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.
Nothing uncomfortable about preteen girls.
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