Today we had to meet at 11 in the city centre to go to our next event of the intro week. For me this was difficult, I mean, I got there on time, but because I went to bed around 3am I found getting up early enough to shower, eat, and bike there somewhat of a punishment. Upon waking up I thought to myself "this is why I don't stay out so late anymore." Little did I know that most people in my group didn't leave the bars until 4am. What madness.
So anyways, I made it downtown for 11am. We walked over the the building we would be taking in our "cultural events" in only to find out that we were an hour and a half early and we weren't supposed to be there until 1pm - we were there around 11:30. To kill time we walked over to a little cafe for coffee and treats. This cafe was especially known for their pies, or tarts, it was kind of like a classic apple crumble.. but you could also get other kinds. So I had a blueberry one, but it also came with apples in it. It was good.
When the time came we walked back over to the building and picked our activities. My group chose a Dutch quiz followed by a movie quiz. The Dutch quiz was quite fun and simple. The movie quiz on the other had was quite difficult and subsequently not that much fun. These ended around 4pm - we then had an hour to wait until we were allowed to go into our next venue.
On Saturdays (and a few other days of the week) there is a "fish market" in one of the squares in town. I put that in quotations because there are many things other than fish up for sale. We walked around this market for a while. A few members of my group got some fries - these seem to be hugely popular, they are sold in upside down paper rolls and topped with mayonnaise. Well you don't have to put mayonnaise on them but that seems to be what all the locals love. I tried it and wasn't a huge fan.
At 5 we were allowed into the theatre we were going to be attending an improv show at. We were the first ones in and got really good seats. The improv show was only so-so but what can you expect. It isn't very well like the cast of Whose Line Is It Anyways is hanging out in Groningen. After the show we were served dinner but there were so many people that it took forever for us to be able to eat. I'm not sure how much of the food was traditional Dutch cuisine for a buffet but the vast majority of it was mayonnaise and some form of potato based with different seasoning and ingredients. From what I've been told is there isn't much fancy to Dutch food and nothing too special about it. It isn't food that is craved by all.
There are however some very delicious sweets. One very popular sweet is the Stroopwafels. These are two thin waffle layers with a thick sweet syrup layer in between and baked in a press. I haven't had any fresh or hot ones from vendors but I hear they are delicious. I have had the cold ones and they are very sweet and very good. Yum! Another very Dutch flavour seems to be licorice.
So after the much needed meal at the improv theatre my group decided to head out to a nice bar for a drink. It was a lovely little place - I keep saying little, because many of these places are very small, but at the same time many of these places are in fact quite large it is just that they are narrow but they go two or three floors up. It was a nice place to sit down for a drink - just my kind of place. We left shortly before 10pm - just how I like it. ha.
Tomorrow we get to visit the rec centre, which looks both very nice and very inexpensive. Which will be nice.
Stroopwafels
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