I guess I'll be leaving soon

I'm 8 minutes away from leaving for Venice. I swear I've started to post a Belgium/castle life blog about 7 times this week, but it's hard to sit in a room alone in front of a laptop for very long when you live in a castle. Sketching, the bar down the street and playing board games takes precedence. Sorry :(

Anyways, the plan is Venice for a week and Spain until the following Sunday. SO stoked. I've made my first travel error :/ Booked the wrong hostel... but my roommate is just going to switch over to mine, so it works out. I've overpacked like you won't believe. But it's Spain. So I have no shame.

My parents rule. I love this trip. I think I'm going to have to be dragged home...

Perfect Blue Buildings

More Belgium. I've got a couple of really great memories from this trip. One is the last night before we left, 6 of us went to this really tiny pub in this back alley of downtown Bruges and grabbed some beers and played card games for a bit. I was really nervous about the type of people on this trip before I got here... I've had little patience for those who are hard to get along with lately. I lucked out a ton, there's a really nice group of kids on this trip who are awesome and easy to travel with, stay around the castle and watch movies, and do the nightlife thing.

Best moment of the trip thus far came on Saturday, a couple of hours before we left Bruges. I had separated from the group to go find a calling card (sorry parents, by the way, for my terrible math skills which lead to the multitude of 3am phone calls) and after acquiring one and placing said middle of the night phone call, I gave way to my growling tummy and purchased a paper cone full of a belgium delicacy: french fries. But not any french fries. French fries with dipping sauces. I love sauces. They smother the fries in any sauce you choose (mayo is the traditional, but I couldn't bring myself to eat that much of it). Me and my saucy fries then went to sit in the middle of Market Square on some steps of an oldish looking building and people watch. Just... happy. Wrote in my journal a bit, relaxed. I was perfectly content right in that moment.

Here is my biggest complaint about Belgium: my first real taste of anti-Americanism. Granted, we were, for the most part, a group of about 10 kids excited and loud about being in Europe. Still, we were refused service at a burger place because nobody ordered any Belgian food (a direct quote: "You eat the burger, you sleep with the burger, you wake up with the burger") and were simply ignored for 45 minutes at another. It's really sad and feels awful, not only that most of the time they can tell we're American before we even speak, but being ignored at this one specific diner put everyone in the worst mood.

The churches in Bruges were great... nice to study the Flemish Primitive artists by actually seeing the paintings and architecture first hand. I don't like waffles but the Belgium chocolate was AMAZING. Once they put two and two together and figure out they need to dunk some strawberries in that stuff, they'll be rolling in dough. The nights were really great in Belgium, it was fun to do the bar scene there because it was very manageable... not big and overwhelming, but definitely easy to find a couple places to dance in. All in all, I found Belgium lovely. Due to the public transportation strike we didn't get to travel for the weekend after. I'm putting Brussels atop my list of places to come back and visit.

Have You Seen Me Lately?

Some Belgium Pictures. Enjoy :)

Drowning Out the Windowside

Sadness. Bad castle connection equates to me losing an entire post. Way too lazy to write that whole thing again, so here is the abridged version, void of any poetry and clever anecdotes.

We stopped on the way to Bruges to a town called Gent. We were looking at a painting that we were lectured on earlier in the week (Jan van Eyck's "The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb"). The St. Bova Cathedral it was in was gorgeous. To hear about a painting, go and actually stand two feet away from it and get lectured from European professors is sort of surreal. Again (Halie), I feel like freaking Harry Potter. So cool. The paintings themselves make me want to never doodle again... it's unbelievable what artists can make. This cathedral was so gorgeous (Mom, I kept wishing you were here to see it with me).

Much more to say about Belgium but I'll post it later.

Love to all :)

In the Shadow of the Modern Machine

(NOTE: This is the post I thought I lost... It's quite repetitive to the other Belgium ones I put up, but thought I'd throw it up anyways)

I lied. Turns out Bruges is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I'm still moving to Amsterdam, but Belgium is aaaabsolutely breathtaking.

(Got in late last night and stayed up even later, so I'll write about the first town we stopped in and do another post on Bruges later tonight.)

Bus ride was more or less 3 hours. I slept for 2 of these hours plus 45 minutes. We had to get up and be ready to leave at 7 and everyone was pretty wiped out. I don't know that anybody has fully recovered from the shift in time zone yet AND we've been up late/waking up early to go to class all day. That bus sleep was probably one of the best naps of my life. In the top 5, at least. So we stopped in a town called Gent, and the feeling I got stepping onto the street off of the bus can only be compared to coming out of the train station in Amsterdam and seeing the city for the first time: I have never seen anything like this. It's so quaint and beautiful it seems it should be a little lane in Disneyland. Doesn't even look real. The bus couldn't even drop us off right in front of the church we were visiting because the streets are so small and overrun by bikers. Bikers everywhere. If I acquire any bodily harm on this trip it will undoubtedly be because I've been hit by bike. We had stopped in Gent to visit the St. Bova Cathedral where Jan van Eyck's masterpiece triptych "The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb" is kept. We'd been lectured on the painting early on in the week, and I've got to say, it is the coolest thing in the world to read about a work of art and then have the ability to actually see it. Definitely not a luxury we have as often at home.

So we walked down a couple of blocks over to the cathedral and split up to grab lunch. My roommate and I wandered over to a quieter street and found a cafe that looked good. We sat down, picked up the menus, and realized they were written in Flemish. We do not speak Flemish. Thankfully, the tall cute waiter came, sat down next to us and asked how we were doing. We told him we didn't understand the menu and he goes "Yeah, that's what I figured" and read it to us :).

The cathedral was gorgeous. We weren't allowed any pictures (the one above is a copy of the main part of the painting we came to see) but the gothic style is unlike any old church I have seen at home. I've always loved church architecture and the beauty in this building was so moving. My church at home is nice, but very modern... This place had an original Michelangelo Seriously, the Belgium trip was easily the thing I was least excited about on this trip (mostly because I didn't know what to expect) and this little stop over in the small town was the most pleasant surprise.

Taffy Stuck, Tongue-tied

Off to Belgium for the weekend. Back Saturday night or Sunday... not sure yet. We'd been planning a Dublin trip for after we're through in Bruges, but due to the public transportation strikes among other things, it's not going to happen :(

Art history class all day today. The professor is fun, really knows what he's talking about. Laundry. Watched Robot Chicken with the guys living next door.

The picture here is the first time a group of us headed down to the little bar down the road. I got a haircut right before I left and it's driving me crazy how short it is.

Starting to get sick :/ Hopefully it's just allergies, but I definitely haven't been getting enough sleep and there's a cold going around. Boo.

Photos: Amsterdam

On a Tuesday in Amsterdam

Let me begin by stating that this is my best title thus far. If you haven't caught on, each title is a title or lyric from a Counting Crows song... Lame, I know, but I am terrible at titles.

Today was Amsterdam. I am moving to Amsterdam.

We woke up at 7 to catch breakfast, a bus, a train, another train, and arrive in Amsterdam. The day was centered around our digital photography class. We first had 45 minutes to grab something to eat and meet back at Dam Square (pictures in next post). A couple friends and I grabbed a snack (water bottles are 4 US dollars, most places here, by the way) and headed over to the shopping part of town. Then we headed over to the World Press Photo exhibit in this beautiful old church. World Press Photo is a contest that gives awards to various press photographers' work from the year. The exhibit was nice, but the church stole the scene. This place had beautiful etchings carved into the wooden ceilings and elaborate stained glass. The stone floors had carvings also, as they were tombs of various church patrons buried there. I've always loved church architecture, and as you'll see when I put photos up, this place had so much beauty. Next we had two hours to complete a photo assignment (I'll write more on this later when I can post the pictures). This was by far my favorite part of this day in that I had the chance to wander the city alone, think, write, photograph, and even speak with some local people. One man in particular was important to me today, an artist who spoke with me for about 20 minutes while I was photographing him... I stumbled upon him when I followed a canal down a road that turned out to be the Red Light District.

I don't know what you've heard about Amsterdam's Red Light District. While I'm sure it's not a place I'd like to be on a dark and quiet night, it is definitely not what you'd expect. I'd show pictures, but I couldn't take any because prostitute body guards come and yell and make you delete them. Yes, prostitutes. I was walking along, looking at my camera, when I happened to see, out of the corner of my eye, a glass door that led to a small room with a bed, curtains for the door, and a woman in underwear. It was so strange, seeing these men walk right up to them in the middle of the afternoon in front of everyone... blocks and blocks of these little "woman stores". Similarly, the infamous coffee shops were not hard to find. Or smell. While I didn't go in one, the sentiment was much the same: there was no shame for anyone to walk over and head into the back room, some bolder patrons even taking their product outside. Moral issues aside, there was nothing sketchy about either of these practices Amsterdam has become known for. They were simply treated as any other business. Not what I had pictured.

After shooting for a bit, we went to one last photo exhibit (the FOAM) that featured a display my roommate and I had to present on called The Ninth Floor by Jessica Dimmock (wikipedia it, it's very interesting). Then dinner at a little cafe with 12 of our group. Then I slept the whole ride home.

Terrible writing tonight, I know. Just wanted to get a sort of summary in. When I get home I'd love to talk about Dam Square, my painter friend, or the waiter who asked if I "remembered him from when we met in his dreams". But for now, I have more homework than I can fathom and even more sleep to catch up on. Ciao.

PS: The image is my favorite one from the World Press Gallery of Putin.

this picture you see is nothing like the one...

This is definitely not a vacation.

In class from 10-430 today :/ Photography was fine... The lecture was mostly on early photography and history of the camera, which was a bit dry for my taste. I love religious studies, so the Art History course kept my attention. Now I'm just wiped out from using my brain for the first time in two weeks. And I have homework :(

Looks like the Dublin trip won't happen, but we're booking tickets to Barcelona tonight and we'll probably make a day trip to some beachy town South of France. I could use some sun.

Also, we looked at everyone's first digital photography assignment, the self portrait. I posted mine. Don't make fun, they're sort of cheesey.

To a very special someone...

... I wanted to publicly wish one, Sir Jesse Matthew Brightman Esquire III good luck with summer school.

When the Colors Start to Fade

Alright. I am what some would call an "emotional" person. I cry. Often. On my trip over here, though, I came across an article in Yoga Journal on this idea of seeing emotions as separate from the self. It was essentially a meditation on riding emotions in the way a surfer rides waves. I've been thinking about this concept a lot since I've been here and have yet to shed a tear. Anyways. For those of you who I haven't lost due to the yoga talk, today I got quite misty. The sun finally came out and all the colors here just... popped. I walked the trail that follows the outter moat, and got honestly choked up
at how beautiful and unbelievable the history of this place is. This place was built in the 12th century. TWELFTH CENTURY. That's not even really in the teen centuries yet. These pictures can't begin to capture how lovely the grounds are, but I'll let you have a peek anyways. Love and breakfast sandwiches*



*I am tired of eating salami sandwiches before 11:00AM.

Weather and Noise

So I am officially the sleepiest person on the trip. I've slept through 2 events so far and this poor RA's job basically consists of waking me up, waiting for me to dress, and taking me to where ever on the grounds everyone else who has the good sense not to sleep for 12 hours has gone to. This morning I slept through breakfast, but caught the last 30 minutes of the castle rules and regulations meeting (led by Huber, the lovely groundskeeper with the sweetest accent).

Then lunch (this country is really big on cold cuts) and planning some travel. It looks like we're going to get around to way more places than I had thought. We head to Amsterdam as a group on Monday, Bruges Wednesday, Venice the week after, also London, possibly Ireland, and either Spain or France.
--------
Continued...

I am again exhausted. After dinner tonight, we went to one of the two local bars. I think the whole town was there. All 12 of them. It was fun, the Dutch people are very friendly and everyone in our group is still getting to know one another. Then, 15 of us went out to the biggest nightclub in the country today. This place was massive, it had like 5 different rooms with a new DJ each, it can hold up to 6,000 people. It was fun for a little while. But started to get crowded, sloppy, and... clubby. It was interesting though, dancing in a club in Europe, all girls were much safer from getting grabbed or approached from guys than they are in America. Except by American tourists.

Some people are so embarrassing.

Raining in Baltimore

Actually, raining in Holland. I'm in a jet-lagged, car-sick, hungry daze, but I'll fill you in on what little I have seen of this amazing place so far.

My flight was interesting. Sat next to a Russian woman who had no reservations about ordering me food/drink while I was asleep, tucking my blanket around me tighter, and waking me up to watch the (not so) funny part of the movie she was enjoying. She was sweet though, and talking to her made the time go by quickly. Probably only got a full hour or two of shut eye, though.

I had no idea what to expect getting off of the plane. Bear with me, readers of mine who are better travelled than I. I got scared. I thought of stepping off into this mass of confusion, prostitution, and drug dealing where I would be lost in the language barrier. Hardly the reality. Everyone we've encountered so far is fluent in English and the airport looked hardly different from the one I spent the better part of yesterday in.

The drive from Amsterdam was about 2.5 hours... In the beginning it didn't look any different than driving the 101 towards Gilroy...'cept it is totally flat. Tons of cows, horses, goats, etc. But as soon as we (8 of us in a shuttle with a very friendly Dutch man) got into the country, it morphed into a landscape I can not compare to anything I've seen before. Again, I was in a sleepy, disoriented stupor, so I didn't take pictures. But honestly. Excuse the cliche, but I didn't know there were so many shades of green. It just stretched for miles and miles along the highway. Farms with these quaint little lumpy cottages and windmills all along these green fields lined with perfectly placed trees. Also, the rivers and lakes are still and flat, making the only break in color the dark slate of the pools.

Then we pulled off the freeway. I can not begin to describe the town of Well. It's like a cross between the beautiful neighborhoods you see in WW2 movies (we are quite close to Germany) and some perfect little town you walk through in Disneyland. I'll wait until I can post pictures.

Same with the castle. Oh wait, I LIVE IN A CASTLE!!! It's like Harry Potter. But better. No pesky owls darting around. The grounds from what I've seen are gorgeous, two moats, a Dutch RA named Johnny. Seriously?! This is my life.

I can hardly keep my eyes open, and while I've been resisting the temptation to nap, I think I'm about to give in. Send emails.

Meanwhile, All The Days Go Drifting Away

Top: Me with a grouchy face and too much luggage.
Bottom: One of my favorite places in Boston. At the right time of day, the reflection of the old stone church on the contemporary glass high rise is beautiful.

Somewhere in the Middle of America

Well, technically on the East coast of America. But no Counting Crows songs have lyrics about that.

Just arrived from San Jose into Logan Airport. Good news is I slept the whole flight. Bad news is I can't check my luggage for another SEVEN hours so I'm stuck in the airport (too lazy and poor to get a cab and lug my 50 lb suitcase around the city). Brutal, brutal, brutal.

Leaving last night was, to be quite honest, really rough. There's a lot going on at home and in my personal life and Bagel is probably on the last couple of weeks of his life :( It was hard to leave. Kept busy most of the day, though. Knocking out as soon as we took off didn't hurt either.

Anyways, if anyone wants one last phone call while I'm on American soil, God knows I'm not going anywhere anytime soon.

<3

These Days

Agh (pronounced: ah-guhhhh).

I leave in two days and I have not even begun to pack. And anyone who knows me as a traveller knows that packing well is a skill set I was not born with. It's hard, though. I'm being pelted with distractions everywhere I turn. New Grey's Anatomy episodes, Mom feeding me (and feeding me and feeding me), Dad wants to see Iron Man, my bright shiny new CAMERA...

Just got a new SLR camera for the digital photography component of the trip. It. Is. Beautiful. I feel beautiful holding it. I've mastered the casual, natural technique in which I've seen so many photographers throwthe camera strap over a shoulder. My abilities at actual photo taking are another story...

Anyways, I've got to take two self portraits by Wednesday and send them into the professor. I can't help but notice the likeness in my self portrait taking and the 15 year old girls who post snapshots of themselves onto myspace.com.

Wish me happy packing (if there is such a thing).

From December to Today

It's finally May (I've been waiting for May since the first time it snowed in December) and thus far, May is driving me crazy.

The apartment my mom and I found fell through. Emma's been really sick the last couple weeks (plus I know she's just dying not being able to row) and it's really hard to hear about anything going wrong at home when I'm far away. Also, I'm really restless just waiting around this week to go home. Granted, I could put the nervous energy to work and wrap up this five pager I've been procrastinating on ...

Anyways. I added a new Twitter widget to the blog. My Twitter account is quite lame. I only have one friend and it's my dad. Not that my dad doesn't rule. He does. Majorly. I just don't think Twitter has quite penetrated my peer group yet. Or I have no friends. One of the two. 

With any luck, I'll be an essay writing machine from now until Wednesday and my next post will be a) less boring and b) from California. 

(Also: the picture in this post is my Things That Make Me Happy List and is in this context dedicated to one, Halie Danielle Nicolosi)