Visit with the infamous Clairebear :)

BEST CREPE EVER.

After a full day of class (the ones that I do have) on Thursday, Friday afternoon I headed to IRELAND! Yes the spudless land of eireann, where there are definitely more sheep than humans. I flew into Dublin, where I unfortunately missed my bus so I just got on the next possible one. Claire met me at the bus station, and we got ready for my first Galway experience. And let me tell you, dancing in Ireland is fun. and so is ending the night with the best burger from Charcoal grill. Apparently better than Supermac's but I don't know... they have the best garlic fries. These europeans love their chips! Saturday was such a relaxing day. We got literally the best crepes I have ever had- mine was a 3 cheese, ham, pesto, sundried tomato and onion. and the cheese oozed out and was all crispy! MMMM! better than the french ones. for sure. Then we saw the river and some pretty sights, and drank coffee and played scrabble at a cafe. So adorable. I also bought my first irish wool sweater. I'm never taking it off. We took it easy that night, with Annie's mac and cheese and friends and going to the movies. We saw social network, it was really great. I was so disoriented leaving the theatre, because I was with Claire and completely forgot we were not in VT anymore! Toto!

Sunday we watched more TV which I just miss so much. Strange, because I rarely watch TV but I missed it! Then Claire showed me her campus and then we headed to LAME Dublin. I don't even really want to talk about it. There was one pub we went to where I was asked who the lady governor of Massachusetts is... But we saw a couple of live bands. But by far the best part was the fries with the garlic sauce- perfect end to a lame irish night! Womp. I missed Claire though. It was so fun to be with someone from home!

I got my irish breakfast the next morning, which was the highlight of my experience in Dublin,

besides seeing the Dublin Castle! Because I did not like that city. Galway = awesome. Dublin = naht.Anyway, now it's back Holland.. Life goes on. Planning my arrival stateside... pre-xmas? a month and 15 days? I should figure it out soon before the flights are too expensive...! HA!

Ciao Ciao :)

YOU SPEAK ENGLISH!?

I can't even lie, I'm the worst blogger ever. I keep forgetting about writing! I know I'll be upset with myself when I can't remember what happened. Haha! Anyway! This post is all about the beautiful city of Pariii (emphasis on the 'eee') I think the city actually stole my heart. I don't remember liking it so much, but I got the chills the minute I was out of the metro (breally not until I saw montmartre and the sacre-coeur, i was in love! AH! OH and my favorite part- the fact that there was an saxophone player on the metro. Only in Paris.

So it all started when I was stir crazy and needed to get out, and saturday (the 30th) I told Ryan i was coming and booked a hostel and bus. After the lack of sleep from herengracht halloween party, which was just a crazy fun night and I have to say I definitely had the best costume, I got up super early to leave. Ryan and his friend met me at the metro, and Steven and I got dinner together and enjoyed the nightlife-I love all the outdoor cafes! Even though it's cold (Not as bad as VT though... no snow or ice yet!) they have the heat lamps so its tolerable. Monday I went up Monmartre (so many steps. better than any stairmaster, no wonder the french are in shape! in addition to all that wine) and the Sacre-Couer. the view is amazing. (this comment annoys me, the pictures are such a better story!) I met up with Ryan and we went to the Luxembourg park, and got crepes (of course) for lunch. I saw the fountain de saint michel. So beautiful. We went to Notre Dame, it was better than before! And i still couldn't find the spot you're supposed to step on to ensure you come back. Silly. We also saw a street improv funny show. French humor is great.

On Tuesday Peter and I met up for delicious flakey croissants and bread and cappuccinos. Might want to add my french hasn't been the worse. The language is so beautiful, I love hearing everyone talk. Anyway, we REALLY wanted to go to the Louvre but as my luck would have it, it was evidently closed on Tuesday. surprising. So we ended up at the Musee d'Orsay. Which was amazing. I loved all the post-impressionist stuff, Renoir and van Gogh and Degas. Wonderful.

We got more crepes (which, as I'll explain later, these french crepes don't even begin to compete with the ones at the galway shop street saturday market ha!) Ryan and I met up again and strolled, went to the outside of the Louvre, and walked down Champ-d'Elysees. Which I can imagine in the winter with the snow is just a beautiful walk. Saw the Arc de Triomph, and we had to go underneath it, via a tunnel under the 5 lanes of traffic. terrifying drivers. That night I we went to the Tour d'Eiffel. But I didn't go up, it was a bit foggy. but it was still utterly amazing, all lit up and sparkling! Ahh so romantic of a place. I can't get over how great of a city it is. Before returning to my hostel I went back up Monmatre to see the city all lit up. It was gorgeous! I had to leave early on monday morning, little did I know I was in for a 10 hour bus ride back to good ol' Leiden-ville. But only for approximately 48 hours. :)

Overall, I love paris. I'm sad it was such a short visit but I can't wait to return!

mi piace italia!

I JUST love the colors!
Firenze


Puccini concert
HA!
Il Duomo!
Hercules statue in Firenze
Fountain in Milano


Il Duomo di Milano
One thing i love most about being here with some of the most wonderful people, is making meals together. Planning, shopping, cooking, and enjoying good conversations, all which ends up taking 3 hours. This morning we made pancakes and fresh-squeezed orange juice in the German kitchen of course, because they have all the good appliances! Now i was planning on being productive and getting some work done, but then i remembered the last time I updated was 2 weeks ago. And there is much to tell!

The weekdays aren't too exciting. Two weekends ago was the big festival for the seige of Leiden. It was crazy here! Pretty much the entire town was shut down for a huge fair, complete with a rollercoaster and other really crazy carnival rides. The streets were lined with venders selling all sorts of goodies. The festival lasted all weekend, and ended with a fabulous display of fireworks (not as good as Ashland of course) although they were so close, the smell of burning stung your nose and you could even feel the ashes.

Two girlfriends and I went into Amsterdam and went to the Anne Frank House. It is was very depressing, but so impressive all the remains from the house and of Anne's belongings. Before we went, we got stroopwaffel mcflurries. Which are the most amazing food item (besides straight-up stroopwaffels) and I want to petition Mickey D's to sell them EVERYWHERE. I did have a picture of it but it's nowhere to be found... :(

Last Saturday Peter and I traveled to ITALIA! We flew into Milan and walked around and enjoyed the sights (or lack there of) Il Duomo di Milano was really huge. Then we took the train to Florence and of course, ate pizza as soon as we got there. So much delicious gelato, i had two per day. We wanted to go to a squash festival, but it was way too far out, and we just ended up spending the day in a small town called Lucca, eating pasta and gelato. I bought a nice leather wallet, my one little splurge of the trip (amazing that i didn't spend more!) I also went to the top of a tower and could see out over the town. Those were some of my favorite views. At the last minute we decided to go to an opera concert with two singers who were singing Giacomo Puccini (Italian composer) songs. It was incredible! Lucca was a very quaint little place. Back in Firenze, we did lots of walking and leather shopping in the street markets. Il Duomo was the most amazing cathedral. I can't imagine walking to school or work and not have my jaw drop to the floor by seeing it. The inside was not so impressive, but the outside sure was. I went to the Uffizi gallery and saw such amazing statues and paintings. The building itself is gorgeous, and the exhibit selection is really nice, lots of Jesus and Madonna. il piazzale michelangelo had the most gorgeous views, even though the sunset was non-existent, we got some nice shots. seeing all of the rooftops, so orange, it was just so beautiful. So in a nutshell, Italia is beautiful and I need to go back, especially to the south! Where it is actually warm. And eat my weight in pastas, gelato, pizza. Grom is the best gelato too, if you ever go, it's the place to be.

Ciao ciao

Follow up on Antwerp and Bruges!

Here's alittle taste from the trip to Belgium. These are some of my favorite photos. Photos of Bruges courtesy of Daniel's camera and photo taking skills! (There are more pictures on my Kodak gallery account, if you'd like to see let me know!)

Me in front of De Kathedraal, Antwerp

De Katherdraal
nice building...!
Centraal Station, Antwerp
Centraal Station, Antwerp

Me in front a castle in Bruges, which used to be part of the city wall
Me Daniel and Peter in front of 't Brugs Beertje. 250 beers!

Catherdral in Bruges

OF COURSE THERES A CHOCOLATES PICTURE!

Beautiful buildings on a canal. Bruges
Belfry! Bruges

Markt Square in Bruges

We just missed the canals in Leiden so much!

Windmills everywhere!

"don't like the weather? wait 15 minutes."

I really am starting to suck at writing on my blog. It's been over two weeks and a lot (for my standards) has happened. I first would like to say that this weather is getting really old, really quickly. I haven't been so sick of rain in my life. If the weather was not like this, I would have absolutely nothing to complain about, but alas, I had to come to Holland.

Regardless, two weekends ago I had my first trip to Amsterdam! A big group of us headed there for Friday evening, but were quickly split up ( I never understood why people even try to travel in a group of over 5, it just never works). Anja, Daniel, Samo, Nina and I walked around the Red Light District, which to my surprise I had a very different reaction to it than I had expected. It amazed me the hoards of men walking around, young, old, fat, skinny, ALL tourists. They just were gawking at all the women as they window-shopped. Interestingly enough, this did not surprise me but was a little sickening. We strolled around looking for food, and ended up at a steakhouse where we got ribs and steak and beer, of course! The night was not so rainy so we walked around and went to a coffeeshop! Saturday night we stayed at Herengracht and all hung out and laughed. In my pants!

The weekdays themselves are slightly monotonous but fun, going to class, having dinners together in the house (Monday night is pancake night and Wednesday is 5 euro pizza night!) and more than not going out for drinks. I made dinner for everyone this past Thursday, and I can't really say my cooking skills have improved any since I've gotten here. I need to work on that. My classes are not too bad at all. It's going to be difficult to actually have to do work once next semester comes around. Having two classes with minimal work really is just being on vacation, as long as I pass... (Hi mom and dad! I'm really doing lots of studying!)

So during the week my friends Peter, Daniel and Anja and I decided to take a weekend trip to Belgium. After much deliberation, we decided on Antwerp and Bruges as our destinations. Unfortunately for me, I had class until 5 on Friday (the one downer concerning my class schedule) so the three of them headed out early Friday morning and I caught up with them after class. Despite an extra long bus ride and sketchily walking around, I finally met up with mis amigos and we headed straight to a bar when I got there, a nice jazz cafe where we could sit outside in a little courtyard. Belgium beer really is great. It's so tasty and I'm sorry to say, puts American beer to shame. While we were enjoying though, Peter remembered that he forgot the combination to our super creepy hostel that was far outside of the city. We were worried so we headed back to our hostel in the creepy park to see if we could break in... not that we had to, because the back door was left open? Needless to say, I was very afraid of this hostel and of the potential zombies that the boys told us were after us. Singing Valerie and Rehab by Amy Winehouse got us through.

Saturday we headed back into the center, for lunch, de Katherdraal, more cathedrals, chocolate, and lots of picture taking. and more beer of course! Unfortunately Anja had to leave us, but then the boys and ifound a little bar that was nice and cozy, followed by way too many fries (they are apparently the best in belgium- i don't agree) with different sauces. Despite being so full, we walked and went to a really fancy and expensive restaurant - but it was so worth it- salmon with a citrus garlic butter and rice. MMM! After that we were full and satisfied and happy, and the sight of Bruges was on the agenda!

On Sunday we took a train to Bruges, very afraid that the weather was going to downpour the whole time. Luckily, not the case the whole time. We walked through a yard sale/ antique sale/ flea market. We wandered and took pictures and saw more cathedrals ("seen 'em once, you've seen 'em all!" -me and daniel) Then we went to yet another bar, this one had over 250 types of beer. We drank 9 types (sharing of course!) and my favorite was the Kwak because it came in a sweet glass (insert picture i don't have yet). The rest of the day was more walking and we had food at an irish pub! Yum! But more fries. I think after being off of fries for 6 months and then eating them all weekend was a bad choice. No more fries. That night the three of us were exhausted so we just watched south park in german at the hostel. Very funny. Monday morning was still quite a drag- why am I an old lady! I have to get my energy levels up. But we did some more sightseeing, more cathedrals, and windmills! I bought some chocolates, but unfortunately put them in my bag and fell asleep on them so they were a nice melted mess when I found them. And we had pannekoeken and irish coffee, that i had been craving all weekend! And it would've a perfect end to the trip, had we not had 5 hours to travel by bus and train after that ... should've only been 2! Oh well, overall I give the weekend a 7 out of 10. :) Great first trip, great friends, great food and drinks, and it was nice to get away for the weekend, even if it means I'll be broke until the end of eternity.

Now back to the "real world" not really sure what that entails, but I'm assuming it means I should actually start studying. This weekend is a huge festival in Leiden, celebrating the fact its not part of Spain. :)

I'll post some pictures soon, since my camera died after one picture in Bruges I have to wait to see some of Daniel's. Pathetic! I can't believe myself for letting the camera die.

CIAO!

Sunday bike ride! Peter Andrea and I

some friends! Peter, me and Anja (Lasagna!)
I'm already sucking at updating! Class started last week, and my schedule is nothing to frown about, except for Fridays go until 5 pm, but only for half the semester which is nice. The system here is very strange! I'm only in 2 classes but they are really intense- comparative analysis of political systems and social movements. I didn't anticipate actually having to do work here!

Basically I still have yet to go to Amsterdam (good god!) but I will get there eventually. Life here is great, first cold of the season but that was bound to happen wherever i am. I've been exploring more, drinking koffie at cafes, not enjoying the weather, going to class. There has been some stressful points, but I really feel like a growned up, doing all this stuff on my own. It's slightly enjoyable, it's like real life (except in Europe)

I enjoy all of my conversations with everyone I've met, they are all just so interesting and well travelled and well read and INTERESTING. sometimes way over my head. Silly little American girl :) And such good cooks! I will die when I have to go back to my own cooking. I should start taking pictures of the food and/or learning how to cook these great dishes. Tonight we had 5 euro pizza and prosciutto and pears, which was awesome, and last night really spaghetti carbonara made by a real italiano! YUM. Lots of pasta.

I love riding my bike, but I have lots of bruises on my legs which apparently should not be the case at all. We rode around a park on sunday, and it was very lovely. I also booked a trip to Florence with my friend Peter for October 9th, and am contemplating Belgium for next weekend! I must go places! I already feel like I'm running out of weekends to travel! Luckily I have about a month at the end of the semester, so I might just have to be a non-stop traveler then (I can be ambitious now because it's months away!)

I must also get better at sending letters/postcards. I'm terrible at these kinds of things.

On another note, I registered for birthright! So hopefully the first trip of 2010 will be to Israel :) I probably have more to say but my cold is terrible and it's downpouring and it makes me want to get into bed and be warm! Ciao!

My posts have been way positive. But only because I am just so happy here! Yesterday was lovely, I ate great pita vegatiska (vegetarian...whatever it is in dutch) at this greek restaurant at the end of our street (also open really late on weekends for some latenight munchies! its even remotely healthy. except maybe the baklava!) I need to take a photo of it because the sight of it makes your mouth water. This is also an excuse for me to get more! A few friends and I just sat and relaxed in the sun for hours. Today was not such a great day, very overwhelming with all the stuff to do for class and life. STRESS! I'm in the process of figuring out my schedule- i have mondays and tuesdays off, but fridays until 5. which is not okay with me. but that's only for half the semester, so I guess I will deal. I've been meeting friends that are very willing and happy to do some traveling! We have been planning various trips, and I think I'll be doing some solo traveling as well. Hopefully we can all figure out times that will work. I'm trying to decide about this weekend, but I still haven't made it to Amsterdam so maybe I should do that!

Yesterday a few of us rode bikes to the north sea, to the beach, and just sat and enjoyed the most perfect day- for september in Holland it was amazing! It really made me feel right at home, being a lazy beach bum for the day brings me back to every day of this summer and last. Yes, lazy bones I am!

There was a wooden sign that had the distances to New York and Key West, and another sign that said Key West. Toto we're not in holland anymore? Anyway, The sea wasn't even too chilly, I might've gone swimming had I had my bathingsuit bottoms on. No rain for days has been great. But it will start. :( I'm getting anxious and nervous for classes, but interested to see how they will be run. I will definitely be doing some comparisons of class here versus UVM.

As for the bike, yes, I officially have one. His name is austijn, pronounced ow-shtine! Ha! Love him. I had to do some repairs on him but he is in wonderful condition for now. I'm afraid of riding in the bad weather...I don't want to ride into the canal! Unless its frozen.

Next time, hopefully I'll have gone to class. MAYBE. au revoir!