A Week of Clear Skies

As soon as the Texans left, Holland decided to have good weather. We've had clear skies all week, which seems so rare. Suddenly people are everywhere - sitting on bean bags on the street drinking a beer, playing volleyball, rowing on the canals, and eating lunch anywhere as long as it's outside. 

So...on Tuesday I biked to Den Haag (The Hague) and met up with Pam for her first Dutch bike outing ever. We biked to the beach town of Scheveningen in - good luck pronouncing that (hint: hawk that loogie). It only took 15 mins - crazy how close we are to the beach! 

It got a bit late to bike home to Delft, since it takes 40 minutes and you have to add an extra 30 minutes for "Becca's first time biking somewhere," so I thought I'd take the tram home. Tram 1 goes straight from scheveningen to Delft - perfect! But I have my bike... I wonder if they let bikes on the tram? Well, Pam & I can find out. After waiting for the tram for 20 minutes, it turns up and I run along to the front of the tram with my bike so that I can ask the driver if bikes are allowed. But, before I can even get to the first door, it leaves! JERKS. Pam said my face looked a pathetic as a hurt puppy. Once again, I failed at public transportation! Luckily the train station was a short bike ride away, and they do let you take bikes on the train for 6euros. Bit steep for a 5 minute trip, but my self esteem was at an all time low by this point so I sucked it up.

Now that I knew the way to Scheveningen from Delft, I got a group to go again on Wednesday. I had no classes again, okay! Gregor is a pro at directions so we got there in half the amount of time it took me the day before. Here's some lovely pics -

Beautiful day

Ladies, please!

Nadine, Gregor, Rhiannah, Danilo in front of a fancy hotel 

which seems to ruin the natural beauty of the beach

I don't know how parents feel about people taking pics of their children,

but this boy was so cute playing in the water...

me & Pam

The touristy view

We had a beach picnic.

Nom nom!

Our unofficial tour guide with excellent sense of direction, Gregor!

Gregor took us here...

And here

Bike tour coming through!

That's a tram, ugh.

Pretty gold fountain

This is Den Haag! 

I like this picture because it captures a lot of aspects of the city - you have the skyscrapers, but also the quaint Dutch building in front of them, and all the bikes.

Yep, that's a Burger King.

I saw The Hunger Games on Thursday in Delft at Pathe! 

Jealous because it came out on Wednesday here? Yes you are.

On Friday we ate lunch on the "library hill" on campus (the only hill in Delft) -- the library is underneath us.  

I don't know those people...

The ducks made their rounds begging for food. 

For some reason the two boy ducks always followed the girl...huh!

Hi pretty lady. No you can't eat my 4euro Albert Hijn premade salad (genius)!

Changing subjects -

My typical cheap, home cooked meal - it's a really nice ham ravioli with grilled courchette (zucchini).

This is a 2nd floor Marcusof, Albert Heijn classic! Even our Italian approves. Thanks Claudia!

Also, this is the view from my window. I got to keep tabs on who was home.  

Well, I say that in past tense since all of us Marcusof residents got to move to our new apartment this weekend. About 40 of us were in temporary housing until our new place opened up. Let's just say that Marcusof is a nursing home-turned-student housing with dirt caked to the floor, moldy cabinets, only two functioning cooking rings for 24 people on the floor, no oven or microwave, spider webs everywhere, bunged up sinks and community shower drains, and toilets that make noises for 30 minutes after you flush them (poor Sandra). On the plus side, we had big windows, a seat in the elevator, railings in the hallways, doorbells for each room (which didn't work, but the idea is cool), and you could pull the main light switch string while lying down in bed. See, an old people home isn't too bad for the lazy college student! Which is too bad, because they're tearing it down or renovating or something now.

At our new place, everything is brand new. However, that doesn't come without the inevitable student housing problems like a toilet that doesn't stop over-flowing from a broken valve for two hours. Shit! That was our warm welcome this morning, but luckily it's all fixed now thanks to a kind plumber who came to help on a Sunday afternoon. That is exceptional Dutch work ethic!

Anyway, I now have 4 roommates, and we have an apartment on the ground level of a complex right between campus and town. It's a cool location, and I like it so far. Since we're on the ground floor, I can walk out my window to the street. I haven't decided if I like this or not considering it could go the other way.

My window-door opening up to the street.

 

My new set up, window is on the left

I get two big windows!

They gave us a little delft scenery around the bed...aw!

Yes I'm on book 3 (thanks for lending yours to me, Tom). Ha! I just outed him.

I saved the cutest pics for last. Since I got to visit Melanie, Stan, & Pam in Den Haag on Saturday, I got to play with their adorable dogs.

Puppy therapy

Dog from left to right - Cami, Russell, & Brie

Oh yeah, that's Pam & Stan on the couches. They're pretty cool too :)

Russell fell asleep on my head, aww!

Well that's the fun stuff of my past week for you to see. Good night!

Top 8 Coolest Things from Euro-Trip 2k12

Greetings from sunny Austin, Texas!  Becca graciously offered some of her blog space so that I could share a few of my more memorable experiences from my week in the Netherlands.  Obviously, the highlight of my trip was the opportunity to visit my beautiful girlfriend, (I was in no way obligated to make the previous statement under threat of serious bodily injury)  but there were also several other moments that will provide me with fond memories from my time abroad for years to come. So without further ado, and in honor of the Hoff, (whose bday I may have forgotten about while we were over there) I present to you the 'Top 8 Coolest Things from Euro-Trip 2k12".  Yes, I spent hours working on that title.

8.  Public Transportation.  In Austin, the bus schedules posted online and at the stops are good for only one thing: letting you know exactly what time the buses won't be there to pick you up.  Other than that, it's anybodies guess when the next one will come.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that the train system in Holland was pretty darn precise, and it was easy to get just about anywhere on the continent.  It also might be the most soothing and stress free ways to travel, once you are actually on the train of course.  Which brings me to my next point...

7.  The mad dash through Heathrow Airport.  After our attempt to spend our remaining Euros/pounds at an airport shop ran a little longer than expected, we discovered that we had about 10 minutes to make it to our gate before it closed.  A nearby trip planner kiosk listed our gate as a 15-20 minute walk.   Long story short, I can now say that I've been that guy sprinting through the terminal whose rolling luggage refuses to stay on its wheels while assorted books and headphones fly out of his backpack.  Painful, humiliating, and terrifying while it was happening, nothing beats the feeling of barely making it to the plane, being the last person to board, and then happily taking your seat between a large Turkish lady and a German grandma, sweating profusely all the while. 

6.  Hanging out in Brugge.  You know how just walking on the street in certain cities gives you the feeling that you are in the middle of a movie?  Brugge is one of those places.  It seemed that every street was a set piece; the canals, buildings and numerous pedestrians all combined to give you the feeling that you were a part of something that was an event.  I kept expecting a motorcycle riding James Bond to come peeling around a corner of one of the narrow, cobblestone roads in hot pursuit of  some goofy looking henchman.  Unfortunately, the closest we got to any sort of international intrigue was the half-hearted surveillance of a sandwich lady who seemed to be breaking all kinds of sanitation guidelines while she prepared our lunch.   Beware future Brugge travelers, she remains very much at large to this day!  

5.  The Dutch have apparently evolved to the point that they are no longer susceptible to dehydration.   Due to what I've self diagnosed as an extremely active metabolism, I'm required to drink massive amounts of water on a daily basis. You can imagine my dismay when I discovered that "large water" does not translate to Dutch whatsoever.  They just aren't used to drinking water.  I was amazed that the guys I had been playing water polo against for over an hour and a half went immediately to the bar connected to the pool and were throwing down cold ones less than ten minutes after practice was over.  I've attached a picture that should illustrate the difference between my average water intake and that of my counterparts over in the Netherlands:

4.  Getting a taste of the local beers.  Before I go any further, I'd like to point out that the ratio of beer related to non beer related pictures on this blog is not an accurate representation of how we spent the majority of our time.  I think Becca just likes photos of beer in a fancy glass, something that bars don't often take the time to set up over here.  Having said all that, the beer over there was awesome.  I don't really consider myself much of a connoisseur of suds, but having such a great selection at every bar was a nice change of pace from having to go out of our way to find good beer like we do stateside. 

3.  Playing a pick up basketball game in the middle of a park in Amsterdam, against what we assumed were local kids.  Basketball is easily my favorite land based sport, and finding a game somewhere during my trip was pretty close to the top of my to-do list.  After passing by several empty bball courts throughout our trip, I had no choice but to sign us up for a game at the first active court we encountered.  Yes, they were most likely middle and high school aged kids, and yes, we might have lost the first game we played against them (there was a slight language barrier issue concerning the score, now people understand why I try to keep such a close eye on the score of any game I'm playing).  In our defense, they had two significant advantages in their favor.  First, 75% of our team was clad in sub-par balling shoes, namely Keds and boots.  Second, their best guy played the whole game with his Ipod earbuds in!  Why haven't I thought of that?  Talk about getting into the rhythm of the game.

(Becca gets to add pics for the rest of the blog and make comments, of course!)

Jackets off, it's getting serious.

Grady doesn't let those boots hold him back!

Neither do I!

But they've got skills too

Tom looks hesitant, but he did score most of our points.

So, I'm guessing that went in.

Tom and Mike on D

2.  Water polo with the Wave team.  By the time Becca and I hopped into this practice, I hadn't been in a pool or large body of water for a week and two days.  To put it simply, I felt like Superman enduring an Alaskan winter.  Diving into the pool revitalized me immediately, and as an added bonus, the practice was being conducted by a guest Dutch coach of some renown.  He put us through some interesting drills (which I figured out through context clues and by never going first) and then divided us up for a scrimmage.  Sports really do provide a handy universal link between us humans, and I felt right at home playing with the guys and gals that night.  

1.  Bikes!  In Delft, at least 90% of our transportation was supplied by one of my favorite childhood possessions.  There's something to be said for living in a city where you can easily get everywhere you need to be without once getting into a car.  I finally understand that quote about how being on a bike lets you feel like you are a part of the scenery, rather than an outsider observing it through a windshield.  Luckily, there weren't any perfect weather, "windows down" kind of days while I was over there;  else I would have had even more trouble getting on the plane back to Texas.

(Becca gets to add pics again)

MJ's the pro! Grady & Tom looking cute

Steph living life dangerously by looking backwards

You know you're tourist when you have a bright red bike!

That about wraps it up for me.  Thanks again to Becca for letting me share my thoughts with you guys, now back to your regularly scheduled pint glass photos =) 

Tom                                  

When Texas Met Holland

Where to begin! I have so many thoughts competing to be put in words first. First and foremost, I am the luckiest girl to have my boyfriend visit me for a whole week. Tom is a trooper, I threw him right into the Dutch ways from day 1 by making him ride bikes (frequently with me on the back), drink tiny portions of water and coffee, take trains, and drink at least 3 beers immediately after water polo practice. Thanks, baby :) Also, I have a little surprise for all of you. Without giving away too much, check back soon for a guest posting!

Everybody arrived on Monday March 12, except for Mary, who had already been there for a weekend and make lots of Amsterdam friends for us ahead of time. Thanks Mary! It's always important to have non-sketchy, reliable friends in different places. I tried to control my giddiness waiting for those kids to walk out of the gate at the airport, which was difficult because I had been looking forward to that day for almost 2 months. I'll spare you the details and just let you know that everyone got there in one piece, ready to hit the town.

The girls and Tom spent Tuesday with me in Delft. I introduced them to riding two on one bike, which went much smoother than expected. That must have something to do with MJ's Texas 4000 experience and Stephanie's giggling. You need the perfect mix of athletic ability and a sense of humor for this kind of activity!

We went to Bebop, a Jazz bar in Delft. Not too much happens on a Tuesday night in my little town, but we actually had live music this time. The music was great, and we had some delicious beer.

I convinced Stephanie to get Kwak, simply because it comes in the coolest glass. 

Sorry for using you for cool pictures!

Kwak

Two of my favs

We like this picture... mainly because Tom's eyes are open :)

Okay not too many pics from Delft, but we traveled to Brugge, Belgium on Wednesday and I have a bit more documented from that trip. We decided to go to Brugge because it's known for its excellent beer selection, delicious chocolate, quaint scenery, and because I wanted to go. Very strategic, I know.

From Delft, Mj, Steph, Tom, & I took 3 trains (successfully!) 

We almost had a problem when he tried getting on the train leaving from platform 9 3/4.

Antwerp is a beautiful station. 

In fact, most of the major train stations over here have such gorgeous architecture. 

Something useful can also be beautiful; what do you think about that, UT Engineering buildings?

We all stayed together at Lybeer Travelers' Hostel in Brugge. Since boys came separately from Amsterdam, Tom was very eager to know when they would arrive.

I think I heard cowboy boots! Grady?! Mike!? 

(Meanwhile...MJ, Steph, & me giggle uncontrollably) 

Pam and Brett met us in Brugge by some crazy coincidence that they got a ride from a friend in Den Haag (The Hague) who was also going to Brugge on the same day. Brett's mom, Melanie, is my Dutch momma while I'm over here since she and her husband just moved to The Hague for a 3 year posting with Shell. Brett is their son, visiting for spring break, and Pam is my arranged-best-friend thanks to Melanie. Good thing we have 100000 things in common and and getting to hang out for 3 months while she's living in The Hague! I'm so glad they both joined us for this trip.

We found this pretty neat fountain on our first, sunny day.

Left to right: Pam, me, Steph, MJ, Mary

Shout out to Melanie Mays!

Brett, Pam, & me

Drinking on the street is legal. That's why nobody does it except for American tourists! Oh well, at least we made the most of it.

So we went to the grocery store to try some new beer.

 

And drank in front of the church.

Brugs beer, my favorite from Brugge. 

Just so that this blog is somewhat educational, here's some wiki facts about Brugs:

Brugs is a white beer from Bruges, Belgium, based on a traditional Brabant brew. The name comes from Dutch "Brugs tarwebier", which means "wheat beer of Bruges". Brugs was first brewed in Bruges, capital of West-Flanders. Every bottle of Brugs bears the "Golden Tree" (Gouden Boom), harking back to the trophy traditionally awarded to the knights that won the tournaments held in the city back in the Middle Ages. The beer is pale yellow, slightly cloudy beer with a refreshing tartness. It's made from wheat and hops and is seasoned with bitter orange and coriander. The beer is unfiltered, as with all beers on lees, which allows it to keep the natural cloudiness given by its yeast. Often served with a slice of lemon, the beer has very low bitterness and a dense, creamy head.

Giggles

Praying for good beer

Picnic in the plaza. 

Surely two sandwiches will be filling!

Designated bottle opener

Rocking the sock hat

We're the three best friends that anyone could have.

The happy couple

Postin' up!

Searching for the bar

Mary found it!

No wonder we could find it, it's below eye level.

Pretty cool set up inside...

...because there's foosball!

When in Beligum...

try beers

and beers

and beers

and beers

and beers

and candles

and Belgian/Dutch fast food

(frikandel, french fries, fried cheese, fried everything)

and more late night snacks!

On Thursday, Steph, MJ, Tom, & I went to the chocolate museum. Our main reason was the see chocolate Obama, which was a such a dissapointment that I didn't take a picture. In reality, my main reason to go was to see how much free sample chocolate I could get. To our dismay, 80% of the museum was about the history of chocolate, the Aztecs, drinking coco, how beans are harvested, and all kinds of educational things. Where are the chocolate samples?! 

Captain Morgan says "That way!"

A mustache cup! Tom's 6 euro admission just paid off!

After learning at least one thing in each room (good idea Steph), we did ended up at a chocolate making demonstration and got our reward.

Various levels of enjoyment

Stephanie's admission just paid off!

Paid off twice, thanks to chocolate sculptures.

Half of my admission's worth found here.

The rest were the free samples in the gift shop which I walked past six times.

It was a gorgeous day in Brugge, the school kids were eating their lunches in the plaza.

So we posed in front of them.

Pretty Brugge church

Sorry I don't have more details, I wasn't allowed to be a nerd this trip.

Our late night snack place during the day time

Since it was a gorgeous day and we are big park people, we found a nice one to soak up lay in and some rays. I could really use some sun these days, Texas would be ashamed at my pastiness. 

Mary and MJ gave up rolling down the hill 

because the grass wasn't as dry as it looked.

Steph looking for a dry spot to sit.

Oh! And that statue is King Albert 1 of Belgium.

Albert Leopold Clement Marie Meinrad  

In case you're interested, that's what he looked like. 

Ruled Belgium from 1909-1934.

Steph gave up looking for dry grass even though I swore

I found some, so she chilled on the bench for a while.

Until she saw how happy we were!

That was quick.

How you know Steph is happy....

Okay sorry Steph I'll stop picking on you now.

The King of Relaxation

Sometimes it's fun being 10 again.

I'm not going to say the name of "flower necklace" 

on this blog for fear of being urbandictionary'd.

:)

When in nature, I think of headstands.

Time to head back to the train station. Here's a pretty Belgian sight.

How nice would it be to have a canal in your back yard?

Ok I'll stop talking about how much I like canals!

Where's the hotel again? All the streets look similar.

Found it

Brugge train station decor

Finding our platform

Antwerpen Centraal, that's us!

But, Mary wants to go to platform 9 3/4.

I'm curious, how are you pronouncing Brugge in your head? English speakers say "broo-shhh", Dutch speakers say "broo-Guh" (hawk that loogie on the G), and our special group says "bruh-gie" as in Dougie.

So, naturally, we had a theme song and dance.

We spent Friday in Amsterdam. Here's some sights.

Iamsterdam monument.

No other letter will suffice! 

Oh no they didn't.

"Coach, put me in!"

I need Grady's pictures for the rest of this, but we did play 4 on 4 with some Dutch kids. 

Grady and I  played in boots, which limited how quickly we could change directions without 

totally eating it, but we managed.

MJ the cycling pro. I rode on the back for a while, until it became life-threatening.

While everyone else went to London for a couple days, Tom & got to hang out in Delft some more. We went to water polo Friday night, which was a lot of fun. Water polo is water polo, no matter what language you speak. We stayed at the pool bar til 2am, as usual!

Back in Delft, Tom became good friends with Florence the Fiets (bike is fiets in Dutch)

If you look at that reflection you can kind of see

 that's me on the back while Tom cycles, yeah buddy!

Here's a lovely place where we had lunch on Saturday.

Yes, there's a canal out that window by the street.

Standing on a bridge over the canal, 

on our way home from the Saturday Market in Delft.

Saturday night we celebrated St. Patty's Day in Rotterdam with some of my girlfriends here.

Who's the honorary exchange girl?! Poor guy put up with a lot of talk about haircuts and hair dying.

Left to right: Tom, me, Johanna, Rhianna, Lisa

M'girls!

Finland <3 Texas

According to Paddy Murphy's

A little bit of jigging

As you can tell, I had one awesome week. I'm very grateful for my friends from home and my friends here. It's been fun to share my life here with these guys. Now that it's almost 10pm, time to go to water polo practice! 

Remember, stay posted for a guest blog. Tot ziens!