tulips!

It's springtime in Holland, and the tulips are in bloom! I went with Lauren, her host mom Cecille and sister Marleen to the Keukenhof, a famous Dutch garden park filled with tulips, daffodils, and myriad other flora. We had a lovely day wandering through flower beds filled with tulips of every color and shape. It was almost like the garden in Alice in Wonderland...

(for more pictures, check flickr!)

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Motel Mozaïque

Concerts are awesome. The only thing better than a concert is a bunch of concerts together, when you have so many choices that you have to run from one to another to try and soak up as much live music by your favorite artists as you possibly can - which is why music festivals are so amazing!

My friend and fellow exchanger Caitlin Stacy hails from Ashland, Oregon. The Pacific Northwest is not all we have in common - she has great taste in music, and we had been keeping on the lookout for good concerts all year. When we found out that some our favorite bands - Noah and the Whale, Band of Horses, Mumford and Sons, and Johnny Flynn were all playing at the same festival in Rotterdam... well, it was a match made in rock n' roll heaven and there was no way we were going to miss it.

Conveniently, Caitlin lives in Alphen aan de Rijn, which is just a half-hour train ride from Rotterdam, so I spent the weekend with her and her lovely host parents. It was the first nice weekend of spring and we sat in the garden for over three hours, in awe of the sunshine and the music-filled weekend ahead of us. Friday night bill: Johnny Flynn and Mumford and Sons. Johnny Flynn is a singer, poet and Shakespearean actor from England, and one of my favorite musicians... so the chance to see him only four days after I saw his former tour mate and other favorite musician Laura Marling was just cosmic.

That evening was definitely an adventure for the ages! Rotterdam isn't the easiest city to navigate, and armed with a poor map and the advice of a few (un)helpful citizens we managed to get very very lost and late for Johnny's set, eventually ending up across the street from a strip club before deciding we were probably not in the right neighborhood. Finally, after sprinting over four city blocks, we managed to get to the right venue... where we were told we had to go over to the office and exchange our tickets for wristbands before being let in. so we sprinted more, over to the office, waited in line for the most excruciating ten minutes of my existence (not an exaggeration) and ran back. sweating and breathing hard, we stepped into RoTown, a small bar with a wooden floor and raised stage. there were quite a few people there, but it wasn't so packed that we couldn't elbow our way to the front. which we did. we had deserved it, after all! and all that just to catch the last twenty minutes of his set was totally worth it.

The next evening went a lot smoother, what with us knowing where to go and what to do. we were right in front for Noah and the Whale, meeting up with another AFSer, Ivy, and her friend. Noah and the Whale are also British, and Laura Marling used to play with them. Everything is connected...

We also saw Band of Horses, a fantastic Seattle band whose live show was really energetic and fun. Ben Bridwell, the lead singer, was grinning and jumping around, and everyone on stage looked like they were having at least a good a time as the audience. One of the best, unexpected benefits of this year has been the access to great concerts - I have another music festival to look forward to at the end of the month! Pinkpop is the biggest music festival in the Netherlands, and as an early birthday present Henri and Paula gave me a ticket for Sunday the 30th - the lineup includes Kate Nash, Florence & the Machine (!!), Pixies (!!!) among many others... pure heaven. I can't wait!

Laura Marling 'Devils Spoke' from Ben Magahy on Vimeo.

update, part III

(The padlocks on the lamp post above have the names of couples written on them. Lovers lock their names onto chains and lampposts all over the city.)

When it comes to field trips, Europe has America completely busted. Along with my art class, I spent a week in Rome - wandering, taking pictures, and speaking a strange flow of Dutch, Spanish and English. Another exchange student in my school, Valeria, also came along. She's from a different program (Youth for Understanding) and comes from Ecuador, so she helped me brush up on my totally abandoned Spanish. Thinking in two languages is hard, but three is ridiculous - I have a lot of respect for kids who go on exchange to learn their third or fourth language!

The trip was fantastic, especially the first three days; We had flawless weather, in spite of the weathermens' claims of wind and rain. All that showed up on day four, when we went to the Vatican- it was like being in a hurricane! Luckily the rest of the week was milder, and we donned our zonnebril/sunglasses once again. The teachers kept us on our toes - we crossed the city time and again, past monuments, through ruins, in one cathedral door and out another. Our feet felt crippled by the end of the day, but everyone managed to walk to a little cafe for dinner every evening, a different one nearly every night. Pizza, pasta, more pasta, lots of meat... typical Italian fare. I felt no guilt eating so richly every night, with the amount of walking we were doing. Our rooms were on the fourth floor of our hotel, with eight flights of stairs leading up to them!

It really was an amazing week in all respects - I made a lot of new friends, got to see a lot of little corners of a hugely famous city, and of course see so many works of art and achitecture that I've seen pictures of all my life.

update, part II

In contrast with January, February was peaceful. Truth be told, I didn't do much - the weather was still cold and dark, and all I really wanted to do was curl up with a blanket, a book and my ipod. I did get out a little bit - I visited some friends in the south, and my friend Joss came up for a weekend baking extravaganza. We made blueberry pancakes, oatmeal raisin cookies, and to top it off, a fantastic vegan chocolate cake with decidedly non-vegan icing.

update, part I

So! Quite a lot has happened since my last post... in January... sorry everyone, I'll try to post more!

The long winter is finally over... spring has sprung in Overijssel! There's a warm breeze, daffodils are sending up shoots, and the grass is green again. I'm laughing at my poor Alaskan fellows with their meter of snow. So what if you all got snows days, for the first time in decades, because I'm wearing sunglasses and a hoodie. Thpp.

It's definitely been a busy winter/spring - a ski trip to France with my host aunt and uncle, passing my big Dutch test from AFS (yess) and a school trip to Rome just the week before last.

Juggling events has never been a skill of mine but I've survived thus far! Today is actually my 7 month mark, so I've been reflecting on how much I've done this year... I'll post updates in chapters!

My sojourn to France was fantastic - thanks to Margo, Ton, Robbert, Monique and Imke for inviting me along! We stayed in a beautiful mountain chalet just a quick walk from the lifts, complete with a gorgeous view of the French alps with the tiny village of Puy de Saint Vincent tucked in the foothills. Our first evening there, the owners of the house (Ton's niece and her husband, Illonka and Vincent) took us on a midnight snowshoe trail by the light of the moon. It was breathtaking - the stars and moon above us and pure, sparkling powder below our feet. Looking out on the tiny illuminated village below us, I felt like maybe I had found a mountain town to rival the beauty of my own home.

We spent six glorious days skiing and snowboarding there. It was so relaxing, to wake up in the morning and slip right into underarmour and ski pants, sit together for a breakfast of fresh bread, Dutch cheese, and meat, and then shoulder our skis for a morning in the mountains. Imke and Robbert are both talented snowboarders. Most of my friends at home ski, so it was fun to see the different ways we could interpret the slopes on our chosen equipment. I didn't think I'd have the chance to ski this year, so I felt really blessed to have such a great host family!

the gang!

Imke giving cousin Emmy a ride

(more on flickr soon!)

More pictures from Scotland

Scotland/Gelukkeg Kerstfeest!

Happy holidays everyone! I'm back from my sojourn to Scotland, land of tartan and thisle. Wencke, Paula and I spent three days in Glasgow, flying from Brussels, Belguim. Our flight there was precariously close to being cancelled on account of snow storms, but the wind gods were on our side and so we landed more or less on schedule at Glasgow Prestwick Airport. The tagline of which is "Pure Dead Brilliant". Which, printed in a loopy, bright purple scrawl, it is.

The first day we spent wandering the streets of central Glasgow, spending most of the morning in a gloriously large bookstore... which sold English-language books... I could barely tear myself away from the pages of a few travel books, so I bought them. I had to eat a little less that evening to compensate for the extra money I spent on books! Not the first or last time the I will have chosen books over food. No regrets, though. We capped off our day with a meal at a pub just down the street from our hotel, burgers and a pint of Scottish Christmas ale! I felt very at home right about then, and the beer was great.

Day two was more of a culture day, during which we walked the campus of the University of Glasgow, with its science department housed in a huge, beautiful piece of Gothic architecture. Lord Kelvin, discoverer of Absolute Zero among various other things, is the on campus despite his demise some hundred years ago. We visited the Kelvingrove Museum, which appears to be a natural history museum but prove to be much more! It had everything from a stuffed elephant to meteors to world culture exhibits, mummies, an Impressionist collection, and a Salvador Dali painting which, the longer you looked at, the less you understood it. I wanted to be like Claudia and Jamie in The Mixed-Up Files... sleep in the museum for a few weeks until I knew everytihng that was there. One day :) That evening we saw the local off-Broadway show of Beauty and The Beast, which was fantastic because I haven't seen the movie since I was seven or so... I think we all really enjoyed it. We took the train back to the airport the following morning, far too soon for me but I'm pretty sure it won't be the last time I find myself on Scottish soil.

Christmas in Holland was lovely, even if Borne is a little scanty with the sno w.. there is a small snowman putting up a brave fight in the garden across the street, I hope he gets to see the new year. I spent Christmas day with my family, staying cozy inside with our tree and lovely presents (mostly books - my kind of people!). Today, though, we ventured out and had brunch at the home of Paula's sister (Margo, who came for Thanksgiving). Paula's other sister and her family also came, as well as her mother. Mean (it's an old Dutch name) has been in and out of the hospital for a few months now so I was glad she was able to come and spend time with the family. Brunch was great, I got to meet 2 more of my cousins, including Imke's brother Robert. Imke herself is in South Africa now, and is heading to Thailand soon... I can't blame her seeking out a place with more sun! Although I have to say the afternoon today was beautiful.

I have to say the holidays haven't really felt quite like normal... obviously. I didn't expect it to be such a mellow experience. I wasn't nearly as homesick as I was prepared to be! Still, it's funny knowing that Christmas has come and gone, and now I have only six months left here. The time is starting to go faster already, I'm a little bewildered. I'll just have to move a little faster and put up a fight :) happy new year everyone!