the end of October is nearing, which means the semester is coming to a close. This has been the coolest semester so far (as anyone could probably imagine) for both the traveling and the classes. I wish I could have had these classes for a whole semester, they're much more fun to study for than, i don't know.. religion. Not exactly pumped about that one, and its an entire semester. but hey, what can ya do. So finals are this week and are professors are awesome and scheduled them from hardest to easiest, how nice is that!
I thought I would fill y'all in on the travel plans. Let me start off with, I don't actually know them all, but here's what i do know: Copenhagen, Sweden; Some other city, Sweden; Madrid, Spain; Barcelona, Spain; Pisa, Italy; Cinque terra, Italy; some beach in italy or spain; Niece, France; and probably a few other places. We are going to die, but it's gonna be so much fun. We're getting back to Maastricht 4 days early so we can pack and sleep and do laundry (or maybe i'll just save that for my mom...)
I am slightly nervous about traveling because of all the terrorist threats and all the strikes going on right now, but as long as we keep a good sense of our surroundings, hopefully we'll be fine. :)
I gotta go continue my studying, but hopefully I'll find a few minutes here and there to update this over the next week. but until then, hope all in the states is well!
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
It's been forever since I've blogged I know! But it's cool to know a lot of people read this :) don't worry though! I have good reason for being away so long. Let's start off with all the homework we've had lately (anyone who knows my study habits understands that). Second, I've done a ton of traveling. I've gone to Germany, Italy, and England all in the last 3 weeks! Its been so fun, but so crazy so I'm gonna stay back in Maastricht for the next few weekends.
So a few updates, I believe I have 6 more days of class, so for all of yall that are getting ready for fall break... I'm almost done! Whoo! Next, well... I have a ton of stories, but I'll start with an overview of our week and a half mid-term trip.
So we flew to Berlin, and I got to fly there 1st class! They ran out of seats in coach so me and a few other Baylor kids got moved up. Being in coach included some random airplane meal BUT it came with a roll and chocolate so the trip started off beautifully. Once we got there, we went on a mini tour of Berlin and it is absolutely gorgeous. The next awesome thing that happened was driving up to hotel. Thank you Baylor for the 4 star hotel and unbelievable german buffet breakfast every morning! (I think everyone would agree the breakfast was the best part of Berlin). We stayed in Berlin for 3 or 4 nights, I've forgotten by now, but I'll tell stories from there later.
After Berlin, we flew to Italy and bused over to Padua. The hotel wasn't as awesome, but it was still nice. My hands down favorite thing about Italy as a whole was the Gelato. It is true, italian gelato is the greatest thing ever to be created and I think everyone should add that to their bucket list if its not on there already. We stayed in Padua for 2 or 3 nights and then went to Venice. There are NO cars in Venice because it is just like all the pictures; people actually boat everywhere it was so cool! We stayed in Venice that night, and went to Milan and Lake Como the next day. I really liked Lake Como, and I plan to have a house there one day once I'm a doctor. And yes, Lake Como is where one of George Clooney's houses are. I'd like to think I saw him, but I will never know for sure if that was actually him.
That night, I took my first night train back to Germany because my group and I had planned to go to Oktoberfest with my friends from Dusseldorf. Oktoberfest is another thing everyone should put on there bucketlist because it was like the state fair except so much cooler! Everyone dressed germans and there were games and rollar coasters and singing and dancing everywhere! It was so awesome. That night we night trained it back to Rome.
We zig-zaged across Europe, I know. But anyways, we get to Rome and... well... maybe I was expecting alot. So if you plan on going to Rome I have a few suggestions: spend the money on a hotel by the train station and rent a Roman so they can show you around. Rome is IMPOSSIBLE to get around in and not get lost. It was crazy rediculous. The sights were cool, the coliseum is really impressive, and I'm glad I already went cause Americans aren't supposed to go to tourist places anymore, but overall it wasn't all I was expecting. This could, of coarse, be because of our lovely hostel on the Harry Heine's of Rome. Again, I'll fill in all the gaps I'm leaving over the next few weeks cause I won't have any more cool stories.
3 long days later, we went back to Milan and stayed the night. We had to walk down a dark alley and on the highway to get there, but we got to our Holiday Inn and slept beautifully until 11 the next morning. We took a taxi to the train station, which took us to the airport, which took us home to Maastricht. I don't know how people backpack for months at a time. It gets so stressful and tiring (and rediculously expensive) for just a week and a half. All of us decided that our three weeks travel might be a little crazier than we thought.
We came back from that trip on a Monday, had a test on tuesday and thursday, then left again for London!
It's 11:30 here, and I'm still behind on reading and sleep so I'll tell about London, my favorite place in the world, tomorrow during a study break. Sorry for the delay in updates but for the next 2 weeks I'll be better, I promise!!
So a few updates, I believe I have 6 more days of class, so for all of yall that are getting ready for fall break... I'm almost done! Whoo! Next, well... I have a ton of stories, but I'll start with an overview of our week and a half mid-term trip.
So we flew to Berlin, and I got to fly there 1st class! They ran out of seats in coach so me and a few other Baylor kids got moved up. Being in coach included some random airplane meal BUT it came with a roll and chocolate so the trip started off beautifully. Once we got there, we went on a mini tour of Berlin and it is absolutely gorgeous. The next awesome thing that happened was driving up to hotel. Thank you Baylor for the 4 star hotel and unbelievable german buffet breakfast every morning! (I think everyone would agree the breakfast was the best part of Berlin). We stayed in Berlin for 3 or 4 nights, I've forgotten by now, but I'll tell stories from there later.
After Berlin, we flew to Italy and bused over to Padua. The hotel wasn't as awesome, but it was still nice. My hands down favorite thing about Italy as a whole was the Gelato. It is true, italian gelato is the greatest thing ever to be created and I think everyone should add that to their bucket list if its not on there already. We stayed in Padua for 2 or 3 nights and then went to Venice. There are NO cars in Venice because it is just like all the pictures; people actually boat everywhere it was so cool! We stayed in Venice that night, and went to Milan and Lake Como the next day. I really liked Lake Como, and I plan to have a house there one day once I'm a doctor. And yes, Lake Como is where one of George Clooney's houses are. I'd like to think I saw him, but I will never know for sure if that was actually him.
That night, I took my first night train back to Germany because my group and I had planned to go to Oktoberfest with my friends from Dusseldorf. Oktoberfest is another thing everyone should put on there bucketlist because it was like the state fair except so much cooler! Everyone dressed germans and there were games and rollar coasters and singing and dancing everywhere! It was so awesome. That night we night trained it back to Rome.
We zig-zaged across Europe, I know. But anyways, we get to Rome and... well... maybe I was expecting alot. So if you plan on going to Rome I have a few suggestions: spend the money on a hotel by the train station and rent a Roman so they can show you around. Rome is IMPOSSIBLE to get around in and not get lost. It was crazy rediculous. The sights were cool, the coliseum is really impressive, and I'm glad I already went cause Americans aren't supposed to go to tourist places anymore, but overall it wasn't all I was expecting. This could, of coarse, be because of our lovely hostel on the Harry Heine's of Rome. Again, I'll fill in all the gaps I'm leaving over the next few weeks cause I won't have any more cool stories.
3 long days later, we went back to Milan and stayed the night. We had to walk down a dark alley and on the highway to get there, but we got to our Holiday Inn and slept beautifully until 11 the next morning. We took a taxi to the train station, which took us to the airport, which took us home to Maastricht. I don't know how people backpack for months at a time. It gets so stressful and tiring (and rediculously expensive) for just a week and a half. All of us decided that our three weeks travel might be a little crazier than we thought.
We came back from that trip on a Monday, had a test on tuesday and thursday, then left again for London!
It's 11:30 here, and I'm still behind on reading and sleep so I'll tell about London, my favorite place in the world, tomorrow during a study break. Sorry for the delay in updates but for the next 2 weeks I'll be better, I promise!!
Friday, September 10, 2010
To my mother...
Dear Mom,
I just cleaned and rearranged my room. I thought you would be proud.
Love,
Lauren
I just cleaned and rearranged my room. I thought you would be proud.
Love,
Lauren
so anyways...
time to continue my Paris story.
so we ended on Friday right before the bike tour started, and I highly recommend the fat tire bike tour for anyone going to Paris, Berlin, London, or ...dang I forgot the last city. But after walking around all day this bike tour was amazing! We started near the Eiffel tower and rode our bike's all around the city WITH traffic. It was pretty strange to be driving a bike next to a car, not that the cars here are much bigger. We saw so many big monuments and castles (i don't actually know what they were but they were all really cool!) and we stopped at Notre Dame which was incredible. Thank goodness for the hunchback story or they would have torn it down! Next we stopped at the "best ice-cream in Paris". It wasn't my favorite cause they didn't have normal flavors and the other flavors weren;t in English, but hey. By this point in my European travels, I'm kind of used to eating mystery food. So after that we continued riding, and we made another pit stop at Le Louve. I think this museum was the biggest and prettiest building in Europe so far. It was so huge and had details on every inch of the walls. Everything down the the concrete was pretty. It's something you should have on your bucket list if you haven't seen it yet. After spending about 20 minutes there, we continued until we got to a dock. Part of the Fat tire bike tour is a boat ride and it was so cool but so cold! They gave us wine (sorry mom) and we rode around the river looking at even more amazing buildings. The lights at night in Paris make the city look so pretty at night. Fun Fact: the Eiffel tower sparkles on the hour, and it was so amazing. Another funny thing about the boat tour was the native Paris people that hang out on the banks. I saw a few people peeing into the river, someone mooning us, quite a few people making out "french style" which is many levels about what American's think of as "French" style. PDA is not of the slightest concern to anyone in that country. There were also a few french people sitting on bridges yelling to us to "Go back to our own country! You are nt welcome here!" Our tour guide insisted that the yelling could be blamed on alcohol/drugs.
After the boat tour ended, we biked back to the shop we started at and my group went to meet Mark at the Eiffel tour. Our oat was late so by the time we got back the Subways were closed and so we were forced to take a taxi. Lukily, Mark was in the car because if we had gotten into a taxi with that man who knows where we would have ended up at... Mark said he was a crazy man. Never the less we got back to Mark's we all fell alseep so fast. (Remember: I had slept one hour the night before, and we got up at 4:30... it had been a loonngggg day). I had such a good night's sleep that night :)
I'm in the middle of reading my pathophys. chapter which is a glorious 60 pages long, so I'm going to continue that, but when I take another break I'll continue with Saturday in Versailles :)
so we ended on Friday right before the bike tour started, and I highly recommend the fat tire bike tour for anyone going to Paris, Berlin, London, or ...dang I forgot the last city. But after walking around all day this bike tour was amazing! We started near the Eiffel tower and rode our bike's all around the city WITH traffic. It was pretty strange to be driving a bike next to a car, not that the cars here are much bigger. We saw so many big monuments and castles (i don't actually know what they were but they were all really cool!) and we stopped at Notre Dame which was incredible. Thank goodness for the hunchback story or they would have torn it down! Next we stopped at the "best ice-cream in Paris". It wasn't my favorite cause they didn't have normal flavors and the other flavors weren;t in English, but hey. By this point in my European travels, I'm kind of used to eating mystery food. So after that we continued riding, and we made another pit stop at Le Louve. I think this museum was the biggest and prettiest building in Europe so far. It was so huge and had details on every inch of the walls. Everything down the the concrete was pretty. It's something you should have on your bucket list if you haven't seen it yet. After spending about 20 minutes there, we continued until we got to a dock. Part of the Fat tire bike tour is a boat ride and it was so cool but so cold! They gave us wine (sorry mom) and we rode around the river looking at even more amazing buildings. The lights at night in Paris make the city look so pretty at night. Fun Fact: the Eiffel tower sparkles on the hour, and it was so amazing. Another funny thing about the boat tour was the native Paris people that hang out on the banks. I saw a few people peeing into the river, someone mooning us, quite a few people making out "french style" which is many levels about what American's think of as "French" style. PDA is not of the slightest concern to anyone in that country. There were also a few french people sitting on bridges yelling to us to "Go back to our own country! You are nt welcome here!" Our tour guide insisted that the yelling could be blamed on alcohol/drugs.
After the boat tour ended, we biked back to the shop we started at and my group went to meet Mark at the Eiffel tour. Our oat was late so by the time we got back the Subways were closed and so we were forced to take a taxi. Lukily, Mark was in the car because if we had gotten into a taxi with that man who knows where we would have ended up at... Mark said he was a crazy man. Never the less we got back to Mark's we all fell alseep so fast. (Remember: I had slept one hour the night before, and we got up at 4:30... it had been a loonngggg day). I had such a good night's sleep that night :)
I'm in the middle of reading my pathophys. chapter which is a glorious 60 pages long, so I'm going to continue that, but when I take another break I'll continue with Saturday in Versailles :)
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
NyQuil
Don't get me wrong, being here is probably the coolest thing thats ever happened in my life thus far but I'm not gonna lie... I wouldn't want to live like this forever. There are way too many schedules that you have to stick too and if you change the plan even the slightest bit, you could screw up your entire day and end up sprinting for 4 trains in one day
Example:
I went to Paris last weekend and it was so much fun! I got a whoppin 1 hour of sleep the night before so I was pretty exhausted when I got there at 11, but we had too much to do to take a nap. We went to the Pasteur Institute first (which was the main reason we went), and it was pretty cool if your into how his experiments worked in all, but I was really just way too tired to care that day. Even my teacher fell asleep. After that our group went down to the main shopping quarters of Paris. I'm blanking on the name of it right now, but Mark, my friend we were staying with, told us it was THE place to be. Personal opinion: over-rated, but hey. That night we had a bike tour scheduled for 7 and we were supposed to meet at the Eiffel Tower. It was about 3 o'clock. Mark told us we should take the Metro, but being the tight wad poor American college students we were, we convinced him that walking was a good idea. He was hesitant, but we walked. It ends up, Mark was right because about 6 o'clock we started to get worried that we were never going to find the tallest monument in the city. We found a map just in time and realized we had walked to complete opposite direction for a good 2 and a half hours and we were now scared we were going to be late to this non- refundable bike tour. Now just like everything else in life, when you need something, you cant find it. Metro stations are ALL over Paris, but we could not find a single one. But just in time we found a different train line that could take us to the tour. We arrived at 6:57, just in time to go get a ham and cheese sandwhich for dinner :)
That story only covers up until sunday evening, but unfortunately, I took Nyquil about 20 minutes ago and can hardly see my computer screen, which brings me to one last point. everyone here is sick. everyone has a cold and its getting pretty annoying. I just ran out of NyQuil so Mom if your reading this and you havent sent that package, please send day/NyQuil. but hopefully everyone here will get better soon. We just had our first test today and I can't say how I did quite yet, but I'll probably know tomorrow!
I'm also not travelling this weekend so I can catch up on all my studying so I'll be able to catch up on all my stories. My bad for not getting half way through this one... stupid cold-meds...
but before I type things so poorly that you can't understand, its 1 o'clock here which means early bedtime for me today! whoo!!
I swear I'll update more no worries :) Au revoir!
Example:
I went to Paris last weekend and it was so much fun! I got a whoppin 1 hour of sleep the night before so I was pretty exhausted when I got there at 11, but we had too much to do to take a nap. We went to the Pasteur Institute first (which was the main reason we went), and it was pretty cool if your into how his experiments worked in all, but I was really just way too tired to care that day. Even my teacher fell asleep. After that our group went down to the main shopping quarters of Paris. I'm blanking on the name of it right now, but Mark, my friend we were staying with, told us it was THE place to be. Personal opinion: over-rated, but hey. That night we had a bike tour scheduled for 7 and we were supposed to meet at the Eiffel Tower. It was about 3 o'clock. Mark told us we should take the Metro, but being the tight wad poor American college students we were, we convinced him that walking was a good idea. He was hesitant, but we walked. It ends up, Mark was right because about 6 o'clock we started to get worried that we were never going to find the tallest monument in the city. We found a map just in time and realized we had walked to complete opposite direction for a good 2 and a half hours and we were now scared we were going to be late to this non- refundable bike tour. Now just like everything else in life, when you need something, you cant find it. Metro stations are ALL over Paris, but we could not find a single one. But just in time we found a different train line that could take us to the tour. We arrived at 6:57, just in time to go get a ham and cheese sandwhich for dinner :)
That story only covers up until sunday evening, but unfortunately, I took Nyquil about 20 minutes ago and can hardly see my computer screen, which brings me to one last point. everyone here is sick. everyone has a cold and its getting pretty annoying. I just ran out of NyQuil so Mom if your reading this and you havent sent that package, please send day/NyQuil. but hopefully everyone here will get better soon. We just had our first test today and I can't say how I did quite yet, but I'll probably know tomorrow!
I'm also not travelling this weekend so I can catch up on all my studying so I'll be able to catch up on all my stories. My bad for not getting half way through this one... stupid cold-meds...
but before I type things so poorly that you can't understand, its 1 o'clock here which means early bedtime for me today! whoo!!
I swear I'll update more no worries :) Au revoir!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Long Days...
So first of all, I'd like to say sorry for al who are reading this if I make grammar/spelling errors. I know I will and I'm usually real tired when I get on here (ex: it is 2:22 a.m. my time.. oops)
but anyways thats not very important.
This past weekend I also went to Rotterdam and Brussels. The night life in Rotterdam is amazing! There are so many people that come to the main square for the night and music is playing everywhere and it was a very festive scene, I loved it. I also loved the free toilets they had in the middle of the square. Going to the bathroom for free here isn't easy to come by.
That night, we stayed in a hostel for 120 people and that was kind of scary at first, but when sleep time came, I decided I liked this giant hostel alot more than the hostel in Amsterdam with 2 strangers in the room. I was also in the bunk between and below other Baylor people. It was like a big sleep over. with a bunch of people I didn't know... The next morning came fast. We didn't get to eat the free breakast because we woke up RIGHT before we had to leave.
But we got out of there, and went to explore this city. It was much more like Dallas and I liked that. (I thought it was funny that Rotterdam is also known as the ugliest city in the netherlands). There wasn't too much to do there, bu we went to the euromast which is a huge tower with an observation tower. We went up and saw the whole city. The city is a port city and I thought it was beautiful, I do love the ocean.
after the observation tower, we walked 45 minutes back to the train station. We made a pitstop at subway, and I bring this up to mention how different everything is here. All there kinds of chips and drinks are different, and even the types of breads were different. I also thought it was funny that they sold "Coffie and American Donuts" for breakfast. I never knew donuts were an american thing...
we got on the train to Brussels and we there in no time and this part of the trip got interesting, and slightly frustrating, right away!
but that's a VERY long story SO I'll save that one before tomorrow.
As far as my classes go, these are my favorite classes that I have taken so far! It's so awesome how interrelated they all are and how in every class, we talk about the same thing from a different perspective. It's really cool, but the workload is so intense! We only have like.. 24 classes left in the whole semester. I think this semesters a little longer than summer school but im taking 5 courses. I have so much reading to do all the time and I feel like I'm always behind. Another plus about being here for school is being around all pre-med students. Not saying other students dont work as hard because I have no idea, but I do know pre-med students (Serious ones at least) work there butt off day in and day out. Since you had to be accepted into this program, every single student is here to work hard and get A's. That makes it easier when it comes to studying. Everyone makes sure everyone does there stuff. Its a good system.
But on that not, I still have a little more pathophys to read before our quiz tomorrow and its almost 240 and i got be at mandatory breakfast at 730. So I'm gonna wrap it up here for tonight but I'll blog again tomorrow...
goodnight :)
but anyways thats not very important.
This past weekend I also went to Rotterdam and Brussels. The night life in Rotterdam is amazing! There are so many people that come to the main square for the night and music is playing everywhere and it was a very festive scene, I loved it. I also loved the free toilets they had in the middle of the square. Going to the bathroom for free here isn't easy to come by.
That night, we stayed in a hostel for 120 people and that was kind of scary at first, but when sleep time came, I decided I liked this giant hostel alot more than the hostel in Amsterdam with 2 strangers in the room. I was also in the bunk between and below other Baylor people. It was like a big sleep over. with a bunch of people I didn't know... The next morning came fast. We didn't get to eat the free breakast because we woke up RIGHT before we had to leave.
But we got out of there, and went to explore this city. It was much more like Dallas and I liked that. (I thought it was funny that Rotterdam is also known as the ugliest city in the netherlands). There wasn't too much to do there, bu we went to the euromast which is a huge tower with an observation tower. We went up and saw the whole city. The city is a port city and I thought it was beautiful, I do love the ocean.
after the observation tower, we walked 45 minutes back to the train station. We made a pitstop at subway, and I bring this up to mention how different everything is here. All there kinds of chips and drinks are different, and even the types of breads were different. I also thought it was funny that they sold "Coffie and American Donuts" for breakfast. I never knew donuts were an american thing...
we got on the train to Brussels and we there in no time and this part of the trip got interesting, and slightly frustrating, right away!
but that's a VERY long story SO I'll save that one before tomorrow.
As far as my classes go, these are my favorite classes that I have taken so far! It's so awesome how interrelated they all are and how in every class, we talk about the same thing from a different perspective. It's really cool, but the workload is so intense! We only have like.. 24 classes left in the whole semester. I think this semesters a little longer than summer school but im taking 5 courses. I have so much reading to do all the time and I feel like I'm always behind. Another plus about being here for school is being around all pre-med students. Not saying other students dont work as hard because I have no idea, but I do know pre-med students (Serious ones at least) work there butt off day in and day out. Since you had to be accepted into this program, every single student is here to work hard and get A's. That makes it easier when it comes to studying. Everyone makes sure everyone does there stuff. Its a good system.
But on that not, I still have a little more pathophys to read before our quiz tomorrow and its almost 240 and i got be at mandatory breakfast at 730. So I'm gonna wrap it up here for tonight but I'll blog again tomorrow...
goodnight :)
Sunday, August 29, 2010
First stop: Amsterdam
This weekend could have been the greatest weekend of my life. I'm not 100% sure, but its a safe bet. anyways, let me start by saying trains are not as easy to catch as you may think. For example, last thursday, Nathan,Brittany, and I needed to go to Leige, which is a few stations down fr the Maastricht station. We had 3 hours of break between classes so right after class we headed out. We were speedwalking the whole way there, even started sprinting at the end. But of coarse, right as we get to the station the trains doors shut and it pulled away. It was a classic.
Luckily, we didn't miss a single train this weekend. after that experience, we get to train stations pretty early. So thursday after class, we pack our giant backpacks and get on a train to Amsterdam. So we pull in, and the first thing we see when we get off the train was a giant beautiful church, the river, and a garage of bikes. The directions to the hostel were difficult though. It is so easy to get lost in that city let me tell ya. It took us about 30 minutes to find our hostel, and when we did... I was shocked. Not to complain or anything, but I was so scared to sleep there. We check in and go up to the room, and I got even more freaked out. There were 5 beds in the room and 3 of us were staying in the room which meant 2 other people were staying in the same room. It was definitely weird... btu we locked our backpacks up and went to dinner.
I had pizza for dinner but the pizza was so good at this place! The waiters arent very attentive anywhere around here, but the food was good so I was happy. After dinner, we walked around Amsterdam, and there were so many people on the square! We stopped at a few places and ran into some other Baylor students which made this country seem real small. After chillin with them for a while, we decided to walk down and witness the Red Light District. This felt like the longest walk of my life and none of us thought we were going to find it but we did. And it was a very eyeopening experience.
The street is lined with 3 things: Bars, prostitutes, and red lights. And when you hear that prostitutes have their own windows, they mean they have their own 6 ft tall 3 ft wide window. Most of them were dancing in front of their window, motioning for people to come to them, and even bargaining with potential clients. I, personally, thought it was sad to see all these girls selling themselves so openly. This was not a private street for potential buyers. It was a street open to the public and everyone that walks by sees them. Maybe it was just culture shock, but I found it very surreal.
We finally start making our way back to the hostel, and by the time we get there it was about 2 in the morning. When I walked into the room, I thought the other 2 people seeping were girls and that made me feel a little safer, and I went to bed. When I woke up the next morning, I looked up and saw they were guys, but hey, I had made it through the night safe so I wasn't worried. We went downstairs for "breakfast" which ended up actually being a piece of bread. Yum. But we checked out of the hostel by 10 and we were on our way to the Van Gogh museum. It was kind of pricy, but it was HUGE and I actually learned quite a bit about art history. We stayed there for a few hours, but were all driven out by hunger because our breakfast wasn't exactly filling.
The guy at the museum suggested a burger place for lunch and gave us directions, but following directions in foreign cities is the hardest thing I've ever done. We never made it to the burger place, but we ended up at a sandwich shop and enjoyed some paninis for lunch instead. We were in the middle of who knows where Amsterdam, but we had ended up close to our next destination; The Anne Frank House.
The Anne Frank house was probably the coolest museum this weekend. It took you through the house she hid in and told us a ton of history. It makes kme want to go visit a concentration camp when I get to Germany. But anyways, that was the last of our adventures in Amsterdam and we hoped on the next train to Rotterdam.
I'll tell ou about Rotterdam tomorrow because I am exhausted and have to get up early tomorrow to study. But until then, I hope everything in Texas is well and even though it might feel "nice" here I miss the weather!
Luckily, we didn't miss a single train this weekend. after that experience, we get to train stations pretty early. So thursday after class, we pack our giant backpacks and get on a train to Amsterdam. So we pull in, and the first thing we see when we get off the train was a giant beautiful church, the river, and a garage of bikes. The directions to the hostel were difficult though. It is so easy to get lost in that city let me tell ya. It took us about 30 minutes to find our hostel, and when we did... I was shocked. Not to complain or anything, but I was so scared to sleep there. We check in and go up to the room, and I got even more freaked out. There were 5 beds in the room and 3 of us were staying in the room which meant 2 other people were staying in the same room. It was definitely weird... btu we locked our backpacks up and went to dinner.
I had pizza for dinner but the pizza was so good at this place! The waiters arent very attentive anywhere around here, but the food was good so I was happy. After dinner, we walked around Amsterdam, and there were so many people on the square! We stopped at a few places and ran into some other Baylor students which made this country seem real small. After chillin with them for a while, we decided to walk down and witness the Red Light District. This felt like the longest walk of my life and none of us thought we were going to find it but we did. And it was a very eyeopening experience.
The street is lined with 3 things: Bars, prostitutes, and red lights. And when you hear that prostitutes have their own windows, they mean they have their own 6 ft tall 3 ft wide window. Most of them were dancing in front of their window, motioning for people to come to them, and even bargaining with potential clients. I, personally, thought it was sad to see all these girls selling themselves so openly. This was not a private street for potential buyers. It was a street open to the public and everyone that walks by sees them. Maybe it was just culture shock, but I found it very surreal.
We finally start making our way back to the hostel, and by the time we get there it was about 2 in the morning. When I walked into the room, I thought the other 2 people seeping were girls and that made me feel a little safer, and I went to bed. When I woke up the next morning, I looked up and saw they were guys, but hey, I had made it through the night safe so I wasn't worried. We went downstairs for "breakfast" which ended up actually being a piece of bread. Yum. But we checked out of the hostel by 10 and we were on our way to the Van Gogh museum. It was kind of pricy, but it was HUGE and I actually learned quite a bit about art history. We stayed there for a few hours, but were all driven out by hunger because our breakfast wasn't exactly filling.
The guy at the museum suggested a burger place for lunch and gave us directions, but following directions in foreign cities is the hardest thing I've ever done. We never made it to the burger place, but we ended up at a sandwich shop and enjoyed some paninis for lunch instead. We were in the middle of who knows where Amsterdam, but we had ended up close to our next destination; The Anne Frank House.
The Anne Frank house was probably the coolest museum this weekend. It took you through the house she hid in and told us a ton of history. It makes kme want to go visit a concentration camp when I get to Germany. But anyways, that was the last of our adventures in Amsterdam and we hoped on the next train to Rotterdam.
I'll tell ou about Rotterdam tomorrow because I am exhausted and have to get up early tomorrow to study. But until then, I hope everything in Texas is well and even though it might feel "nice" here I miss the weather!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
culture shock
i've been here 4 days now and i am still suffering from jet lag (Example: its 2:00 a.m. here and I'm not incredibly tired). But the culture shock is very real. I didn't expect everything to be so different here. I do like it, and I think it's very pretty. I don't mean to sound like a whiny person but getting settled in this country is so incredibly difficult.
On the way over here, I couldn't sleep for more than 20 minutes on the plane. I feel like I watched the diagram of the plane fly for nearly 9 hours. But we arrived and that 9 hour plane trip was followed by a 2 and a half hour bus ride. So on the way, we stopped at burger king/ a very netherland cafe, but a major issue for me over here is you never know whats in your food, or what your food even is. I, of coarse, played it safe and got burger king. There was no salt on the table, but thanks to my dad's thinking ahead, I used the salt he gave me. Thanks dad :) and the rumor about having to pay to go to the bathroom is very true. And I refuse to pay to pee. end of story.
We got to the university that afternoon and moved into our rooms and everything. The room is kinda big here, but I wont plug anything in because the first thing I plugged in, I blew of coarse. After we got slightly settled, the dutch people showed us the local market. Alot of us went to the grocery store first, and I would like to start off with they do have monster! I haven't bought anything. I bought water instead, but as soon as I got back to my room, I realized it was caffinated water. Basically, not being able to speak dutch makes things difficult, even buying water.
I have so many stories to tell alread, but I'm going to stop here for tonight because my roommate just reminded me we have to get up in 4 and a half hours.... so I promise I will tell stories more frequently! But the classload is crazyy!! fun, yes, but intense.
I'll post tomorrow with my first epic story of the trip :) goodnight!
On the way over here, I couldn't sleep for more than 20 minutes on the plane. I feel like I watched the diagram of the plane fly for nearly 9 hours. But we arrived and that 9 hour plane trip was followed by a 2 and a half hour bus ride. So on the way, we stopped at burger king/ a very netherland cafe, but a major issue for me over here is you never know whats in your food, or what your food even is. I, of coarse, played it safe and got burger king. There was no salt on the table, but thanks to my dad's thinking ahead, I used the salt he gave me. Thanks dad :) and the rumor about having to pay to go to the bathroom is very true. And I refuse to pay to pee. end of story.
We got to the university that afternoon and moved into our rooms and everything. The room is kinda big here, but I wont plug anything in because the first thing I plugged in, I blew of coarse. After we got slightly settled, the dutch people showed us the local market. Alot of us went to the grocery store first, and I would like to start off with they do have monster! I haven't bought anything. I bought water instead, but as soon as I got back to my room, I realized it was caffinated water. Basically, not being able to speak dutch makes things difficult, even buying water.
I have so many stories to tell alread, but I'm going to stop here for tonight because my roommate just reminded me we have to get up in 4 and a half hours.... so I promise I will tell stories more frequently! But the classload is crazyy!! fun, yes, but intense.
I'll post tomorrow with my first epic story of the trip :) goodnight!
Friday, August 20, 2010
Pre-Departure
So, its friday night. Tomorrow is my last day in Plano, and I still don't feel like I'm about to leave. Contrary to my feelings, I will be moving to The Netherlands. Minus visiting Jamaica and Mexico on a cruise, I have never been out of the United States. I've never even been above the Mason-Dixon line. I'm very much a southern girl and this is the only culture I know, but on Sunday night, I will arrive in Maastricht, where I will be living for the next three months. So why am I moving to The Netherlands in the first place? Well, it started last year in my freshman biology class.
I always make a point to go by my teachers office's to get to know them, tell them a little about myself, find out the tricks to doing well in their class, etc. Well, my biology teachers name is Dr. Lisa Baker. I walked into Dr. Bakers office and I began asking her a few questions about class, followed by asking a ew questions about herself, and in turn she asked questions about me. When she found out I was a pre-med student (and a pretty dedicated one), she asked if I had ever heard of the Pre-Med study abroad trip in Maasricht.
Being a freshman, I had no idea, but before I left her office that day she had me ready to pack up and leave that afternoon. A group f fifty students would go to the University of Maastricht. Very few classes would be offered, so everyone would be taking almost all the same classes. She explained that people do amazing in this program because everyone can study with everyone, and all the classes are intertwined so something you learn in one class can help you with another and so on. On top of that we get to travel everywhere in Europe becuase we have 4 day weekends everyweek for the 2 months of school and then we have 3 weeks of solid on your own travel. I would definitely consider myself an adventurous, spontaneous person, so this trip sounded amazing! And on top of that, it was slightly cheaper than Baylor, so I was ready to board the plane.
The next week I had my interview and got into the program! I was so excited, but after that week I didn't hear much about the program. We only had 2 meetings during the school year, and then we would meet at the airport on August 22. The next part of the school year went by fast, and this summer went by even faster(partly because I was working so much to pay for my travel expenses...). I must admit, I haven't thought much about the trip, but tomorrows August 21. It's finally time to board the plane! Time to get excited!!!
I have a history of going on trips and coming back with crazy stories! So this is where I will post them and keep everyone up to date. I'll try to skype as much as possible, but if I can't I'll miss y'all And I'll be back in 90 days!
I always make a point to go by my teachers office's to get to know them, tell them a little about myself, find out the tricks to doing well in their class, etc. Well, my biology teachers name is Dr. Lisa Baker. I walked into Dr. Bakers office and I began asking her a few questions about class, followed by asking a ew questions about herself, and in turn she asked questions about me. When she found out I was a pre-med student (and a pretty dedicated one), she asked if I had ever heard of the Pre-Med study abroad trip in Maasricht.
Being a freshman, I had no idea, but before I left her office that day she had me ready to pack up and leave that afternoon. A group f fifty students would go to the University of Maastricht. Very few classes would be offered, so everyone would be taking almost all the same classes. She explained that people do amazing in this program because everyone can study with everyone, and all the classes are intertwined so something you learn in one class can help you with another and so on. On top of that we get to travel everywhere in Europe becuase we have 4 day weekends everyweek for the 2 months of school and then we have 3 weeks of solid on your own travel. I would definitely consider myself an adventurous, spontaneous person, so this trip sounded amazing! And on top of that, it was slightly cheaper than Baylor, so I was ready to board the plane.
The next week I had my interview and got into the program! I was so excited, but after that week I didn't hear much about the program. We only had 2 meetings during the school year, and then we would meet at the airport on August 22. The next part of the school year went by fast, and this summer went by even faster(partly because I was working so much to pay for my travel expenses...). I must admit, I haven't thought much about the trip, but tomorrows August 21. It's finally time to board the plane! Time to get excited!!!
I have a history of going on trips and coming back with crazy stories! So this is where I will post them and keep everyone up to date. I'll try to skype as much as possible, but if I can't I'll miss y'all And I'll be back in 90 days!
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