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.
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