Thanksgiving and Snow!

First of all since I am bursting with excitement, there was actual snow today!!! Snow that stuck to the ground and I cannot get over how excited I am. This picture is once again the view from my room, you guys must be getting sick of it! Also I took it at night which is why it looks weird.

It started snowing while I was in the IND office picking up my resident permit with my friend Julia. Then when we walked outside it started snowing, which is the second time since Saturday. But to our delight we noticed the flakes sticking to the ground. By the time we were done with some other errands Utrecht was starting to take on a white and sparkly feel. Bikes parked all along the streets were covered in a soft dusting of snow, and so were the bike paths. By the time we got home to campus it looked adorable. It is blanketed in about an inch of snow all over. I have my fingers crossed that the snow keeps coming during the night so we can have a snowball fight tomorrow! However the first snow was just as exciting. After a wonderful night on Friday, I woke up Saturday to snow falling outside my window. I immediately jumped up and grabbed my sweatshirt to run outside. I ran across campus to my friend's unit and rang her doorbell. Skipping and jumping up and down with excitement. All my friends from the Netherlands and the East Coast are very amused by my continual excitement of the snow.

I just mentioned that Friday was wonderful, and I will now explain why. On Friday a few Americans and I decided to show our friends what American Thanksgiving is like, despite the fact that dinning hall provided one Wednesday. The thing was we had already planned this Thanksgiving. We asked people to bring food, that way we wouldn't have to do all the cooking. But no one really knew what to bring so two of us biked to the grocery store to get busy. I found an American store where I could get pumpkin pie filling and evaporated milk for pumpkin pie. We also got marshmallows for yams. In the end we made two chickens, roasted vegetables, yams with marshmallows, rice, carrots and we had bread and salad of course. The crust we bought for the pie came in square pieces, since it was not actually intended for pie. So I sort of quilted together a pie crust, inside a cake pan. In the end the pie was delicious and everyone, especially a few skeptical Brits, was in love with the pie. We all had pretty small slices because seventeen people ended up coming! It ended up including 5 Americans, 4 Dutch, 2 British, 1 Argentinean, 2 Italians, 1 Swede, 1 Australian and 1 Brazilian. Of course those are loose national descriptions because 2 of the Americans have European parents and one of the Dutch girls has American Parents. And the mixed nationality goes for a lot of the others too. It was just so fun to have a home cooked meal, to cook with other people while everyone else is sitting around chatting and after the dinner to just sit and talk over coffee for hours. I was really surprised by how nice the whole evening was. It was pretty unconventional though, seeing as how the Americans were outnumbered, we had no turkey and we made our pie in a cake pan. Oh also the pie was accompanied by stroopwafel ice-cream, just to Dutchify it a little bit.

Sinterklaas

First of all the picture is about a month old, but I just thought the tree was pretty. It is the one right outside my window. It is now bare, which is appropriate considering it is supposed to SNOW this week!!!

Okay, on the the main even, Sinterklaas. So a much more entertaining way to learn about Sinterklaas would probably be to read the David Sedaris story "Six to Eight Black Men." So I really suggest you do that, or you can just youtube it and listen to him read it.

Anyways here goes my explanation. Sinterklaas is the Dutch version of Santa. He is a Turkish Bishop who lives in Madrid with his friends, the Piets. The Piets used to be his slaves, but now they are just his friends. There is some controversy about the fact they are black so now the story is that they are covered in chimney soot. Apparently one year on their way to Holland Sint and the Piets sailed through a rainbow and all of them were different colors. However, it is not uncommon to see people in blackface dressed as Piets around now.

Sinterklaas arrives on a boat from Spain in an event that is televised nationally. There is a Sinterklaas news show every night at 7 leading up to the day. Every year there is some doubt whether he will make it in time because the Piets mess things up. All the Piets have different roles, there is Listening Piet who hangs out around rooftops all year making sure the children are good. But there is also navigation Piet who never fails to get them lost each year. The city the "real" Sinterklaas comes into is changed each year, but on the same day helper Sinterklaases go through each city. All my Dutch friends have assured me that they were always able to tell the difference between the real Sinterklaas and the fake ones.

After Sinterklaas comes into the country Dutch children leave their shoes by the fire place, but now more often the radiator, and sing Sinterklaas songs before bed. They also often leave him a poem and a bowl of water and a carrot for the horse. Some mornings they will wake up to find candy in their shoes! I have already gotten candy in my shoes twice!! Once in Eindhoven and then also in my unit on Monday night. On Monday Sint and Piet even left us a poem. All of this continues until December 5, which is the feast day of Sinterklaas (St. Nicholas). On Sinterklaas, Sinterklaas shows up in the afternoon with a bag of gifts. Some families actually hire a Sinterklaas to show up, and others distract the kids while a giant pile of gifts gets left outside the door. If you are bad though, you get taken back to Spain. Apparently Sinterklaas and Piet used to beat bad children, but now they only pretend to.

For the adults December 5 is also very nice. Families exchange gifts, make eachother something that has to do with that person. It can be something teasing them about their personality or something nice and they also write each other poems. Groups of friends also do this, it is much like a Secret Santa. I am doing this with a group of people on campus, maybe half of whom are actually Dutch.

Sinterklaas season has been really fun because all the Dutch students are so enthusiastic about spreading the love of Sinterklaas. They even found out where the real Sinterklaas was coming this year for us. I could not go because of rehearsal, but some of my friends went and brought me a Sinterklaas beard and hat! There are also sweets that are typical of Sinterklaas season. Mostly pepernoten, which are like mini gingersnap cookies.

Long story short Sinterklaas season is really fun and exciting. It definitely makes up for the lack of Thanksgiving season. It also makes Christmas just about the Christmas story and family instead of gift giving.

It's been funny to explain Santa to Dutch people when they ask. They are completely baffled by the fact he lives on the North Pole and that he just knows if children have been good and bad. Its made for some amusing conversations. I've also had to explain Thanksgiving a few times lately, which has been a little amusing. They made a delicious Thanksgiving dinner in dinning hall tonight. They had turkey, cranberry sauce, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans and really deluxe ice cream cakes for dessert! I did not know it was happening and it was a really nice surprise! So not to worry, I still had Thanksgiving, all the way over in Europe. I will actually get two, because I am making dinner with some friends on Friday. Not on Thursday because we are going to a concert!

Anyways to finish this thing off,

I am thankful for the chance to live in another country (even if it means being away from so many people I love for such a long time).

I am also thankful that I have found such great friends here to keep me company and take me in during the holiday season. I feel really blessed. I also miss everyone back in the states and my friends spread out all over the world right now! So I hope where ever you are that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving full of good food and even better people.

Keep Calm and Carry On

Much to the exasperation or envy or many of my friends I went to London last weekend! My friend Sarah and I caught one of those beautiful discount airline flights Thursday evening from the Dutch city of Eindhoven to head to London with the plan of seeing Harry Potter. We ended up not being able to see it Thursday, we didn't get tickets fast enough. So instead we explored the area around our hostel, which was off of the London Bridge tube stop for any one who is wondering. We decided to make it an early night though so we could get up and go in the morning!

After a delicious breakfast of toast, fruit and cereal provided by the hostel we went on one of the New Europe free walking tours. Luckily for us out guide was an actual Londoner, so he knew some funny anecdotes about some famous places. We saw Buckingham Palace, and this time I actually saw the changing of the guards. We then walked to St. James and after we went down Pall Mall, to Trafalgar Square and made our way on to Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Our tour ended with the story of Guy Fawkes. It was fun since I ended up seeing most of the main sites I missed on my last tour of London!

After that Sarah and I decided to head to Camden for lunch! After getting some delicious sandwiches involving goat cheese we explored record shops and other funky places for a while. After we had gotten our fill of Camden we went to go find Platform 9 & 3/4 in true spirit of the weekend. Sadly though they are currently renovating part of King's Cross Station and it is blocked off. Or at least that is what we think...

By the time we walked out of Kings Cross (around 4:30) it was already dark! So we decided to grab some coffee and just walk around and explore. We ended up at St. Paul's and walked across the Millennium Bridge to the Globe and the Tate Modern. After that we decided to go see how much the London Eye would cost - almost 20 pounds! eek! So we decided to walk around the Christmas fair that was happening around the area. It was really nice, and it was fun to hear familiar Christmas carols.

Then we grabbed a quick dinner and went to pick up our stuff from our hostel! We were seeing Harry Potter at midnight and had a 7am flight so we went straight from the movie to the air port! We saw the movie in Leicester Square which was pretty exciting! The movie was fantastic and all of you should see it :) After the movie it was so cool to walk out into the streets of London, since parts of the movie were shot there! We then caught a night bus and made the surprisingly long journey to Stansted airport.

After convincing the man in Eindhoven airport to let me back in the country despite my lack of residence permit (grrrr College Hall grrr) Sarah and I were in Eindhoven with some time to kill. A fire in Utrecht Central Station had prevented our friend we were staying with from getting there the day before. So he was still in Utrecht waiting for his brother to pick him up since no trains were running. Sarah and I wandered into a cafe and had some wonderful coffee. After which we explored downtown. Eindhoven is cute, it is certainly not very pretty, but it has a nice atmosphere. It is the town Phillips electronics' headquarters is located it. So even the football team is named after Phillips electronics (PSV)After our friend Erwin and his dad picked us upwe spent a really nice day at Erwin's house. Where there were non-dorm showers, constant fresh coffee and a home cooked meal. I am not sure if the Dutch students understand how wonderful it is when they take us home for the weekend. While I do love UCU and consider it home, there is something irreplaceable about home cooked food and a family atmosphere. After dinner we watched a movie, and then we watched a PSV v Ajax football match. Ajax is the Amsterdam team and there is a pretty big North-South rivalry in the country so everyone was pretty involved in the game. It ended up being 0-0, so a pretty stressful but unexciting game. Although at the very end one of the players bit another one, which was very weird. After the football game we all put our shoes in front of the radiator and sang a Sinterklaas song. The next morning we all had a chocolate S in our shoes!( I will explain all the wonderful Sinterklaas traditions soon I promise! ) After singing songs Erwin took us to see some of the Eindhoven night life. We ended up trying mango beer which was served in a half of a coconut. I was not really a fan, it tasted mostly like mango juice. But the night was really nice, and going to sleep after almost 40 hours awake felt wonderful!

It was a really nice weekend, and coming back to UC felt wonderful! Especially since Sinterklaas also came to my unit last night. So this means I must explain Sinterklaas tomorrow!

Typical Dutch, Typical Dutch

My Dutch professor and some Dutchies are fond of saying "typical Dutch" to explain things. I love this phrase.So I am going to tell you two very quick, very typical Dutch things that happened today.

The first is that I went to the humanities library downtown with my art class to work on my research paper. While we were in the library it started raining and the wind started blowing. The ride home was very intense. I feel as though I have been officially baptised into living here, that or the weather just slapped me in the face. At times the wind was blowing so hard that itfelt like I was peddling and going nowhere. Add to that the the rain being whipped into my face in 40 degree weather and the sticks and leaves that also managed to find my face. By the end of the ride my friend Bella and I were laughing about the insanity of the weather but also could not believe that our faces were stinging as if we had just been slapped. Apparentlly this is "typical Dutch"

The second thing is much nicer. Today is Sint Maarten's Day (Saint Martin). The most famous story of this Saint is one of him cutting his cloak in half to give to a dying beggar and that night he dreamed of Jesus wearing his cloak. He is a big deal in Utrecht and the emblem of the half cloak is on the seal of the University here. On this day Dutch children walk around with lanterns and sing songs at houses. They also get candy in exchange for this sometimes. They do not really do Halloween here and I think this may be their version. I was lucky enough to witness some of this because I biked off campus to get coffee with a friend at a cafe after dinner. On the way we passed groups of children with gorgeous lanterns. Also while we were sitting in the cafe groups would come in and a sing in exchange for candy from the workers. It was really nice to see and brightened up my night!

Also SINTERKLAAS COMES THIS WEEKEND!!! It's televised nationally and everything. I will explain all the wonder and hilarity that is Dutch Christmas celebrations soon.

Paris, Je t'aime

Paris seems to have stolen my heart. According to my friend Wincy who is currently living there it happens to everyone, she says they put something in the water. The city has this nostalgic quality to it and it really couldn't be more different from Berlin. It is all white stones, tree lined streets, churches and of course the cafes. Walking around was pretty much a recap of my art history class between the Gothic churches and our visit to the Louvre where I got to come across as very knowledgeable by regurgitating everything I had studied before my midterm the week before. So that I don't forget anything I will go about this chronologically:

Thursday:

We caught an early flight from Berlin to Paris and thankfully despite the strikes we made it there and found our hostel all by 1 pm. We immediatly left our hostel, which was named OOPS! for some unknown reason, to get some french food. I had a croque monsieur and my friends had crepes. The task of ordering fell to me and my friend Sarah who are the only ones who speak any French. I managed to mix up my languages and threw some Dutch words in there by accident. Oops, but in the end we got our food and headed out. We were staying in the 13th district quite close to the 5th, which is the student district. So we decided to walk to Notre Dame since it isn't too far. After wandering down Rue Moufftard, an adorable street that is a student hang out, we ended up at Notre Dame. We first went inside to admire the windows and architecture. Then we decided we would brave the stairs despite how our feet were feeling after all of the walking we had been doing in. So we got in line, the time ended up flying by when we realized we were standing in front of a Dutch family. It turns out they live quite close to Utrecht. We practiced a little Dutch on them and the little boy practiced his Engish on us. It was pretty adorable. I am very glad we decided to brave the Notre Dame stairs because the view was incredible and the gargoyles were awesome! I have no idea how the sculptors thought some of them up, but they are so cool! After we had had our fill of flying buttresses and gargoyles we meandered back to our hostel to shower and unwind a little. Then we headed out and found a really good sandwich shop run by a very sweet older French woman. We all got this special she had where you could buy a sandwich, dessert and drink for very cheap. My sandwich had sun-dried tomatoes in it and tasted like heaven. I also got some delicious custard and berry thing. After we had filled our stomachs to our heart's content we went to see the Eiffel Tower! At night it is all lit up and every so often it flashes like a giant disco globe. It is one of those really touristy, but really exciting things. We got in this giant el elevator and went all the way to the top. This time we got to see the entire city all lit up at night. We had to switch elevators a few times and the last elevator to get all the way up was a little unnerving for me, but in the end it was worth it. It made a really lovely first day in Paris.

Friday

On Friday we decided to go see the Arc de Triumphe and wander down Champs-Elysees, so of course Sarah and I sang the song all morning. It was sort of amusing because in French class we learn about typical French breakfast and that they drink Orngina and we sing songs like Champs-Elysees. So Sarah and I both felt like we were in our French book a little. After we had looked at all the high priced stores we could stand we jumped on the Metro to go to Cimetiere Père Lachaise. It is the place Oscar Wilde, Proust and Jim Morrison are buried along with a bunch of other famous people. It sounds a bit morbid to go visit graves but the cemetery is really cool. There are huge tombs and winding streets lined with trees in fall colors. Also it is on a hill, it is not a place I would want to be after dark. If you think of a cemetery in your mind, this is it. Really it was very beautiful. After that we grabbed some food and headed home to change really quickly. Before we headed to the Louvre. The Louvre has a special deal on Wednesday and Friday evenings it is open late and if you are under 26 you can get in free after 6 pm. So we wandered into the Louvre and explored for a few hours running around the whole museum to make sure we saw all our favorite paintings. The nice thing about going so late is it actually was not too crowded, and I have decided I really like being in museums at night, there is something almost magical about it. After the Louvre we jumped on the Metro to go meet Marine and her boyfriend. Marine stayed with me and my family about 5 years ago for a month and I hadn't seen her since. We met up at a wine and cheese bar, which is very French according to Marine. However we were too late for cheese so we ended up leaving. We went to the only place open and serving food, Hippopataums. This was very embarassing for Marine and her boyfriend because apparently it is somthing like Denny's in America. It is a chain with very late hours, execept they food is actually alright. The waiter was very amused by us and made everyone order in French. Marine and Arnaud taught us the correct way of tasting wine and when it is correct to say "It has leg." It ended up being a very nice evening.

Saturday

This was our first relaxing day since we left Utrecht. On Saturday morning I went with my friend Alisha to help her buy French perfume. Since she doesn't speak any French I got to translate for her the whole time. It ended up being really fun and I got a few perfume samples for helping out. When we left the store we were probably flooding the street with flowery smells. We met up with my friend from Santa Cruz Wincy who is currently studying in Paris. We all went to a mosque where they have a bath house. The mosque is completely gorgeous, they also serve tea and food there. It was pretty cheap to get in and we were able to lay on warm tiles in a steam room for hours and wash ourselves with amazing smelling soap. It was a very non touristy place, I only heard people speaking French there. It was a much needed break from all the running around and it was so nice to see Wincy. After the spa we wandered across a park to find a cafe where we all got croque monsieur. After that Alisha and I went home to relax a little and do some reading. We got home just in time, as soon as we got inside we heard thunder and it started POURING outside. We sat in our hostel room and watched people on the street being blow in the wind and counting the seconds between lightning in thunder. We met back up with our two other friends and went next door for dinner. It was our treat to ourselves to eat a delicious more expensive meal. I had risotto that still makes my mouth water to think about and some amazing melon sorbet. After dinner we went to a jazz club that is in an old dungeon. We ended up not being able to sit where we could see the musicians, but they had a screen next to us where they were broadcasting the performance and we could still here them perfectly. It was a tribute to Dizzy Gillespie and I really liked it.

Sunday

Sunday is the day to go the La Maire, the 4th district. That is what every single person told me when giving me advice about Paris. It has the best falafel in the world apparently. Also most stores are closed Sundays, but the Jewish quarter in La Maire is very busy Sunday mornings. We decided to wander around and look at the buildings before we ate to build up our appetite. I had shoarma in a pita sandwhich and it is the best shoarma I have had. After La Maire we went to check out the catacombs. I was a little unsure if I would do this. First of all, I do not think people have any business wandering around underground. The idea of being underground just freaks me out a little. Add to that the fact that the catacombs take you through a mass grave. For some reason I did not realize they actually let you walk around next to the bones, but you do. You walk through lots and lots of bones. It ended up being a cool experience, mostly because of all the inscriptions. When you first enter the part that is the mass grave there is a sign that says "Stop. This is the empire of the dead." The grave is down there because bodies of plague victims were infecting people in surrounding areas. So they put them down in the quarry below the city. There are inscriptions all around saying famous quotes about death in French and Latin. Between Gabi's knowledge of Latin and mine and Sarah's French we could figure most of them out. I was pretty glad to get to the stairs at the end though, it was pretty creepy down there. After the catacombs we took the metro up to Montmartre. I really like it up there. We took a tour starting at the Moulin Rouge. From there we saw the cafe and vegetable market from Amèlie which was really exciting! A lot of Montmartre is pretty familiar looking from scenes in the movie. Amèlie is one of my favorite movies so I really liked seeing all of it. We also saw some hang outs of Van Gogh's and Picasso's. We also went to Sacre Coeur. I think it might be a little bigger than the one in Hollister. It is a gorgeous church, from there we got another gorgeous view of Paris at night.

Monday

I only mention Monday because I got to see one of my friends from high school on Monday! My friend D who was a foreign exchange student my junior year of high school happened to be in Paris for work the weekend I was there. We had tried to meet up but I ran out of phone credit so I couldn't call him or receive calls or texts. In the end he caught me on facebook and we grabbed a very quick cup of coffee. It was really fun to see him and was a nice end to the trip! At about 3 we said goodbye to Paris and boarded a train home to Utrecht. It was nice coming home, because campus felt like home. It was also easier to come back from vacation since I am not leaving Europe yet.