Bike Crash!

My gosh do I have a lot of catching up to do. Let's start with the bike crash. On Sunday I went on a bike tour around the city to get to my classes and whatnot, and while I was by Dam Square--the really really touristy part of the city--a biker rode smack dab into me on my bike. I fell down and my bike toppled onto my foot. It was lovely (not) and now I have a sprained ankle. Hey, at least it isn't broken, right?

But before all that chaos I rode with a friend to Waterlooplein and we checked out a flee market where I got a decent leather belt. I then explored two other farmers/flee markets (Noordermarket) in the city on my own. I can't tell you how freeing it is to explore/travel by yourself. Do it if you can.

Yesterday (Monday) marked my first day of classes. Since I love film I went to an American Western film course, but it's all lecture and no discussion. I'm not a fan of that and might drop it. Afterwards I went to Intro to Gender & Sexuality at the University of Amsterdam, but again, I think it's going to be much more introductory than I was expecting. Nevertheless, today I went to my first class of Identities in Popular and it was amazing, awesome, wonderful, fantastic, engaging, and fun. We're basically analyzing objects of culture through the lens of race, nation, gender, and class. My professor even lived in Detroit at one point! Friday brings Media Worlds, which is my fourth class and afterwards I have to choose two classes to keep and two classes to drop. 

A post wouldn't be complete without pictures of my recent meals, so without further ado:

Food @ Grocery Store: sun-dried tomato tortellini, parmesan cheese, raspberry yogurts, a red pepper & some bred. 

Lunch after class: Goat cheese w/honey mustard, pine nuts,  & red pepper with a small bed of greens topped with apple slices. It was delicious!

Bansky? I'm not 100% sure. If anybody can tell if it is, let me know!

MLK Jr. Graffiti! 

I found this excellent farmer's market just down the street from where I do most of my grocery shopping. The prices are excellent, and not too expensive. I've got organic shell pasta, some ginger, organic basil tomato sauce, some mixed berry jam, and three notebooks for classes.

I went on a food adventure last night for dinner. In the far left pot is my tortellini with the basil sauce, and in the far right pan are sautéed carrots, red peppers, and potatoes in a bit of olive oil.

The finished meal! Although you can't really see the veggies hiding underneath....

I'm currently writing this blog post from a cafe that's less than a five minute walk from my dorm room.  I ordered bread with olive tapenade.

I wanted to get mint tea, but they're out of that. Instead I ordered a hot chocolate. It's probably one of the richest hot chocolate's I've ever had, but it's very very good. Also that tiny cookie was amazing.