Hello, again! I’m glad you’re still following the blog. It’s been another busy week but another fun one. I guess I can try to break it down by days (as I remember them–it’s all kind of a blur as it’s going by so quickly!).

Monday, I had class and then did some grocery shopping and errand-running with my Spanish friend Deborah. She and I have become good friends during the summerschool. It also helps that she lives right next door! I think later in the semester I’m going to try to visit her in Madrid, where she lives and goes to medical school. Anyway, Monday evening, we had the opportunity to see the movie Simon, a Dutch film that highlights the tolerance and progressive aspects of Dutch (specifically Amsterdam) culture. It is a movie about how friendship can be tested when faced with mortality. I recommend it to anyone–it’s in Dutch but has English subtitles. The Monday Night Movies are a part of the summerschool program here, provided by the ESN (Erasmus Student Network) and allow a look into cultural aspects as well as another opportunity to be exposed to learning the language.

My Spanish Friend, Deborah

The ESN program has been really well-organized and provides a lot of opportunities for international students to get to know the city better and meet people from all over the world. Using this as a segue, you should also know that ESN also puts on International Drink Night on Tuesdays at Cafe ‘t Weeshuis. Last summer, it was held at Club Storm, but sadly the Storm has run into some sort of shady financial trouble, so ‘t Weeshuis it now is. ‘t Weeshuis is a cafe/bar near the Dom Tower where there are cheap beers, nice bartenders, and lots of fun to be had until the wee hours of the morning. Last week, I was there until it was light outside again! A good time, indeed. Not sure why they chose Tuesday night for this event, as most summerschool students don’t have class on Fridays and Thursday would have been a more logical choice, but as they say, when in Rome . . . ha ha!

Girls Night Out

This past week a lot of incoming students arrived at Utrecht so there were also many activities going on for them. I will confess that all of these 17- and 18-year-old students made me feel a little bit old! However, there are plenty of people (masters students, mostly) around my age, so it’s not a problem most of the time. Because of the incoming students, there was another event Wednesday night: an International Party at Club Poema. Given my Tuesday night (slash Wednesday morning) lack of sleep, I was unable to stay too late at Poema to get rowdy yet again. That and it was pouring rain and about 10 degrees outside (50 degrees fahrenheit), so my bed sounded better than more beer and catching a cold.

The ESN activities don’t all revolve around drinking and partying (evidenced also by the movie night). Thursday night was one of my favorite activities so far: Night Canoeing! We went with a group of about 40 students and some of the ESN leaders. Each canoe held two people and I went with Deborah. It took us a while to get our rhythm down, but ultimately, we had a nice system rowing through the canals. Though it was also a chilly night, there was no rain, the stars and full moon were out, and it was a blast. We started around 8:00 (it gets dark here around 10 or 10:30) and paddled down the Oudegracht into the city center. We did stop to have a drink (also at ‘t Weeshuis) about 45 minutes into our journey but then got back into the boats to continue on.

Sergio, Sissi, Me, and Deborah before canoeing

By about 10:00, the canals were serene, the bridges were illuminated, and the city looked amazing from our vantage point in the water. There were times while on the canal where it was so dark we couldn’t see much of anything and near the end of the trip we had to pass under a series of three very low bridges. When I say low, I mean really, really low. We had to lie back in our boats, put our paddles inside, and essentially use our hands on the bridge above to move ourselves to the other side. Some of the girls in our group were allegedly claustrophobic and refused to go under . . . so, they had to get out of the water and carry their boat across the highway! We finished right around midnight and we were mostly soaked, very exhausted and cold from all the paddling, but very glad we did it. Two of our friends, Deep and Fahed, managed to tip their boat at some point in the evening, so I’m sure they were much colder than we were! All in all, it was a really nice excursion around Utrecht.

Friday was yet another ESN activity. We don’t have class Fridays, so we got to go to the Kröller-Müller museum. This is situated in a Dutch national park, the Hoge Veluwe. The museum houses many important works of art, namely by Vincent van Gogh and other prominent painters, as well as many sculptures in a garden surrounding the museum. After visiting the museum, we hopped on our white bikes (provided free from the national park) to go on a 2 hour bike tour through the park.

Me, Sissi, Clara, and Deborah before biking through the park

One of van Gogh's first paintings of sunflowers

One of the sculptures inside the park's gardens.

Given the size of the Netherlands and how crowded most of it seems, this park was extraordinary. I read that it contains roughly 220 square miles of land inside the park for preservation. It also had some interesting landscapes that I was not expecting. Prior to visiting Hoge Veluwe, I had only known the Netherlands to be green farming spaces (what’s mostly visible from riding the trains) or cities. Here, there were many different kinds of landscape, including sand dunes, heathland, and forest. It was really nice.

Vast expanses of landscape in Hoge Veluwe

Trees in the Hoge Veluwe

Sand dunes?! In the Netherlands?! Yes!

Me in front of a nice lake in Hoge Veluwe

Right by the lake, this was the castle-like place we stopped to rest.

When we returned Friday night, I had a nice dinner with Sissi, Sergio, (both from Portugal) and Deborah at a nice little restaurant close to the Dom called the 3 Vrienden (3 friends). It was a nice menu and a good dinner. We then had a couple of beers at one of our main places to meet, Café Flater, and then called it a night.

Saturday I had the day to myself. I slept in, went for a long run, and ended up wandering around the center and the markets before catching Sex and The City (finally) at a bioscoop (movie theatre) close to the center. I really enjoyed the movie but discovered a curious thing about the Dutch and films. About 2/3 of the way through the movie, they took a pauze (yes, pause) as a sort of intermission. It lasted about 15 minutes I suppose for people to go to the restroom, get more snacks, and stretch. I found it a bit odd, but it was also kind of considerate. Very pragmatic; typische Nederlands. The movie was rather long (2 hours, 28 minutes), so the pauze was kind of nice.

Going to the movie was very expensive, however, so I don’t know that I’ll be making it much of a habit. It was €8,50 so even at the most favorable exchange rate I’ve seen in quite some time ($1.46 to €1), it was about $12.50 to catch the flick. I have tried to stop thinking about the exchange rate, but sometimes it catches me, like this time! I miss the $1.50 theater in Topeka on days like yesterday! I really liked the movie, so all in all it was worth it.

Today I started off with a 5K run, and posted my best time yet. I’ve been running most everyday and in addition to the bicycling and walking around the city, I’ve lost some considerable weight (despite my consumption of beer, cheese, and bread). The lifestyle here is so much more active compared to home and for that I’m thankful. I hope that when school starts in September I can join a women’s soccer team and train a couple of times a week with that. There are so many activities to do here and it’s a really great place to be living. It’s starting to feel like “home” but I do have to move again at the end of the month when I start my research program and law class.

I better get going . . . I hope to post later today about my adventures learning the Dutch language. Thanks for reading all of this. Sorry not to update more often. With the pace of the summerschool course and all the associated activities, I don’t really have time during the week to write. I hope you’re all doing well! Tot ziens!

PS: Megan, I tried the vla. It is erg goed! Thanks for the tip!!!

PPS: Don’t forget to check the Flickr photo page for the latest and greatest!