What a difference an awesome president makes...

If you ever had any doubts about what the election of Barak Obama has done for the reputation of Americans abroad, consider this- Every year Leiden celebrates October 3rd as the the day they overcame Spanish siege in 1574. Every year there is a big parade with a theme and this year's theme is "American Dreams." And in fact, they asked for Americans to walk in the parade waving American flags. (and not as targets for rotten tomatoes) Having been in London in 2004, I find this nearly incredulous. I won't be in the parade, but will be marveling at what one spectacular election can do.

Balsamic glazed steak-red pepper-red onion- tomato dinner salad fixins

Antwerp!

Took an impromptu weekend trip to Antwerp last weekend. It's a beautiful city just a couple hours away in Belgium. Surprisingly, I was very excited about the food. We got in pretty late on Friday, wandered around and found a cute little square with outdoor cafes, perfect for italian food and Belgian beers. On Saturday I dragged everyone around looking for Belgian waffles. Those Antwerpians are rather particular about when they serve these delicious treats. A couple places said waffle time was only from 2.30pm until 5.30. This is to be distinguished from pancake time, which extends until 6 pm. Did some walking around and saw the magnificent cathedral, an ancient castle, and some windy streets. And, then! For the main event, we sat in beautiful square and ordered huge pots of mussles with frites. Went to a medieval bar for a drink- very realistic. One Sunday we went to a fashion museum and then the National Art Museums and saw some Rubens.

Train Station

Rubens

Happiness I

Belgian Chocolates

Happiness II

Main Square

Leiden

Evensong on our canal

Botanical Gardens

The Pilgrims' Church, before they left for Amerika

Rembrandt's Birthplace, bulldozed for condos in the 80's, but there's a plaque!

Some Dam Pictures

Post museum stretching

Domesticity

It's been a busy couple weeks. My classes here are considerably front loaded. Come November I'll only have two classes (and a 50 page research paper but who's counting). But for now there is lots and lots of work to be done, some of it catch up, some of it trying to make sure I pass! Failing classes is a regular occurrence here, even for the best students. There are make up exams and plenty of people re-take classes two and three times but clearly there's no time for that. Brie and I have spent lots of time in the apartment studying, cooking, and playing each other songs on youtube. Last weekend we went to a cozy little bar on Friday night and then Amsterdam on Saturday. It was a really fun day. Walked and walked and walked. Went to the Rijkmuseum and saw some historicaly paintings. Then had dinner at a delicious Italian hole in the wall. Then, yes, off to the Red Light District. Boobs everywhere. We were early so it was still family hour- lots of respectable looking people and tour groups. I read in the tour book that people are shocked at the juxtaposition of the red light windows and the magnificent church smack in the middle of the area, but geez louise, at one point they were not more than 20 feet apart. I also thought it was interesting that a lot of the 'girls' were talking on their cell phones while prancing in the windows. How does that conversation go?? I think we are headed to Brussels this weekend!

We are contemplating getting cats...

Bikes and Markets

Brie and I got bikes! I was pretty nervous at first because I don't count bike riding among my many skills. And because everyone is on a bike, it's very much like driving a car- dedicated lanes, traffic lights and rules. But it is super fun and very convenient.

My bike vendor, who coincidentally hate bikes and doesn't own one.

We spent some time at the market last week- they have a big one every Wednesday and Saturday. Stacked up on some wildly stinky cheese and nutty breads. On Saturday we had some tea and snacks while people watching. Mine was a whole apple, rolled in cinnamon and baked into a pastry. Not bad?

For my parents

First day of 19th grade



To Dad: Exhibit A- The Wolky Shop, where they sell things to walk with. The Dutch, unlike the English, are very good at naming things.

Out and About

We've almost been here a week and I have to say it's been a rather tough one. I got here after classes started because I needed some time to get myself together in Connecticut, but it's made moving in, finding classes/books/computers/printers/libraries/grocery stores/cell phone stores/lightbulb stores, and trying to apply for jobs a little trying. Made a lot of progress this week and it seems like things are starting to fall into place. In other news- it is early to mid October weather here! Some days are beautiful and sunny but we've only had one really warm one.

Our canal

Across the street from school

Darling, I don't know how to tell you this but there's a Chinese family in our bathroom

Brie called it the first day- we live in Ikea! As someone who heartily enjoys Ikea, this is ok by me! We seriously lucked out with a great place, all due to Brie and no thanks to the University. It's cute as a button, fully functional with a pretty good kitchen, dishwasher, a huge, squishy couch and TV with a couple english channels. It's a hop, skip, and jump from a lovely canal and about a 12 minute walk to school (soon to a 5 minute bike ride!).

From 500 Days of Summer- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLUp6pZsC_U

Raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens...

These are a few of my favorite words...

Pijnboompitten- something to do with pine nuts

Wim Bonis- the "male secretary" of the Criminal Law division

Canals, Bikes, and Love

Back on the road!
(this is Becky)

I'm in Leiden, Netherlands (about 20 minute train ride outside Amsterdam) for the semester, studying law at the University of Leiden. You say: Isn't study abroad for college students? Aren't you a little old to go tool around Europe under the guise of "study abroad"? I say: Apparently not (x2).

The American Bar Association approves certain programs for law school students to spend a semester, or even a year, at a foreign law school. Benefits include learning a bit about a civil law system (versus US common law) and not being in Hartford (not in brochure, but a real game changer, for sure). Also there's the whole cultural interaction bit but that's for the softies. Anyways, third year of law school is mostly to take the classes that you want to take and to get a job. The classes that I want to take happen to be over here, and let's face it, my job search abilities are not stellar so I might as well fumble around over here, right? Right. Add to this picture that one of my besties Brie, and another Uconn friend Chris, decided to go to Leiden as well and we are in for an fun semester.

Brie and I wound up taking the same flight over and it's a damn good thing because I might have lost it being alone. Together, however, we redefined the term, "hot mess." I overpacked (shocker) in two large and unwieldy rolly suitcases. Brie, while a super packer, neglected to put it all in a suitcase with wheels so she had to carry her single but super heavy bag. This meant we could walk about 20 feet before having to take a break. Also meant no stairs.

We got to sit next to each other on the plane and watch cheesy movies all night until about 1.5 hours from Zurich when we tried to fall asleep. We were a liiiiittle tired and bedraggled for the rest of the trip. Made it from Amsterdam to Leiden in one piece, but only in 20 ft spurts. We had trouble finding our real estate agent once we got here, and, at one very low point, we were in an internet cafe- homeless, phoneless, exhausted, starving, and a little chilly (and there was one hair sticking straight up out of my ponytail).

But that all changed once we got in touch with our adorable real estate agent Chris, who rolled up to the apartment on his bike and in sweatpants. He let us into the apartment, and oooh! the Leiden chapter begins. More next time!