I had to make a contract for my Commercial Law class. It was this block's (half a semester) project.
My group didn't seem to be very motivated, because they don't even like law, for them it is a required class, so, because I actually enjoy law, I wrote the contract- in its entirety- on my own. One of my team mates did do an incoterms decision, but it involved boating and we were shipping electronics between central China and Michigan, so naturally, I had to change it to one that involves an airplane.
After doing all this, I asked them if they could please just do the justification of the contract, the appendix. All they had to do was make what I had already finished 90% of look pretty and add in the parts that I had not yet explained.
When I checked my email on Sunday (due the next day), I had an email with an appendix attached.
It was my appendix! They had added two lines which did not justify the contract, but merely elaborated upon what it does.
This really set me back on my relaxation factor. I cracked down and finished some of the appendix Sunday night and went to the school early in the morning to print it out and turn it in before the others in my group did the same with their version
The drop box was locked!
You could put papers in, but you couldn't take any out, so I'm sure they will have two versions of our contract when they decide to finally open it. I do hope they decide to grade mine.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Mexican Food
So, Gabby made Dutchican (Netherlandsian style Mexican) food tonight. Delicious.
We used Goudse, (strangely pronounced Gouda, its like they refuse to believe in the existence of the "s") some taco sauce from the store, chopped up tomatoes, and lettuce from a prepackaged salad. It's pretty awesome. You should try it.
Recently, I've been pretty bogged down with school stuff (read: procrastination). Yesterday was a breakthrough in the homework department. I just started writing the international sales agreement and didn't stop until I couldn't think of anything else to add or stipulate.
So, there's six weeks homework done in a day.
Don't ever listen to the teachers who tell you not to cram. Just because they have to overachieve to function doesn't mean you have to, but no. Seriously, kids, stay off drugs and do your homework and obey (even the arbitrary) authority.
/irrelevant thinly veiled criticism of high school
In order to do my other homework (again: procrastination) I've been researching conlangs (constructed languages) to help me make my own constructed language. It's mostly for fun. I'm not going to go all out and say it's going to change the world like an Esperanto fanboy.
Yesterday, Gabby and I tried to find somewhere to eat, but it was difficult to gauge whether or not a restaurant sold real food or just tapas. Serving tapas is a Spanish custom- they give you laughably small amounts of food to go with your alcohol. So, we went to like five restaurants. At one point we decided to try a little bar that had a 6-item food menu. We went in, sat down, talked about how no one had food. During that, a waiter came and asked what we would like to drink without a menu, so we said water- assuming that we were going to get food also. Then he brought out bottled water (you have to say tap water if you want normal water. I keep forgetting) which was 2 Euros per.
Finally, we went to McDonald's and Gabby wussed out of the no sugar pact. So, because she can't eat normal amounts of sugar and I don't waste food, I'm off the no sugar until I arrive back in the States, apparently.
To her credit, she made a good argument. She said that there's a lot of stuff we haven't tried but would like to try.
We used Goudse, (strangely pronounced Gouda, its like they refuse to believe in the existence of the "s") some taco sauce from the store, chopped up tomatoes, and lettuce from a prepackaged salad. It's pretty awesome. You should try it.
Recently, I've been pretty bogged down with school stuff (read: procrastination). Yesterday was a breakthrough in the homework department. I just started writing the international sales agreement and didn't stop until I couldn't think of anything else to add or stipulate.
So, there's six weeks homework done in a day.
Don't ever listen to the teachers who tell you not to cram. Just because they have to overachieve to function doesn't mean you have to, but no. Seriously, kids, stay off drugs and do your homework and obey (even the arbitrary) authority.
/irrelevant thinly veiled criticism of high school
In order to do my other homework (again: procrastination) I've been researching conlangs (constructed languages) to help me make my own constructed language. It's mostly for fun. I'm not going to go all out and say it's going to change the world like an Esperanto fanboy.
Yesterday, Gabby and I tried to find somewhere to eat, but it was difficult to gauge whether or not a restaurant sold real food or just tapas. Serving tapas is a Spanish custom- they give you laughably small amounts of food to go with your alcohol. So, we went to like five restaurants. At one point we decided to try a little bar that had a 6-item food menu. We went in, sat down, talked about how no one had food. During that, a waiter came and asked what we would like to drink without a menu, so we said water- assuming that we were going to get food also. Then he brought out bottled water (you have to say tap water if you want normal water. I keep forgetting) which was 2 Euros per.
Finally, we went to McDonald's and Gabby wussed out of the no sugar pact. So, because she can't eat normal amounts of sugar and I don't waste food, I'm off the no sugar until I arrive back in the States, apparently.
To her credit, she made a good argument. She said that there's a lot of stuff we haven't tried but would like to try.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Big Move
So we had a letter shoved under the door two days ago that informed us of our mandatory move up two floors for renovations. I suspect that there's a dangerous mold living underneath the carpet of the third floor. Waiting for the opportune moment to strike.
Now we are on the fifth floor. I like it better, but we don't have a toaster and Gabby doesn't like it because we no longer have our own bathroom.
I was thinking the internet is better here because it's faster, but then it gave out much more often.
I can live with it. I'm a rugged mountain man.
Anyway, because of the move, it's been difficult to update the blog.
We have decided to stop eating added sugars. So I'm still eating fruits and stuff, but I'm not going to be able to eat the vla *sadness*.
We are looking to give it away before it goes off.
Anyway, we've just been kind of cooped up all day for three days.
Now we are on the fifth floor. I like it better, but we don't have a toaster and Gabby doesn't like it because we no longer have our own bathroom.
I was thinking the internet is better here because it's faster, but then it gave out much more often.
I can live with it. I'm a rugged mountain man.
Anyway, because of the move, it's been difficult to update the blog.
We have decided to stop eating added sugars. So I'm still eating fruits and stuff, but I'm not going to be able to eat the vla *sadness*.
We are looking to give it away before it goes off.
Anyway, we've just been kind of cooped up all day for three days.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Carnival
Look at my cool carnival costume!
You can also check out Gabby (I know you want to)
I want to tell you about the carnival, but I find it really difficult to put into words. There was a lot of drumming, a lot of dancing, a lot of lights, and as if to make those all seem terribly small, way more drinking.
As a consequence of the drinking, glasses were everywhere. Gabby and I had basically made a point of finding weirdly placed glasses to laugh at.
You can find pictures of the glasses in the carnival pictures album to the right, under Links.
I found out something that is surprising. I had no idea that carnaval is not a natively Dutch festival. It's pretty interesting. All the signs were in Dutch AND another language (Limburg perhaps? Dutch people, please correct me). Where the Dutch say "Maastricht" the Limburg people say "Meestrech."
I was a little afraid to sound dumb when I asked "Is that a different language?" because it didn't seem like the same language... but I don't speak Dutch.
I finally asked after having seen several fliers that said "Meestrech" and my curiosity made me ask.
At one bar these guys tried saying something to me in their native tongue. I said I don't speak Dutch. They said "Oh you're English?" I said yes, because I figured they meant "Oh, you speak English?" but I didn't really want to correct them because that would seem pompous. Then they asked me what city in England I was from- so, being too far in the hole already, I told them London.
I'm glad to know a bit of English culture because they went on to quiz me on a number of things about England and I had to keep up the facade. They were asking me which football club I follow (I told them Manchester), what part of London I live in, and what I think about England not using the Euro despite being part of the European Union.
Fortunately, I managed to not look like a fool... I think.
If you want to read about carnival from another more general check out Gabby's blog:
http://thedutchlanddiaries.blogspot.com/2011/03/carnaval-or-carnival.html
I feel like she covered the essence of carnaval very well.
As a consequence of the drinking, glasses were everywhere. Gabby and I had basically made a point of finding weirdly placed glasses to laugh at.
You can find pictures of the glasses in the carnival pictures album to the right, under Links.
I found out something that is surprising. I had no idea that carnaval is not a natively Dutch festival. It's pretty interesting. All the signs were in Dutch AND another language (Limburg perhaps? Dutch people, please correct me). Where the Dutch say "Maastricht" the Limburg people say "Meestrech."
I was a little afraid to sound dumb when I asked "Is that a different language?" because it didn't seem like the same language... but I don't speak Dutch.
I finally asked after having seen several fliers that said "Meestrech" and my curiosity made me ask.
At one bar these guys tried saying something to me in their native tongue. I said I don't speak Dutch. They said "Oh you're English?" I said yes, because I figured they meant "Oh, you speak English?" but I didn't really want to correct them because that would seem pompous. Then they asked me what city in England I was from- so, being too far in the hole already, I told them London.
I'm glad to know a bit of English culture because they went on to quiz me on a number of things about England and I had to keep up the facade. They were asking me which football club I follow (I told them Manchester), what part of London I live in, and what I think about England not using the Euro despite being part of the European Union.
Fortunately, I managed to not look like a fool... I think.
If you want to read about carnival from another more general check out Gabby's blog:
http://thedutchlanddiaries.blogspot.com/2011/03/carnaval-or-carnival.html
I feel like she covered the essence of carnaval very well.
Changing the English Language
Sorry that it's been so long, the carnaval was too active to allow me to post. I will update everything later today.
For now I would like to give you something to ponder on the history of the English language.
"Deutsch" in original English is Dutch (notice the similarity).That's why the Dutch don't call Dutch Dutch. The Dutch call Dutch Nederlands.
English only started calling "Dutch" "German" because in the 15th century they were referring to a specific tribe or a Celtic term for "neighbor" or "noisy" which is pretty funny (I can laugh because I'm German).
That's also why "Pennsylvania Dutch" is a dialect of German.
Even the Germans call the Dutch language "Niederlaendisch" (Netherlandsish).
The word "Netherlands" means "Lowlands" which actually is original English, but every other language still calls them "Lowlands" or "Holland" (which is a misnomer because Holland is only a section of the Netherlands. In French it translates as "Les Pays-Bas" which means "the low countries."
In conclusion, I think English should call German "Dutch" and call Dutch "Netherlandsian" or "lowlandsish" or something and we should maybe change the name of Netherlands to "Lowlands." Just to show how progressive we are.
For now I would like to give you something to ponder on the history of the English language.
"Deutsch" in original English is Dutch (notice the similarity).
English only started calling "Dutch" "German" because in the 15th century they were referring to a specific tribe or a Celtic term for "neighbor" or "noisy" which is pretty funny (I can laugh because I'm German).
That's also why "Pennsylvania Dutch" is a dialect of German.
Even the Germans call the Dutch language "Niederlaendisch" (Netherlandsish).
The word "Netherlands" means "Lowlands" which actually is original English, but every other language still calls them "Lowlands" or "Holland" (which is a misnomer because Holland is only a section of the Netherlands. In French it translates as "Les Pays-Bas" which means "the low countries."
In conclusion, I think English should call German "Dutch" and call Dutch "Netherlandsian" or "lowlandsish" or something and we should maybe change the name of Netherlands to "Lowlands." Just to show how progressive we are.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Carnaval Catch Ups
So, I'm finally caught up (I think). Anything that I may have missed will be posted when it comes to my attention.
The carnaval (translation: carnival- this language, it's so strange and unintelligible) has started in Maastricht! So far I have deduced that every child at age 5 must be given a drum, trumpet, trombone and their choice of a 4th instrument, they are to have mastered each one by age 7 and always keep their 4 instruments at their house. This is the only explanation I see for the fact that it seems 95% of the Maastrichtian population has an instrument and they are all outside playing it as I type.
The other 5% obviously is taught to be a seamstress (they learn only 2 instruments, clearly) because you would not believe the complexity of some of the finer costumes I saw today. I can't begin to explain them adequately. Luckily I have pictures!
You can find them under the "Links" to the right.
The carnaval (translation: carnival- this language, it's so strange and unintelligible) has started in Maastricht! So far I have deduced that every child at age 5 must be given a drum, trumpet, trombone and their choice of a 4th instrument, they are to have mastered each one by age 7 and always keep their 4 instruments at their house. This is the only explanation I see for the fact that it seems 95% of the Maastrichtian population has an instrument and they are all outside playing it as I type.
The other 5% obviously is taught to be a seamstress (they learn only 2 instruments, clearly) because you would not believe the complexity of some of the finer costumes I saw today. I can't begin to explain them adequately. Luckily I have pictures!
You can find them under the "Links" to the right.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Commercial Law and Amsterdam
In my commercial law class, I have to write an international sales agreement as per the Vienna Convention.
During some small talk with Gabby's Amsterdamian friend's dad, I learned he was a lawyer.
Later I asked him what kind of law he was into and he said "international law- I specialize in writing international commercial agreements."
It was so cool. Coolest coincidence yet, easily.
I would have asked him some questions about my homework, but he was going on a trip soon, so I was never able to ask- still cool though.
During some small talk with Gabby's Amsterdamian friend's dad, I learned he was a lawyer.
Later I asked him what kind of law he was into and he said "international law- I specialize in writing international commercial agreements."
It was so cool. Coolest coincidence yet, easily.
I would have asked him some questions about my homework, but he was going on a trip soon, so I was never able to ask- still cool though.
I Amsterdam
Amsterdam's answer to shirts with "I <3 NY" is "I Amsterdam" with the "I Am" in a different color to separate it. I think it's a pretty vague slogan to have, though.
What does that even mean?
It's easy to assume it doesn't mean "I am Sterdam" (if ever I have a child named Sterdam, you can bet he's getting those shirts), but then it's also easy to assume that Amsterdam isn't a verb. I think it means to say "I am Amsterdam" but that's not as catchy. Who needs grammar? When you have turned a proper noun into a verb, catchiness is all that matters.
It's easy to assume it doesn't mean "I am Sterdam" (if ever I have a child named Sterdam, you can bet he's getting those shirts), but then it's also easy to assume that Amsterdam isn't a verb. I think it means to say "I am Amsterdam" but that's not as catchy. Who needs grammar? When you have turned a proper noun into a verb, catchiness is all that matters.
We went to see Gabby's friend for a couple days in Amsterdam.
I enjoyed not one, but TWO museums. The Van Gogh Museum (by the way, you've been saying his name wrong your whole life) and the sex museum. The Van Gogh Museum cost more and didn't allow photography (pfffft). I think my favorite part about it was that in The Van Gogh Museum there was a literal paperweight that cost 119 Euros. I mused about buying it just so, when people asked me what it is, I could say "just an expensive paperweight, basically."
I can assure you that I observed everything in the sex museum with scholarly reverence (look naked people! hahaha!), but no seriously there was some really interesting stuff in there.
It basically just proved that the only difference between our sex crazed culture and that of our great-grandparents is that they didn't have the internet (read: did have the common sense not) to publicize it to everyone.
There was an erotic painting inside a frame that had two slots. The erotic painting was behind a mundane painting of a forest. So, when your mother left (wondering what she did to cause you to have such a boring art life), you could go back to being a heathen.
It was a simpler time.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Valentine's Day
I lied about the last one being the last dinner. Just to catch you off guard.
Being the coolest Casanova on the planet, I took my girlfriend Gabby to a fancy dinner on recommendation of my ZU buddy's roommate.
It was Gabby's first Valentine's Day dinner! We went to a super fancy restaurant where they had a Valentine's couple dinner deal (hey, frugality comes first). It was (risking the sound of being effeminate,) divine. The menu wasn't in English and my Dutch wasn't very good, so the waiter translated it for us- that's going above and beyond the job duties (to my knowledge).
The dinner itself came in three courses and had two of basically everything they offered in the restaurant. I think it was really all just a marketing ploy, but a smart one at least.
The first course had some onion rings on it. I was impressed- it's not often that you see O-rings portrayed in a fancy light.
But have a look at Gabby, ain't she purdy?
Being the coolest Casanova on the planet, I took my girlfriend Gabby to a fancy dinner on recommendation of my ZU buddy's roommate.
It was Gabby's first Valentine's Day dinner! We went to a super fancy restaurant where they had a Valentine's couple dinner deal (hey, frugality comes first). It was (risking the sound of being effeminate,) divine. The menu wasn't in English and my Dutch wasn't very good, so the waiter translated it for us- that's going above and beyond the job duties (to my knowledge).
The dinner itself came in three courses and had two of basically everything they offered in the restaurant. I think it was really all just a marketing ploy, but a smart one at least.
The first course had some onion rings on it. I was impressed- it's not often that you see O-rings portrayed in a fancy light.
Polite pause, don't eat the bread without the main course (if you're pretentious, just kidding my Latvian friend.)
My favorite bit was the dessert. I can't hope to describe adequately the deliciousness that was placed on my plate. The fact that it was beautiful probably tricked me into thinking it was more delicious than if I was blindfolded, but that doesn't affect my enjoyment of it.
I made it big to mirror your envy.
Okay seriously, that's the last dinner story for a while lest I get fat from enjoying the same meals twice.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Another Dinner
I think this is the last dinner for a while, maybe.
I'm trying to catch up to where I am now so I can just blog about what happened on a day to day basis. I wish I would have started this before- it's only been a month and so much has happened that it's difficult to recollect it all.
Moving on,
We met the most adorable little Japanese students, they're all so polite. One of them, the littlest (I'm talking stature here. Not age.) invited us AND our ZU buddy to dinner. It was fun to learn that last semester, our ZU buddy was her ZU buddy. There's nothing like sharing a mutual ZU buddy between buddies, buddy.
She made us a traditional Japanese dinner which consisted of some curry, rice, fish, soup, and seaweed.
Seaweed is delicious. I was wrapping my rice in seaweed and dipping it in the soup, which she said is how lots of Japanese people eat it. I invented an eating style that was already in use- woah.
Studying abroad might be the coolest thing I've ever done.
I'm trying to catch up to where I am now so I can just blog about what happened on a day to day basis. I wish I would have started this before- it's only been a month and so much has happened that it's difficult to recollect it all.
Moving on,
We met the most adorable little Japanese students, they're all so polite. One of them, the littlest (I'm talking stature here. Not age.) invited us AND our ZU buddy to dinner. It was fun to learn that last semester, our ZU buddy was her ZU buddy. There's nothing like sharing a mutual ZU buddy between buddies, buddy.
She made us a traditional Japanese dinner which consisted of some curry, rice, fish, soup, and seaweed.
Seaweed is delicious. I was wrapping my rice in seaweed and dipping it in the soup, which she said is how lots of Japanese people eat it. I invented an eating style that was already in use- woah.
Studying abroad might be the coolest thing I've ever done.
Latvian Dinner
After the room exploration, the hotel provided us with a fancy dinner. I learned from the Europeans that you don't eat the bread that is put in front of you until the main course comes out. Polite pause, y'know? Crazy European etiquette getting in the way of my bread enjoyment.
Wait, was that what got in the way? No, I think it was the fact that upon eating (read:trying to eat) the bread, I realized that it was hard as a rock- not my style, man.
The rest of the dinner was fantastic, though. all of us at the Latvian table (including one Russian, one used-to-be-Russian-gone-Latvian, and the obligatory Dutch guide) talked about differences in culture. That's where I learned that it's perfectly acceptable to steal an unlocked bike in Maastricht. We also talked about driving laws. The fact that you start driving at 14, and possibly without a parent at 15 in Kansas scared our Dutch friend. The fact that my driver's license cost me $10 dollars also shocked all the Europeans. A European driver's license costs more than a few hundred Euros and has to be renewed at full price every 2 years or so.
You are fortunate my fellow Kansans.
Wait, was that what got in the way? No, I think it was the fact that upon eating (read:trying to eat) the bread, I realized that it was hard as a rock- not my style, man.
The rest of the dinner was fantastic, though. all of us at the Latvian table (including one Russian, one used-to-be-Russian-gone-Latvian, and the obligatory Dutch guide) talked about differences in culture. That's where I learned that it's perfectly acceptable to steal an unlocked bike in Maastricht. We also talked about driving laws. The fact that you start driving at 14, and possibly without a parent at 15 in Kansas scared our Dutch friend. The fact that my driver's license cost me $10 dollars also shocked all the Europeans. A European driver's license costs more than a few hundred Euros and has to be renewed at full price every 2 years or so.
You are fortunate my fellow Kansans.
Tour of Maastricht
There are loads of non-Dutch, foreigners here and Americans are by far the minority. In fact, I think Gabby and I are the only ones in this ward of the hospital. We had a "Welcome to the Netherlands!!!" day during which they gave us a tour of Maastricht.
They split us into groups to allow for a more personalized tour- and since all the people who identify with each other stick together, we were in a group of Latvians. The tour really wasn't that exciting, but it was a hilarious and kind of cute time. The man giving the tour was speaking in English (the international language, apparently) and he kept saying things that didn't make any sense. At one point we were at this big garage and he said it's where there was a fireworks place but they moved all the fireworks to the edges of the city so they could get to the houses faster.
I had no idea what he meant, and thought for a while that Dutch people had their fireworks delivered to them. That is until the girl who was helping him was talking to Gabby about it, she told me he meant to say "fire department." Many laughs were had.
We went to the awesomest hotel you will ever see! The rooms were all designed with full autonomy so the well known designers just went wild. My favorite room was the "Swiss Pocket Knife Room." It was just a giant cupboard in the middle of the room- at first I was confused, but then the student from the Hotel School (they have those here) came and hostessed us by opening the cupboard revealing a pullout:
They split us into groups to allow for a more personalized tour- and since all the people who identify with each other stick together, we were in a group of Latvians. The tour really wasn't that exciting, but it was a hilarious and kind of cute time. The man giving the tour was speaking in English (the international language, apparently) and he kept saying things that didn't make any sense. At one point we were at this big garage and he said it's where there was a fireworks place but they moved all the fireworks to the edges of the city so they could get to the houses faster.
I had no idea what he meant, and thought for a while that Dutch people had their fireworks delivered to them. That is until the girl who was helping him was talking to Gabby about it, she told me he meant to say "fire department." Many laughs were had.
We went to the awesomest hotel you will ever see! The rooms were all designed with full autonomy so the well known designers just went wild. My favorite room was the "Swiss Pocket Knife Room." It was just a giant cupboard in the middle of the room- at first I was confused, but then the student from the Hotel School (they have those here) came and hostessed us by opening the cupboard revealing a pullout:
- kitchen
- tv/living room set
- couch and
- bed
Guesthouse/Hospital
I think I forgot to mention this. The Dutch like to recycle buildings. I went to a book store that was inside of a 300 year old church (at least). All the original church furnishing was removed, and a big portable staircase thing was put in, so you can buy books alongside the steeple. The McDonald's I went to was also inside a super old building, and currently the guesthouse I'm living in doubles as a hospital.
ZU Buddy
I was a WU (Washburn University- pronounced "woo") buddy. WU buddies are assigned foreign exchange students to help them out when they have any problems meshing with the differences between their home society and the Midwest America society. Now I have a buddy here provided by Zuyd University- so I feel it is only proper to call her my ZU buddy. Then I like to think people are shocked that I might have a chimpanzee friend here in Holland.
Anyway, she and her roommate invited Gabby and I to dinner and it was fun. It was a good conversation as well. I feel like maybe Europeans like to have intellectual or political chats more often than their American counterparts.
Or maybe I just got lucky- either way, it's enjoyable.
Anyway, she and her roommate invited Gabby and I to dinner and it was fun. It was a good conversation as well. I feel like maybe Europeans like to have intellectual or political chats more often than their American counterparts.
Or maybe I just got lucky- either way, it's enjoyable.
The Mall Experience
A couple quick facts for you about grocery stores in Maastricht:
I thought it was funny (and an isolated incident) until I went to Mcdonald's and ordered a sundae. They had chocolate, caramel, and strawberry. I asked if I could get a chocolate AND caramel sundae and the lady behind the counter just said "No."
It's still pretty funny how they just shoot you down.
As they say we're not in Kansas anymore.
- Eggs aren't refrigerated in the store
- When buying produce, you must weigh it yourself and print out a little sticker that says what the weight of the product is.
- Cool American is a type of Doritos that tastes pretty good... but it is nothing like Cool Ranch like I thought
- I learned that a lot of people put chocolate baking sprinkles on their buttered toast. Don't knock it before you try it, it's yummy.
- Be careful when translating the bread you're buying. Gabby misspelled a word and we thought for a little while that the bread said something about eating people.
I thought it was funny (and an isolated incident) until I went to Mcdonald's and ordered a sundae. They had chocolate, caramel, and strawberry. I asked if I could get a chocolate AND caramel sundae and the lady behind the counter just said "No."
It's still pretty funny how they just shoot you down.
As they say we're not in Kansas anymore.
Bikes
I've been told there are five bikes for every person in the Netherlands. Bicycles are WAY more prevalent here than in the United States.
I bought a used bike at a shop directly next to the train station that I used to arrive in Maastricht.
It cost 125 euros and I only had two problems, the front wheel was squeeking. I googled it and I found out that means the brake pad is kaput so I took it into a bike repair shop where they said it was basically unfixable, so I fixed it by cutting the cable that went from the handbrake to the wheel. I felt like a Mr. Fix-it!
The second problem was a loose chain because the chain fell off twice.
Once again, google provided the solution, but I didn't have the proper tools- so I used my body weight instead of a pry-bar to pull the bike wheel back while I tightened the bolts. I'm a bike repair extraordinaire and I haven't even really seen a bike for nearly 10 years!
Gabby's bike cost her 250 euros and hers hasn't had any problems yet, but I feel like mine was the better deal. But do you know what deal blows both of ours out of the water? Free bikes. After about the second week, my new friends asked me if I paid for my bike since it was so nice. Confused, I replied "...yeah?" to which they responded "Oh..."
Later, I learned that it's a pretty common cultural idea in Maastricht that if you leave your bicycle unlocked, it's public property. One of my friends went to a party on one side of Maastricht using his bicycle, but he was too drunk to ride his bike back, so he left it there unlocked and used a taxi to get back. On his return he just grabbed up another unlocked bike. It's a pretty cool system, I think. I would only be offended if I locked my bike and came out to find it stolen anyway.
I bought a used bike at a shop directly next to the train station that I used to arrive in Maastricht.
It cost 125 euros and I only had two problems, the front wheel was squeeking. I googled it and I found out that means the brake pad is kaput so I took it into a bike repair shop where they said it was basically unfixable, so I fixed it by cutting the cable that went from the handbrake to the wheel. I felt like a Mr. Fix-it!
The second problem was a loose chain because the chain fell off twice.
Once again, google provided the solution, but I didn't have the proper tools- so I used my body weight instead of a pry-bar to pull the bike wheel back while I tightened the bolts. I'm a bike repair extraordinaire and I haven't even really seen a bike for nearly 10 years!
Gabby's bike cost her 250 euros and hers hasn't had any problems yet, but I feel like mine was the better deal. But do you know what deal blows both of ours out of the water? Free bikes. After about the second week, my new friends asked me if I paid for my bike since it was so nice. Confused, I replied "...yeah?" to which they responded "Oh..."
Later, I learned that it's a pretty common cultural idea in Maastricht that if you leave your bicycle unlocked, it's public property. One of my friends went to a party on one side of Maastricht using his bicycle, but he was too drunk to ride his bike back, so he left it there unlocked and used a taxi to get back. On his return he just grabbed up another unlocked bike. It's a pretty cool system, I think. I would only be offended if I locked my bike and came out to find it stolen anyway.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
French
My first week of class (only one) was interesting because the schedule seemed to have a solid 5 hours of French. I learned about the leniency of time in Europe. We had breaks every so often that were like 5-15 minutes long. All in all my 5 hour French class was probably 3 hours long.
Skip Forward to School
All of my classes seemed to be in order until I arrived and we had a foreigner orientation. They handed me a schedule with one class on it. It was kind of funny that no one caught it and double checked, I think.
French was the only class in which I was enrolled and I began to panic a bit when they said it was impossible to change the schedule this late. However, because of the specialness of my circumstance (I don't imagine it was very special) they were able to fix it all and enroll me in all the other classes.
Because of that fiasco, I missed a week of school, but it's alright- my new schedule is awesome with all of my classes on Tuesday. It allows me to have a lot of free time to travel to see the rest of Europe.
I signed up for www.couchsurfing.org
I hope to see Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, and Bucharest. But Romania seems a little too far east. Maybe that will be for another Eurotrip.
French was the only class in which I was enrolled and I began to panic a bit when they said it was impossible to change the schedule this late. However, because of the specialness of my circumstance (I don't imagine it was very special) they were able to fix it all and enroll me in all the other classes.
Because of that fiasco, I missed a week of school, but it's alright- my new schedule is awesome with all of my classes on Tuesday. It allows me to have a lot of free time to travel to see the rest of Europe.
I signed up for www.couchsurfing.org
I hope to see Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, and Bucharest. But Romania seems a little too far east. Maybe that will be for another Eurotrip.
Sleep and Planes
Just so you know, it's impossible to sleep on a plane.
I have tried before this flight and I failed. So, to avoid that awful feeling of being awake for 10 hours doing nothing, I stayed awake all night before and didn't sleep during the 7 hour wait between planes in Houston.
When I finally got on the plane, I was content to go right to sleep. I hobbled through the aisle like a zombie and collapsed in my chair.
It netted me a grand total of 0 hours of sleep. I just stayed there on the chair. Wide awake.
I remember the name of the pilot. Captain English. He was impressive. He landed the plane without even a bump.
Of course, I was hoping primarily to avoid jetlag by sleeping on the plane since we would arrive at 8 am local time. So I felt dizzy for the rest of the day and fell asleep at 10 PM hoping to get 8 hours of sleep.
Obviously those pesky travel gods were angry with me because we slept until around 4 pm the next day. Thank god we arrived so many days early.
I have tried before this flight and I failed. So, to avoid that awful feeling of being awake for 10 hours doing nothing, I stayed awake all night before and didn't sleep during the 7 hour wait between planes in Houston.
When I finally got on the plane, I was content to go right to sleep. I hobbled through the aisle like a zombie and collapsed in my chair.
It netted me a grand total of 0 hours of sleep. I just stayed there on the chair. Wide awake.
I remember the name of the pilot. Captain English. He was impressive. He landed the plane without even a bump.
Of course, I was hoping primarily to avoid jetlag by sleeping on the plane since we would arrive at 8 am local time. So I felt dizzy for the rest of the day and fell asleep at 10 PM hoping to get 8 hours of sleep.
Obviously those pesky travel gods were angry with me because we slept until around 4 pm the next day. Thank god we arrived so many days early.
Departure Looms Ever Closer
Check out my sensationalist title.
There you were thinking all the hard parts were finished, HA! the god's of international travel laugh at your pitiful stamina.
We still had to apply for the visa! No essay here, just $700 US!
Subsequently, I had to get another passport because mine had expired from when I was 13/14. That only cost about $100 in all though, so it wasn't too bad.
And maybe 40-60 dollars on visa pictures. Listen carefully, this will save you a couple trips and dollars:
- Walgreens can't do european style passport photos.
- You are not allowed to smile in European passport photos.
- European passport photos are extremely specific in size, lighting, angle, mouth openness, head ratio, etc.
It was crunch time, I had to make as much money as possible to offset all these unusual attacks on my budget- so began my working every day and for anyone who needed me at anytime. During one of these shift coverings, I managed to slice off the tip of my ring finger- so ended my working as much as possible. Very fortunately for me, my mom had just gotten a new insurance plan that paid out for accidents, so from all the days I missed, I got paid a relatively equal amount. The doctor said my finger would grow back perfectly and I was lucky to not hit anything important on the giant meat slicer.
The winter break for us was particularly long because the Dutch semester would start in February and end in July.
We fly out January 31st and it's already the 29th!
Essays
We still had to do the actual application to study abroad to the university which included an essay about how I would benefit from an extranational experience and then we had to apply and write another essay about essentially the same thing for the Magellan Exchange program. I didn't use the same essay! That would be wrong of me!
The application to my university's exchange cost $50, but it didn't irk me at all because the money would go towards the mandatory travel insurance ($1 per day). The only way the $50 could screw you is if you didn't end up leaving.
The Magellan Exchange application fee, however, was ludicrous! $250! I could already see I would have to work pretty hard prior to leaving in order to live somewhat comfortably over there.
Fortunately, Washburn University offers scholarships for international travel.
Unfortunately, the scholarships all required essays as well. The essay for Washburn had to use the country to which you planned on going as a topic, and I know I'm on the opposite side of the majority of students, but I think that the second essay should have been done even without a scholarship. I think it's important to know about the country in which you're about to spend a semester. I wanted to do mine on the Euro and it's history and use, but nooooo Gabby had already chosen that and she started already (I totally called it first, don't listen to her).
Being a gentleman, I relented and instead did my paper on the history of the Netherlands.
The application to my university's exchange cost $50, but it didn't irk me at all because the money would go towards the mandatory travel insurance ($1 per day). The only way the $50 could screw you is if you didn't end up leaving.
The Magellan Exchange application fee, however, was ludicrous! $250! I could already see I would have to work pretty hard prior to leaving in order to live somewhat comfortably over there.
Fortunately, Washburn University offers scholarships for international travel.
Unfortunately, the scholarships all required essays as well. The essay for Washburn had to use the country to which you planned on going as a topic, and I know I'm on the opposite side of the majority of students, but I think that the second essay should have been done even without a scholarship. I think it's important to know about the country in which you're about to spend a semester. I wanted to do mine on the Euro and it's history and use, but nooooo Gabby had already chosen that and she started already (I totally called it first, don't listen to her).
Being a gentleman, I relented and instead did my paper on the history of the Netherlands.
Harder Than I Thought
So Gabby told me she was leaving for the Netherlands a long time ago, but I hadn't actually thought of it until the time was almost up. She was leaving and that made me sad (because of oxytocin dependence and such, I'm an addict). We had a little argument and she, being insightful, totally called me out on it that I was upset over something other than the jam in the cupboard (first Dane Cook reference: 2 posts in, I'm on a roll!). After admitting that it was about the fact that the relationship was kind of irrelevant if she was leaving next semester, she said "then come with me" and I said "Okay!"
It's moments like these that I think we are going to miss as we get older- moments when we can just say "y'know what? I'm going to Holland"
The life of a student is pretty awesome, the poverty is just a necessary evil.
After all that jazz went down, Gabby and I had to scramble to get all my pretrip documentation in order. It meant more than a few long nights and more than a lot of money that I didn't have *see: poverty*.
The deadline for all the materials was to be 2 weeks after I decided to go, but they were lenient with me and gave me a lot of aid any time I asked. At one point I missed the mandatory meeting on the pretrip checklist, but they provided a recorded video of the speakers for me later. Going to a smaller university definitely has its perks.
It's moments like these that I think we are going to miss as we get older- moments when we can just say "y'know what? I'm going to Holland"
The life of a student is pretty awesome, the poverty is just a necessary evil.
After all that jazz went down, Gabby and I had to scramble to get all my pretrip documentation in order. It meant more than a few long nights and more than a lot of money that I didn't have *see: poverty*.
The deadline for all the materials was to be 2 weeks after I decided to go, but they were lenient with me and gave me a lot of aid any time I asked. At one point I missed the mandatory meeting on the pretrip checklist, but they provided a recorded video of the speakers for me later. Going to a smaller university definitely has its perks.
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