And the beat goes on

As expected, I slept late. It was pretty good but I never feel that great the next day when I go to bed so late, almost like no matter how much sleep you get it will never be enough.

I sat around a little then showered so I could get some things I'd been putting off done.

By the time I left I think it was around 2pm (?!). The sun was finally shining and the wind had settled down so it was quite a nice ride around town. My first stop was at ING to open a bank account - what an adulty Dutchy thing to do. I am doing this because you need a Dutch bank account in order to get a discount train pass (40% off!).

After the bank I went to buy a phone - so now I have a Dutch phone number as well. I also went looking for ear plugs because last night, or maybe I should say early this morning a group of people came home at 7:20am and proceeded to play some form of tackle soccer in the hallway by my room for about 20 minutes. Sadly, I couldn't find any so hopefully tonight is quiet.

On my way home I stopped at IKEA.

After getting home I pittered around until a couple girls knocked on my door to see if I was interested in going out for dinner before our movie (the intro week activity for the evening). We headed downtown and found a nice restaurant. I had pork kebabs, they were quite good.

After dinner we headed over to the theatre to watch a movie premiere that was to be announced to use in the theatre. Keep in mind that all their movies come out about 1-2 months later than they do at home. The theatre was quite huge, like it stretched up and on for what seemed like forever. The seats were so comfy and roomy, I fully approve.

The "premiere" was of 127 Hours with James Franco, and it was wonderful. I went into it with few expectations and was a little worried that it would be a bad Castaway as it is just Franco for over 90% of the film, but I totally underestimated this flick. I would stongly suggest you see it. It definitely doesn't have to be viewed in theatres but is worth renting. Franco does a great job and it was truly heart wrenching watching him slowly realize he is going to die then will himself to cut his own arm off - sorry if you think these are spoilers, but the movie is based on a real guy who I'm sure you heard about a few years ago. So check it out.

I came home after the movie and fell back into my travel book. I'm finding the whole process rather exhausting. Mostly in the sense that I am trying to get the biggest bang for my buck so there is a lot of checking different websites, looking at plane vs. train, and everything else. I think I am getting closer to being organized and I'm just about ready to book a trip to Italy for the end of February. I'll keep you posted.