Day 62 - Sports
Michigan beat UNO and a I flew over to InCasa to join what was a bit of a lackluster electro party just before the doors closed. It was a good enough time, and I'm glad I went just for the sake of being social, but it wasn't the frothing mess I expected. Saturday was lazy - I'm sure I watched some NCAA tournament basketball - and I can't remember doing anything of note. It was cold and rainy. As a rule, I try to minimize the time I spend outside when it's cold and rainy. It's a nightmare trying to ride back to the Rijnfront in the wind, which seems to shift to be against you regardless of where you're riding.
Day 63 - More Bond
I went back to Mark's to watch more James Bond. We watched You Only Live Twice first, which I really enjoyed. It had a lot more twists and turns than I remember the older Bond movies having, and overall it felt smarter than your average old Bond. Marissa made cheesecake that we gorged on throughout, and afterwards we decided to watch another. I realized halfway through GoldenEye that I had seen it rather recently, but no bother, it was fun nonetheless. Afterwards I cycled home and prepared to watch Michigan take on Colorado College for a spot in the Frozen Four. Michigan played by far their most complete, best game of the year, and beat CC in a game where Michigan dominated play but could never quite pull away on the scoreboard, leading to a tense 60 minutes. Michigan moves on to play favorite North Dakota in the Frozen Four in St. Paul. I'm actually pretty bummed I'm not in the States for this - I would have been able to travel to Minnesota via WCBN and with it almost certain that Michigan will have a down year next year, this was my best chance to make it to a Frozen Four with Michigan.
Day 64 - Monday?
I almost certainly didn't do anything worth noting. No Odessa, I probably just stayed in all day. We'll say there was bad weather or something.
Day 65 - Tuesday?
Different day, same story. It feels dumb to have days where nothing happens here, like, 'Oh, I could do nothing at home for much cheaper!' but on the other hand I don't think it's bad to embrace the normality of being and living here. People around me seem pretty concerned about days when they aren't doing something exciting, and I think that's fine, but on the other hand living here is about embracing a different lifestyle, and I don't see anything wrong with a down week or two in the midst of a whirlwind travel schedule or something. I still understand that I need to take full advantage of being in Europe, and I will, but it's OK to take it easy too. My whole academic life has been a massive strain, and it's nice to relax for a while. It's a luxury I must be appreciative of.
Day 66 - Cricket!
I got together with Steve, Adam, and Chase and we watched Exit Through The Gift Shop, which I'd already seen but really enjoyed again nonetheless. People always get into these "What is art?" debates, and this movie always brings that back up again. I always think it's easiest to define art as whatever someone says is art, as ridiculously amorphous and vague that is. What's art's value? Whatever people are willing to pay. It's a world I don't fully understand and can't fully buy into or appreciate, but it's also a fascinating one. I don't understand the necessity of defining things as art or not that seems to grip some people. Just let it exist.
Anyway, after the movie we celebrated India's Cricket World Cup semifinal win over Pakistan in what was billed as one of the biggest sporting events ever with Steve's Indian roommate. After some talking, we decided to go outside (it was like 11 pm at this point) on the big basketball/soccer court in the Rijnfront and play some cricket. Steve's roommate was straddling the line between teaching us the rules and bending them to make sure he always benefited and we never did, which was quite annoying but also amusing, as it is certainly how I would have taught someone how to play a sport when I was 12. I must say that I'm clearly a natural - both the bowling motion and the batting motion have a lot in common with baseball, and it definitely translated well for me. I was bowling pretty well with good speed and spin, and I was doing yardwork on the tennis ball we were using. It was pretty fun just playing cricket in the dark for a couple hours, and was definitely better than going to Einstein's.
Day 67 - Opening Day
Thursday in Urban Inequalities was interesting, finally. Not because of the instruction, though, but because we just had a bit of time to think on our own about final papers, and tying what we've learned in the class into a topic we're interested in. I think I'm going to write a paper about how through contestation different groups are defining how vacant urban space is used in the Detroit of today and the Detroit of the future. I came to a bit of a realization that took me a while to arrive at that is that I think I was looking for the wrong things from my anthropology courses from the outset. I'm used to history and political science courses, which would take a topic like Urban Inequalities and come up with, in the end, concrete-type answers that would be "what I learned." Here, in anthro courses, the thrust of what we're learning is much more contexts and lenses through which to analyze these issues that a history or polisci class would then have answers for. Not to give Urban Inequalities a pass, because I still think it's a very poor class, but I am realizing that I should have different expectations for what I'm getting out of anthropology courses.
After a predictably boring Dutch culture course on language, I rolled with James, Adam, Steve, and Chase to a vegetarian restaurant on Haarlemerstraat and got some really delicious samosas. Samosas are one of those perfect foods that I could probably eat every single day without getting tired of them (much like quesadillas and pulled pork). Just delicious.
Afterwards I went home and watched the Tigers taking on the Yankees to open the 2011 MLB season. The Tigers lost, and didn't play particularly well, but it's just nice to have baseball season back. This reminds me that I'm still probably most sad about missing Joey's senior baseball season, more than any other thing I'm missing back home. Oh well, maybe when he walks on at Michigan I can watch him then. I also went over to Dani's later on, and together with a crew totaling seven, we booked a trip to Berlin in May that I'm very excited about. It'll be good to have a German interpreter, and James is coming, so the dynamic snarky duo will be in full force, mocking languages abroad without repentance. We got Domino's Pizza, which tasted like America. It was awesome. Still miss you, Taco Bell.
Day 68 - Luther and Eurotrip 2011
I overslept the start of Globalization today, but joined in progress without any fuss. The article we had to read for class was impossibly confusing and overwrought and basically awful, but class did a decent job of explaining what the hell the point of it all was. Afterwards James and I caught lunch at Eazie, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite places ever to eat. Ann Arbor needs stir fry bucket places, though I guess Noodles and Co. does that to an extent.
I went home and finished season one of 30 Rock, which I've decided is a show I need to catch up on for the sake of being properly cultured. I also discovered Luther, which is a BBC police/crime drama starring Idris Elba, who is even more awesome with his native British accent. I thought it was a really smart first series, and brought the tension. Watch it, it's on Netflix for instant viewing.
I also somewhat formalized plans to meet up with Adrian this summer. I knew he was going to be in Ireland around the start of June, so I was always planning on going to Ireland then to hang with him, but he also indicated that he wants to stay in continental Europe after the wedding in Ireland he's coming for, and while I had plans to travel all around in June, I hadn't foreseen having a travel partner from back home for them. I was kind of rushed into the idea of going from something like June 4 to June 23 straight traveling with Adrian, but the more I thought about it the less of a bas idea it seemed. We're tentatively talking about going from Spain, to the south of France, to Italy, and then spending a couple days in Eastern Europe, but those are really fluid plans right now. I want to see where Cory is on all of this, and also if Jordan and/or Alan can join for any part of that. I also think this will mean that after my last exam on May 27 I'll jaunt over to Stockholm and/or Oslo for a couple days before Ireland kicks off an epic European adventure. Part of what gives me pause about the whole trip is how many logistical things would need to be worked out to make the trip go smoothly, but on the other hand I kind of think well maybe because it's Europe and summer and blah blah blah college, I can relax a bit and go with the flow a little bit more and not be too uptight about arrangements. We'll see, I guess.
Day 69 - Amsterdam
I went to Amsterdam on Saturday for World Pillow Fight Day with a whole big crew that included James, Steve, and Chase, and while I'm not big on flash mob type stunts I figured I wasn't doing anything better with my day. Upon arrival we were a bit early, so we walked around and grabbed some food, and when we returned to Dam Square there was a solid crowd of people with pillows. Upon the signal the madness began, and lasted for like two hours. The air was thick with feathers, which made the experience less than ideal, and I only could take so much of getting obnoxiously hit in the head with pillows, so I stood on the sidelines with James for most of it. Afterwards James and I met up with Zeke, who is awesome and who I know through Mallika, and a couple of his buddies who are studying together in London this semester. We walked around the Red Light district and chilled outdoors at a coffeeshop and it was overall just a really pleasant afternoon. It was good to see another familiar face and hang out with Zeke for a bit. He's such a genuinely nice guy, always refreshing.
Afterwards I got home with a full roster of sports on my plate. The Wings won in OT, the Tigers got killed again by the Yankees, and I fell asleep at halftime of the Butler-VCU game. My skewed sleep schedule finally caught up with me, for the best.
Day 70 - Sunday
It's Sunday. I woke up and found out that Butler and UConn will play in the national championship, which is what I was rooting for, but which is also a completely ridiculous national championship game. Rooting for the Bulldogs.
I'm gonna try to read for class today, and just generally take it easy. Next weekend I'm going to Copenhagen to visit Rachael, and in two weeks my family arrives! It's going to be a good April.
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