Hey friends at home! I spent the last week in Prague and Berlin... here are some of the highlights.

Prague Highlights

Prague Castle, largest castle in the world


Including Vladislav Hall



and St Vitus Cathedral



The Charles Bridge



Cafe Louvre



Old Town & Old Town Square



Astronomical Clock

Other things:
-Vysegrad fortress
- guy walking down road carrying huge knife
- movie being filmed at the fortress
- slutty russian bride in pastel pink gown & fake tits
- Starbucks (none in Netherlands, such a treat!)
- street food: hot wine, hot chocolate, potato pancakes
- seeing Carmen at the Opera house for 2.50 euros!!! Amazing!!!
- massive Jewish Museum
- Jelena photographing every single fur coat she saw
- the freezing weather, and wearing flip flops to the opera in 20 degrees (F) because of a blister!
- our massive hostel/apartment that we had all to ourselves
- eating ostrich steak for dinner yummmmmmm

Berlin Highlights


Christmas markets - everywhere!!


Holocaust Memorial



Having breakfast on the top of the Reichstag (German Parliament building)


The inside of the dome on top of the Reichstag



The Berliner Dom



The Pergamon Museum, particularly the Ishtar Gate from Babylon



The Berlin Wall, East Side Gallery



Tchaikovsky at the world renowned Berlin Philharmonie


Topography of Terror - outdoor museum exhibit at the former site of the SS, Gestapo, SD and RSHA main offices



Other Berlin things...
- activists dressed as Penguins
- 30 people on roller skates dressed as Santa Claus with police escort
- massive pillow fight at the hostel
- Sam getting lost all the time. Especially when we got on the ferris wheel and he walked 1.5 kilometers to the wrong ferris wheel hahahah
- Skipping checkpoint charlie to go home and take a nap
- passing through Dresden on the train
- German food.......

This weekend was great!
Friday evening started with a fancy dinner at Burger King with Marie-Ange, Christopher, Rebecca, and Rebecca's roomie Jane (from Moscow).
Marie-Ange and Rebecca attacking their double Whopper meals, mmmmm

Afterwards we met a whole posse of international students at Dam Square
Marie-Ange, Jane, me, Christopher - and our bikes

Once the group assembled we rode over to Rembrantplein to an Australian pub called Coco's Outback where we proceeded to take in the...fireworks?

And chat over a few pints...

At some point Annie (from Canada) and Julia (from NYU) rode by and the group moved on to a very peculiar club in Westerpark (close to my house!) called Pacific Rim.
Hans (Dutch), Rebecca, Annie, Julia, Chris, and I (please ignore the fact that my eyes are closed. Anyway, this bar featured early 90's hits, seedy old men, and a fog machine. Quiet a combo!!
Ok, here is Hans dancing to Beastie Boys "You have to fight, for your right, to PARTY" hahaha, it was that kind of night. On Saturday, Marie-Ange and I met up with Rebecca and Jaco at Rebecca's place on Prinsengracht and then headed towards a "house party" at Funenpark with other international students. First we (along with some random Croatians and Romanians that somehow tagged along with us) met Mo and Gemma, two New Zealander girls studying law here, at their apartment - where we chatted for a bit.
Jaco & I talking at Gemma & Mo's apartment

After the little pre-party we went over to Funenpark and got totally lost for a bit. Finally, Andrea #1 (We'll call him Andrea #1, because there is another Andrea) came from the party and guided us there! (Along the way we picked up some Peruvian girls who were looking for the party also...) The party ended up being very peculiar, it was just in a corridor of a student apartment building, with music being played from a laptop, and a table with cups and soda, and people eating chips. Granted we knew it was a "BYOB" kind of thing so, I dont know, we were all agreeing "This is weird, but ok..." So we stayed and socialized for awhile, ran into friends here and there, and after about an hour or two decided to move on to the next thing. Our friends Brett and Jordan were at a bar on Prinsengracht so that's where we ended up. After this little bar closed, we just walked to the one directly across the street...
The group at the bar

It was a fun night! All in all, the destinations were kind of far away from one another and we got lost here and there so we were biking all night. The good thing about that is you burn all of the calories from the wine you are drinking! Fine with me.
Sunday was a day of rest, but today was a productive day!
I woke up early (relatively) and headed out for my destination: V&D, a department store comparable to Macy's in the states. I have gotten so tired of the cheap, low quality bedding that the housing company sold us when we first got here that it became essential for me to upgrade immediately. I am terrible with directions, maps, and anything involving navigation so finding this place is counted as a victory for me!!! When I walked downstairs into the housewares level, I felt like I was in heaven. I bought sateen sheets, a duvet, two pillows, pillow cases, and a little rug for next to my bed.
It looks like this

I also found this little tray at Blokker that matches the bedding perfectly (for maybe 1 euro)
Perfect for tealights & candles.
Such an improvement and now I feel like I'm living in luxury. The total was about 100 euros but I think worth ever dime.
After the department store adventure I stopped at a cafe for lunch (shopping works up an appetite) and had a pear-mint smoothie, and a sandwich with goat cheese, spinach, thyme, honey, sundried tomato. The smoothie was great, the sandwich was interesting but I wouldn't get it again. After a brief stop at home I headed to the Coffee Company on Harlemmerstraat (kind of like Starbucks, a chain that I see everywhere in the city) and stayed there for a few hours to study.
Then to Albert Heijn for my favorite pastime, grocery shopping!! Every grocery shopping outting is a new adventure.... Anyway, I know this isn't a food blog but my dinner was delish: I sauteed/steamed brocolli & cauliflower with garlic and terriyaki; made "homemade" mac and cheese (no Kraft mac&cheese to be found!) with GOUDA, and made some little chicken cutlets with lemongrass and coconut milk. The chicken had an interesting zesty flavor, the gouda made the mac and cheese like gourmet, but the broc/cauliflower concoction was by far my favorite.

After dinner I tackled laundry. I love when people take your wet clothes out of the dryer and put it on top of the machine so that they can use it!! I have a drying rack in my room so I'll just have to resort to hanging things to dry since other residents are kind of inconsiderate... Oh well.

So today was a busy and productive day, hopefully tomorrow will be too. I'll probably try to reschedule my "intake appointment" at UvA in the morning, study in the afternoon, and go out with friends in the evening!

Hope everyone at home is doing well!!

Junkies at the Westerpark

Well, today has been quite a lovely day!!

It poured rain in the morning so I missed my intake appointment - not sure how I'm going to deal with that. Aside from the fact that my exchange coordinator told me that there was no possibility to reschedule the appointment - I have none of the required documentation (because I have no access to a printer), I have no "Dutch" passport photos, and I don't have enough dough to pay the 433 euro fee for the resident permit. Well, I'm sure it will get figured out.

I left Stavangerweg this morning with the intention to explore the city a bit, eat some food, and read a bit of the book I was assigned for my Childhood class. I ended up not making it very far because I found a great cafe super close to home. I dont know why I didn't notice it before, but I'm in love. The place is called Bagels and Beans - my two favorite things.

From Random Amsterdam photos

It looks pretty new, and has a vibe kind of like Einstein's bagels in the US. It was nice and quiet so I ordered my favorite kind of sandwich, avocado, tomato, and cream cheese on a bagel, and my favorite drink, iced vanilla coffee, got comfortable and read my book "Sleeping Rough in Port-au-Prince" (about homeless street kids in Haiti) for a bit.

From Random Amsterdam photos

From Random Amsterdam photos

At 5:30 the bagel&coffee shop was closing up but the sun was still high in the sky so instead of heading home I hopped on my bike and made my way to Westerpark, which is less than the length of a city block away from where I was. I had never been there before so I walked my bike around for a bit on the gravel trails. The weather was beautiful today, warm (maybe 68 degrees) and sunny until late in the evening - so lots of people were out. Toddlers and children were playing on the playground, couples were lounging on blankets in the green areas, all kinds of random people sitting on the benches, near the fountains and the canal, others jogging. One of my favorite things to see is parents with children on their bicycles. Mothers ride by with infants in tiny seats attached to the front of their bicycles, and fathers push the bikes while little ones sit on the back on the the seat with their feet dangling. Sometimes you see carts attached the front of the bicyles with a gaggle of children laughing and their mothers pedaling along. This is one of the sweetest things to see and is truly a departure from the typical babyproofed childhood lived out by little ones in the US.

From Random Amsterdam photos

Back to Westerpark... I parked my bicycle next to a bench in the shade and sat down and began reading. As interesting as the book is, I was constantly distracted by the various characters that passed me as I sat. There aren't really regulations about "open containers" here like in the US so its common to see people drinking beer and wine in the park. In fact, a strange guy came and sat next to me on my bench and offered me a can of beer, haha. I declined but he stayed anyway. I found out that he was from Algeria - he spoke little English but fluent Spanish so we spoke for about twenty minutes in a mix of Spanish, English and Dutch. Every now and then, someone would pass and he would say hello to them. I found it kind of peculiar that there were so many people familiar to him walking around the park, until.... he called one of them a junky - and then everything clicked! I had been sitting in the park talking to a junky for twenty minutes. He wasn't dressed like a dangerous, homeless vagabond so I wasnt worried initially - but once he identified someone that he had said hello to as a junkie and accused him of "smoking crack" I started to notice small things that definitely indicated that he was a fellow junkie (dirty hands, junkie teeth). After the realization I told him I had to take off, and walked my bike away giggling to myself at how naive I am to talk to strangers at the park. Woops.

From Random Amsterdam photos

I'm home now and I think it will be a quiet night. Planning on making chicken + veggie tacos for dinner and reading some more of this book.

I've been in Amsterdam two weeks now and I'm starting to get the lay of the land. I don't feel as intimidated when I'm riding my bicycle and I'm learning my way around (at least a few familiar routes).

I miss my family and people from home (and even Tallahassee), but for some reason I am not nearly as homesick as I was when I was in Brazil. There might be a few reasons for this. I think that I've gotten used to the idea that this city is actually my new home for now, and I'm letting myself get settled in for the long (4.5 month) haul - whereas in Brazil we were constantly being uprooted so was never able to get very comfortable. Another factor that I think is a major difference is language. Of course the majority of people walking around here are speaking Dutch, but it's a nice safety net to be able to approach anyone in English. Finally, I'm really enjoying this lifestyle! I love living in a vibrant, bustling city. I love that the majority of transportation here occurs on bicycles - and this includes myself! Sure, you are subject to all of the elements and you arrive to class a little sweaty and your hair is curly from the humidity - but its so beautiful riding along the canals negatives are pretty much cancelled out! If I could learn to speak Dutch and find a nice job, I could definitely see myself living here permanently. (I say this before winter begins, ask me again in a couple of months!)

Monday was pretty successful. In the morning, Chris and I went to Selexya to buy textbooks for class. Slightly challenging but we got it done. Then we had sandwiches and coffee at a cafe near school and read a little bit. Then I somehow coerced him into going with me to this shopping area! At this little home decor/home items bric a brac shop I got placemats for the kitchen table, some candles and incense to make the house smell like delicious cinnamon, and some self adhesive hooks to hang necklaces, and some bins to organize my makeup/jewelry/hair stuff. Then we went to a department store and I got a nice/rain resistant coat with a hood and a cute/warm hat.
Later on that night, I went to a borrel at the bar next door to my apartment with my neighbor Marie-ange. The occasion was intended to introduce residents of this housing complex to one another and to the RAs. We met up with our friend Brett and ran into a number of friends from the building, and made some new ones. There was a borrel yesterday as well, but I had studying to do so I had to pass it up unfortunately. Everyday a new party, I guess...

Today was my one day a week that I have class - but it was a long day! Metropolitan governance in the morning, and Childhood in the Global South in the afternoon. Metro gov was extremely theoretical and abstract so I'm hoping that it will come back down to earth as the course progresses. I really enjoy the childhood class, its different from most of the courses I'm taking for my MSP.

Tomorrow I have an appointment for "intake" at the university - which involves applying for a residence permit in Holland and hopefully eventually getting my student ID. I don't have any of the required documentation or passport photoes, so we'll see how it goes! I have to be there at 10:30 and I have no idea where it is. After that I will probably grab lunch and coffee at a cafe and read some for class. (Much better to spread reading out instead of spending all day Tuesday in my apartment preparing for class on Wednesday.)

My sister was asking me what kind of food I've been eating. Well, last weekend I got some "Dutch snacks" with my friend Jan, they were pretty delish. We had some type of sausage (not sure of the name) with a sauce called sate that tastes like a peanut sauce as well as a variation of a cheese empanada called kass soufle - yummm. Generally it's cheaper to buy groceries and cook at home so that's what I try to do. There is a grocery store close to my house called Albert Heijn so I hit that place up regularly. Tonight I had balsamic tomatoes/mozzarella for dinner. I've been eating excessive amounts of bread because sandwiches are so easy and delicious to make but I want to think of some more healthy veggie/protein things that are easy to make for dinner! Suggestions are welcome!

Well, I'll try to take and post some more photos soon - I hope everyone is well!
xo

Ok, things have been looking up since my last post. 

A little bit of financial aid (for some reason, not all of it?) made it to me so I finally have money for food again which is great. 

On Wednesday I finally made it to class after being completely lost the first two days of the week. First class is called Metropolitan Governance and seems to deal with the growth and development of cities. We spent the first class period discussing the development of the city of Amsterdam and the region around it. I think this should be an interesting class but it is pretty long (four hours) and involves a lot of discussion and possibly debate? My second class is right after this one and is called Childhood in the Global South. This class looks at issues like exploitation of children, street children, child prostitution, children warriors in the developing world. The first book we read focuses on Recife in northeastern Brazil which I'm excited about! On Wednesdays I'm in class from 11 to 6 pm. 

After class on Wednesday I got home and had a little get together with some of the neighbors in my building. Marie-ange from France and her friend Rebecca made crepes and we drank wine with the two of them, Christopher, Jordan from Michigan, Brett from UF/San Diego, and Sebastian from Amsterdam. We then went on an excursion to see some live music near the university at Cafe Crea and later to a bar called the Last Watering Hole with a live band playing blues rock in Leidseplein square. It was really fun going out and making some new friends!

On Thursday the weather was kind of blah so I just went to the grocery store and studied and hung out around home. 

On Friday Chris and I met up with two new friends, Allison and Alyson, who just graduated from FSU and have moved to Amsterdam to find work doing dance. We spent the afternoon and evening wandering around. It's nice to have some fellow Seminoles around here! The girls are on a hunt for jobs and an apartment so they wanted to attend a "couch surfers" meeting in order to find a temporary place to stay. The meeting was being held at a bar/cafe near my house so we decided to meet up there (since Chris and I had bikes and they would take the tram). Since it was close to our house we decided to stop at home to get some lights to put on the bike but while we were here Chris accidentally locked his keys in his apartment! Disaster!  

Yesterday, Saturday, I went off on my own around the city riding around and walking. There was a big street festival going on at the street near my apartment. People were selling their goods at tables on the sidewalks and people were walking around with food, cheese, and glasses of wine. I had to walk my bike through the crowd and could barely get by because of how many people were walking around. There were 8 piece bands playing music in the street!! 

I finally made it to the bigger, pedestrian shopping street (still dont know what it's called) so I locked my bike up and just went on foot. I found a store called Hema that is sort of equivalent to Target. It's two stories and has clothing, office supplies, and home goods. I wanted to buy some nicer bedding but I had no idea what size to buy as all of the packaging was in Dutch, of course. I found a few other place that sell home items so I can make my apartment a little more comfortable - but of course none of them take Visa cards so I'll have to return with cash. I also found a decent department store that sells good winter coats (and takes Visa!!) for a decent price. Excellent. After this excursion I went to Albert Heijn to try to buy a sim card (no dice) and came home to cook a gourmet meal and drink some wine. Later Chris and I rode our bikes to a little coffee shop nearby where we live.

My plan for today was to do all of the required reading for my two classes on Wednesday and I've discovered that I have to go buy some books in order to actually accomplish this. Unfortunately,  Im not sure if the school bookstore is open on Sundays and there is no way I am making the trek over there just to find out. So tomorrow I'll wake up early and grab the books, run some errands, and study. Then in the evening our apartment complex is hosting a "Welcome to the Neighborhood Borrel" ("borrel" = social) at the bar next door to my apartment. Should be fun!

AmsterDamage Control

(This post was written yesterday, actually...)

So everyone is asking how it's going so far over here! The city is beautiful and I'm really excited to be here but the truth is that there are some things that are getting me down.

#1 Financial aid is taking its sweet time to arrive -therefore I haven't been able to go out to restaurants or cafes, museums, anything - and I've been living off PB&J from the grocery store for a few days. This is a short term problem that should be rectified in a few days but has been a bummer for the last week.

#2 Physical overexertion. I went on a minor fitness kick this year with gyming and running but apparently it didn't prepare me for this. I rode my bike for two hours straight today and regularly walk 1-2 hours a day. It doesn't sound terrible but you can't get away from it no matter what - I dont have the option to get in my car and drive to school if I want to. I'll spend the morning hectically riding around and the afternoon and evening just lounging because I'm tired. There have been days where my feet and muscles hurt so bad that I don't even get out of bed because I'm miserably sore. I feel depleted half the time. I'm sure that I will get used to this over time and it will benefit me a lot but - it's tough adjusting to this lifestyle when I'm used to an hour daily commute by car and drive thru Starbucks.

#3 It's lonely. Sure, Chris is here, and I've met a lot of cool people from all over the globe - but I haven't really clicked with any group of people yet so I spend a lot of time alone. I spend at least an hour a day Skyping with my mom and dad and Steve whenever our schedules allow. I'm sure I'll make friends as the semester progresses but right now sorta sucks.

#4 Weather? This isn't terrible just a minor annoyance. For the most part the weather has been great but today was rainy and overcast in the morning and then there was a huge storm all afternoon and evening.

#5 Being lost. I know this is part of living in a new place - but it really sucks! I have missed two classes so far because I didn't know where they were located or got lost and couldn't find it. I'm starting to find familiar streets and landmarks on my own without Chris's help but the truth is that I am pretty lost most of the time. The bright side of that is that I discover new places, I suppose - but regardless of the adventure it is really nerve wracking being alone in a city on a bicycle with mad traffic going on in an unfamiliar area. I know that this problem will be solved with time too..

I was complaining to my Dutch friend John about the bad weather and he said that the sunshine in Amsterdam is that you are living in Amsterdam. Haha, wise Dutch words.

Speaking of Dutch words - I learned how to say: "Ich heb twee groehn ojen" which means "I have two green eyes."

Pimp My Bike

Today was the ~Pimp My Bike~ workshop! We paid 65 euros and got bikes, locks, lights, and decorations for our bikes!


Chris painted his bike blue and silver and mounted army men on it some how. My bike started out ugly orange and jungle green so I tweaked it by painting it lime green and hot pink and adding heart shaped hot pink gems to the tires and green reflectors to the spokes. Pretty sweet!


This isn't the finished product but you get the idea. Its pretty loud but at least no one will want to steal it! There's a girl from the University of Florida here - she painted her bike blue and orange - but a true gator - she painted over all of her reflectors, hahahahaha.
This is what the little University of Amsterdam courtyard area looks like



After painting the bikes we rode them around for a little while! Scary! These bikes don't have hand breaks like what I'm used to - instead you back pedal to stop or slow down. The whole system of right of way with pedestrians, cars, other bikes, and stopping and slowing down at signals will definitely take some time to get used to.
Everyone was out and about this afternoon because the weather is absolutely gorgeous. Seventy five degrees and so sunny. We stopped at a little cafe for lunch.
Mozzarella, tomato, and pesto sandwiches and cappuccino

Chris trying to figure out where we are


Then we rode home - which was sooooo delightful because the bikes turn a 30 minute or longer walk into a lovely 10 minute ride. We stopped at Blokker and I got some stuff for the apartment - candle to make it smell good and be more homey feeling, a new comforter because the one De Key gave us is too lightweight and cheap, another bath towel, and an extension cord for my blowdryer. I really need to find an electricity converter so I can charge my camera - but I'm not sure where to look...

Holland days

Ok, went wandering around today and took these gems.
My street


About a five minute walk from my apartment, the harbor



Around in the neighborhood



Dinner, Stampot

Mashed potatoes with endive and brocolli + a meatball. Also served w/ pumpkin soup and a vanilla custard dessert for only 8.5 euro!

We also went to the Red Light District for the first time but I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to take pictures.
Tomorrow I get a bike, yay!!