Fight or Flight in Venice.

Venice from top.

Now onto the weekend with Rich in Venice. I felt like such a pro getting through the journey alone to Venice and figuring out how to get to the train station from the airport and all those logistics. It's nice feeling confident in a new place and people in the airport seemed to notice cuz they kept asking me what to do since the Marco Polo airport is across the water from Venice... too bad my response was always.. ''um... ya, im just gona buy a bus ticket i guess.. you should ask her'' as I pointed to some lady at a desk.. it seems like as long as you look confident in what you're doing and where you're going, you don't stand out oto much and especially, no one tries to fucks with you. good rule of thumb in traveling if i've learned anything.

Venice was great. If you ever go to Venice, you must stay at the hostel A Venice Fish. It''s located in this little island almost close to everything- train station, bus station, rialto, san marco. It has a private bridge and it's just a beautiful building. It used to be an old Venetian house. I would wake up and walk around the balcony and tourists would always be taking pictures of it. That was kinda weird but pretty sweet. BUT the BEST thing about the hostel is the owner cooks up FREE dinner every night for the hostel so everyone just comes together at night over drinks and food and gets to know each other. It's like a family around the big table every night PLUS you save like 20 euro each night from dinner.

Besides the hostel, Venice was pretty sweet. There's not much to do there but that's the strength of its charm. You can get lost in the city and just be overwhelmed with the visual stimulation. Every corner there's a surprise- whether it be a beautiful sunset or a small unknown canal with houses with architecture you've never seen before. It's not a normal European city where you have to hit all 20 sites in one day but its a city you can stroll around in with life passing by really slow.

Rich and I had two amazing meals. Well mostly Rich had two amazing meals.. I was just there to watch him enjoy them while I ate my mediocre but still good enough food. His infamous spaghetti with clams and spaghetti with langostino sauce. It was the meals he had always been searching for in Italy and he finally found satisfaction.

Very satisfied customer.

We also went on a gondola ride. We agreed that the most we would spend was 80 euro on a gondola. Normal is 100-150. The first guy we talked to wouldnt go lower than 100 so we were like nah... stick to the plan. The next guy we passed, I was SO ready to haggle and he goes "80 euro"... i think i was too in shock that my haggling instinct left me immediately. and he totally knew it. But in hindsight i think i coulda haggled it down to at least 60... gotta work on keeping my game face on. Nevertheless it was great. Our gondola guy was cool, he showed us Marco Polo's house and Casanova's house. Rich and I couldn't hold back our immature nature to scream out "marco" "POLO!" We kissed under the Rialto bridge, and took a tour of the little canals which we couldn't ask for more on our first gondola ride. Interestingly enough, tourists kept taking pictures of us on the gondola.. We're FAMOUS!

Gondola ride with Gondola man.

We went to the glass blowing city of Murano. The main thing to see here is the glass blowing show. Everyone says its a great experience. Unfortunately, they don't show it on the weekends so we weren't able to hit it up but if you ever go, let me know how much I missed out on.

San Marco square was quite the experience. If you know me, you know I have this weird phobia of birds... well not birds per se but when birds flutter uncontrollably. It's probably the scariest thing in my life. San Marco square is where ALL the pigeons in the entire universe come to gather to attack humans. I've never had so much fear in my life but at the same time I've never been so exhilarated in my life. It was such a weird anxiety... cuz I'd run away but always come back for more... like getting back in the ring after being knocked out... many times.. well regardless, Rich bought a bag of birdfeed and went all out with the arms stretched out and pigeons covering him and fluttering all over the place. GROSS.... I tried to face my fears... it took me awhile but once I got enough courage I put the feed in one hand... held it out...

Bird fluttered straight at me, I dropped the feed and fled...
it only took one.
you won this one bird. til next time.

Pigeon killing man in gray.

Not a happy camper but happy enough. =)

In Between Weekend Getaways

A week has passed by and once again, it's been extremely eventful and sometimes i wonder when I'll stop being redundant but thoroughly enjoying the ride until then.

Coming back from Paris with Rich was a bit tough getting back into the swing of 9 am classes and running the normal errands of a typical student. ESPECIALLY knowing that I'll be going to venice in 4 days, i was quite antsy. Nevertheless it was good times all around. Tuesday night we went out to a bar that supposedly had an open mic where my friend Mike wanted to read at but when we got there it was completely full cuz apparantly some really famous dutch writer was there reading as well. It was too packed, Mike didn't get to read so we left. BUT he did give us a private reading over some greens so that was an experience that satisfied us all that night.

Wednesday was my sexuality class which is always super interesting. We keep having these debates of nature vs. nurture and how society puts everyone into categories but on the other end, could we really still function as a society without categories? Isn't it what defines people? Or do people really have to be defined? We also talk about GLBT groups focus on opening society's minds up to an uncategorical world but they still have to unite and put themselves in a category themselves. So, yes we might not get any direct answers but regardless, it's personally been a great class cuz it's really opening me up to trying to break barriers that society puts on me and it's been a struggle. If you have any input on this debate, please chime in!

Wednesday was also my friend Jon's bday so he had a little barbeque and borrel thing at my dorm. I got to meet my International Student Network group for hte first time since I've kinda been bailing on the other events. It was really nice meeting people from different countries and observing the communication and conversation between us which is a subject we are studying in my Intercultural Communication class.

Thursday I slept in til 2! It was beautiful. I didn't realize how much these 9 am classes are killing me every day but it felt freeing to just be a fatass in bed for a day. I spent the day cooking, reading, and writing my papers that were do after the weekend. For my Dutch Social Policy class I had to write a 5 page paper on anything about drugs. Yes, sounds easy, but what's even easier is finding an old Writing 340 paper that I wrote on legalizing drugs last year. Sweet.

When Outside the Classroom Comes In

Today we had a guest speaker in my Contemporary Dutch Social Policy class. Her name is Nancy and she told us her story. She is an ex-drug addict and prostitute. Her story begins at a young age when her dad would beat her and her sisters so they ran away at a young age. She shoots up for the first time at the age of 13 from the influence of her 20 year old boyfriend not knowing its addictive nature. She eventually finds herself on the streets where men would try to abuse her and even threaten her life while she sold her body to support her habit. For more than 30 years she mixed heroin and crack and was fully addicted. She had a child at 30 years old who is in a foster care home. She ended with hope as she received help and is now clean for 4 years and sees her son every month for four days.

Yes there's a lot more pain, heartache and trials that Nancy experienced that my short summary could never give justice to but you can try to imagine what kind of life Nancy lived and how strong of a woman she is now. What I liked about Nancy was how she never had to cover up anything or pound a specific message into your head. She told her story how it was and how she lived it- all real and true, the good and the bad and had you decide what message you want from it.

For example, our teacher asked her what it felt like to get high off heroin and crack and she straight up said "honestly, you know how it feels like to get off? its like that, times 1000..." It's refreshing to hear that side to know that real people have these habits with real feelings and not just junkies you disregard in society. That type of feeling could seem tempting and irresistible for any average person. I appreciated that she included the good and the bad so that you get a more realistic understanding of what an addiction is and the real human feelings that are provoked by an addiction.

I also admired her relationship with her son. She says that it was better to be a good mom from a distance than a bad mom that can't even take care of herself, let alone a child. She said that if her son was ever curious about drugs, she would tell him everything and anything he wanted to know open and honestly. She wouldn't give him false information or scare him away from drugs by closing him off but will immerse him with honest information taken from experience because she knows how it is to go down the wrong way.

I think that's extremely admirable because from comparing the social policies of the Netherlands and America, I've learned that ignorance is not bliss because curiosity can never be cured by turning a blind eye.

Parisians, Juice Box Wine, my Buddy and me

Pictures are fixed!

Buddy and me with our Juice Boxes under the Eiffel

This week was way too eventful to even put into words. Rich came to visit! My first visit from anyone from home and it's my buddy... what more can I ask for?

The buddy adventures started with him in Amsterdam for 2 days. I wanted to take him EVERYWHERE. It's an exhilarating experience having a loved one visit you in your new home. I just wanted him to see everything I love about the city and share with him all my experiences. Though he was a bit tired from London, he was quite the trooper.

We started off with a nap.. just to rejuvenate after his sleepless nights and the plane ride. I took him to the wonderful Pancake Bakery! Ate some bomb ass pancakes then went to the Anne Frank House down the street from me. Though it's not as small as you think it is, it's makes just as big of an impact as you would expect. Whether you've read the Diary or not, I guarantee you a surreal and unforgettable experience. I have much respect for Otto Frank... he's an incredible man that truly understands love for family and complete trust in friends.

After, I toured him around Dam Square, the Red Light District, the Sex Museum and we had our first Frites in Amsterdam! mmmm... nostalgic of Pomme Frites in New York. If you ever get Frites here, get the Joppiesauce. Amanda says its like "spread" from In-n-Out but not. and Rich says its kinda like curry. If that doesn't intrigue you, I don't know what will.
Finally, we took a trip to Abraxas. Met up with Rich's co-worker Taj and his sisters and also met up with the Amsterdam crew. Had a good time, music was bumpin as usual. Good people, good times.

The next day while I was in class, Rich rented a bike and went to check out the Van Gogh Museum. Then we met up and biked to Vondel Park. Extremely recommendable. It's like the central park of Amsterdam. The park is cool... but the best part of it is my tree. This tree has become my favorite place in all of Amsterdam. It's the most climbable most child friendly tree anyone can ever imagine. It's like story book tree- kids were even sliding down it. Once Rich gets his pictures, I'll post it up. Love at first sight.

Bestreever!!!

Erichtree

We went to dinner at a traditional Dutch restaurant 1870 and from there, went back to Abraxas to get Rich a "spaced up" milkshake. They're milkshakes are amazing by itself (ask Amanda) but for an extra 2,50 you can space it up! We also went cuz I wanted Rich to meet my friends here... it was like a "getting good people to meet other good people" type thing.

In the morning it was off to PARIS!

Because I keep blabbing, I'm gona continue with cliffsnotes style:

Thursday:
- arrived at our cheap hotel Au Nouvel Lyon Hotel which was pretty sweet- we got our own room and bathroom!
- Rich had his first look at the Eiffel Tower, we walked around Champ de Mars
- had an amazing dinner close by which included rabbit legs, pasta, "rocket salad," steak, wine, berries and cream, and coffee.

Friday:
- went to the Louvre where we played "guess what bible story this painting is of" and "try to imitate the statue picture game"

Rich won:

Us with Mona

- we bumped into Amanda, Lena and Riley at the Louvre who went to Paris the same weekend!
- walked around the Louvre and L'Opera area
- went to Champ Elysee and checked out the Arc de Triomph which apparantly looked so high that Rich could "feel it in his nuts", went to the top, had an awesome view
- continuted on to the market Monoprix to get some meats, cheeses, baguettes, wine, and desserts
- had a little picnic at Champ de Mars under the Eiffel Tower, quite romantic I must say
- the best part about our picnic, besides being there with my buddy, was FRENCH RABBIT wine juice boxes!!! They were fantastic and gave us great buzzes. They need to import that stuff into America.

Saturday:
- went to Notre Dame where we had the opportunity to have Confession
- the priest was super cool:
I walk in ready to make my confessions and he goes "hey! are you filipino?" i go, "ya, filipino chinese" and he's like "I love filipinos, they're so joyful!" i knew this was a good man. By the end, we exchanged emails and he really wants me to visit him in Africa someday. He was one of the coolest priests I've met so if you ever go to Notre Dame, ask for the priest Fr. Hyacinth Nassi. He'll definitely give you some good vibes and great wisdom.
- had croques, onion soup, and chocolat chauds at Cafe Panis recommended by a guy who works for this really cool used bookstore: Shakespeare and Company
- ventured on to the Picasso museum area but on the way we hit the Techno Parade that happens to be going on! that was freakin intense... thousands of kids just going nuts behind crazy floats with djs spinning on each one blasting out techno. Pretty awesome experience.
- walked around the Picasso museum area which had eccentric shops and was just really visually stimulating
- went to Montmarte where we saw the Sacre Coeur basilica (featured in Amelie)
- sat at the steps with maybe 100 or so people where two guys were playing Simon and Garfunkle on their guitars... one of my biggest highlights on this trip. Everyone sang along while we all experienced the most beautiful view of Paris.



- went to the Moulin Rouge just to check it out
- went to the Latin Quarter where we ate at Quick (which is like a Euro McDonalds)
- explored some bars but ended up back around Notre Dame where we relaxed at this one bar, where we had some beers and some great conversation. =)

Sunday:
- went back to Notre Dame for mass
- the organist went crazy at the end and the choir kids looked possessed but it was a beautiful mass regardless
- i love how Notre Dame still functions as a Church and is not just a tourist attraction
- had some lunch and a crepe around ND and then we went to the train station where we parted ways. him to Rome, me back to Amsterdam.

So that was our weekend in a nutshell. Paris is beautiful. Though Amanda would disagree, I think Parisians are amazingly nice people but it's worth it to check it out and decide for yourself.

The buddy adventures have only begun. Next up, Venice!

Buddy Adventures!

Potlucks and Peoples

Coolest bike I've seen in Amsterdam so far

BIG BIG SHOUTOUT to my SIS! Happy birthday! Sorry I couldn't be there for your 21st. sooo sad. but i hope you had fun, got baked, and got naked! =) I celebrated your birthday with hash brownies! full circle... since you were the first to ever give me spacecake haha... the night i had to pack for tahiti.. jerk! but i love you anyways.

SOOO since the last post, it's been pretty eventful. We had another borrel (drink) at my dorm on Thursday like a little meet n greet. Met people from my dorm. Not bad... had fun, a little high from the brownies. After that went to a hookah place called Lost in Amsterdam. Pretty chill, big couches with pillows and good vibes.

Friday was our first ever potluck! It was so much fun and quite satisfying! The menu consisted of pasta with bolognese sauce and mango, rotisserie chicken, salad, and for dessert: apples and nutella!!! mmmm... quite a balanced meal. I've been loving the whole cooking thing since I've been here. It makes me feel like I'm really living here. After, a shitload of people randomly came up to Owen and Scotts which was where the potluck was and we all had a good time over music, drinks, and hash. Such a good time taht we traveled over to the playground next to Plantage and played.

Saturday was do nothing day. After I did nothing, Amanda, Owen, and I and a bunch of people from amanda's dorm went to a drum and bass party in Rembrandtplein at Escape Studio. Intense.. all i have to say was "my heart was tired after that."

Sunday was run errands day with Amanda. Went to church, Dutch of course, and at night went ot a gay club called Trut. If you want a great time at a gay club, go here. It's only open on Sunday nights and has been going for 20 years now. Met a gorgeous man with a fro name Jean Paul from Curacao and a couple of his friends and hopefully we will get to party together cuz they were straight up good vibes.

Other than that, today I had class and came home and made some dinner. I think I cooked lettuce. I wasn't sure what it was when I bought it but when I ate it, I really think i was lettuce.

Rich is coming tomorrow! Yippee! Can't wait to show him around this place.

Broodjes, Borrels, and aBraxas.

My buds Scott (left) and Owen (right). They saved me with
neosporin and a tuna sandwich when I fell. =)

So, I attempted to do a full picture update on all the highlights that I listed but unfortunately blogger isn't letting me for some reason. I think you can only upload one at a time. bleh. It definitely could be my fault because I'm an idiot when it comes to computers but lets just put the blame on the inanimate object for now. Regardless, I updated my pics on facebook so you can see all the highlights on there:

Amsterdam pictures so far

Other than trying to comprehend technology, it's been a pretty eventful week so far. I started class. Dutch classes are a lot chiller than they are in the states. All we have is a paper and maybe a test at the end of the semester. So your grade is based solely on that, participation and attendance. Seems chill but everything piles up in the end so it can be pretty intense.

Besides class, I've been settling in still. You know, normal errands- laundry, grocery shopping, school supply shopping. It feels like it takes so long to do one errand cuz you have to bike to that destination. I duno, it seems like you can't do too much in one day. Then again, I kinda like it. It gives me really relaxing days and I don't feel like I'm in a rush ever. It's a nice feeling.

On Monday night, my friends and I went to a bar by my place. I duno what it's called but its 181 Prinsengracht in case any of you come to Amsterdam and want a cool bar to go to. A couple of my friends Owen and Natalie wanted to check out the student orgs at the university and we found out that the art student org meets every monday for drinks at this bar. So we thought we'd crash. It ended up being so much fun. I got to meet Dutch students, talk about photography, and they serve 5 beers for 5 euros! (which is a great deal). I think I want to join the photo club. They were all so welcoming so I think it would be a great opportunity to shoot around Amsterdam.

Tuesday was a very great day. I spent the day mostly with buddies Owen and Scott. Had class til 1, Owen and Scott hosted lunch for us for 2 euro haha... took a nap at their place and we rode off to run some errands. Then we found this AWESOME cheap sandwich place called broodje bert. Broodje means sandwich. Definitely recommendable if you're on a budget. That was a delightful dinner. After dinner, we continued on to Abraxas.

Abraxas is a coffeeshop that was highly recommended by one of Owen's friends, and rightly so. It's probably one of the best environments a coffeeshop can have. The whole look of the place was just so welcoming and somewhat random and they played some amazing music. Their music consisted of some hip hop and old school r&b. Scott was SO damn funny:

- Owen and I were trying to remember who sang a certain song and Scott keeps trying to guess also... except his guesses were just way off. This is how it went:
S: Beyonce?
Me: no, older
S: Mariah Carey?
Me: nope, older
S: Brandy?
Me: older than that
S: What's older than Brandy? THE SUPREMES?!

- After our attempts of educating Scott on the Fugees, here's what he comes up with:
S: Okay, the Fugees are... Lauren Hill....
.... Biggie?

Great times at Abraxas. Fully recommendable if you want a coffeeshop with a nice vibe.

Yesterday was run errands at home day. Like I said, I did laundry, cooked, cleaned out my email, cleaned my room, napped. At night we had an International Student Borrel. Borrel means "drink." I swear there are borrels planned every night. So free beer and food again and this was probably one of the funnest nights. After the Borrel, about 20 of us ended up in Scott and Owen's dorm playing Big Booty and Telephone. I have no idea how we got to that point but we loved being there.

People start talking about going to a sex show so we head off on our bikes to the Red Light District. They're all about 25 to 45 euro. We tried to bargain them down to 2 euro but it didn't work at all. lol... so we ended up seeing a peek show for 2 euro. Totally not worth it. You go into this small little booth and watch someone or a couple do their thang for 2 minutes. Quite the tease. I was in the booth with my friend Claire. We didn't find it too fascinating but I think others got a better show than we did. Next time, we're gona pay good money for a good show.

OH YA, i forgot we met some sneakerhead today. We were in a sneaker store and this guy was wearing a kid robot shirt so I asked him about it. Basically the sneakerhead community is really tiny here but its one of those "everyone knows everyone" type community. Anyways, while he was talking he was getting kinda upset over people working for nike or something... not sure but regardless, he's supposed to let amanda and i know about the hip hop sneaker scene here. should be cool.

Adventures in Amsterdam. First post!

Erika Eats it on her Bike.

Erika: So, here goes nothing. Amanda and I are starting this blog in an attempt to record the happenings as we venture through Amsterdam and throughout Europe for the next 4 months!

I 've been in Europe now for about two weeks now. My strong and healthy bros came to travel around with me to Prague and Budapest for a week and a half or so. The experience was pretty amazing. It was a comfort to have a piece of home with me while I get acclimated to this new place. They helped me get settled in to Amsterdam and left last Thursday.

Because it's been probably the craziest week I've ever had due to orientation and getting situated, I'll make it up by giving a concise cliffs notes version. Apparently, in Amsterdam, orientation means get all the international students in a room and get them all drunk because that's basically what happened every night from Wednesday to Saturday. They filled us up on free Heineken at random events like a karaoke night or at a club. Nonetheless, it was a glorious orientation and a great way to break the ice. something America should think about. no more of this "go around the circle and tell me something interesting."

So, other highlights from that week include:
- going to the windmills in the rural area, saw how clogs were made, went to an amazing cheese factory with the bros
- sitting by the canal with new friends eating cheap thai food
- walking all over Amsterdam
- finally getting a bike
- went to an art show opening where the artist built a giant ant hill out of cardboard which you were able to climb through
- attended the Amsterdam jazz festival which was amazing
- Amanda learning how to ride a bike!
- eating at the Pancake Bakery
- cooking my first meal with Amanda
- going to an open air market to shop for meat, cheese, and fruits
- getting buzzed on the canal cruise
- getting pretty stoned and imagining an entire world underneath the canal, with a talking swan
- trying out new gange
- first day of school was today. teachers talk really slow here but the content seems interesting. amanda and i have all our classes together! yay 4 day weekends. =)

AND finally, to describe the picture of the day, I fell for the first time on my bike today and totally ate it. Now my bike makes strange noises, the handlebars are off centered and my knee is a bit disabled. BUT, i guess its just a little welcome present from Amsterdam.

Thanks Amsterdam. Glad to be here.