Off to catch at 8:55 am train into Amsterdam. Oh, how I love holidays that need to start being celebrated as the sun starts rising.....

Orange it is... (yes, thats a crown on my head trimmed in orange feathers)

Tomorrow is Queens Day in the Netherlands. It is the biggest holiday of the year-- often compared to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Everyone dresses in orange and parties in the street, and the canals-- in a boat, hopefully--, all day long to celebrate the Queens birthday. The story goes that Queen Beatrix's (the current Queen of the Netherlands) birthday is actually on January 31st, but April 30 was her mother's birthday, Queen Juliana, and Queen Beatrix decided to keep the celebrations on the same day. Pictures of the celebrations to come!


Happy Queen's Day!

Windy Utrecht. Week 1.

Windy Barcelona. Week ??? (too many to count).

GUESS WHICH PICTURE I AM HAPPIER IN... 

I will give you a hint, it is NOT the one where I am fully bundled, still freezing, being blown away by what I am convinced was tornado like winds. 

Amsterdaaam

Bikes. Beer. Canals. Clogs. Flowers.

Amsterdam at its finest.

Just your typical house in Amsterdam. Flowers and bike included. 

On the first day in Amsterdam we walked around the Red Light District. On the last day we took a tour of the Heineken factory and all had beers together. Guess which one made me feel less awkward...
Yup, you guessed right: Beer. 

Okay, so I may or may not give in and buy a miniature version of these clogs to put on my keychain. Thoughts? If so, I will make the purchase in the airport en route home as nothing screams tourist more than having a little pair of dangling wooden clogs hanging from your keys. Kinda like if you are from NY and have a keychain with "I <3 NY" written on it. No offense if you do buuuuut.... 

Flower Power

Keukenhof, Holland. Pretty much, the Disney Land of flowers. Unhealthy food included. You can look at flowers while eating waffles, strawberries covered in whip cream and powdered sugar, or a good old ice cream cone. Your pick. 

Barcelona in Pictures

Beach in Barcelona

A Barcelona Street

The Hebrew Letters on this wall is one of the only remains of the Jewish Quarter that once existed in Barcelona. As you can see, not everyone likes this...

To each his own

Sangria at Cerveceria Catalana... unreal. GO.

Park Guell

Candy At the  Markets!

So, I realize I have been slacking lately when it comes to blogging. I do have a good reason though. You see, the hotel I stayed at with my family in Barcelona costs 25 euro a night for internet. And then, in Amsterdam, it was even more. Unfortunate, but true.


Anyhow, I am back! Back to life abroad in Utrecht and all that goes with it. First off, let me tell you how amazing it was to see my family! It is too weird to think that I still have another 2 months until I get home. I  may or may not have gotten a little teary when I said bye. Can you blame me? Not only was I saying bye to my mom, dad, and sister, but I was also saying bye to nice hotels, delicious restaurants, and air conditioned rooms. If you think I am joking when I tell you I wake up having heat flashes in the middle of the night, you are sorely mistaken. Not only is my room boiling sans air conditioning but when I open the window I seem to attract humongous mosquitos. All I can say is thank gd for the hard cover book I bought at the Anne Frank House because it has done wonders killing those damn bugs. I can't exactly smack my IPad against the wall. 

Today I went to two grocery stores (yes, they may have been right next to each other but regardless I get an A for effort...) in search of something you most likely have heard of: PAM. Guess what... PAM cooking spray does not exist in the Netherlands according to the two employees I spoke to in each of the stores--see, I told you I get an A for effort. In fact, not only does it not exist, but one of the people I spoke to told me that the only reason Americans have such a product is because we are always worrying about our weight since we are "so obese". "We just use butter or olive oil here," she said. "Hmm...", was pretty much my only response I could come up with in the moment. I mean, can I really disagree? No. Although, it was kind of embarrassing especially after I had described in detail why I was searching for it in the first place...


uh, because it is 0 calories. duh. 

EEE!!! My mom is currently taking a nap in her hotel room in Utrecht!!! She landed at the ungodly hour of   5 am and is now finally here-- could not be more excited! Oh wait, I first need to finish my take home final before I go into town to see her. Wah wah wah...


Maybe, if i am not finished in two hours, I will just go with the old "well at least I'm a native English speaker" excuse to make myself feel better about whatever I do end up handing in. But, then again, maybe I will just finish.... decisions, decisions. 

I had an eyebrow waxing appointment at 12:30 today. I left my apartment at about 12:05 which really gives me the perfect amount of time to bike in, park, and check in; the whole "there was a lot of traffic" excuse doesn't exactly work in Utrecht so I try my best to be on time.Unfortunately, weather.com certaintly did not prepare me for the powerful gusts of wind that would blow every two minutes, making the twentyfive minutes I gave myself feel like a race against the clock. To put it in the simplest of terms-- the lady who waxed me first had to wipe the sweat from my face before applying any wax. "Ahhh its so windy outside, sorry that I am so sweaty!" is pretty much how I said "Hello, It's nice to meet you" to the nice lady who was waxing my eyebrows.Just a day in the life...

I have decided as to why I feel so safe in Utrecht (besides the fact that it actually is very safe here): Bicycles. It is a whole different experience to be walking or biking by yourself-- which, mind you, still usually means your surrounded by plenty of people doing exactly the same thing--and see a strange/scary/suspicious looking person on a bicycle than seeing that person roll down his/her car window and stare right at you. It's not exactly like you can be stuffed into the backseat of someone's bike. Eerie, I know. But enlightening nonetheless.