Work, Work, Work, PLAY

That is my new version of the popular children's game, duck, duck, goose. It is also what I've been trying to do this past week.

I have been pretty successful. I have a draft done for a mini-conference in class on Tuesday. I have a pretty much finished paper (I might do a bit of editing), that I'll be handing in on Monday. Then I'll be hitting the streets to do some more fieldwork for my shortest paper that I have yet to start. I'm slowly losing steam, but I actually think I'm churning out some decent work.

That was the work work work part of my week.

The PLAY part started when I met Adam Greenhouse for lunch on Wednesday. He was the second in a long string of Oxy people passing through or staying in Amsterdam. We are currently hosting about 10 Oxy kids in the beautiful city. It's been surprisingly nice to have so many people to talk Eagle Rock with.

It has both helped to mitigate my ever increasing home-sickness and gotten me even more excited to get back. However, it has also increased my aprehension to leave Amsterdam. I'm having a lot of fun, even though I'm doing a lot of work.

I'll be leaving in just over a week. It really is coming to an end too fast!

There will be more updates when I'm not typing on the public library's weird metal keyboard....

winding down or winding up? and some food

My days in Amsterdam are slowly ticking by. I'm trying to get everything I need to do out of the way so that I can focus on those things that I still haven't done (enough of, in some cases).
Most of my school work will be done by May 28th, if I'm lucky. Right about now I'm averaging three or four hours of solid work a day. That seems like not enough, but it also seems like SO MUCH.

Yesterday was Sami's graduation. I'm sad that I missed it. I am also sad that I missed the family caravan/wine tasting that happened on the way up north. Today is Oxy's graduation, and I am sad to miss that as well. I also (not so secretly) hate everyone else for being done with school by now!

I'm going to miss Amsterdam. That is without question. I don't know whether I will miss the city or the people more at this point. I know that I'll be back in Europe soon, so I'm not too worried. I just want to get the most out of living in the city, because in all likelihood, if and when I come back, I'll be a tourist again.

I make more lists than this blog would have you believe. So here is a list, about food.
When I get back to America, I want to eat the following food. If anyone wants to come with me, or even take me, I'd be all for it!
In no particular order:

• The Stinking Rose
• La Super Rica
• The Melting Pot
• Auntie Em's
• Larkin's
• Spitz (they now have a happy hour and a location in Little Tokyo!)
  
• BarCelona
• Coffee Table
• Starbucks (I KNOW, but I miss American Coffee)
• I guess Swork, to find retribution for the starbucks)
• Fred 62
• 8 oz burger bar
• ketchup
• Natural Cafe
• Restaurant Komasa (this bomb sushi place next door to the little tokyo spitz and an american apparel)
• Benihana
• Sonia's taco truck

That's all I have for now, because I should get back to that work I mentioned earlier.

you down with OPP*?

*OPP=Other People's Parents.

I meant to write about last weekend, while it was still last weekend. It was Alex's birthday, and as such, his parents both visited. Justin's mom was also in town for the weekend. We suspect that she planned it on purpose, to be here for mother's day.

I had yet another reason to go to museums and eat delicious food. On Friday I went to the book market in Spui, then dinner at vapiano. I actually did a bit of work that day, which did not happen again all weekend. Saturday, we went to the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum, but not before filling up on nom nom pannekoeken upstairs. We had dinner at the Kantjil & de Tijger. My favorite! Then later that night everyone I know and their mothers (literally) went for a drink at a cafe around the corner. It was really nice to have actual discussion with people who have been in America recently. It also helped that they were adults and had anything to actually talk about besides getting really fucked up.

Mother's day was also Alex's birthday. We wanted to go to the Rembrandt house, but it was closed to prepare for some other exhibit. We went to this neat part of town that I'd never been to filled with galleries and antique shops. We looked at lots of old and new dutch art. I found it really interesting to look at art with someone who paints for a living. and by interesting, I mean secretly intimidating.

We met back up with Alex and his parents to see this art exhibit that featured the winners of a photojournalism competition. Some of the photos were heartbreaking, some of them were beautiful. It was really nice. We ended up eating dinner at this tapas place that I pass every time I go to Kantjil. It was yummy, but I still miss Bar Celona.

We were on a mission to get Alex uncomfortably drunk, because even though turning 21 in Europe is highly anti-climatic, you only turn 21 once. We had some drinks at home (specifically white Russians, because Alex likes them.) White Russians taste decidedly like a composed bailey's. You can taste all the different layers. We were going to go to this really cool bar, but as we rode past, it looked super dead. Not much came from the rest of the night.

Then it was Monday again, and I had to return to the realization that I had not fulfilled my quota of work. Oh well.

Last night, after the Dutch final I wrote about, our instructor took us out for drinks. I think it's partly due to the fact that my dinner consisted of [delicious] appetizer things like bruschetta and caramelized onions with blue cheese and pears, and champagne and wine [yesterday was my other friend caroline's birthday]. Anyways, I got really into taking to my professor, and didn't end up moving on with everyone else to another bar for her birthday celebrations. I also didn't have my phone or my keys, which were locked in Giulia's room. Everything worked out fine, and I hung out with some new peeps whilst waiting for urrbody else to come home. It was a weird night.

Tomorrow I'm going on a day-trip with CIEE to some windmills and something else that I can't remember. Hopefully it is another day well spent.


Oh yeah, in a moment of weakness the other night, I got a twitter. If you're into that sort of thing, or if you have a twitter yourself, hit me up.

'final' thoughts.

I have a final in 20 minutes and I just wanted to share a bit before.
I wish that every semester I would remember that everything will get done, that I learn a lot in school, that I retain at least a bit of it. In other words, I wish that I could just take tests and write papers without all of the anxiety that usually just gets in the way of being productive!

Here goes nothing. This test insn't a big deal at all. My average in the class is something like 8.7, which is way above an A average. I would have to get less than 70% on the test to maybe not get an A in the class.
okay.

pep talk done.

who knew that April was over?

So,

I know that I never quite finished my Irish tale, and I haven't told you of all the stuff I've done since then. Here's a quick update:

1. Irish Vacation: Super fun, we went to Howth, ate twin cones, went on a free tour of Dublin, learned lots of historical stuff from a super cute Irish guy named Connor. Flew home after every flight into Amsterdam had been delayed because of all the fog.

Enter Amsterdam,
it was a beautiful morning, and since the fog (which was now no where to be seen) had delayed our travels, I missed class. That turned into a trend, because that entire week, I only went to my two hour dutch class.


I went to a CIEE dinner at Hannah's house. Her chocolate lab, Sadie, is the cutest thing ever, or at least the cutest dog I've seen in this country. We had tacos, which weren't that great because Dutch people hate delicious, spicy, Mexican food.

There was another week of class. I had trash duty for my apartment. I don't remember much of what we did. Although I did start watching 30 Rock, which is a tremendously funny sitcom, and I am currently on a huge Tina Fey kick. I've watched Baby Mama and Mean Girls as well.

The last weekend in April (who knew that April went by so quickly!?!?!) CIEE took us on another outing. This time we spent the weekend in Schiermonnikkoog. It means Grey Monk Island, although I suspect that it isn't really a direct translation from Dutch. Oh well. I went mudflat walking, laid out in the sun, ate more yummy ice cream, hung out at the beach, and in the forest, and generally had an excellent time. I brought tons of fun things to do, and everyone wanted to play frisbee, or cards, or catchphrase. Best weekend ever.

After we returned from the grey monk island, we had three days of classes until a huge long weekend full of holidays. Queen's Day is the biggest national crazy party. I don't know how long it has been going on, but it is a celebration of the Queen's birthday. The current Queen, Beatrix, celebrates her birthday on April 30th, which was her mother's birthday. Beatrix's birthday is sometime in January, which doesn't really translate well to national party time. So on this day, everyone wears orange, drinks a lot, and has garage sales. Queen's day is the only day of the year that Dutch people are allowed to sell stuff on the streets, so everyone busts out blankets and any old stuff they have lying around. We had a little barbecue on Prinsengracht, which is one of the main canals. It was so much fun to hang out and watch the boats go by playing really loud music. Drinking at like 10am and sitting out in the sun all day is actually really tiring, so Justin and I went home to nap at around 4.

Apparently during a parade in Appledoorn, some small town, someone crashed their car, in an attempt to kill the royal family! This was a big deal, but you can find clips of the crash online, and it seems rather pathetic. The Royal Family was riding in some not-classy double-decker bus, and the car didn't even hit the bus. FAIL. Not that I'm condoning it or anything, I just thought it was a crappy way to go.


So, that was Thursday. Alice, an Oxy student who is spending the year in Berlin came for the week. We tried to ride our bikes to see the tulips, but we had really bad directions, and decided instead to go to Vondelpark. I'm glad that I finally went, because it was always really embarrassing to admit that I'd never been. I do like the westerpark much better (that park I blogged about a long time ago). Speaking of which, one day between now and Ireland, Justin and I went and read books in the sun at the westerpark. It was a beautiful day.

We made really spicy sezchuan stir-fry with tofu and yummy vegetables the other night. It turns out that the chinese food was where the dutch have been hiding their spice. It was soooo spicy. We went out to a bar, played some card games and took Alice on a tour of the red light district (duh, you have to do that whole tourist thing when people visit, except maybe parents).

Yesterday was a self-proclaimed lazy day, but let's be real, I'm on a 6 day weekend, so what day isn't? We watched movies and lounged around. I discovered that you can watch episodes of Good Eats on Youtube! so we watched about 5 episodes and decided that we were hungry. Justin and I plan on doing lots of cooking this summer. We both really enjoy cooking and eating good food. Yay. I'm super into having an oven again, because there is so much that you can't do without one. I want to make fresh bread and eat lots of fresh summery foods. Justin wants to invest in a really awesome barbecue setup, and we'll marinade yummy things and find a butcher (if those even exist anymore). The only problem that I can foresee, is that we want to make all this delicious food, but we also talk about all of the restaurants and new places we want to try. I'm sure I am up to the challenge though. So much food.

I didn't get the summer senior interviewer job, which was sad, because it would have been fun. Today was supposed to be a productive day, so instead I finally got around to blogging! The weather here has been fantastic. This weekend, Justin's mom is coming to visit, so it will be another excuse to eat out at fancy Indonesian restaurants and go to the touristy things that I still haven't managed to go see on my own.

This is the last week for those back at Oxy, and I'm super jealous. Other study abroad programs are ending too, so there are people coming and going throughout May.
If you didn't hear, I bought my ticket home. I'll be in LA on June 3rd. I'm still trying to plan my first meal home. I know that la superrica is calling to me, but I think I might stay in LA that weekend because it is Kit's 21st birthday on the 5th. Yay. I do plan to spend a bit more time in Santa Barbara this summer, because SAMI GOT INTO UCSB!! So I'll be visiting every once in a while.

Until next time, which will probably be sooner rather than later, because I hate writing papers!
May 7-Ethnic Diversity and Popular Culture collage
May 14-Dutch final
May 20-Emotion and Mental Health paper
May 26-Moving Manhood paper
May 28-Ethic Diversity and Popular Culture paper

then packing, saying goodbyes, and fun!

Ireland!!!

DAY 1: We arrived at the Dublin airport at around 10 am, after traveling back in time one hour. We got off the plane quickly and joined the queue to go through customs. Somehow, everyone in our line didn't have the right documents, or had to answer lots of questions. After jumping back and for between lines, we were the last three people to get past the customs who weren't being detained for further questions. It was really funny and/or frustrating. Either way, we were in Ireland, and it was sunny! We hopped on an airport shuttle to head for the city center. I feel like Ireland isn't very good at forgetting their English rule, because the double decker buses and driving on the wrong side of the road throws me off. When we took our seats on the upper level, a nice video started to play that gave previews of all the different Dublin bus tours. AND U2 played 'it's a beautiful day.' We were definitely in Ireland.









After checking into our hostel, which was surprisingly nice--I've had very good hostel luck, we ventured out into Dublin. Our first stop,



Trinity College


We sneakily joined a tour group led by attractive Irish tour guide #1. The tour was not free, so we essentially stole a tour. It included lots of interesting information about such a beautiful campus. There are lots of old buildings (duh), lawns that you aren't allowed to walk on (what a horrible idea), and lots of libraries. The college is an official copyright library, which means they get a free copy of every book and journal published in the UK and British Isles since sometime in the 1800's. They've got loads of books.











and the Book of Kells. The book of Kells is an Illuminated Manuscript from the 8th or 9th century. It is a Latin reproduction of the Four Gospels. They used ingredients for the inks from Afghanistan, the Mediterranean, and other far away places [especially considering it was the 8th century and Ireland was just a tiny island in the middle of no where].







They even had solar powered trash compactor trash cans:




wow! I obviously thought it was pretty cool, because I took a picture of it. I love digital cameras for just that reason. It doesn't matter if you take a ton of pictures of stupid stuff.













After Trinity, we wandered through Temple Bar, the arts, culture, and bar area (read: tourist-y trap-y) of Dublin. We had lunch at this weird restaurant where I ate shepherds pie. nom nom nom.

Then we ventured out in search of the Guinness Storehouse for a tour. We eventually found it, and learned all about the brewing process, history, advertising, and effects of Guinness. Then we went to the 7th story, where the gravity bar had a beautiful circular view of all of Dublin. The weather was magnificent, but it turns out that I don't really like Guinness that much. Oh well, it was fake free beer. I did learn about hops, and remarked many times, "bitch, did I ask you about hops!?!?"






<---that's some hops for you. We took the bus back to the area around Trinity to eat a little picnic dinner in St, Steven's Green.

St. Steven's Green is this really huge park in Dublin that Guinness himself donated, if I remember correctly. My first impression of the park was that Amsterdam's parks suck, as do their tulips. Although to be fair, I still haven't made it all the way out to Vondelpark, because I fail. Anyway, it was beautiful. We found a cute little spot next to happy white swans, as opposed to the dirty looking, loud, scary swans in the Amsterdam canals.








Sitting down, we spread out all of our deliciousness:
bread, cheese, meat, fruit, a Dublin map, Giulia's shoe, and some macaroons (not pictured, but important enough to mention anyway). Before we could even open any of it, this man came around ringing a huge bell, which apparently signaled the closing of the park. Boo. We ended up sitting on a bench overlooking the River Liffey and the Docks to eat our snackies.

After an exhausting day, with lots of walking, and slight hills, we returned to our hostel to enjoy the nightly 9:00 movie. I fell asleep near the end of THE HULK, oops.


Dublin was very impressive, even or especially (?) after one day.


That's all I have time to write for now, considering it's nearly 1pm and I've been awake since about 2am Amsterdam time this morning. I'll be sure to add more about days 2 & 3 later this week. Also, look forward to some facebook albums of this and my other adventures!

American Reinforcements

Today, I received the most epic care package from Karen and David. Enclosed, among other things, was a box of Samoas girl scout cookies. You know, the ones covered in coconut and chocolate-y deliciousness? After resisting the urge to eat everything in the box for about 4 hours, I finally gave in. Justin and I had one little Samoa each. It was heavenly lekker. As I was eating it however, I felt like I could taste the hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup re-entering my system. Now that I've consumed the entire cookie, I can feel chemically not-goodness in my mouth.

Regardless, I will consume the entire box soon enough.