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 class 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 appearances 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 over 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