Happy Wednesday!

I'm trying to space my posts out a bit, but today was just such an awesome day that I can't pass it up. It's worthwhile explaining right here and now before tomorrow begins.

Early in the morning (fine, it was only 10) I went to meet a friend and we rode our bikes to the Van Gogh Museum. I think The Potato Eaters & Irises were my two favorites. The museum will be closing on the 26th of September for renovations, but their permanent collection will be on display at the Hermitage Museum. (Some of their works are also traveling around the States and Canada right now.) I bought a t-shirt, but it's the wrong size and now I have to go back to exchange it. Oh well, it's a beautiful bike ride from my place.

Next I met a friend for lunch and we walked down to a really cute "snack store" and got burgers. I think I'll be frequenting this place quite often. It was cheap & delicious. On our way back we stopped at a farmer's market and I also bought rain pants. It rains that often here that you need rain pants.

By the time I got back to my room some more friends that stopped by to talk to my roommate and we got into some pretty radical discussions about sexuality. It was wonderful & I was sad to have to leave and end it so soon.

It ended up being okay because then I biked to the other side of town where I met more people and we went to a play. So funny story, we thought we were going to a film festival and well... it was a one-woman-act monologue instead. It was ... interesting, but I still enjoyed seeing a show and getting out of the house. It was serious, poetic, enthusiastic and perplexing. It's called Oh My Irma by Haley McGee and here's a link if you're interested: http://www.amsterdamfringefestival.nl/fringe/en/programme/fringe-2012/oh-my-irma.aspx

Upon returning home I decided it was time for dinner (at 10 pm mind you). I wanted to make eggs with onions, garlic, and red pepper along with a salad. I made my salad (same deal as before--lettuce, cucumber, carrots & olive oil/pepper/salt dressing) and then moved on to the eggs. After hunting down matches (I wasn't having much luck with a lighter) I started with the onions. They burned. The smoke alarm went off. I freaked out but got it all under control. Onions went in the trash. But the garlic in the eggs was a wonderful addition to my scrambled eggs! It was still delicious even if I forgot to add red pepper in all the chaos of burning onions.

I'll add pictures tomorrow! Getting up early tomorrow for a morning class and then I've got the afternoon free.

Tot Ziens,
Rachel

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. 

Borrels & Things

I'm doing my best to keep up with my blog; however, we just finished orientation week and we've been kept very busy! In exciting news classes start on Monday (tomorrow), and I still need to buy notebooks and other school supplies. The university buildings are spread through-out the entire city and a bike will be needed to travel between classes efficiently. I got a bike yesterday and I'm already very sore. There's a bike tour later today, but it's also supposed to rain. It rains a lot here. I'm finally getting used to it. I really don't mind the rain, and I prefer it to the heat.

I'm also finding it easier to make non-American friends than I was expecting. We had a "borrel" (I think that's how you spell the Dutch term for socializing with drinks) and I met some really cool people I've already had lunch with in the city!

I really do think that the city privileges bikers; there's a separate bike lane for them to use and they even have their own traffic signals! I'll have to take a picture of it soon. I've been really bad with pictures--I've even forgotten to take some of my food, and to make matters worse, my camera charger died. I think I've got it all taken care of now and I'll post what I do have so far.

Lunch @ Atrium: cold green bean salad, lettuce w/ basil dressing, yogurt w/fruit, and some yummy fruit drink I can't remember the name of at the moment.

Snack @ Cafe: hot chocolate w/piece of chocolate.

Lunch on boat: the meats! (Just for the record, the smoked turkey--second from the left--was by far the best!)

First home-made dinner in Amsterdam: scrambled eggs!

Lunch @ pub: cheese, apple, walnut, cucumber sandwich. Yummy.

Drinks w/Nicole: I got orange juice and Nicole got a dark beer of some kind.

Food @ Farmer's Market: (from left to right); carrots, lettuce, cucumber, apricots, raspberries, bananas, salted mixed nuts, bananas, and potatoes.

Second dinner in Amsterdam: salad! I used lettuce, cucumbers,  & carrots, and made a dressing with olive oil and ground pepper.

And so it begins

I'm still getting used to the formatting on my blog; I just wrote an entry and accidentally deleted it when I was done. Oops. I'm trying out a different format.

I've only been in Amsterdam for about two days and I've already had some crazy adventures. Amsterdam is a very chill and relaxed place. Trams are efficient, bikes are abundant, and the culture is very accepting. There's not as much ethnic diversity, but I'm planning on looking into it a bit more. Just because I don't see it right away doesn't mean it isn't here. There are Coffeeshops (yes, those coffeeshops--not to be confused with cafés) on just about every street, and even if you don't seem them, you can smell them. Although I hear a rumor that there's a new law going into effect starting January 1, 2013 that only locals are going to be able to use the coffeeshops. It's already such that locals don't use them much anyway, and I wonder if that'll change. It might also be a slow shift in liberal politics here in Amsterdam. (Note: the locals here pronounce it Ahhm-ster-daaaahm instead of Am-ster-damn.)

In other adventures today I got a cell phone, managed to find my way on a map, and got some blisters on my feet. Yeah, there are some things to figure out still. Nevertheless, here are some recently eaten meals:

My last breakfast at home complete with strawberries, a parmesan bagel w/ rhubarb ginger jam, and scrambled eggs w/chives.

Dinner on the plane: pasta marinara, a roll, a salad w/Italian dressing, a blonde brownie, and ginger ale.

Breakfast on the plane: a bottomless (there's literally no bottom, just the top part) muffin, and orange juice.

Dinner at StayOkay Hostel: we had part of orientation at a hostel and dinner included a salad, some kind of meat pasta salad, potatoes, bread, and a raspberry mouse of some sort for dinner.

Lunch @ Student Café: a beef croquet, Japanese curry soup, potato/pasta salad, and some wonderful, fresh peach ice tea.

Dinner @ Thai Restaurant: vegetable soup w/ noodles & mango juice.

I haven't had anything spectacular yet, but I'm sure I will. I've got some friends to visit and some good recommendations foodwise. I can also call places now that I have a local cell number. It's the little things...

Final Countdown.

It's time for a new post, because now there's less than a week before I leave for Amsterdam. You could say I'm excited... A lot has been happening as I've been preparing for such a big journey and I've got a few words to share:

Books: One thing I've been doing a lot of this summer has been reading. I don't do enough pleasure/non-school related reading and it really is a shame. What better place to start than with some books taking place in Amsterdam? John Green's most recent novel, The Fault In Our Stars, was excellent (albeit a bit emotional), and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that *spoiler* part of the book takes place in Amsterdam. I was told it was great, and I have to say, the setting made it even better. It's sweet. Of course, I would be remiss not to read The Diary of Anne Frank before my trip. I realized that I've never actually read it before if I'm ever going to read it, now's the time. I'm finding Anne's voice witty, profound, and humorous. Much more so than what I was expecting. I'm looking forward to visiting her house. (These are of course in addition to reading my guide-book.)

Food: My mother's convinced that I won't be able to cook in my apartment; I'm convinced that she underestimates the power of the survival instinct. In all seriousness, I'm hoping to buy some local ingredients at the markets and force myself to cook. Luckily my roommate says she likes cooking so between the two of us, we should be able to work something out. Hopefully.

Other Thoughts: I think it's clear by now that I'm excited to embark on (quite literally) an adventure of a lifetime. I've been to Europe before, but I've never had the chance to explore a city all on my own--let alone live in it for four months. I'm nervous to make new friends--not exactly my strong suit--and in that regard it'll kind of be like starting college all over again. First impressions. Thinking before speaking. Common sense. The little things. I'm trying not to get too anxious.

I'm not exactly sure where I'll end up by the end of December when the program ends, but I think that's part of the adventure. If I knew, why would I go in the first place? I'm ready for change and the time for change is now.

In the past month or so...

I think it's time for another update. I haven't been doing the kind of cooking that I was expecting to do; however, I have pictures to share!

Starting with the most recent meal:  cheese tortellini and a sweet salad.

So. Cheese tortellini with a little butter. Simple and delicious. It's hard to tell, but I used a head of romaine lettuce and added walnuts, dried cranberries, and raw sunflower seeds. I made a honey mustard dressing using olive oil, balsamic, dijon mustard, and honey. Lots of honey--I like sweet dressings.

My delicious dinner together in a bowl. Bon Appetite!

A couple days ago I walked down to a local New Orleans Style restaurant and had yet another delicious dinner. I ordered Blackened Voodoo Chicken over a warm salad with a savory and sweet sauce on it. It's one of my favorite sauces and I didn't find anything that was comparable on my recent trip to New Orleans over spring break.

Additionally there's a side of cornbread (it was rather dry and not very sweet--my mom makes a better cornbread) and some collard greens. Aside from spinach, collard greens are my favorite kind of greens. Delicious.

Finally, I've ordered lemonade every time I've gone to this restaurant--save one time when they ran out--thus, you see lemonade on my table with my main meal (and a glass of water). Over all it was a great meal.



Alright. About a week ago I went to my first Tiger's game ever (they won) and of course we had to have some hotdogs. Nothing less than a Hebrew National kosher hotdog with some onions and ketchup. Mmm, good. (Some other time I'll talk more about my relationship with hotdogs in general...)

Finally, a number of weeks ago my mom made a homemade pizza. It was a whole-wheat dough that we added pesto sauce, tomato sauce, red peppers, some Labneh (it's like a cross between yogurt and cream cheese), and some pine nuts. This pizza blows frozen pizza--or commercial pizza for that matter--miles out of the water.













When all is said and done I'm trying to get better about making my own food so I can survive in the fall when I have a shared apartment (!) in Amsterdam. I don't want to be that fool that just knows how to use a microwave and always eats out. Speaking of Amsterdam, I've been talking to some family friends, reading blogs, and reading my guidebook(s) in preparing a list of place I must visit and explore.

As you can see, I've got a Rough Guide guidebook, a streetwise map, and a Dutch phrase book/dictionary to keep me busy for the rest of summer until my trip.



I've picked out a preliminary class schedule and won't hear about my roommate or any other specific details of the trip (like field trips and whatnot) until a few weeks before I leave in August. *sigh*


Until next time, friends.


Peace.

Summer Update

I think it's time for an update--it's been a while since my last post.

1) I've completed my sophomore year of college! Hurray!
2) I like first person narrative books. If you have any recommendations, feel free to let me know.
3) Breaking Bad is a really addictive television show.

4) My parents have created a new rule: while I'm home for the summer I will be responsible for making dinner once a week. Great. I love food, but I'm not so confident in my cooking skills. My last meal for the family (salad and noodle kugel) was an all-day affair. I guess I should practice my cooking skills before having to fend for myself in a foreign country. Yeah, that sounds good.

So... this means that once a week I'll be updating my blog with pictures (!) of the dinners I make as well as any news about preparing for Amsterdam. I'm not sure what day of the week it'll be yet, so be sure to keep checking in!

Hope your summer is off to a great start.

-Rachel