Koninginnedag

As usual, my apologies for being absolutely horrible at blogging!! Seriously, it's been months - not okay. During my absence, I took a day trip to Gouda for a class project and traveled to Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, and Germany with my family. To see my pictures from those adventures (and all my adventures), visit www.flatjulia.shutterfly.com.

Anyway, April 30 was Koninginnedag (Queen's day). As the title suggests, it is a day to celebrate the queen and show some national pride, mainly by wearing lots of orange. Traditionally, it is celebrated on the queen's birthday. However, since all the festivities are done outdoors, Queen Beatrix did not want the celebration on her birthday in January. Instead, she chose to continue the tradition on her mothers birthday as it had been for decades before so that there would be a (small, ity-bity, tiny) chance of nice weather. What a sweet lady.

And miraculously enough, Queen's day almost always has nice weather! This year, for example, it rained for almost a week and a half before, was beautifully sunny and warm on the day (we're talking no jacket, short sleeve warm), and has not stopped raining since. Go figure.

On the actual day, I ventured into Amsterdam where the biggest part of the festivities are held. Dam Square was set up like a carnival and I knew immediately that I had to ride the ferris wheel. As for some of the other rides...I opted for not throwing up on my nice new orange shirt. Apparently Dutch people really enjoy being dropped at ridiculous speeds from heights higher than the surrounding buildings. Continuing on, I was met with some things that I heard were particular about Queen's day. For one, there are vendors set up all over the city. They sell various things from orange gear to food and beer, even special bathroom trucks. Besides the vendors, people come out from their houses to sell things. Now, the week before Queen's day, I learned in my Dutch Culture class (yes, shut up, this is considered a real course) that Dutch people are essentially hoarders. Since this is the only day of the year when people can sell anything anywhere without a permit, they save all their old junk in their attics until Queen's day, when they throw a blanket down on the sidewalk and try to sell all of it. Whatever doesn't sell gets packed up and put back in the attic for next year. Seeing Amsterdam, I can say that this is pretty much not true. Yes, I saw a few people sitting on blankets trying to sell crap but not that many. Other special Queen's day events are the outdoor parties. Anywhere you go, you can hear music and can pretty much follow that music to find people hanging out. And, of course, the orange was EVERYWHERE. Every article of clothing you could see (and even some you couldn't) was orange. On top of that, there were orange wigs, orange hair spray, orange head-items (hats, headbands, etc), orange sunglasses, orange jewelry, and on and on. 

All in all, a fun and exciting day.

Dutch flag with the orange ribbon added

Orange people in Amsterdam

I went orange too

Seriously, who's going on that?!

Orange people in boats

Selling things on the street

Tot ziens,

Flat Julia 

London!

Last weekend, I traveled to London to visit Arielle, my good friend from home. It was an incredibly intense and packed three days, but lots of fun and well worth it.
On Friday, I took a train from the Netherlands to Brussels where, after a twenty minute interrogation at customs (seriously, it was that important you know exactly what subject I study?!?), I boarded the Eurostar to London. For those who don't know, the Eurostar is a high-speed train that brings you from Brussels to London through a tunnel going under the English channel (hence the "chunnel"). Supposedly, the trip takes just as long as a flight would. Of course, a flight to London from Amsterdam only takes an hour and costs the same as the train, while the Eurostar takes two hours. And thats only if you ignore the travel time needed to get to and from Brussels, which is just about another two hours, unless your connecting train times don't quite fit together, in which case you probably have four hours of travel outside of the Eurostar...but I digress...
Arriving in London St Pancreas, I found it incredibly easy to find the tube and get on the right line. Emerging from my tube stop, I realized that I had no clue how to get to my hotel. Trying not to freak out, I decided to walk around the block...at which point I ran into my hotel. Literally around the block. After checking in to my closet sized room, I proceeded to meet up with Arielle. First, we walked around Hyde Park. Then, we ate fish and chips (I ate fish!) and drank cider in a traditional pub. Finally, we finished off the night at an American club near my hotel. It was a great first night in London.
The next morning, I awoke at 8:30am to recieve some complimentary breakfast from the hotel...at which point I discovered it was actually 7:30am and the clock of neither my international phone nor my Dutch phone had switched. Yay. Meeting up with Arielle once again, we visited St. Pauls Cathedral, the Millenium Bridge, and the Globe theater. We continued on to a...strange...museum of modern art as part of Arielle's class, where we saw...rusty pieces of metal with dirty towels hanging off and pieces of concrete with trash sticking out... We left fairly quickly. After, we wanted to go paddle boating, but missed the opening hours, so we went to the science museum instead. I'll admit, I probably had too much fun there for any other self-respecting 20-year-old. After a delicious dinner of Italian food, we headed over to Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the London Eye, where I proceeded to take 892398742365987 pictures. Seriously. For all your sakes, I narrowed them down to 200 (link is later). We finished the night by taking a boat trip up and down the river Thames. This was a great way to quickly see a lot of London...plus, we got a glimpse of the filming of the newest James Bond movie!!
Finally, it was Sunday, my day of departure. Arielle and I began back at the science museum where we did a simulation of flying a plane, which we spent mostly upside down and backwards. Then, we traveled to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guards Ceremony, and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. After a delicious burger at a place near her, I got back on the tube to St. Pancreas. Expecting another interrogation from customs, especially since I still don't have my residence permit, I arrived half an hour early for my train...which I promptly spent sitting around since customs barely even looked at my passport. Awesome. After hours of travel (some of which was in a train that looked like Eurotrip), I finally arrived back in Leiden.

London is preparing for the Olympics!

my (small) room

Typical London, the big red bus and the flag

Hyde Park

Arielle and the Isis had a staring contest

fish and chips with cider

St Paul's Cathedral

Millenium Bridge

The Globe Theater

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Tower Bridge

Oh hey, Daniel Craig

Changing of the Guards

Eurotrip

For all of my pictures (of London and my other various adventures), visit www.flatjulia.shutterfly.com!

Tot Ziens,

Flat Julia

Naar de Bioscoop!

Op vorig weekend, ben ik naar de bioscoop in Rotterdam gegaan. Daar heb ik de film "Hugo" gezien. Het was een leuke film en een mooie bioscoop.


This past weekend, I went to a movie theater in Rotterdam. There, I saw the film "Hugo." It was a good movie and a nice movie theater!

But really, who would've thought I'd make a post about the movie theater? Something so simple and universal? Turns out its not really that universal...or simple. In fact, I wish I'd brought my camera.

At this particular theater, you walk in and have about four machines on either side of you with a desk in the middle. At the desk sits one person waiting to help you. One. Luckily, you are not stupid (neither are we) so you have preordered your tickets. With the sheet printed at home, you take the paper to a machine, where it scans the barcode and prints your tickets. Then, like a theater at home, you take it to someone who tears it. But when you walk past them, you enter the concession area. Unlike in America, you do not go up to someone and order your huge tub of popcorn (which you will inevitably spill, right Angela?) and wait for them to serve you. Instead, everything is laid out for you to take yourself. The popcorn is prefilled in tubs, and comes in sweet or salt flavors. There are sodas chilling in a refrigerator, and candy laid out on tables. When you've taken what you want, you proceed to a checkout area, similar to the kassa's (cash registers) at the supermarket. After paying for your snacks, you continue on to the escalators. However, the escalators only stop at certain floors. If you want to get to the others, you can take various sets of winding or steep or oddly layed out stairs, depending on your preference. Or, I guess you could take the elevator...

The movie theater itself is similar to American theaters except there is more leg room. Very nice, they should definitely bring that to America! The movie was in English (because really, I don't know Dutch that well) with Dutch subtitles. It was interesting to see how the translations matched up with the English. From what little Dutch I do know, I could tell that some of the translations were not exactly what they were saying in English. I guess that's why people in America never want to see movies with subtitles: you lose some of the feeling the movie is portraying.

Ik heb geen foto's dit tijd, pardon!
I have no photo's this time, sorry!

Tot ziens,

Flat Julia

A Proper Thank You

I have to say, members of my family are very good at spoiling me with packages and letters. Who doesn't love St. Pattys Day socks and buttons, plus Highlights hidden picture searches from Aunt Lynn?! Or mallomars and fake eyelashes from Mom and Dad!? But I think today's takes the cake. I recieved a package from my Aunt Fran. I get packages from her in Binghamton as well, but she has really outdone herself this time! A fully loaded paper box, filled with homemade goodies: brownies, cookies, and, of course, her famous pickles (sorry Lizzy, you don't get any this time!). But then, she even topped herself, sending goldfish and granola bars, instant breakfasts, oatmeal and hot cocoa, candy and gum! I wanted to use my blog, not as a place to brag (although really, it's awesome), but as a place for a giant THANK YOU!!! So thank you Aunt Fran, for reminding me of all the goodness of home, and for keeping me well stocked!!

And even though I'm not bragging, here are some pictures to make you all jealous :P

my first vision upon opening the box

all of the goodies! thanks Aunt Fran!

Tot ziens,

Flat (not so flat after this package) Julia

Amsterdam

When I first planned my day-trip to Amsterdam, I made a list of at least tien (ten) things I wanted to do while there. How many did I get done? Drie omdat een dag niet genog tijd is! (Three, because one day is not enough time). Upon first arriving in Amsterdam, I was simply confused at the enormity of everything. You leave the huge train station and step out to discover an enormous city! I do believe I've been spending too much time in Leiden...

Anyway, my first stop was Rembrandt's House. I cannot tell you the amount of people who, upon hearing that I would be studying in the Netherlands, told me I must must must! go to Rembrandt's house. It's a pretty large house for the Netherlands (medium sized by other standards, but eh) that still has its original siding. Of course, attached to that original siding is the new, modern half where you buy your tickets and they try to sell you postcards. But inside the original portion, you find dozens upon dozens of works owned by Rembrandt, created by Rembrandt, or created by his pupils. You can even see his original etching machine, and if you catch it at the right time, you see a demonstration. I tried not to take a thousand photos...but I did so anyway, so you can scroll through those later.

Next, I decided to go to the Van Gogh Museum, but of course I got distracted. When the Netherlands gets cold enough, the canals freeze over. Surprisingly (or maybe not and I'm just stupid), thanks to global warming, this is happening less and less. This freeze was the first in twelve years...and I was here to experience it. This means I, too, got on to the ice and walked as far as the canal went. It's a bit odd, but a lot of fun. Plus, you're surrounded by others walking, skating, playing hockey, sledding...even having a picnic!

Because of the time loss, I skipped the Van Gogh Museum and headed straight for the Heineken Brouwerij! Very gimmicky, but fun none the less. And free beer, so really, who can complain. They're actually very smart with it: they give you your two free beers and then release you straight into the gift shop, where anything and everything you could ever want, you can buy...but it'll say "Heineken."

Finally, we hit the Red Light District! Again, surprising, but its not that big. Maybe not quite as surprising, but hookers don't like when you take pictures of them. In getting the picture you see below, I was flipped off...but I still got the picture, so enjoy!

Madame Tussaud - much fancier in Amsterdam

 outside Rembrandt's house

people on the ice

i told you you could have a picnic!

hockey

 a very happy dog, on the ice of course

Dutch graffiti

"and you work, and you work, and you work..."

dedicated to my cousins! Paradiso is a very popular club in Amsterdam

people protesting ACTA

speaks for itself

a proper Dutch beer girl

cool ceiling made of bottles

last but not least, your friendly prostitutes

If you made it down this far, congrats!

Tot ziens,

Flat Julia