Maggie's Farm

So its been pretty dull around here lately. I had last week off from wednesday till sunday for Ascension (since I do attend a Catholic University). And didn't go anywhere, I had planned to go to Groningen and Zwolle (up north), but I've been so tired lately I didn't wake up in time to make it worth my day.

On sunday I fixed a proper American breakfast for two friends, one English, one French who have never had American pancakes up till then. Of course I should specify, it wasn't really an American breakfast since our breakfasts are GI-normous, but we just made pancakes, and they put jam and nutella on them : ) But, I did make them try butter and American syrup (I bought Aunt Jamima pancake mix and syrup when I was back home.) They loved them. I also wore shorts for the first time this year on sunday, it was gorgeous outside, maybe a little too hot. I put sunscreen on, but still got a little red after two hours hanging out on the lawn by my complex.
Today my last Interaction class was in Ravenstein (another city) in the Soeterbeeck Complex (used to be a nunnery, and now is a University building used for religious studies and theology). We stepped off the train and started walking on a 2 foot wide walkway between farmlands. It was sunny and green and then...we got about 30 feet from the station and the smell of fresh manure hit. The building was very cozy, our Professor gave us a tour of the chapel, the attic, which was used as a laundry room to wash all the clothes for people who lived in the area, and a pulley system that ran from the top of the building to the bottom as a clothesline to dry them.And of course we had our last lesson in the room that contains the library of books the nuns brought with them and studied.
Tot Ziens!
p.s. title song by Bob Dylan

Flower in the Sun

Semisweet relief!

Well, I've now found out about all my exams from last quarter. Turns out I passed all but one. I emailed the professor asking if there was a re-sit for the course and if so, when. The email I got back said something like, 'Of course there is a re-sit...', silly me for thinking a college student may not get two or three chances to pass a course without paying for it.In other news, I went to the Keukenhof and Leiden yesterday. Leiden is a city just south west of Amsterdam, and is a big University city, Keukenhof is where the large tulip fields are. But, since today is the last day the garden is open, the tulip fields were already gone. I'm pretty upset that the excursion was scheduled so late, in the first section of the garden most of the tulips were already gone or dead. If I'd have known we wouldn't get to see the fields, I would've scheduled my own trip. But, what was left was very beautiful, they also had a building filled with the world's largest exhibition of lilies...one of my favorite flowers.The theme of the park was New York, so there were a lot of US flags and New York information and set ups. New York because this year makes the Netherlands and US connection 400 years old. In 1609 Henry Hudson landed in New York and named it New Amsterdam. I think I might've told most of you, but names like Harlem (Haarlem) and Wall Street (Waal Straat--I live by the Waal river) are all Dutch names.the statue of liberty in flowers

There was a Tollywood (India's hollywood, along with Bollywood) musical, movie being filmed in the Keukenhof, with a few actors I recognized! For a while we just watched them rehearse. We had 3ish hours in the garden, but still were crunched for time to see everything, even skipping two exhibition buildings.hanging out by the wishing well
Before we arrived in Leiden we were given a map with a path to see all the main sites. Since I showed no interest whatsoever in being the leader and having anything to do with the map (for fear of getting us all lost)...I was then put in charge of it all. Only once did I get us lost, and luckily only by a couple blocks. We saw all the Churches, the old prison, cloth hall, and citadell.
Inside the citadell there was a group performing and drinks being sold. We ended up spending some time listening to the music and enjoying our little break from walking.
inside the citadell
We also visited markets, windmills, where Rembrandt was born, the old red light district, University of Leiden buildings, along with the Old and New Rhine Rivers (branches from the Rhine River).

virginie, me, and marie

The first video is a boat load of men singing to another boat load of women in a canal by the market. The second video is of some awesome street performers (sorry, I don't know how to switch the view). I have lots more flower pictures and a bunch of Leiden, if you'd like to see those, click here.

Doei!

p.s. title song by Janis Joplin

At Home He's A Tourist

Hoi! Loyal Blog Followers ; )

So, pretty much everyone by now knows that I was back home in SLC for a week while I had a break from school. It was soooooo difficult not to be able to tell anyone! Definitely worth the surprise though. But, what you may not know is that the day before I left for the U.S. of A. I spent the day in Dusseldorf, Germany where I flew out of.
The Rhine River

I didn't spent too much time there, just enough to walk around sufficiently before sitting for 19 (give or take a few) long hours.

Throughout are some highlights from my walking tour of Dusseldorf, if you'd like to see more from Germany, or from Mandy's Bridal Shower or Marsha and my mom dressed up like superheroes, those are all on my picture website...click here for more.

On another note, I made it back in nijmegen just fine. Actually, walked onto both airplanes--I went from Dusseldorf to Atlanta to SLC. Before arriving in Dusseldorf we were given a contact sheet to fill out in case anyone on the plane turns out to have Swine Flu (Dutch swine flu news click here) and we will be contacted. When leaving the plane, people in white suits from the neck down, wearing masks greeted us asking each person if we had any symptoms shown on a piece of paper, and asking those who did to stay on the airplane. It was unclear whether they would turn the plane around and send them all back to the U.S. ; )
In SLC with Tucker and Peyton

After my 19 (give or take) hour flight I then had to catch a 2 1/2 hr. train back into the Netherlands to home. Luckily I didn't have to manuever many stairs I was able to drag my suitcase up the couple of steps onto the trains, and when I got to the Heyendaal (my stop) as I was looking up at the steps wondering how I'd make it, a kind lady asked in dutch if I needed help, thank goodness!

I missed Queen's Day while I was gone (April 30th). It is Queen Beatrix's mother's birthday (who was also Queen) and is a huge celebration in the Netherlands (mostly in Amsterdam and Den Haag)...a good excuse to party and drink. Well, I'm sure most of you heard that there was an assassination attempt against the Queen. A Dutch man acting on his own attempted to drive and hit the Queen & Royal Family's bus that was on a procession in Apeldoorn (a city south east of Amsterdam). Seven people were killed and ten were injured, none were of the royal family. The driver also died the next day of injuries. You can read more about that on China View or on UPI.com. Also, tuesday the 5th of May was Bevrijdingsdag, or Liberation Day, marking the end of Nazi occupation in the Netherlands. Since that was the day after I got home, I was far too jet lagged to get out and celebrate, but I heard because of what happened on Queen's day, there was a call to tone down Liberation day (another party day) in recognition of the attack.Don't throw rocks at the ducks...or they'll be forced to swim upside-down.

I had a great time back home for the little time I did have. It was very overwhelming compared to what I've become accustomed to, i.e. living by myself, attending a semi-small university (1/2 the size of the University of Utah), in a semi-small city. I also didn't get nearly enough exercise while I was back home...it felt good to bicycle today.This needs a little explanation...apparently Dusseldorf children are known for cartwheeling 'wheels of joy' when the town got its charter. There are still children offering to demonstrate their skills by the Rhine for a penny or two.

It's hit me I literally only have 2 months left (I leave July 16th). I've finally gotten to the point where I can read most signs and newspaper headings (todays: Great Fraud in Kosovo with EU-money). Of course, I can't speak very much and sometimes have trouble with pronunciation, it's been fun to see my progress with arriving knowing only 'hello', 'goodbye', and 'cockroach'...and thinking 'please' in Dutch (= astublieft) was the most difficult word.
I will miss this place.p.s. I was watching a BBC cooking show, where the chefs are given random ingredients and have to make something out of it. Anyway, one chef got razor clams...those are what I couldn't figure out what they were that are on the beach in Scheveningen. The long skinny shells---yup...razor clams.

p.p.s. title song by Gang of Four