Photo Shoot Photos

Delightful. These pictures are really excellent (well, most of them, but it was a rainy day, so I'll take what I can get!). I also just realized - some of these pictures literally show me, on a bench, in Holland! Appropriate for my blog x 50. :D

Disneyland, What Happened in Belgium, and Being Assisted by Drunk Dutchmen

So!

Thursday evening-ish, after Remco picked me up in Amsterdam, we had another whirlwind adventure driving through the streets of Amsterdam to get out onto the highway - I swear, every time Siri or Remco picks me up or something, we get led by the GPS through the sketchiest, scariest parts of either Utrecht or Amsterdam (also known as A'dam, in case you were wondering). We always make it out alive, though...

Thursday night, Siri, Remco and I went to the grocery store and bought everything I needed to make chicken paprikash, which I made, and which was summarily consumed with gusto. I love chicken parikash. My number one comfort food. I was up really late on Thursday, just talking to Jonathan, and getting settled in my pretty princess bed (yes, the guest bedroom is set up for Siri's little sister, and therefore features a large number of princess things, including Ariel stickers. Which I loved. So, I got to bed on Thursday around 12:30. We all woke up at about 4:15 on Friday (yes, I know, BRIGHT and early), and headed out around 5 to pick up Siri's mom and little sister. Once we were all in the car (along with necessary snacks and drinks) we started making our way through Holland, and Belgium, and France, until finally, around 10, we arrived with great aplomb at Disneyland. Hooray! A lot of the following photos, it must be mentioned, are here thanks to Remco, who is an excellent photographer (as it turns out). It was amazing to be in Disneyland this weekend, by the way. It was sunny, and 28-30 (degrees Celsius, that is, so like, in the 80's).

Disneyland Castle!

Welcome to Disneyland!

Noah and I celebrating being in Disneyland. We were about equally as excited.

Because we were with Noah, we did a lot of things I haven't actually done before (having only been to DisneyWorld once), like go on all the storybook rides. I got to see (in real, lifelike detail) Snow White, a Haunted House, the It's a Small World Ride (wow, was that terrifying), Sleeping Beauty, and I think Ariel? I can't remember which ones we did! You know, those rides are kind of short, but they're actually really fun, because everything is life-sized, and if you, like me, enjoy the Disney classics, seeing the characters all around you is actually really fun. Like you're in the movie. Heh. I kept thinking to myself, "Ahh, it feels like I'm back working in the Disney Store." Which is an excellent feeling to have, because I loved working in the Disney Store. It was like being Santa Clause. Every Christmas, little children would come in with these amazed expressions at all the life-sized, porcelain characters on the rim around the ceiling, and would gaze in wonder at all the toys, and the huge movie we always had playing in the background, and at the giant mountain of stuffed animals at the back of the store. And if we didn't have something out that a kid wanted, we would just pop on back to the giant warehouse in the back of the store to scramble up a ladder to go get it. It was basically the best job ever. And people brought in home-baked goods all the time to share with the other employees. What could be more awesome than that?

Anyway, that's how Disneyland felt. Like you're surrounded by happiness and joy. And while that may seem nauseating to some (and yeah, okay, happiness and joy, like on the "It's a Small World" ride can be caustic and suffocating, but the overall Disneyland happiness and joy was so much better than that), I loved it.

One of the rides we went on was this little boat tour of miniatures from classic Disney movies. They were so cool. I loved them. They were intricately detailed little towns - from Fantasia, and Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast.

Me on aforementioned ride.

From Fantasia.

The Beauty and The Beast miniature. Belle is on the fountain. Singing. Because that's what you do when your dad is a wee bit mad and your best friends are sheep.

Belle with sheepsies.

And then Remco and I sort of broke off from the group and went to Tomorrowland and rode the Space Mountain ride. Which was awesome. And terrifying, as you're going, like, 60 mph in the dark.

Tomorrowland! And, as I explained to Remco, oddly full of Steampunk imagery.

The rocket-launcher part of Space Mountain.

Space Mountain! And Random Dude.

Going on Space Mountain was awesome. It's weird, because on all the rides, you could bring your bags on the coaster with you. Even the upside down ones. So different from Cedar Point, eh, where we have to pay $2 to shove our bags into a locker for the Millennium Force or the Top Thrill Dragster!!

Friday afternoon, we left the park around 6, went to the condo where we were staying (about 15 minutes away from the park), went grocery shopping really quick, ate dinner, and kind of chilled for a bit until about 10, when we went back to the park and watched the nighttime parade (I cried), and the fireworks (I cried again). It was just so...joyful. All the little kids were laughing and singing and dancing with the princesses and characters and stuff, and they were playing music from Tangled, and it was so great, like being five again. I really missed my family, and boyfriend, and friends in that moment though! Things that like are meant to be shared with those you love!

Saturday morning we kind of slept in (we were so beat from the whole Friday morning leaving at 5 AM thing), and went to the park kind of late. We stayed for a good long while, and went on the Tower of Terror, the Aerosmith rollercoaster, and the Finding Nemo roller coaster (which was freaking awesome. The coaster is a four-seater round shell-shaped thing, and while you're going upside down and stuff, it SPINS. How COOL is that??). Around 8 or so, we decided we were all pretty beat, so we started to head back towards the entrance, stopping first to see the dragon that lives underneath the castle:

Poor Noah. She insisted on going to see this dragon both Friday and Saturday, but both times, as soon as she got inside, near the dragon, she refused to go any closer. It was really sweet actually. Like, on the first day, she even took my hand before we went in and was like, "Don't worry, okay?" And then as soon as we got inside, she was like, backing up, terrified to get too close. The dragon is actually really neat - this castle is Sleeping Beauty's castle (Cinderella's is at Disneyworld) and so this dragon is the Sleeping Beauty dragon - and it moves, and makes scary noises, and growls, and it even looks like it's freaking breathing. I mean, if I was a little kid, I would be scared too. As it so happened, I was just fascinated and in awe. I mean, it's right under the castle. It's like being IN a story. Awesome.

After seeing the dragon for the second day in a row (it's a tradition) we went shopping a bit.

Krista, if I could have bought you this teapot, I totally would have.

Siri and I both chose really cool, fashionable hats.

Siri's was even cooler.

Then, as we were shopping, total chaos broke out because it started pouring outside while everybody was watching the parade. Parents and children just started running, pell-mell, into the stores, hauling crying children, and giant strollers, and frazzled teenagers, out of the rain. One French mom just completely lost it in front of me, screaming at her teenage son in rapid French. We ended up just sitting down in a hallway for a while to wait out the madness. Eventually, we made it out of the shops and into the car, a little bit damp, but not too worse for wear. And without the screaming that accompanied almost everyone else's departures to their cars...We left the park around 8 or 9. We started driving, and just snacked, most of us falling asleep around midnight. It just kept raining. We had to drive slow, because it was such a downpour. It was scary, but I think I was just so tired, I just didn't care at that point... I woke up to get some McDonald's around 2, I think. The whole drive is a bit fuzzy for me because I was so out of it, and I kept falling asleep and waking back up again, so the times when I was awake I remember in that odd, dream-like sense...

Anyway, after our 2 AM dinner (somewhere just outside of Antwerp, Belgium), we hit the road again, only to come to a complete halt on the highway around 2:30 or so. We waited for a while, the car idling, until we realized there just wasn't going to be any movement any time soon. So we turned the car off, and waited, wondering why there were so many cars stopped. We could see ambulances and police flying back and forth on the other side of the highway, so we assumed it was some kind of accident, but it literally just shut down the entire highway. By this time, the rain had stopped, so we opened the windows, and Rem took some pictures, and a strange old dude in the car next to us came up and kept making strange conversation with Siri (who was very displeased).

The giant line of cars. And those were the people BEHIND us.

Siri read about the accident the next day, and apparently, the line of cars ended up being something like 7 km long. Luckily, we were near the front (or not so luckily, seeing as that means it could have been us...) and got to go fairly quickly after the got the cars off the road. The rain had caused four cars to massively smash into one another, so badly for one of the cars that they had to use the jaws of life to rip the entire top of the car off to get to the people. Hence why it took so long. No one died, though, and everyone is in the hospital doing okay. When we drove past it though...I'll be honest, it was the worst accident I've ever seen. What a bizarre way to end a weekend of sunshine and fun. Anyway, because of the accident, we didn't make it back into Holland until, like, 5 AM. It was VERY late. And when we got back, it was all I could do to just drop into the bed and position the pillow under my head. I slept till approximately 12:30 the next day, which was glorious. And then Remco drove me home, and I spent a nice, calm Sunday afternoon around the house. On Sundays in Holland, pretty much everything is closed (it's actually the law...). So, no grocery shopping, or shoe shopping, or buying new bike locks... All of which I did this afternoon. I now have paper towels, more juice, salad, beer, a U-lock for the back of my bike, a little green bell (it's so adorable), and a new pair of totally rad brown leather boots (Well, faux leather. I don't have LOADS of money). I also spent this afternoon doing a photo shoot around Utrecht which was VERY fun, with a lovely young woman named Amelie, who is, yes, from France. It rained. We drank lots of cappuccino. We took some pictures. I looked windswept but nicely European and world-traveler-esque. Hooray! I will post them later when I get them from her. She was quite lovely. She's a professional rock-climber and photographer. How cool is that??

I miss Ohio. I'm looking forward to fall here, but they don't really celebrate Halloween like we do, or anything, and I LOVE Halloween. Maybe I can find some American people who will have a costume party with me...Otherwise, I may just dress up and give candy to kids (I live in a place where they will probably do that), and make tons of cute decorations and food and stuff. Just for me. Little Homemaker Lupas.

Also today: while trying to install aforementioned U-lock, I was totally lost. The damn thing didn't come with directions, but it did come with a whole bunch of random nuts, bolts, screws, metal plates, and rubber strips, all of which I had no idea how to use. So, here I am, struggling, and this random Dutch dude just like, comes over to the fence and is like, "Can I help you? Eh?" And I was like, whatever, sure. So he came in, and he smells strongly of alcohol, which, whatever, the dude was having a beer after work (we hope, right? Right?). And he tries to figure out how it all goes together. And he can't. So then we're on to using rubber bands to attach it. Then he uses a bungee cord I had strapped to the bike to hold stuff (just in case for big things), and now it's on there like a champ. So, actually, he ended up being really nice, despite being slightly intoxicated. He kept asking me out for drinks. And I kept insisting I have a boyfriend, and it would be odd for me to go out alone with a guy. And he kept saying, "No, no, we just drink. We won't like, do anything! Right??" Maybe with a good friend, buddy. Not with a slightly tipsy Dutchman who just wandered into my yard to help me with my bike lock. God bless him, though, because my lock is on and working, and he is wholly responsible for that.

Anyway, here's to an excellent rest of my week! Welterusten (goodnight)!

To Amsterdam, Disneyland, A Highway in Belgium and Back Again

Every time I start one of these posts, I always feel a bit overwhelmed by the amount of information I want to share with you! So I'll take this slowly, one piece of my weekend at a time.


First off, I have been spending my time familiarizing myself with Utrecht and trying not to feel like a big, bumbling, non-Dutch-speaking fool. Fortunately, I think I've been doing okay. But let's talk about something really simple that is a good illustration of what it's like to be in a foreign country: grocery shopping.  Every time I go grocery shopping, I'm extremely anxious, because I'm terrified people will ask things of me and I just won't understand because they're speaking so quickly, but I've basically learned, whenever the cashier ever asks me anything, I should just say "Ja," or "En engels, alsjeblieft?" which means, "In English, please?"  Cashiers (and lines, and grocery stores) tend to be very busy when I have time to go (because that is when everyone else is going too, naturally) and so everything is usually just one giant nervous blur where I try to peruse and get things I find interesting, most of which I don't actually recognize, and then go to check out, use cash (we haven't gotten to the part where I'm brave enough to use my Dutch debit card yet) and just say "yes" when asked for...whatever it is they ask for. Usually it's if you want a receipt. Or a bag. Which, whatever. Yes, I would like both of those things. The other day some poor girl kept asking me if I had an Albert Hein (that's the name of one of the big grocery stores over here - they call it "Ah-pee" - nobody knows why...) advantage card that she could borrow, which I do, but poor thing, she finally just switched to English of her own accord. And I gave her my card. And felt embarrassed. It's a good thing I think well of myself, because otherwise this whole trip would be one long embarrassment. As it so happens, it has been very humbling but gratifying as well, when I can spit out one or two correct words, and feel very accomplished for doing so. When people talk to me in private (i.e. not in a bustling grocery store) they take a lot of time to enunciate, and then I can usually understand them. And attempt to speak back to them in Dutch. Most people here DO speak English, which is wonderful, and so switching back and forth between my broken Dutch and their English accomplishes almost everything I need to do. Like find out how to buy a train ticket to Amsterdam in a panic. Which also happened this weekend. But back to grocery shopping for a moment.

 Because I don't have a car, I have to bike everywhere, which for the most part is great - I absolutely love biking, as anyone will tell you - but it makes it a bit difficult to go grocery shopping, because everything has to then get placed in or around my bike. I have nice new bags on the back (thanks to Siri) that hold my groceries, but getting off the bike, taking out my keys, unlocking my bike lock, taking off my bike bags, relocking my bike lock, hefting my bike bags into the store, buying things, packing my bike bags, putting my bags back on the bike, unlocking it, and finally leaving - it's all rather a hassle, really. People in Holland have two kinds of locks for their bikes (who would ever have known that bikes are so complex?). One kind of lock is circular and wraps around the back wheel and in between the spokes, basically acting as a "bike boot" like what they put on your car when you've done something terribly naughty, like park somewhere for one minute longer than the time you paid for to park there... In any case, these are more convenient for just leaving the bike for a wee bit to do some shopping, whereas the more extreme lock is a thick (and we're talking THICK) chain in a nylon sleeve that you can hook up to something more solid - like a bike rack. I need to get a circular lock. They're much quicker than the chain - although the chain is a better guarantee that your bike will still be there when you get back. Anyway. I digress. Bikes. They're huge here.

Last week, after my nasty encounter with Nasty-Woman-Who-Shall-Remain-Unnamed, I went out and got what is called a "kip-stick," which I have mentioned previously - it is literally the best food imaginable. "Kip-stick" literally just means "Chicken-stick" but it's a special Dutch thing (I think, anyway) that is like - I've described it as a fried egg roll-looking thick soup. Like, they took chicken soup, and made it really thick and then breaded and fried it. At the Central Station in Utrecht they have these machines where you just pop in a euro and get a freshly made kip-stick. It's making my mouth water just to think about it.

The boxes where you can get a hot kip stick.

This is my delicious kip stick.

I've looked it up, and apparently these things are called kroketten (Dutch croquettes). The article I read says that the filling is a mixture of flour, butter and milk into a paste, and then the addition of food-processed (i.e. like hamburger meat) meat with onion and spices. Mix them together, coat, and fry. Delicious.

The kroketten flour mixture.

The kroketten meat and onion and spices mixture.

Mixed together.

 

 

Delicious kipsticks/kroketten!

So! This weekend. On Thursday morning, bright and early (I think around 6:30) I got up and got ready to go to Amsterdam for my first official Fulbright meeting. I looked totally awesome and completely Dutch in my skinny black pants, t-shirt, black vest, tan jacket, scarf, and cute little black boots.

I got out the door just a little bit late and missed the bus - it was literally pulling away as I ran up to it - and had to take a later one that got me to the Central Station just a tad too late to catch the early train to Amsterdam, which I was upset about. So, there I was, rushing and freaking out about how to get a ticket to Amsterdam, and then I asked, and was told I didn't NEED a ticket, I just had to scan my "OV-Chipkaart" onto the scanners at the station I get on, and the station I get off at. The "OV-Chipkaart" by the way, is like a credit-card bus pass that you can put money on to use for bus fare, train fare, etc. They're awesome. I think I've mentioned this before. So anyway, rushing around Utrecht central station. Well, then it turns out you can't buy a train pass with less than 20 euro on your OV-Chipkaart, and to put more money on it, you have to wait in this huge long line. So I did that, for about fifteen minutes. Missed another train. Slightly hyperventilating at this point, with my giant backpack on, I finally managed to get on a train headed to Amsterdam. The good news is, the trains here are wickedly fast (They're called, "Sprinters") and so I got to Amsterdam from Utrecht (about a 45 minute drive? Without traffic?) in about 20 minutes. I got off in Amsterdam at about 9 AM, and had to hoof it to find the right bus and busstop that would take me to the bank where I was supposed to set up an account at 10. Miraculously, I found the right bus, got off at the right stop (for which I allowed myself a happy dance), and found the bank, so that I ended up getting to the bank about 30 minutes early. Which is much better than being late. I felt terrible though, because upon entering the bank, the nice lady offered me some coffee, which I promptly (in my shaky anxious-state) knocked over their entire desk area. Oof. She was really nice and insisted upon cleaning it up for me AND she made me a new espresso. So nice. Setting up my bank account went absolutely swimmingly. The man was really nice and kept jokingly asking me if I thought he had ADHD. He didn't, but it was still cute of him to joke with me in my poor, broken Dutch/English. Dinglish.

Here are some things I saw on my walk after the bank appointment, including (lol), the exact canal view featured in my blog's header. Which I then had to take a picture in front of.

Amsterdam! Land of Canals and such.

That's right. Lots of Cheese. "Kaasland" literally means, "Cheese Country."

In front of aforementioned canal.

The canal!

A very sweet river boat covered in plants.

After wandering around for a bit, I did end up finding the Fulbright center - about an hour early - so for a while I just sat across from that river boat up there and read my book on my Kindle. I love my Kindle. I'm so, so, so, so glad I bought it. It's made being here a lot easier, I just know. Because I can read books and just do what I do when I'm stressed out for anything - disappear for a little while into someone else's story. Since I got here, I've read like, four books! And I've only been here for a week and a half! It was weird, this day, waiting to go into the Fulbright center, because my book was about this nasty dystopic future in which love is a disease, and the "cure" is a neural procedure everyone undergoes at 18. And in the book, the people who don't agree with this system, who don't think love is the bane of society, get thrown into this horrible jail called "The Crypt," and as the book was describing this looming building, I, who was surrounded by looming buildings, was getting increasingly freaked out, and then it got really cold, and cloudy, and I decided I couldn't finish that part of the book until I was somewhere else! That somewhere else ended up being Disneyland, so, I mean, what's a better way to fight off a scary/sad part of a book than to be full of the joy and wonder of Disneyland? But more on that later (as in, another blog post, because baby, I am le pooped).

The Fulbright meeting itself was wonderful. All of the Fulbrighters are like...like my best friends at the HTC. Not the annoying HTC people. The really nice ones, who are actually socially adept (look, if you're reading this, then you're one of these people, okay?) and who care about others, and who love what they do, and are excited to learn about new things. It was great. The people who run the Fulbright center in Amsterdam - Linda and Marcel, are also wonderful. Linda is English, and Marcel is Dutch, but they were both so kind and understanding and funny. They seemed really laid back - in a good, organized, "this is a once-in-a-lifetime-cultural-experience-not-a-race-to-get-an-article-published," kind of way. They talked to us for several hours about what to expect in Holland, health insurance, what they expect of us, etc. It was also really excellent to get to talk to the other Fulbright people for a good long while (we had lots of drinks and snacks after the "official" meeting). After the meeting, Remco (Siri's boyfriend) picked me up, and well, the rest is for another night. I have a photo shoot tomorrow (I know, I am so faaaabbbulous) for promotional photos for the fundraising campaign for OU (for the HTC's fundraising part, specifically), so, erm, wish me luck with looking extremely excellent and, err, like you would want to pay a lot of money to become someone like me, I guess, since my photos are going in a brochure meant to generate support for the HTC!

A photo shoot. What have I become? I was even told by the lady who is doing the photos to bring several outfits to the shoot. We're meeting in downtown Utrecht to take pictures by the canal and such. At least it will yield some nice pictures, eh! Till tomorrow, and the re-telling of my Disneyland adventure in all its glorious detail.

Losing a Little Faith in Humanity...and Gaining it Back Again

Well, today was a bit...all over the place.

I got royally chewed out by a lady in the International Department, here at the University, because apparently, I was supposed to have gone to Washington DC (like that's something everyone does in America, on a regular basis) to get a special stamp in my passport. The stamp was supposed to allow me to work right away - without it, I have to do a whole new set of paperwork, and I'm not allowed to work in the lab. Email me if you want more details on the complexity of the situation. I think she was really confused (but would NEVER have admitted this, of course) about the kinds of distances involved in the US to get from one city to another, and was very upset that I didn't seem to grasp the gravity of not having this stamp. When I tried to plead that no one had ever told me to get this stamp, she almost leaped across the desk in anger and incredulous righteousness, insisting that she HAD told me, and that I was irresponsible and unprepared, and that I was lying to cover my ass. Well, yes. As you can see, she was incredibly pleasant. No, I never got an email saying I should go all the way to DC for this stamp. Yes, I did check all the emails I've received from this woman. And folks, this is the lady who is in charge of all the international student's paperwork at the university. This woman's job is to help people who are new here!!

But, there are a lot of angry people in the world. I went back the next day (I'm finishing this blog later because I didn't have time to finish it that day) and had a little more time to look around her office - the woman had no decorations, no plants. Just a stark office, with one sad painting that kind of looked like a blurry self-portrait. She had no pictures - and she even had a picture stand that instead of holding photos, had rubber bands in it. Now, just because she's probably lonely, and self conscious, and bitter doesn't excuse her abhorrent behavior towards me. But it does help me to understand why she did what she did, and not take it personally. The long and short of it is that I now have to wait to go into the lab (so you won't hear anything on here about my work for a while, sorry!!) and I had to file new paperwork. The new paperwork allows me to live in the Netherlands longer than three months, without the little sticker. Why we didn't just do this from the beginning escapes me.

Now! I have had many excellent experiences in the previous days, and my faith in humanity has, for the most part, been restored. A nice Dutch lady gave me directions to the university on my first day there (I really should have just used my eyes and followed the giant, heaving line of people with backpacks on bikes through the city). As it so happens, my ride to school is really neat. I ride right through the city center, so yes, it is pretty hectic (one of these mornings I'm going to take a video of my bike ride so you can see just how hectic), but it's sooo beautiful. Even when it's cloudy, it's beautiful. I ride over hundred year old canals, and past a giant, beautiful cathedral. I bike past flower stalls, and markets, bakeries and old men arguing about the weather. In the morning, bakeries waft delicious smells over me on my way to campus, and the tantalizing thought of delicious bread with butter is what prompts me to, as Eliza Doolittle would say, "move my bloomin' arse." ;)


I have a ton of pictures, but I'm always finding myself with too little time to put them up, so unfortunately, you'll all have to wait to see images from my adventures on here. I will definitely have them up by Sunday.

I am going to Amsterdam tomorrow, to set up my Dutch bank account and to go to my first Fulbright meeting - and then, after all that excitement, I am going to Paris with Siri and her family to go to Disneyland, which, really, would have been exciting anyway, even if I was just a normal European, but as I am a foreigner, and I haven't been to Disney World in years, and I am still so totally psyched that going to FRANCE is a weekend trip possibility, it's like, at least twice as awesome. At least. You know what I can reach for a weekend trip? Cornfields. Or small hills. Or the back roads of Pennsylvania. Or the lake. That once caught on fire and smells of nasty fishes. I mean, actually, don't get me wrong, I actually love Ohio with all my heart, and miss it very much, even the stinky fish lake. But it's just a totally unique (I know, I know, something is either unique, or not unique, it can't be totally unique. Except this is.) thing to be able to go to completely different country for a weekend.

In any case, hopefully I will be writing about how amazing going to France was, and how psyched I am about traveling all over Europe, and how many pancakes I ate, etc. Till next we meet, and with much love!!

De Tweede Dag (The Second Day)

Well, hello there, my dearest blogspot fellows.

Today was a grand day of adventuring. I woke up and got ready to go downtown - today was going to be devoted to learning how to use the buses and getting a bike. As it so happens, I now have not one, but two bikes, which is just fine by me, as I wanted a second one for when friends come to visit anyway. One bike was free:

This bike came to me from a previous Fulbrighter. Which was very nice of him.

The second bike I bought from a very friendly Dutch fellow (who, I am very proud to say, I spoke with almost entirely in Dutch, during which I managed to tell him about how I am doing research on children with ADHD), for 55 euro. Which was an excellent deal. Also something Siri helped me with. The amazing-ness of that woman never ends.

While waiting for aforementioned man to get home, I stumbled upon this incredible graveyard/park:

Yes, her name was Wilhelmina Hamburger. Delicious, delicious family.

I just thought that little sun was so pretty.

Today also included a delightful adventure using the buses (if you are the only person at the bus stop, apparently you have to flag the bus driver down or they will just keep going...), getting a bus card (which I feel so super sophisticated using, because you just like, tap it on the little pad thing when you get on and off the bus, and it's like, "Hallo Mevrouw Lupas!" "Tot ziens Mevrouw Lupas!"

I wandered around the center of Utrecht for a while today, looking for the first bike. It was...interesting. Oh, and it was raining all day long. I was thrilled, THRILLED that I had the foresight to buy a rain suit. My pants and my top all stayed nice and dry. It was like a small miracle. And it was WONDERFUL. Hopefully there will be some actual sun this week.Because otherwise, I'm just going to look like this all the time:

Hot. Literally. It's like being a human sausage. Dry but stuffy.

I'm thoroughly enjoying my stay thus far, and look forward to many more excellent adventures in the weeks to come. :)

A Brief Introduction to the Many Adventures of The Past Three Days, or, Traveling is Stressful

Hello!

I am in Utrecht, safe and sound, well-rested, and expecting the last of my bags to arrive any moment. But more on that later.

Getting the airport was a hoot - except for the part where I was crying, and my mom was crying, and my dad was crying, as we parted ways. But my family and I arrived to the airport almost four hours early. Needless to say, I was good and ready when I got up to the counter. Both my bags made it (weight-wise) which I had been worried about, so that was a huge plus. And let me tell you something. I shoved those bags full, in order to have my carry on (my backpacking pack) have only 13 pounds in it - the IcelandAir requirement for a carry-on. And did IcelandAir ever check that carry-on? That's right. Never. Not once. Ever. In fact, I never even had a chance for IcelandAir to check my bags because the minute I set foot in DC (where I was connecting to my first IcelandAir flight) I went to the IcelandAir counter, the nice man asked if I was the young lass from Cleveland, I said yes, and he made sure my checked bags were good to get on the IcelandAir plane. Did he want to check my carry-on? Of course not. Did other people have carry-ons that looked like they contained a small part of Fort Knox? Of course they did. In other words, a lot of anxiety and re-packing for naught. Oh, well.  Complaining about things that work out to your advantage is unbecoming.

In the DC airport, after obtaining my IcelandAir tickets, I ate this thing.

 
That, my friends, is a giant plate of waffle fries covered in chili and cheese. It was, as they say, AMAZING. 

Extremely healthy and well-balanced dinner consumed, I waited for the Iceland plane. By some sad circumstance, I got the middle seat of a three seat row. I thought I booked a window seat, but who knows. Sitting in the middle seat on an overnight, transatlantic flight is, as many of you are probably aware, EXTREMELY comfortable. As in one of the worst experiences you will ever have, ever. It is uncomfortable, you're exhausted, and if you are like me, you are probably drugged (dramamine, people), making the whole experience that much more surreal and painful. And I sat next to this guy, who, first of all, was taking a weekend trip with two of his lady friends to Iceland. That's upwards of $5,000 for a weekend trip. And he didn't seem to have a sense of humor. He would even say things that were funny, but he never really smiled or laughed at his own jokes. He talked to me a little bit about my trip, etc., but then, when I tried to get some sleep, every time I would kind of flutter my eyes open, he would be right there, and he would be like, "Are you okay? You seem to be really restless." When he said that, I just wanted to die. Like, dear God, it's not bad enough I am stuck in this small, crunched, uncomfortable position, but now I have to be questioned about why I don't like it by some fool from DC who's taking a weekend trip to Iceland? He continued his strange questioning, in response to my semi-hostile and exhausted glare by saying, "I mean, you really shouldn't be that nervous about moving, you know? Just chill out, meditate maybe?" At which point I just closed my eyes and resumed my fight with my small 2 foot wide space to sleep in.

Landing in Reykjavik was wonderful, though. We landed just as sunrise was occurring, and Iceland is beautiful, even if it is completely barren for the most part. There was so much open space - and off in the distance, across this giant lake, were mountains. There were steam vents everywhere, piping smoke into the chilly morning. It was like going to the moon.

I briefly considered buying food at the airport before I realized I was just too tired and pooped to ask people how many Kroner or whatever were worth one euro. Customs, by the way, was completely fine - a very short line, but they make you go through a metal detector to get into the country. Does that seem a little odd to you? I mean, we were a flight from the US, so we all had to go through US security to even get into the airport we came from...I don't know. Perhaps it's for flights from other countries. All the IcelandAir flights had these little advertisements on the TVs that said things like, "The most amazing thing about Iceland isn't the beautiful abundance of waterfalls, or the fact that 99% of our energy comes from renewable resources...It's that the Prime Minister's phone number is listed in the phone book." They were funny, I liked them. But they reflected how small the country is - so maybe that's why they have super-bizarre security.

The flight from Reykjavik to Amsterdam went off without a hitch, too. I sort of half-slept my way through that flight as well. Though I think I did wake up long enough to ask for a bag of gummy bears...

In Amsterdam, there were nice big signs that directed me to the baggage line, and the whole time I was walking I was praying, "Dear God, let them have my bags, just let them have my bags." As it turned out (The baggage claim area was a hectic hot mess) they only had one of my bags. Which was okay, though I was so exhausted when I went over to the lady to make a lost baggage claim, I was sobbing with frustration. That lost bag is on its way to me as we speak (I just got the call that IcelandAir had found it about two hours ago), and so I feel much better about the whole thing.

After the baggage fiasco, my wonderful, WONDERFUL friend Siri came and picked me up at the airport. Now, a few words about this little lady. Not only did she pick me up at the airport, but she and my other friend from the lab, Juliette, took me out to dinner, coffee, and dessert, and Siri took me to both Ikea, and the grocery, just to help me get set up in Utrecht. They made getting here easy, and stress-less, and I just can't thank them enough.

On a side-note, on our way home, Siri and I did get amazingly lost in these sketchy, terrifying back alleys, where cars had just parked every which way, and we had no idea where we were, and we almost got hit several times as people came hurtling down one way roads right towards our car, but all in all, getting to Utrecht was great! Ha.

After we got back to my new house, I unpacked the one bag that did make it here on time, and below is a video tour of my new house, and my room with bags unpacked. Enjoy!

The Night Before Holland...

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse... the children were nestled, all snug in their beds, while visions of sugerplums danced in their heads!

I wish. Actually, I'm tooling around emailing, IM-ing, and generally trying to keep my mind off of the jillion and a half things that are going to happen tomorrow. Namely, four different flights. Also: rechecking my bags in DC onto IcelandAir, the people who have the sweetest accents in the world. Really. I've called IcelandAir maybe...three times recently? And every time, some sweet-sounding young woman gets on the phone with an accent that sounds British but more crisp and sweet (kind of like Iceland itself) and every time, I just want to pour my soul out to her as she reassures me that everything will be fine, that my reservation is affirmed, that my bags won't cost anything, that I will have enough time to go through customs. Oh, IcelandAir lady. Would that you could just have everything arranged for me the same way you've arranged my flight details. "Yes, ma'am, of course your graduate school application has been accepted. You'll be granted a full teaching assistanceship, effective immediately. We're also giving you a sweet little house nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains! Enjoy!" And then she would ring a bell like the Icelandic fairy princess she actually is, and it would be DONE. Beautiful.

As it so happens, I have to make those things happen for myself, which I suppose is alright by me. For now, having the flight details worked out is good enough.

I got my hair cut today, and the lady who was cutting it (she owns the salon, so it was one of those really relaxed hair cuts where you're just like, "You're going to do an excellent job, and I don't have to worry about it at all. Hooray!") was talking to me about traveling, and she asked how I manage to be so calm about international travel. I told her that it has a lot to do with experience, and having some crappy things happen to you (like the time I got stopped at customs in Houston for my 1 oz. bottle of moonshine) that you learn from (whooo-day, I'mma nevuur bringin' muh moonshine through this here gate no muur, galdawnit, that's fo sho'!). In actuality, though, here is how I manage to be calm about international travel: I wear nice clothes, I'm polite, organized and patient, and I pretend I'm a wood-elf. Yes. That's what I said. A wood-elf. Wood-elves are strong, brave, and graceful, and can effortlessly leap from boulder to boulder across wide rivers. If you think I am kidding, think again. Pretending to be a wood-elf means you are constantly aware of your surroundings, formal, but not easily pushed-over, strong and capable. When I am a wood-elf I am also at the top of my game for all my taekwondo self defense, I move quickly and efficiently through all security and airports, and I am the master of foreign train stations. See? Wood elves are boss.

I will let you all know how traveling goes (in actuality) tomorrow, as I embark on this two-day long voyage abroad. I am young, and full of life , and I am getting paid to move to Europe! Egads.