BOOKS!

Day 21: Whoops Should Have Studied! 

Well this morning I woke up at 4 and attempted to study some dutch, but I did not feel so well and ended up taking more naps then I did studying. The combination of not studying last night and not so much this morning was definitely reflected in my grade....I got a 64%. I wasn't very happy because the test ended up only being over 6-10, which completely ruined my game plan. Because I know 1-5 pretty well and there was only 50 questions I thought that I could do pretty well. I knew that I would have gotten all of these right, and that would have brought my oops up! Oh well it was the only mess up that I have had thus far so no big deal, now I know where to focus when I am studying for the final for thursday.

This is my Italiano that I had from the Friesian baker for lunch! It was pretty decent not my favorite but filled me up. 

After dutch Brittany, Freddy, Jazmyn and I went on a hunt for our books! I ended up deciding that I am not taking the Environmental Science class and am taking Globalization and Modern European History. I only spent 32 euro on my globalization book, and am still hunting for the history book. On our way back from stopping at the Hoogvliet for our dinner tomorrow we decided to take pictures. I didn't take too many but there are some different ones.

A really sweet door!  

QUACK QUACKS!!!! I realize that I have a lot of pictures of ducks, but I really miss wildlife!

I call this one, "I will follow him". 

I loved this old car as I passed by it! 

I call this one bike attack! Please notice that someone's weave was pulled out and run over by this bike! 

I will talk to you all tomorrow and let you know how making potato soup goes!

The Seagulls Are Minions for Mermaids

Day 20: And then there was snow! 

Well today was one of those days. It started off with an early morning of dutch studying, which payed off because I got a 90% on my test! I had to break out the coffee.....

This was my breakfast....Dutch and Coffee! 

While studying my dutch in the kitchen with Brittany, Jess the Texan runs in and is all giddy because it had snowed! Granted it was more like a dusting, but we now have snow here in Leiden!

Jess, the Texan, in the snow! She was so excited she even saved a snow ball in the fridge.

This car was happy that it snowed! 

 On our way to dutch class we were almost attacked by a seagull. This is where the title of today's blog comes from. As we walked past the angry bird I could only think of the little mermaid. This is when an elaborate story came about. The seagulls are the mermaids' minions. This is why they tear up trash bags and look for trinkets. Of course the mermaids live in the canals as well! But anyway that is kind of a side story.

Nothing too exciting happened in dutch class as I believe every single person in class was completely burned out. We had class for 4.5 hours which really sucked. Brittany, Jess, and I decided that we would not study and watch Despicable Me, because I had never seen it.

This week I should mention a group of eight of us are doing something different for dinner. We only have to cook for one day! Today Summer and Tyler made empinadas and we had ginger cookies with home made frosting for dessert. After dinner Brittany and I changed our itinerary for our spring break trip. After that I attempted to study dutch, but kind of gave up as I could not for the life of me focus. Tomorrow we have a test over lessons 1-10. It should be interesting.

Parsley Is Just a Garnish!

Day 19: You know that you were born in the 90's when.... 

Alright everyone....I know that it may seem like I skipped a day as yesterday I thought it was day 17 and today was day 18, but I realized that I had two day sixes. My bad! I fixed it, but I will not be redoing my videos, so you will just have to deal with the hellos being for the wrong days. As for what I did today....It really amounts to cooking...planning.....cooking...and talking. I didn't even change out of my pajamas, hence the reason why I am typing this all out instead of doing a video blog!

So this morning I woke up around 10 just in time to see the girls off to church. I didn't wake up in time to go, and I haven't decided how I feel about going to church or not. After Caryn and Jessica left Brittany and I made breakfast, well Brittany made breakfast and I cut stuff up! We had basically hash-browns with peppers and onions on them. Below is a picture. With a ton of other stuff as our yogurt is about to expire and we wanted grapes.

Also today is the day of funny faces when pictures are taken of me. I am not smiling the typical Kristin smile in any of my pictures. This is me with my breakfast potatoes! 

Brittany and my full breakfast. It took up half of the table! 

After Breakfast/Brunch Brittany and I started planning our spring break trip and found cheap tickets. When I saw that we would be going to Dublin for 60 US dollars both Brittany broke out into our victory dances, and this is when I wished we would have recorded it! Everyone on our hall heard our excitement! 

This is the rough outline. We are going to fill in the days with what we want to see and info about flights, buses, etc. Didn't get that far today.

Both Freddy and Jazmyn are coming with me and Brittany on our adventure! While planning our trip, Jazmyn's door stopped working and she was locked out so all hung out in Brittany's room. Basically we got hungry and caved in and ate Dominoes pizza. Everything else is closed on sundays, and it was really cold outside. Then we decided that that was not enough and made soup. It was so good. Brittany cooked it while I cute up most of the broccoli, cauliflower, onions, and green and orange peppers. I have pictures from dinner below. Remember, now smiling Kristin today. Also I should mention that these are Brittany's pictures I stole from her.

Me with my madagascar penguin hair style. My bangs were sticking straight up! This is also my attempt at looking like a penguin. Pretty poor. 

I didn't want Brittany to take a picture of me so I gave her my angry eyes. 

MMM LEKKER!!!!!! Broccoli and Cauliflower cheese soup. This is where the parsley comes into play. as it is sprinkled on top to make our soup look really professional! 

 During dinner we talked about what we used to do as kids, where the other title of this blog comes from. Everything was discussed from pokemon and disney princesses to beanie babies and doug. It was a great time that made me want to be a little kid again! Now it is time for some serious dutch studying as I have put it off all day and need to study as we have a test tomorrow. My goal is a 90%! 

Missing American Food!

Day 18: I'm On A Boat! 


Because I looked semi cute I wanted to do a video blog! Enjoy!

Here is the man on the boat playing his conch shell! 

Adventure Time!

Day 17: Tickets To Berlin! 


So today wasn't that exciting again! Sorry!

A row of sweater trees! 

I thought that this was cute! 

Not only is it a sweater tree, but the sweater is made with Plarn!!!! I was so happy to see this! 

This would be sweater that I would wear with the leaves sewn on! 

This is the first thing you see in Leiden. I think it is a replica of one from the 16 hundreds. 

Here is another picture of the windmill. 

Crackers with Peanut Butter and Jelly

Day 16: HELL NEE!!!!

Sorry about all the coughing and talking really fast! Hope you can understand it all!

Also sorry I have no pictures, because of the weather I did not get any. Oh another side note! I saw a new type of bird today. I am thinking that it is some kind of duck, but I could be way wrong. I believe it had a light powder blue bill and a tan body with a black tail that stuck out. Again could be wrong, but want to share! Also I remembered the name of the funny looking black bird here, Coot! I will get you a picture of one tomorrow!

BEEEP!!!!!

Day 15: I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE BEEP IS!!!

So since I am behind I did a video blog for tonight! I am sure some of you are happy as I have heard you like them better. Sorry I kind of rambled. I didn't make a list of what all I wanted to say. Happy viewing!

Hot Chocolate and Koffiebroodt, my afternoon snack! 

Integration Activity

Day 14: Just Another day of Dutch. 

So I am sorry that I did not get this up yesterday, but I had to do a lot of studying as we had a test today. Again I had dutch for four hours we read through 2 lessons, and I couldn't tell you what we learned. After four hours of what I almost feel is gibberish. We learned about an integration activity that is apart of our program. It is supposed to help us understand the dutch culture. We can do anything from help at an animal shelter to volunteer with Amnesty International. To be honest I don't know what I am going to do. I am contemplating joining the International Student Club at Leiden University. I have heard that people are really cool, plus I am already on their facebook page. This kept us in the classroom for about another hour, which really sucked. Then We went to V and D again to mail stuff off and walked home.

For dinner Brittany and I had fried potatoes with mushrooms in it and steamed broccoli. After dinner I studied dutch and facetimed with Taylor. Sorry this entry isn't very exciting.

I Could Be A Princess....

Day 13: ...If Only I Could Learn Dutch! 

Well guys I told you that I would let you know how I did on the test today and I got a 85%. I am of course not happy with it because they were silly mistakes like spelling errors that got me, but I survived another day of dutch class. What I learned today....well that my professor likes to call on me when I am taking notes and not listening....then when I ask him to repeat the question he says it faster and faster so it literally sounds like giberish. I am of course the only person that he did this for. Guess I shouldn't take notes and just sit there. I also learned that if a prince and I got married I would first become a princess and if he were the first in line to the thrown I would become the queen, but my professor could never become the king. I don't know why, but I was his example in class today. It could have been because I was all dressed up and was wearing my owl earrings (for wisdom- Note: doesn't help). I also was really giggly, probably due to the fact that I had been up for 4 hours studying dutch on and off throughout the morning. Oh I also learned that it isn't ok to be late for something here, but you can keep is in class for 45 minutes past the end of class. Oh well good news, no test tomorrow! Instead of studying this evening Jess, Brittany and I went to V and D to pick up some stuff and tried a new store Brookers which has really cheap stuff to decorate your room with, as well as little wooden shoes that fit on your fingers. I have been looking all over for wooden shoes that will fit on my fingers and was really excited that I found them! After our shopping extravaganza we, well Brittany made potato soup and I learned.

The Recipe: 

onion

potatoes 

chicken broth 

pepper 

milk 

flour

.....and a LOT of patience. 

Brittany almost kicked me out of the kitchen because I kept asking if it was done yet. Also please note that the recipe does not have measurements because you just throw it in there. We also added in broccoli and next time might through in some bacon! 

The potato broccoli soup! YUMMY! 

Further words of advise when eating this. Block out time for a nap as it puts you in a food coma! 

After dinner we attempted studying dutch, but got easily distracted by youtube and the lonely island videos as well as some cat videos. 

Anyway sorry for the boring day. Tomorrow won't be much more thrilling. We are hoping to do some traveling this weekend so stay tuned for that! 

Chinese Food and Chocolate!

Day 12: Happy Birthday Steph! 

Here is the swan dancing from yesterday! 

A close up of my beautiful lunch! Chicken and mushrooms! YUMMY! Please notice the carrot flower!  

Me with my food! I like this picture better than the one of me actually smiling with my food! 

Chocolate....enough said! 

A close up of my chocolate but today! Little fishes and starfish come in the package too! 

You Have Been Farkled!

Day 11: Just Hanging Out!

So I did a video blog again tonight as I am tired and don't want to spend too much time on this, pretty much all you need to know is in the video.

You all might want to know the rules of Farkle so here they are.

What you need: 6 dice, a piece of paper and pencil, and a very enthusiastic score keeper. You can play this with two or more people.

Point system:

one 1 = 100
one 5 = 50
3 of any die multiply the face value of one die times 100 - Example: three 3 = 300 points Make a note here that three 1's equals 300.
3 pairs = 1500
2 pairs of triplets = 2000
a straight = 1000
4 of the same die = 1000

What you need to know to play:

You roll the dice as many time as you can as long as you don't farkle. A farkle is when you roll and you don't have any of the combinations above.

Every time you roll you have to keep at least one die, but can keep up to as many in a round as you want.

If you can play all of your dice then you get to pocket the points gained in the first set of rolling and then roll again.

You must say you want the points that you have in hand before you farkle or you  don't get the points.

You can keep playing off of other people. Say they keep only 4 dice in their hand and leave two still free to play, well you can roll those two dice or take all six. If you take the two you can add onto what ever points they had gained, but if you take the six you start all over.

You can play up to 10,000 points, but any number can be picked depending on how fast you want your game to go.

The first person to crack 10,000 isn't the last to go. After 10,000 or the goal number has been met the rest of the group has a chance to roll again.


Lastly.....

I feel like this game would be easier to explain when you play it, so if you are confused hit me up when I get back into the states and we can play!

GEBOORTEDATUM!

Day 10: Testing the Water! 

So today started out as a really really early morning due to my lack of studying yesterday. I studied and practiced my Dutch from 5 am until we left for class at 8:30. I think I listened to Geboortedatum, which means birthdate, 30 times just to get the pronunciation right. Dutch is not easy like our Professor says, but he was right that listening to it helps. I am so glad that is friday because class is shorter. Our professor lives a good 3 hour train ride away so we get out by noon! BEST Day Ever! Oh good news guys I got a 100% on my first dutch quiz. We will see how monday goes when we are tested over lessons 1, 2, and 3. After dutch I had my first bike ride in town, and let me tell you it was hilarious! The bike seat wasn't in the right position, but I thought that I could ride it. I couldn't. My feet didn't reach both peddles so I kept falling over when I would attempt to get on. After what I am guessing any dutch person would have found hilarious I finally beat my bike seat down and could ride it home to Huge de Grootstraat for some lunch. I just want to say that I am really out of shape because I died on the way back, plus my butt is killing me from the seat or maybe the brick roads, either way my butt is really sore. After lunch as a group we went to the Pilgrim Museum.

This museum is really amazing. I didn't get a picture of the outside because it started down pouring, but I got lots of pictures of the things on the inside. But the house deserves some explaining first. It is the oldest building in Leiden and was built in 1370 and still has a lot of the original things that would have been found in the house like the tile and fire place. Some things had been updated, but when I mean updated I mean like 1500 updated nothing new and modern besides one light in a section of the house. This isn't even the coolest part about this museum! Nothing is behind glass so you see the house as live in condition. It was breath taking to literally step back in history and see life then. I couldn't imagine a family living in a room smaller than my dorm room and not wanting to kill each other! But I have talked enough, and I know you all want to see some pictures so here you go!

Hunting was only for the well to do, but in this house built for a poor man you find it hanging.  Of course there is a piece of the puzzle missing here. This house used to be for priest and they all came from noble blood, hence they could hunt. In the back of this picture notice the beam that runs in front of the fire place (the big white thing). This building at one point was used as a butcher shop and once a family bought it they tore down the wall to find a beautiful original fire place! 

Here is the original tile, and right in front of the fire place there is a stool on the left for the adult to sit in and make dinner or warm the fire and a child's seat to the right. I bet that would pass safety regulations today! 

Here is a good picture of the fire place. This would all be a brick red color to give contrast to the white above. 

The wood here found above the fire would have had plaster on it and been painted. The wood was roughed up so that the plaster would stick. 

Here you can see the original paint color of the fire place with the plaster still attached! 

This cute little guy was tucked in the corner. 

I thought this contraption to move the kettle up and down was ingenious! 

At night the parents would place the peat they used to heat there home in here where it would still be lit and then the next day they would place it back in the fire. This way their home stayed warm all the time and they didn't have to worry so much about catching the house on fire. I also learned that sequestering peat from peat bogs is illegal in the EU because of the bad effects on the environment, but two countries still do it. Germany does it and sells the peat to Africa so they can use it for heating their homes and Ireland uses it in making whiskey somehow. 

Me in a chair that is from 1200!!!! I was so scared I would break it when I sat in it! 

The new meets the old! Here is a picture taken from inside the house out onto the street. 

So the rest of my day wasn't too eventful. I learned the weather here is really weird. We went into the pilgrim museum with sunshine came out to lots of rain, and while walking for maybe a minute or two it started hailing! There were no causalities, just some grumpy wet girls! After it stopped raining we headed home and attempted to do laundry which took forever! I am pretty sure all in all it took from 4-9 before I took my still wet clothes out of the drier and hung them around my room. May I also add that this was only a load of laundry and my two towels I washed separately.

How am I supposed to know what to do! 

After fighting with the washing machine we all went out for the first time. I met lots of really cool people and went to my first club! Didn't like the fact that beer was spilt all down the side of me, but found my new love! Rose beer! It tastes like candy all! I only had one for all you wondering!

You Should Eat Healthy.

Day 9: Another day in dutch class. 

Sorry it is late and that I did another video blog. I will write out what I did for day 9!

Ik Ben Sofie Van Delft!

Day 8: The Start of Dutch Class

I did another video so that I have time to study my Dutch lesson.

I also decided against uploading a picture of my groceries because that would take too much time to upload. And I need to know more than "Ik ben Sofie van Delft" for my test tomorrow.

I Don't Know What I Ate But It Was Good!

Day 7: Amsterdam 

Again I am lazy tonight and did a video blog!

Here are pictures from Amsterdam!

This was our tour guide! 

Swans! The only type of wildlife that I have seen thus far are birds. I guess I am craving some nature.

QUACK QUACKS! The boat was moving really fast past this guys, but I had to get a picture of them! 

This bike here is holding on for life! The canals eat up bikes like no ones business! We had passed by a bike parking station that held 2,500 bikes. In that parking garage alone there would be more bikes than Morningside students. 

I can't remember the exact name of this canal phenomenon, but there are seven canals in a row pictured here.

This house was on the prince canal and in it there could be up to 40 rooms. Who needs 40 rooms in your house. Especially when you have to get all your furniture in by using a pulley system located on the roof of your house.

These stairs are the original stairs in that old house with the secret church in it. They are oak and date back to 1668. Walk with caution. 

When the queen comes to town this is where she goes, and guess what the queen showed up while we were in the Amsterdam museum. We had just missed her and saw her body guards walk in behind her. The goal is to see her sometime while here.

This is the Buddhist temple. It smelled so good in here, and had some pretty amazing flowers like fresh tropical birds. 

This is lunch.....Oh my Goodness I forgot to mention my mushroom soup! It was AMAZING! It definetely warmed me up after all that walking. Also on my plate is the unknown salami sandwich and the tart yogurt drink. Yes for all you wondering that is a tray under my plate. Don't say anything....I don't want to hear it!!!! 

This was a really cool map that was in the East Indian Trading Company room. It showed what each country traded. 

So I talked about Napoleon, here is a picture of him when he was the big man in charge! 

Goliath 

David

Me in some kind of armor! I was so excited to take a picture in it that I forgot to look at whose armor I was jumping into. 

I amsterdam! I couldn't help but sit down after all the walking!

Me eating my flansen or flan with whip cream and strawberries on it. 

A better picture of my flan with toppings galore! 

Another pretty picture to end the day. I couldn't believe how old some of the bridges were. I think in one of my pictures the date was sometime in the 1700s.