Saturday, February 27, 2010
I'm Going to Barcelona!!!!!!!!
Thursday March 11 at 9:45 am I will be lifting off from Schipol Airport bound for Barcelona Spain. Unfortunately due to bad planning on my part, the cheapest return flight is at 6:45 Sunday morning. Which means Saturday night should be very interesting. The cheapest flight I could get, and I did a hell of a lot of searching, was for 130 euro....160 with taxes, fees, handling charges, check in charges, and all the other crap they pile onto your bill. Anyways who cares about money I'M GOING TO BARCELONA! WOOOOOOOOOO
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
4 Weeks!
Today, Wednesday, February 24 marks the official 1 month mark of me being in Amsterdam. Can you believe that?! One month already?! Where the hell does time go. Anyways a lot has happened since you last heard from me. My friends came into the city this weekend, and needless to say their presence made things a big crazier than the average weekend. I ended up going out Wednesday night to nightclub, Thursday night when Nate got here to some bars, and then Friday night I took Nate and his friends he came with from Dublin to City Centre and the RL District, which is always guaranteed to be an adventure. Saturday Nate had the pleasure of experiencing the amazingness that is the Dutch Health Care system. He took a little fall down the front steps of his hostel (no, he was not drunk) and required a few stitches. He was back in action, though, after a few hours of napping. But during that time I was able to meet up with Joe, Chris, and Claire who were spending their Saturday doing some siteseeing of the city. I joined along, and acted as their amateur tour guide. Eventually we went our separate ways to get food and get ready for the night. We had intentions of meeting back up later, but sometimes things just don't work out as you plan in Amsterdam. They ended up going to see a really popular American DJ named Pretty Lights, perform at a nightclub. While Nate and I and a bunch of other people, under the guidance of Danny, found our way to a massive dance party in an abondoned church on the outskirts of the industrial sector of the city. It was quite an experience. Not too mention is was a 30 km round trip on our bikes (that's like 20 miles!!!!!!!) Yes we biked to a party 10 miles away in the freezing cold. So we made the most of the journey and didn't leave the party until roughly 7 am, when we began making the long trek home. Along the way we were just in time to grab breakfast at Centraal Station which was probably the best breakfast I've ever had.
So after a short nap, which lasted most of the day Sunday, I managed to meet up with all of my friends to say our goodbyes. It was really great seeing everybody, and I really hope that I will be able to get down to Barcelona so they all can play host for a weekend. And I am surely going to go to Dublin. Danny's parents own a hotel right in downtown Dublin, and he has already said that we can all go together and we'll get the hookup at the hotel. That would IDEAL. The plan was to go for St. Pattys Day but it seems as though were not the only people who had that idea. Flights are like 10x more expensive than normal a few days prior and after St Pattys. So we're probably going to end up going sometime in April. We shall see.
Anyways, Monday and Tuesday I had a shitload of work to do. I had a written assignment, a paper, a presentation to give, and mad reading to do all for my two classes yesterday. I was ecstatic when the day was finally over. Today was 50 degrees and partly cloudy. A BEAUTIFUL day for Amsterdam standards. So halfway through me writing this post, I went out and spent about two hours with a bunch of people In Oosterpark, a park that is about a 5 minute cycle from where we live. It's a really nice park, and a fun place to hang out when the weather is nice. Right now though my stomach beckons me. And since I have no food, I am going to go to the supermarket and stock up. It's been a while since my fridge wasn't completely empty. I hope all is well Stateside. Check back in a fews day for more. Unitl then...
Peace & Love
Keegan
ps - The Dutch are really celebrating their departure from Afghanistan. Lucky bastards...
So after a short nap, which lasted most of the day Sunday, I managed to meet up with all of my friends to say our goodbyes. It was really great seeing everybody, and I really hope that I will be able to get down to Barcelona so they all can play host for a weekend. And I am surely going to go to Dublin. Danny's parents own a hotel right in downtown Dublin, and he has already said that we can all go together and we'll get the hookup at the hotel. That would IDEAL. The plan was to go for St. Pattys Day but it seems as though were not the only people who had that idea. Flights are like 10x more expensive than normal a few days prior and after St Pattys. So we're probably going to end up going sometime in April. We shall see.
Anyways, Monday and Tuesday I had a shitload of work to do. I had a written assignment, a paper, a presentation to give, and mad reading to do all for my two classes yesterday. I was ecstatic when the day was finally over. Today was 50 degrees and partly cloudy. A BEAUTIFUL day for Amsterdam standards. So halfway through me writing this post, I went out and spent about two hours with a bunch of people In Oosterpark, a park that is about a 5 minute cycle from where we live. It's a really nice park, and a fun place to hang out when the weather is nice. Right now though my stomach beckons me. And since I have no food, I am going to go to the supermarket and stock up. It's been a while since my fridge wasn't completely empty. I hope all is well Stateside. Check back in a fews day for more. Unitl then...
Peace & Love
Keegan
ps - The Dutch are really celebrating their departure from Afghanistan. Lucky bastards...
Friday, February 19, 2010
FUTBOL!!!!!
The people in charge of my program, IES, over here in Amsterdam just came through in a big way. In the early days of orientation, we talked alot about the trips and excursions that they were be offereing us. Well, one of the things they said was that they were going to try to get us tickets to the Netherlands vs. United States international friendly match here in Amsterdam on March 4. Well I certainly thought they were just blowing smoke up my ass, but it turns out they pulled some strings and managed to get us 20. Luckily for me, I got the second to last ticket available. Plus we only had to pay 20 euro!!! I'm super excited and I can't wait to represent AMERICA. Hopefully my patriotism stirs some excitement with the locals, hahah...
It's Friday afternoon, and the week is coming to a close...BUT the weekend is just starting. My good friend Nate from back in Ithaca is studying abroad in Dublin this semester and he and a couple friends are in town for the weekend. So I took them out last night and we had a good time. PLUS my friends Joe (former roommate in Ithaca), Chris, and Claire who are all studying in Barcelona this semster are also coming to the city this weekend. They're plane comes in some time later this evening. Needless to say, I think it is going to be a very very fun weekend. That's all for now. Check back in early next week for another update.
It's Friday afternoon, and the week is coming to a close...BUT the weekend is just starting. My good friend Nate from back in Ithaca is studying abroad in Dublin this semester and he and a couple friends are in town for the weekend. So I took them out last night and we had a good time. PLUS my friends Joe (former roommate in Ithaca), Chris, and Claire who are all studying in Barcelona this semster are also coming to the city this weekend. They're plane comes in some time later this evening. Needless to say, I think it is going to be a very very fun weekend. That's all for now. Check back in early next week for another update.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Berlin
So I got back from Berlin this morning at 6:30 am after a delightful 9 hour bus ride. The ride wasnt actually as bad as it may sound. I slept most of the way there and back so it was tolerable. We arrived in Berlin at like 9 am Saturday morning and immediately found ourselves lost in a world of German. Somehow we managed to get directions to our hostel via the metro. When we arrived at the hostel we checked in but couldn't go to our room until like 3 or something so we had a lot of time to kill. Luckily a FREE daily tour of Berlins historical sites leaves from our hostel everyday at 1030. So we decided to do that. Little did we know that for nearly the next 5 hours we would be walking approx 10 kilometers around Berlin in 20 degree weather. Welcome to Germany! Anyways, along the tour we saw all the famous sites. The Brandenburg Gate, The Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe, the site of Hitler's Bunker, former headquarters of the Nazi S.S. (the only remaining Nazi building in Berlin), the remaining 100 meter stretch of the Berlin Wall, the site of the famous Nazi book burning in 1933, the famous East Berlin TV tower, the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby off the balcony, and of course bunch of famous churches, museums, libraries, and palaces that I can't remember the names of. It was a good tour but I wasn't pretty frozen and exhausted by the end of it all. After the tour, we met up with a friend of a kid I was traveling with who is studying in Berl
in for the semester. He took us around the areas of Berlin that weren't exactly on the tour. He showed up some pretty cool stuff, and we got some dinner at some Italian restaurant (despite spending 3 days and 2 nights in Germany I don't think I ate a single piece of food that could be called "German).Saturday night was quite the adventure. People in Germany don't really go out before 1 or 2 am and the bars and clubs don't close until 8 or 9 am. So needless to say it was a pretty crazy night, that included verbal altercations with club bouncers who didn't like Americans, memorable encounters with Transit Authority Officials, some weird German pizza, and lots of walking blindly around the city following the one kid who knew where he was going. All in all, it was a really fun night, but I think it really gave me a much greater appreciation, for Amsterdam, and how much I have already come to like this city. Berlin is massive and complicated, not all that nice in a many areas, and people are no where near as friendly as here in Amsterdam (not that I honestly expected it to be any other way). So after finally going to sleep in the early hours of Sunday, we got up around lunch time and went to a Turkish place, allegedly run by the German mob, for some kabbab
s. Afterwards, we went into the city in search of another spot where they still have a piece of the Berlin Wall Up, but its not in its original form like the other one. It has been painted with these amazing murals by famous artists from all over the world. So we thought that would be cool to see, but after nearly 2 hours of getting lost on the metro and then a bus, we gave up on the wall and found our way into the German Museum of Contemporary Art (at least thats what we think it translates into). We walked around there for about two hours and actually had a really good time for 4 guys in an art museum. The place was huge, and full of a lot of really good art, and also a lot of really weird stuff that people have created, so it was cool to walk around in. After that we all met up back at the hostel and made reservations to this restaraunt called "The Bird" that is famous in Berlin for being the best burger in town and a really cool bar. And they did not dissapoint. We filled a table with 12 people, and the burgers and fries and pitchers were flowing all night. The burger was AMAZING. One of the best meals I've had since being in Europe. And like I said all night, "thats just how we do it in America." And The Bird truly was a little piece of American soil right in the heart of Berlin. In fact, a handful of us enjoyed ourselves some much at The Bird, that we ended staying there the entire night until a delightful German cab driver delivered us safely to our hostel many hours later.By Monday, I was pretty exhausted and spent much of the morning and early afternoon hanging around our hostel, which was actually a really cool place, with a huge bar and a cool lounge area. In the late afternoon we made our way out of the hostel and went downtown. Well there isnt exactly a centralized downtown in Berlin like in most cities, but I guess we were in the shopping district. Which, for a unemployed college student on a tight budget, is not the most exciting place to be. But it was fine, and eventually we got some dinner at a Thai restaraunt. After Thai food, we only had about an hour and a half until our bus left so we hustled back to the hostel to get our stuff. We hopped on the train after that and rode it until we got to the bus station. Got on the bus about 20 minutes before departure, put on my headphones and rocked out for about 2 hours until I passed out. Next thing I knew we were in Amsterdam at 6 30 in the morning, remembering I had class in 4 hours. Got a quick nap in, biked to class, went shopping for groceries, and wrote this blog. That's all for now. One European adventure in the books.
Peace & Love
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Week 2 (IT'S BEEN COLD)
Since you all last heard from me on Tuesday February 2nd, I have been pretty busy. Last week was still primarily full of me trying to figure out my way around the city and where to go when I need things, and I can happily say that to this point right now, I am very capable of navigating the city and finding my way to places that I want to go. I have really been enjoying all my classes. Spatial Implications has by far been my favorite, though the class about Obama's presidency is a close second. The Dutch History clas
s has thus far been pretty boring, and I don't expect it to be any other way. But in the Obama class and the Environmental class it has really been a cool experience for me because in each of those classes I am one of only three American students in a class of 25. The classes are all taught in English, but it has been really cool getting an international perspective on things like Obama, American politics in general, climate change, energy consumption, etc etc. Things in Amsterdam are certainly very different from America, while Europe as a whole operates on a sort of different wavelength than America. It's just little things that I notice. We are so wasteful and take so many things for granted in the States. It's all about getting as much as possible, as fast as possible, for as cheap as possible, and no one gives a shit about the cost at which that comes. It's not the same atmosphere here, and I have really enjoyed it. Everyone is so friendly and helpful, and I have yet to really experience any sort of language barrier. Most people speak near perfect English.
Anyways, so after I finished up class Friday morning, I think I spent the afternoon cycling around the city. Biking here is awesome. It's so efficient and easy. It has made traveling from place to place so much easier and funner (funner? more fun?). It also saves a shitload on paying for buses and trams everywhere. The only problem is that it has been cold as HELL. My face, my fingers, my legs-- every part of me gets so cold when I bike and it is like 20 degrees out (or like -10 Celsius). And to all you thinking exactly what I think you're thinking--YES I wear gloves and a hat and a heavy jacket. Trust me, this shit aint no joke, I would have lost fingers due to frostbite by now without gloves. I think on Friday (or maybe Thursday) a bunch of us made our way to the Van Gogh museum, which is a decent cycle itself. That was pretty cool. I mean it was a typical museum with a lot of paintings in it--mostly Van Gogh, but a few from others. No pictures were obviously allowed in the museum so all that I have are the memories. Friday night we all (with the help of Danny and Puck, who I will write about in a moment) found ourselves at an all student dance club called Danzen vij Jonzon (or something like that I can't remember). Per my usual self, I made a few appearan
ces on the dance floor but most reserved myself to the outer rim of the dance floor where I could most effectively work my flawless game on unsuspecting young international women. In this scenario, I must contradict an earlier statement, and say that the language barrier can be a serious issue. I'm pretty sure I found myself consuming a number of slices of "New York Style Pizza" in the time between leaving the club and cycling home. Yes, that's right, we bicycle to and from the party here in Amsterdam. And the streets are much safer to bike in at 5 am than they are at 5 pm.
Anyway, back to Puck and Danny. They are a 23 year old couple living in the apartment building we all reside in. They live a floor above me. Danny is from Dublin, getting his masters degree here at UvA, while Puck is Dutch and is finishing up her degree at UvA. But she learned to speak English in Ireland so they both talk with awesome Irish accents. They are awesome and have really taken a liking to a bunch of us. I think they were bored when the building was all empty between the last crew of Americans IES had posted up in our building. Anyway, they have been showing us around the city and all the good spots to go, so they have been absolutely awesome to befriend. And Saturday night they took a bunch of us to this Australian bar called Coco's, which is located in Leidseplein, which is like a huge square surrounded by dozens of bars, clubs, and restaurants. They place is poppin off seven days a week, but especially on the weekend. So we spent some time chillin at Coco's until we decided to do a little hopping around where we explored a number of other nearby scenes. It was a fun night....and it may or may not have ended with more NY Style pizza pie.
And then next thing I knew it was SUPER BOWL SUNDAY! I slept until......well I slept until late in the day. I'll spare you the exact hour so you don't hurt your jaw when it hits the floor. (hahaha just kidding it wasn't that late) Anyway, when I woke up I knew I had a lot of time to kill because the super started at 630 EST which means 1230 here. So we did the Sunday afternoon thing for a few hours, and then a bunch of us cooked up a big delicious meal, and then hung out until it was getting close to midnight when a group of like 7 guys set out on our bikes to go find some bar that we found online that was advertising ov
er 75 big screens with the game on. We got there around kickoff and the place was paaacked. And I think they may have been underestimating when they said 75 big screens. The game was awesome and I was incredibly happy when the Saints won. It was an awesome atmosphere to watch the game because almost everyone there was rooting for the Saints except for a couple groups of guys who the whole place was ganging up on anyway. And anytime the Saints did something really good, the bartender would play a really loud revved up version of "When the Saints Go Marching In", and everyone would sing along. It was a really fun time. I thought the roof was gonna fall down when Tracy Porter intercepted that pass by Manning with like 3 minutes left. It was really exciting, and it made it definitely worthwhile to be up until like 5 on a Sunday night. (Don't worry I don't have class on Mondaysss).
When I woke up Monday (at a semi-reasonable hour) it was time to get back to business. I had homework I had to due for both of Tuesday's classes so I set out to get that done. I think I also hit the grocery store for a quick fix of grub. People here shop like everyday or almost everyday. There are little grocery stores, named Albert Heins, everywhere and people biking home from work just stop and pick up enough food for that nights meal and then worry about tomorrows meal tomorrow. It's a really good way to shop and eat I think. Definitely not how Americans do it. But Tuesdays classes were good and that night a bunch of us went out to the weekly "borrel" the International Student Network of UvA puts on a this bar called Cafe Heffer for all the international students at the school. It was really fun, and truly an international party. There were all sorts of languages being spoken there, but English definitely was predominant. I met a bunch of people from the States and Canada that arent through the program I went through, IES, but went through a few other different programs that offer semesters at Amsterdam, most of which I had never even heard of. It was cool to meet them though and I will definitely be seeing those people again. Especially since a bunch of them are actually going to Berlin this weekend as well.
Wednesday was a boring day where I got a bunch of work done for todays class and then briefly made an appearance at a nearby bar. But I decided it would be a good night to get a solid night's sleep so I was home early, and in bed early. I had the Obama class today and it was a good class. Very interesting, and even entertaining discussion. Like all three of the classes I have the tables are set up in a massive circle so they are really geared towards discussion and personability (is that a word?). Anyway, as I write this it is about 1130 pm. A bunch of my friends just left on a bus to Berlin. I am on the third wave. We had people who left Wed night and then tonight and then tomorrow night. We are all staying at the same hostel and leaving at relatively the same time so I will be seeing them all shortly. I am not doing anything tonight because I have class tomorrow at 9 --Spacial Implications of Environmental Change. It should be a good class. I enjoyed the reading for tomorrows meeting so it should be interesting. The professor is a really smart, no bullshit, environmental scientist so I should definitely be able to learn alot from him. And then tomorrow night at like 9 pm we take off for on a bus bound for Berlin. It arrives at like 7 am. So I plan on having a few Heinekens before we leave to put me to sleep and before I even know it we will be pulling into the station in Berlin. It should be a really fun trip. I have no freaking clue what we;re gonna do there. My friend Ross has one of his closest friends studying abroad there for the semester so he is going to act as our tour guide, so at least we have that. Other than that though, its really just going to be quite the German adventure. I CAN"T WAIT.
As of right now that is all I can think of. I need to not wait so long in between posts so I don't have like 9 days to catch you all up on each time. I'll get better at making my posts more frequent and regular so don't give up on my blog!! It is the gateway into my life here in Amsterdam...aside from the irregular 10 minute phone calls some of you have been getting from me from my Skype account. If you have any questions or comments or just wanna say hi, shoot me an email to soccerkeegan@yahoo.com . I miss you all and love hearing from you. I hope this blog brings you all a smile when you read. And don't stress yourselves too much worrying about me (...MOM!...) , while maintaining a superb level of responsibility, I am still having an absolutely awesome time.....dare I say---the time of my life????? :) :)
You'll hear from me again soon.....with tales from the German heartland.
Peace & Love
s has thus far been pretty boring, and I don't expect it to be any other way. But in the Obama class and the Environmental class it has really been a cool experience for me because in each of those classes I am one of only three American students in a class of 25. The classes are all taught in English, but it has been really cool getting an international perspective on things like Obama, American politics in general, climate change, energy consumption, etc etc. Things in Amsterdam are certainly very different from America, while Europe as a whole operates on a sort of different wavelength than America. It's just little things that I notice. We are so wasteful and take so many things for granted in the States. It's all about getting as much as possible, as fast as possible, for as cheap as possible, and no one gives a shit about the cost at which that comes. It's not the same atmosphere here, and I have really enjoyed it. Everyone is so friendly and helpful, and I have yet to really experience any sort of language barrier. Most people speak near perfect English.Anyways, so after I finished up class Friday morning, I think I spent the afternoon cycling around the city. Biking here is awesome. It's so efficient and easy. It has made traveling from place to place so much easier and funner (funner? more fun?). It also saves a shitload on paying for buses and trams everywhere. The only problem is that it has been cold as HELL. My face, my fingers, my legs-- every part of me gets so cold when I bike and it is like 20 degrees out (or like -10 Celsius). And to all you thinking exactly what I think you're thinking--YES I wear gloves and a hat and a heavy jacket. Trust me, this shit aint no joke, I would have lost fingers due to frostbite by now without gloves. I think on Friday (or maybe Thursday) a bunch of us made our way to the Van Gogh museum, which is a decent cycle itself. That was pretty cool. I mean it was a typical museum with a lot of paintings in it--mostly Van Gogh, but a few from others. No pictures were obviously allowed in the museum so all that I have are the memories. Friday night we all (with the help of Danny and Puck, who I will write about in a moment) found ourselves at an all student dance club called Danzen vij Jonzon (or something like that I can't remember). Per my usual self, I made a few appearan
ces on the dance floor but most reserved myself to the outer rim of the dance floor where I could most effectively work my flawless game on unsuspecting young international women. In this scenario, I must contradict an earlier statement, and say that the language barrier can be a serious issue. I'm pretty sure I found myself consuming a number of slices of "New York Style Pizza" in the time between leaving the club and cycling home. Yes, that's right, we bicycle to and from the party here in Amsterdam. And the streets are much safer to bike in at 5 am than they are at 5 pm.Anyway, back to Puck and Danny. They are a 23 year old couple living in the apartment building we all reside in. They live a floor above me. Danny is from Dublin, getting his masters degree here at UvA, while Puck is Dutch and is finishing up her degree at UvA. But she learned to speak English in Ireland so they both talk with awesome Irish accents. They are awesome and have really taken a liking to a bunch of us. I think they were bored when the building was all empty between the last crew of Americans IES had posted up in our building. Anyway, they have been showing us around the city and all the good spots to go, so they have been absolutely awesome to befriend. And Saturday night they took a bunch of us to this Australian bar called Coco's, which is located in Leidseplein, which is like a huge square surrounded by dozens of bars, clubs, and restaurants. They place is poppin off seven days a week, but especially on the weekend. So we spent some time chillin at Coco's until we decided to do a little hopping around where we explored a number of other nearby scenes. It was a fun night....and it may or may not have ended with more NY Style pizza pie.
And then next thing I knew it was SUPER BOWL SUNDAY! I slept until......well I slept until late in the day. I'll spare you the exact hour so you don't hurt your jaw when it hits the floor. (hahaha just kidding it wasn't that late) Anyway, when I woke up I knew I had a lot of time to kill because the super started at 630 EST which means 1230 here. So we did the Sunday afternoon thing for a few hours, and then a bunch of us cooked up a big delicious meal, and then hung out until it was getting close to midnight when a group of like 7 guys set out on our bikes to go find some bar that we found online that was advertising ov
er 75 big screens with the game on. We got there around kickoff and the place was paaacked. And I think they may have been underestimating when they said 75 big screens. The game was awesome and I was incredibly happy when the Saints won. It was an awesome atmosphere to watch the game because almost everyone there was rooting for the Saints except for a couple groups of guys who the whole place was ganging up on anyway. And anytime the Saints did something really good, the bartender would play a really loud revved up version of "When the Saints Go Marching In", and everyone would sing along. It was a really fun time. I thought the roof was gonna fall down when Tracy Porter intercepted that pass by Manning with like 3 minutes left. It was really exciting, and it made it definitely worthwhile to be up until like 5 on a Sunday night. (Don't worry I don't have class on Mondaysss).When I woke up Monday (at a semi-reasonable hour) it was time to get back to business. I had homework I had to due for both of Tuesday's classes so I set out to get that done. I think I also hit the grocery store for a quick fix of grub. People here shop like everyday or almost everyday. There are little grocery stores, named Albert Heins, everywhere and people biking home from work just stop and pick up enough food for that nights meal and then worry about tomorrows meal tomorrow. It's a really good way to shop and eat I think. Definitely not how Americans do it. But Tuesdays classes were good and that night a bunch of us went out to the weekly "borrel" the International Student Network of UvA puts on a this bar called Cafe Heffer for all the international students at the school. It was really fun, and truly an international party. There were all sorts of languages being spoken there, but English definitely was predominant. I met a bunch of people from the States and Canada that arent through the program I went through, IES, but went through a few other different programs that offer semesters at Amsterdam, most of which I had never even heard of. It was cool to meet them though and I will definitely be seeing those people again. Especially since a bunch of them are actually going to Berlin this weekend as well.
Wednesday was a boring day where I got a bunch of work done for todays class and then briefly made an appearance at a nearby bar. But I decided it would be a good night to get a solid night's sleep so I was home early, and in bed early. I had the Obama class today and it was a good class. Very interesting, and even entertaining discussion. Like all three of the classes I have the tables are set up in a massive circle so they are really geared towards discussion and personability (is that a word?). Anyway, as I write this it is about 1130 pm. A bunch of my friends just left on a bus to Berlin. I am on the third wave. We had people who left Wed night and then tonight and then tomorrow night. We are all staying at the same hostel and leaving at relatively the same time so I will be seeing them all shortly. I am not doing anything tonight because I have class tomorrow at 9 --Spacial Implications of Environmental Change. It should be a good class. I enjoyed the reading for tomorrows meeting so it should be interesting. The professor is a really smart, no bullshit, environmental scientist so I should definitely be able to learn alot from him. And then tomorrow night at like 9 pm we take off for on a bus bound for Berlin. It arrives at like 7 am. So I plan on having a few Heinekens before we leave to put me to sleep and before I even know it we will be pulling into the station in Berlin. It should be a really fun trip. I have no freaking clue what we;re gonna do there. My friend Ross has one of his closest friends studying abroad there for the semester so he is going to act as our tour guide, so at least we have that. Other than that though, its really just going to be quite the German adventure. I CAN"T WAIT.
As of right now that is all I can think of. I need to not wait so long in between posts so I don't have like 9 days to catch you all up on each time. I'll get better at making my posts more frequent and regular so don't give up on my blog!! It is the gateway into my life here in Amsterdam...aside from the irregular 10 minute phone calls some of you have been getting from me from my Skype account. If you have any questions or comments or just wanna say hi, shoot me an email to soccerkeegan@yahoo.com . I miss you all and love hearing from you. I hope this blog brings you all a smile when you read. And don't stress yourselves too much worrying about me (...MOM!...) , while maintaining a superb level of responsibility, I am still having an absolutely awesome time.....dare I say---the time of my life????? :) :)
You'll hear from me again soon.....with tales from the German heartland.
Peace & Love
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
KEEGAN IS GOING TO GERMANY
In an extremely recent development, I have just made (and paid for) arrangements to go to Berlin on the weekend of February 13 and 14. We are taking a bus from Amsterdam that leaves at 9 pm Friday night and we arrive in Berlin at like 8 am. It's a long trip but it will be fun. It was the cheapest way we could find to do it too, the roundtrip ticket was only 70euro, and the hostel cost me a total of 20euro....not too bad if you ask me (but then again what do I know). REGARDLESS, I am freakin PUMPED.
Next on my travel list--Barcelona, London, Dublin
I would love to do Italy and Greece as well but I dono if that's in the budget. (Do I have any investors out there?!?)
Next on my travel list--Barcelona, London, Dublin
I would love to do Italy and Greece as well but I dono if that's in the budget. (Do I have any investors out there?!?)
Week 1
It's taken me almost a week to get settled in to the point where I have had time to sit down and start this blog, which I have appropriately titled "The Amsterdam Chronicles". So tomorrow, February 3rd will be the official one 
week mark of my time spent here in The Netherlands. And it's been a hell of a first week. The city is absolutely amazing. The people here are all super friendly, and fun to talk to. My apartment is pretty nice. It's in a massive apartment building located in a large area of apartment complexes called Funenpark. The building where I live is almost entirely made up of American kids from the IES program, so it has been and is going to be a really fun time.
Last week Wednesday to Friday, was all this 'orientation' bullshit where we either listened to lame presentations on shit they think we should know or played ridiculous "ice breaker" games. No one took it all very seriously as we were all just counting the hours until we were free to do what we wanted and the fun shit could really start. Saturday we had this field trip to some town 45 minutes away called Utrecht. Due to an alarm clock malfunction I missed the bus by a mere 5 minutes. But I honestly didn't care very much. It gave me the whole day to do whatever the hell I wanted. So I went took a short 5 minute bus ride to Centraal Station and explored the downtown area. Longstory short I walked around for like 3 hours exploring the main streets and hidden alley ways, and ended up hanging out at some bar called the Beer Temple talking with the bartender and the other locals who hang at a bar at 3 in the afternoon on a Saturday. I had a great time. Eventually everyone returned from the field trip in the late afternoon, and after making myself a delicious chicken and brocoli teriyaki dinner, it was time to start drinking beer (Heineken of course). The details from there after will remain undisclosed but I got home at 5 am and passed out until about 1 in the afternoon the next day.
Sunday was a real slow day for everyone, for obvious reasons...but it was weird for the first Sunday in like 3 months I didnt watch and NFL games. But not to worry, we have already been doing our research as to wear we need to go to watch the Super Bowl next week....although with the 6 hour time difference to watch it live here the game would start at like 3 am, so I'm pretty sure it's not televised here until the next day. Anyways yesterday I went on a mission to try to buy some of my books for my classes and to find myself a decent bike to buy. I was successful in only one of those goals--the bike. Unlike 90% of the half a million people riding bikes here, I got myself a yellow mountainbike. It's a sweet ride and I fly past those people rolling around on their 1950s Peugeots.
In trying to maintain some level of responsibility, I made sure Monday night was a fairly early night so I could get to my 11oclock class Tuesday morning, which I first needed to find the building for. It was a good thing I did so because getting up at 10 am this morning, showering and getting dressed, getting on my bike and riding for 30 minutes in the pouring rain and 30 degree temperature, as I tried to find where my class was, was no easy task. Lucky for me, I found my class just 5 minutes before 11. The class is Spatial Implications of Environmental Change. It's the only class that I am able to put towards my major at Ithaca, so it is an important one. It seems like it is going to be a very good class though so I am excited. I am also only one of two American students in the class so it should be a pretty interesting experience.
As I write this entry I am laying in my bed trying to recover my body warmth from the bike ride home. I have a 3 hour class on Dutch history from 6-9 tonight and I seriously need to remember to wear my gloves this time, so my fingers don't fall off. At least its hard to imagine the weather in Ithaca is any better. Hmmm, I wonder how Joe Smith is enjoying the weather is Barcelona??? Haha, oh well.
That's all for now.
Peace & Love
week mark of my time spent here in The Netherlands. And it's been a hell of a first week. The city is absolutely amazing. The people here are all super friendly, and fun to talk to. My apartment is pretty nice. It's in a massive apartment building located in a large area of apartment complexes called Funenpark. The building where I live is almost entirely made up of American kids from the IES program, so it has been and is going to be a really fun time.Last week Wednesday to Friday, was all this 'orientation' bullshit where we either listened to lame presentations on shit they think we should know or played ridiculous "ice breaker" games. No one took it all very seriously as we were all just counting the hours until we were free to do what we wanted and the fun shit could really start. Saturday we had this field trip to some town 45 minutes away called Utrecht. Due to an alarm clock malfunction I missed the bus by a mere 5 minutes. But I honestly didn't care very much. It gave me the whole day to do whatever the hell I wanted. So I went took a short 5 minute bus ride to Centraal Station and explored the downtown area. Longstory short I walked around for like 3 hours exploring the main streets and hidden alley ways, and ended up hanging out at some bar called the Beer Temple talking with the bartender and the other locals who hang at a bar at 3 in the afternoon on a Saturday. I had a great time. Eventually everyone returned from the field trip in the late afternoon, and after making myself a delicious chicken and brocoli teriyaki dinner, it was time to start drinking beer (Heineken of course). The details from there after will remain undisclosed but I got home at 5 am and passed out until about 1 in the afternoon the next day.
Sunday was a real slow day for everyone, for obvious reasons...but it was weird for the first Sunday in like 3 months I didnt watch and NFL games. But not to worry, we have already been doing our research as to wear we need to go to watch the Super Bowl next week....although with the 6 hour time difference to watch it live here the game would start at like 3 am, so I'm pretty sure it's not televised here until the next day. Anyways yesterday I went on a mission to try to buy some of my books for my classes and to find myself a decent bike to buy. I was successful in only one of those goals--the bike. Unlike 90% of the half a million people riding bikes here, I got myself a yellow mountainbike. It's a sweet ride and I fly past those people rolling around on their 1950s Peugeots.
In trying to maintain some level of responsibility, I made sure Monday night was a fairly early night so I could get to my 11oclock class Tuesday morning, which I first needed to find the building for. It was a good thing I did so because getting up at 10 am this morning, showering and getting dressed, getting on my bike and riding for 30 minutes in the pouring rain and 30 degree temperature, as I tried to find where my class was, was no easy task. Lucky for me, I found my class just 5 minutes before 11. The class is Spatial Implications of Environmental Change. It's the only class that I am able to put towards my major at Ithaca, so it is an important one. It seems like it is going to be a very good class though so I am excited. I am also only one of two American students in the class so it should be a pretty interesting experience.
As I write this entry I am laying in my bed trying to recover my body warmth from the bike ride home. I have a 3 hour class on Dutch history from 6-9 tonight and I seriously need to remember to wear my gloves this time, so my fingers don't fall off. At least its hard to imagine the weather in Ithaca is any better. Hmmm, I wonder how Joe Smith is enjoying the weather is Barcelona??? Haha, oh well.
That's all for now.
Peace & Love