Last little bit of Europe!

I'm over 2/3 of the way done with November, and I'm tired! I've been having an awesome time; I've seen and done so much, and I have tons and tons of great pictures to entertain you all with when I get back.

But until then, here's my updated schedule for the last leg of my European tour - we had to change a few things because of a serious jump in plane ticket prices, but no worries, its all good.

Cinderella Castle/Austria/Poland/Ireland/Scotland/Belgium
22^nd – Fussen (Cinderella castle), Salzburg
23^rd –Salzburg
24^th –Prague
25^th –Krakow
26^th – Frankfurt – Christmas Market
27^th – Dublin
28^th – Edinburgh
29th – Edinburgh, Brussels
30^th – Maastricht - one last night of drinking

I'm loving every minute, but I still can't wait to be home!

HOLY FREAKING CRAPPPPPPP!!!!!!!

So... In a little over an hour I will leave the dorm to begin my month-long European adventure. I'm leaving my lappy in the dorm, so blogging will be pretty much nil, unless a hostel has internet, or when I come back to Maastricht (two days in the month).
I can't believe this is really happening!!!!

Here's my schedule, so you can see where I am as time progresses. Send me bunches of emails or write on my wall or something so that way I'll have something to do the days I'm here (aside from sleeping and laundry).

Copenhagen, Sicily, Spain, Portugal, France
1^st – Copenhagen
2^nd – Hamburg, Verona
3^rd – Catania, Sigonella
4^th – Catania
5^th – Barcelona
6^th – Madrid
7^th – Lisbon
8^th – Madrid
9^th – Barcelona
10^th – See Marseille
11^th - Paris –Versailles
See Beaches of Normandy
12^th – Rest in Maastricht

Luxembourg, Italy, Greece
13^th – Luxembourg
14^th – Milan, Florence
15^th – Florence, Pisa, Rome
16^th –Rome
17^th – Pompeii
Catch a ferry in Bari to Greece
18^th – Patras, Athens
19^th – Athens
20^th – Athens, more Greece (hopefully an island)
21^st - Maastricht

Cinderella Castle/Austria/Poland/Ireland/Scotland/Belgium
22^nd – Fussen (Cinderella castle), Salzburg
23^rd –Salzburg
24^th –Prague
25^th – Prague, Krakow
26^th – Krakow, Auschwitz, Dublin
27^th – Dublin
28^th – Edinburgh
29th – Edinburgh, Brussels
30^th – Maastricht - one last night of drinking

December 1^st – Fly home!

I'm freaking out right now!!!

<3 Sarah

This shows how much I pay attention in class...

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

-The Red Wheelbarrow,
William Carlos Williams

I randomly remembered this today, so I thought I'd share.
I feel inspired.

Berlin in a Blur

This weekend was the group trip to Berlin. We took a pretty crappy night train to Berlin in which I tried to sleep in so many different ways that I lost count. We arrived and then set off on our whirlwind tour: the radio/tv tower, Bebelplatz, where the Nazis burned books, the Holocaust memorial, a very lovely church, the Brandenburg gate, and we glanced at the Parliament building (the Bundestag), before finding the Virchow museum, which was what we were in Berlin to see. We were all supposed to meet there at 2:30, and pretty much everyone made it at that time. So aside from checking out the exhibits, we got to enjoy each other’s company for a while.

Afterwards we wandered Hbf, the main train station (Hbf means main station or something like that, as all German main stations are called name Hbf), where there were painted bear statues from “every country”, if only omitting a few. The USA bear was painted like the statue of liberty, and wasn’t that great. We then returned to the Bundestag to wait in line so we could go inside. There’s an awesome giant glass observation… thing. It’s not really a tower, more like an aesthetically pleasing cancerous growth on top of the building. You can look down into the parliament chamber or look out on Berlin – as it was night we got a pretty view, but saw no lawmakers at work.

We ate a lovely and cheap (most important) four course meal for dinner, before heading over to the Berlin wall. It’s a wall, that’s for sure. Sadly it was fenced off, and not very well lit, so none of my pictures are that amazing. But the point is that we went there and saw it, and walked the line where it used to stand.

On the way back to the hostel, Helena and I decided that we were too tired to continue to Prague like we had planned the next day. We looked up trains and decided to go back to Maastricht a day early.

All sorts of crazy thing happened to the people who chose to continue on, but those are their stories, not mine.

On the way back, we met this cool guy from New Jersey, studying in Ireland, in the Nethrerlands for his friend’s wedding. Neat, right?

In other news, FINALS!!!! That’s my main focus right now, except for when I’m planning November. Before I leave I’m going to post a general schedule, so you can be like, “I wonder where Sarah is today, let’s check her blog!” Then you can go to the date (the 23^rd, Thanksgiving) and see where I should be at that time (Prague). It’s going to be pretty awesome.

Check facebook for pictures, I'm too lazy.

Skiing holiday

This weekend we took a nice mini-break to Switzerland. We arrived in Zurich on Friday morning, and saw St. Peter’s church, which has Europe’s largest clock face, several other pretty churches, a neat playground, and a courtyard/park that used to be a Roman customs post. We walked down the main shopping street and changed money at a prestigious Swiss bank.

Me imitating Europe's largest clock face

Then we caught a train to Bern, which is the capital of Switzerland. The mascot/symbol of Bern is the bear, so we went to the bear pits, took pictures of the bears, watched people feed them, and did an obligatory Sic ‘em. We enjoyed a lovely walk along the river, saw Einstein’s apartment from when he lived in Bern (and supposedly theorized his special theory of relativity), and went to Parliament, where I took pictures of everyone else playing in the fountain that shot up from the ground.

We stayed the night at a hostel in Zermatt, where we went skiing the next day. We had a great day, skiing the easy slopes, falling, and laughing at ourselves. We shopped around Zermatt before catching our train home.Waiting to ski!

The train to Zermatt is privately owned, so we bought tickets while we were in Bern. We had no problems on the train there, but on the train back (which was probably the best train we’ve ever been on) the conductor told us we hadn’t paid enough, because we had the wrong kind of Eurail passes and got a discount that we shouldn’t have. He told us we would have to pay him 15 Franks, and we told him we would pay at the station. Instead, we plotted our getaway. We analyzed everything – the position of the train when it came into the station, the platform locations, and our abilities to run as compared to the conductor… In the end, we walked away briskly, and once we got in the station, we ran to our next train and hid out on the platform. There was no way we were going to pay – it was not our fault the ticket lady gave us the wrong discount.

Switzerland is so beautiful. The mountains are gorgeous – the place we were skiing was awesome – we were above the clouds!

Coming back early allowed me to go to the base and buy some good American peanut butter, eat Anthony’s pizza, and generally enjoy the company of English speakers and American ways (they gave me free bags when I checked out!).

I’ve also been studying… woot. We have our first final on Thursday, and the rest are next week. Then it will be November! I'm working on planning it all out - it is crazy.

I can’t believe how fast time is going by…

Literal insanity - Vienna and Budapest

If I said any previous trip was crazy or insane, I’m sorry, but I was lying to you. This weekend has been the most insane trip ever. Ever.

We left Thursday night for Vienna. One of our connecting trains was one hour late and there were no other trains to Munich. So we waited. For an hour and a half. And then the train came. I played fuck the dealer with a few people; I was the fucked dealer – I had to drink a whole little bottle of wine and a good half a beer. It was a nice distraction from the insanity of our train issues.

Of course, we were late for our overnight train. This didn’t matter, however, because there was a strike in Munich. Our train didn’t even take us into the main station, it took us to a smaller one and we had to take a small connecting train. There were people putting up posters and holding picket signs when we got there. We were told to get on a train and it would take us to Salzburg. So we got on the train and waited; we were told the strike would be over at 7:30 am, and the train would leave. 7:30 came and went, and we figured we would have to find another way out. We finally got tickets onto a 9:30 train that would take us directly to Vienna. We arrived around 3pm, a full 6 hours after we were supposed to get there.

Vienna was lots of fun. We saw the Hapsburg palace, Mozart memorial, Beethoven’s grave, a cathedral, and the ballet Onegin. We stayed the night there at a hostel called the Wombat, that had a bar downstairs and gave us one free drink each. After the ballet on Friday, we all went down to get drinks. I was lucky, because two people gave me their drink coupons, so I had three drinks – a white wine and two wine spritzers. Also, when I went to get change for Valerie, the bar tender handed me a free shot. I met this cool Australian guy, Jay, who, of course, bought me a drink. I stayed to talk with Jay when everyone else went to bed, and we had a good time. Around 1:30, Kim found us making out on the couch and made me come with her back to the room.

Saturday we left for Budapest. At the border, Divya and Mishna were hassled because they didn’t have visas for Hungary, but luckily they were allowed through. Budapest is really scary and sketchy at night. Finding our hostel was an adventure, we tried not to stick out, but we are very noticeable. Everything got better once we had found our hostel, we went out to eat a really nice meal. We went out to go clubbing, another adventure of walking around and being lost. At one point we thought we had found the club; it turned out to be a bank. But we made it and danced and enjoyed ourselves.

We saw a little of Budapest on Sunday – we went to a park with a castle and climbed up to the Citadel. But we spent most of our time in the Turkish baths. We wanted to just get massages, but you had to buy a bath ticket to get one, so we went for it. Only two of the seven of us brought bathing suits, so the rest of us made do. I went about in my bra and underwear, which was really awkward, but who cares? I enjoyed the baths and had a great massage. We ate a nice Chinese dinner before returning home; all our trains on the way back were very uneventful, a nice change.

So that was my insane weekend, the highlights version. There is no way I could document all the craziness. I doubt anyone actually read this far, this post is so long... To keep it shorter, just check out my facebook for pictures.

Venice, Padua, and Oktoberfest (Munich)

This weekend we went to Italy!!! It was awesome to be there again, and I had so much fun.
We left Thursday night; we had to run the whole way from the dorm to the train station (over a mile) because some people were late. We caught the train, but just barely. What a way to start a trip, right?

Several trains and 18ish hours later, we arrived in Venice. We checked into our camp ground hotel and then went to see the city. We saw San Marcos square and then went in search of a gondola. In the process we lost half of our group, and looked for them to no avail. After a time, we figured they knew what they were doing, so we wandered through Venice and some people got on the gondola, while some of us just waited on church steps, talking and people watching. We had problems on the bus home as well, but made it back, finding the people we had lost in the process. So we all had gelato to celebrate.

Saturday we went to Padua to see the university, one of the oldest in Europe. We stopped by a market before returning to Venice to shop at their market and wander the city. I bought several souvenirs, rode in a gondola, and ate more gelato.

We caught a train that night that took us to Munich, where we spent Sunday at Oktober fest. I wandered around for a while with one group, before we met another group, who were waiting in line to get into one of the places they serve alcohol. So I switched groups and joined them. I got in line around 8:40, and we waited there until 10, when the doors opened. The mob pushed us inside, where we found a table. Between the five of us, we split two liters of beer and a half liter of wine. It was not bad, but not good enough that I could chug any of it. I tried, split some, and the German guys next to me told me not to waste the beer. We had a great time, and didn't get too drunk, though I'm never drinking before noon again. Being tipsy + crazy bright sun + cheap, broken sunglasses= pain.

We left Munich, endured more train mishaps and group separations, but arrived home Sunday night (an hour later than we meant, but not a big deal considering we took the wrong train to Cologne).

I would post pictures, but I need to pack for Vienna; we leave in a few hours and still have class to go to...

Actual update later

I just wanted to take a moment out to really think about life.
Everything is seeming so crazy right now, with one midterm left, everyday studying, maintaining relationships, and most stressfully, planning trips.
But... seriously. I am in Europe. I buy things with labels I can't read, walk and bike everywhere in town, and ride trains everywhere else. I hang out with my friends, joking and talking, planning and scheming, gossiping and speaking seriously. I go out (sometimes), eat foreign foods, talk to native Europeans, hear several foreign languauges, and live in a city that was founded by the Roman Empire!
In the past month I've visited major European cities in five countries, traveled through and stopped in three additional countries. Within the next three weeks, I'll have added between three to five countries to those lists... In one month's time, I will simply be traveling, not worrying about studying, just seeing Europe!
It's all so crazy, and I just have to remember not to freak out about the small stuff.
It's amazing how writing a little and some good music can really lift one's mood.

Life is good.

Sarah

Screw Baylor, I'm moving to Paris

This weekend we took a speedy tour of Paris. We left early Friday morning and got into Paris at 10 am. Immediately we were off for the Pasteur institute, where they said they wouldn’t let us in until two. Instead we went to the Sacred Heart church, which was really pretty. We shopped in little tourist-y boutiques and had lunch, and returned to the Pasteur institute to take a rather pointless tour. Then it was off to the Notre Dame, which was amazing, though smaller than I remember it. We ate crepes for dinner and split to go to our separate hostels, planning to meet at the Eiffel tower metro stop at 8pm.

It was raining. Paris is really behind me, its just too dreary to see it well.

I was there at 8pm. And I waited. And I waited. Then I waited some more. I finally left because a creepy French guy who worked the near by souvenir stand was hitting on me, and I didn’t want to be there anymore.

I wandered around the tower for what seemed like forever, looking for people, and finally finding Connie and Holly. After some extensive waiting on our part, some more of the group arrived, and we declared the rest of the group hopeless. We wanted to actually go up the tower, but it looked like the third floor was closed and we figured it was pointless to only go to the second. So we took pictures from the lawn and watched the light show, and then went to see the Arc de Triumph.

I tried to go out to the Buddha bar, but that didn’t work out so well, so I studied for about ten minutes before going to bed (lame, right?).

Saturday, I woke early to meet everybody at the Louvre at 8:45. And everybody ended up being George. Undaunted, we saw everything of importance there, and then had a really nice walk to the Eiffel tower. There we waited in line FOREVER to get to the top, where we took some pictures and then waited in line to get back down. Yay. Next we went to see the Catacombs!! They were so cool. Sadly though, I got wayyy too much dead people particles on my pants and shoes. We went to the Bastille, which really isn’t there anymore, but we went anyway. By this time it was about 4 pm, so we split our separate ways – George to the train station, and me to my hostel.

Dead people in the Catacombs

When I got back, several people were going to change their tickets to leave that night instead of Sunday morning as planned. I decided to go with them, since I had no means of hooking up with anyone else for the rest of the day, and I would have just been in the hostel. So we rushed to the train station and changed our tickets just in time to get on the train home.

Overall it was a great trip, and I had a wonderful time. Today we take two of our midterms, and so I've been going insane trying to study for them.

Oh, and about my title. I was hit on by more guys in Paris in the day and a half that I was there than my entire life combined. Some were creepy (souvenir stand guy) and others were cute and nice (one guy held the metro for me) and couldn't speak very much English. But I was still very flattered.

And now I should study some more...

Are we ever going to make it to Copenhagen?

We arrived from London on Thursday afternoon. Friday I went to class, and Friday night I went to Copenhagen! Insane, right?

So we left Friday night, and caught our train out of Maastricht to Roermond. Our next train was late, thus making us late for our next two connections. We met a nice U Maas student who was on his way home, and he helped us out, translating the Dutch announcements and asking a conductor to hold our overnight train in Düsseldorf.
Sadly, his efforts were in vain, and we arrive about five minutes too late for our overnight train. We instead changed tickets for a 3 am train, which had a change in Hamburg, so we could get to Copenhagen at noon, four hours after we were supposed to get there. It was our only option, so we took it.
At this point it was only a little after midnight, so we decided to wander Düsseldorf for a while. It was kind of sketchy, so we returned to the train station and sat on the platform for three hours.
Our 3 am train was late, so when we got to Hamburg, we had to run across the station to our next train, which had moved platforms. It was insane.
On the way to Copenhagen, the train was loaded onto a ferry to cross the Baltic Sea. We all moved up to the deck to take pictures, it was really cool.

When we finally got to Copenhagen, the ATM declined my card, so I had to borrow money from Tracy. But we really enjoyed our short time there; we saw a really cool church with a climbable tower, the royal palace, and the Little Mermaid statue. Copenhagen, if you didn’t know, is the home of Hans Christian Anderson, who wrote the Little Mermaid and other fairy tales.

I’m not sure if it was just because I was so happy to finally be there, but I really loved Copenhagen. It just seemed to blend the old and new so well.He doesn't look that excited to be with me...

We ate dinner at the Hard Rock Café before boarding a 12 hour night train to Cologne. I studied a little and slept a lot, though it wasn’t a comfortable sleep because we had opted for the cheap non-bed cars.

We got into Cologne at 7am, and saw the beautiful Gothic cathedral there. We even went to the 8am mass, which was kind of cool, even if I couldn’t understand the German, and I was the only one who didn’t take Communion.

Me and the giant Gothic Cathedral in Cologne

At 9:30, we got on a ferry boat which took us down the Rhine River. It was a nice, leisurely cruise, and we watched the scenery, talked, ate, and studied. We got off in the cutest little town called Linz, and proceeded to take an array of trains back to Maastricht, arriving at 9 pm last night.
The first thing I did when we got back was shower, since I didn’t know that night trains had such amenities.
But I had an amazing weekend, with some great memories and stories that will last a lifetime.

This week, I have to study like crazy, because midterms are next week. I can’t believe I’m half way done with the semester!

I heart London

London was AMAZING!!! I had a wonderful time and saw pretty much everything!

Monday we took a train from Maastrict to Leige, changed to a train to Brussels, and then took the Eurostar through the chunnel to London! We arrived and took forever to check in, which made me glad that we're making all our all own lodging arrangements from now on.

I knew that Billy Talent was playing in London that day, and so as soon as I made it to my room, I went about finding out if I could go. The concierge let me use their phone to call and ask if they had any armbands for the exclusive signing left. And they did! So I ran to my room, grabbed my things and rushed to the HMV. I got a wristband and then wandered around the street for a while. The show was at six, and it ROCKED!!!! I love Billy Talent. I got them to sign my cd book for their new cd. I also met some cool people: a guy from Iowa, and a native English guy.

Ben, the Billy Talent lead, in person

That night we went out to a sports club, danced and had a great night. The tube closes at midnight, so we rode the double decker bus back.

Tuesday we left early and saw: T (can't remember the name) square, St. Paul's (where Princess Di got married), Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben, the London Eye, the London Tower, London Tower and London bridge, and Shakespeare's Globe Theater. We ate lunch at this cute Sushi place, and saw Stomp! that night. Stomp was crazy!!! On the train back, we had our own version.


Wednesday we had a great wakeup call. The fire alarm went off. I ran down seven flights of stairs barefoot and waited outside. I felt bad for those who were on the higher (like 16) floors. I grabbed my purse and important documents before I left, so I have pictures!
The whole group went to the Science Museum, and saw cool medical history exhibits. Then we went to the Gordon Museum (of diseased organs), which was interesting. My group went to the British Museum, where we looked at mummies and saw pieces of the Parthenon and the Rosetta stone! We had too much fun taking pictures with the priceless art. We then shot over to King's Cross, where we saw... Platform 9 and 3/4!! It was really cool. We had Pizza Express for dinner, and then went to see Phantom of the Opera. It was so pretty and wonderful and awesome.

Thursday we went to Buckingham palace again, to get pictures with the guards (we failed). Then we walked Hyde park, which was so pretty! We ended our London adventure with a little shopping at the Hard Rock Cafe. Then we came back!!

So, I had an amazing time. I wish we would have had more time, but oh well. I had a great time, spent too much money, and took tons of pictures.

I'm leaving tomorrow after class on a night train to Copenhagen. I'm going with 4 other people. We're going to spend Saturday there, and be back on Sunday morning.

I LOVE traveling/living/being in Europe!

Thoughts on the Dutch/Europe

Instead of studying or doing my laundry as I should, I though I'd just post a general update and talk about random things I've been thinking about.
Tusday we went out for international drink, but it cost money to get in, so we all went to the Shamrock instead. I had an Irish car bomb, which was crazy fun, and a dirty girlscout shot. A few people and myself decided we would drink through the shot list at the Shamrock before we left. It should be fun. I had a really great time, talking with people and watching others play pool.

One thing I really like about the Shamrock is that their bathrooms are free. It's crazy how you have to pay to use the bathroom, its no wonder you see guys going on the street. It's varies on how much it is, the most expensive I've seen is 50 cents. I hate it, because I need every penny I can keep.
Also, they have no pennies in the Euro. They have two cent coints, and that's it. I find that, and one/two Euro coins to be odd, and something to get used to.

Today we went grocery shopping (for our lunch meals). They don't have bags for your groceries; you have to provide your own. If you don't have your own, you pay 2o cents for one. I suppose that it saves paper/plastic/whatever in the long run. But the US is such a convenient country, I'm just not used to it.

I have to do laundry today, and I'm going to wash it in the bathtub, by hand. It cost 4 Euro to do a load of laundry, and the washing machines are tiny!

I do have to say that I love the extensive train system, and I enjoy walking or biking everywhere. It is a nice alternative to cars.

It's a Friday night and I'm here studying and doing laundry, how lame is that? I plan to make up for it by going out with Bram tomorrow night, and Sunday night we're having a big Baylor toga party. I bought some rose (accent on the e) wine for the party, since its BYOB (bring your own bottle, 'cause not everyone wants alcohol).

Then Monday is London! Yay!

Week's end: Amsterdam

As of today, I've been in Europe for a whole week. Man, life is awesome.
We got out bikes this week, and I while riding mine for the first time, I got whistled at by some guys. (Bram told me they were probably French!)
Though people went out Wednesday and Thursday nights, I felt an obligation to study and sleep.
This was also in preparation for Friday. Friday night I went out with Bram. We went to three different pubs, drank, played foosball (I won), talked and enjoyed ourselves. I made sure to only have one glass of wine and be home by 2, 'cause I had class on Saturday.
Saturday I was planning on going pub hopping my my friends, and Bram and whoever he invited, but all my friends bailed, so it was just me, Bram, and his friend from Singapore. His Singaporean friend left at midnight, because he had to go to mass in the morning, but we stayed out until three. I had my first real daquari and took my first European shot. It was so much fun.
A side note on going out with a Dutch guy (he's NOT my boyfriend, I'm only here for a few months after all...), "going Dutch" really is the norm here. He buys the first and third rounds, and I buy the second. But it's really interesting to talk and compare different cultures and stuff. He makes fun of me because of my very American accent and way of talking, and I just marvel at his amazing ability to pull off any accent and speak five languages. And he's trying to help me learn my way around Maastricht, but I am just not good with directions at night, or when I've had a few...
Yesterday I got up super early (I got about 3 hours of sleep) so I could catch a train to Amsterdam. I went with three other girls and we just spent the whole day there. It was awesome! We went to the Anne Frank House, van Gogh (which is pronounced more like a cough than anything) museum, another famous museum with a hard name, the Homo monument, and the red light district. The homo monument is great, and it is just what it sounds like. Its made of three pink triangles that form a larger triangle, and its a memorial for all the gays who have ever been oppressed. The red light district was interesting, and very sad. We went in the morning, to be safe, but there were still girls sitting in windows. It was just depressing. I got a shirt that looks like a von Dutch shirt, but it says "Gone Dutch". The train ride back was also lots of fun, because we were being loud, crazy Americans, and some Dutch guys laughed at our attempts to say things in Dutch.
Today I slept in, as it will probably be my only opportunity to do so all semester. I have to spend the day studying, to get ready for next week of class. It's going to be crazy - 6 full days of class - Tuesday through Sunday. But then we get to leave for London on Monday. Yay!
The party never stops.

Also, check out facebook for all my lovely pictures.

So many exciting happenings

So more happened last night in four hours of partying than I think have ever happened to me in my whole life. I tagged along with a group of people, mainly headed by two senior guys who are pretty cool.
First we went to a pub called the Shamrock, where I got a beer (last time that will ever happen) and a rum and coke. Then we went to a "coffehouse", if you understand what the quotes mean. Sadly, one person didn't have their ID so they wouldn't let her stay, so we all left and headed for the pub where they were having the international drink. It was a club of sorts, with dancing and crazy loud music. I had another rum and coke, and hung out with people. It was lots of fun, because the alcohol (or maybe just the atmosphere) really loosened a lot of people up, and we were dancing and talking and meeting other foreign students, and it was really cool. Some of those I came with decided that we would leave at 12:30, so we could get home and go to bed, since we had tons of stuff to do today.
Slightly before we were about to leave, I, encouraged by alcohol, approached a guy who I'd been trading glances with for a while. We talked for a long time, and danced a little, and he even bought me a glass of wine. He's a really neat guy. My friends did leave as planned, and a little after 1 am I came to my senses and told Bram (that's his name, like short for Abraham) that I needed to go home. He offered to walk me back and I accepted, as I didn't know the other Baylor students still in the bar, and I doubted they wanted to go home. It sounds a lot less intelligent in the day time, doesn't it?
Anyway, I made it back safe and sound, since he really is a nice guy. He got my email and promised to drop me a line. I learned that the Dutch kiss each other three times on the check.
We're going to meet up for a drink or something later this week.

And that was my night. Most of it anyway.
To my more conservative fans, don't worry, because I got my comeuppance for drinking so much. I mean, thinking about it now, the beer and wine were both big enough that they were two drinks, so in reality I had about 6 drinks. And no water. I drank some when I got home, but it wasn't enough, and I had a tiny (quickly cured with an Advil) hangover.

My clothes smell like weed. It's really everywhere.

So, now that I've shocked you, maybe you'll leave a comment?

Estoy Aqui

I'm here. And tired. I didn't get too much sleep last night, but the time change is crazy. Seven hours is a lot.

The weather here is amazing. Right now its about 14 degrees Celcuis, or 57 Fahrenheit. I'm trying to learn to convert.

Yesterday was all traveling, today was all touring Maastricht. It was very interesting, but there was so much information I didn't absorb it all. I have no idea where anything is. But I'll learn in time I suppose. I changed all my US cash for Euros, which is cool. But apparently only passport ids are valid for cashing travler's checks. I had four other kinds of id on me, but not my passport. It was annoying, but now I know.

Tonight the international students are going out for a drink. It'll be fun.

Holy freaking crap...

This is my last post on US soil, unless, of course, they have wireless at Schinnen (army base).

When I get really tired or stressed or freaked out, I cuss internally. This past week, especially today, has been a lot of four letter words running around in my head.

I am really excited, just really nervous. This time tomorrow I'll be on a 767 headed to Amsterdam...

I can't believe it.

Harry Potter Socks

Today I crossed several things off my to do list, which is good, but I still need to pack!
Anyway, I wanted to see how uploading images works...

So here are some knee-high socks I bought to wear with my boots.
These pair I call Slytherin socks, because they're green (if you can't tell) and kind of have snakes on them.
And these are Griffyndor, 'cause they have griffins...

So that's that. Sorry for crap cam pictures. But I leave soon!

And its going to be 55 degrees when I get there... Almost half the temperature here, AMAZING!

Check, check, check... 1,2,3... Check?

Tada! Welcome to Sarah's Euroblog! Oh, that would have been a good name... The name, by the way, is the name of an OLS episode.
I'm going to use this blogthing to let everyone know what kind of amazing things I'm doing in my semester of study abroad. I decided I hated the idea of emailing everyone, because that could get annoying after a while, so here we are.

Anyway, enough rambling. I leave in four days! And I still have a million things to do, including packing and finishing my Hirszfeld paper.
I have done some things on my to-do list though. I bought a bunch of long-sleeved shirts (surprizingly hard to find in August), and called Bank of America and USAA to tell them not to cancel my credit and debit cards when I use them over there. And I've started a packing list...

But now I am going to try and figure out how this website works. Ciao!