.. . oy. It was a very good night. You can tell this by the fact that I left at 9ish pm on tuesday and didn't get home until 12pm wednesday.
Wednesday, we had a party committee meeting at Julia and Emma's house and I got lost going there, too because I'm amazing with directions. We had burritos!! Yummmmy. and we were semi-productive. Then I went home and did homework. Thursday night I stayed in and Friday night, I went to a hip hop party at the Make! student bar which was kinda fun but they pretty much only played old hip hop. However, they did play asher roth's "i love college" so I approve. Ally and I got into a norcal vs socal argument. (norcal won, btw because we have hyphy music) We were a little enthusiastic and I accidentally bumped into this hot German guy who proceeded to take a bunch of pictures with/of us. He was very hot and apparently Ally noticed him checking me out. LOL. After the bar closed, we were going to go somewhere with him and the other hot German guys but they left while I was getting my bike. Whatever, basically I accidentally got tipsy and when we thought we lost Greg, it turned out he was just in the smoking room the entire night. I then went home and fell asleep.
Today, i've done absolutely nothing productive even though I woke up at 12ish and left my room at 2 to go to the kitchen. I dunno, is doing laundry considered productive? Well Tomorrow night, I'm going to the christmas market in Aachen, Germany with the UCM excursion committee and I think its gonna be FUNNN. Anyways, now I'm gonna sort and put away my clean laundry and do some homework. . I guess
December 30th I had class and I finished making my presentation for tuesday. On tuesday, I did my presentation on happiness data and a happiness study and was very relieved. I then proceeded to do something I can't remember at this time but I think it involved food. That night we also had thanksgiving dinner with the corridor and it was the night of cantus, a giant drinking game (basically) and I had wanted to go but tickets were sold out but luckily for me (and sad for matthew), he had a presentation on wednesday so he sold me his ticket. I got lost on the way there but eventually found it. I lost count of how much I drank there after the 8th or 10th beer, then I walked fiona and somebody else back to the guesthouse and decided to have some tequila while I was there and then proceed to the twee heeren. There I had another 3 beers.. . oy. It was a very good night. You can tell this by the fact that I left at 9ish pm on tuesday and didn't get home until 12pm wednesday.
Wednesday, we had a party committee meeting at Julia and Emma's house and I got lost going there, too because I'm amazing with directions. We had burritos!! Yummmmy. and we were semi-productive. Then I went home and did homework. Thursday night I stayed in and Friday night, I went to a hip hop party at the Make! student bar which was kinda fun but they pretty much only played old hip hop. However, they did play asher roth's "i love college" so I approve. Ally and I got into a norcal vs socal argument. (norcal won, btw because we have hyphy music) We were a little enthusiastic and I accidentally bumped into this hot German guy who proceeded to take a bunch of pictures with/of us. He was very hot and apparently Ally noticed him checking me out. LOL. After the bar closed, we were going to go somewhere with him and the other hot German guys but they left while I was getting my bike. Whatever, basically I accidentally got tipsy and when we thought we lost Greg, it turned out he was just in the smoking room the entire night. I then went home and fell asleep.
Today, i've done absolutely nothing productive even though I woke up at 12ish and left my room at 2 to go to the kitchen. I dunno, is doing laundry considered productive? Well Tomorrow night, I'm going to the christmas market in Aachen, Germany with the UCM excursion committee and I think its gonna be FUNNN. Anyways, now I'm gonna sort and put away my clean laundry and do some homework. . I guess
Friday, November 20, 2009
Forest Party, Sinterklaas, Chinese Food Night, International Mingle, ANTICI-say it-say it-PATION
The events since I last wrote have been rather interesting:
Last Friday ( November 13th), I hadn't had any actual plans but I got a facebook message from Paul saying they were doing a campfire thing in the forest. Yes, Maastricht has a forest (home sweet home lol) and on the way there, I accidentally went the wrong way, i.e. up the wrong street for about 15 minutes and since I didn't have a bike at that point, i had to walk the entire way. so Paul's phone wasn't working so I called the other guy who was organizing it, Thomas, he vaguely told me where to go but after a while his phone had stopped working so I called Weike and she was lost in the forest as well so I waited and waited and then Thomas showed up and walked with me to the campfire. It was hilarious and the forest was really muddy so I ruined my boots (they were close to the end anyways) so I showed up there with a 6pack of beer and a liter and a half of sangria. Once we'd all drank a wee bit, we decided to play marco polo . . drunk . . in a forest. . .on a cliff. . . at night. . . .that was a brilliant idea. I of course had to explain the game but it was funnier that way. Then we played (pardon the mispelling) oxenbak (basically red light green light). originally the sangria was going to be the punishment but then we would have kept losing on purpose. Then we attempted to climb up into this wierd crevice, I failed but Paul and Weike chilled up there while i sat and drank sangria. Drunken nights in the forest=fun
Saturday (November 14th) we saw sinterklaas. He's the Dutch version of Santa Clause. It was raining so the 4 of us had to buy cheapass umbrellas. Mine broke within about 20 minutes but it still got the job done. After seeing Sinterklaas arrive in Maastricht with his helpers, We went and bought ingredients for pepernoten which are Dutch cookies and we went to Weike's house to make and eat pepernoten, hot chocolate and a shitload of candy. DEEE-LISH! Armed with our pepernoten, candy, and hot chocolate the now 6 of us (5 girls and Paul LOL) watched Alles is Liefde, a Dutch Romantic comedy similar to Love Actually but set around Sinterklass time and freakin amazing. It was soooo good. I think walked back home (yes walked since my bike was still out of order) and rested. After that silly resting thing, I went with a bunch of Italians and Matthew to Take One, which is a beer bar. . .erm a beer tasting bar. The owner is hilarious: extremely raunchy and refers to customers as victims. He asked what your taste is and surprises you with a beer you'll enjoy and he was correct for my choice because my beer was yummy. Since I didn't have my bike, I rode Matthew's and he rode on the back of someone else's. Then I wanted to leave before he did so he graciously lent me his bike so I wouldn't have to walk all the way back since this bar was on the other side of the river. Maybe he does deserve to be my substitute fake big brother. . .
I also decided to make a chinese food night. . . i.e. cook chinese food (because I freakin love it) for people. This night ended up being Thursday, November 19th. I invited a few people, including Ben . . who then confused my facebook event with another and invited a bunch of people. So I ended up cooking for 30 people . . .This was fun (yes fun) but a little hectic. People enjoyed the food and we had enough left over fried rice to last until sunday. The menu included dumplings, spring rolls, egg flower soup, wonton soup and fried rice. If you want me to make you something from scratch, the only things that were made from scratch were the soups and the fried rice.
Since I don't feel like splitting up the weeks of events and I'm procrastinating my damn presentation, I'll continue this entry about writing about this past week. . .i.e November 23rd-27th. The 27th being today. . .Not much has happened except for Alberto's girlfriend, Valentina visiting our corridor and International Mingle Night. Valentina came and made us real Italian risotto, It was sooo good! And she was a sweetheart. The International Mingle was basically free food and cheap drinks so we could all mingle. Funnn. . Yes, yes it was. I won a free Maastricht University hoodie. . .which is good because it's really expensive at the souvenir shop (40 euros=$60 US) I won this because I'm crazier when I'm sober rather than drunk. Let me explain: There was nobody on the dance floor and the DJ wanted people to actually party, you know? So he offered the winner of his choice a UM hoodie for dancing the best for a song (w/e) so I went up there and danced the entire song exuberantly and stuck around until he basically had no choice but to announce me the winner. . .so I got the hoodie. The DJ actually reminded me of Jared so I kept expecting a bear hug but it never came. I then, again because I'm crazy, told a stupid story to open the open mic thing they had and left very soon after ( I told the universal story of sleep deprivation with my thinking I was still asleep, singing to customers story) and went to go hang out with Greg who had just had Russian class so we attempted to remember the Russian alphabet and FAILED. Oh well.
Now, I'm attempting to work on a presentation I have to do on Tuesday but because I'm in belgium this weekend, I have to finish 95% of it today. Which I hope isn't going to be a problem as I just drank 3 times the normal serving of Turkish coffee. However, I also have to pack for the weekend. . . CARP. I'm also freaking out a bit about leaving because I'm now leaving in a little over 3 weeks. and I'm crazy about logistics so I've been obsessively planning my schedule for Sunday, December 20th and Monday, December 21st. This is what it looks like so far:
Thursday& Friday Pack like a maniac
Saturday Last bit of packing and saying goodbye
Sunday:
8am Wake Up and shower
10am quadruple check luggage
11am Leave room& Check Out
11:45 Online Check-In for Flight
12pm Leave guesthouse w/ Taxi
12:20ish get to train station, get on train to AMS
3pmish Get to AMS, take taxi to hotel
3:30ish, check in at hotel, go over details once more and then rest
10pm go to sleep
Monday:
6am Wake Up, shower, get dressed, go over details once more
8am Update facebook status, freak out a little, plan out purchases at duty free
8:45am leave hotel to go to airport, walk to airport
9am Arrive at airport
9:45am Check in luggage and get plane ticket(s)
10:15ish go through security and go to duty free shopping for cheese
11:00am board flight
11:45am flight leaves AMS to go to london
12:10am (london time): plane arrives in London
12:15-12:45 go through security AGAIN at heathrow
12:45ish-1:20ish Duty free shopping again
1:35ish board plane for SFO
5:20pm (SF Time): arrive at SFO
5:30ish PM: re-unite with parents and anybody else who came to pick me up from the airport
And there ends my neurotic planning .. .at least until I start freaking out again. . . .and back to the presentation
Last Friday ( November 13th), I hadn't had any actual plans but I got a facebook message from Paul saying they were doing a campfire thing in the forest. Yes, Maastricht has a forest (home sweet home lol) and on the way there, I accidentally went the wrong way, i.e. up the wrong street for about 15 minutes and since I didn't have a bike at that point, i had to walk the entire way. so Paul's phone wasn't working so I called the other guy who was organizing it, Thomas, he vaguely told me where to go but after a while his phone had stopped working so I called Weike and she was lost in the forest as well so I waited and waited and then Thomas showed up and walked with me to the campfire. It was hilarious and the forest was really muddy so I ruined my boots (they were close to the end anyways) so I showed up there with a 6pack of beer and a liter and a half of sangria. Once we'd all drank a wee bit, we decided to play marco polo . . drunk . . in a forest. . .on a cliff. . . at night. . . .that was a brilliant idea. I of course had to explain the game but it was funnier that way. Then we played (pardon the mispelling) oxenbak (basically red light green light). originally the sangria was going to be the punishment but then we would have kept losing on purpose. Then we attempted to climb up into this wierd crevice, I failed but Paul and Weike chilled up there while i sat and drank sangria. Drunken nights in the forest=fun
Saturday (November 14th) we saw sinterklaas. He's the Dutch version of Santa Clause. It was raining so the 4 of us had to buy cheapass umbrellas. Mine broke within about 20 minutes but it still got the job done. After seeing Sinterklaas arrive in Maastricht with his helpers, We went and bought ingredients for pepernoten which are Dutch cookies and we went to Weike's house to make and eat pepernoten, hot chocolate and a shitload of candy. DEEE-LISH! Armed with our pepernoten, candy, and hot chocolate the now 6 of us (5 girls and Paul LOL) watched Alles is Liefde, a Dutch Romantic comedy similar to Love Actually but set around Sinterklass time and freakin amazing. It was soooo good. I think walked back home (yes walked since my bike was still out of order) and rested. After that silly resting thing, I went with a bunch of Italians and Matthew to Take One, which is a beer bar. . .erm a beer tasting bar. The owner is hilarious: extremely raunchy and refers to customers as victims. He asked what your taste is and surprises you with a beer you'll enjoy and he was correct for my choice because my beer was yummy. Since I didn't have my bike, I rode Matthew's and he rode on the back of someone else's. Then I wanted to leave before he did so he graciously lent me his bike so I wouldn't have to walk all the way back since this bar was on the other side of the river. Maybe he does deserve to be my substitute fake big brother. . .
I also decided to make a chinese food night. . . i.e. cook chinese food (because I freakin love it) for people. This night ended up being Thursday, November 19th. I invited a few people, including Ben . . who then confused my facebook event with another and invited a bunch of people. So I ended up cooking for 30 people . . .This was fun (yes fun) but a little hectic. People enjoyed the food and we had enough left over fried rice to last until sunday. The menu included dumplings, spring rolls, egg flower soup, wonton soup and fried rice. If you want me to make you something from scratch, the only things that were made from scratch were the soups and the fried rice.
Since I don't feel like splitting up the weeks of events and I'm procrastinating my damn presentation, I'll continue this entry about writing about this past week. . .i.e November 23rd-27th. The 27th being today. . .Not much has happened except for Alberto's girlfriend, Valentina visiting our corridor and International Mingle Night. Valentina came and made us real Italian risotto, It was sooo good! And she was a sweetheart. The International Mingle was basically free food and cheap drinks so we could all mingle. Funnn. . Yes, yes it was. I won a free Maastricht University hoodie. . .which is good because it's really expensive at the souvenir shop (40 euros=$60 US) I won this because I'm crazier when I'm sober rather than drunk. Let me explain: There was nobody on the dance floor and the DJ wanted people to actually party, you know? So he offered the winner of his choice a UM hoodie for dancing the best for a song (w/e) so I went up there and danced the entire song exuberantly and stuck around until he basically had no choice but to announce me the winner. . .so I got the hoodie. The DJ actually reminded me of Jared so I kept expecting a bear hug but it never came. I then, again because I'm crazy, told a stupid story to open the open mic thing they had and left very soon after ( I told the universal story of sleep deprivation with my thinking I was still asleep, singing to customers story) and went to go hang out with Greg who had just had Russian class so we attempted to remember the Russian alphabet and FAILED. Oh well.
Now, I'm attempting to work on a presentation I have to do on Tuesday but because I'm in belgium this weekend, I have to finish 95% of it today. Which I hope isn't going to be a problem as I just drank 3 times the normal serving of Turkish coffee. However, I also have to pack for the weekend. . . CARP. I'm also freaking out a bit about leaving because I'm now leaving in a little over 3 weeks. and I'm crazy about logistics so I've been obsessively planning my schedule for Sunday, December 20th and Monday, December 21st. This is what it looks like so far:
Thursday& Friday Pack like a maniac
Saturday Last bit of packing and saying goodbye
Sunday:
8am Wake Up and shower
10am quadruple check luggage
11am Leave room& Check Out
11:45 Online Check-In for Flight
12pm Leave guesthouse w/ Taxi
12:20ish get to train station, get on train to AMS
3pmish Get to AMS, take taxi to hotel
3:30ish, check in at hotel, go over details once more and then rest
10pm go to sleep
Monday:
6am Wake Up, shower, get dressed, go over details once more
8am Update facebook status, freak out a little, plan out purchases at duty free
8:45am leave hotel to go to airport, walk to airport
9am Arrive at airport
9:45am Check in luggage and get plane ticket(s)
10:15ish go through security and go to duty free shopping for cheese
11:00am board flight
11:45am flight leaves AMS to go to london
12:10am (london time): plane arrives in London
12:15-12:45 go through security AGAIN at heathrow
12:45ish-1:20ish Duty free shopping again
1:35ish board plane for SFO
5:20pm (SF Time): arrive at SFO
5:30ish PM: re-unite with parents and anybody else who came to pick me up from the airport
And there ends my neurotic planning .. .at least until I start freaking out again. . . .and back to the presentation
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Something Witty
Pretend the title is something witty, that'll make me feel better.
Not that I'm not feeling fan-fucking-tastic right now (not being sarcastic, I swear) I know I've been terrible about updating this thing. I mean I've been gone since August 5th (i.e. over 3 months) and I have what? 12 entries? That's a little pathetic or maybe a little encouraging (depending on your viewpoint--> either I've been too lazy or too busy having a fabulous time to update it). Anyways, to continue with the story that I'm just now beginning : the last period of classes is over (thank goodness) and the grades have been posted. I am sad to say that I have failed the first class of my college career. Actually, the first class I've failed since 8th grade. I could make excuses but I'd rather just do that in person. Luckily, the class that actually mattered was the one I passed, with a 7.1 no less. Sure its not the best but it's quite good for me learning in a completely different style than I'm used to and subject material of a type that I don't usually enjoy (this class was actually quite interesting though and I can now say I understand gini coefficient). Since that period is over we've begun a new period We're on week 3 of 8. Yeah I know . . intense.
I'm currently taking intro to psychology and economic psychology. Both of which i do rather enjoy probably because of the combination of interesting course material and fascinating people in the classes. What I'm not enjoying is the 8:30am classes 3 times a week. Well, whatever. . .it's part of the experience, just like going out on weekdays. I don't do that at home. weekdays=staying in or homework party. Here if its a day that ends in Y and you don't have school the next day (or even if you do) partying is fair game. I love it so much here. I also think I need to stop falling in love with european . . . . .cities. . .which brings me to my next story:
over the weekend, because I needed to go somewhere since it was the only 3 day weekend I had that I could go somewhere, I went to Prague, which was fucking amazing. I fell in love with the city and not just because things there were so cheap compared to the Netherlands. The sights were beautiful and the people I met were really cool. Plus the beer was cheap. yeah I know . . .I'm a college student though. The hostel that I stayed at was really good too. I went to the club with 5 stories and although I got there really late in the night and felt kinda awkward at first it got really fun. I had such a great time. I want to go back really bad.
Also, last week to keep the subject of partying like a rock star alive in this post, on wednesday of last week we had our illumination party at the meta (and by we I mean the universalis party committee)
see, that's us right before the party started (photo credit: MeDo ALshalowi and maybe facebook a bit) Anyways, most of us are dressed in white or neon because it was a blacklight party. It was so much fun. I kept buying beer so Greg wrote "beer me" on my arm since the first 50 people got markers to write on each other so it would glow under the blacklight. I also got something written on another part of my arm in Dutch (thanks Jeroen) I only understood the first part of it. The next day I tried to go and help clean up but as I had class until 3:30 I got there too late.
Thursday evening was also the second taco night (thanks to Matthew or Jose Jimenez as he was known for the night) For taco night, I made guacamole. It wasn't too bad if I say so myself. The tacos were rather good and my tequila sunrises were a hit. what can I say? I'm a master of mixed drinks. (insert evil laughter here)
This upcoming weekend, a bunch of us are going to go see the Dutch Santa Clause (Sinterklaas) arrive in Maastricht then go eat cookies and watch a Dutch romantic comedy. the day was Weike's idea and it was a lovely one. I'm quite excited for it. However, I have class in less than 9 hours so I should probably go to sleep. I shall update another time when I remember more adventures . . .yes remembering adventures is important for blogging about them.
Not that I'm not feeling fan-fucking-tastic right now (not being sarcastic, I swear) I know I've been terrible about updating this thing. I mean I've been gone since August 5th (i.e. over 3 months) and I have what? 12 entries? That's a little pathetic or maybe a little encouraging (depending on your viewpoint--> either I've been too lazy or too busy having a fabulous time to update it). Anyways, to continue with the story that I'm just now beginning : the last period of classes is over (thank goodness) and the grades have been posted. I am sad to say that I have failed the first class of my college career. Actually, the first class I've failed since 8th grade. I could make excuses but I'd rather just do that in person. Luckily, the class that actually mattered was the one I passed, with a 7.1 no less. Sure its not the best but it's quite good for me learning in a completely different style than I'm used to and subject material of a type that I don't usually enjoy (this class was actually quite interesting though and I can now say I understand gini coefficient). Since that period is over we've begun a new period We're on week 3 of 8. Yeah I know . . intense.
I'm currently taking intro to psychology and economic psychology. Both of which i do rather enjoy probably because of the combination of interesting course material and fascinating people in the classes. What I'm not enjoying is the 8:30am classes 3 times a week. Well, whatever. . .it's part of the experience, just like going out on weekdays. I don't do that at home. weekdays=staying in or homework party. Here if its a day that ends in Y and you don't have school the next day (or even if you do) partying is fair game. I love it so much here. I also think I need to stop falling in love with european . . . . .cities. . .which brings me to my next story:
over the weekend, because I needed to go somewhere since it was the only 3 day weekend I had that I could go somewhere, I went to Prague, which was fucking amazing. I fell in love with the city and not just because things there were so cheap compared to the Netherlands. The sights were beautiful and the people I met were really cool. Plus the beer was cheap. yeah I know . . .I'm a college student though. The hostel that I stayed at was really good too. I went to the club with 5 stories and although I got there really late in the night and felt kinda awkward at first it got really fun. I had such a great time. I want to go back really bad.
Also, last week to keep the subject of partying like a rock star alive in this post, on wednesday of last week we had our illumination party at the meta (and by we I mean the universalis party committee)
see, that's us right before the party started (photo credit: MeDo ALshalowi and maybe facebook a bit) Anyways, most of us are dressed in white or neon because it was a blacklight party. It was so much fun. I kept buying beer so Greg wrote "beer me" on my arm since the first 50 people got markers to write on each other so it would glow under the blacklight. I also got something written on another part of my arm in Dutch (thanks Jeroen) I only understood the first part of it. The next day I tried to go and help clean up but as I had class until 3:30 I got there too late.
Thursday evening was also the second taco night (thanks to Matthew or Jose Jimenez as he was known for the night) For taco night, I made guacamole. It wasn't too bad if I say so myself. The tacos were rather good and my tequila sunrises were a hit. what can I say? I'm a master of mixed drinks. (insert evil laughter here)
This upcoming weekend, a bunch of us are going to go see the Dutch Santa Clause (Sinterklaas) arrive in Maastricht then go eat cookies and watch a Dutch romantic comedy. the day was Weike's idea and it was a lovely one. I'm quite excited for it. However, I have class in less than 9 hours so I should probably go to sleep. I shall update another time when I remember more adventures . . .yes remembering adventures is important for blogging about them.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
A Boat One Night and Beer Pong the Next
On friday night, there was a party on a boat called Freigeist. The boat left the dock at 8pm. The adventure began with Ally, Nina, Ben, Rafaela and Ally's friend Imran. Once we boarded we got our included cocktails. They were fucking STRONG. I drank mine and then drank the rest of Ally's drink and then drank some of the lovely Malibu-Cola mixture Nina brought. Hence within 15 minutes I was drunk. Ben and Rafaela were worried about this (for no reason). The boat went up and back down the river Maas so we were in belgium for a little while. Since the boat left at 8 and came back at 12 there was a solid 4 hours of partying like rock stars there. Then glow sticks got showered on us on the dance floor. The boat had 3 levels but the lowest one was the bathrooms so essentially 2 levels for exploration. on the level with the dance floor, we could go out to the bow or the stern I dunno and when we went out there, there were some people having a titanic moment which was lovely and kind of sickeningly adorable but since I was drunk I didnt care and took some pictures on some piles of rope. It was fun. We got off the boat at exactly midnight and went to De Kadans. Partied there til around 2ish. Then went back home and attempted to give Rafaela a ride back on my bike but we kinda fell off going up brusselstraat. i was really tired
On Saturday night, I went to a halloween party where I wasn't the only cowgirl. It was really funny. The other Americans were dressed up as the scooby gang. It was adorable. I also played beer pong in the backyard where I had to be the designated drinker since the person I was playing with was the designated driver. Oy drunk two nights in a row. Then we went to de Alla for the first time and got fries om nom nom. Got back around 3ish.
It was fun. The adventure continues.
On Saturday night, I went to a halloween party where I wasn't the only cowgirl. It was really funny. The other Americans were dressed up as the scooby gang. It was adorable. I also played beer pong in the backyard where I had to be the designated drinker since the person I was playing with was the designated driver. Oy drunk two nights in a row. Then we went to de Alla for the first time and got fries om nom nom. Got back around 3ish.
It was fun. The adventure continues.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
The Tale of One Beer, Jazz, and Rose Beer
Friday night in honor of the last day of exams, a bunch of us went out to celebrate at the highlander. Since it feel weird to just be in a bar not drinking, I had ONE beer. This led to an evening of dancing and staying out until 4am. (the full story will be told upon request) I went to the Meta for the first time and it was interesting, vaguely what I expected but not as much. I dunno. . .I also didn't expect that there would be a Drake video playing on the tvs.
The next night, it was the continuation of Jazz Promenade in Maastricht so I went out to watch some bands play in cafes. it was a magical adventure meeting new people, watching bands, etc.
As I am currently watching Eastwick (thanks a lot, Zac) I can't really concentrate on this blog entry plus I'm writing the remainder of my postcards and I have a class at 8:30am tomorrow this will be lovely. tomorrow night I'm going to get some sushi with Kaho and some other people on account of its her birthday.
YAY!!
The next night, it was the continuation of Jazz Promenade in Maastricht so I went out to watch some bands play in cafes. it was a magical adventure meeting new people, watching bands, etc.
As I am currently watching Eastwick (thanks a lot, Zac) I can't really concentrate on this blog entry plus I'm writing the remainder of my postcards and I have a class at 8:30am tomorrow this will be lovely. tomorrow night I'm going to get some sushi with Kaho and some other people on account of its her birthday.
YAY!!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Maastricht is Prachtig and so were the last several weeks
That means Maastricht is wonderful (according to Google translator). And it is. I haven't posted in a while. . as I don't recall when I last posted, some fun stuff has happened:
- I joined the Universalis Party Committee. . . .this takes some explaining: as I usually overload myself with shitloads of stuff to do in Santa Cruz, and here I'm only taking two classes at a time, I was feeling rather bored and I already finished all 5 seasons of Angel as well as caught up on all the other good shows. Universalis is the only student organization at the school and they have all these committees. . .my friend Ally joined the party committee and I decided to follow her to one for the fun of it. . hence I joined the party committee. We plan parties. Yay for us. I go to meetings once a week and we talk about shit. again Yay for us.
-I found a "substitute fake big brother" since Mike, my real fake big brother is in santa cruz, not in Maastricht with me, i needed somebody to give me bad advice except for when it actually matters so I arbitrarily appointed Matthew, a guy in my corridor to be my "substitute fake big brother" unfortunately, I had to fire him as my fake big brother today due to him not knowing what I meant when I said that Zac was the Samantha to my Carrie
Speaking of my corridor, it is rather diverse and I fucking love it. We have at least 6 different countries represented on the corridor alone: France, Italy, Australia, England, Singapore, and the U.S. There's one girl who's from two countries so it might even be 7. oooh SNAP. Oh and from within the US we have me from California, 3-5 people from New York and 2-3 people from Boston. I hope that was all correct geographic data because as we all know, I SUCK at giving directions. The corridor is kinda becoming a family but currently I feel like that awkward relative who comes to visit every once in a while because I haven't really formed strong bonds with anybody on my corridor, although Sybille is being awesome and fixing my bicycle tomorrow (story to follow in several paragraphs)
A few weeks ago, Elsa and I went shopping for boots. It was a productive day. We both got really cute new leather boots. I'm slightly in love with mine and wear them almost daily due to how comfy they are and how good they look with EVERYTHING. Continuing on the shopping topic, on Wednesday, I finally went to the damn market at the Markt (one of the big squares in Maastricht) and I bought some fruit and some delicious fresh bread and 2 new scarves. I have now begun wearing scarves daily, as well. They are not only fashionable and versatile but keep my neck warm in this cold ass weather. It is somewhat similar to santa cruz but a wee bit colder a wee bit earlier.
To further compare Santa Cruz and Maastricht please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maastricht and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz,_California
So what else? Um. . . Last weekend I went to Berlin and it was ridiculously fun. Partly due to the fact I got rather wasted. Surprisingly, despite how much I drank i did not have a hangover the next day and I did not get sick. Yay for being smart enough to drink 2 bottles of water during the evening. Lets see: we left on Friday around 3ish, hooray magical journey on the way there: due to traffic and other unforeseeable road conditions we did not get there until around 1am. On the plus side, we watched a really good movie called "Berlin Calling" it was about this Berlin DJ who got into all sorts of crazy shit. Hard to describe but I highly recommend it. It's in German but it has subtitles . That night some of us went out and I had my first turkish kebab. OMG soooooooo good. And we got drinks, I got something called a Hurricane and it was quite strong. I was a bit tipsy after just that one drink. so of course, I drunk dialed Zac. The next day, I went on a walking tour of Berlin and saw all the cool stuff: the brandenburg gate, the berlin wall, checkpoint charlie, stood over the bunker where hitler killed himself, etc. Following that lovely tour (our tour guide was fucking awesome and really hot) we went exploring and bought some souvenirs and stuff. later that day, we went to the "anti pub crawl" so it was basically a pub crawl but not the mainstream one where tourists go, the one that takes you to bars real Berliners go to. . .so the adventure began in our trying to get there since there was an issue with the train there, we kinda got fucked over in terms of trying to get there.
The pub crawl was epic enough that it deserves its own paragraph. We began on the train subway, whatever. Since in Germany, you can drink in public without consequences (i.e. it's LEGAL) so we all started the night off with a beer in the subway:
Then once we got off one stop before the one we needed because they needed to do repairs or something on a saturday at 9:30ish we went to a bus stop for the replacement bus. Of Course. By this point I had finished my .5liter of becks and decided I needed to drink something else. Perhaps rehydrate myself. So I buy a bottle of water and lo and behold, they also sell booze so I buy .2 liter bottle of 20% alcohol apple liqueur. burns so good. When we finally get to the first damn bar, we're all relieved. All 14 of us. Especially when we get our free shots. We get free shots of vodka, I down mine Yum Yum and somebody else hands me theirs saying they dont like vodka. I said something along the lines of "i have to pace myself since I'm a lightweight when it comes to drinking" somebody else says "drink it" and I say "mmm. . peer pressure and take that second shot. Then I decide I want a green beer. The tour guide was talking about green beer and red beer. you can only get it in Berlin: its called "Berliner Weisse" Its basically flavored and colored beer. Doesn't taste like alcohol at all. I finish the beer and shortly thereafter we go to the next bar: this one is a Goth Bar (dark, metal music everyone wearing spikes, AWESOME) I get a mojito or some form of it and its adorable if only because instead of an umbrella it has a long toothpick looking thing with a gummy bat candy. and then we get another shot and I meet a really cool girl from Israel and we toast in as many languages as we know. (to recap: by the time we get to the second bar, I've had .5 liters of becks, .2 liter apple liqueur, 2 shots vodka, green beer, mojito and another shot) Next bar we go to I get the red beer, the other Berliner Weisse. That bar was a bit boring but meh. we then go to this cool ping pong bar where I separated from our group and went with the other group on the pub crawl cause I met this cool girl from Iceland,I didn't drink anything there though because the l knew the next bar we were going to was the absinthe bar. YUMMM. . .so of course I got absinthe at the absinthe bar. it was 80% alcohol (shiiiitttt) the way you drink it is you have a glass of absinthe, a thing of water and a spoon with a sugar cube. you dip the sugar cube in the absinthe, light the cube on fire (on the spoon) wait til it goes out, dump it in the absinthe, pour in the water, stir and drink. As soon as I drank that, I called Zac because I knew I would be incoherent in several minutes. And boy, was I ever. . . . drunk. . .so I decided I better get another bottle of water. I drank that second bottle of water and the last place we went was this really cool party where we unfortunately only stayed for a little while because the majority of people wanted to go home and I didn't want to get lost in Berlin. Hazal and I shared a cab with a cute boy from Brazil and his friend from Argentina who were staying at our hostel. They were really sweet and paid for the cab and we got there way before anybody else cause everyone else took the subway. We all went to bed and slept rather well. Then on sunday, we just went adventuring a bit more around Berlin with Phillipe, the guy who organized the trip, Kaho, Delphine, and Hazal. We left berlin around 2:30pm and got back to Maastricht around midnight. I of course found something to complain about:i left my bike over the weekend at the business faculty and we got dropped off at the guesthouse. As everyone else had walked there friday, they were happy. It was a lovely trip and I really wanna go back, I think Elsa and I might go for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. I also wrote a bunch of postcards to people on the bus back.
Alrighty now fast forward to umm . . .thursday, I want to say. . .I start riding my bike as usual to school (yes I ride a bike, yes pigs are flying, yes hell froze over, yes Lizzy's buying a hummer and Zac's turning straight) [just kidding about that last one, thats gonna happen about 70 million lightyears after the universe implodes] So something feels off and I dont realize what until I try to turn and almost fall off. . . my back tire is completely flat so .. . . I walked it back to the shed, locked it up and walked to school .. . . the day of my presentation. Which by the way, I think went well although I may have talked a bit fast. I liked the examples I used especially the one that described my hatred of internet explorer. Astrid actually told me she thought my presentation was interesting (which is rather high praise in my opinion). The next day, it was still broken and I had no idea how to fix it. Matthew told me I needed to get the thing for the inside of the tire. . .people expect me to know these things? come on the last time before I got here that i rode a bike I was like 10. ok?So I again walked to class. Last Development Economics Tutorial. OY. I started giggling uncontrollably after trying to say something and losing my train of thought. I blame the lost train of thought on the fact that there are attractive men in the tutorial (me with my one track mind and all). Yah. then I walked home. . . again and today, I went to the store and bought the thing for my bike, and bought bread and some more fruit YUM. I start walking back, it starts raining. . .GRRRR. so I park the bike I walked to brusselspoort, go inside, buy a 3 euro umbrella from Blokker and go back to Alphie (my bike). The second I open my umbrella, it stops raining. FML, right? I get back, make french toast (YUMMM) and Kaho comes over. Today we spent approximately 6 or 7 hours STUDYING for development economics due to the fact we have a final exam worth 60% of our grade on monday. did I forget to mention that? Here there are 2 periods per semester, 2 eight week periods hence that 8th week is final exams, the first period's exams are next week. I have the development economics one monday at 1:30pm and the infonomics one tuesday at 1:30pm and my final paper regarding aquaria which is to be 12-18 pages (i have 12 just have to revise and reflect) is due by friday. OY is all I can say.
I'll update this again later when my brain isn't trying to send up white flags.
- I joined the Universalis Party Committee. . . .this takes some explaining: as I usually overload myself with shitloads of stuff to do in Santa Cruz, and here I'm only taking two classes at a time, I was feeling rather bored and I already finished all 5 seasons of Angel as well as caught up on all the other good shows. Universalis is the only student organization at the school and they have all these committees. . .my friend Ally joined the party committee and I decided to follow her to one for the fun of it. . hence I joined the party committee. We plan parties. Yay for us. I go to meetings once a week and we talk about shit. again Yay for us.
-I found a "substitute fake big brother" since Mike, my real fake big brother is in santa cruz, not in Maastricht with me, i needed somebody to give me bad advice except for when it actually matters so I arbitrarily appointed Matthew, a guy in my corridor to be my "substitute fake big brother" unfortunately, I had to fire him as my fake big brother today due to him not knowing what I meant when I said that Zac was the Samantha to my Carrie
Speaking of my corridor, it is rather diverse and I fucking love it. We have at least 6 different countries represented on the corridor alone: France, Italy, Australia, England, Singapore, and the U.S. There's one girl who's from two countries so it might even be 7. oooh SNAP. Oh and from within the US we have me from California, 3-5 people from New York and 2-3 people from Boston. I hope that was all correct geographic data because as we all know, I SUCK at giving directions. The corridor is kinda becoming a family but currently I feel like that awkward relative who comes to visit every once in a while because I haven't really formed strong bonds with anybody on my corridor, although Sybille is being awesome and fixing my bicycle tomorrow (story to follow in several paragraphs)
A few weeks ago, Elsa and I went shopping for boots. It was a productive day. We both got really cute new leather boots. I'm slightly in love with mine and wear them almost daily due to how comfy they are and how good they look with EVERYTHING. Continuing on the shopping topic, on Wednesday, I finally went to the damn market at the Markt (one of the big squares in Maastricht) and I bought some fruit and some delicious fresh bread and 2 new scarves. I have now begun wearing scarves daily, as well. They are not only fashionable and versatile but keep my neck warm in this cold ass weather. It is somewhat similar to santa cruz but a wee bit colder a wee bit earlier.
To further compare Santa Cruz and Maastricht please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maastricht and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz,_California
So what else? Um. . . Last weekend I went to Berlin and it was ridiculously fun. Partly due to the fact I got rather wasted. Surprisingly, despite how much I drank i did not have a hangover the next day and I did not get sick. Yay for being smart enough to drink 2 bottles of water during the evening. Lets see: we left on Friday around 3ish, hooray magical journey on the way there: due to traffic and other unforeseeable road conditions we did not get there until around 1am. On the plus side, we watched a really good movie called "Berlin Calling" it was about this Berlin DJ who got into all sorts of crazy shit. Hard to describe but I highly recommend it. It's in German but it has subtitles . That night some of us went out and I had my first turkish kebab. OMG soooooooo good. And we got drinks, I got something called a Hurricane and it was quite strong. I was a bit tipsy after just that one drink. so of course, I drunk dialed Zac. The next day, I went on a walking tour of Berlin and saw all the cool stuff: the brandenburg gate, the berlin wall, checkpoint charlie, stood over the bunker where hitler killed himself, etc. Following that lovely tour (our tour guide was fucking awesome and really hot) we went exploring and bought some souvenirs and stuff. later that day, we went to the "anti pub crawl" so it was basically a pub crawl but not the mainstream one where tourists go, the one that takes you to bars real Berliners go to. . .so the adventure began in our trying to get there since there was an issue with the train there, we kinda got fucked over in terms of trying to get there.
The pub crawl was epic enough that it deserves its own paragraph. We began on the train subway, whatever. Since in Germany, you can drink in public without consequences (i.e. it's LEGAL) so we all started the night off with a beer in the subway:
Then once we got off one stop before the one we needed because they needed to do repairs or something on a saturday at 9:30ish we went to a bus stop for the replacement bus. Of Course. By this point I had finished my .5liter of becks and decided I needed to drink something else. Perhaps rehydrate myself. So I buy a bottle of water and lo and behold, they also sell booze so I buy .2 liter bottle of 20% alcohol apple liqueur. burns so good. When we finally get to the first damn bar, we're all relieved. All 14 of us. Especially when we get our free shots. We get free shots of vodka, I down mine Yum Yum and somebody else hands me theirs saying they dont like vodka. I said something along the lines of "i have to pace myself since I'm a lightweight when it comes to drinking" somebody else says "drink it" and I say "mmm. . peer pressure and take that second shot. Then I decide I want a green beer. The tour guide was talking about green beer and red beer. you can only get it in Berlin: its called "Berliner Weisse" Its basically flavored and colored beer. Doesn't taste like alcohol at all. I finish the beer and shortly thereafter we go to the next bar: this one is a Goth Bar (dark, metal music everyone wearing spikes, AWESOME) I get a mojito or some form of it and its adorable if only because instead of an umbrella it has a long toothpick looking thing with a gummy bat candy. and then we get another shot and I meet a really cool girl from Israel and we toast in as many languages as we know. (to recap: by the time we get to the second bar, I've had .5 liters of becks, .2 liter apple liqueur, 2 shots vodka, green beer, mojito and another shot) Next bar we go to I get the red beer, the other Berliner Weisse. That bar was a bit boring but meh. we then go to this cool ping pong bar where I separated from our group and went with the other group on the pub crawl cause I met this cool girl from Iceland,I didn't drink anything there though because the l knew the next bar we were going to was the absinthe bar. YUMMM. . .so of course I got absinthe at the absinthe bar. it was 80% alcohol (shiiiitttt) the way you drink it is you have a glass of absinthe, a thing of water and a spoon with a sugar cube. you dip the sugar cube in the absinthe, light the cube on fire (on the spoon) wait til it goes out, dump it in the absinthe, pour in the water, stir and drink. As soon as I drank that, I called Zac because I knew I would be incoherent in several minutes. And boy, was I ever. . . . drunk. . .so I decided I better get another bottle of water. I drank that second bottle of water and the last place we went was this really cool party where we unfortunately only stayed for a little while because the majority of people wanted to go home and I didn't want to get lost in Berlin. Hazal and I shared a cab with a cute boy from Brazil and his friend from Argentina who were staying at our hostel. They were really sweet and paid for the cab and we got there way before anybody else cause everyone else took the subway. We all went to bed and slept rather well. Then on sunday, we just went adventuring a bit more around Berlin with Phillipe, the guy who organized the trip, Kaho, Delphine, and Hazal. We left berlin around 2:30pm and got back to Maastricht around midnight. I of course found something to complain about:i left my bike over the weekend at the business faculty and we got dropped off at the guesthouse. As everyone else had walked there friday, they were happy. It was a lovely trip and I really wanna go back, I think Elsa and I might go for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. I also wrote a bunch of postcards to people on the bus back.
Alrighty now fast forward to umm . . .thursday, I want to say. . .I start riding my bike as usual to school (yes I ride a bike, yes pigs are flying, yes hell froze over, yes Lizzy's buying a hummer and Zac's turning straight) [just kidding about that last one, thats gonna happen about 70 million lightyears after the universe implodes] So something feels off and I dont realize what until I try to turn and almost fall off. . . my back tire is completely flat so .. . . I walked it back to the shed, locked it up and walked to school .. . . the day of my presentation. Which by the way, I think went well although I may have talked a bit fast. I liked the examples I used especially the one that described my hatred of internet explorer. Astrid actually told me she thought my presentation was interesting (which is rather high praise in my opinion). The next day, it was still broken and I had no idea how to fix it. Matthew told me I needed to get the thing for the inside of the tire. . .people expect me to know these things? come on the last time before I got here that i rode a bike I was like 10. ok?So I again walked to class. Last Development Economics Tutorial. OY. I started giggling uncontrollably after trying to say something and losing my train of thought. I blame the lost train of thought on the fact that there are attractive men in the tutorial (me with my one track mind and all). Yah. then I walked home. . . again and today, I went to the store and bought the thing for my bike, and bought bread and some more fruit YUM. I start walking back, it starts raining. . .GRRRR. so I park the bike I walked to brusselspoort, go inside, buy a 3 euro umbrella from Blokker and go back to Alphie (my bike). The second I open my umbrella, it stops raining. FML, right? I get back, make french toast (YUMMM) and Kaho comes over. Today we spent approximately 6 or 7 hours STUDYING for development economics due to the fact we have a final exam worth 60% of our grade on monday. did I forget to mention that? Here there are 2 periods per semester, 2 eight week periods hence that 8th week is final exams, the first period's exams are next week. I have the development economics one monday at 1:30pm and the infonomics one tuesday at 1:30pm and my final paper regarding aquaria which is to be 12-18 pages (i have 12 just have to revise and reflect) is due by friday. OY is all I can say.
I'll update this again later when my brain isn't trying to send up white flags.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Little Me Back from Paris and Other fun Updates
Two weeks ago I went to Paris to visit my Aunt who lives in Cergy, a city about 20-30 minute train ride from Paris. It also happens to have Europe's largest clock. Ooh Aaah. I got there last friday night and we immediately began our magical adventure to the Eiffel Tower and it was beautiful (see below)
After the Tower, we had dinner at a little cafe near it. The next day, we went on a magical adventure on the Bateaux-Mouche (totally misspelled that, by the way) We also went to the Champs de Ellyses ( i.e. shopping GALORE) and i just bought some perfume. Later, we were hungry and since I wanted chinese, we went on an epic quest for a chinese restaurant and finally found one that also had sushi so I ended up getting sushi and my aunt got chinese (and after trying my sushi decided she was never going to have any again). We also went to Notre Dame and saw how pretty it was. Then it was too late to do anything else so we went back to Cergy and had dinner. I tried escargot!! It actually wasn't bad but I couldn't forget what i was actually eating so I only had one. On sunday, we stopped by the opera house just to see it and then I had to hop on a bus for a really long time (2:30- 9:45) then a train. Overall, Paris was awesome and I'm prolly gonna go back at some point.
I also started real classes. They're actually interesting: Infonomics and Development Economics. For the latter I get to run my own imaginary country (awesome, right?) Also, I've managed to watch seasons 2-4 of Angel and now I'm watching season 5.
Last night, I went on a magical adventure with a bunch of people who mostly spoke in Italian so I didn't understand much but whatever. . .We tried to go to a party but right when we got there, we found out it had gotten broken up so we went to the Vrithof which is the big square in the center and we tried to find a club but failed because we walked around for a million years, and finally gave up and went back to the guesthouse, where we arrived at about 1:30am. Then I proceeded to talk to my mom for about half an hour then watched another episode of Angel and went to sleep. .
After the Tower, we had dinner at a little cafe near it. The next day, we went on a magical adventure on the Bateaux-Mouche (totally misspelled that, by the way) We also went to the Champs de Ellyses ( i.e. shopping GALORE) and i just bought some perfume. Later, we were hungry and since I wanted chinese, we went on an epic quest for a chinese restaurant and finally found one that also had sushi so I ended up getting sushi and my aunt got chinese (and after trying my sushi decided she was never going to have any again). We also went to Notre Dame and saw how pretty it was. Then it was too late to do anything else so we went back to Cergy and had dinner. I tried escargot!! It actually wasn't bad but I couldn't forget what i was actually eating so I only had one. On sunday, we stopped by the opera house just to see it and then I had to hop on a bus for a really long time (2:30- 9:45) then a train. Overall, Paris was awesome and I'm prolly gonna go back at some point.
I also started real classes. They're actually interesting: Infonomics and Development Economics. For the latter I get to run my own imaginary country (awesome, right?) Also, I've managed to watch seasons 2-4 of Angel and now I'm watching season 5.
Last night, I went on a magical adventure with a bunch of people who mostly spoke in Italian so I didn't understand much but whatever. . .We tried to go to a party but right when we got there, we found out it had gotten broken up so we went to the Vrithof which is the big square in the center and we tried to find a club but failed because we walked around for a million years, and finally gave up and went back to the guesthouse, where we arrived at about 1:30am. Then I proceeded to talk to my mom for about half an hour then watched another episode of Angel and went to sleep. .
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Californian Girl in Maastricht Part Twee
As classes have been canceled for this week and I've been re-watching all the episodes of sex and the city (seasons 5 and 6), I feel inspired to write plus its raining outside and I already have food. Last night was the last ESN (Exchange Student Network) party. I actually forgot about it until Elsa reminded me and invited me to the preparty they were having. I went to the pre-party and met a girl who lives in Santa Cruz but goes to school in Denver. Fascinating, right? Anyways, because I once again accidentally got drunk (after 1 fucking beer and a little wine) I had to walk there. There was about a mile away right next to the Maas river. So since I forgot about the party and didn't buy a ticket, I got there to find out it was sold out. Hence, I was a bit upset and I waited outside with another girl who didn't buy a ticket, her friends came out and we kinda snuck in with forged hand stamps. . mwahahahah. evil, right? Well, whatever, they couldn't sell us tickets so fuck em. So once we got in, I'd already kinda lost my buzz so I got a shot of vodka and a rum&cola (rum & coke but you can't call it coke here because people assume the drug). It was fabulous and I was drunk. So after I got my drinks, I went and danced downstairs. OMG the lights made me so happy because they were beautiful. Blacklights and other cool effects=more fun. They mainly played pop/technoish music and there wasn't really any room to dance so people were just basically gyrating in a basement with pretty lights and fun music. Generally the party was fun, I kept losing track of the people I was with and I felt awkward just being around people I didn't know. Alrighty, so we walked back to the c-building. OMG I walked at least 2 miles in those fucking boots, and I have to tell you, they are NOT made for walking. . .even with the massaging gel insoles.
In other news, I booked my bus ride to paris this friday so I will be visiting my aunt in France for the weekend and coming back sunday. Hopefully, I'll actually have class next week but I guess we shall see. . .
In other news, I booked my bus ride to paris this friday so I will be visiting my aunt in France for the weekend and coming back sunday. Hopefully, I'll actually have class next week but I guess we shall see. . .
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Intro to UCM and Adventures in Amsterdam
So on August 21st, I moved from Utrecht to Maastricht. 2 trains and over 3 hours. Well, our luggage wouldn't fit in the cab so they had to send a different one. Once we got to the train station, Jaymie realized she forgot her laptop in the cab. Thankfully, the train was running late otherwise we wouldn't have made it. So, since the train was 25 minutes late and the train goes every 30 minutes, when we got to Eindhoven, the train people decided to cancel the train we were on so we had to transfer trains and run with all our luggage to a different platform (mind you I had over 100lbs of luggage with me alone). Somehow I moved in successfully. . .don't ask me how, it just happened. Oh and my room is about the size of my Aunt's walk-in closet
Monday, August 24th : The first day of the introduction period to UCM. We had a few lectures, a few tours and our first two training sessions of the PBL training. That was fun . . . During lunch, I picked up my bike which I had bought on Saturday. Then I got to pick up Lizzy at the train station and bring her home. . .ooooh. . .
Tuesday, August 25th: Second day of intro. . it was fun . . .again . . .But the most fun was had at the dinner that night. So UCM treated us to indonesian food and bottomless drinks. . .you know the usual for a school function: beer, white and red wine, coca cola and diet coca cola, and orange juice. So classy. I was bad and snuck lizzy in but I assume she had a good time. Well, she told me she did. Hot guys and awkward conversation: best thing EVER. Let me give you an example of the awkward conversation: " I want to get married at 40. What are your thoughts on marriage?" so that might not be an exact quote but it was one of the more amusingly awkward topics. After the dinner, or after we left the dinner before it ended, a couple of us went to the Mississippi Coffeeshop. It's on a boat!!! I kept singing " I'm on a boat!" It was fun
Wednesday, August 26th: The final day of introduction. Seriously FINAL . Finally. ;D Anyways, we had about 3 hours of nothing on this day because exchange students didn't have to do the case studies or the individual planning. Then the intro to dutch culture lecture.. . which wasn't very interesting especially since the speaker actually got a fact wrong: drugs are not legal in the netherlands, the distinction is made between hard and soft drugs and soft drugs are tolerated but strictly regulated. That same night, Universalis, the student group had a party. The theme was universalis in color and I got to observe how amusing the people I had been taking the PBL sessions with were when at a bar. And boy, was it amusing. I snuck Lizzy in again and I'm assuming she had a good time. Overall it was fun, we danced, drank, attempted to flirt with cute boys. We got back around 2 something in the morning . . .
Thursday, August 27th-Sunday, August 30th: So at this time, Lizzy and I went to Amsterdam. 2 and a half hour train ride to Amsterdam from Maastricht. We stayed at the flying pig uptown which is a "backpacker's hostel" I had never stayed in a hostel before. This proved to be amusing because I'm high maintenance apparently. We stayed in a room with 14 total people both male and female. I spent most of the time in the hostel in the smoking room because that was where all the hot guys were. . .goodness I have a one track mind. Besides that, I spent the entire time in a state of intoxication because I was on vacation. As Lizzy made me go to the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum hence I made her go to the Sex Museum and the Hash/Marihuana/Hemp Museum. I also accidentally got drunk on the canal tour. . wheeee! The second night we were there, the hostel had a Pirate Porn Party in honor of 2 people leaving, as I didn't have any pirate gear, I dressed in the theme of porn, pig tails and all. It was over all very fun and I fell in love with the city. It was gorgeous and it was simply amazing, the sights, the sounds, the history, the canals. I really loved it. Last night Lizzy decided to go to Munich with this guy we met on the walking tour named Dan. . . he called me "embittered." I was pissed because only people I know well enough can make those kinds of statements or awkward jokes about me. Definately not him. I guess this is why I was kinda mean to him (unintentionally). Since Lizzy went off to Munich, I spent the last night alone in our bed in the hostel (p.s. Lizzy and I shared a bed every night since monday except for last night because it was cheaper). It was a long but extremely fun vacation. <3
Monday, August 24th : The first day of the introduction period to UCM. We had a few lectures, a few tours and our first two training sessions of the PBL training. That was fun . . . During lunch, I picked up my bike which I had bought on Saturday. Then I got to pick up Lizzy at the train station and bring her home. . .ooooh. . .
Tuesday, August 25th: Second day of intro. . it was fun . . .again . . .But the most fun was had at the dinner that night. So UCM treated us to indonesian food and bottomless drinks. . .you know the usual for a school function: beer, white and red wine, coca cola and diet coca cola, and orange juice. So classy. I was bad and snuck lizzy in but I assume she had a good time. Well, she told me she did. Hot guys and awkward conversation: best thing EVER. Let me give you an example of the awkward conversation: " I want to get married at 40. What are your thoughts on marriage?" so that might not be an exact quote but it was one of the more amusingly awkward topics. After the dinner, or after we left the dinner before it ended, a couple of us went to the Mississippi Coffeeshop. It's on a boat!!! I kept singing " I'm on a boat!" It was fun
Wednesday, August 26th: The final day of introduction. Seriously FINAL . Finally. ;D Anyways, we had about 3 hours of nothing on this day because exchange students didn't have to do the case studies or the individual planning. Then the intro to dutch culture lecture.. . which wasn't very interesting especially since the speaker actually got a fact wrong: drugs are not legal in the netherlands, the distinction is made between hard and soft drugs and soft drugs are tolerated but strictly regulated. That same night, Universalis, the student group had a party. The theme was universalis in color and I got to observe how amusing the people I had been taking the PBL sessions with were when at a bar. And boy, was it amusing. I snuck Lizzy in again and I'm assuming she had a good time. Overall it was fun, we danced, drank, attempted to flirt with cute boys. We got back around 2 something in the morning . . .
Thursday, August 27th-Sunday, August 30th: So at this time, Lizzy and I went to Amsterdam. 2 and a half hour train ride to Amsterdam from Maastricht. We stayed at the flying pig uptown which is a "backpacker's hostel" I had never stayed in a hostel before. This proved to be amusing because I'm high maintenance apparently. We stayed in a room with 14 total people both male and female. I spent most of the time in the hostel in the smoking room because that was where all the hot guys were. . .goodness I have a one track mind. Besides that, I spent the entire time in a state of intoxication because I was on vacation. As Lizzy made me go to the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum hence I made her go to the Sex Museum and the Hash/Marihuana/Hemp Museum. I also accidentally got drunk on the canal tour. . wheeee! The second night we were there, the hostel had a Pirate Porn Party in honor of 2 people leaving, as I didn't have any pirate gear, I dressed in the theme of porn, pig tails and all. It was over all very fun and I fell in love with the city. It was gorgeous and it was simply amazing, the sights, the sounds, the history, the canals. I really loved it. Last night Lizzy decided to go to Munich with this guy we met on the walking tour named Dan. . . he called me "embittered." I was pissed because only people I know well enough can make those kinds of statements or awkward jokes about me. Definately not him. I guess this is why I was kinda mean to him (unintentionally). Since Lizzy went off to Munich, I spent the last night alone in our bed in the hostel (p.s. Lizzy and I shared a bed every night since monday except for last night because it was cheaper). It was a long but extremely fun vacation. <3
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Mijn naam is Natalya en ik woon in Utrecht
My name is Natalya and I am in Utrecht. I have a language exam tomorrow at 9:30 am . . . I have to know conjugations for regular verbs in the present tense, approximately 250 words total, including numbers, times, grocery items, introductions, etc. Oh and I have to be able to pronounce it all and act out a skit such as being in a restaurant ordering food, getting the cheque, etc. On Friday, I have the culture exam about the wonderful dutch culture . . .I'm not worried about that one, actually. I've read most of the book and I've actually been (mostly) paying attention in lecture. On Friday after the culture exam, I'm moving to Maastricht. I've packed most of my stuff except what I'm using tomorrow and friday. I'm so incredibly proud of myself, I was able to fit all my stuff where I need it . . .YAY ME!!!
Over the weekend, I went to Rotterdam to the Boijimans van something museum. All the pictures are on facebook. We had to go to do a presentation about it and it was pretty awesome. Plus I had good wonton soup (yum!!). Jay and I decided that Friday night when we get to Maastricht, we're getting chinese food. Hellla excited. Yesterday, Lizzy Zac and I had a "conference call" for about half an hour. It made me happy. I get to see Lizzy in less than a week!!!!!!!
Also, my boredom in class led me to make a list from which I figured out I still have 19 letters of the alphabet to take care of. I love how the only people who'll understand it are Zac and Lizzy (of course)
At some point, I have to go to both Berlin and Paris, and probably brussels and bruge, as well. Berlin to visit Jalda, Paris to visit my aunt, and Brussels and Bruge so that I can have that experience and tell Brandin about it. So apparently Dutch is similar to Flemish so I'll be able to say something to Brandin when I get back. It is quite exciting.
Let's practice Dutch now, shall we?
Wat is jouw naam? Mijn naam is Natalya
Hoe het jouw? Ik het Natalya.
Hoe ben jij? Ik ben Natalya
Waar woon je? Ik woon in Utrecht.
Waar werke je? Ik werk in Santa Cruz.
Waar je studeren? Ik studee in Maastricht?
Waar kom je vandaan? Ik kom uit Amerika.
Wat talen spreken je? Ik spreek drie talen: Engels, Russisch en een beetje Spaans.
most of that was probably bad grammar and terribly misspelled but fuck it. I love you all!!
Over the weekend, I went to Rotterdam to the Boijimans van something museum. All the pictures are on facebook. We had to go to do a presentation about it and it was pretty awesome. Plus I had good wonton soup (yum!!). Jay and I decided that Friday night when we get to Maastricht, we're getting chinese food. Hellla excited. Yesterday, Lizzy Zac and I had a "conference call" for about half an hour. It made me happy. I get to see Lizzy in less than a week!!!!!!!
Also, my boredom in class led me to make a list from which I figured out I still have 19 letters of the alphabet to take care of. I love how the only people who'll understand it are Zac and Lizzy (of course)
At some point, I have to go to both Berlin and Paris, and probably brussels and bruge, as well. Berlin to visit Jalda, Paris to visit my aunt, and Brussels and Bruge so that I can have that experience and tell Brandin about it. So apparently Dutch is similar to Flemish so I'll be able to say something to Brandin when I get back. It is quite exciting.
Let's practice Dutch now, shall we?
Wat is jouw naam? Mijn naam is Natalya
Hoe het jouw? Ik het Natalya.
Hoe ben jij? Ik ben Natalya
Waar woon je? Ik woon in Utrecht.
Waar werke je? Ik werk in Santa Cruz.
Waar je studeren? Ik studee in Maastricht?
Waar kom je vandaan? Ik kom uit Amerika.
Wat talen spreken je? Ik spreek drie talen: Engels, Russisch en een beetje Spaans.
most of that was probably bad grammar and terribly misspelled but fuck it. I love you all!!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Clubbing in Utrecht Pt. 1
So I forced myself to go out tonight. Inna and Tiffany were going out to a club with a guy they met who lives in our current building. I had already changed into my PJs and I asked what they were doing. They told me and I asked if I could go along. We had to wait quite a bit of time because the guy who was picking us all up got stuck in traffic. We left around midnight after chillin outside the building with the guy who lives here. He's studying for his phd. Cool, right? Anyways, like I said we waited outside the building until he pulled up. He drove fucking ca-razy! Like crazier than Zac and my dad combined. It was awesome and made me very happy. You know, except for the part about us 3 girls being crammed in the backseat. It was a 2 door car. I'm not complaining, we got a ride there and back so hey, it was awesome. When we got there (in one piece) we went into one club without any problem, however once we got in there pretty much wasn't anybody there so we went to the one next to it. That one was packed as hell. It was great, we had a little issue getting in cause it was only for students and I had to show my UCSC id to get in. We were obviously a little uncomfortable at first because it was a little strange to we separated from the 2 guys and went to the back, then the other girls got some beer and we stayed near the bar in the back dancing and chilling. Then this rather good looking dutch guy started hitting on Tiffany and we got hit on by his friends (kinda). I got props for being from norcal although I don't know if he actually knew what it meant. It was amusing because of all the pretty boys (yum). Also, the music made me happy. They played both Backstreet Boys AND Journey. I, of course, sang along to both of them as best as I could. I don't know if its a good or bad thing that I knew every single word to "backstreet's back" Well, what can I say, totally sexcellent. We danced around and had some more fun for about another 45 minutes or so. It was hella awesomeriffic. We drove back (woot for getting driven) then walked back to our place laughing the entire way up.
This evening was after the day we went to the Hague. We went to the Hague as I said and saw the international court where they settle disputes between nations in the UN. We saw the international peace flame and it was pretty. We also went to the Mauritshuis and saw the Dutch version of the white house and the queen's working palace. The Mauritshuis is a museum with some rembrandts and the most popular Vermeer: the girl with the pearl earring. It was pretty awesome except for how tired we were. I passed out on the bus ride back and grudgingly woke up when we got there. I went to Albert Hein (a supermarket) so I could buy some groceries and a new strippenkaart because I used mine up. And I got a miniwatermelon that was extremely overpriced but hopefully deelish.
Now, I'm tired and as I'm going to rotterdam tomorrow for a presentation we have to do. I also talked to my aunt in france today and found out where she lives so I'll be able to visit when I get a chance. I'm gonna go to sleep as it is 2:43 am here. Goodnight.
This evening was after the day we went to the Hague. We went to the Hague as I said and saw the international court where they settle disputes between nations in the UN. We saw the international peace flame and it was pretty. We also went to the Mauritshuis and saw the Dutch version of the white house and the queen's working palace. The Mauritshuis is a museum with some rembrandts and the most popular Vermeer: the girl with the pearl earring. It was pretty awesome except for how tired we were. I passed out on the bus ride back and grudgingly woke up when we got there. I went to Albert Hein (a supermarket) so I could buy some groceries and a new strippenkaart because I used mine up. And I got a miniwatermelon that was extremely overpriced but hopefully deelish.
Now, I'm tired and as I'm going to rotterdam tomorrow for a presentation we have to do. I also talked to my aunt in france today and found out where she lives so I'll be able to visit when I get a chance. I'm gonna go to sleep as it is 2:43 am here. Goodnight.
Ik spreek Nederlands!
It's been a busy week. See Re-Caps below:
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
We had our first dutch lesson. Mijn naam is Natalya. Ik spreek drie talen: Engels, Russisch, en een beetje Spaans. That means my name is Natalya. I speak 3 languages: english, russian, and a little bit of Spanish. Isn't that cool? Then we had our first seminar to discussion about the previous day's lecture. I enjoyed it, interestingly enough. Most likely because we discussed ethical issues and the stereotypes of the netherlands. We learned about the values in Dutch culture most important for example no waste, value in saving, and my personal favorite: " Doe maar gewoon, dan doe je al gek genoeg" which means " Act normally, that's strange enough" We also went over the ideas behind dutch policies on drugs, prostitution, etc. The reason the things are the way they are is pragmatism. It'd be more dangerous to not regulate it, ya know?
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Second dutch lesson. Hoe gaat het? or Hoe gaat het met jou? This means How are you or how are you now? As we did not have a seminar on this day, I went upstairs and did my assignment about the pros and cons of legalized prostitution. It was interesting. Then we went to a fabulous event entitled "Go Dutch or Go Home" The challenge was to eat 10 stroopwaffles, 2 beer bottles of water and find a piece of chocolate in a bowl of mayonnaise. Angie DOMINATED. It was quite amusing. On the way back we quickly stopped by the bar but there was nothing really interesting going on there so w/e.
Thursday, August 13th 2009
The most interesting day this week, by far. The language class is going pretty well, the seminar was fascinating because of the discussion about Abortion, Prostitution and Euthanasia in the Netherlands. It kinda sucks that that's what the country is known for but the policies are interesting to discuss. Lunch was fascinating because of the amount of topics discussed that go through my head on a daily basis, however nobody here really knows the things that run through my head on a daily basis so its very amusing. I also met a very hot guy from New Zealand, unfortunately I forgot to get his name but he was tall, blonde and very pretty. Plus since he's taking a course at UCU right now, I'll hopefully run into him again. (*giggle*) The lecture we had was AWESOME. It was about Immigration and Integration in the netherlands. We then had an assignment to go to the "ethnic" part of town. Which I thought was awesome. It was so much fun. I went with Inna, Tiffany, Ricky and Jay. Not only did we find out where we're going grocery shopping for the next week but we found a buttload of cute clothing at this really cool store. I also found a hella legit head shop with a gorgeous hookah with a cobra on it. It was soooo cool . We got ice cream and on the way back laughed our asses off on the bus and I think we freaked everyone out with our loud American antics. It was a little ridiculous. We then came back home and hung out for a little bit. The guys on the 16th floor were having another party so I stopped by for a little bit. They were playing beer pong and I was highly amused. I put on my heels for the first time in forever. It felt sooo good. Now I'm watching Numb3rs and chillin until I go to sleep. My housemate is out clubbing with Tiffany and some other people. As I would like to wake up at 6am tomorrow I'm staying in. I'll go out another time. . .maybe Saturday.
I'm pretty much done with my strippenkaart so I need to buy a new one soon. Frelling frell balls. Tomorrow we're going to the Hague which sounds like SOOO much fun. I'm excited, except for the part about having to be at UCU at 8:15 instead of 9:30 like normal. Whatever, I can sleep on the bus or something. I was worried at first we would have to pay for the trip and go on the train but we're taking a chartered bus just for us which makes me rather relieved.
It still feels a little wierd not being in california but I'm readjusting quite well which makes me happy. (Yes captain obvious lives in my head).WoooooHooooo!!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
We had our first dutch lesson. Mijn naam is Natalya. Ik spreek drie talen: Engels, Russisch, en een beetje Spaans. That means my name is Natalya. I speak 3 languages: english, russian, and a little bit of Spanish. Isn't that cool? Then we had our first seminar to discussion about the previous day's lecture. I enjoyed it, interestingly enough. Most likely because we discussed ethical issues and the stereotypes of the netherlands. We learned about the values in Dutch culture most important for example no waste, value in saving, and my personal favorite: " Doe maar gewoon, dan doe je al gek genoeg" which means " Act normally, that's strange enough" We also went over the ideas behind dutch policies on drugs, prostitution, etc. The reason the things are the way they are is pragmatism. It'd be more dangerous to not regulate it, ya know?
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Second dutch lesson. Hoe gaat het? or Hoe gaat het met jou? This means How are you or how are you now? As we did not have a seminar on this day, I went upstairs and did my assignment about the pros and cons of legalized prostitution. It was interesting. Then we went to a fabulous event entitled "Go Dutch or Go Home" The challenge was to eat 10 stroopwaffles, 2 beer bottles of water and find a piece of chocolate in a bowl of mayonnaise. Angie DOMINATED. It was quite amusing. On the way back we quickly stopped by the bar but there was nothing really interesting going on there so w/e.
Thursday, August 13th 2009
The most interesting day this week, by far. The language class is going pretty well, the seminar was fascinating because of the discussion about Abortion, Prostitution and Euthanasia in the Netherlands. It kinda sucks that that's what the country is known for but the policies are interesting to discuss. Lunch was fascinating because of the amount of topics discussed that go through my head on a daily basis, however nobody here really knows the things that run through my head on a daily basis so its very amusing. I also met a very hot guy from New Zealand, unfortunately I forgot to get his name but he was tall, blonde and very pretty. Plus since he's taking a course at UCU right now, I'll hopefully run into him again. (*giggle*) The lecture we had was AWESOME. It was about Immigration and Integration in the netherlands. We then had an assignment to go to the "ethnic" part of town. Which I thought was awesome. It was so much fun. I went with Inna, Tiffany, Ricky and Jay. Not only did we find out where we're going grocery shopping for the next week but we found a buttload of cute clothing at this really cool store. I also found a hella legit head shop with a gorgeous hookah with a cobra on it. It was soooo cool . We got ice cream and on the way back laughed our asses off on the bus and I think we freaked everyone out with our loud American antics. It was a little ridiculous. We then came back home and hung out for a little bit. The guys on the 16th floor were having another party so I stopped by for a little bit. They were playing beer pong and I was highly amused. I put on my heels for the first time in forever. It felt sooo good. Now I'm watching Numb3rs and chillin until I go to sleep. My housemate is out clubbing with Tiffany and some other people. As I would like to wake up at 6am tomorrow I'm staying in. I'll go out another time. . .maybe Saturday.
I'm pretty much done with my strippenkaart so I need to buy a new one soon. Frelling frell balls. Tomorrow we're going to the Hague which sounds like SOOO much fun. I'm excited, except for the part about having to be at UCU at 8:15 instead of 9:30 like normal. Whatever, I can sleep on the bus or something. I was worried at first we would have to pay for the trip and go on the train but we're taking a chartered bus just for us which makes me rather relieved.
It still feels a little wierd not being in california but I'm readjusting quite well which makes me happy. (Yes captain obvious lives in my head).WoooooHooooo!!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Day 1 of DLC
Today we had our first day of the dutch language and culture course. It was interesting but I found myself falling asleep. We had a general intro but since I've been reading the book they assigned us I actually understood what our lecturer was talking about. We had a 2 hour break so Inna and I walked into town in search of a cafe to eat at. This failed miserably and I went back after we crossed through the park. I went to the study center and Patrice (the study center manager) pointed me in the direction of the cafeteria. I also got complimented on my fabulous singing voice. (lol).
Read Below for what I wrote at the airport when waiting for the plane to SFO:
Time: 3:51 pm [PST]
Place: SFO
Date: 8/4/09
"So I'm sitting in front of Gate A4 waiting for them to start seating us. I want to text Zac to ease my anxiousness but as I left my phone turned off at home and I don't have his number it'd be difficult. There's a guy at the counter that looks like Cuthbert. SHIT. What am I getting myself into? 5 months is a hell of a long time. Grandpa, Grandma, Mom, Dad and Frocy saw me off.
The thoughts currently running through my head:
-what am I doing here?
-what did I forget?
-what the fuck is 'preboarding'?
-this is a 747, if the doors close @ 4:40 how the hell are they gonna seat everyone in 25 minutes!?!
-are we gonna get there on time??
-FUCK! a 10 hour flight
-should I watch 17 Again aboard?
-will I need to buy headphones aboard?
-am I putting this on my blog?
-take a deep breath!
-will they let me bring my gummy worms on
-who am I gonna sit next to?
-calm the fuck down
-wooohoo I get to see Lizzy!!
-there's a hot guy in one of the laptop booths
-shit I have a one track mind
-I didn't get to see so many people before I left
-how am I gonna know to take my pills?"
then the plane started boarding for me so I stopped writing. I'm having fun here but I want to be in Maastricht so I can start actually learning. I enjoy having school and homework and stuff. The pain in the ass is that we're so far away from the UCU campus. UU is like UCSC in that its on the outskirts of town. There's only 2 buses we can use to go real places from here but grrr. We've been walking to campus everyday and my one toe has like 3 blisters which is a problem. A painful problem. It rained here today which made me happy, since we went for a little walk then went to the Cambridgebar next to Cambridgelaan housing . We didn't realize the bar opened at 10 and got there a little early. I drank a few nights ago but tonight I just had a hot chocolate while Inna, Nina and Tiffany had hot chocolate with bailey's (totally delicious btw).
I'm having an interesting time but at the same time I really wish there were somebody else I actually knew before coming here on the trip so I could have that safety net. Meh . . .
Read Below for what I wrote at the airport when waiting for the plane to SFO:
Time: 3:51 pm [PST]
Place: SFO
Date: 8/4/09
"So I'm sitting in front of Gate A4 waiting for them to start seating us. I want to text Zac to ease my anxiousness but as I left my phone turned off at home and I don't have his number it'd be difficult. There's a guy at the counter that looks like Cuthbert. SHIT. What am I getting myself into? 5 months is a hell of a long time. Grandpa, Grandma, Mom, Dad and Frocy saw me off.
The thoughts currently running through my head:
-what am I doing here?
-what did I forget?
-what the fuck is 'preboarding'?
-this is a 747, if the doors close @ 4:40 how the hell are they gonna seat everyone in 25 minutes!?!
-are we gonna get there on time??
-FUCK! a 10 hour flight
-should I watch 17 Again aboard?
-will I need to buy headphones aboard?
-am I putting this on my blog?
-take a deep breath!
-will they let me bring my gummy worms on
-who am I gonna sit next to?
-calm the fuck down
-wooohoo I get to see Lizzy!!
-there's a hot guy in one of the laptop booths
-shit I have a one track mind
-I didn't get to see so many people before I left
-how am I gonna know to take my pills?"
then the plane started boarding for me so I stopped writing. I'm having fun here but I want to be in Maastricht so I can start actually learning. I enjoy having school and homework and stuff. The pain in the ass is that we're so far away from the UCU campus. UU is like UCSC in that its on the outskirts of town. There's only 2 buses we can use to go real places from here but grrr. We've been walking to campus everyday and my one toe has like 3 blisters which is a problem. A painful problem. It rained here today which made me happy, since we went for a little walk then went to the Cambridgebar next to Cambridgelaan housing . We didn't realize the bar opened at 10 and got there a little early. I drank a few nights ago but tonight I just had a hot chocolate while Inna, Nina and Tiffany had hot chocolate with bailey's (totally delicious btw).
I'm having an interesting time but at the same time I really wish there were somebody else I actually knew before coming here on the trip so I could have that safety net. Meh . . .
Friday, August 7, 2009
First Days in Utrecht
So now I've been in Utrecht for about 2 and a half days. Utrecht is a 30 minute train ride from Amsterdam. It's one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands. Let me break it down day by day:
August 5th (Wednesday): I got to the Netherlands. The flight was a bit hellish. I couldn't sleep on the 10 hour flight from SFO to LHR. Then I had a 1 hour layover. . .this one hour layover was BS. Heathrow SUCKS. . Even through I had just gotten off a plane, I had to get through security AGAIN then get on the plane to Amsterdam. The problem was theat the doors close for the flight 20 minutes to the flight. I got on extremely exhausted. I finally got to Amsterdam a little while later and took the train to the Utrecht Centraal Station.(with my 2 giant suitcases and my carry on and my purse). I met another girl on the train and we took the taxi to the University College Utrecht Campus where we were supposed to check in. We got there at like 4:05pm and we were supposed to be there by 5. Then at 6:15 (after not having slept for about 24-26 hours) we walked to the city center .We got lost on the way to the meeting point at UCU since I live in Uithof which is part of Utrecht but not even on the map of the city I have. So sleep-deprived me had to WALK over 30 minutes to eat pancakes (i.e. really thick crepes) for dinner. Then I took a bus with another girl and went home while other people went to bars in the city. I couldn't sleep because I was so fucking freaked out. I talked to mike on skype. I calmed down a bit but I couldn't fall asleep until 4ish
August 6th (Thursday): In the morning we had orientation for the DLC (Dutch Language and Culture Course) that's going on in Utrecht.( As interesting as this city is, I'm still going to have to take a train for two hours with all my luggage to Maastricht.) After the DLC orientation, we went into the city and I got a sim card for my phone. I like it because it's only 6 eurocents per minute to call the US. I then went to a supermarket and bought some food. Then I went back home and freaked out some more.We had a party at our apartment (on the 18th floor) and it melted with a party somebody else on our floor was having. I stayed mainly in my room being antisocial. Then I tried to go to sleep but it was too fucking HOT so I couldn't sleep.
August 7th (Friday): This morning we had a Utrecht city tour because of the gothic architecture (etc. etc.) Then we went and bought our Museum Cards and I went back home, got my stuff for the Maastricht orientation and got there half an hour early and got reimbursed for the museum card.I felt bad because since I was sick I kept falling asleep for a few seconds at a time.
We then once again came back, I hung out in my room then went downstairs to the 7th floor and hung out with some people. We then went on a magical adventure to another building to find a gathering in another person's apartment and we were planning on going to a party on the 16th floor but I felt useless there so I was antisocial again and went to my room to write this and try to calm down a bit more (as well as get started on my reading for the course).
Other notes:
I go to maastricht in 2 weeks so I'm trying not to spend too much money now since thats where I'll be living for most of my stay. Like I said above, i'm annoyed by being in Utrecht right now because I don't want to have to worry about cleaning and repacking all my shit. I'm trying to only live out of one suitcase so I don't touch the other one. I already have a plan for when I'm moving out. The day we move out we have our final exam for the language course. It's from 12-2. We have to move out by 12. My plan is do most of my packing Thursday, wake up hella early Friday, clean and pack the rest of my stuff and be on campus by 11. Then we leave our stuff in a room while we take the exam. I will arrange for a taxi to pick me up at the UCU campus at 2:05 to take me to the train station. At the train station, I will buy a ticket to maastricht, The train leaves at 3:08 so that gives me enough time to get there, buy my ticket, etc. The train arrives in Maastricht at 5:04pm. There will be somebody from the student group Universalis there to pick me up and drive me to the Guesthouse I'm going to be living at. As far as packing goes that day, I will put as much as I can in my two larger suitcases and probably attach the carryon I used to the smaller one and put the stuff I had in there in my backpack so It'll seem lighter and less troublesome.
Also, because of my neurotic obsession with planning and time management, I've figured out how I'm going to get to the airport in December when I leave. My plane leaves Monday, I have to move out sunday, so I will arrange a taxi to take me to the train station and take the train to amsterdam. There I will get a hotel for the night and in the morning (depending on where the hotel is) either take a taxi or walk to Shipol and fly out since my plane leaves in the morning, I want to leave the hotel by 7:30 so I can be at the airport by 8. I realize this is neurotic planning on my part but I'm and aquarius sun with a taurus rising, what do you expect??
August 5th (Wednesday): I got to the Netherlands. The flight was a bit hellish. I couldn't sleep on the 10 hour flight from SFO to LHR. Then I had a 1 hour layover. . .this one hour layover was BS. Heathrow SUCKS. . Even through I had just gotten off a plane, I had to get through security AGAIN then get on the plane to Amsterdam. The problem was theat the doors close for the flight 20 minutes to the flight. I got on extremely exhausted. I finally got to Amsterdam a little while later and took the train to the Utrecht Centraal Station.(with my 2 giant suitcases and my carry on and my purse). I met another girl on the train and we took the taxi to the University College Utrecht Campus where we were supposed to check in. We got there at like 4:05pm and we were supposed to be there by 5. Then at 6:15 (after not having slept for about 24-26 hours) we walked to the city center .We got lost on the way to the meeting point at UCU since I live in Uithof which is part of Utrecht but not even on the map of the city I have. So sleep-deprived me had to WALK over 30 minutes to eat pancakes (i.e. really thick crepes) for dinner. Then I took a bus with another girl and went home while other people went to bars in the city. I couldn't sleep because I was so fucking freaked out. I talked to mike on skype. I calmed down a bit but I couldn't fall asleep until 4ish
August 6th (Thursday): In the morning we had orientation for the DLC (Dutch Language and Culture Course) that's going on in Utrecht.( As interesting as this city is, I'm still going to have to take a train for two hours with all my luggage to Maastricht.) After the DLC orientation, we went into the city and I got a sim card for my phone. I like it because it's only 6 eurocents per minute to call the US. I then went to a supermarket and bought some food. Then I went back home and freaked out some more.We had a party at our apartment (on the 18th floor) and it melted with a party somebody else on our floor was having. I stayed mainly in my room being antisocial. Then I tried to go to sleep but it was too fucking HOT so I couldn't sleep.
August 7th (Friday): This morning we had a Utrecht city tour because of the gothic architecture (etc. etc.) Then we went and bought our Museum Cards and I went back home, got my stuff for the Maastricht orientation and got there half an hour early and got reimbursed for the museum card.I felt bad because since I was sick I kept falling asleep for a few seconds at a time.
We then once again came back, I hung out in my room then went downstairs to the 7th floor and hung out with some people. We then went on a magical adventure to another building to find a gathering in another person's apartment and we were planning on going to a party on the 16th floor but I felt useless there so I was antisocial again and went to my room to write this and try to calm down a bit more (as well as get started on my reading for the course).
Other notes:
I go to maastricht in 2 weeks so I'm trying not to spend too much money now since thats where I'll be living for most of my stay. Like I said above, i'm annoyed by being in Utrecht right now because I don't want to have to worry about cleaning and repacking all my shit. I'm trying to only live out of one suitcase so I don't touch the other one. I already have a plan for when I'm moving out. The day we move out we have our final exam for the language course. It's from 12-2. We have to move out by 12. My plan is do most of my packing Thursday, wake up hella early Friday, clean and pack the rest of my stuff and be on campus by 11. Then we leave our stuff in a room while we take the exam. I will arrange for a taxi to pick me up at the UCU campus at 2:05 to take me to the train station. At the train station, I will buy a ticket to maastricht, The train leaves at 3:08 so that gives me enough time to get there, buy my ticket, etc. The train arrives in Maastricht at 5:04pm. There will be somebody from the student group Universalis there to pick me up and drive me to the Guesthouse I'm going to be living at. As far as packing goes that day, I will put as much as I can in my two larger suitcases and probably attach the carryon I used to the smaller one and put the stuff I had in there in my backpack so It'll seem lighter and less troublesome.
Also, because of my neurotic obsession with planning and time management, I've figured out how I'm going to get to the airport in December when I leave. My plane leaves Monday, I have to move out sunday, so I will arrange a taxi to take me to the train station and take the train to amsterdam. There I will get a hotel for the night and in the morning (depending on where the hotel is) either take a taxi or walk to Shipol and fly out since my plane leaves in the morning, I want to leave the hotel by 7:30 so I can be at the airport by 8. I realize this is neurotic planning on my part but I'm and aquarius sun with a taurus rising, what do you expect??
Sunday, August 2, 2009
T-Minus Two Days
There are two days before my plane leaves and I don't know whether or not it's hit me that I'm actually going to the netherlands. I've started packing but I'm nowhere close to done and there's probably something I've forgotten I need.
you
So in case the above sentences don't make sense, I'm going to be studying abroad in the Netherlands for the next 5 months and Zac told me to get a blog to record the results (probably so anybody reading this will be amused for some bit of time).
My plane leaves SFO at 4:55pm PST and arrives in London's Heathrow airport in 10 hours 5 minutes, from there I have a one hour layover then I'm on the plane to Amsterdam for 2 hours 15 minutes from where I will be getting on a train to Utrecht and then we'll see what happens.
For anybody that doesn't know, I'm and Aquarius sun, Gemini moon, and Taurus rising so if you thought this was going to be an interesting journey before, it's even more amusing now (given you know astrology).
you
So in case the above sentences don't make sense, I'm going to be studying abroad in the Netherlands for the next 5 months and Zac told me to get a blog to record the results (probably so anybody reading this will be amused for some bit of time).
My plane leaves SFO at 4:55pm PST and arrives in London's Heathrow airport in 10 hours 5 minutes, from there I have a one hour layover then I'm on the plane to Amsterdam for 2 hours 15 minutes from where I will be getting on a train to Utrecht and then we'll see what happens.
For anybody that doesn't know, I'm and Aquarius sun, Gemini moon, and Taurus rising so if you thought this was going to be an interesting journey before, it's even more amusing now (given you know astrology).
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