So Thursday morning Moe and I woke nice and late for our first day in the city. We pleasantly realized some time later that, due to a one hour time change, we actually hadn’t slept in as long as we’d thought! Of course neither of us proceeded to change the time on our phones when we realized this and so had several miscommunications down the line… and no there isn’t any good reason for this, I guess we’re just dumb?

Anyway we got up and dressed, had some delicious breakfast courtesy of Ian and his Mom, and then hopped on a bus towards the city center. We were actually staying in Swords/Malahide but it was only like 20 minutes on public transportation into the city. When we arrived we wandered aimlessly down shopping streets, getting entirely reversed as I THOUGHT I knew where we were headed based off my time there a few years ago, and immensely enjoying ourselves. Eventually we stumbled upon city hall, which incidentally was beautiful, and acquired a map. 

After reorienting ourselves we set off for the Guinness Storehouse! On the way we passed by and went inside various churches, dedicated to any number of unfamiliar Saints and some dating back hundreds of years. I absolutely love the architecture inside these gorgeous old churches and try to visit a few in any city I travel to. 

The Guinness Storehouse was very cool, similar to the Heineken factory in that it took you through the beer making process, but including much more history and with a different overall vibe and decor. It was dimly lit with lots of stone and brass and water; I would have taken lots of pictures but unfortunately our camera ran out of batteries. It was also all self guided, so no crazy comments from the people teaching us how to properly drink beer. The whole story is really cool as it’s been brewed since the 1700s with fun facts like how old Arthur Guinness was so convinced of the quality of his beer that he signed a 9000 year lease on the first brewery he opened up. Crazyyyy. 

So we explored the different rooms and learned about everything from Arthur Guinness’s fight with the water company, to how to make a wooden casket, to the whole advertising scheme. And I am a big fan of their advertisements. Likewise, I’m a big fan of their beer! At the end of the tour you are given a pint and get to enjoy it in this super high up bar, with all glass walls, so you can see out over the entire city. Guinness+Panoramas=Happy Jennie.

After the Storehouse we wandered over to see the modern art museum and it’s formal gardens. Now, even with the map, we got rather lost. But the thing is, I’m more than happy to aimlessly peruse down random streets in a cool city like Dublin. Eventually we found it and ate a late lunch/early dinner in the formal gardens, then headed back towards the city center, as we were pretty much on the outskirts by this point. We talked to Ian and Colin and they said they were coming into the city around 10 to see a Battle of the Bands that their friend was in, and we happily agreed to join them.

Moe and I walked the few miles back into the city and then did some window shopping and some real shopping on Grafton Street and throughout Temple Bar. At this point I was actually in familiar areas and began to know my way around the city again, and could point out to Moe our old hangouts like the restaurant owned by Bono’s brother. (It’s called Naked, and is delicious!), or the place various members of my highschool group got tattoos. We walked all the way to Stephen’s Green but decided that entering any park at night is kind of sketchy, so decided to save that visit for another day. Now here we ran into a little trouble with our lack of changing clocks… it was around 8 but we thought it was 9 so decided we didn’t have time to return to our apartment and change/drop off bags/etc before the show and so committed to just staying in the city until Ian and Colin met up with us.

We headed back towards the area we knew they would be arriving at, stopping off for some Gelato on the way (not exactly traditional Irish fare, I know, but oh so yummy!). We realized our error in timing at a late enough point that we now ACTUALLY didn’t have time to return home, and so needed to find some way to kill an hour or so, after all the shops and site had closed.

So, obviously, we went to a pub! Got ourselves some pints aaaand got hit on by some super drunk and slightly creepy Welsh dudes. At least I think they were hitting on us, it was quite difficult to understand their english. One did grab Moe though and yell out “Do you realize how sexy I am??” in his thick Welsh accent. Ohhhh good times. 

We got a call from Ian telling us they were heading into the city, and which pub they would be going to, so we finished up our drinks and headed over there. We arrived well before them, but this bar had a much younger clientele so we just made ourselves at home. Soon enough our Irish friends arrived! I finally got to see Colin again (as he hadn’t gone out with us the night before) as well as meet many more of their friends, some of whom we continued to hang out with at later parties.

The Battle of the Bands was pretty cool and we happily cheered on our new acquaintance and danced or sang along to their cover songs. Overall it was a fairly chill night and we all did some catching up (though it was maybe not the best environment for this with loud music being constantly played). We called it an early night, as the Irish had work to do and Moe and I had big plans for the next day, and so caught the last bus out around midnight or so!

Sorry it’s taken me a million years to update this. I’m always busy back at school and, in all honesty, I forgot. Whoops!

So I also forgot to mention in my last post all the things that are actually DIFFERENT about Winscho these days. Well, in short, it’s not as wild and crazy. A lot of the hardcore partiers have moved back home, or just moved to different apartments and the new kids seem like normal, hardworking student (weird right?). So while there was no trouble finding fun, the kitchens weren’t packed with people hanging out like back in the day. 

Anyhoo so my last night in Groningen was tons of fun. The raggae party was PACKED but the music was awesome and we danced for a few hours. Unfortunately Moe and I decided to leave right before my friend Carter was up. Very bad timing on our part, but it was super late and we knew we had big plans for the next day! In the morning I basically packed up and got ready for Ireland, and then said my goodbyes to my good friends all over again. Many of them I’m very confident I’ll see again though – either in the US or they promised to visit me in Edinburgh.

Oh yeah, did you all know I’m studying abroad again next year? January 2011 onward you’ll find me in Edinburgh, Scotland. I’m unbelievably excited 🙂

So Moe and I make our way to the Eindhoven airport with only a few strange delays and missed connections (we left time for this, because it’s not uncommon in our experiences with the Netherlands rail system). We hop on our flight and before we know it we’ve landed in Dublin! Just stepping into the airport surrounded by people speaking in Irish accents made me so ecstatic.

We had asked Ian if we could stay with him and he generously agreed, and picked us up from the airport to take us to our accommodation. Now when Moe and I enquired after a place to sleep I was honestly expecting a couch, or even cushions on the floor. Instead he tells us that he thought we’d be more comfortable if we had our own apartment, so he and his mom had set us up in one. Oh and let me just tell you this place was LOVELY. It was huge, with two floors and three bedrooms (walk in closets, giant bathtubs) and a wrap around balcony. On the top floor of the building. Yep, you got that right, we ask for a spare couch and get a penthouse suite. Somehow I make the best friends in the entire world.

And beyond this is was fully furnished, his mom bought us shampoo/conditioner/etc and the kitchen was stocked with food. I still cannot get over their generosity.

Alright so after that unbelievable welcome to Ireland, Ian asks us if we can get ready really fast to go out with him and his friends tonight. Well duh. Moe and I make ourselves gorgeous as quickly as possible, then Ian swings us by the store to buy some drinks, and we head off to his friends house who lives closer to the city (Ian actually lives in Malahide). We pregame there with some Irish we’d met before in Groningen and a few new faces, then head to a bar/club called Diceys.

The night commences with a typical level of insanity. Lots of drinks, a fair amount of dancing, meeting all sorts of instant and fleeting friends, somehow winding up in some sort of VIP balcony. Dicey’s has multiple rooms and bars and a large enclosed but outdoor patio. And it is jam packed full of partying Irish people. None too shabby for a Wednesday night.

We stay out far too late, with extra time added to seek out snacks after we leave the bar, and have an absolutely fantastic time. Everyone is amazingly friendly (true for our whole time there) and excited to meet us and talk to us. Of course no one can believe I’m heading back before St. Paddy’s Day – but such is my difficult life (hahaha). Moe and I do stand out as Americans, both is accent and dress (Irish girls dress like… well… very classy hookers), but most people seemed to adore Americans, so this was no hardship.

Eventually we grab a taxi back to our beautiful apartment and crash into bed, exhausted but only more excited for the days to come.

Ah, it’s been a while since I updated this. I’d keep you all up to speed on the adventures I go on in the US (mardi gras anyone?) but, unfortunately, it generally involves illegal activity (such as underage consumption… wouldn’t want to spill too much).

Get it? Drinking, spill, hahhahaha. Okay, sorry.

In case you were unaware, it’s my spring break and I’m spending it in Europe! Simply couldn’t stay away. Friday I flew out to Amsterdam, hopped on the train to Groningen, and have been sleeping on Moe’s floor in Winschoterdiep for the past few days. And it honestly feels like I never left.  I still feel totally at home and comfortable and it’s been FABULOUS to catch up with my old friends.  It’s was funny the first day or so as I walked through the halls of winscho and got some serious double takes:  people would be like “Hi Jennie. HOLY SHIT JENNIE??” Others didn’t seem to realize my return was an event and just acted as usual. One kid asked me, “where did you go for so long?” My wistful reply was “Real life Carter, real life.”

I haven’t  made any insane stories yet (that’ll start tomorrow), but have had plenty of fun times. Days are spent wandering through the city and chatting with friends. Going out to lunch and hitting up the markets. Baking cakes and eating way too many stroopwaffles. Nights are spent getting myself into all sort of trouble at the bars. Saturday night we went clubbing at Vera, and Monday I hit up my old bars like Kasteel and Pacific. Of course on both nights Moe and I managed to separate and then I couldn’t get into my room… but that’s what’s wonderful about having a million friends you can crash with. Oh and I’ve gone to Jumbo (the huge supermarket I’m obsessed with) like everyday. Obviously. Arizona informed me that it’s actually the largest supermarket in all of Holland, which is just wild.

Oh my god and guess what?? IT HASN’T RAINED!!! The sun came out for my little visit and it’s been freezing cold but beautiful.

In classic Groningen style I’ve been riding broken-down bikes, and narrowly avoiding serious damage. Moe’s is extra special because while it’s usually functional the brakes are simply… unreliable. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t! But a little fear just keeps things exciting right?

Tonight we are going to the reggae concert again, like I did right before I left last time. I am super excited and I think my friend is even playing bass tonight as part of it!

And tomorrow… OFF TO DUBLIN TO SEE THE IRISSSSH!!! I am so unbelievably excited. And I’m sure I’ll have plenty of new experiences to tell you about.

To leave you with a little more entertainment I’m going to show you two of the videos that are currently on the Netherlands top 40. Because these Dutch people are ABSURD in their music tastes. Absolutely insane.

This first one, literally the lyrics are “I have a hard on.” And it sounds like a carnival. And they play this in the clubs. Frequently.

This second one… is about a sandwich. A broodje bakpao is like a stuffed bun. But it’s like tough rap. And apparently they think being white trash is cool…

I hope you can enjoy that. Arizona showed them to me so I could catch up on the popular music.

More stories coming sooooon!! Love you all.

This is a video a friend of mine made of Groningen, if you’d like to watch some of the paths I took through life there. The building at the beginning is my housing, then it shows where I took classes – the Academy Building, then follows the path down Winschoterdiep into town and scenes from all over the city. Enjoy!

Got an hour and a half to waste sitting in the Iceland airport so it seemed like a perfectly good time to work on this blog. Then again I’ll be home in like 10 hours and really haven’t decided whether to continue it there. Probably depends on how interesting my life is haha. It’s weird sitting here around a bunch of people waiting for a flight to the US, because like half the people are speaking English. I got so used to NOT being able to understand strangers’ conversations, or even people I pass by within my student housing, so I feel almost intrusive even though I’m just sitting here haha.

My final night was fun – hung out with kind of a random mixed group because lots of people had left for Christmas break, but I got to see some of my great friends for a final night. We invited everyone for drinks in our upstairs kitchen, then ended up moving down to Carter’s room (he lives in a triple and it’s huuuge) where a lot of people drank/smoke/danced/played basketball soccer/etc. Around 1am a bunch of us ended up braving the snow and going downtown, so I got to see the old standby bars one last time as well!

This morning Anneke and Moe took me to the train station even though that meant waking up after like 4 hours of sleep and that really meant a lot to me. I know I’ll def see Moe again, but who knows when, and so it was definitely a bittersweet moment. I almost started crying as I stood in the train and waved goodbye to Moe and Anneke outside as the doors closed and the train started moving… but then ended up cracking up as Anneke ran ahead of the my part of the train and stopped to wave goodbye again.

So I won’t be having any new updates on Groningen life, unless by some magical fairy wish I get to go back after xmas; but I still have a few older stories to share/remember so I’ll write them now.

Tuesday night we went to this awesome reggae party/jam session that apparently is every Tuesday, but I’d always missed it before. It’s in this bar/room above a popular coffee shop called Dee’s and this was the first time I spent an extended amount of time in a coffee shop in Groningen. Honestly the vibe is not that different from a chill bar, until you realize there are ashtrays in the toilet stalls. I’m not even kidding. But anyways the music was awesome – there were probably 7 guys playing instruments/singing at any given time, but probably 20 rotated in and out throughout the night. And people were just sitting and chilling, or standing and dancing, and we were about 10 feet or less from the musicians – like they weren’t up on a stage or anything. The night started out very low key but picked up and became more of a bar scene/dance party by the end. When it got too full of drunken people who weren’t even paying attention to the music though, we headed back home.

 On the way back we found this hidden winter wonderland street down an alleyway that had tons of trees, lights, hay, and fake snow (as the blizzard hadn’t hit yet). I think it was for a few restaurants in the area or something but it was absolutely beautiful and totally unexpected because we were just looking for a shortcut between roads.

Going back even further in time – Monday night was my last international student night at the Pacific Bar. I’d sort of gotten out of the habit of heading there but fully embraced it for my final hurrah. Lots of dancing and cheap beers and running into my few friends who live outside of Winscho that I don’t see very often. Moe found some mistletoe and ran around making everyone kiss her, which was pretty entertaining. I also ran into this bouncer I’m weirdly friends with who told the people I was with “watch out, this girl is crazy and knows how to party” to which they replied “oh yes, we know.” I don’t know whether I should be ashamed or proud to stand out to someone whose job it is to help control drunk people…

But that nicely transitions into the story of how I got to know this particular bouncer. The other night I went out with just Dr. Dre, but he was meeting up with a Spanish chica he looooves so I was kind of doing my own thing and dancing with random folks upstairs in a bar called Shadraq. And this guy who is quite clearly a bouncer, as he’s in the bar but is approximately 4 times my size (I’m not exaggerating) and is probably 40 years old, grabs my hand and pulls me into a few swing dancing moves. And I was absolutely overjoyed! People know how to dance like that in the South, but most Dutch boys dance in a style better described as “awkward jumping and shimmying.” So I danced for a few minutes with this giant and then went back to some other friends, but as he’s leaving he asks if I want to come with him to a private party at Warhol.

I was a little skeptical at first about what he was even talking about, and how a bar I frequently go to at this time of night (4am or so) is having a private party, but it was literally just around the corner and in a very public area so I agreed to check it out. And it turned out to be exactly what he described, a private party of lots of bouncers and bartenders who work in Groningen. We had to knock and be recognized to get in, but then it was free open bar and lots of dancing and chilling and good times. I think everyone was entirely confused as to how I was there, but generally embraced it and I met people who work at almost every place I frequent. A fun time all in all and a little bit of a different night for me.

So I’ve told you about reggae parties, private parties, Pacific parties, what am I missing? Oh yes – pajama parties! Basically I never had a real update talking about when the Irish had all their friends come to visit, because I had to scurry off to Italy and then Ross was here. But those kids are absolutely INSANE. Like the Irish already know how to go crazy, but this was above and beyond what I’ve seen before. They had like 5 guys come to stay, as well as one girl who was short and had curly, bright red hair. Of course when she walked in I yelled “oh my god a leprechaun!!!” Which could have been entirely offensive but her reply was “so you must be Jennie.” “You’ve heard about me?” I asked and she said “Oh yes, you’re a legend.” Hahahahah I liked that.

Anyways, basically I think the boys were drunk or otherwise mentally impaired about 24 hours a day and I doubt they ever slept more than a few hours. On Thursday we pregamed in the kitchen, then headed out to all the bars and acted crazy and danced and generally had the time of our lives. They were mostly from Dublin, so used to paying like 9 euros for a drink, so were overjoyed by our prices. We walked into Kasteel and one of them ordered a beer, and the bartender served it then asked for a euro. “One euro? Only one?” he asked and when the reply was affirmative he yelled out “I love this city! I’m never going home! And at that price, I’ll take a dozen.” And he wasn’t kidding, he got a dozen. Now the Irish term for acting/drinking like this is to say “he’s cobblebound tonight!” As in bound for the cobble stones, passed out in the street. I love that phrase and would bring it back home, but we don’t really have streets paved with cobblestones.

Around 6am we all headed back from the bars and I’m about to head to my room when Colin and his friends Gary and Patrick ask where I’m going. I said that I thought everyone was going to bed and they told me, “Hell no! Just those lame kids! The night is young!” We did all change into pajamas though; or, rather, I borrowed Gary’s “tracksy bottoms” (track pants), which I could practically swim in but were very comfy. Patrick then ran off for a minute and came back with a case of beer which we did some work on. We ended up completely destroying some furniture (sorry Winscho), frightening the cleaning ladies and workers who start up at 8 or 9am, doing cheerleading stunts in the hallways, you get the idea.

I think we went to sleep by ten or so; I ended up just passing out in Colin’s room with everyone. Next “morning” we had 3pm breakfast burritos made by Ian, and that was pretty much ideal for me after just a few hours sleep and a borderline hangover. You’d think it would take some recovering after a night like that, but by 6pm on Friday they were back at it again. That night was more of the same, except I had to go home “early” (like 5am) because I had my flight out to Italy on Saturday. Of course I managed to lose my phone and camera and almost miss my train buuuuut they were mailed back to me from Ireland a week or so later. I’m guessing that wasn’t my fault but I really can’t be too sure.

Alright I think that might have covered the highlights from my last weeks in the Netherlands. The one thing I failed to do was ever go to the Hague buuuut I guess I’ll just have to come back now. Shucks.

Okay well this post is more just for me and my mental state than to entertain anyone else. Because I keep breaking down crying and being dysfunctional and if I don’t get my head straight then I’ll never be packed up in time to party and create some last good memories with my friends here.

Reasons I cannot continue studying in Groningen:

I have to present at conferences for the research I did last summer because of the grants/scholarships I was given

I have to finish spending my SCICU funds for research and complete that project

I’m already registered for classes and I need all of them to graduate with my two majors

I need to work with profs at Furman for the additional research I’m doing this summer

It’s too late now to organize anything else

I’m VP of two communications groups that need my work/help. Cicero could prob survive without me but LPE would be down and out an officer

I’ve already paid to reserve housing at home

I’ve already bought flights from Seattle to Greenville

It would break some friends hearts

 

 Things to look forward to about returning to Greenville:

Seeing friends again. Especially like Ella but even people who I’m not super close with, but who I always enjoy spending time around.

Scoping out the freshmen and fraternity/sorority pledges

Warm weather

Mexican food

Better food in general

Living in much nicer housing: clean showers, real kitchens, laundry that doesn’t suck, actual furniture

Regaining my skill at “ping” pong

Accomplishing something with my life/time rather then just enjoying it

Swing dancing

Maybe getting back into soccer, or at least back into shape

Having a free gym within a reasonable distance

Starbucks

The beautiful campus and its crazy squirrels

Getting back in touch with my friends from freshman year that I let drift a bit too much

I can live my life in the US with the mindset I have here, no need to give that up

There are things open 24 hours a day

Having extracurriculars other than taking walks and partying

Being much closer in time difference to all my friends and family across the US

Having a car

Better chances to go to real concerts

 

Okay I feel a bit better. Back to workkkk

 

Taking a break from packing to update this baby. I am absolutely horrible at packing and incapable of planning what I will want/need in Whistler… Some friends offered to help but I don’t really see how they’d be any better aaaaand I’m pretty sure they were just looking to take free stuff off my hands, haha. Luckily it doesn’t look like I have any more stuff than when I came here. I’ve definitely bought some clothes and souvenirs buuut the washers and dryers and life here ruined so much of my old clothes that it kind of evened out.

So I mentioned in my last post that it was snowing in Groningen but it turned out to be a way bigger deal then anyone anticipated. They got over half a foot in the last few days when this city usually sees like one cm a year. It completely shut down public transport and the school and who knows what else. I was really hoping it would snow-in all my friends who were leaving, but only one person had train issues and it was worked out

The Irish left midday on Thursday and I miss them terribly. They are coming back after Christmas vacation but of course I won’t be here.  Arizona managed to extend her stay last minute for another term and I am insanely jealous. I would have worked harder to do the same but I’ve got so many obligations at home from grants and research and the like. But on Wednesday night we had a final wonderful night with our Irish friends. No crazy parties as they had to pack and leave in the morning, and we weren’t trying to get downtown in the blizzard.  But we had some drinks and sat and talked and then had some more drinks and then had an EPIC SNOW BATTLE! Huge snowball fight in front of Winscho, the first one ever for Colin because they don’t get snow like this in Dublin either. I thought I might lose my hands to frostbite as I don’t have real gloves but those kids were absolutely unstoppable. I think we were out there playing for at least 3 hours in like -11C weather.

Eventually we were all frozen and exhausted so we headed to bed, but I got to have my final sad goodbye yesterday morning before they rolled out to the train station. We exchanged Irish and American phone numbers (as we’d all been using Dutch phones for the past few months) and promised to stay in touch. Also I promised to come visit them soon and I’m planning to keep that promise. 

The rest of the day still turned out fun though – I managed to not just sit inside and weep. I ran some errands downtown that turned out to be quite an adventure. I had to shut down my bank account, and then tonight we are throwing a little goodbye party for Yoga and me (as we are some of the few not coming back after break), so Moe and I went to pick up some supplies for that. Unfortunately we did not make wise decisions as we went shopping in the grocery store right next to the bank. Which meant we were then carrying like 36 beers back for like 4km, in deep snow, with wind and more snow beating us up the whole way. I’m not that strong to begin with so it was kind of torture, but I was suffering through it with my best friend here so it made it more like an epic journey to throw a party, rather than just carrying heavy shit. We got back to winscho to discover people had built a giant snow man in true winscho-style. Aka it was anatomically correct and was drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette. Aren’t we classy?

Moe and I met back up with people and we all made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup and hot chocolate and it was wonderful. We just sat and talked all afternoon and Moe cooked her mom’s recipe of chicken and dumplings for everyone for dinner (except the veggies like me). Then at night people started partying again with everyone sharing drinks and hanging out in the common areas. It was actually rather nice that few people were braving the snow to go downtown, because I hung out with way more people than usual and partied with some of the people I usually just see in passing. Around 1am or so we were convinced to head back out in the snow and we all grabbed garbage bags and walked out to a hill near Jumbo and went sledding!! I got absolutely covered in snow and at times was more rolling down the hill then sliding, but it was fun and silly and a great end to the night. Moe talked about how it was fate that she and Arizona got stuck here a few days extra, because otherwise they would have missed all this snow and fun and final few days. I think I agree.

Okay back to packing. More older stories to come when I have some more time. Lovelovelove.

So I actually missed this blog a great deal when I couldn’t write in it to process all my memories and share them with you all. However while Ross was here he wasn’t that cool with sitting around bored for a few hours while I wrote stories, so I didn’t really get a chance to update. But he left this morning bright and early so you all can expect a lot of posts over the next few days!

For quick updates on my current life:

-IT’S SNOWING IN GRONINGEN!! And over night it gets to be like -11 degrees C (sorry I change my measurement system all the time but it’s literally how my brain works now). So basically it’s as cold as Hamburg and sometimes when I go outside I feel close to death, but the beauty of the snow and frost makes it far more bearable.

-I again am bikeless. Found it stolen when I got back from Italy. Buuut it didn’t seem worth it to try and get a new one, so I’ve been doing a bit of borrowing and a lot of walking. It’s slow but almost nice because I get to actually see the city as much as possible before I leave

-Currently preparing for my last class ever here! Having trouble figuring out how to get it proctored at home but hopefully that’ll work out and ideally be organized before I leave.

-I passed my other three classes!

-I’m coming home on Saturday but am so not ready. Not only have I not begun packing/closing accounts/etc, but emotionally I’m not accustomed to the idea of leaving here yet. Most friends are here for at least a few more months, and people keep asking me “how are you dealing with the fact you have to leave soon?” To which my general response is “I’m not” because I get too sad when I think about it, so I just avoid those thoughts. Lately I’ve been considering trying to return next fall, or for a two-year master’s, but it’s hard to say whether it’d be as wonderful with different people around.

-On the other hand I’m so looking forward to Whistler on Sunday! Especially walking through the snow here reminds me of the Village aaaand I can’t wait to get back on a board. My Irish friend Ian and I were talking about all our wonderful memories of Whistler, as he’s visited there as well, and it got me even more excited. Especially because I’ll be going with some of my favorite people in the whole world

-Arizona and Moe were going to be leaving today for Prague/Budapest/Berlin but because Arizona got sick they are delaying their trip until Saturday!! Never have I been so happy for one of my friends to get sick…

Coming soon are stories from my recent crazy parties in Groningen! Love you allll!

So it turns out Italy wasn’t actually my final travels! This past weekend all my best friends like Dr. Dre, Moe, Yoga, Arizona, etc were going to Nuremberg together to see Dre’s family, but sadly I couldn’t come along because Ross was here. So I was rather disappointed, but then luckily my friend Anneke (don’t know if I’ve written about her much on here but I love her and hang out with her lots) offered that, if we could get a train to Hamburg, both Ross and I could stay at her house on Saturday and Sunday nights. I quickly agreed. There ended up being six of us there, including two of the Winschoterdiep student managers. Of course student managers here are nothing like RAs back at Furman. They enforce the rules, but only to a certain extent, and party almost as hard as the rest of us. Roos (pronounced Rose) is one of them and, to give you an example, last week she caught some of my friends smoking in the hallways, which is def not allowed. But apparently, rather than fine them, as punishment she confiscated all of their rolling papers and told them to go outside. And you know she’s just going to use those papers herself.

Anyway, so Ross and I leave for Hamburg early Saturday morning and when we get there it is FREEZING. Like we left Groningen in the mid-40s and arrive in Germany to 30 degree weather. But it’s also a very cool city and was FULL of Christmas markets! The entire place was way more festive than the Netherlands, which basically stops celebrating after Dec 6th’s Sinter Klaas Day. We spent the day wandering through Christmas markets and in and out of regular stores – I bought cheap little gloves, Ross got a scarf, Vera got a hat, you get the idea. 

As it got dark we headed back towards one of the largest and most famous markets where I got my first taste of Gluhwein, and became an instant addict. It’s like hot, spiced red wine that warms your entire body, tastes delicious, and is served in adorable little Christmas mugs. I think I drank more Gluhwein than water last weekend… And as we were standing there in the market, it started SNOWING! How perfect! And the rest of the weekend we had on and off light snow for a festive little winter wonderland.

Afterwards we headed back to Anneke’s house to warm up, eat dinner, and prepare for an evening out on the town. You begin to get a feel for what a huge city this is as it always took us almost an hour to get from Anneke’s house to downtown where we hung out, yet her neighborhood is technically still considered the city center of Hamburg. But we hopped on the subway, then took the ferry across the harbor, or took a bus through an underground tunnel depending on the time of day, then walked another half mile or so to her house. We stopped by a grocery store on the way home and picked up lots of cheap drinks (way better prices than Groningen, despite the fact Hamburg is a rich financial city) including one that looked absolutely frightening and Roos said translated to “Dragon blood with vodka.” Why we decided this was a good purchase, I have no idea, but it was pretty funny at the time.

Anneke’s parents made us a nice pasta dinner and then a couple of us watched a movie while the rest took a nap. Around ten pm or so we started pregaming and played lots of silly drinking games before running outside to catch the bus. Of course it came early, was just pulling away from the stop as we got there, and refused to stop or be flagged down. Thanks a lot, as there is an hour wait between busses. So we hung out in the cold for an hour, drank too much, and eventually got on our bus headed downtown. We went to a few crazy bars where people were getting wild shots that involved Poprocks or whipped cream or who knows what. A particularly memorable one was called “smurf cum” and was creamy, pale blue, and tasted sour. It was entirely disgusting and yet Roos and Ross had like 3 each. We partied until the early morning and then eventually headed back across (under) the harbor to sleep in Anneke’s house. 

We slept in late on Sunday morning and then people were impossibly slow to get ready, so I don’t think we left the house again until dark (seems to always be my life lately). We headed back into town and saw some of the tourist sights, visited new Christmas markets and drank lots of Gluhwein, and took some ridiculous pictures by cramming six people into a photobooth. We happened to be walking across a bridge at one point when fireworks started going off directly across the harbor. We ended up getting a full fireworks show, from not that far away, and it was beautiful! No idea what it was for, or whether it was even a mistake, but I appreciated it.

Around seven or eight pm, Anneke, Roos and Lara headed out to a German rock concert they had tickets for, while Ross, Vera and I continued to wander the city. We had dinner in a crazy bar/restaurant/travel agency that seemed to have no continuity of theme, purpose, or decor, but which was quite fun. Our bartender/waiter was a guy from Vancouver and told me he’d majored in European Politics, “so good luck.” That was encouraging. Then again I probably wouldn’t mind ending up as a bartender in some crazy German city. After that we wandered the redlight district, which doesn’t have the little windows like in the Netherlands or Belgium, but has a million strip clubs, some crazy stores, and prostitutes just wandering the streets. Someone approached Ross, spoke a language I didn’t understand, and gestured to Vera and me but we just yelled “hell no!” and scurried out of there. We walked up and down the million streets of this city, where unfortunately most things were closed, before eventually finding a place INDOORS that sold gluhwein – an entirely new and fantastic discovery. So we sat and had a few glasses until the other girls got out of the concert, then made our way back home. We had some fun adventures on the subway with crazy hobos; and by “fun” I mean deeply frightening yet hilarious. We’d planned on having an early night, but of course I can’t fall asleep that early anymore, so Vera and I ended up staying up late watching The Devil Wears Prada… probably not the wisest decision but that’s my usual style.

The next morning we were all up early (like 730am alarms, *shudder*) and Roos, Vera, and Lara headed back in their car to Groningen as they had work to get done. Anneke had a doctor’s appointment at ten so Ross and I went back in the city to see some more sights and meet up with her to take the train home. We saw a very cool war memorial, lots of pretty churches, town hall (the “Rathaus”, (What do you think that says about their view of politicians?) haha) and Christmas displays and beautiful lights everywhere. Finally it was time to go home and we got on our slooow (but cheap) train back to Holland. Of course we had a half hour layover in Bremen, saw an xmas market outside, and had to run out for one last Gluhwein. I realize I sound obsessed but this drink combines red wine, warmth, and Christmas, which are all favorites in my life.

Eventually we got back home, and met up with the Americans and Dre who described their adventures as damn similar to ours. They also brought back lots and food and drink from the Nuremberg markets (including you know what) and so we continued our German Christmas parties into the night!

Hi all, sorry it’s been a little while since I’ve written on here. Life is good and I’m doing well, though a litttttle bit sick and not ready to leave Europe and all my friends here. I think the sickness comes from the fact that average sleep for me is about 4 hours a night, but I’m way too busy having tons of fun! Here are a few of the recent updates in my traveling life:

Amsterdam was pretty awesome, especially seeing my American friends again. One night I stayed with Ross, Jim, and all their cool friends I met in Prague, the other I spent with Nora and Gill. Basically there was lots of hanging out and partying and running around this slightly crazy city. Plus a little bit of culture, like the Van Gogh museum – which is awesome btw. It was right after Cannabis Cup so there were lots of people visiting the city and celebrations were still going strong. Perhaps my favorite was the free chocolate fountain every night at Ross’s hostel. Dangerous, but so so delicious. Oh also you had two options: regular chocolate, or chocolate with weed. Apparently it’s cool in this country to just give marijuana away for free haha.

The first night out (Friday) in Amsterdam was definitely the crazier of the two, whereas Saturday we went to bed at a reasonable hour because we all had work coming up. But Nora, Gill, Jim, Ross and I hopped around from bar to bar having fun and making crazy friends. We met a couple from England, one of whom was pretty much a rockstar (well he fills in playing guitar and drums when famous people can’t tour cuz they are sick or whatever) and both of whom were hilarious. I think within about 5 minutes of me going up and talking to them they were like, “soooo… jager bombs?” But we stayed chatting and playing air instruments for half the night.

Eventually we headed back to the hostel, where we met a few more people, and then I stayed up way too late dancing with the DJs. Sometimes entirely alone. But they liked me and invited me back behind their booth to check out all they were doing, which was very fun! Saturday night also consisted of bar hopping, but I managed to be well behaved and go home at a normal hour.

So that was about a week and a half ago; this past weekend I went to Italy where I met up again with Ross and Jim, as they were just getting off school. I had a slight mishap and lost my camera and phone the night before I was supposed to leave and then almost missed my train and was stranded. By “slight mishap” I mean my Irish friends had like 6 friends come to visit and we went a little crazy. But luckily my phone and camera have both been recovered now – though the camera was found in Ireland and is being shipped back to me. I’ll tell more of those stories later haha.

But I few into Milan, and eventually made it, then couldn’t reach Jim and Ross at first but eventually found my way to our hostel where we met up. I quickly dropped off my stuff, and we immediately jumped in a car and headed to the AC Milan game. We were late arriving and will call was already closed but, since I’m the luckiest person in the whole world, we ran into the will call workers outside the entrance while trying to convince the guards to let us in with just our printed email reservation. They had our tickets and we ran inside and found our seats and all was well. It was my first European soccer game ever and the stadium was amazing (though maybe not Camp Nou) and I had a great time.

Afterwards we tried to find our way back to the hostel with public transport, got entirely lost, ate some dinner, walked around the gorgeous downtown area (where I wish I’d had my camera!) and eventually decided to just try and find the bars. Well we again got completely lost, though in pretty much the classiest area ever. Milan is SUPER rich and we were surrounded by every designer name you’ve ever heard of, and some I never had, with Ferraris and the like parked on the side streets. I really felt like I wkould be kicked out at any moment since usually my traveling plans consist of “lets find the cheapest hostel possible, pack clothes we don’t care if they get ruined, and flirt our way to free drinks.”

Eventually we found some bars, though they were rather pricey, and had some very nice cocktails. I discovered I like mint juleps, so that’s cool! They started closing around two though (crazy for me since that’s when we head out to find bars in Groningen) but we asked a guy on the street if he k new where any clubs that stayed open later were. He told us there was actually an Erasmus (the EU student network I’m part of) that he could take us to, which turned out to be great fun. I showed my ID and then basically said “those three guys are with me” and while the bouncer at first just laughed, he did let us in. We danced for hours, chatted with some exchange students from all over, and it felt almost like my home in Groningen.

The next day we wandered around the city a bit more, Jim headed off to Rome, and Ross and I caught a train to Florence. Immediately upon arriving I felt much more comfortable in the city as it seemed cheaper, younger, and more casual. Over the next two days we saw all the beautiful sights in the day, poked around some fun Christmas markets, ate delicious Italian food and Gelato, and went out to the bars at night. Our last night we managed to run into what seemed like the American street (there are tons of exchange students in Florence too) where we walked into bars and suddenly heard all English. We even met some kids who knew other Furman friends of ours. Strannnnge.

Finally, all too early on Tuesday morning, Ross and I headed back to the Netherlands where he’s  hanging out for a week because he’s flying out of Amsterdam. A long time to visit a city that isn’t a huge tourist attraction, but it looks like there are about a million parties and other adventures this week, so he should be kept entertained.

More stories to come, much love.