There's something you should know...

Ah. Can you believe Thanksgiving is over!!? The time sure does fly. No lies. I'm currently sitting at my desk, had a delightful little lunch, lit a candle, and am listening to some Norah Jones. It's quite romantic. I should rewind though! I haven't updated, and fun things have been happening!

Last weekend, and by weekend I mean we started on Friday, Kathryn and I decided to do a mini- "tour de Holland" as I called it. We decided to half go with the flow and half plan what cities we wanted to see. Leaving Amsterdam off the list (because I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of Chelsea and Adam do that!) We decided on smaller cities that no one has particularly heard of. On Friday we headed to Gouda for the afternoon. I have to say, this town was my favorite so far of Holland. Quaint, cute, and We found THE best Stroopwafels, and had an amazing sugar-filled lunch consisting of: Stroopwafels, chocolate covered stroopwafels, pastries with stroopwafel on it, chocolate, coffee and stroopwafel liqueur. (See photo, courtesy of Kathryn)

We bought packages of the stroopwafels to share, and also a bottle of the liqueur because it was just so good! We walked around and took pictures, which was difficult considering our sugar intake, we were struggling a little. And having giggle fits. :)

After a few lovely hours and money spent, we got on the train and stopped in Delft. We walked around and it was a nice evening, minimal rain (surprising). We got some giros, as usual, because the greek food here is great AND everywhere. We checked out a lot of shops with lots of porcelain, because delft is big on that. The church bells were playing "Yesterday" and it was amazing. We called it quits, and were convinced we would be the only ones with energy back at the house... which ended up being true, but we called it an early night because we were going to Den Bosch early the next day!

Den Bosch, formally known as 's Hertogenbosch, is the home of the painter Jheronimus Bosch. We chose this town because of its HUGE market, even though it was a 2 hour train ride. It was worth it to see a duck made out of nuts. ha. Kathryn and I just don't get sick of each other so it works out! Ha! We explored, went into Sin Jan's church, and in the Jheronimus Bosch Art Center, where you could go up a tower and see all of Den Bosch. It was lovely! The art was all prints, and Bosch had a very strange sense of imagination and it was all on the verge of creepy. Actually, it was extremely creepy. Especially the end of the exhibit, which was a video of the interpretation of his paintings. Disturbing. I can't even explain.

The whole day the two of us were dying for an ice cream, and not to my surprise of course, we could not find ONE ice cream shop. We searched all day, and finally when we were giving up, we decided on Australian ice cream. Not that this is any significance to anyone, but I really just never had any interest in this chain. There is one in Leiden, and I have refused profusely to go there. But this was the only option, and it wasn't THAT bad. Upon more shopping and wandering and finding another art museum, we were looking for something for dinner and of course we came across a real ice cream shop. We could only shake our heads, we just didn't even know what to do. Always find what you're looking for when you're not actually looking for it. The two days of travel were loads of fun. Kathryn is fun to travel with, and I just enjoy her company so!

Anyway, I do have to tell all about the visit of Chels and Adam, but I think a nap is a better idea right now. Priorities, ya know? :) And so I can borrow some of Chels' photos to put up when she uploads them. THANKS SIS!

Until later, hugs and kisses.

PS. I planned my last and final trip, with Kathryn and two other girls, to PRAGUE, this week!

PPS. And if you didn't start your "Emma's Return to the States" countdown, its 26 days. Oh my. I just looked that up. CRAZY PANTS! AHH. Oh man. I'm freaking out a little. I miss everyone here already. Going to cry.

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!