I have so many things to do today/tomorrow/the next day that it's horrifying. I have to e-mail people in Boston to talk about scheduling and I've been putting that off, too. This is the tough part, isn't it? I don't have finals really so I have to go through hell at some point. Oh Emerson.

( 30 days meme - Day 02 → Your favorite movie )

Woohoo! Weekend at the castle. Last night I went out for shawarma (shoarma?) with Peter and Tiernan, and later we played Settlers of Catan and had delicious "Huiswijn Rood" and €5 port (for delicious read "horrifying"). Now I have an assload of work to do for the weekend. But. . .I'm going to waste some more time. And do this meme! So that at least I'll have something to post for awhile. . .

( 30 days meme )

Okay, so, I love Nicole on ANTM and all, and I loved that when she won she was all, "I'm a dork and I'm America's Next Top Model!" and was all cute and shit, but really. . .Laura was robbed. Or perhaps it's for the best because Laura is like, an actual human being and that show is absurd and wrong, but STILL.

. . .nothing much going on. Weekend at the castle. Blahblahblah. Trying to figure out what classes I'm taking next semester, trying to figure out my life. It's fun, I promise.

Back from Rome today. I may or may not be existing in some terrible movie--I rode around the Colosseum yesterday on the back of a fucking scooter. It was unfuckingreal. I don't really have a whole lot of pictures from Berlin/Rome because my camera was dead half the time. But thank goodness I got a power adapter in time to take 4832094 drunk pictures of Italian beer bottles in macro mode last night. Grrrr. At any rate, it was an amazing trip, and I'm going to miss that scooter. . .

Currently in Rome. Our hostel is very strange, but awesome. It's in a really enormous older building, and is not the only tenant. As holders of a private room we get a massive key ring that allows us in the front door, through the front gate, through the weird, ancient door on the third (second) floor, and into our room. Every night they feed us for free, and Tuesday was pizza and beer. The beer was Dutch--can't escape that shit no matter where you go, apparently. Not that I wanted Italian beer. . .Dutch lager is fine. It's a beautiful day today, much warmer here than it would be in the Netherlands. It would also be raining, but we have clear blue skies.

Getting here was hell though. After being on-hand for the Berlin wall celebrations (a bunch of huge dominoes falling all over the city--"domino effect", get it? clever!) and running through crowds of Germans and getting kicked out of the UBahn right outside the fucking Brandenburger-Tor (inhabited at that point by thousands of more excitable Germans, Hilary Clinton, Bon Jovi, Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel, etc.), we got on a night train to Frankfurt. It was a few minutes late, thus we missed our shuttle to Frankfurt Hbf, thus we missed our shuttle to Frankfurt-Hahn airport, thus we missed our flight to Rome by approximately 60 seconds. Paid 100 euro to change the flight and go to Pisa instead. Then another train to Rome. But we made it. And got free food. And it was glorious.

Tiernan is currently trying to figure out how to go get his scooter. He is terrified of riding in Italy, and rightly so. He has just stumbled upon a website of tips and advice for driving in Italy, including "the center line is for aesthetic purposes only." So yeah. . .let's hope we don't die.

I'm just happy to be here, to have a bed for four nights without having to worry about it, etc. It's a beautiful world.

Ahhhh. In Berlin using the one free hotel computer with Internet. Wifi costs too much money here, and Germany also fucking killed my power adapter for the second time. Nigh train to Frankfurt tomorrow, flight from there to Rome. Going to drain my bank account before the switch to PNC occurs because I can't call them until I get some reliable Internet and Skype credit. Blahblahblah. I like Berlin. The public-drunkenness-is-okay attitude in Germany is somewhat life-changing. Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and I am so pumped to be here for it. This city is going to explode.

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MORE LATER CLEARLY. I need to buy a power adapter too. Funfun.

Got my new debit card today. Schwingggg. The midterm period is firmly over here at the castle and tomorrow morning we're leaving for Berlin, and from Berlin we go on independent break. By some strange series of events, turns out I'm spending the week in Rome. I've been to Rome before but I was there for like, maybe a day, and only did really touristy shit--I don't know the city as an adult would and I'm really looking forward to it, plus the warmer climate. I was initially going to stay there by myself and maybe meet up with some other people near the end of the week but Tiernan might stay in Rome and rent a scooter and take us on day trips around the country. Which is just lovely. So I look forward to it.

I'll have my computer so I'll be updating and the like. Shit's going to be awesome.

So, my bank back home (National City) got bought out by PNC, which is fine by me, though, having worked for a bank before I can imagine that the transition is hellish for the employees. At any rate, they sent me a new debit card (you know, in Hopwood) and I won't be able to use my old one starting on November 9. I basically need to have the card priority shipped to me and then I have to Skype call to activate it and remind the bank that I'm in Europe and shit. This is going to be fun. Essentially everything hinges on my receipt of the card by the time I leave for Germany or I'm fucked in the ass with a pipe.

jlfjsljflsdjlksdfjal

Wooooo

Yesterday was good. I missed out on going to a lecture in Leiden and to Amsterdam with my friends because I was up late recapping hockey and I just couldn't will myself to type up the recap and catch a 6:53AM bus with no sleep. The things the blog does to me! Stayed in bed all day, did a little bit of work, ate the delicious food that I bought at Spar (apples, muesli, bread, Nutella, raspberry jam, paprika chips--I'm so fucking Dutch up in here). At night I got Chinese with Tiernan and we watched John Adams. (Yes, there's actually cheap Chinese takeout in Well--wasn't bad, either.) Successful lazy day.

I entered a contest to blog the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. I might actually have a chance?

Reading: The Wanting Seed by Anthony Burgess, for Euro lit. He was a much more engaging writer in the first person with slang. His third person narrative isn't a far cry from the other dystopian narratives we've been reading. I don't know if I have the drive for this, but I'll deal with it.

I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in my wing right now. Woooo.

Time to get to work, I guess?

Another weekend in Well. Today was gorgeous, inimitably. Autumn at its absolute best. Took a walk, ate sandwiches and cereal, felt awesome in general. Work to do this weekend but I'll get over it. I think. . .

Next weekend is Berlin and after that is travel break. We need to book something for after Berlin but no one has their shit together so I have no idea where I'm going to be. Nice, isn't it?

HJDLSJLKDJSKLAJF FUCKING MIDTERM
I think I did OKAY and am comforted only by the fact that her grading scale is easy as hell. Like, a grade in the 70's is a B. So I think I'll survive despite the fact that I totally fucking blanked on what the hell Jean-Baptiste Lamarck wrote about and she's going to think I'm an idiot. But I think I did B-ish, maybe better.
Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhfkldsjafkd;flsjafkdlglksajflds
School makes me nervous, tests make me nervous, life makes me nervous.
I'm keeping my scholarship, god damn it.
Eat it.

I have no idea what's going on. I might be going to Luxembourg this weekend, or I might be staying here and day-tripping to Germany or I might just be staying here and studying intensely for my Honors midterm which is on Monday. I'd have a more clear-cut idea but the people around me are insaaaaaaane. Ohmygod I'm so tired and my life is clearly hard. Midterms, how did you happen so quickly?

Got back this evening from: Den Haag, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam with Sophia and Sam. The cities that were new to me were gorgeous and nice and pleasant. Especially Den Haag. It's super, super chill there, just very clean and quiet. We got to see Girl with a Pearl Earring by Vermeer for free--because apparently when you go to museums right before they close they sort of just let you in.

That same night went to this amazing bar that worked in conjunction with a coffeeshop called Cafe Cremers--it was really friendly, full of people without being crowded, and they played awesome blues/jazz/funk music. Just a very relaxing, and they sold Hertog Jan. We went to Rotterdam as well, looked at all the modern buildings, walked across a bridge in the rain, bought postcards, ate at a sandwich place and had Heineken (because it's everywhere), then took the train to Amsterdam. Basically just went to Amsterdam for like 30 minutes to visit a coffeeshop with Sam--there was a huge carnival set up in Dam Square and the city was PACKED and nearly unnavigable. Still a great city though. . .I feel like I could get used to it.

We had this 20 euro/person pass for two that would take us anywhere in the country ALL DAY and in first class. So all of today's travels were only 20 euro and in big, fancy seats on various Dutch trains. After Amsterdam we caught a train to Nijmegen, which is one of the three cities nearby to Well. From Nijmegen, however, because we had the badass ticket, we went to Venray because Venray is closest to Well. The bus tickets here operate on a system of strippenkaart where there are strips on this ticket that get stamped based on how far you are going. So we saved strips and an assload of money and it was great. :D

Some scenes from Den Haag:

Tomorrow I'm getting up for brunch and. . .doing homework! Woooooo!

Little sleep, lots of work to do, but a beautiful day in Well again. If I do my work outside maybe I won't pass the fuck out. Woo?

I'm staying at the castle this weekend because there really weren't any viable (cheap) options for me to travel. Next weekend I'm trying to go somewhere but I have no idea where--people really need to commit to booking shit because if you're going to fly RyanAir you have to book as soon as you see the flight before the price starts to skyrocket from, say, a reasonable 10 Euro to 75 or some shit. So, as soon as Tiernan gets back from Belgium I need to beg him to book Finland if that is in fact where we're going. Next weekend it might be advantageous to stay within the Netherlands or Germany since French trains are fucking expensive.

I found a viable option perhaps for when it gets colder out: for 82 Euro, if people will book in srs. advance, four of us could fly down to Sardinia and rent a house for a long weekend, as long as we fill out all of the appropriate forms for missing classes. 82 Euro = combined cost per person for the flights and the house rental. Which really isn't bad. I would like to try to plan on it. It would be fucking awesome.

There is like NO ONE here and I'm realizing what it's like to be in the middle of nowhere in a strange country with nothing to do. I might go on a walk to the river (it's the Maas, btdubs) just to get out. I walked to the store today to buy food and price-check some other key items but it wasn't quite enough. I'm fucking exhausted from recapping hockey games and going to class and blahblahblah but the more I get out of the room the better I will feel.

I would also love a way to make money but there really isn't anything I can do on that front. Fuck.

Some notes:

• The brand of cigars I buy from the supermarket comes in two varieties: one made in Ecuador and one made in Java. The Java variety is vastly superior. They are super cheap and pre-cut and classless either way, and I love them.
  
• Writing this weekend: a travel piece despite the fact that I didn't travel, a "twisted fairy tale" for fiction class (I fucking hate assignments like that), probably some other stuff that I'm forgetting.
  
• I have four class periods a week with Richard Chetwynd and he is fucking unreal. I get excited for the new week of school and then it just turns into a ChetwyndFest. He has the thickest Boston accent ever, lives in Poland with his wife, is a poet, and goes off on epic tangents about Auschwitz and how the CIA is financing Facebook. I have European lit with him, so clearly the topic of the class is dystopia. Travel writing is slightly more coherent. I adore the man but WOW what a mind-boggling way to spend seven hours per week.
  
• I'm going to go to bed early, get up early, and enjoy the world around me.
  

Waughhhhhhhhhh.

Sort of making it.

I am trying to book a trip to Bratislava today for dirt cheap so that should at least be interesting.

It's going to be hard to make sense of the people and things in my life but I'll get it done.

Germany was wonderful. My life makes zero sense but I'm attempting to be happy. I have two workshops this semester so I like to writewritewrite and try to stay on top of that. Among other things. Going to have a complete travel piece written by dinner! And a final draft of a short story. And a blog post. And and and. . .

Blahfdjslfd.

My feet lost the will to live in Amsterdam, probably due to one extremely ill-advised day in flip-flops on cobblestones and then the walk to Central Station after not nearly enough sleep. Blisters and dying and hurrrrrr.

I've been to three museums, talked to a lot of Dutch people, eaten a lot of their food, seen the Red Light District. Had a gentleman approach us on the street for no reason to assist us in reading our map and thank us and our country for saving the Netherlands in WWII. Visited a coffeeshop where they sell weed and space cake, walked around quite a few bars. Leaned up against an elephant sculpture at 3AM and tried not to watch a dude breaking into cars. Altogether it's a wonderful city. Really, highly fucking recommended. It's gorgeous. Hard to walk but gorgeous.

blahblahblah

Have to write a short story now. Never thought I'd feel balls about having to write but I kind of do. Would be nice to sleep instead. :/

Just got around to paying the Pittsburgh Parking Authority the $11.00 that they charged me mysteriously for an expired meter last Monday, while I was in fact parked at a meter that had over 30 minutes left on it. If I hadn't been flying to the Netherlands the next day I probably would have scheduled a court date so I could yell at them.

Right now I have to read Origin of Species. I tried to earlier but my sinuses were so congested that I could feel the pressure in my teeth and I was like. . .nope. Went to bed and felt much better. Sleeping constantly seems to be curing me slowly but steadily, as every time I wake up I feel generally okay. I just need to figure out how I can sleep and do my work at the same time (read: not possible).

This weekend is Amsterdam and I'm pumped. Though mostly I just want to be not sick. I'll like, pretty much deal with anything and go anywhere in this world, as long as I don't have to have sinus pain.

I'm already excited for breakfast tomorrow, if that makes sense. I'm not hungry, I just fucking love meals here.

Anyway. . .time to. . .read and heal? Something like that.