Weekend Plans

Hey guys, I'll be in Groningen, which is a town slightly to the north of Amsterdam. I'll be there Saturday-Sunday. It's a student town and is supposed to have a cool nightlife (we'll see about that). when I told Mona (my ISN coach) that I would be going there, she said that the people there are hillbillies. Apparently when you get an hour out of the city, people suddenly become hicks (I somehow doubt that). Even funnier, when she mentioned it she said, "it's like your midwest." Hahaha. I'll let you know what the Netherlands' midwest is like. Coming up on Monday, I have a film presentation to give (on the Polanski movie we saw) on Hollywood parody. I guess I'll be starting that on Sunday. Also, I saw clips of the Oscars on youtube--it was really different this year. I've only seen bits and it felt a bit awkward. I loved seeing Hugh Jackman but the crowd seemed confused--I was confused. It's not the Tony's or the Grammy's. I don't know what to make of it. But I really liked Sean Penn's speech (surprising b/c I don't like Sean Penn). Also, when did Adrien Brody become so unappealing (I mean personality-wise)? Everything he says has a hint of asshole (I know, you'd think I'd like it, but n0, not when it's pomp asshole) I used to love that dude! Also, I can't find the clip of Tina Fey and Steve Martin presenting the award, grrrr.

Bar Hopping

Today several of us went out of our way to explore the other bars around the area. Along the way we purposely went down prostitute alleys (it's been a month since I've come here and even though I'm in the Red Light District at least twice a week I hadn't seen any red lit windows, crazy!). It was actually really interesting. Most of the women were in good shape and the kind that would be easily picked up at a bar (hell, I couldn't be a fucking prostitute). I don't know I guess I expected to see a lot of haggard, broken ladies (I'm sure plenty are) but they didn't look that way. Also, it's pretty funny b/c there's a whole alley dedicated to plump black women (we all have our type). I went with Jeremy (the dude I went to Paris with as you can see from the photos), Tim (whom I've mentioned before), and Shaina (cool chick, a Jew from Alabama, goes to GW). We ventured into 3 bars and 1 coffeeshop (another first, nothing happened). It was great just jumping around from place to place, picking up 1 drink and going off to get another somewhere else. You get a good sense of the landscape you're in.

My parents have confirmed that they're coming to Amsterdam in April and staying for a week (ahh!). I think we'll be making our way to Belgium as well and possibly Copenhagen. My mother already asked me to check the weather twice (two months in advance!). Fun Fun Fun!

Another addendum: Shaina went to the Portuguese synagogue and is supposedly getting the lowdown on young Amsterdam Jews. I don't know why I'm in any way interested, but I am. I don't know how my parents encouragement of Jewish boys has finally gotten me excited about meeting Jews in the Netherlands. I'm not who to blame for this.

Masculinity

Last night (Monday) I went to a bar, but it was for research, I swear! I'm in a masculine studies class and I went with a classmate to observe "straight masculine dating behavior." I'd never been to that bar, technically it's an illegal student bar, but all that means is they don't have a liquor license and the people who are there know it by word-of-mouth. My classmate's roommate, Anders (a Dane) happened to be there with a small group, so we sat with them. Next to Anders was Karl, from New Zealand. We told them about the project and it was so funny b/c though Karl was completely conscious of the assignment, he fell into most cliches. He was intellectually aggressive, the kind of guy who's more or less intelligent and well-informed but most of all enjoys the sound of his own voice. He would strike up "intellectual discourses" and invite others into the conversation but would pretty much dominate it. Also he would be occasionally vulgar, throwing in bits of sex and etc. And he would direct most things at me even though my friend (a dude, shocking coincedence) was supposed to be observing the same thing. It just got me thinking about dude's general interaction. I mean I participated in the banter, but I did feel uncomfortable--why do guys have to do that? I couldn't be funny or amusing the way I normally like to be and I left feeling annoyed that somebody was trying to get a reaction out of me. Haha, what a nice little unrelated rant. Anyway, I liked the bar and the experience gave me a good perspective. It'd be interesting to see Karl again, you know, say all the things I didn't think of at the time. Hmmmmm.....

The Versailles and Montmartre

Saturday we went to the Versailles. The place speaks for itself (as you can tell if I ever upload my pictures). It was massive and beautiful (I don't know how often you would be able to say that about anything). We got there about 2 and left at 6. We went back to the Latin Quarter that night. Actually by that time our party had gotten to ten people (it was ridiculous!). Various people from our group were filtering into Paris over the weekend and we managed to meet up. After dinner we bought bottles of wine and drank them by the Seine. I know it sounds lame, but we were on the side of a river chugging wine like Parisians as boats passed by and waved--fuck you, it was exhilarating! We went to a bar, led by another one of Jeremy's friends studying in Paris. It was a bit stuffy, but it had a French ambiance (and prices) and my mojito was top notch. The next day we split up and our massive group turned into three: Julia, Ashley, and moi. We went off to see Place Saint-Pierre (we didn't know what it was but we saw it from the Tower and wanted to see it up close). When we got off the stop, we couldn't find it and ended up exploring the neighborhood we were in, Montmartre (though a bit further off from Moulin Rouge). It was beautiful and had such a rustic feel! We eventually climbed the hills necessary to find Place Saint-Pierre, which was as beautiful as everything else in Paris. The region of Montmartre we were in was so great! The cafes, the markets, the carousels--there was even a jazz band! It was a great end to the trip. We got on the bus at 4 in the afternoon and arrived, as advertised, at 11:30 in Amsterdam. I think one of the best parts of the trip was the realization of what it means to live in Amsterdam. We all felt like we were going home--I was happy to see my bike and walk by the canal on Prins Hendrikkade! Anyway, that's enough gushing for a blog post.

The Tower, The Lourve, and Crepes, oh my! (Sorry)

We were delirious off the bus, but we weren't planning on slowing down--for fuck's sake, we were in Paris! We figured out which metro line to take to our hotel and were on our way. Paris' metro line is kickass. Granted it isn't exactly adorned with upscale European furnishings (the way I guess I had kind of assumed it would be) but what it lacks in aesthetic it makes up for in accessibility. I don't understand how you can get lost on the Paris metro, maybe get off on the wrong stop and such, but it's way too easy a system to end up somewhere you didn't intend to. Our hotel room was fine, three beds, a toilet, shower, everything we had thought coming in. In fact, I think it was even better, I mean they let us check in at 6:30 AM, that's pretty exceptional. Afterwards, we hopped on in the direction of the Eiffel Tower. We each had an English breakfast (ironic, I know, but the French breakfast was a bit too skimpy for people just coming off the bus) and ventured onward. There wasn't a line at the tower and we shot straight up to the top. It was beautiful! Everything it was supposed to be! Coming down, we looked at our maps and scouwered our next moves. We walked everywhere, and I can't even remember the names of half the places we went. The Palais de Chaillot, the Grand Palais, the Tuillieres, Notre Dame, the Latin Quarter--all on foot! The sun was shining and no breeze developed into a wind strong enough to be unpleasant. It was amazing! At 6 in the evening, we went to the Lourve (which is free on Fridays from 6-9, hence the timing) where I met up with my friend Ben from Brandeis (we arranged it, it wasn't a case of Parisian luck). I was a bit too shellshocked to fully appreciate it, but it was everything I imagined it to be. Also, that same evening I had my first Parisian nutella and banana crepe. Of course it was delicable, but it's a one-time kind of thing (I don't think I can ever look at a glob of nutella again). At night we went to a restaurant led by Jeremy's friend studying in Paris and had some wine and food. By the end of that day though the only thing we could think of was sleep.

European Bus Ride

Okay, I shall try and trace back this weekend as best I can, as such, I will retell everything I remember in increments. First, the night bus leaving Thursday 20:00 to Paris from Amsterdam:
From the second we got on the bus, I knew we weren't in Amsterdam (or at least not for very long) anymore. The driver was a Frenchman, and though you could tell that he spoke English, he didn't make much of an attempt. There weren't any issues with getting on or tickets--we sat in the front and best maneuvered ourselves into sleepable positions. We made two stops in the Netherlands, the Hague (Den Hague) and Rotterdam. The Rotterdam stop story has risen to legendary proportions. As you can infer from what I already mentioned about the bus driver, he was an asshole. There were a bunch of people getting on the bus at Rotterdam, including a family, though I'm not sure of their relation. Anyway, one of them (a guy 20s maybe) had a box, like a package, the kind you'd see at the post office, but the bus driver wouldn't accept it as his baggage. They got into this spat outside the bus--the driver wasn't having it, not on the bus, not in the baggage area. So this guy storms off as the rest of his family boards the bus really peeved. From what I could understand, the bus driver warned the family that he was leaving in 2 minutes, with or without the rest of their party. The kinds of cursing that must've been going on, damn I didn't know French could be so hardcore! Anyway, the bus starts taking off, without the other dude, and as we pull up to a traffic light, we see the dude wandering around, now with the package open, revealing a heart-shaped, white frosted cake! Of all the things that I could've possibly imagined in the box, a cake was not one of them. He was just walking around with this cake in his hand as the bus was driving away. He didn't know what to do (I have no idea why he didn't just throw it out). Finally he just went up to a man on a bicycle who had ridden up to cross the street and handed it to him (the man on the bicycle looked so confused). Then he ran up to the bus and got on! Everyone on the bus was laughing and cheering, this one obnoxious American girl even ran up to take a picture! That was 2 hours into the trip!

The rest of the bus ride was okay, Jeremy, Julia, and I didn't sleep much, but Ashley took an ambien and passed out. We were in Paris by 6 in the morning. And that's where the saga continues....

First Day of Work/ Off to Paris

I was at Sapori (the sandwich shop) at 10 in the morning after going to Straveneweg (which is on the outskirt of Amsterdam) for a party at Myron's and 1 Euro beer at the bar there. The sandwich shop environment was a bit intense, considering I'm not used to serving people and working with sharp objects. I think it went more or less well and I'll be back next Thursday same time. I have class at 4 and am trying to look up activities/events in Paris before I go--ahhh! God, I have nothing planned. A friend of mine (from Brandeis) is also going to be there so I hope we meet up and he takes me around a bit. Whatever the case, I'm getting on a bus in a couple of hours! Oh, this means you won't hear from for a while, don't distress, I shall be back and with pictures too! My camera battery is currently charging. Au revoir!

Monday/Tuesday

For Europe-Hollywood-Europe, we saw "The Fearless Vampire Killers" which is a Polanski film from the 70s and it happens to be really funny. The humor is Python-esque with a dash of Mel Brooks, I guess. I can't quite explain it but if you're into comedy and vampires (shout out to loudmouth) I highly recommend it. Also, Roman Polanski is cute in a nebishy-kind-of-way (side note). Today was the first day I went to the class I was supposed to have gone to a week ago but didn't. The professor is incredibly nice and the topic we're currently covering, modernism v. postmodernism, isn't what I expected to find when I signed up for the course, but it's fairly enlightening. Oh! I just booked my ticket/hostel to Paris. I'm leaving Thursday night and going by bus. I shall be back Sunday night. Hope all goes well!

Utretch

I spent a few hours in Utrecht today which is 25 minutes away from Amsterdam. It's a student city, a bit smaller and more low-key than Amsterdam. Sundays are slow days in the Netherlands so it was pretty empty, but we weren't planning on staying for long so it didn't matter much. It's quite pretty as evidenced by the photos I'm attempting to post. They have two level canals, meaning there's a street above/along the canal (like in Amsterdam) but there's also a street canal level where there are also shops. They built a second level after they realized they built the streets to high (I think, something like that). It was a nice day trip even though today's perpetual mist seemed intent to mar it. Which brings me to another point. Amsterdam isn't a city known for its weather, but compared to what I was expecting, I think it's been more than tolerable. It's never that cold and even though it rains often, it almost never does for long and almost never heavily. It basically drizzles once or twice a day. I don't understand what other people were expecting! I'm pleased with the weather of the past couple of weeks, the Californians have to buck up and take it! Sorry it isn't a breezy 65 degrees, but I prefer the generally calm mid-to-high 30 degree weather any day to the below freezing shit going down in NYC before I left!
I'm now off to do some work (and by "off," I mean I'm staying in the same spot). Sunday!!

Saturday--Jazz Bar, Indonesian Style

I was planning to the Kindermuseum, like I mentioned last time, and I managed to get there, but it was heavily disorganized. Apparently the dude in charge of the whole affair, Ramon Dekkers, went AWOL and everyone was scurrying around trying to come up with an excuse for him while entertaining the three lowly volunteers. I was just impressed with the place and even though it didn't work out this time, I'd go again just to hang out there--it's ridiculous! I remembered how nice it was to be seven again! After that I lounged around for a bit, didn't do any work, even though I had all of the right circumstances and motivation (tomorrow I'm going to Utrecht so I won't have much time to do work), but no, nothing. Tonight I went to Maleo Melo which was the jazz bar I tried to go to a week before but didn't manage to find. This time I went with Emily (one of the ISN coaches), Ashley, and Marcial. Emily's Indonesian friend was playing there with her band so we tagged along. I will do my best to draw you a picture:
On either side are walls covered with pictures of singers/patrons, most of them unfamiliar though cool looking (handle bar moustache, intent looks in the eye, plenty of lip biting, etc.) There's some blacklight going on so you see everybody's lint; you look through the crowd and its 80% Asian--first time you've been able to see OVER a group of people in the Netherlands. There's one man far left, Adidas track suit, white Kangol hat, and a metallic belt riding low on his waist. And in front, a pugdy Asian dude singing "No Woman Don't Cry"--oh the look in his eye! It was kinda of lame, but when you take a step back to assess the situation, how fucking awesome? Who can say they've seen an Indonesian cover band sing Reggae tracks in a jazz bar in Amsterdam?
You're right, not many would admit to that.

Friday--Escape

Another Valentine's Day themed party--it's getting old and it isn't even technically the day yet. Tonight it was featured at Escape, a cool club, but damn, would it hurt to throw in a little hip hop once in a while? The excessive bass and arm pumping is a bit much, and I'm not even into this stuff whether hip hop or not! Tomorrow I volunteered to work with children, help them learn English and glue sticks together and shit. I'm crossing my fingers that I can get to this place okay. Google maps has fucked me before (i.e. tonight). Ashley and I got lost once again and now I'm beginning to realize why it happens so often with the two of us. Ashley has a false sense of confidence about where she's going and goes far out of the way before she admits she's lost, leaving me to run around and ask for directions. She can be such a man about asking for directions! But we finally got to where we had to go so no big deal. Hopefully I'll be getting some travel plans soon. Sunday I'm going to Utrecht for a day trip and within a weekend I'm going to Groningen which is in the North. Next weekend I'm hoping to go to Paris via bus. I have no idea if this is going to work out!

Upswing

Unlike the brief frustration/irritation my academic blunder provided me yesterday, today's events have been offering everything but. My professor e-mailed me back and though she basically said I fucked up, she did thank me for getting in touch with her and she praised the work I did for the assignment (::phewww::)! Also, the sun was shining through my window, which convinced me to walk around the parts of my neighborhood I have yet to explore. It was beautiful, also much different. You see actual locals, and neighborhood shops. I took some photos (not of the people or shops, just of things around) I'll upload them shortly. Also last night I went to another Valentine's day theme party at Club Winston. It wasn't great but I hung out with some people I normally don't and the change was good. Also I ran into Frank (the tall, beautiful Dutch dude) and again, so boring/weird. He started talking to me about kids--"I'm 28 you know,"--ahh! If he was trying to turn me off, he did the trick. Oh! Today I got a job! Today I went into the sandwich shop I always go to (Sapori, the one with all the homemade stuff) and we got into a conversation about the weather at which point the owner started lamenting her perpetual post behind the sandwich counter, prompting me to jump in and offer my services. I'll be helping during the lunch rush on Wednesdays. I hope I don''t suck!

Yes, I'm an Idiot

Breaking news: sitting innocently at my desk, having just completed what I thought to be an assignment for my class tomorrow, I checked over my schedule and realized that I had been going by the time/location of a completely different class! In fact, my class is on Tuesdays, as in I missed the first session of one of my classes! And here's the kicker: the attendance policy is really rigid, you miss more than one, and your grade begins to dip. Fuck! And no, it's not that I've suddenly developed this new party animal persona and my priorities have gone out the window, it just so happens that I'm a dumbass! I wrote an apologetic e-mail to my professor, I hope she won't hold it against me. Urgh! On the bright side, I only have one class tomorrow. I guess that's somewhat reassuring...ish..

Borrel and Post Borrel

Tuesdays are Borrel days which also means they're drink-helpfully-before-you-go-to-the-borrel days. Mayooran, me, and a couple of the girls from my floor/building helped ourselves to a bottle and a half of wine, no drinking games, no provocation, just a kitchen table and alcohol. We ended up leaving later than planned and on our way to the festivities Mayooran's bikes ran into technical difficulties (the chain fell off). As he tried to repair it, I hailed over another biker who came by and gave us a few tips. Within a couple of minutes the crisis was averted and onward we went! The borrel at the Heffer was like another other night--crowded, loud, but pretty fun. There isn't much to report in regards to what took place there, just another Tuesday night, lol. Today is my errand day. I put two loads in the laundry and am thinking of going to the outdoor market to pick up veggies, fruit, and meat. Yesterday I went the regular supermarket to stock up on the essentials, but maybe today I'll have the opportunity to do it Brighton-style. I'm getting geared up to mow down an old lady, wish me luck!

Rainy Monday

I had two classes today, which seem like a blur at this point. I guess that's what happens when each of your classes is about 3 hours. Today was a good food day, though. I have absolutely no groceries left so I couldn't even have breakfast at home, leading me to try the coffee place around the corner. When I walked in the cashier was talking to some dude, so I waited a bit and after he left, he told me that the dude was some famous Dutch actor. Apparently there are a whole bunch of them that just walk around here, who knew? I don't remember his name, all I do know is I spent 20 minutes talking to the cashier/barrista while drinking my cappuccino and eating my croissant, which lead me to be late for class. He was nice, and in addition to his coffee skills he's also a flight attendant and enjoys listening to Katy Perry. Oh the Dutch. In between my two classes, I went to the sandwich shop which is two doors down the coffee place and had an amazing sandwich. Everything they have there is homemade (homemade hummus!) and I had a grilled veggie sandwich with artichokes and some special hummus (I highly recommend it). After class a couple of my friends and I had a potluck, which took place at their dorm at Prisengracht, and it was really great. We got into this heated discussion about music, specifically classic rock. My friend Jeremey claims Queen's sound is "too clean" but I think he'll come around with enough exposure. I went back home alone, which wasn't all that great. It was raining/hailing and I was sent off into the wrong direction which made it a good 20 minute ride, but the shower afterward was a great payoff. Christ, class at 10 and I haven't finished all the reading for it I've just discovered.

I can't do work!

Here's what I just realized and have been realizing for the past hour--I don't remember how to do work anymore. My concentration is totally shot and I'm looking for any way out!

Sunday Bloody Sunday

As far as Sundays go, this was a pretty good one. Woke up late (as usual) and it was raining/sleeting, but by the time I was out it had stopped and was decently dry--It was nice! Some of my group members get annoyed when I deem the weather "nice," but fuck that, it is! I'm wearing half as much stuff as I was in NY and when you opt to walk, I think you can easily say it's nice out! Mona (my ISN coach) came around and the three of us (Ashley included) went cafe-hopping. It was great! The cappuccinos here are so good and they always serve coffee with a cookie, they do it right! It's just been a pleasant Sunday (sorry for the misleading title) and I haven't done any work. I'll get on it now.

IKEA/around the town

Today a couple of us agreed to meet up and go to IKEA which is basically in a suburb around Amsterdam. We took the metro there, which honestly wasn't exactly all that nice (a bit reminiscent of the an old N train). We finally got to shopping and ended up staying there for so much longer than I had hoped (hours, hours!) Fret not, we had Swedish meatballs, and they were made the Swedish/Jersey way, so it was just like home. I got a rug, some pillows, desk organizers, and something to hang on my wall, which I guess was worth the time? Afterward I made plans with some people to go to a Blues club in Leisdsplein (a really intense touristy square) called Maloe Melo. The group consisted of Tim (whom I've mentioned before) and his two European floormates Cleo and Tibo who are sweethearts from Belgium, also Ben, a Cornell student from North Carolina who lives in my building and went to IKEA with me and others. I don't know how but we couldn't find the place and circled around until we settled at a bar that was about to close. OH! So this was the first time I ever saw a drunk thrown out of a bar--it was awesome! We still managed to get home pretty late and it was nice getting to know more Europeans, even though all of our plans didn't work out. Some random guy at the bar we were at explained where the Blues bar actually was so hopefully we'll get around to going.

Friday--sorry about skipping Thursday!

Here's what I've learned about Indonesian cuisine--it's not meant to be consumed after 11:oo PM, which is exactly what I realized standing over the toilet in the morning (sorry for the image). And no, I had no alcohol that whole day, so it was an isolated occurrence! I was in and out for Thursday, but by the evening I was okay. In fact, I still managed to have my ISN friends over for a couple of hours. I thought we were going to keep it to a limited engagement but apparently the Spanish girls wanted to dance, so off we went to dance! The night was better than I expected (I actually felt like dancing this time around). The place smelled like hookah which was so much more refreshing than it should've been! Francisco is an amazing dancer, though the height issue does make it a bit awkward to grind--not that it matters, he dances much better alone than with me. Today I went to get my books and ventured off alone to "Athenauem" books on "spui" (pronounced "spouw"). Needless to say I got a bit lost, but I found it which was the important thing! Actually it was a good thing b/c I ran into Myron (whose name is actually spelled Mayooran) and we had lunch together. I've showered and now I'm considering my options for tonight. Trouble is I have literally 1 minute left on my phone so hopefully I'll be beckoned, otherwise I'll have to "top-up" my phone (a.k.a buy more minutes) before it's too late. I'll let you know how it goes.

Wednesday Night

So as I could've predicted no books were bought, no errands run, but I did manage to see "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," at the Film Museum which was cool on three parts: 1) it was in the film museum so there was this heightened sense of importance, 2) I had to see it for a class anyway which provided extra motivation, 3) Clint Eastwood is sexy. http://www.arnadal.no/film/actors/images/eastwood_clint_training.jpg
You're welcome.

Apparently it was the extended version (3 hrs!) which I can't say I appreciated, but it was still a good experience. Also it's a really nice bike ride, so I can't complain. Tomorrow I don't have class until four so I won't be going to bed until late. I'm glad tonight was more low-key than the past couple, though tomorrow will set off another round. I'll let you know how it goes.

Wednesday

Yesterday's borrel-borrel-borrel was what it promised to be. My TA for "Moving Manhood" is this cute, medium-built dude whose interest is queer theory. He's so fitting for the course--he's so masculine, but gay (I think)! The first borrel was at the ISHSS which is our department, so basically we were having drinks with professors. Once it winded down, I met with my ISN group and we crossed the street to go to another borrel-type affair before going to the actual borrel. Note: I rode a bike in the midst of all this, though to be fair I rode better slightly inebriated than completely sober. We went to the Hefer which is the weekly borrel location. OH! So apparently everyone has a girlfriend, dudes that I've been hanging out with (strictly platonic, but still) have suddenly informed me that they have girlfriends home. I feel a bit betrayed, even though it doesn't change anything. After the Hefer, we went to Players, a sports bar and I met this French guy, Jean Phillipe (a friend of my ISN coach, Mona) who was just in Barcelona. I thought he was gay, apparently he's just French, but we've agreed to do some kind of exchange when he's in NY and I'm traveling around Europe. This borrels are so convenient! Today I don't have class, but I need to get out of the house to get books and shit. Let's see how this turns out.

First Day of Class

Today I had Europe-Hollywood-Europe and Dutch. The professor for the first class seems nice but she's a bit soft-spoken. Also she over-pronounces her "u"s which doesn't hinder her English, just makes it a joy to hear her say "update." We saw three French avant-garde films from the 20s in class--intense, I have no idea what their deal was. Something about sex....I think, and probably death. Grammatically speaking Dutch is fairly simple--it has like 3 tenses and it's the only language I've ever heard where something is "100%" true all of the time. BUT what it lacks in difficulty on the grammatical end it makes up for with pronunciation. Guttural "r"s and "g"s, letters that sound the same...Not exactly the warmest sounding of the European tongues. After class I went to dinner with a couple of friends. It came out to about 12 Euros with drinks included, which isn't even $15. I'm pretty impressed with the prices here, course I haven't actually shopped for clothes or more expensive things. But I love the service here. They take your orders quickly and then you're free to stay for as long as you want basically. The wait staff doesn't hassle you and everyone seems pleased to help you. We asked a man sitting at the bar to recommend a beer and gave a suggestion for each of us. By the way, the drinking here seems to never end! Though to be fair, never in excess--at least not on weekdays. A social glass of wine/beer is very standard. In fact, they have these event's called "borrels" which are weekly gatherings for whatever group or organizations where you drink beer or wine and mingle. Tomorrow is my department's (ISHSS) borrel and afterwards is my ISN group's borrel. Christ.

Saturday

So apparently Myron has a girlfriend which I just found out from Ashley this morning, good thing I didn't make an ass out of myself. Yesterday we went to a club after partying at someone else's apartment. The energy wasn't as good this time around, but it was still fun. We got into the club after 1 and I wasn't in the mood for the journey. There were so many people and I didn't feel like dancing or being there. I went up to Frank (the Dutch RA from another building) and wasted a good 20 minutes realizing there wasn't much behind the beauty, also blankest stare I've ever encountered. Alessandro was grinding with himself as usual and the others were around basking in the glory of strobe lights. I woke up pretty late today and haven't gone out of the house, but it's okay b/c I need a bit of a day off, also classes start tomorrow, so the break is good. I have "Beginning Dutch" and "Europe-Hollywood-Europe." Oh, funny bit! While I was talking to Frank he whispered in my ear, "Are you Jewish?" I was so taken aback, though I could tell he didn't mean it as an offense. Those guides are right, the Dutch are pretty fucking blunt! Also, it proves that even a Dutchman can recognize my Jewiness, thanks nose and hair.