leaving...

Hello all,

Sorry I haven't posted anything in about a month.  I've been working really hard, and just completed a 45 page paper as well as a 24 page zine (http://zinewiki.com/Zine).  I'm really happy with how the semester ended and the work I produced.  I've already received a lot of positive feedback on my paper and presentation.

Tomorrow morning I head to Paris, where I'll be staying with my friend Matthew and his host mom for a few days.  Then, on the 20th, I head to London to see some friends and fly home on the 23rd.

I've really loved living here and am going to miss Amsterdam a lot.  I'll have to find a place to live with canals and bikes and millions of little dogs :)  You really can't go wrong.

I'll post more pictures when I get home (or if I get wifi on the bus or train).

But here's a few funny ones:

Out on Queen's Day with my friends.

found the worlds tiniest dog in the street.  

he tried to follow me home, 

so i brought him back to the shop he wandered away from.

patat frites, a dutch delicacy.  

grouchy while writing my paper at Latei (my favorite cafe in Amsterdam).

I went here almost everyday for the last month.  

I think the staff was getting mad that 5 of us would come, 

order one coffee, and sit around all day.  But it's a cute place.  

The aftermath of Queen's Day, a holiday where essentially everything is legal,

 and the entire city becomes a street party. 

 I can't imagine the queen of england celebrating her birthday this way...

Some British tourists (I can't make this up, it really always is the Brits) trying to make a Queen's Day pyramid in their tiger outfits.  It didn't end too well...

I'll be home so very soon with lots of stories to share!

lots of love,
Kathleen

Amsterdam: A crash course

Hooray for visitors!  Some of you will be here really soon, so here's a quick intro to amsterdam...

1. If you're looking for a cup of coffee, don't go to a coffee shop. 
Look for a cafe or a koffie huis.  Most cafes don't have neon signs and dozens of British tourists.  If you get carded at the door, you're probably in the wrong place.

Probably not going to find any coffee here!

2. If you're not on a bike, you shouldn't be in the bike lane. 
Most major roads are seperated into 3 parts: a car lane, a bike lane, and a sidewalk.  If you walk in the bike lane, someone will probably run you over.  Dutch people think running into tourists is really funny.  They'll ring their bells, and then smash into you.  So protect yourself, stay out of the way.

Stop light on the bike lane, where people may or may not stop. 

(see tip #4)

3. Don't go to Dam Square.
Dam square is a really boring tourist trap.  If you want to see it, go before 10 a.m.  During the day Dam square is filled with a million tourists, really creepy living statues, and really bad street performers.  At night, it's filled with creepy drunk tourists.  It's essentially the time square of Amsterdam.  Not very exciting and FULL of tourists.

Hungarian football hooligans making trouble in Dam square.

4. Don't jay-walk on major streets!

The traffic in Amsterdam makes no sense.  At all.  Even after 2 months here I still don't know what I'm doing.  Cars drive in the tram lane, motor cycles drive in the bike lane, cars are on sidewalks.  Red lights seem to be suggestions, not rigid rules.  And bikes don't stop for pedestrians or redlights.  So watch out!

Normal traffic in Amsterdam.

5. Go to the public library.
It sounds boring, but the Amsterdam Public Library is beautiful, and has one of the best views in town.  It's really close to Central Station, so it's easy to get to.  The inside looks more like a book museum than a library.  Go to the 6th floor (take the escalators, not the elevator, just to see how ridiculous this library is!) and then take the stairs to the 7th floor cafe.  There is a great view from the balcany.  I wouldn't recommend eating there, it's pretty pricy.  But it's a nice place to get a cup of coffee and a photo op!

View from the 6th floor.

6. Go on a boat tour!
Okay, so I've never been on a boat tour, but it looks really fun!  And I want to go on a boat tour, so you should go on a boat tour (and bring me).  Good idea, right?

7. Don't go on a bus tour.
If you've traveled with me before (which you probably have) you know I make fun of everyone in a tour group/bus/duckboat/etc.  But really, everyone on a bus tour of Amsterdam looks miserable.  One company literally uses school busses.  That's no fun!  They're just jealous that they're not a boat tour.
Also, Amsterdam is a small city.  The tram system is really easy to use, and most places are walkable.  You won't see anything on a bus tour you can't see on foot.

8. Go to the park.
The parks are beautiful.  Vondel park is a nice place for a picnic or a walk, and is right by Museumplein, so if you go to any of the major museums you'll be in the neighborhood anyway.  Vondel park is the "Central Park of Amsterdam," so it's worth a visit.

Picnic on the first warm day of spring.

9. Spend time just walking around the city!

Walking around the canal streets is always a good way to spend an afternoon.  The smaller canals tend to be quiet, have nice benches to sit and overlook the water, and have a lot of history. Some of the old canal houses are now museums and are interesting to check out.  Plus, you might run into some wildlife!

Heron blocking the road on my way to class.

 see you soon!

love,

kathleen

Morocco!

Morocco was so beautiful that I'm not sure what to say about it, so for now, I'll just post a lot of pictures with commentaries.

We stayed in Rabat, the capital of Morocco for a week.  We stayed right outside of the medina, which is the "old town" and is surrounded by a wall.  The souk (market) is in the medina as was the school we took classes at. 

People buying cactus fruits in the souk.  I ate one on my birthday.  They cut off the outside part you can see, and inside it looks like a beet.  It tasted weird and afterwards I had a bright pink tongue and teeth! 

A picture from the second floor of SIT Morocco building.  It's in a very traditional old Moroccan house, and so beautiful. 

We took a day trip to the small village of Tiddas where one of our leaders was from.  We spent our morning in the market and then went to our leader's parents house for lunch.  His mother and grandmother cooked us the most food i've ever seen in my life.  

A lot of people ride donkeys to the market.  This one was "parked" and looking particularly friendly.

sheepies! and a lot of trash.

Root vegetables!

Little kids followed us around for about an hour at the market asking for us to take their photographs then show them.  This kido was playing with a little squirt-gun thing and thought I was very funny.

Man leaving the market with his things packed up on a donkey.

Robin and Brenner emerging from a forest of cactus.

A nice view of the village.

It's impossible to tell from this picture how large these plates of food are.  Soo huge.  The most delicious couscous I've ever had.  I got my own plate that was vegetarian, and was probably enough food for at least 10 people.  There were two gigantic plates of couscous with meat, too.  I've never eaten so much in my life.  It was soo good.  But afterwards it looked like we hadn't eaten anything.

Me with my couscous plate.  

The remaining photos are back in Rabat.

View of the Atlantic Ocean from the Casbah, the old fortress.

Me, looking goofy.  I was really sick the whole time we were in Morocco, so there are few good pictures of me.

A nice view of the beach.  The left is a cemetery.  I don't think I knew that when I took this picture.

Part of the Casbah.

This dog lived at the beach.  It really wanted to lick my camera.

There are very few stray dogs compared to other places in Africa.  There are, however, thousands of stray cats.  You can hear the at night, and it's pretty eerie.  This one was cute though.  

Rugs for sale in the souk.  

A covered part of the souk.

Morocco was really amazing.  Even though I was sick I managed to have a great time and a fabulous birthday.  On my birthday after class, the girls all went to the hamam, which is a kind of bathhouse.  It was an interesting experience.  We got scrubbed down with gooey black soap while all of the Moroccan women laughed at us because we looked so out of place.  Definitely interesting.  The experience was really awkward, but afterwards we went out for tea and were all very relaxed (and very clean!).  We then went to a cliff that overlooks the ocean and to dinner.  At dinner my friends sang happy birthday to me in English, Dutch, French, Spanish, American sign language, and about 4 other languages.  Then we went out for ice cream.  It was interesting to be in an Islamic country for my 21st, because Muslims don't drink.  But I couldn't have asked for anything better.  Ice cream, cactus fruit, and a beautiful sunset over the ocean?  Sounds nice to me.

Pretend I wrote this 4 weeks ago: Last day in Croatia

My favorite part about Croatia was leaving...

Okay, that's not entirely fair to say.  I liked the tiny old ladies in huge fur coats who worked at the outdoor market everyday, even in the snow.

And, on the last day, we found a modern art museum.  There was some really amazing bosnian and croatian art, which is something we don't often see in the US.  They had an exhibit of contemporary (as in working right now—not the art category) Croatian artists.

This piece was one of my favorites.  It's 12 feet by 13 feet, so clearly this picture doesn't do it justice.  Every bit of the map is covered in cool little cartoons.

Drugi svijet by Ana Sladetic

The piece also had an interactive section where you could put on gloves and open jars that had pieces of this huge piece on them, so you could see the drawings up close.  There were stickers you could take too.  I have a little pile of them on my desk at the moment.

Buuut, the best part was the 4 story slide.  I didn't read who the artist was or what it was called, cause I was too nervous about sliding down a 4 story tube.  hehe.  But it was really fun and a nice way to end the day at the museum!

from the top.

there are 2 slides, one from the 3rd floor and one from the 4th.

from the bottom.

my friend Brenner is in the slide.

the sun shines in amsterdam

today i woke up to the sun shining through my windows.  something we haven't seen yet here in this country.  and if the weather report is correct we should have more days of sun!

on monday i'm going to borrow a cord from a friend to upload my morocco pictures.  but today, i'm going to have a picnic with some friends and enjoy the sun and (relative) warmth!

hope the weather in the US is just as great!

lots of love,

kathleen

lost cord

I seem to have misplaced the cord that connects my camera to my computer.  Hopefully someone I was rooming with has it in their bag so I can make a post with photos tomorrow!

spring break croatia

we've been in croatia for almost a week now—and internet has been sketchy—so sorry for not being in communication.

 croatia is a strange place to visit.  it's winter, so it's cold (about 0 degrees C) and has been snowing.  the architecture is "soviet" inspired.  the walls of every building are made of stone and painted white or grey or beige.  you constantly see men outside re-paining the walls because there is graffiti everywhere.  i don't have too much to say about croatia right now, so i included some photos instead!

we've been learning a lot here about the war and society since then.  we were supposed to go to a city on the coast today, but it is so windy and snowy in the mountains that busses are not allowed on the roads.  we'll be in zagreb until saturday.  then we'll drive through slovenia to italy (sounds familiar!) to fly to morocco.  currently, morocco is stable and the protests are not violent, so we're still going.  should be an interesting experience!

stained glass and graffiti,

a normal combination in croatia.

the open air market, my favorite part of zagreb.

the stalls are staffed mainly by women over 80, 

who are very hearty in the snow in their winter coats.

things to do in zagreb...?

not too much.  lots of eating chocolate and goofing around

snow in zagreb.

walking to our hostel through the snow.

(the red building on the left is a chocolate factory, 

whenever you go outside the hostel it smells like chocolate chip cookies!)

more goofing around in the hostel.

(got my hair cut)

dog bundled up for the snow.  i cannot imagine corby putting up with having 4 legs through a snow suit.  none of the dogs in these snow suits looked very happy.  this one was pretty cute though.

lots of love,

kathleen

made it to croatia

I'll post again once we do some things here.  as of now, we are still going to morocco.  we do have tickets back to amsterdam, however, incase it is deemed unsafe.

love,
kathleen

almost spring?

in honor of spring break (and because we don't have dutch visas) on saturday morning we'll be leaving on a vacation of sorts.  a vacation that requires 2 weeks of readings, lectures, museum visits, and a 6 hour BBC special to prepare for.  we'll be headed first to croatia for a week, then to morocco.  we are all closely following the unrest in the northern africa, and if it is deemed unsafe for us to travel to morocco, other plans will be made.  i'll be sure to keep you (mom and dad) updated on my whereabouts and any changes.

on a more positive note, when we return to amsterdam, it should be spring!  signs of spring are all ready here, like thousands of british tourist and the first flowers popping up!

flowers next to the fence where i park my bike.

it would not be evident, however, from the fact that it is not even 6:30 and the sun is setting or from my outfit today.  oh well.

bundled up for the cold.

sun setting behind my apartment.

since my host is in south africa visiting her daughter, i've been cooking my own meals.  today i went to the grocery store to stock up for the rest of the week.  my basic dutch was a bit helpful, as i can ask what something costs (wat kost dat?) and say that i don't need a bag (nee tas, alstublieft).  it would be helpful, however, to be able to understand what kind of cheese i'm buying (though old and young seem to be the only options) or which sign above the produce correlates to which vegetable.

grocery shopping is easiest if you're looking for the dutch food of choice.  no, it's not herring or goat cheese or stroop waffles.  give up?  it's sprinkles!  yes, sprinkles, a dutch favorite.  sprinkles can be found on just about ever dutch breakfast table (unless you live in an all organic household such as this one).  while staying in hostels we had sprinkles 3 meals a day.  on toast and jam for breakfast, on your yogurt at lunch, and on your custard for dessert.  what could be better than sprinkles.  (the man buying sprinkles looked at me quite strangely for taking this picture.)

sprinkle section of the grocery store

(yes, those are all different kinds of sprinkles!)

hope all is well back in the US and that the snow starts to melt in New England.  i'll try to post again before i leave and will be in touch from croatia and morocco!

lots of love,

kathleen