Day 54 - 61 - Cut Copy, Utrecht, and The Wiz

It's a good thing that I don't feel like blogging as often anymore, I think. Life here is normal.

Day 54 - Matty Ice and Cut Copy

The day after St. Patrick's Day I shipped out to Amsterdam with Adam to see Cut Copy at the Melkweg. Before, though, I met up with Matt and some other Michigan guys studying with him in Prague at a sports bar in Amsterdam to watch the Michigan-Tennessee game. It was great to see Matt again, and Michigan romped to a 30 point win that was almost unbelievable. It was also really cool that the bar had at least two other groups of Michigan students I knew who were there independently of me or Matt. On the way out we chatted with a few Michigan alums. The Michigan Difference was alive and well in Amsterdam.

Afterwards Adam and I killed a bit of time before the Cut Copy show. The Melkweg is a really cool venue, and the Oude Zaal (Old Hall) Cut Copy played in was tiny, and Adam and I were front row. CC put on a really tight set, had great presence, awesome lights, and it was just overall a really great concert experience. There was no opening band, which was a bit strange, but Cut Copy put on such a great show that it was easy to forget we might have gotten ripped off with no openers. Afterwards we headed home to Leiden, but not before I grabbed some fries with mayo, which if I haven't blogged about them before, are the absolute best. And they're everywhere.

Day 55 - Bond, Bluth, Biertje

I went over to Tom, Mark, and Christian's apartment to watch the UCLA-Florida game (Marissa and Tiffany are alums), and beforehand we watched some Six Nations rugby, which was kind of cool but also rather boring. UCLA lost in a close one, but we decided a good way to spend the rest of the night would be watching Goldfinger and Arrested Development with added drinking rules - a good decision. I ended up having a lot of fun, and I actually think there is going to be a Part II tomorrow with an added BBQ element!

Day 56 - Michigan basketball

I went out to Vi-Kings to watch Michigan-Duke, and Marissa joined by the second half. I chatted with some nice Irish guy for a while (upon hearing I was American, "Let me guess, your father's sister's neighbor's uncle's dog is Irish?") to try to take my mind off a lackluster but altogether fine first half. When Michigan started making their run in the second half I thought this team had something special, and I really believed they'd knock off the Dukies. Morris' shot hitting back rim will haunt me for quite some time. That said, I couldn't be prouder of this Michigan team. I thought they'd finish last in the B10 coming into the season, and they came within a shot of forcing OT against a 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. In Beilein I will trust for quite some time, hopefully. Can't wait to see this team play again.

Day 57 - Modern Family

I started watching this show. It's really great. The characters are all really funny and nuanced, and it might not be the most cutting edge comedy but it's just a fun show to watch. I don't think I did anything else Monday.

Day 58 - Utrecht

James and I went to Utrecht to use in a city report we have to write for class. The ride via train took about an hour, and the long walk through a mall into town was less than encouraging. Utrecht is best known for the Dom Tower, the largest church tower in the Netherlands, which is a constant factor in the backdrop of most pictures of the city. It was impressive, but we didn't feel like hiking all the way up, so we went to a couple museums. The first was a Christianity museum, which couldn't have been more boring, and the Central Museum was much cooler. There was a special exhibit going on featuring the work of a guy whose name escapes me now, but he did really cool sketches in graphite and experimented with lines and sound and video. It was a neat thing to walk through. We also went to the Dick Bruna Huis, which was next door to the Central Museum. Dick Bruna is a children's book author and artist who lives in Utrecht, and his Miffy character is known worldwide. It was kind of a cute museum, and I'd recommend it to any visitors to Utrecht.

From there we just kind of wandered around. The guidebook is less than inspired when it comes to Utrecht, and Wikitravel didn't really offer much in the way of touristy activities. We wandered around the city (the third largest in The Netherlands) on a beautiful day and checked out various town squares full of cafes and packed with students (it's a University town). We found an ex-pat store and got Mountain Dews (no hot steaming Taco Bell awaited us) before settling in at a coffeeshop for a bit. After a lengthy conversation with a friendly shopkeeper (who was the second person we met who said Leiden sucks) we eventually headed back to the station. Whereas in the States coin-operated food machines are considered a bit disgusting and low-class, in The Netherlands they seem to be frequented by people of all walks of life, and with good reason. The food is hot and super cheap, and I pounded three orders of vegetable samosas as we waited for our train. The train ride was interrupted by a crazy person blocking the tracks, and we had to reroute and hop on another train before we could get home. When we arrived back in Leiden we stocked up on some food at a grocery store and headed back to the Swamp to be Dutch. We watched I Love You, Man, which never gets old, and I drifted off to a pleasant sleep.

Day 59 - Assignments and Einstein's

Third assignment of the semester. I finally felt like I was doing some real work, and it was kind of nice to get that feeling. I also worked on my schedule for next year, which I'm still really unsure about. I've figured out I only need 3 history classes, 2 political science classes, and 2 natural science credits to graduate with a dual-concentration. It's pretty exciting. And also scary, 'cos what the hell am I supposed to do then?

Went to Einstein's with Kelly, Sabrina, and Andy. As is the usual with Einstein's, had a good enough time, but nothing spectacular. Just nice to go a place and know a bunch of people, I guess. After doner on the way home, sleep beckoned.

Day 60 - The Wiz

Had my one class of the week today. It was aggressively worthless. Very much over it.

Afterwards James and I went to Einstein's for lunch, and sat outside and enjoyed the absolutely gorgeous day. I had a pretty good burger and an unusually refreshing Coke. It was such a gorgeous day, and it seemed like the whole of Leiden was outside at one cafe or another. Afterwards we got ice cream and cruised Haarlemerstraat, before I headed home and watched more Modern Family.

Later on I went to De Gouwe in Oegstgeest with Kelly, Andy, Austin, and Berna. When we showed up to De Gouwe we were shocked to see a huge crowd, and when we went inside it became immediately apparent that everyone there was 16. It turned out, after an unusually outgoing Dutch kid told us, that all the kids there were from a high school production of The Wiz, and this was their cast party. I can't even imagine having high school parties at bars and whatnot when I was 16. It would be a whole different world. We had a good time as Austin regaled us with stories too great to be true (getting arrested at the World Cup in JoBerg, etc.), and we all cycled home together before a bit of post-drinking back at 14C, which is pre and post party headquarters in the Swamp.

Day 61 - NCAA hockey tourney

I woke up at 2:30 and willed myself to buy groceries. I've done nothing since.

There's a big electro party being put on by ISN at InCasa tonight that has its own official pre-party, but I'm skipping all of that to watch Michigan play UNO in the first round of the NCAA hockey tournament. My Michigan sports fandom isn't something I'm really interested in altering, and I'm not too shaken up about missing a dub-step filled party event. I hate the format of the NCAA hockey tournament (one-game elimination is ludicrous and ruins the sport) but it'll be nice to watch the boys play on ESPN3. I came into this study abroad experience sad I'd miss being there in Minnesota to watch Michigan win a national championship, but I'm not too confident about this team (UNO tonight, presumably BC tomorrow with a win). We'll see. Shock the World.

Musings

I've been abroad for two months, now. It's a bit shocking. After those first couple days here I couldn't wait to go home and was counting down the days, and while I still have an eye on July 1 (I need to be greeted at the airport with Taco Bell, mom) I'm very comfortable with my life here. I'm very fortunate to have this opportunity to have what is admittedly a pretty stress-free, relaxing second semester of junior year living abroad and traveling across Europe (trip to Copenhagen to visit Rachael in two-plus weeks, family coming to visit Netherlands/Belgium in less than a month!). I'm going to have more in-depth ruminations on what my time here has meant to me later.

Pictures

A few from Utrecht. Again, not a very photogenic city.

The Dom Tower dominates the city.

Hail to the Chief.

Just two idiots taking pictures. FOR OUR SCHOOL PROJECT.

See you later.

Day 48 - 53 - Cheers, Mate: London Calling

Long overdue recap of the past week, including a wonderful trip to London. Let's get right to it. Pictures at the end.

Day 48 - The Night Bus

James and I boarded a bus bound for London from Den Haag around 8:30, and ended up each getting our own row, which was nice. We were sitting next to an American couple from Arizona in Europe for two months visiting their Parisian son, and the husband was a bit unprepared for what a 10-hour overnight international bus ride entails. It's impossible to sleep on those buses, with some annoying stops in various cities along the way, and the lack of a comfortable position for someone who's 6 foot 4. We stopped at Calais, France to board a ferry to Dover, England, and had to go through UK border control (I got a new passport stamp!). We then waited two hours for the ferry to show up, and the trip took another hour and a half. The boat had restaurants and video games and whatnot, but I mostly tried to fall asleep (unsuccessfully). Once we landed in Dover I got a neat peak at the cliffs Dover is famous for, and we barreled through the night towards London. I didn't get much sleep, but I did make good progress in Game Change, and I got to listen to more new music (R.E.M., The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Bright Eyes, The Decemberists, The Joy Formidable). As we arrived in London we got an early morning glimpse at Parliament and Big Ben, which was cool. What was not cool was the insane London police checkpoint we had to go through.

I can't imagine that people traveling on international trains have to go through what we went through, it was rather upsetting to see how profiled some of the bus' riders were. There were perhaps 30 cops set up to process our arrival - not with passports, but videotaping our faces and checking our bags. The police dog tipped on my bag, and I was lead into a small tent, knowing I had nothing in my bag for a dog to react to. The police who searched my bag were nice, if not funny (upon finding my Arsenal shirt - "Uh oh, we've got an Arsenal shirt!" "Rough three weeks, eh mate? If you want to root for a proper North London team, [root for Tottenham].") and I survived the process.

Day 49 - London Town

Upon our 7 AM arrival, James and I walked to Buckingham Palace, which was nearby our coach station. The gate was more impressive than the building, but it was cool to be there when there weren't any other tourists around. We walked alongside Hyde Park on the way to our hostel, which was located in a really nice South Kensington neighborhood. We dropped off our luggage and headed out to a somewhat swanky spot to get a full English breakfast, which was absolutely delicious. Beans and toast, sausage, bacon, eggs, and tomato washed down with grapefruit juice was a delight, and a great way to start the morning.

From there we walked to the Natural History Museum, which was housed in a stunning building. Most of the big museums in London are free, which is tremendous. The collections inside were a bit underwhelming, but maybe it was because I was exhausted. One interesting thing was a new policy they posted in their exhibits of different animals that they no longer collected animal pelts out of conservation concerns. Afterwards we walked to the Victoria and Albert Museum, and though I wasn't much interested in seeing any art, the floor dedicated to architecture was really cool. The Science Museum was right next door, so we popped over there too, checking out neat exhibits on space travel, the atmosphere, and human psychology.

After the museums we popped over to Harrod's, which was fairly ridiculous. Everything was lavish and eye-poppingly expensive, but it was cool to walk around the famed department store. There were even puppies! I considered getting Weezer a rhinestone collar, but mercifully decided against it. After we tired of Harrod's we walked back to the hostel, checked in, and moved into our nice 9-bed dorm (with tons of natural light!) that would house only the two of us for our two nights there. I caught up a bit on the Michigan sports I was following, and we set out on the Tube for Westminster.

Parliament is a stunningly beautiful building. It's so regal, sophisticated, and imposing standing along the Thames. Big Ben, meanwhile, was underwhelming - nice, but surprisingly short. There were really great views from the bridge of the Thames and the sights, including the London Eye, which we decided wasn't worth the price. Instead, after stumbling upon a bizarre photoshoot playing out on the bridge, got some Chinese buffet to fill our hungry stomachs on the cheap. Afterwards we walked along the lively promenade along the river, before crossing back over and heading to Trafalgar Square, which was full with a giant Irish St. Patrick's Day gathering. We walked back down Whitehall Lane, past 10 Downing Street and its 10 armed soldiers guarding the front gate, and back to Westminster Abbey. We were lucky enough to go inside for free for a Sunday service, which was cool to experience in such a famed church.

Afterwards, I had my first reunion in Europe! We met Chris Kudialis, of WCBN fame, at a UM alumni bar at Victoria Station for a pint, which was really great. Chris is in Madrid for the semester, and it was nice to see a familiar face. We caught up for a while, talked about WCBN, and watched some football before going our separate ways. James and I hiked back to our hostel and promptly cratered in our beds (I was so tired I didn't stay up to follow Michigan's NCAA tournament fate!).

Day 50 - MOAR LONDON

I woke up to Michigan being an 8 seed, which floored me. After a breakfast of cocoa pebbles and toast, we headed to the Imperial War Museum, which was really impressive. Not only do they have lots of WWI and WWII military equipment, but they also have comprehensive exhibits detailing both world wars, all the post-WWII conflict around the globe, British spy history, and genocide. One particularly cool part was a video on Vietnam that was playing with Jimi's Star Spangled Banner in the background - very political of you, England.

After 2.5 hours at the IWM, we headed to the bustling shopping district of Oxford Street, which I thought was more impressive than the Champs d'Elysees. We ended up in trendy Covent Garden, spotting fixies everywhere and checking out the KidRobot store James was excited about. We got another Chinese buffet lunch (this one underwhelming) and headed to St. Paul's Cathedral, which was cool, but ultimately not all that interesting from the outside. We walked from there over Millennium Bridge, which I was fairly sure the Death Eaters had destroyed, and to the very cool Tate Modern. I was floored by the exhibit in the cavernous main hall of 100 million (100 million!) porcelain sunflower seeds, which required an entire Chinese village of 1600 people to make by hand. We breezed through the other collections, which were far too hip for us (it seems half of London is far too hip for us). We briefly checked out the Globe Theatre and then took a long walk along the river to Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. It was nice to sit along the river and relax for a bit - pretty surreal that that was how I'm spending my semester while my friends back home get hit with assignment after assignment.

We rode the Underground back to our neighborhood, and this should be said about the Tube - while expensive, it's impressively clean, and completely free of graffiti and homeless people. Also, there were posters for the new Strokes record and Grammy-winning Arcade Fire record. Only in London...

We ate dinner at a pub in our neighborhood, and I did the traditional combo of Steak and Ale pie and more ale, which was really delicious. When we got home I discovered that the notebook I'd left in my room to mark my bed had been mistakenly thrown away, which was annoying because I had a list of 29 classes to choose from for next semester painstakingly crafted inside. Once again, we basically fell right to sleep.

Day 51 - The Arsenal!

After breakfast, we headed to King's Cross station for suuuuper touristy pictures at Platform 9 3/4, but it was worth it. Also, I saw Editors drummer Ed Lay. That was cool. "Celebrity" sighting count up to three (Michel Gondry, Crispin Glover). Afterwards we headed to Islington and the home of Arsenal Football Club, Emirates Stadium. The place was huge and very impressive, and we bought 2-for-1 tour tickets before I convinced myself that buying an Arsenal keeper shirt on sale was a good idea. The tour itself was very neat, and I got cool views of the stadium from the director's box and pitch level. We got to walk around the locker room and take pictures in the players' lockers, which was cool. Overall I was very impressed, and it would be awesome to make it back there for a game sometime in my life.

After Arsenal, we made it to Abbey Road, crossed the famous crosswalk, and left some inscriptions in front of the famous recording studio. The winner was whoever posted Charlie Sheen stencil graffiti. Abbey Road was neat, but there's not a whole lot to do there, so we headed to Soho. Soho was very trendy, with lots of cool stores, and I had a delicious lunch of Moroccan meatballs, rice, pita, and hummus at a nice restaurant called Leon. We washed down our Leon with warm chocolate cookies and mint chocolate chip ice cream, which might be the greatest thing ever devised. Afterwards we stumbled upon a Johnny Cupcakes store, and I found the cool London sticker I was searching for for my laptop. Tired, we finally made our way back to Victoria coach station, and eventually boarded our bus headed back to the Netherlands.

Day 52 - Busses and Sleep

Once again, no sleeping on the bus, but the ferry ride was significantly smoother this time around, and we made it back to Den Haag without incident. After doing a bit of internet catching up, I fell asleep and didn't wake up until well into the afternoon, at which point I did a bit of grocery shopping before returning home for more general laziness, interneting, and sleep. I spent a ridiculous amount of time Skyping with Joey about Rebecca Black and the Ark Music family, which is too great.

Day 53 - St. Patrick's Day

Woke up in time for class, and after an uninspiring 2.5 hours, went with James back to Hugo for the first time. After moar Youtubing and some Eazie stir fry (which was delicious) I packed my things and headed home to blog. It only took a full hour!

St. Patrick's Day party at Karen and Dani's tonight should be a blast. More later.

For now, here are some pictures from London.

Parliament.

So delicious.

Cool view.

OFF TO HOGWARTS!

At the Emirates! Come on you Gunners!

I owe everything to Theo Walcott.

Of course.

Talk to you soon. Thanks for reading!

Day 43 - 47 - Week In Review

Apologies for the lack of posting this past week, nothing truly noteworthy has happened! But as I'm headed off to London tomorrow evening, I figured a blog posting was in order. Expect a London recap on Wednesday.

Day 43 - Odessa

Monday marked my first trip to the other popular international student night, this time at Odessa. It's a small, narrow bar that's deceptively deep, and I have to say I enjoyed the ambiance. Can't beat the happy hour two-for-one specials either. Steve's friend Tom from Maine was visiting for his Spring Break, and it was neat to be able to say, "Welcome to The Netherlands!" Overall, had an enjoyable evening socializing with the Rijnfront guys + Chase, and it was great to run into people like Federico and Roj there too.

Day 44 - Crushing Defeat

Tuesday night was the second leg of the Arsenal-Barcelona tie in the Champions League, with Arsenal heading into Camp Nou with a 2-1 lead on aggregate. I headed to Bad Habits to watch the game with another packed house, and through a series of unfortunate events none of my friends ended up making it. This was fine, as the match was largely depressing, with Barcelona showing why it's the world's greatest football team with a mesmerizing display of possession dominance. The game was marred by some controversy in the form of Dutch Arsenal star Robin van Persie being inexplicably sent off with the match knotted at 1 (thanks to a Barca own goal), and Arsenal ended up losing the match and the tie. All in all a depressing evening of football, but Arsenal now looks ahead to the FA Cup and Premier League.

Day 45 - The Social Butterfly

I hammered out my second assignment of the semester Wednesday evening for Urban Inequalities. The prompt was frustrating, and I'm still a bit out of practice, so it made for an overall less than thrilling affair. I wasn't exactly pleased with the work, but it'll suffice for now. Earlier in the day I started my application for Michigan Law (via the Wolverine Scholar Program), which was almost surreal. Pretty nuts to be actually starting graduate school applications.

In the evening some Swamp kids met up for a bit of socializing, which is always great. Kelly and Berna were wonderful hosts as usual, and we rolled out as a big crew to Einstein's a bit later in the evening. Einstein's was much better than the last go-round, and I had a very nice time socializing with my ever expanding network of friends. Kelly and I tried our darndest to get a messy, frothing dancefloor going, but for the most part our Dutch counterparts weren't having it. After our failure we decided to go get doner kebap (Kelly's variation: "BREAD AND CHEESE") and our Irish guide lead us to a spot she was fond of. I had a delicious broodje doner, and we got to have a wonderful time interacting with the sleazy but funny staff. After a romantic Swampie ride back to the Rijnfront we all called it a night.

Day 46 - Class

In Urban Inequalities we watched La Haine, which I'd already seen, so that was less than interesting. We spent an entire three hour block on the movie and a discussion of it, without really drawing anything meaningful from it. The course continues to puzzle. Dutch culture was all about foreign affairs, and this was surprisingly only marginally more interesting. Life goes on. Inspired by the late-night doner the previous day, James and I got doner for lunch, and it was once again delicious. I spent the rest of the day reading for Globalization and typing up an assignment for that class. Oh, and watching Modern Family. I take it back mom - it's quite good.

Day 47 - DANCING

Had a pretty good Globalization class today. We had a group discussion/debate about a few things, that while unclear in their connection any kind of central theme of a course, we at east engaging. I've come to the conclusion that a course title is nothing more than a name here, and what we actually do in the course may have little to do with any kind of central themes related to the course title. Whatever. After class, went back to Jacketz with James and got a delicious smoked salmon, creme fraiche, and chives baked potato. The owner of Jacketz has asked us before if a baked potato restaurant would work in the States, and while I'm of the opinion that its only chance would be in a college town, the potatoes are still damn good.

I had a nice long conversation with Bill today about the future of WCBN Sports which was productive and satisfying. I've got big plans to elevate WCBN's level, and it'll be interesting to try to get some quality control and branding mechanisms in place before next semester rolls around. I also did some fundraising appeals, as it's fundraiser time at the station, which felt good - being productive is such a positive feeling.

The big event of the day, obviously, was the Michigan-Illinois quarterfinal game in the Big Ten Tournament. Michigan needed a win to solidify its place in the NCAA tournament, and at half time that dream looked all but over. Michigan played abysmal defense, was struggling with the Illini bigs, and couldn't hit a shot to save their lives. The final eight minutes of the game, however, were a revelation. Michigan caught fire as the Illini went cold, and the Wolverines were rewarded with an improbable victory and are now basically a lock for the NCAA tournament ahead of their tussle with Ohio State (who, in case you're wondering, should have to vacate the 2010 football season and fire Jim Tressel) tomorrow. This young team has overachieved spectacularly, and I couldn't be prouder of the team and Coach Beilein. The future is bright for Michigan basketball.

I'm headed to London tomorrow evening, taking an overnight bus with James, and arriving in London around 6:30 AM Sunday. I couldn't be more excited. Everything I've read has got me incredibly excited for the sights, sounds, and tastes of the city, and I think James and I will do well together.

The bad news, of course, is that I'll be missing the OSU basketball game, the Michigan-BGSU CCHA playoff hockey game, and most ironically, the Arsenal-United game in the FA Cup while on the bus. I've made arrangements for people to text me the relevant scores and whatnot, but it's an epic scheduling FAIL to miss all these important events. If Michigan wins against OSU, I'm planning on watching the Big Ten Championship at the Michigan alumni bar in London, which would be awesome! Either way, I think James and I will probably find a pub to watch the Selection Show at, and I should be home next weekend to watch opening round action (though with Matt coming to Amsterdam for the weekend I might try to hang with him and watch some hoops).

That's all for now! Thanks for reading.

Day 38 - 42 - Week In Review

Blog postings are getting less and less frequent, but I'm still married to the idea of having a post for every day I'm abroad, so bear with me.

Day 38 - 5-0 to The Arsenal

I don't remember anything pre-8 pm that went down on Wednesday. I think I did some reading for Urban Inequalities, which was actually interesting, about gated communities in Turkey. It was the first inclination that the course might be useful for what I'm interested in.

I met up with Steve, Chase, and James at Bad Habits for the Arsenal-Leyton Orient draw in the 5th round of the FA Cup. Arsenal romped to a 5-0 victory with a reserve side, and a good time was had by all. I noticed in the bathroom that there was a sticker advertising a bar called The Oak that someone had used marker to amend to read, "The Royal Oak." I couldn't help but wonder if a Michigan study abroad predecessor had left his or her mark on that stall - I should make a similar, seemingly innocuous mark.

After Bad Habits we headed over to Einstein's, but it was on the lame side, so James, Dani, and I headed out early for fries. Fries with mayo might be the national food of the Netherlands, and with good reason - it's tremendous. After fries we headed home for an early night, which suited me just fine.

Day 39 - Oh Right, School

Class! Urban Inequalities continues to perplex and frustrate - not because it's difficult (far from it), but because I feel like we engage with everything really superficially and in kind of a disjointed and unfocused way. If you asked me what, five weeks in, the point of the course is, I'd be at a loss. We watched documentaries about slums in Mumbai and related them to Slumdog Millionaire, which our professor hasn't seen, though that doesn't stop her from referencing it like every class. The story of trying to clear slums in Mumbai shared a bunch of parallels with the history of slum removal ("negro removal") in Detroit, which I thought was interesting. We also got out an hour early. Whatever.

Dutch culture class continues to be mind-numbingly boring. Thank goodness for the break in the middle of the two-hour period. I'm looking forward to the part of the course where it doesn't suck.

[ed. glaring omission correction!] I had a WONDERFUL dinner at an Italian place here in Leiden called Donatello's Thursday night with Dani (Germany), Karen (Ireland), Roj (Australia via Iraq), and Federico and Edoardo (Italy). I had been craving pizza forever, and got mine with an "American base," which turned out to be a mildly ridiculous fluffy crust. My pizza had pepperoni, ham, onions, and mushrooms, and was really quite tasty and enjoyable, even if it was a bit lukewarm. The real treat, though, was having such wonderful dinner company! It's really special to me to be able to sit down to dinner with such a diverse and exciting group of people, and it's one of the reasons I wanted to study abroad in the first place. A special shoutout to Dani for getting on my case about somehow forgetting to blog about this initially - I can't imagine what my Leiden experience would look like without you and Karen as my mentors!

Day 40 - Class/Sick/TV

Globalization (no, I will not spell it with an 's') was rather interesting, as we analyzed a speech from a Nobel laureate about peace and poverty. Again, though, I feel like the point of the course is unclear. "Lectures" don't really seem to exist in this course (or Urban Inequalities), and there isn't a cohesive focus or discernible path the course is taking. I'm complaining.

I was (still am) a bit under the weather, so I laid in bed all day watching TV online. All of season one of Portlandia (Dad, check it out - email me if you need a link to watch it online), caught up on Archer, watched some UK Skins, and started season two of Mad Men. Very productive!

Day 41 - Delft and #Winning!

Saturday I went with Steve, Adam, and Chase to Delft, which everyone said was one of the most adorable Dutch towns. It didn't disappoint, even with the cloudy skies. Delft was tremendous - like Leiden but quainter, and with the famous Delftware everywhere.

We first stopped by the Oude Kerk (Old Church), which is 750 years old, and has a tower that leans 2 meters. It houses the tomb of the pride of Delft, Johannes Vermeer - who, by the way, is easily one of my favorite painters (he loves the maize and blue). It's not one of the prettiest I've seen, but, 750 years old. Very cool. We also saw the very impressive Nieuwe Kerk (New Church), built in the 1390s, and the second tallest church tower in the Netherlands. We climbed to the top up a tiny, cramped, harrowing spiral staircase, and were treated to some really great views of Delft. Holland is so flat and small that you could easily see the skylines of Rotterdam and Den Haag in the distance.

We ate lunch at a really nice restaurant, and while the hot tuna sandwich was maybe a bit small to be completely satisfying, it's really nice to take a break from eating shitty food and sit down and enjoy something.

We roamed through the market, which is always an exciting part of a city visit. There have been markets each time I've visited a new Dutch city, and they add such character and life to the city. Also adding life: Carnival! The Dutch dress like clowns, get drunk, and parade through the streets. It was a lot of fun watching the festivities, and I don't think we could have picked a better day to be in Delft. We also took a long stroll to the botanical garden, which isn't really a show-stopper in early March, but it was a pleasant walk.

When I got home I caught the end of a disappointing 0-0 draw with Sunderland, squandering a chance to pull within a point of Manchester United in the Premier League (thankfully, Liverpool drubbed MUFC today, massive favor to The Arsenal). The real sports attraction, however, was Michigan-Michigan State at Crisler. I cannot think of a bigger basketball game for this program that I've been old enough to be a fan for, and I couldn't be prouder of Coach Beilein and his troops. What an incredible turnaround to the season this young team has had. They've surpassed everyone's expectations, Tim Hardaway Jr. has emerged as a legitimate star, Darius Morris looks like he'll get a shot at the NBA in a year or two, Jordan Morgan has turned into a Big Ten player, and Zack Novak will end his Michigan career (a year from now) as one of the most beloved Michigan players ever. Sweeping Michigan State on the season is one of those things that it almost too perfect to be true. Little Brother, now and forever. Time to finish the job on Friday against the Illini and get into the tournament for sure.

Day 42 - Groceries and Jesse Eisenberg

Bought groceries! Made beef and cheese quesadillas for dinner, which were super greasy but also super delicious. It's nice to actually make my dinner and not just settle for a sandwich or bread roll.

Finally watched Adventureland, which I really enjoyed. So much so that I decided to watch The Social Network again. Still fantastic. Deserved the Oscar without a shadow of a doubt in my mind. I've got a thing for Jesse Eisenberg.

Here are some pictures from Delft!

I love the town halls.

Quaint main square.

Step your building game up, everywhere else.

Snackin' out.

Leaning tower of the Oude Kerk.

Street lamp swag.

Nieuwe Kerk.

Oh hai, Rotterdam.

Gorgeous.

Resolved: Tomorrow I'll clean my room and do laundry.

Day 33 - 37 - Intergalatic Tournament + Rotterdam

All the days of the Intergalatic Tournament, the basketball tournament for teams across Europe that I played in at the Leiden Sports Center last weekend, kind of run together, so I'm going to lump those into a weekend recap.

Day 33 - 35 - Intergalatic Tournament

The first week I was here, my mentor Dani basically demanded I play on a basketball team she was going to play on later in the semester. I agreed, and team Spaceballs gained it's tallest (and lankiest) member.

Flash forward a month and Spaceballs assembled Friday evening for a less than appetizing dinner of pasta ahead of the opening ceremonies - uncomfortably featuring pre-teen girls dancing to age-inappropriate tunes - of the Intergalatic Tournament. From the look of other teams, we basically agreed that we were doomed, but we were there to have fun. Surprisingly, we won our first game Friday night, handily. I was 6 for 6 from the field as we romped to victory - surpassing in one game our collective expectations for the weekend. We dropped the other game that night, but on a whole the day was a success. I went back to Dani and Karen's awesome flat, showered, and we rolled back to the Sports Center for a party that ended up being pretty high school-esque (and not one of those wild, out of control high schools that'll get an expose on NBC Dateline or something). We had a good enough time on our own, and I ended up going to bed around 3 on the hard gym floor (it seems everyone else in Europe has an air mattress to make such accommodations tolerable).

The Saturday games (of which we played 9) were fun but we lost most of them. We played in place of another team that dropped out in addition to our own games, so we ended up getting our money's worth - and actually won all three of the games we played as the 'Earth Defenders.' There was a lot of downtime to watch the other teams play - most would get beaten by your better Michigan IM teams, but a few were obviously very good, including one team (that won the whole thing) that featured a couple of former Swiss professionals. One fun thing was there was music being pumped into the gym the whole time, and it was a bizarre mix of dance music, 90s soft rock hits, and indie rock. There's something cool about playing basketball to the sounds of Arcade Fire, The Wombats, Bloc Party, and The Drums. Playing so many games was really tiring, and by the end of Saturday I was struggling to move I was so sore. Before the Saturday night party I headed home to shower (a 5 minute bike ride) and ended up listening to the Michigan-Minnesota basketball game that inched the Wolverines closer to the most improbable NCAA tournament bid ever (coupled with the hockey team winning the CCHA regular season title and moving up to #4 in the Pairwise rankings and moving into position for a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament, a very good Michigan sports weekend). The Saturday night party was space themed, and Dani and I were black holes, dressed all in black. The party was OK, but it was fun to hang out with the team and new friends and teammates Luke and Alejandro. We ended up staying up past 5, which made the Sunday morning wake up call that much more terrible.

We were mostly burned out by Sunday, and played a few more games (I don't think we won anything) before our tournament ended. In the end, I was glad I played - I'm not the biggest basketball fan but it's fun playing some competitive sports again - and it was great hanging out with the team. After I got home I watched Arsenal choke away the Carling Cup to Birmingham City - I sure know how to pick teams for maximum disappointment! I slept the rest of the day away, unable to leave my bed. I'm in great shape!

Green screen win.

Spaceballs - least talented, most attractive.

Day 36 - Nothing? Nothing.

Did I get out of bed Monday? Probably not.

I went grocery shopping, which is always the best. Other than that, another day spent lounging. I'm getting back into reading Game Change, which is just a fascinating book on the 2008 elections with views inside all of the major campaigns. I'm probably the last PoliSci major reading it, but if you haven't picked it up yet I highly recommend it.

Day 37 - Rotterdam!

James and I decided to take a day trip to Rotterdam, the second largest city in The Netherlands, and a modern architecture capital of Europe. Rotterdam is unlike any other city in The Netherlands, as it's center was almost completely destroyed by the Nazis during WWII, and it's been rebuilt as an internationally important port city with towering skyscrapers and sparkling architecture. That said, if you're not into exploring cities for the fun of seeing something new, and aren't particularly interested in modern architecture, Rotterdam will probably be a let down. Most people I've talked to don't really like it, which, fair enough, but I had as good a time exploring as I hoped to.

We loosely followed a walking tour of Rotterdam, strolling through a bustling street market, past the Centre Pompidou-esque Central Library, and visiting the world famous Cube Houses. The houses were cool, but I wouldn't want to live in them - too cramped, and the ceilings aren't made for someone my height. The highlight of the Cube Houses was seeing a Space Invader tag outside - as both James and I had seen Exit Through The Gift Shop and had talked about it before, it was pretty neat to see a real tag right in front of our eyes. We walked past the first skyscraper in Europe, The White House, and along the Old Harbor to the Erasmus Bridge, which is cool but a bit underwhelming. We wandered through the city, past a bizarre "Walk of Fame" featuring esteemed international stars like Toto and Scorpions (in fairness, Elvis Costello and Ray Charles also had foot prints in the cement), and to a cool Maritime Museum that celebrated the port that employs 440,000 people (shame Detroit's port is so shit, eh?).

Continuing our adventure we saw a cool skate park, then headed for the Museumpark, which was mostly under construction/renovations. We saw one of Rem Koolhass' early works in the Kunstahl, and visited a cool but small natural history museum. We wandered back towards the city center, around the main square and through some more shopping areas, grabbing some stir fry at one of the many such places here in Holland. Afterward we meandered through the rest of the tour, hopped back on the train to Leiden, and headed home.

Overall, I really enjoyed my Rotterdam visit. I wouldn't go back unless for a specific event, but I got a solid 5 or 6 hours exploring the city, seeing the architecture and sights, and it was good to do something productive with a weekday. I get the sense that there is a whole lot of really cool things going on in cutting-edge Rotterdam that don't show up on that walking tour, which is kind of a shame, but maybe as I get to know more people and get more connected in Holland I'll find out about some of them.

World-famous Cube Houses.

Space Invader tag outside! So cool.

View of Old Harbor and The White House.

Example of cool modern skyscrapers that dominate the skyline.

Erasmus Bridge

That's supposed to be a Christmas tree.

When we got home James and I finalized and booked our trip to London for March 13-15, which I'm really excited about. I'm also glad I've got time to plan out stuff to do that may be a bit off the beaten trail - possibly a trip to Emirates Stadium?!

Time to do homework. Just kidding. Time to watch a movie about a killer car tire.