Adventures in Amsterdam and Travels Abroad

The End.

2010-06-07T19:57:00.000-07:00

Hello from America. Talk about adjustment and a culture shock. It's taken a couple days to get rid of my jet lag/get used to my old routine. However, it surprisingly came back fast. So fast that studying abroad the past four and a half months almost felt like a dream. Crazy.

The last week was a great closure to a great semester. I had finished all my papers so I was able to enjoy my time. Lots of packing, running errands, hanging out with friends, etc.

For our last hurrah we had a big bonfire at one of the dorms. Everyone showed up and it was a great last time to all be together. Even though I had been sad for a lot of the week and had some breakdowns, I was surprisingly composed our last night. I don't think it completely hit me that these were my last goodbyes. But I had fun with everyone and we kept the fire going until 3 a.m. when the cops came to shut it down.

We were forced to say our goodbyes and give final hugs. Again, it was all so overwhelming I don't think I really understood this was it. It's weird to think I might not see half of these people I've become so close with the past couple months for the rest of my life. It was really surreal. Hard to wrap my head around. I can only hope that we cross paths again sometime in life.

The next morning was my departure date. Eric (my neighbor) helped me with my bags to the train station. Everything fit in my three bags thankfully and I wasn't overweight. Saying bye to Eric was the final straw. We had become so close over the semester living next to each other. Once he left me at the train platform I burst into tears and my other friend Caitlin had to console me. Made it to the airport and onto my plane that Jen was also on which was nice to travel with someone else. I literally slept the entire 10 hour plane ride besides the two meals. I think my exhaustion from the semester finally caught up with me. Luckily no one was in the seat next to me so I got to lay out too and make nice bed. Once we arrived in Memphis for our layover Jen and I exchanged glances and wanted to get back on the plane to fly back over. No words can really describe the experience I had these past four and a half months. Nothing can compare. I learned so much, grew so much, met the coolest people, experienced new things I never thought I would, etc. While it is good to be home, I would go back in a heartbeat. Living abroad is definitely something I would love to do in the near future.

In the words of Dr. Seuss: "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog over the semester. Hopefully I provided a thorough enough insight to what I was up to while studying abroad in Amsterdam. It was fun writing my first blog. Maybe I'll be back someday....

tot ziens

2010-05-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

The final days are here. Just started packing up my room. All my final papers are finished. T minus 3 days. Trying to do as much as I can before I leave. Here's what I've been up to.

Checked out Noordemarkt which is the biggest market in Amsterdam with a cool flea market every Monday. Then a couple friends and I had Winkel's famous apple pie with whipped cream. Heaven on a plate, I'm telling you.

Last Sunday a group of us went to get dinner in Haarlem and then headed to Zaandvort beach to watch the sunset. It was a great final excursion. We all took the train and stopped for Mexican food in Haarlem. Then we continued on and walked the sandy beach for a bit before sitting on a hill to watch the sun set.

I was able to go to a free lunchtime concert at the famous Concertgebouw. Every Wednesday at 12:30 they host a concert to the public. This time it was piano and a soprano. It was a nice study break in the middle of the day and cool to see the inside of the concert hall.

This week I've also had a lot of visitors. A friend from Indy, Kreya, came and visited so we got dinner in Chinatown and got to catch up. Then two friends from SC came to visit and so I would meet up with them for some study breaks and show them around at night. They all loved the city and couldn't stop singing its praises which just makes me even happier that I studied here.

We also had our final CIEE goodbye dinner at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the city. Three course meal with really good food. It felt like just yesterday we were having our welcome dinner at the Indonesian restaurant. Oh how time flies...

One big adventure of the weekend was jumping in the canal. My friends in the dorm and I decided before we left we had to make our mark at PMG by jumping off the bridge into the canal that we live on. (Don't worry family, people had done it before and knew it was safe and deep enough). After a lot of convincing I agreed and we all trekked up the bridge as over twenty people watched from the side cheering us on. I immediately looked down to the water and was scared for my life. All of a sudden my friend started the countdown and all six of them jumped. Except me. I was still clinging onto the railing for dear life. Of course then everyone started yelling at me and I had no choice but to jump without looking like the biggest chicken ever. Splash! At the time the water didn't feel that cold...but I'm sure it was. Everyone pulled us out of the canal congratulating us and saying how crazy we were. Then we took a warm shower and were pleased with our last hurrah escapade. I was glad I was peer pressured into it and now I can proudly say I jumped into an Amsterdam canal my last week here with some of my best friends that I've made.

Last night my friends Dad took some of us out to an African/Ethiopian restaurant called Kilimanjaro where we dined on at least 10 dishes including antelope! It was a nice treat and now I don't think I have to eat for days.

Better get back to packing...

Last update will probably come from back in the States. (siiiiigh).

The homestretch

2010-05-20T00:46:00.001-07:00

Two weeks left in Amsterdam. How time has flown. While I'm a bit anxious to get home and see everyone, I don't want to leave here. I've met so many great people and can't imagine not seeing them everyday. I'm fully adapted to the city and know it like the back of my hand. The weather is improving and will only continue to get more beautiful and warmer. Ah, I'm at the peak of my abroad experience!

Luckily I finally heard back from an internship opportunity and will be working at Wongdoody advertising agency in Los Angeles when I get back home. It's a paid, full-time internship and will only continue to add to my experiences from last summer. I'll be working with some of the same people from Ground Zero, too because the two agencies merged this past spring. So at least I have a good job to get home to.

Since Greece, life here has been a whirlwind. Final papers are starting to accumulate. I finished one the other day and have two more left. Each one is about fifteen pages, the longest papers I've had to write. It's hard to find the motivation and diligence to stay in and work when time is limited. I'd rather be outside, enjoying the city, hanging out with friends, etc. Finding the perfect balance is key. Let's just say I take a lot of study breaks.

My best friend and freshman year roommate, Alexandra, came to visit me these past couple of days. She is studying in Rome this summer and decided to stop by before beginning her term. It was a fun visit and I got to do all the touristy things again. I even took her to do some not-so-touristy things so I could start crossing things off my bucket list before I leave. We went to a squatter dinner Monday night. Because housing is so limited in Amsterdam, people can "squat" houses. Basically if a building is abandoned for more than a year, people can break in and after placing a table, bed, and chair inside, they can claim it as their own. Many squatter houses are also bars or restaurants to earn money. So my friend told me about this squatter dinner near us every Monday and we decided to check it out. It was a neat experience. We paid three euros and got soup, bread, pasta, bruschetta, and brownies. All the meals they serve are vegan as well. It's open to the public and you can just walk in and get food and mingle with new people.

Another new experience we had was drag queen bingo. A friend recommended to go to it on Tuesday nights. I got a big group of us to go before we went out for the night and it turned out to be a hit. Everyone loved it as you could imagine. Cards are only about five euro and a drag queen entertains the audience singing, dancing, and drawing numbers to be called. Prizes range from toasters to speakers to sexual items. I would definitely go back for a fun, hilarious night.

Time to go make the next 14 days count...

Opa!

2010-05-11T02:50:00.000-07:00

Just arrived back from a week in paradise a.k.a Greece. In the beginning it was a potential nightmare as we learned the night before that all Greek transportation was going on strike for 24 hours. Many of the people I was traveling with had to reschedule their flight. Luckily I was on one of the last ones that would be allowed to arrive so I was safe. However we were all nervous that things could change and our dream vacation would have to be canceled or at least severely altered. There were about 15 of us in total going, but three ended up having to drop out because of flight scheduling problems. Such a bummer.

Our flight on Tuesday morning got off safely and we arrived in Athens. Amanda and I were staying with our Theta friends, Julia and Corey, who study in Athens. The rest of the group got a hostel. Even at 7 p.m. when we arrived, it was short and t-shirt weather. We were so excited for the warmth. Julia's place was right around the old Olympic stadium by the National Gardens. For dinner we had some lamb souvlaki and greek salad in Monastiraki. Afterwards we walked around the area and saw the Acropolis at night.

Wednesday was a crazy day. It was the official day of the strike. Amanda and I tried to go to the Acropolis, but it was closed because of the strike. We decided to go shopping in the flea markets instead and picked up some jewelry and cheap Ray Band sunglasses. Gyros for lunch. My fave. We saw Hadrian's Arch and the temple of Zeus. Later we met back up with Julia and Corey after their class. Just as we were about to go to Syntagma Square for some shopping we heard a couple big bangs and smoke filled the sky. Julia convinced us it was in the opposite direction we were going and we should be fine. We begin walking and it becomes harder and harder to breathe. Pedestrians are wearing masks and the streets are emptying out. We hit the main street and it's completely deserted. Dumpsters are pushed over and windows are smashed in. The police force is standing guard in front of Parliament. We were definitely at ground zero, so we turned around and walked back. Once we arrived back at Julia's, we found out there was a bank bombing killing three people. She and Corey told us this is the worst it's ever been for the riots. We hid out at their place and took a little nap. The rest of the group met up with us for dinner at a nice tavern and we dined on saganaki and fried meatballs. Off to our midnight ferry to Santorini! I was a little nervous because I get motion sickness pretty easily, but I had bought medication beforehand. We arrived at the port and the ferry was unbelievable. It was like a cruise ship! The ride lasted 7 hours and I just slept the whole time (typical). Woke up and I was in paradise part one: Santorini.

The overnight ferry was great because we then had the entire day on Thursday to explore the island. We checked into our hostel: Anny Studios. It was the cutest place ever right on Perissa beach. Our place was two stories for three people complete with a kitchen for only ten euro. We all rent ATV's to ride around the island. We checked out Red Beach and grabbed some gyro for lunch. After exploring a little more, the girls came back to Perissa Beach to lay out for the rest of the day. For dinner we ATV'd it to Oia which is a beautiful town on the other side of the island. It's known for it's gorgeous sunsets and white building/blue roof architecture. Very picturesque. The ride took an hour on ATV but we got to see the entire island and drive on the cliffs of Santorini overlooking the Aegean Sea. The restaurant we chose could not have been more perfect. We sat on the rooftop directly looking into the sunset. After a long, windy, dark ride home on our ATVs we hung out on the beach until hitting the sack.

Friday half of us took the noon ferry to Mykonos while part of the group stayed back for another night in Santorini. This ferry was a little smaller and more rocky, but I was still fine with my medication. Three of our other friends who were in Naxos ended up being on the same ferry so we were slowly all coming together despite all our travel hiccups. In Mykonos we checked into Paradise Beach Resort and spent the rest of the day on the beach. There is nothing around the resort, it was basically just a place to stay with a small restaurant and it's own beach which has it's pros and cons. Unfortunately I got a little burned after just a few hours in the sun. We ended up just eating dinner there and then took taxis into town for the nightlife.

Saturday Jen, Caitlin, and I took the bus into town to do some exploring and shopping. It's called Little Venice which is quite fitting because the town consists of all these small streets filled with shops and cafes. While it didn't impress me as much as Santorini, it was still a quaint town with some great views. Grabbed gyros to go for lunch. Did you really expect anything else? When we got back, the other group from Santorini had arrived and Julia and Corey were there as well! The whole gang was reunited. It was our friend Rob's 21st birthday which was a fun celebration on the island. We all got dinner in town and then hit up some bars and clubs.

Sunday was our last day in Mykonos. We milked our last 5 hours out in the sun trying to get as tan as possible. For some, that meant getting really burned. Thankfully I applied lots of sunscreen so I was fine. The others were in large amounts of pain, rubbing olive oil lotion on themselves. Bye Paradise! Our ferry back to Athens left at 5 p.m. and arrived in the city at 8:30. We got a nice farewell dinner near the Acropolis and then hopped on the metro to go to the airport for our 6:30 a.m. flight. We decided we would just camp out there instead of spending money on a hostel for only four hours. Once we arrived we checked the departure flights and next to ours was the word CANCELED. Just our luck. What was it due to? Oh, the volcanic ash. Of course. It won't stop following us! We had to wait for the offices to open to try and reroute/reschedule our flight home. Two of our friends were super proactive and as I was passed out on the concrete floor, they found us a new flight through Budapest. Whew. After our trip of no transportation problems even with the strike, our last leg was almost a disaster.

There you have it. My last trip abroad was one of the best. Great weather, great company, great food (gyros EVERYDAY), fun activities, etc. Couldn't have asked for anything better.

Koninginnedag

2010-05-02T01:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Queensday!

April 30 is the day to celebrate the birthday of the Queen. It's a national holiday and people all around the Netherlands celebrate it. The biggest celebration is here in Amsterdam and millions of people swarm the streets wearing orange which is the national color. Since we joined the program and decided to study abroad in Amsterdam, everyone has been talking about Queensday and how we couldn't plan ANYTHING for April 30 and how we MUST be in the city that day or else we would miss out on the biggest party ever. So we had some high expectations...

To celebrate we started on Queens night where we had a BBQ at one of the dorms. Unfortunately it started raining, but that didn't deter anyone. We headed to Waterlooplein where there was a free concert. Then we ended up at Rembrandtplein where people were gathered in the streets and huddled under whatever shelter they could find. It was a good kick off to the holiday.

The next morning marked the official start of Queensday. We woke up and made a big breakfast to get the day going. We all put on the orange gear we had bought days ago from shirts to hats to ribbons to suspenders to boas. You name it. The plan of the day was no plan. Wandering the streets seemed like the best idea because people were literally everywhere. Every block there was a new concert or DJ and dance party. The canals were packed with boats full of people. Orange was everywhere. It was insane. So from noon to eleven we just walked around, soaking in the craziness. It started off really overcast with some light rain, but soon the sun came out and it was the perfect weather. It was impossible to meet up with anyone because phone lines were so busy nothing would go through, but we ended up running into other friends and we all stuck together. Some places were so crowded it would take almost 15 minutes to walk 100 meters no joke. Museumplein hosted a huge concert with several acts including DJ Tiesto. There were lots of markets with people selling the most random things. Food vendors were everywhere. In the end, the streets were covered in trash and the rumor was that the trash company was going on strike and it would stay like that for a while. Luckily when we woke up the next morning it was all cleared or else it would have been a very very dirty city. By the time we were back home, our bodies ached from walking around so much. Overall it was a successful Queensnight/day. It lived up to all the expectations we had. Now I'm just in recovery mode until Greece on Tuesday.

Yesterday a couple friends and I went to Keukenhof which are the tulip gardens the Netherlands is famous for. The gardens were beautiful and I have never seen so many flowers in my life. We spent a couple hours just walking around, taking pictures, and enjoying the scenery. It was a good post-Queensday activity. Relaxing, doesn't require much effort, enjoyable.

Tuesday I leave for Greece. Athens, Santorini, and Mykonos. Can't wait!

Hitchhiking Contest 2010

2010-04-27T06:38:00.000-07:00

I'm alive. I survived hitchhiking. One of the best experiences of my life, hands down.

Wake up on Friday. Arrive with my teammate, Hamo, at the meeting spot where the RA's were going to reveal the secret destination. We were handed our team envelopes (team 17 baby) and found out we would have to hitchhiking to a checkpoint before finding out the final destination. The checkpoint was in Maastricht, a city about 230 km south of Amsterdam. Hamo and I immediately biked to the metro, jumped on, and got off near a major highway that would lead us south. On the way we were reading through the packet to find out all the logistics of the competition. There was a list of challenges that you could do to get time deducted off of your travel time. For example, taking pictures hitchhiking on a motorcycle, going over 160 km/hr, using a public bathroom, pumping gas, being on a farm, etc. Or you could collect things on the way and bring them like a wedding invitation, love letter, drivers license that's not yours, or a Belgian phonebook (hint hint). We strategized and decided to do as many of the challenges as possible so even if we didn't arrive first, we could still place high by getting time taken off. Once we got to the highway we made our first sign saying "Direction A2/Utrecht" which is the main highway south and first major city. It was kind of awkward at first standing next to this stop light walking up and down lines of stopped cars asking for a ride. But everyone was really responsive to us. So at least we were getting attention. Finally, after only about 20 minutes a car beckoned to us. There was a male driver and two female passengers. They told us they were headed to Utrecht. Woo! First car! We hopped in with our backpacks and duffels and off we went. The woman told us she used to hitchhike all the time, too and saw us on the side of the road and said we looked "cute." Ha. They were so nice and dropped us off at a bus station right outside of Utrecht. They even gave us their croissants as a snack for the road. It was a great first ride to have and really lifted our spirits and got us motivated. Hitchhiking wasn't so hard/sketchy after all! Made our next sign: "Den Bosch." Again, we got lucky and only had to wait about 20 minutes before a single male picked us up. He didn't speak that much English but we managed to carry on a conversation about our competition and he told us about how his daughters owned a "Frite" shop. He dropped us off at a gas station which is the ideal place to find a ride. Almost immediately a man agreed to take us to Eindhoven. His name was Stefan and was one of our favorite drivers. After telling him about the competition he wanted to do everything in his power to help us win. He starts completing all these tasks for us and even goes out of his way to drop us off at a good location to find our next ride. He wrote us a love letter, gave us the phone number of a famous Dutch businessman, let us pretend to change his tire, went over 160 km/hr, etc. One more ride and we would reach the checkpoint! A man and a teenage boy gave us a ride to Maastricht. The man even offered us his sausage pastry snack he had JUST bought at the gas station. I couldn't believe how nice our drivers were. They were already doing us a favor, they didn't need to provide us with free food, too!

We arrived in Maastricht and checked in at ninth place. Not too bad. Maastricht was actually a really neat town. I wish we could have spent more time walking around and eating at their outdoor cafes, but we had a competition to win. They revealed our final destination: La Rouche, Belgium. We would be going to a cabin type villa that they rented out for all 54 of us for the next two nights. It looked great! Off we went to the highway to find a ride to Liege, a town right across the border. Within one minute of making our sign, a car stops and a man tells us he can take us but he's first going to get a cup of coffee. He said he'd be back for us in ten minutes. So we decided to keep hitchhiking in case someone else came along. Ten minutes went by. Twenty minutes went by. We started to doubt our safety net. But then, after thirty minutes, we hear a voice behind us. This guy had parked his car on the other side of the road, got out, and walked over to us just to let us know he was back and ready to deliver on his promise. Wow. Talk about going out of your way to give a couple of strangers a ride to Belgium. We hopped in and after talking for a bit, Thomas decides to take us all the way to the villa because "it's the weekend and I have nothing else to do." No objection to that. He bought us beers at the gas station, let us take all the pictures we wanted to, and got us to where we needed to be. Even after he drove off, Hamo realized he left his coat in the car, thinking he would never see it again. But sure enough, after 15 minutes, Thomas was back to return it. He was the man.

We were the fifth team to arrive at the villa at around 4 p.m. After calculating the challenges we did, we ended up knocking nearly 3 hours off of our time which put us in second place at the time. Woo! We all just hung around outside waiting for all the teams to arrive talking and enjoying the nice weather. I met so many new people and swapping hitchhiking stories was a great way to to get to know them. The last team came in around 10 p.m. The RA's made pasta for us and had lots of drinks to last the whole weekend. They set up a dance floor/DJ booth, too. Despite being exhausted from such a long day, we rallied and partied into the night.

The next morning we went into town. It was about an hour hike, but had great views of the countryside. A totally different environment than Amsterdam. Some students went kayaking while some of us got some lunch at a nice cafe and just lounged in the sun eating ice cream and drinking Belgian beer. Yes, even I had a glass. When in Rome, right? We started hiking back up the hill to the villa for dinner and got pretty tired along the way so why not try hitchhiking again? A van stopped for us and we rode in the back with two dogs for a couple km which helped out. After some curry for dinner, we made a trek across some fields and farms to watch the sunset. It was beautiful. When we came back it was time for the awards ceremony. Drum roll please...2nd place..Hamo and Callen Team 17! I still can't believe we placed second. We got mini trophies and a medal. The first place team beat us by an hour and got a big trophy and money to buy train tickets home. Ha. We all celebrated late into the night.

Rise and shine and time to hitchhike back home. No one was in the mood at all. They started shuttling us down to the town so we could start from there. Since the town was so small, teams were literally trying to get a ride for nearly two hours. It was ridiculous. Hamo and I's spirits were pretty low. Hitchhiking came so easy to us the first time. We realized it's all about luck. Finally after some time, we ran into two other students trying to get a ride, and a car stopped for us. The driver only spoke French, but luckily so did one of the other team members. Success. He drove us to Liege where we had heard nightmare stories about people trying to find rides. Luckily Thomas had driven straight through to our destination so we didn't have to deal with it, but all the other teams lost a lot of time there. We soon realized why. We got dropped off at the train station and after another TWO hours of walking around, we had found no luck. We ended up walking all the way to the entrance to the highway and miraculously a van stopped for us and took us to Maastricht. At this point we were all so hot, exhausted, tired, and defeated that we decided to take the train from Maastricht to Amsterdam. It was a good call. We arrived back in Amsterdam at 7:30 p.m. and I heard that some teams didn't make it back til around 11 p.m. Some teams ended up hitchhiking all the way back (troopers), but most did what we did and hitchhiked halfway, then took the train.

Whew. I'm exhausted just typing all of that out. Like I said, it was such an adventure and I had one of the best times of my life. I met so many cool people from our drivers to other international students and can now say I've hitchhiked in Europe. Great stories to have and share.

There is no time for rest though. This Friday is Queensday which is the biggest holiday in Amsterdam. Basically millions of people flood the streets dressed in orange (the national color) and party all day. I would say it's comparable to 4th of July. There are concerts, party boats, festivities, etc. Can't wait!

Rome and Florence

2010-04-21T14:40:00.000-07:00

Well I knew I'd bring back some good stories. Thanks to the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland I got to spend a couple extra days in Italy. Not a bad deal...

We arrived Wednesday night and checked into our hostel. We decided to walk around a bit and ended up stumbling upon the Colosseum at night. Beautiful! It was a good welcoming to Rome.

Thursday morning we woke up and went right back to the Colosseum. Saw the Roman Forum and the Hill as well. We got lunch at a cafe near Trevi Fountain where I ordered a prosciutto pizza. My fave.
After getting some gelato and making a wish at the fountain (I invested a whole 5 cents), we headed towards the Pantheon. Then we walked to the Spanish Steps where we sat and people watched for a good hour and half. The weather was great: mid 60s and sunny. Some of us even dozed off in the sun. We went back to our hostel to change and get ready for the night. We checked our e-mail and first heard about the volcano eruption in Iceland and that Schiphol had closed and didn't know when it would reopen. We figured we weren't flying out until Sunday, so we should be fine. Little did we know the brevity of this one eruption... Anyways, for dinner one of my Amsterdam friends had recommended a restaurant, Maccheroni, near the Pantheon. I would have to say it was one of the best meals of the trip. Our waiter told us he studied with Anthony Bourdain (author of Kitchen Confidential) and was a fun guy. I had the pear and gorgonzola gnocchi. Heaven on a plate. We went to some bars afterwards where unfortunately my leather coat was stolen :( I even bought it in Italy a couple months before! It was a bummer, but I couldn't let it ruin my trip.

Friday we went to Vatican City and St. Peters. Pretty overwhelming with all the crowds. I had remembered a lot of it from before, but seeing it again is always breathtaking. Pizza for lunch again. (That became a common theme: pizza for lunch, pasta for dinner). We headed back to the Spanish Steps for another mini siesta/sun bathing time.

For dinner we headed to the Tratesvere area with some great restaurants where I had my spaghetti ala vongole (with clams). We met up with one of my friends studying abroad in Rome who took us to a small bar inside a bookstore where they had chocolate shots. It's a mini shot glass made out of chocolate with baileys, whipped cream, and chocolate shavings. Basically dessert.

Saturday we woke up early to catch our train to Florence. When we arrived we checked into our cute B&B right near the Duomo. Got lunch at a recommended restaurant where the owner sings to you as he serves you your food. We hiked our way to Ponte Vecchio and then Piazza Michelangelo with a gorgeous view overlooking the entire city. Then we went to the Santa Croce Basilica that holds some famous tombs. When we got back to the B&B we found out that our flight from Florence back to Amsterdam Sunday night was canceled due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland. Uh oh. So we spent some time on Skype calling Travelocity and the airlines, but had no success. We decided it would be best to just go to the airport in the morning and figure it out. Then Amanda called her mom to tell her the deal. Her mom immediately responds telling her to call a close family friend who happened to be in Rome with the USC Board of Governors and President Sample. She called her family friend who immediately told us to get to Rome ASAP and they would take care of us. We decided that was the best bet: to be with adults who could help us through this chaotic situation we were in. Until then, we still had some time to kill in Florence! For dinner we went to Coquinarius, a recommended restaurant from a friend who had studied there before. The pear ravioli was to die for. Hazelnut and nugget gelato for dessert of course. We ended up going out with another guy that was staying in our room at the B&B, Alex from Australia who works now in Switzerland.

Sunday morning we went to the airport to attempt to figure out how to get home. After two hours of waiting/talking, we left with five wait-listed seats on a flight from Rome Tuesday morning at 6:30 a.m. Had to take what we could get. Kind of stressed and hungry, we headed to another pizza place for lunch and had gelato for dessert. Then we toured the Duomo and saw the David at the Accademia. Afterwards we got our train tickets back to Rome and attempted one last time to call Travelocity and KLM to figure out if we got confirmed on the Tuesday flight. Off to the internet cafe we went where Amanda sported a cool headset for two hours on Skype trying to figure out the deal. Schiphol was still closed and according to their records only Amanda, Evan, and Caitlin were confirmed on the flight. Not Lora and I. Oh great. I go into panic mode and have a slight breakdown while we brainstorm different plans of action. After no real progress and about five dropped calls, we decide to just go enjoy our last meal in Florence and deal with it later. We went to Alfredos, a restaurant our B&B recommended. Again, one of our best meals. Lora and I split the spaghetti with mussels and clams and pasta with ricotta, zucchini and sun dried tomatoes. Great comfort food. The desserts were delicious, too. It was exactly what we needed after the stress of our flights.

Monday morning we piled onto the train to Rome again. Amanda's friend, Lisa, gave us her hotel address and when we arrived we knew were in good hands. Situated directly behind the Pantheon, the 5 star Hotel Minerva looked like a castle. Talk about an upgrade from hostels with bunkbeds. Lisa told us to get ourselves fed at the hotel restaurant and just charge it to the room. After stuffing ourselves with steak sandwiches, smoked salmon salads, and burgers, we retired to room 419. Chocolates on the pillows, robes in the closet, two TVs...it was too good to be true. Instead of slumming it while we were stranded, we were living the life in Rome. Thank you Lisa and Amanda! Again we tried to get Lora and I confirmed on the flight the next morning but were unsuccessful. We laid in bed watching the news, amazed at all the cancellations and chaos the volcanic ash cloud has caused. Schiphol was scheduled to open that night so we were hopeful that we could get out early the next morning. In the meantime, Lisa's husband took us all out to eat near the Pantheon where we dined on nice bottles of wine, bruschetta, pesto pasta, and tiramisu. Then Caitlin and I went back to the Campo de Fiori area to hang out for a bit. I ended up running into two USC Thetas who have been studying in London. Such a small world! While at a bar, we were paying for drinks when all of a sudden I feel my purse move a little. I turn around to see a bum, clearly out of place at this student bar, with his hand in my purse. I immediately start yelling at him and frantically go through my purse to make sure everything is there. Luckily it was and I had stopped in just in time. For the next hour we saw him do laps around this bar with a big shopping bag looking for purses/coats to take from. Unbelievable. Caitlin and I headed back to our 3:30 a.m. wake up call to get our taxi to the airport.

We got to the airport to find out the only one who had an actual seat on the flight was Amanda. The rest of us were on standby. It was ironic since Amanda was the one with all the connections and would obviously be okay if stranded, while the rest of us...who knows. Fortunately we all ended up getting on the flight! Hooray! We were headed back to Amsterdam. After the cabin doors closed the pilot made an announcement: "Hello ladies and gentlemen. This is a very special flight today. It's the first flight going from Rome to Amsterdam.." We all shot each other looks of fear. Talk about reassurance. BUT we landed safely thank goodness.

The week was quite an adventure to say the least. Despite the stolen coat, pickpocket, canceled flights, and spending hours on the phone with airlines, it was one of my best trips yet. There is no place I'd rather be stranded than in Italy. I could not be more thankful either for Amanda's family friends who helped us out so much. We could have been sleeping in airports with no money or food, but they provided everything for us. The USC Alumni family really does exist.

The adventures abroad don't stop. Tomorrow I am headed to a mystery destination as I am taking part in a hitchhiking competition. Our RA"s put it on and don't worry, it's safe! Hitchhiking is legal here and they have been doing the competition for the past couple years. We pair up into 20 teams of 2. My partner is my Australian friend Hamo. Basically we show up tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. and they reveal the destination. Past trips have been to Brugge and Berlin. Then it is up to us to hitchhike our way there. There are challenges along the way and extra tasks we can do to deduct time. The first team that gets there wins train tickets back home. Once everyone gets to the destination, we spend Friday night and Saturday night and then come back Sunday morning. Accommodations, food, drinks, and activities are all taken care of. It will be an interesting experience that's for sure. Something to remember for the rest of my life. Get ready for some crazy stories.

Paris, je t'aime

2010-04-07T07:32:00.000-07:00

Back from Paris! It was one of my best trips yet. The first actually that I wasn't ready to come home after my visit. I wanted to stay a couple more days.

I arrived Thursday night on the train and Vivian met me at the station. We took a train to Jouy, where she lives and goes to school at HEC (a well-regarded business school). That night I met a lot of her friends at their weekly party. It was a really diverse group of people from all over the world: France, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, Italy, Spain, etc.

Friday morning we woke up and took the train into Paris where it was unfortunately raining. We went to Notre Dame and Musee D'Orsay. The line was Musee D'Orsay was insanely long. Luckily, thanks to our EU student IDs, we got to go in the "VIP" line as we called it and got in free while cutting everyone. D'Orsay was really cool because it used to be an old train station. I loved the impressionist paintings. The sun was out when we left the museum so we walked around the Luxembourg gardens and the Saint-Germain area with lots of restaurants and shops where we got dinner. We tried to time it perfectly to catch the train back to HEC, but ended up having to sprint through the metro station to the train in less than 5 minutes...all after a three course meal. I then realized how out of shape I am. We barely made it and were so out of breath we couldn't even breathe a sigh of relief. That night one of Vivian's French friends got us on the list for a new club in Paris. It was a cool ambience and a more intimate crowd. Definitely not touristy at all. I think Vivian and I were the only Americans there.

Saturday we went to Vivian's favorite museum, Musee de l'Orangerie to see Monet's water lily paintings. Afterwards we walked Champs-Elysees with lots of stores to the Arc de Triomphe. We hopped on the metro to Montmartre. We toured Sacre Coeur and walked around the hill overlooking the city.

As a pick me up, Vivian got a coffee and I got a chocolate croissant that I had been craving. We saw all the painters and everyone was beckoning us to get our faces drawn. We started heading down the hill to the Moulin Rouge and passed several markets with fresh seafood, cheeses, Asian food, wine, boulangeries with yummy pastries, etc. I got to compare Paris' "red light district" with Amsterdams, and I have to say, Amsterdam wins. There is no competition. For dinner we met a bunch of her friends in Saint-Jacques with lots of bars and restaurants. I had my best meal there: escargot, duck, and creme brulee. The restaurant was recommended by a couple of French students and by the time we left the restaurant there was a line of people waiting for a table at the restaurant so we knew it was legit. Some of the group got fondue which looked delicious too. We went to a couple bars afterwards for happy hour and walked around the area before heading back to campus.

On Easter Sunday Vivian's friend Lucy joined us to go to Versailles and the Chateau. It must have been a popular weekend for Paris because the place was PACKED. We were like schools of fish moving from room to room in the chateau. It was still neat to see and such an extravagant palace. The weather wasn't cooperating though and it was raining so the gardens weren't as beautiful as I'm sure they are on a sunny day. Lucy showed us her favorite patisserie and we got some macaroons and quiches. Because there was nowhere to sit, we ended up eating them in McDonalds. Ha. My caramel macaroon still tasted just as good though. Lucy went back to HEC and Vivian and I went to the city and walked around some shopping areas and ended up at Hotel de Ville. For dinner we trekked to Chinatown and found a buffet to satisfy our Asian food cravings from sushi to chicken feet to chow mein to ha gao to mussels. Of course, we ate ourselves into oblivion and could barely move afterwards. The line to sit down was out the door when we left. I guess we choose popular places to eat! We sllloooowwwlllyy walked to the metro and took it to the Eiffel Tower to see it glitter at night. After taking too many pictures (that all looked the same) we called it a night and went back to campus to catch up on sleep.

Monday was my final full day and the best one yet. It was sunny and warm. After a good nights rest, we rose early to do the Louvre. I forgot how overwhelming it is. We saw the main works: Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo and wandered through the hallways, but again it was packed with tourists. After an hour and a half we called it quits and met up with friends for a picnic at the Eiffel Tower. It was the perfect day to lounge on the lawn right in front of the Eiffel Tower. So surreal. We had wine, baguettes, cheese, prosciutto, tomatoes, and the boys brought gummy worms for dessert. It was one of my favorite parts of my visit.

After soaking up the sun and digesting our sandwiches, we headed to Invalides where Napolean is buried. We got dinner and took the train back early so Vivian could do some homework since I had been taking up all her time all weekend. I appreciated her showing me around the city. I would have been so lost without her! As she did homework I watched Shutter Island with her friend, Igor, on his computer. Very intense movie.

Tuesday was my departure day. Another gorgeous day and I didn't want to leave! Vivian had class so Lucy and Igor took me into the city and made sure I got to my train okay which was really nice of them. I found my friends at the train station to go back to Amsterdam and after a 45 minute delay we were on our way back home.

Successful trip. Paris was a perfect choice of location for my long Easter weekend. Vivian was such a great host and I loved spending time with her. She's even going to be in Florence at the same time I will be in a couple weeks so I'll get to see her again. I met so many cool people, too. It's neat that they have a school campus and all live/eat together, making it easier to meet people. It's so nice being able to visit friends abroad and stay with them. It's a completely different experience than touring a foreign city on your own. Ahh, I miss it already.

Rome and Florence a week from today! I'm planning a couple day trips for the weekend around the Netherlands to explore more here.

Au Revoir!

2010-04-01T01:27:00.000-07:00

Well I survived my hell week of school work. One midterm, one presentation, and two papers. All done! Now I'm off to Paris to visit my friend Vivian who came to Amsterdam in February. Hard work pays off. I can't wait to explore Paris once again. Last time I was there it was right before the World Cup in 1998!

Some quick thoughts before I depart:

Weather is finally improving! The other week we had a day where it was almost 65 degrees and sunny. It was beautiful. I can't wait until its nice all the time since there's so many parks and canals to explore. The Netherlands is known for its tulips which will start flowering this month! My friends and I have a plan to visit Keukenhoff which is a famous tulip farm that is supposed to be magical.

As a direct contrast to the previous paragraph, I biked home in a full on hailstorm yesterday after class. We could tell a storm was coming, but I thought I could beat it out. I thought wrong. Halfway through my bike ride, hail started pelting me in the face and the wind was so strong I was peddling so hard yet not moving anywhere. Literally. I think people were laughing at me from inside buildings. After finally making it home through the treacherous storm, I parked my bike and sat down, exhausted from the workout. Almost immediately I look outside and the sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky. Perfect timing. Just biked through a hurricane for five minutes and now birds were chirping. Sigh.

My friend Emily visited this past weekend from London. She was only here for a full day, but we were great tourists and hit almost everything from Van Gogh to the Red Light District. She even brought me some delicious Harrods chocolates :)

For family relatives: I had dinner with Bob Ling and his Dutch friend Matthew the other night! We had gotten into contact and were able to find a time that worked with both of our schedules so he trained down and met me for dinner around my apartment. We had a nice three course dinner and were able to catch up from the last time I saw him. I enjoyed talking about my experiences here and got lots of new travel tips and places to see from both of them.

Off to the train to Paris for Easter weekend! Good stories to come.

Barca!

2010-03-25T01:32:00.001-07:00

Hola! This past weekend I was in Barcelona, Spain for 5 days. After traveling there with my parents and grandma when I was about 10 years old, it was nice to go back and revisit a lot of places as well as do some new things.

I arrived Wednesday afternoon with my two friends from USC, Kyle and Bryce who were visiting me in Amsterdam earlier that week for their spring break. After dropping our stuff off at the place we were staying, we strolled to the beach in the beautiful 65 degree and sunny weather. We found a great restaurant on the pier that had a 3-course lunch for only 8 euro! I got mussels, salmon, and tiramisu. Great meal to start of the trip. Then we walked to the Barcelona Cathedral making our way to the streets to Las Ramblas where we saw all the street performers, flower shops, and pet shops. We ended up at Placa de Catalunya and then saw Gaudi's Casa Batllo at night. For dinner we had tapas on Las Ramblas: mushrooms, breaded crab legs, Spanish omelette, and lamb. We met up with Bryce's friends who are studying abroad there and they showed us a fun night out. People don't go out until close to 2 a.m.! Such a crazy lifestyle.

After sleeping in until 11 a.m. I went to meet up with my friend Bill from my Amsterdam program who flew in late the night before. He ended up getting pickpocketed only a couple hours after arriving which was unfortunate to hear. Barcelona is known for it's pickpocketers so I was sure to clutch my purse everywhere we went. We went to Market La Boqueria which was the coolest market I've seen. They had everything from meats to fish to fruit to candy to cheese.

It isn't for the easily squeemish either. Dead rabbits, pigs hooves, brains, and gutted fish are everywhere. We met back up with Kyle and Bryce for some tapas outside in the once again perfect weather. Then we made the trek to La Sagrada Familia.

Since we were pressed on time and wanted to make it to Park Guell before the sun went down, we didn't go inside but just explored outside. A lot of it is under construction and has been for a while which takes away from the full effect. We hopped on the metro and got to Park Guell which was breathtaking.

This is one of the places I didn't make it to when I was there 10 years ago so I was glad I got to see it. The mosaics, curves, and design of the entire park was fascinating. The park was huge and it was impossible to hit everything, but we spent a good two hours walking around. After our legs couldn't move anymore, we went back to take a little siesta before dinner. (Siestas are my new favorite thing, such a great re-energizer before the night). For dinner we went to Margarita Blue and got shrimp fajitas. We didn't eat dinner til midnight! The different hours really threw me for a loop, but by the end I was pretty used to it. Afterwards we had some sangria at a local bar and Kyle and Bryce left to catch their really early morning flight back to the states.

My other friend Caitlin from Amsterdam arrived early that morning. So Bill, Caitlin, and I took the funicular up to the Joan Miro museum. I remember loving this museum the most when I came last. Even the second time around, I enjoyed looking at all the art and great views of the city.

We then took the cable car up to the top of Montjuic to see the Castle. We snacked on bocadillos (sandwiches) overlooking the city. Then we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art which housed some interesting exhibits. After yet another siesta, we went to see Arc de Triomf lit up at night. We had dinner right near our hostel in Placa Reial at an Italian restaurant recommended to me called Rossini. Great prosciutto pizza and mushroom risotto.

Saturday we woke up to get some free hostel breakfast. Went back to bed. Got back up around 11 and then indulged in some crepes from the Market. I got banana and coconut. We ate them on the go and walked to Casa Batllo and Casa Mila which were on the way to La Sagrada Familia. This time we actually went into La Sagrada Familia which wasn't too impressive I thought since it was so heavily under construction. We waited a little impatiently in a one hour line only to pay to take the elevator to the top to see some decent views and then walk back down the spiral staircase. Again, I don't know if it was totally worth the money, but it IS the emblem of Barcelona and Gaudi, so in the end I'm glad we did it. Then we ate some bocadillos at the beach and then headed back for, yes, a siesta. For dinner I made sure to get some seafood paella.

Sunday was our last day and had the worst weather since we had arrived. Luckily the "worst" weather includes mid 50's and cloudy. The rain held off until the evening. My friend, Kreya, from high school was actually in Barcelona at the same time so we met up for tapas at lunch time. She is studying abroad in Grenada at a homestay. It was great seeing her and catching up, exchanging stories of our study abroad experiences. Bill went to the Barcelona football stadium and Caitlin did Park Guell during the afternoon. When we met back up we went to the Picasso museum which was free after 3 on Sundays. While it wasn't our favorite, it is always nice seeing different collections of Picasso's work, especially from his earlier stages. Bill and Caitlin are also taking some art history classes in Amsterdam so they were able to explain to me some meanings/fun facts about some of the artwork. Then we checked out the cool design of Palau de la Musica Catalana. For our last supper we went to Taller de Tapas, another restaurant recommended to me, and it was our best dinner yet. Delicious tapas of mussels, potatoes, spinach, asparagus, prawns, eggs and ham, chorizo, etc. We were sent into a food coma which was good since we had to wake up at 4:30 am to catch our early morning flight back to Amsterdam to make it back in time for class.

Whew! Just typing up all the stuff we did makes me exhausted. It was a great trip though and I got to see a lot of different people back from USC and Indiana. Barcelona is such a vibrant city with so much going on. I was happy to be able to visit it again and get a new perspective on it now that I'm older and wiser (ha). Next trip: Paris for Easter weekend!

quick updates from the Dam

2010-03-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a while...

Before I write my epic post about Barcelona I thought I'd write a quick update on the past couple of weeks.

USA vs. Netherlands football match: Our CIEE program gave us tickets to go see the men's national USA team face the Netherlands in soccer one night. It was such a cool experience getting to go to the Netherlands football arena and see European fans decked out in orange and waving flags supporting their team. We were torn on who to cheer for, so the group split up half and half. I personally cheered for America. The Netherlands ended up winning 2-1 which wasn't a surprise because the US has never really had a good team.

I've taken advantage of my museum card and have gone to several museums on the weekends. I saw the Niet Normaal exhibit right before it closed which was a bizarre collection of art, videos, sculptures, etc. I also went to FOAM (photography museum) which wasn't too impressive. The Hermitage Museum is hosting a Matisse to Malevich exhibit including paintings by Picasso, Kadinsky, and Van Dongen.

Another new thing that my friends and I have been doing is baking on Sunday nights. My floor invested in a convection oven which has made a huge difference in food choices (frozen pizzas, quiches, toasted bread, frozen lasagna). It's a fun way to end the weekend and relax for a bit after a long day of homework. So far we've made apple pie and banana/nutella bread. Both turned out perfectly despite having to be inventive with substituting ingredients, googling conversions from the metric system, using wine bottles as rolling pins, etc. I've missed baking therapy! In addition, we've all decided cooking meals/eating by ourselves gets lonely so we've started cooking meals together and collaborating. We've made falafel, fajitas, curry, salmon and stir fry, and pork tenderloin to name a few. Fortunately I have really good cooks as friends!

Those are the major updates for now. Class is still going well. I've had a couple papers due and a midterm which was basically writing a novel on everything we've learned in class (literally the class was writing for at least 2 hours). Next week I have another midterm and a couple papers due. For two of my classes we have to choose a topic for our midterm/final project and paper that relates to ethnic diversity/pop culture and my other class intercultural communication. Of course, I chose food. Basically I will be comparing the dining styles, service, and food of Amsterdam and Los Angeles. Perfect project for me, the foodie.

Check back soon for stories from my long weekend in Barcelona!

Milano and Venezia

2010-03-08T13:56:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I traveled to Milan and Venice, Italy with two friends from my program, Kerri and Amanda (who is also a Theta at USC). We flew out Thursday and arrived in Milan around 11:00 p.m. That night we stayed at Kerri's friends apartment who is studying abroad there. While exhausted from the evening of travel, we rallied and went out to Le Banque, a club near the city center. It was definitely worth it and we had a fun night of dancing until 5 in the morning...which made it a little hard to wake up the next morning for a full day of sightseeing.

Despite a slow start in the morning and some misdirection, Amanda and I checked into our hotel and made it to the Duomo. It was beautiful outside, too. Low 50's and sunny. After the Duomo, we got lunch at an outdoor cafe and had, what else, pizza. Topped off lunch with a cone of gelato which hit the spot. Then we headed to Castellos Sforzesco and walked through the courtyards. Afterwards we decided to try our luck at getting last minute tickets to see the Last Supper. We had tried to book it earlier but they were all sold out (they can be sold out several weeks before). Unfortunately we didn't get to see it, but we at least saw where it was held at Santa Maria della Grazie. We went into La Scala, the famous opera house which was neat to see. Checked out Galleria Vittorio Emanuele before heading to Central Station to buy train tickets for our trip to Venice the next day. We also did some shopping and I decided to get a leather jacket (fake) as a souvenir. I've always wanted one so I figured what better place to get one than Milan? After freshening up at our hotel, an angry taxi driver took us to the Navigli district, famous for its restaurants and bars. For dinner I had pesto and mushroom gnocchi and we split tiramisu for dessert. We met back up with Kerri and her friends to go to a club called Alcatraz. It was a huge venue with cage dancers and the whole nine yards. Amanda and I left early (3 am) to get a good nights sleep for our trip to Venice.

Woke up at 9 am for our train ride. Bought some prosciutto sandwiches on the way and boarded the train no problem. Twenty minutes in, the conductor comes to check our tickets. As we hand him ours he looks at us and says "come with me." Dun dun dun. I just knew we were going to get thrown off the train in some little Italian town with nowhere to go. He explained that we had to get our tickets validated for the day of travel at some machine in the train station. We had no idea and the man who we bought the tickets from did not inform us that we had to do so. He told us it was a 50 euro fine. Oh great. We pleaded our case and it eventually worked and we got out of it. Whew. We went back to our seats with everyone staring probably thinking "stupid Americans." A couple stops before Venice we got into a conversation with some guys that sat by us. Supposedly they are training to get recruited for soccer teams around Europe. So they have been in this small town playing soccer for the past six months hoping to get a contract. One was from California, one from Australia, and the other from Malaysia. So cool. Finally after a quick 3.5 hours, we arrived in Venice! Gorgeous. Again, the weather was great. We really lucked out. After taking a water taxi to our hotel we went to St. Marks Square and inquired about a gondola ride. 80 euro? Meh, we passed and decided to just walk the canals ourselves. We went up to the top of the Campanile clock tower to see great views of the city. Saw St. Marks Basilica, Doge's Palace, Bridge of Sighs, and Ponte di Rialto. We did well our first day/night. For dinner I had spaghetti alle vongole (with clams) which was probably one of my favorite meals. It's amazing how good pasta and pizza are in Italy. Why can't we catch on to the tips and techniques? We continued just walking the canals, getting lost in the small streets and alleys. It was great. Since we were so tired from crazy nights in Milan, we decided to take it easy and just have a glass of wine on the Grand Canal and call it a night.

The next morning we went to the Peggy Guggenheim museum which held some really great works of art by Picasso, Calder, and Pollock. We found a restaurant that my friend had recommended to me right on the canal where we had the best artichoke, ham, and mushroom pizza. Had a couple glasses of wine as well so we were ready to pass out for the train ride back. After arriving back in Milan, we grabbed some dinner (spinach tortellini) and then went to bed early to get up at 4 a.m. for the shuttle to the airport.

Twas an amazing trip. It was short, but sweet. We saw everything we wanted to see, had delicious Italian food, lucked out with perfect weather, and enjoyed exploring a new place. First trip down! Next stop: Barcelona in T-10 days.

my first visitor!

2010-02-25T07:37:00.000-08:00

Last week was packed with stuff and it's not going to stop. I'm off to Milan and Venice in about two hours for the weekend! I'm so excited to explore a new part of Europe that I've never been to. I'm going with two girls in my program (one is a USC Theta) and we just found out it's fashion week in Milan, too! How perfect. Our plan is to be in Milan tonight and Friday night and then spend Saturday night in Venice and fly back from Milan to Amsterdam early Monday morning in time for class. It will be a busy weekend, but I can't wait.

Last Wednesday I took a trip with some friends to Haarlem which is a 15 minute train ride away. Our program split us into groups of 10 and gave us 60 euro to spend. Well only four of us showed up so we took full advantage. We walked around Haarlem for a bit and then chose a nice Indonesian restaurant to dine at. The meal was amazing and we put our money to good use. It was cool exploring a new part of the Netherlands if only for a short time. I hope to travel to other cities around the area just to get a new perspective on things.

This past weekend my friend Vivian visited me from Paris. I was excited to play host and show her around. It actually made me realize I know this city a little better than I thought. She arrived Friday evening after a lot of train delays so we just walked around Waterlooplein, Rembrandtplein, and Spui and ended up grabbing some Indonesian food at the same place I had gone with my orientation group. We split a delicious appetizer special and then had some noodles and chicken kebobs. Perfect start to the night. I introduced her to all my friends here and we all went out to a club called Sugar Factory which was packed with international students. We didn't get back until about 4 a.m. and set our alarms for noon to take on a day of sightseeing.

Saturday I took Viv to Dappermarkt which is a flea market near my dorm with everything you could ever think of. Clothes, cheese, fish, shoes, bed sheets, appliances, meats, fresh produce, you name it. We split a carton of fried fish and each had a stroopwaffel which is like a waffle cookie with syrup in the middle warmed up.

Afterwards we headed to the Van Gogh museum which I had already been to and then finished with the Rijks Museum nearby. The Rijks Museum has been under renovation since I was last here almost six year ago and still is! So there is only one exhibition open, but still neat to see since I get in free to most museums with the museum card I got when I arrived. At night we checked out the Red Light District...a major touristy thing we HAD to do. I had already been a couple times, but it was fun walking it again. Afterwards we bought tickets to see a famous DJ "Pretty Lights" perform that night at a club called Melkweg. It was a great show and we ended up dancing front row the entire time...until 5 a.m. Our friends had to drag us from the stage when it was time to leave because they were getting tired. I don't know how we did it.

Sunday we got up early to walk around Dam Square and walk past the Anne Frank house. She left around 4 p.m. and I crashed afterwards before waking up to catch up on readings and homework. As you can see it was great seeing a friend from SC and having her visit. We had a blast and I would say it was one of my favorite weekends in Amsterdam.

School is still school. Lots of readings, presentations, papers here and there. I'm enjoying it and meeting new people in my classes. It's fun to see them out at clubs on weekends, too. In my Dutch social policy class we visited De Regenboog which is a safehouse for drug users. Basically they offer them shelter and even clean needles for heroin users which I found really interesting. They aren't trying to necessarily get them off drugs, but provide a safe environment for them. Next week for the class we are going to the Red Light District and will get to talk to sex workers and sex workers rights activists.

Okay well I need to finish packing for Milan/Venice! I'm sure I'll come back with some great stories from my first vacation abroad :)

week of holidays

2010-02-14T15:57:00.000-08:00

Happy Carnivale/Valentine's Day/Chinese New Year! Lots to celebrate in one week.

The week of class was very productive. I had two presentations which both went very well. Two more presentations this week as well as two papers. Whew! Work is already piling up.

Monday I organized a floor dinner for our building. I haven't really gotten to know some of the girls living on our floor so I thought making dinner would be a good time to bond. The two guys (Eric and Joe) I know pretty well through the CIEE program. Zohre is from Sweden and Audrey is from France. We made some pasta and salad (standard). Conversation went really well though and we decided to make it a weekly thing to learn more about each other and catch up.

This weekend a big group of people went to Berlin, but a few of us stayed behind and found our own fun and activities to celebrate the plethora of holidays. For Carnivale we dressed up as hippies which also went with our friend's birthday party theme: "when I grow up I want to be a..." He hosted it at the building next door which was convenient and then we biked over to a club around midnight for the official Carnivale party for ISN. We've gotten VERY good at biking/knowing where things are. No more getting lost! I'm always the one leading the way on my bike and everyone complains how I bike too fast but my philosophy is that the faster you bike the warmer you are/the faster you'll get to a warm place. I think it makes perfect sense. The party was a lot of fun. It was an early night for us though: 3:30 a.m.

Saturday we had a girls day and went to see the movie Valentine's Day at a nearby movie theater. While the movie itself was not quite Oscar material, just watching it in a Dutch theater was an experience. There were love seats, waiters to serve beer and wine, and high ceilings with ornate decor.

Sunday, Feb. 14 some of us went to get dim sum to celebrate the Year of the Tiger at a restaurant called Nam Tin which was actually written up in one of my guidebooks. It was only a 5 minute bike ride which was nice because we woke up and it was snowing. Brrrr. The place was packed when we got there around 12:30. We ordered ha gao, cheung fun, chow mein, bao, and some delicious coconut cakes for dessert. Hit the spot. The service wasn't particularly good, but we all received roses after we paid for the check. Probably pitying four, white single girls out on Valentine's day at a Chinese restaurant. Haha. The rest of the day was dedicated to school work, surprise surprise. But we all got back together to cook dinner to celebrate Valentine's day. It was a nice break to studying.

Now it's onto the next week of class! This weekend my friend Vivian is visiting, too which should be fun.

Putting the STUDY in "study abroad"

2010-02-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

First week of classes. Oh how I've missed sitting in a classroom doing work. I got a little used to not doing anything for the past two months over winter break so it was a quite an adjustment to get back into the swing of going to class. However I finished my first week of classes without any problems.

Monday: Contemporary Dutch Social Policy 1 pm-2:45 pm

This is the one elective class I'm taking that doesn't count toward my communication major back at USC. It's through the CIEE study abroad program so we all know each other from orientation and housing. Bonny Wassing is the professor and I've heard many good things about the class from other students who studied here in previous years. The basic themes of the class include drugs, prostitution, migration, housing, euthanasia, and sexuality. We take field trips to safehouses and the red light district.

After Social Policy I usually have Communication and Society from 3-5:45 but it was canceled the first week because we had an international school orientation with a scavenger hunt and borrel. I met lots of new students in the college and they provided us with copious amounts of beer and wine starting at 5 p.m. Needless to say, the night ended with all of us passing out really early in anticipation for Tuesday's classes.

Tuesday: Ethnic Diversity and Popular Culture 6 pm-8:45 pm.

So I had ALL day to relax and get organized. My professor is Mexican and prefers to be called "La Maestra." I also have her for my Intercultural Communication class on Thursday so I made sure to make a good impression. It seems like a very interesting course dealing with a lot of the things I've been learning in my comm classes back at USC: high culture, low culture, globalization, mass media, etc.

When I got back from class my friend had bought 2 euro wine (only the finest) and we drank that before going to a weekly ISN borrel for all the students.

Wednesday: Contemporary Dutch Social Policy 1-2:45

Second day of class. This time we discussed education and the history of the Netherlands.

My friends and I took the night off from going out and went to a small neighborhood cafe to have hot chocolate. It was a nice, mellow night that was much needed.

Thursday: Intercultural Communication 12-2:45

This is my class with "La Maestra" again. It will be very similar to my Ethnic Diversity class. So similar that she said if we are enrolled in both we can do the same final paper and turn it in to be counted for both classes. Nice! Again, it seems like a neat class with a lot of USC comm students again.

Friday: No class!

So overall my schedule is near perfect. No class before noon, no class Friday, similar material to what I've been learning, friends in all my classes, esteemed professors, etc. I've already been bombarded with a lot of work though. Lots of readings in all my classes. We have to present at least once on the readings we do each week throughout the semester so I decided to get most of them out of the way (and earn brownie points with my professors) by volunteering to go first. I actually just finished my first presentation and La Maestra said I did great and I will earn a high mark. Woo!

Thursday night a big group of us all went out to a popular night club called Paradiso. It was packed with international students and was a great time. We were dancing until 4 in the morning when we miraculously biked home without getting lost.

Friday we had a check-in meeting with CIEE to make sure everything was going okay. Then a group of us went to this small soup place that hit the spot on the cold/rainy day. We decided to take it easy that night, too and the Van Gogh museum was open late so about ten of us went around 8 pm to go explore the exhibits. They even had live music on Friday nights which added to the museum ambience.

Saturday we went to this cool, hole in the wall museum called Electric Ladyland. My friend Jen had heard about it from a friend. It's basically all these cool black lights and flourescent lights and natural rocks that glow. Our tour guide, Nick, runs the place and you could tell he has been under the influence of many different drugs throughout his lifetime. It was a fun time though.

Then we treated ourselves to the Pancake Bakery in which my Theta friend Amanda and I split a salami and cheese pancake followed by the Winter Special which was apple streudel, vanilla sauced, ice cream, and whipped cream. One of the most satisfying meals thus far.

That night we checked out some cool bars around the neighborhood and found a cool one called Kriterion especially for students that also has a movie theater in it as well.

Sunday was all dedicated to readings/working on my presentations. I literally was in my room doing work from 11 am til 7 pm (with a one hour nap during that span). Then my friends and I made some stirfry and trekked to Cocos Australian Sports Bar to watch the Superbowl! We got there at 10 just to make sure we got seats for the 12:30 am game, and good thing we did because it was packed by the time the game started. I was literally the only one rooting for the Colts out of my friends and I met some random people in the bar who were Colts fans, but there were very few of us. Sadly, we lost the game. Not only was I depressed, I was also miserably tired as it was almost 4 am by the time the game ended. I biked back to my room hanging my head in shame as all my friends shoved it in my face that the Saints won and Peyton threw the interception. Guess that's what I get for being the one Colts fan. The broadcast didn't even show the Superbowl commercials so I had to watch them all online the next day...and I wasn't that impressed.

Time for our weekly ISN borrel! I'll update more later this week.

International Orientation

2010-02-02T05:34:00.000-08:00

Jan 28 marked the first day of International orientation for everyone. Check in time was around 10:30 so some dormmates and I decided to leave at 9:50 for plenty of time to get there. Looking on the map it seemed to only be about a 15 minute bike ride to the University center where we were meeting. Little did we know the adventure we were about to embark on. That morning we literally had an entire self-guided biking tour of Amsterdam. Took about 45-50 minutes to get to where we needed to go as we raced around on our bikes, stopping to ask for directions, trying to find where we were on the map, backtracking, etc. Luckily we didn't miss anything when we arrived around 10:45 because the registration lines were so long. We got broken up into about 30 groups of about 15 people each. I met a girl studying from China who didn't speak much English, but she was really excited to find out I was half Chinese. First we had lunch as a group...bread and cheese sandwiches. Typical. Then we had a cultural workshop in which we talked about different cultures and how they are similar and different at the same time. A little elementary but it was a good way to meet new people. I met a girl from Canada who wants to do grad school at USC. We talked a lot and I think she is going to come watch the Superbowl with me on Sunday. Afterwards there was a lecture/introduction to the program and then a walking tour ultimately ending at this empty warehouse off in the middle of nowhere where we had dinner. Our first traditional dinner with Dutch food! We had good mashed potatoes, some spanish casserole, yummy sausages, some lamb I think, and pastry puffs. We got to order a free drink too and when I asked the bartender for a gin and tonic he looked puzzled and asked why I wasn't getting a beer. When I explained I haven't yet developed the taste for beer and don't really like it, he made me a deal that he would make me a gin and tonic as well as give me a beer and if I came back and finished the beer he would give me another drink. Deal. It was another Heineken so I was able to stomach it. But barely. After dinner we all took the tram to Cafe Heffer where we continued to mingle with everyone.

The next day I got my official residence card of Amsterdam! We had yet another canal boat tour and were supposed to meet by Central Station at 12:45. My friends and I started walking there around 12. At 12:30 we were in the exact spot we started. Literally walked in an entire circle. At this point, getting lost and turned around is just expected. We finally found the place we were supposed to be at and had yet another bread and cheese sandwich lunch as we toured the canals. Then Caitlin, Lora, and I decided to go to Hema (like Target) to get a new comforter, pillow, and other miscellaneous items for our dorm. We had about an hour to unpack and rest by the time we got back to our rooms and then it was time for Karaoke night! We drank a few glasses of wine to get us ready to sing our hearts out once we arrived. The night was definitely one of my favorites. Everyone had such a great time choosing songs and singing them up on stage with groups. It's funny how we are all from different parts of the world but know all the same songs and can sing along to anything. My group did Backstreet Boys, Bon Jovi, The Police, NSync, and some others. We were a hit!

Jan 30 was a pretty uneventful day. We got to tour the sports center which is ironically dubbed "USC." We stocked up on groceries, too at the supermarket (Albert Hein) about 5 minutes away. First they don't take credit cards. Second you have to bag your own groceries. So here I am holding up the line as I am frantically trying to stuff all my food into the bags I brought from home. Maybe I'll find some sort of strategy next time, but it was pretty difficult. That night we had our final orientation party at this cool club called Odeon which was like three stories with different bars, dance floors, and seating areas. The party officially ended at 5 am and I knew ahead of time I would probably be home by 3 at the very latest, but in the middle of dancing to the techno music I look at my phone and it was already 3:30 in the morning! I haven't partied that late in a long time if ever. I found one of my friends, Hamo, and he wanted to go back as well so he biked me back on the back of his bicycle which was quite an adventure. We hit some ice on the way back and fell off, but we were fine and decided from there we'd just finish walking home.

Sunday. Oh, the day for rest. Woke up at noon. Took a biking tour of our neighborhood to see the cool restaurants, nearest ATM, weekly markets, etc. It was a challenge biking on the ice and we were all sliding around praying for our lives. We got lunch at this burger place right around the corner called Burgermeester. Now this is the place when you are craving a burger.
See what I mean? Then we had yet another "borrel" (drinking party) for our dorm. They provide us with so much beer and wine! This one started at 5, too so after two glasses of wine I was exhausted. We went back to my place to make some food and then just sat around watching TV in the common room. Finally got to skype with my parents, too at midnight which I had to force myself to stay up for. It was good seeing/talking to them though and it was one of their first times using skype so that was exciting. I passed out hard after our conversation...after all I had class at 1 the next morning!!

Next time: FIRST DAY OF CLASS.

I Amsterdam

2010-02-01T01:27:00.000-08:00

To continue from last time,

The next day of orientation we had lunch at the University of Amsterdam atrium which was the standard bread and cheese sandwich we have had almost every lunch since then...they sure do love their bread and cheese. Afterwards we did a walking tour of the city which was near miserable because it was one of the coldest days. -4 degrees Celsius. We all were bundled up together trying to keep our toes from going numb as we explored all parts of the city. Finally we stopped for some delicious and soothing hot chocolate at a cute cafe near Dam Square. We picked up our bikes as well from the renting shop we are using. It took a while to get used to, but it's similar to my one back home. We biked back to the hostel in which everyone froze and couldn't feel their fingers or toes by the time we were done. Since it was our first time biking, too it was really intimidating since we bike with traffic and have to look out for the trams, other bikers, pedestrians, etc. And as we are biking at what seems to be a pretty standard pace, native Dutch are whizzing by us on their bikes putting us to shame. For dinner we trammed it to a nice Indonesian restaurant near Dam Square. It was actually right next to Cafe Luxumbourg which was my family's favorite place to get breakfast when we visited about six years ago. Dinner was all paid for and we also got two free drinks. We did it tapas style, sharing with our entire table and it was quite tasty. Definitely was a nice change from the bread and cheese. Amsterdam is actually known for their Indonesian food which I found interesting.

Jan 27 we moved into our dorms!! We picked up our keys and bedding at DeKey which is the housing company. As we waited they were giving out FREE massages so I jumped in line because after lugging all my bags around I was feeling the effects. It was a nice start to the day and got me loose for having to carry my three bags again to a new location. My address is Plantage Muidergracht 125 which is in a nice neighborhood a street over from the zoo. There are two buildings with students so a lot of my friends live in the area, too. Luckily I was on the first floor (A1) so I didn't have to worry about the stairs or anything. I share a floor with 4 other people (2 guys from CIEE and 2 girls from abroad). We share a kitchen with two fridges, a microwave, and a stovetop and two bathrooms and two showers. My room is HUGE compared to sharing my one back at USC with two other girls. I have a desk, bookshelf, bed, wardrobe, sink, bedside table, bulletin board, and desk drawers. My room is right on the street so I can hear the street action, but since it's such a quiet neighborhood that only happens every so often. I immediately unpacked since I had been living out of a suitcase for the past four days. Then we had to go back to the hostel to pick up our bikes and then bike them to our dorms. Lucky for us it was RAINING as we did this. So by the time we get back after our 25 minute bike ride through the rain, we are sopping wet and cold. Time for dinner. About 10 of us from the two buildings on Plantage Muidergracht who were in CIEE together got dinner at a place right on the corner. The menu was pretty small, but unique and delicious. It ranged from peanut soup to a hamburger to Chinese pancakes with duck to bruschetta. I got the peanut soup to warm me up. After dinner we hung out in the common room and I got to meet a lot of the other students living in our buildings. I met people from Spain, London, Australia, and Poland. The rest of us were from the states. But it was fun to have a couple glasses of wine with them and get to know the people I will be seeing a lot.

Next post: International Orientation!

"If it ain't Dutch, it ain't much"

2010-01-28T08:23:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Amsterdam!

So much has happened since I last wrote. I only have a quick 20 minute break here so bare with me.

The flight over was easy. Watched The Informant while dining over a nice vegetarian pasta and white wine (I got carded, too!). Then slept for about 5 hours just in time to wake up and have breakfast being handed to me. We finally touchdowned in Amsterdam on a "beautiful" day: slightly cloudy and 33 degrees.

Caitlin, Jen, and I got our luggage easily and breezed through customs. We split a taxi to our hostel near Vondelpark. Never having stayed in a hostel, I was quite impressed with the facilities. We had 2 bunks in our room and our own shower! They had a nice student bar/snack area and a pool table, too. After arriving we took a walk around the neighborhood waiting to check in. We walked by the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh museum. Once we checked in we took a nice 3 hour nap and then got dinner at the Pancake Corner with two other guys from SC that arrived that morning. DELICIOUS pancakes. I got salami, cheese, and mushrooms on mine. They are like gigantic crepes that you can put almost anything on. I even finished my FIRST beer (since I don't really like the taste it was a big deal): a Heineken. Afterwards we walked around a popular bar/cafe area and hung out. Basically just got really excited for the semester to come.

The next morning we didn't get up until around 2 (oops) and we ran into another group of CIEE students that were in our program so we toured with them around the city. They were from all over: New York, New Jersey, Iowa, California, Oregon, etc. We all wanted to watch the AFC championship game with the Colts vs. Jets. The boys found an Australian bar/restaurant that was airing it at 9 p.m. our time and so we went for dinner and drinks. They had great big screen TVs which was perfect to watch the game on. Everyone was for the Jets except me, but I guess I represented well because Colts won! Woo! Superbowl will be on at MIDNIGHT our time...it will be quite a late night next weekend.

Jan. 25 our CIEE orientation officially started. There are about 50 of us representing maybe 20-25 different colleges around the US which is really cool. USC has the biggest group. It was fun meeting everyone and listening to everyones expectations about their time abroad. After doing basic orientation stuff, we went on a canal cruise around the city and had drinks and pizza. Then a group of us went to a bar to hang out more, but we were so tired we were back at the hostel by 11 p.m. ready to pass out.

Timeout! I need to run to dinner now for my international orientation. More later!

Now Boarding

2010-01-22T09:22:00.000-08:00

The time has come! I'm finally off to Amsterdam to study abroad for the next 4.5 months. I'll be taking several communication classes for my major back at USC and then an elective on Dutch social policy for fun. Should be interesting.

My flight leaves Indy at 5:20 and then I have about an hour layover in Memphis. After that, I'll be flying overseas to Schiphol (Amsterdam's airport) and should arrive around 11:20 a.m. Amsterdam time. It's about a 7 hour flight...nothing I haven't done before. Judging from my great ability to pass out for hours on an airplane, I think the time will pass quite fast. Luckily I'm flying out with some SC friends from the midwest who are also studying abroad through the CIEE program in Amsterdam so I won't be completely alone.

The program starts with a couple days of orientation beginning January 25. So I'll have a couple days to get acclimated and get rid of jet lag, etc. Since it's an international program, I'll get to meet everyone studying at the University of Amsterdam with me. I would say there's about 12 of us from USC and then who knows how many more from other colleges/other countries. Regardless, I will be meeting a bunch of new people which will be great. During orientation we get to know one another, get to know the city, get bikes, get keys to our dorms, get cell phones, etc. I move into my dorm/apartment January 27 and classes start February 1. I'm living at Plantage Muidergracht 125. The description sent to me is as follows:

Plantage Muidergracht 125 & 20 (aka PMG): These dorms, singles, are located in a popular residential area close to the Artis Zoo. PMG 20 is across from a nursing home which makes for interesting contact with locals. There’s also a nice park on this street with a basketball court and space to lay out when it’s nice. By PMG 20 there’s a deck to hang out along the canals where you can watch the boats go by. The UvA’s economic building is across a bridge behind PMG 20 where there’s a computer lab, student cafes, cafeteria, etc. It’s approx 5-10 minute bike ride to the ISHSS. This neighborhood is considered in the center of Amsterdam. You share a kitchen with the rest of your floor. There are no ovens, just a fridge, microwave in most cases, stovetop, etc. You will need an Ethernet cable for internet. Resident staff can show you where to purchase this once on site.

Sounds nice! We all get singles which is a big bonus, too.

Well I just wanted to start with a little introduction to my studies abroad. More updates to come once I get over there! This semester should be a blast filled with traveling, immersing myself in the culture, meeting new people, learning and studying (hence "study abroad"), and just getting the opportunity to live a new lifestyle. It hasn't really hit me yet that I will be LIVING in Europe. Many have told me it doesn't really hit you until a couple weeks after you get there and get settled. All I can say is I'm excited. Despite my nervousness, anxiety, and sadness about leaving home, I know that this semester will be a great one. I've always wanted to study abroad and now I finally get the chance to do so. I hope you enjoy reading my blog and following my adventures throughout Amsterdam and the rest of Europe.

Until next time...(when I will actually BE in Amsterdam)