Becca Abroad: 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.