Where Is The Time Going?

I have 2 feelings conflicting right now:

1. How have I been here a week? It definitely hasn't been that long. Where are the days going? I can't keep track of anything.
2. How am I going to be here another 4 months? It definitely doesn't seem like that's possible. So much is happening already! I have another 4 months? That's crazy! I can't imagine Autumn and the school year.

My first class was today! Europe in the Global Political Economy. I LOVE the professor, who won't let us call him "Professor," is British, and lives in Belgium. We have to call him by his first name, and I WANT TO BE HIM SOMEDAY! Anyway. Excited. Although it requires group presentations. Eh.



NEW RANT that's actually not that new.

I'M SO SICK OF PEOPLE SMOKING. It's coming through my walls. I had a chat with my hallmates about it, but looks like I'm going to have to have more. Why is this so difficult? Although I feel bad imposing on them about what they can do in their room (since De Key says it's okay in their own room).

Smoking is bad for at least 3.5 reasons:

1. It's unkind to your body. Our bodies work very hard every single day to keep us going. They are oncall and on duty 24/7 and they're trying their hardest to be kind to us. The least, the very least, we can do is try to be kind to them back.
2. It harms others. Why is that so hard to understand? You might as well be throwing little bits of ash at our lungs every 5 seconds. Same deal.
3. Really, 2.5. It's arrogant. Seriously. Why do you think you have the right to poison my air? I need my lungs. I have asthma and am allergic to cigarette smoke. It's ARROGANT that you think it's okay to smoke and infect everyone else. Better yet, you're not even thinking. You're so clueless you don't even realise you're being inconsiderate. In other words, you're not caring about or thinking about other people, one or the other. Which is why this is 2.5.
   
4. (Well, 3.5). It's just plain stupid. You should know better. Period.

That's the end of the story. I don't think any further explanation is necessary.

Better times: yesterday, there was an International Student barbecue and scavenger hunt, and my group won (for each of its like 8 members) €25 dinner certificates / gift cards. I have one!!! haha. I didn't even DO anything. Total bonus.

I've become the Medicine Man, as we know. Just FYI.

Speaking of which--teas here are RIDICULOUS. I haven't found echinacea yet! They have Celestial Seasonings and store brands and British brands...and Dutch names that are incomprehensible. I bought some, and on a whim bought something that turned out to be Dill tea? True story. Not bad, either.

Sunday evening my new bff from the program and I went to dinner together. It was €16 for each of us, BUT it lasted 2 meals for both of us, as well, which means it was very reasonable. It could have lasted 3, but we were hungry and it was good. It was a pan-African restaurant, and we ordered Ethiopian food. I love playing finger paints with my food and the bonus is that, when you're eating Ethiopian food, no one's allowed to be grossed out. Cuz they're doing it too. The people were lovely there, and the whole place reminded me of my Grandma Marjorie. There were cloth prints on every table, and lots and lots of flowers, and little quartz candle-holders, and 2 little carved wooden African animal napkin-rings. Mine was a giraffe, and my friend's was a lion. They were hand-painted and hand-carved, I'm sure. The cloth napkins were...so thin (mine had several gaping holes and tears), but soooo soft. Reminded me of Grandma Marjorie's blue apron I used to play with, despite not liking aprons even back then. It was so soft and so thin...sooo soft... I couldn't even place it, but the whole place oozed the feelings I received from her home and from every time I revisit them in my mind. She stays with me, I'm sure, and she would have loved this place.

There were cloth tapestries of rich, deep, cool colours hanging from the walls, and the room was SMALL. Maybe 4 yards wide? 5? Small, but long rectangular-shaped. There were some colours on the walls; on the lower portion it was off-yellow-ish; whitish on top? Beautiful candlelit lighting in the twilight hours.

There was a cat! He visited all the patrons, climbing all over the benches and I called him over to me. I pet him and he wiggled his butt and looked up, so I scooted my chair back and he jumped right up! He stayed in my lap pacing ecstatically back and forth for about 15 minutes, phwhap-whap-whaping me with his tail, kneading my legs and sometimes kneading with his sharp nails. :) Much love right there.



And the verdict is in: yes, I DO need a bike. 1) My feet are hurting. 2) I mean, I have 2 classes situated 20-25 minutes apart, with up to 15 minutes to get between them. So I need a bike. It's official now.


I still am sad I have to go into my classes with the mindset that I have to drop one of them :(

Also, quickly: BOOKS. Cheap here! Around €60 per class, versus like $100+ / class in the states. SORRY WAIT. Let me rephrase. Bookstores here. They are cheap! The bookstore where University kids buy their textbooks, &c. sells basically on par with Amazon.com (French or German). Amazon.fr (French Amazon) is better than both, but with shipping, it might be the same? I can't tell because it won't tell me until after I give my credit card info. Even if I bought my books online, I'd only save €5-10, so it's nearly equal. The point is: in the US, I pay $100-150 per class, $400-500 per semester when I buy books used online. If I bought them at the bookstore, that amount would easily double or triple. But here! It's as if they actually sell things at market price. Crazy. I'm in love with them. In love.

9am class tomorrow, 30 minutes away (by foot), so until tomorrow my loves...

Love,
Miranda

P.S. Sad story: the Green Planet officially does not exist anymore. Despite appearing in very recent guidebooks, I walked past today and took a picture of the brassiere store that exists in its stead. Sad story.

P.S.S. HOWEVER! Happy story. I've found the majority of the other places my family and I went. Maxim Falafel by Dam Square = yes. NH City Centre Amsterdam = yes. Muntplein = yes. Spui = yes. Anything else?