Orientation was pretty fun. We did some bowling, toured the city, pub crawled, pub crawled, and pub crawled some more.
The ISN, the group that organizes orientation and various international events throughout the semester, put together an excursion on Saturday. We first went to the Storm Surge Barrier just outside of Rotterdam. Quite simply, it is two curved arms that move out and block sea water from coming into the river and flooding like it did in the early 1950s, which was an event about as widespread and fatal as Hurricane Katrina.
We also went to Amsterdam, which was just beautiful. In a very different way from Paris, but nonetheless, it is a fantastic place with lots of lovely canals and the like. It seems a lot more touristy than Paris as well. I can't imagine biking there--the streets are simply too congested. Surprisingly, it made me glad that I don't live in such a gigantic tourist hub.
We only had enough time to walk around a bit and grab some dinner, so I definitely plan to go back for a weekend and visit the Van Gogh museum and the Rijksmuseum.
The folks in this picture are some kids from my orientation group: Rebecca (Sweden), Jerrad (US), and Jenna (Scotland). Picture this: people from 7 or 8 different countries eating Chinese food together in Amsterdam. This is when you know we live in a truly globalized world.
I found the Red Light District to be incredibly saddening. It brings me back to the debate we studied in Fems last term about whether prostitution is a good thing or a bad thing, taking into consideration a woman's choice to do it, legal considerations (the Netherlands has health regulations and taxes associated with the business), etc. In America, I think prostitution is more of an abstract idea if you're not seeing it out there every single day...whereas in Amsterdam and numerous other cities around the country, day and night, there are women in their underwear showcased in these windows and I feel
forced to really consider how I feel about it. I myself felt objectified and victimized when I saw the women in the windows--how can we be expected to live in a world without objectification if one of the most influential countries make huge tax dollars off of their bodies? Also, there are zero male prostitutes out there. Apparently they tried it once and the guy just got heckled. Awesome.
On to more pleasant things. There are several residential areas here, all of which are technically off campus. The international students live in either Lent (4-person flats much like the Mods, located in a very Newton-like satellite campus across the bridge from Nijmegen) and 15-person corridors in Hoogeveldt (where I live). One would think that I really lucked out, being within walking distance from campus and a 10-15 minute bike ride from the city, but it gets very quiet here. It was nice to be invited to Lent last night to have dinner with some new friends. People can COOK here. The French kids made carbonara and the Spanish kids made paella and the conversation was loud and refreshing.
Still waiting--impatiently, as usual--for classes to start. As all of you probably know, I must always have a solid plan in place for every hour of my day or I just explode. Ergo, the last couple of weeks could definitely be classified as one lengthy explosion. There is so much waiting involved with everything here. You ask about something as simple as a class change and people furrow their brows and tell you "Oh, that'll definitely take a few days." I'm still not signed up for any classes and they technically start today. (Insert freakout here.)
I know that the sheer volume of activities and schoolwork I do at BC tend to stress me out at times (understatement), but that kind of stress is nothing compared to just
waiting. And looking out at the low-lying clouds and wondering when it'll be spring again.
Off to pay rent (wow, do I feel like a big girl), get some passport photos taken, and apply for a sports card. Hopefully I'll know by the end of the week if it's possible to take a long weekend in Rome to hang out with Chorale people at the end of the month. I feel so far away from home right now for so many reasons. I know it takes time to establish oneself in a new place, so I'm just holding out. I just hope it happens soon.
Drew came down to the continent for Queen's Day. Always great to see a familiar face. For the uninitiated, Queen's Day (Koninginnedag in Dutch) is the birthday of the late Queen Juliana. It's basically an excuse for everyone to dress in obnoxious orange clothing and have gigantic dance parties in the streets fueled by copious amounts of beer (and cocaine, apparently?). Total. Freaking. Blast.
The best DJs--in my humble opinion--could be found at the Marie Heinekenplein in the afternoon, but we also managed to catch DJ Tiesto in the hideously crowded Museumplein later in the day:
