Daily life

Today, oh today. Not much to tell you about.

After a busy couple days I decided it was best to sleep in a little, then sit around in my pajamas a little. I didn't really do anything productive until after 1:00pm. Well that isn't true, but I didn't do anything that was very strenuous. I booked a hostel for Venice and finalized some details for that trip which is coming up soon - I can't wait - it looks like it will be amazing. I hope the weather is nice. I can see why everyone comes here for the summer, everything is nicer here in the summer - much more expensive but much nicer.

In the afternoon I ventured out into the city to run some errands like finding ear plugs - a success, and other such little things I had to do. I also had to buy groceries because I had cereal, bread, and margarine. So nothing to eat except toast. Pathetic.

In the later afternoon I don't even know what I did - I'm sure it involved more travel business. It takes so long to coordinate things and I feel the need to be very organized for a couple reasons while traveling. First, I am only in these cities for a short time and I don't want to miss out on things just because I wasn't coordinated enough. Second, while I am traveling alone I feel like it is important to have a solid set of directions and know what I am doing, I feel like this makes me less of a target because I know where I should be going and what I should be doing. Lastly, it generally makes me a more confident traveler, which is always a good thing.

I later made dinner - this might not seem noteworthy for you - but I haven't made anything worthy noting since I arrived here. I wanted to make something like meatloaf but we don't have an oven, just many hot plates. So what I did was buy some ground beef - which they sell in half portions (I love this! It makes cooking for 1 so much easier) - onion soup mix and mixed it all together with an egg and some ketchup. I didn't have any bread crumbs so it was kind of a crumbly mess. I made patties and fried them in a pan. Although they didn't look all that appetizing they were quite delicious. So yay for me.

I've found that here I am really cooking by whim and memory. Usually you can follow instructions on the box of whatever you are making or you have a recipe or some direction. Here all the instructions are in Dutch and I have no recipes - recipes are difficult because I don't know what the grocery store has in it, often I don't really know what I am buying, etc. So I am learning to cook without instructions. This hasn't been awful and what I make is never that bad.

So as I finished making my dinner so did another girl who is down the hall from me, she was making dinner for herself and her friend. We sat and had a lovely dinner - a Valentine's dinner if you will. There was a candle and some wine.

After dinner I went to find a couple of the girls who I went to Belgium with to hang out with for the evening. As it is Monday here in International Student land and ESN (the International Student Association) holds an international student night at a bar every Monday the house was a twitter with party plans and alcoholic beverages. I had said I would go but I didn't know how keen I was to actually go. I wavered back and forth for quite some time.

Up until just after midnight a group of us just hung out drinking wine. At this time I was convinced that seeing as I really have nothing to do tomorrow I should probably go out. Trying not to be antisocial I agreed. I figure I have plenty time to be a stick in the mud when I have school, I best not start too early.

When we left it was pouring rain but it didn't seem too cold. We stopped at a bar, then off to the actual bar where the student night was. To be honest I was kind of hoping it would allow for some sitting and talking so one could have a conversation without yelling. Of course it was mostly just a dance club, but, they must play better music because they know the Internationals don't like the techno. The music was good and it was fun to be out with a group of people I live with. I'm still not huge on going out so late but I think there is just nothing I can do about it.

I got home just in time to catch the first period of the Flames game, they are currently dominating this crucial game. Good news.

I start class on Wednesday night.