The Weekend

Last night Ashley and I went over to one of our ISN coach's apartment in the Red Light District to party with the rest of the group. So by now I've developed a crush on Myron (the Sri Lankan British dude) but he's a bit preoccupied by one of the Spanish girls in the group (curses!). I'll be uploading pictures today so hopefully you'll know who I'm talking about. Tim is potentially making his room a fire hazard so that I can have his converter (I don't think anyone's done anything more heroic), which is why I'm able to write today, let's hope he'll be here tomorrow. My ISN group is pretty badass. Besides Sri Lanka and Argentina, there's a bunch of nice Spanish chicks, a Polish girl, and two other Americans. Most of them are working on their masters; one of the Americans (Marciel, from Austin, Texas) I think is into me but I'm not really attracted to him (maybe he'll grow on me, damn if it weren't for those sideburns!). They're all chill and they've imparted much wisdom already in the form of European drinking games (I only took part in the first one as the plenty included two glasses of wine with my first try). Alessandro taught me how to say something in Italian which I repeated and fucked up throughout the night. We were supposed to go to "Sports Day" today, but both Ashley and I were sore from riding our bikes all day. Speaking of which, my ass is so sore. We all hate having orange bikes (the bikes themselves aren't orange, that's the name of the company and its written on the side of the bike which immediately says "tourist") , it's the bicycle equivalent of having a fanny pack. Today I was got a bit annoyed. I was asking a electronic store employee for a converter and when he realized I was American, he coyly said, "oh is this for your TV?" Granted, it was generally nice and gave me explicit directions for how to get somewhere else, but I've never been stereotyped before so it was a bit off-putting.

Hallo

Currently I am at the student center where I was just registered at UvA. I have pictures but I haven't had time to upload them. Also, I haven't been taking the best variety as I am not used to having a camera on me. I like most of the people so far (in my group I mean) though there are some bonafide stoners. Anyway, I'll fill you in with other details later.

Night around town

I'm keeping this short b/c I have yet to get an adapter for my laptop so I'm mooching off another girl which makes me feel like shit. Tonight was crazy. We met with ISN which is an organization for international students and hung out with them which was great until we had to get home--oh which reminds me. Today we got our bikes, which is exciting but intense. I got a SHORT bike, the guy looked at me and said, "tell the guy to give you a small bike." So 5'4" is officially short which makes sense b/c everyone is huge. The ISN group was eclectic to say the least. There's Alessandro one of my "group" leaders, he's Italian and the first one to dance on tables. Myron, British background Sri Lankan, infectious accent. Mona, the "responsible" group leader with the tolerance of a 12 year old and Francisco, a small Argentinian boy who has a firm handshake. We went around town with CIEE people today but it didn't quite prepare us for our journey home. I went home with a girl (Ashley, cool, tall from Chicago) but had no idea where to begin and kept asking people we were sure would know but didn't. We got home within less than a half hour, which was fine, cold but fine. I was struck by a rush of guilt when I saw a Brandeis compatriot who had been having a hard time with her bike. She's hardly 5 feet and even the small bike is too big. We ran into her and another bunch of people (one of them being Tim) and they were walking their bikes and once we had figured out a way to get home, we kind of ran off. I only realized later when I was in my room reveling in its natural warmth how fucked up that was. I'll be apologizing for a good portion of tomorrow.

Still alive....sort of

It's 11:00 PM Amsterdam time. I took a few photos on the canal trip but truth is I haven't gotten used to carrying a camera around so I didn't take much and whatever I did take didn't really come out too great, point is, it was breathtaking! Seeing everything from the water was beautiful and I even passed by some of those boathouses (pretty cool, the idea of living on the Amstel isn't it?) There's such an atmosphere here, equal parts mellow and aggressive--you should see the bicyclists! I'm getting more settled in, I've unpacked most of my stuff and I am exhausted! Good night.

Alive

Alright, so I made it. The flight was pretty sweet and all airport details were not much of a problem at all. Customs consisted of a "hello" and a question about the University of Amsterdam to which I did not know the answer--didn't matter. The airplane was empty and had plenty of room (also the flight attendant kept asking me if I wanted alcohol, to which I repeatedly declined), trouble is, no sleep. I even took one of those sleep aids (albeit a pussy one, guess that's what did it). I walked around the airport a couple of times, it's pretty cool. My room is great, it's big and a have a huge window/terrace with a view of the canal! The first dude I met's name is Tim (he's also quite tall, though not of other persuasion). We mesh well and seem to have similar sensibilities but I don't know if it's a friendship that'll take off. The USC clan is INTENSE. We met them on the bus and they were already complaining! A couple are pretty nice and seem self-sufficient but even so are quite aggressively friendly, in the way that you find nothing more to say than "that's cool." Tonight we're going on a boat ride around the canal. Wish me luck! Also, I have a camera!

No More Itchy Sweater

Okay, I'm pretty much where I was a couple of hours ago--umbrellas! That's what I need, good thing I'm writing this down. So, I'm even closer to my departure date, I guess I'm experiencing a bit of nerves, then again I've been watching a lot of reality TV lately (including the last couple of hours) so who knows, maybe I'm just getting more invested in "The Bachelor" than I thought I would. The realization is coming in waves, I'll let you know when I get hit by a monsoon. Also, don't expect double posts like this, I'm just bored.


My hair's wet.

Day Before

Alright, so I'm doing for all of you who have accused me of not staying in touch. So this goes out to the contingency of bitches who have motivated me into writing a blog. If you're wondering how I'm feeling right now, I couldn't really tell you--meh, I guess sums it up. I'm still working on getting my shit packed (I'm about 85% -90% there) but I just don't know! I'm concerned with airport details and shit, and thanks to a slew of recent films (most notably "Taken") I'm somehow convinced that the hour I'll be alone in the airport I'll be kidnapped and sold for prostitution (one can hope, right?) Anyway, I keep thinking of things I'm forgetting--oh I currently do not have a camera as I was promised my parent's and it is MIA, how convenient. I'm sure it'll turn up, or I'll just have to get one in the morning. My flight's at 4:40 pm at Newark and I'll be flying into Amsterdam at 6 in the morning. Also, I'm wearing an itchy sweater.

Lalalala,
M