What a lovely day in the neighborhood

trippy business, look at it upside down!
reminds me of boston.
don't you just love fall!

What a lovely morning! It's nice to not have class so I can get up and go to this park, my favorite, and see the beautiful colors and nature, and the fact the leaves are still on the trees! And these ducks loved me! They would not go away! Silly ducks. :)

TO nicaragua!

I'm currently sitting in ze German kitchen with Daniel... we hadn't been talking for 10 minutes, and I was filling out a survey for the university. coming across a laughable question, I read it aloud to him, then we laughed about the fact we were both doing the same page of the same survey and had no idea. Neither of us decided to donate the money to charity if we win, instead, we are going to split it.

Anyway, life is good. I'm exhausted, physically and emotionally. But I booked my flight home (December 23rd!) It's crazy how fast the time is going, and now conversations are solely filled with end of the semester exams and papers and travels and home and holidays. But the past week has been filled with baking, and arts and crafts, good friends and good company. Laughing and being satisfyingly full are two essential aspects of my time here - we definitely eat better than I ever will in my life (back to Ramen! and chicken curry because its so good and so easy) Kathryn and I have made rice krispies and peanut butter balls and our own creation, Julia's. Which is basically a clump of peanuts, chocolate, coconut, gingerbread cookies, and more peanut butter. YUM!!! You can't go wrong with that amalgamation. During the day on saturday we made 3d snowflakes for our friends! It was a really fun project. For dinner Daniel, Kathryn, Peter, Noah and I walked ALL the way to Larissa's and had a potluck, with our creations as dessert. We had beef stew, Noah's brie goop, and chicken with a special german sauce with rice. and Fancy wine glasses! Wine really does taste better out of fancy goblets. We laughed and played games, and Kathryn sang beautifully for us! Last night we ate so well too, pasta and bolognese sauce and coconut chicken with naan bread, and Nina's baked apples and peter's death by chocolate brownies. OH MY. We worked off the sugar high and worked out our violent tendencies out through a game called jungle speed. So good. I just talked about food for far too long. Nothing much else is happening though, it is not raining which is a plus...

I'm looking forward to my return to the states (in a month). It's hard not to think about it when it really is all we talk about! But alas, there is work to be done before that. Even with my one day of class a week, I still have do SOMETHING. maybe I won't be so stressed out considering I've been planning my schedule for next semester and it looks like I will have no life.

Tonight I'm going to attempt a baked mac and cheese... hopefully it will be edible!

Here's some of my favorite photos from the past few days.

Peanut butter balls and chocolate hands (courtesy of Kathryn)

its only fun when your hands are dirty (courtesy of Kathryn)

there's so much beauty in the world.

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