Coming Back to the Land of Milk and Licorice

Two things the Dutch love: Milk, and licorice. Milk comes in all shapes and sizes, but unlike in the U.S., you won't find 2% or any of that weak stuff. Here, they have "Volle melk," which is basically full-fat milk, "Half-volle melk" which is half-fat milk, "Magere melk" which is fat-free milk, and then they have a very special type of milk called "Karne melk." Now, "carne" in Spanish means meat, but no, this milk is not mixed with meat. Alas. No, karne melk is basically buttermilk. Buttermilk. That stuff that you're supposed to feel ridiculously guilty about putting in your breads and biscuits. And the Dutch drink this stuff, every day. With breakfast, lunch and dinner. I mean, you can't beat that.That's like the perfect stereotypical Dutch lass, with the wooden shoes and the blond pigtails, with round cheeks, who just goes, "Oh, ja! I drink the fat right off the top a' the milk! It gives my haar an healthy glow!"

Now, the Dutch also love licorice. But I believe I have discussed this previously, and will therefore refrain from mentioning it here except to say, I have had salty licorice, and folks, it may be kind of okay in a decent sort of way, but when you're eating salty licorice, and the only thing you can think to yourself is: "Damn, I wish I had a box of jujubees right now," the candy is not right.

On another note, I'm back in Holland! I'm not entirely thrilled about it, but I'm making it work. Going home for Christmas was both wonderful and tragic, because constantly lurking right behind every happy moment was the thought that it was all going to end, and I would have to once again make a voyage across an ocean, separating myself by more than 3,000 miles from family and friends. Not all of being back is bad, by any measure! But I find myself thinking, fairly often, "This is really great/fun, but what I wouldn't give just to be at home, watching a movie with my family, talking about how we're going to build a stupid wall between the dining room and the living room."

Homesickness aside, my main New Year's resolution was to travel more, and keep myself occupied, in order to take my mind off of missing my family. So! With that in mind, my best friend Rachel and I are planning a trip at the end of March, when she is coming to visit me, and the trip will include doing a wee bit of Dutch touring (I plan on showing her my favorite things, like riding a bike, and eating french fries with peanut sauce, and going to the pancake house next to the river), and then going to London for a few days, where we will part ways. Doesn't that sound like fun!? I'm super excited for that.

And. Wait for it. After a whole week of awesome with Rachel, do you know what I will be doing? Do you? Because it is going to be AMAZING. I, my dear friends and family, will be going to Cardiff, Wales, for the first ever Doctor Who convention. AND I will be getting photographed with Arthur Darvill, who plays Rory in the show. Ahem. THAT IS SO COOL.

If you are unfamiliar with The Doctor, I have included this excellent link, to show you just what you are missing.

So, basically, right now, Rachel and The Doctor keep me going strong. That, and the fact that I was asked by the Fulbright Center in Amsterdam to give the keynote speech at a conference they are having for a big group of high school counselors and teachers who are interested in working with the Fulbright Center. Hopefully there will be pictures and possibly even a movie of the event, and I can share it! I am very excited. I've written a rough draft of my speech, we'll see how it turns out in the end. I bought a nice outfit. You know, the essentials.

Last weekend, as aforementioned, my friend Clement and I spent a really great Saturday touring around Amsterdam, where I bought a nice dress for the Doctor Who convention (very important) and we watched a cool silent film (The Artist), and had a really good Chinese dinner.

Here are some photos of the adventure, such as it was!

That little kid in the background looked JUST LIKE A HOBBIT-CHILD. But I couldn't sneakily take a picture of his face, unfortunately, so we're going to have to settle for the back of his head.

This is a hilarious thing where you drink and bicycle to make this giant contraption move. These lovely fellows were celebrating a stag party - the man himself was dressed as Peach, which unfortunately, you can't really see in this picture. Everyone else was dressed as Mario and Luigi. Really, their costumes are quite good, too...

Clement, right before we saw The Artist. The movie theater had a bar. We both decided that was very cool.

The past few weeks that I have been back have mostly been about getting settled again, getting back into the groove of working in the lab. I still spend most of my days in an endless cycle of calling people, hoping to schedule an appointment, and when they say no, finding new people to call. Hopefully some good comes of all this!!

In many ways, being back is great. I do love being able to hop on my bike and just go get a bunch of apples, or something. I like how busy the city is sometimes, how there's always a good amount to do and see. I like the shopping, and the trains. I just wish I had all these things in a place where everyone wasn't a stranger. And where I felt like I was doing really good work. I think I would be much happier if I was doing something more hands on - volunteering, for instance, or being in charge of organizing something, like an assistant teacher, working with kids most of the day. But I spend most of my time doing something that, while useful, doesn't have a lot of day-to-day gratification, or really feel like I'm doing much for anyone else besides myself. This is a good lesson, though. It lets me know that research isn't the path I should dedicate my life too. And that's something very useful to know! I've now worked in two labs, one in neuroscience, and one in psychology, and I can honestly say that the type of work involved is not what I see myself doing. But! I had to try it, and get through it, and make it work to learn that. I am 22 (soon to be 23), debt-free, and learning a little bit more about myself every day. I would say I'm doing alright.

To all my family and friends who read this - I miss you, a lot. My heart aches, wanting to just be home with all of you. But! I am working on becoming the kind of person who can do something great and good in the world, and no one said that would be easy. So, I will leave you, and hope to be able to post more frequently, about great, awesome adventures, in the future.