Ooops! Did I forget to tell you about Carnaval?

So I was looking back at my blog and I realised I completely forgot to write about this and it would be a shame not to since it really was my favourite weekend on exchange and soooo Dutch. This happened in mid-February, Valentines weekend, so you know only running a month late…

Carnaval or Vastenavond (in Limburgish: vastelaovend) – where do I even start? Probably with a bit of context – Carnaval is apparently originally a European Pagan Spring Festival (and spread to Latin America via colonialism) and was later adopted by the Catholic Church (hence why it is only celebrated in the Catholic south of the Netherlands). It is celebrated in the days leading up to Lent, but actually goes on for weeks before with small parties and events. Wikipedia describes it as a “role reversal” event in that all social norms about behaviour are disregarded and I think I can certainly agree with this – it is rare you see actual adults (as opposed to students) in fancy/costume dress partying in the streets. People of all ages dress up so crazy and it is clear the amount of time some people put into their costumes it’s incredible. Honestly I have never seen something like it. So with a small, tiny bit of context so you know what I am talking about, I will now tell you about my experiences of Carnaval.

I was lucky enough that one of my kids from introweek has family in Limburg (one of the main provinces where Carnaval is celebrated), but even luckier when it turned out her family actually were key in organising the Carnaval in Venlo and would be DJ-ing at one of the stages. So not only did we have a fantastic house in which to stay in, but also experts on the Carnaval. I arrived Saturday morning and the first order of business was to create a costume – the sillier the better. Our costumes were not quite as co-ordinated as a lot of the people we saw but I feel we looked good in a very mix-matched way – especially once we obtained co-ordinating aprons later of people in lingerie (you know the ones I mean). The amount of people from Venlo though who seem to own crazy printed matching suits – four leaf clovers, dollar bills, balloons, you name it I think I probably saw a suit with it on. I think my favourite costume I saw though was a group of 4 people who came as Piglet, Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger, and in a move of peak Dutchness had brought a bag of cubed Gouda and ham as a snack which they were more than willing to share. I chose an all-in-one white overall, accessorized with a delightful Hawaiian shirt and tiger mask – the tiger mask was quite a challenge to keep on especially since actually wearing it over your face really obscured your vision.  I think the bit of our costume that got us the most attention though were our signs around our neck saying where we were from. It is a tradition to take signs with you, or wear badges etc. stating where you are from and since we came from all over, we really couldn’t not. So there we were with signs from Toronto, Sydney, and London. This lead to so many people all day asking us “are you really from Sydney?”, “Did you come all the way to Venlo for this?” which was pretty entertaining. The best part though was due to Lotte’s uncle being a DJ on one of the stages we got to go up on stage and sing along to one of the songs about how the allied forces saved Venlo in the war. We didn’t really get many of the lyrics other than “Jeep, Jeep, Jeep” and “Petroleum stinks” – but after a few drinks, you really feel you can do anything. 

The day was fantastic, a real festival feel with multiple stages, music, and huge amounts of day drinking. We very sneakily hid alcohol in our bags and in various pockets and under items of clothing, so avoided paying for drinks in any of the stages all day until the evening. Our favourite was Rudolph’s though which are shot sized bottles of an energy drink and vodka mix – similar to a Flugel but cheaper (and probably not quite as tasty). Although all day we couldn’t understand the lyrics to any of the songs, by the evening I think we started to get the hang of mouthing along pretty well – no one would have known we weren’t locals…

That evening we went out, the bars were all so full, and there was a great street party going (fortunately we were absolutely blessed with gorgeous weather the whole weekend) – so we danced in the street and walked among the debris of the days activities, sat on the stages, and most importantly got a kroket and pataats special to end the night. Pataats special is essentially chips/fries, onions, mayonnaise, and sate sauce – personally I did not enjoy it, but the kroket was great. The Dutch love to deep-fry everything, but some of it you can’t deny tastes good. We did also go to a bar which was absolutely rammed and so hot, and we had really dressed to wrap up. Something about Carnaval though brought out all the creeps, so we spent a lot of time trying to avoid strange men trying to hit on us. Why do they never get a hint and insist on putting a downer on everyone’s nights? Oh the rant I could have on this topic, but I will save you that pleasure.

After the madness of Saturday, we had a far more chill day on Sunday. We didn’t dress up as much, only wearing our aprons and location signs and walked over to the next village for a Carnaval parade. This was far more like the carnivals I am used to at home with local organisations having floats and parading past. However we were right near the end of the parade, so it was somewhat… disjointed. We had a great time getting sweets thrown at us though, sitting out in the sun, and eating Limburgse Vlaai (super delicious pie). It was a shame to go back to Utrecht that evening, but having such a wonderful weekend with such lovely people just made me so happy – even if I did manage to pull a muscle Irish dancing at the street party. And next year… maybe I’ll be back!

Birthdays abroad

It’s been 3 years now since I last had a birthday at home and with my family. It’s definitely different and I’m still unsure whether it’s a good thing or not. I think it really depends on what you make of it – but I tend to find I spend a lot of time alone which would be far less likely to happen with family. Don’t get me wrong, I love being by myself, I really do, but on your birthday I think it can feel a bit lonely – especially when you are used to having a close family. Celebrating your birthday away from home does however mean your day is free for you to do what you want without the worry about squeezing in time to see your entire family – but opening presents alone is something I will never quite get used to. It feels simultaneously both greedy and pathetic – neither of which are great feelings.

I tend to never do birthday nights out the day before my birthday, because honestly I cannot imagine a worse scenario than being hungover on your birthday. Or well, I thought I couldn’t, turns out being actually ill is so much worse, but more on this later… I have a party to tell you about. My 21st birthday was Tuesday 24th February, but I held my birthday (pre-)party on the Thursday before as here at UCU Thursday night is party night. In order to bring a bit of home to Utrecht (and also largely to avoid having to provide drinks for everyone as is Dutch custom), I themed my party as the “The Great British Booze-up”. Essentially British themed, I covered the flat in Union Jacks, made a playlist of exclusively British artists, made Bucks Fizz for everyone and the quintessential British children’s party food – cheese and pineapple on Union Jack cocktail sticks. Of course, no themed party would be complete without fancy (costume) dress. We had John Lennon, Ozzy Osborne, the Tardis, Fish and Chips, Builders tea, Paddington Bear, and in my very biased opinion the best costumes of all, The Spice Girls. I finally got to live out a dream I had had for so long, and make the purchase of a lifetime – the Union Jack Ginger Spice dress. Whilst when it arrived it did look like a sequinned sack, thanks to some very talented friends, it managed to be altered until it looked pretty damn good if I say so myself. So thanks Kasia if you are reading this! Personally I really enjoyed the party, we played a lot of beer pong, sang along to a lot of songs, and of course played the obligatory Ring of Fire and Never Have I Ever… And I even managed to avoid a hangover for at least part of the next day (maybe I was still drunk).

Sadly my actual birthday was not quite as good. On Sunday night I started to feel feverish and assumed it was the start of the flu that had been going round campus, and I woke up on Monday not feeling any better so thought that probably was what it was until about Wednesday morning when I finally went to the doctors. However by about halfway through Monday I started to be in a lot of pain whilst eating, and my wisdom teeth had been coming through on-and-off for a while so just assumed it was that but worse than it had ever been. Most of my birthday was therefore spent in bed drinking juice and watching Netflix and generally feeling a bit sorry for myself. In the evening though I had a few friends over and Louis cooked us all a fantastic dinner which I did manage to eat most of even if it took me ages. It was really chill and just super gezellig – sadly I missed out on the House of Cards themed party that was in the bar that night though (in an attempt to bring back Tuesday party night). But spending the evening with such a great group of people really did make what could have been an awful day a hell of a lot better.

Sadly my health problems were not so easily remedied though and by Wednesday morning my glands were inflamed and in addition to not even being able to eat mashed potato, it was too painful to swallow – so I admitted defeat and went to the doctors. The doctors was awful, and due to my now extensive experience of the Dutch healthcare system I feel I might do a blog post just on that, he was probably not representative of all GPs and the hospital doctors are certainly far better. He failed to tell me I had tonsilitis, said that me not being to eat wasn’t a problem, and prescribed aspirin. Not even a strong dose of aspirin, but told me I couldn’t take ibuprofen. I was thoroughly unhappy and was due to go to Paris the next day. The next day after feeling even worse, painkillers really doing nothing, and not even being able to eat soft bread I went to the emergency room. That was a saga in itself, but after phoning round all the emergency dentists in Utrecht to get an appointment in order to get a referral, I was finally seen in a different hospital. Here they told me I had tonsilitis, infected wisdom teeth, and probably two other infections that they weren’t sure what they were. But I was given antibiotics and happy that this would solve everything I decided to go to Paris. Oh how wrong I was…

I feel Paris probably deserves it’s own post – especially as this one is getting quite long and I am getting quite hungry, so I shall probably write another post continuing my adventures with Dutch healthcare and seeing the sights of Paris.

P.S. Just remembered that on my birthday I set the oven on fire – first time for everything. Also good job I wasn’t alone – turns out you don’t put a damp cloth on an oil fire…

Parties, food and gender studies

The past few weeks have felt super busy which is great because I think I really am making the most of this semester. I mean even as I’m writing this, I have tabs open planning my trip to Paris next weekend (what a way to spend your 21st birthday, eh?).

First of all I have started my off-campus course on Gender, Ethnicity and Religious Practices in European Contexts, which I must say is my absolute dream course and I think everyone should have to take a similar course. It’s super interesting, all about intersectionality and appeals to my not-so-secret gender studies nerd. However, I think my favourite bit so far was when a somewhat naive (read: ignorant) American exchange threw a strop after she made an irrelevant comment in class and the teacher asked to bring it back to the main topic. She threw herself down on the table and angrily bitched to herself for a good few minutes. Uni , and especially studying abroad, makes some people really grow up, others not so much…

I also went to see Akua Naru at a jazz club in Amsterdam which was incredible! I only really knew her for her incredible spoken word, generally set to jazz, so the hip-hop was a bit of a surprise. Took a while to get used to, but I was feeling it. It was an early birthday present so thank you for that! A really wonderful evening and nice to get off campus and into the ‘real world’. Plus after this we ordered falafel and hummus pittas off the Palestinian delivery service that is run by one of my friends on campus – have I told you how much I love this place yet?

On the subject of birthdays, although this time not mine, I went out for the most incredible meal of my life for my friend Remco’s 21st birthday. I genuinely nearly cried at how good the food was, plus it was super fancy and had a wine arrangement and everything. I was just super impressed by it all, especially the salmon sashimi we had for starter. OH MY GOD, SO GOOD! I think good food is really one of my true weaknesses in life and such a luxury. That night, we went back to campus to have a super lovely party at Remco’s flat – I feel like house parties are so much smaller here but I think it’s nicer, you get to chat a lot more than you would at a Leeds house party – but then it’s a very different culture. However after this we went to a party that was probably a lot more similar to what I am used to, except it was themed like the womb. Certainly an interesting theme for a party…

I went to Carnaval the weekend after this, but I think this phenomenon really deserves it’s own post. I would not be exaggerating if I said it was my best weekend of exchange yet. I wish Carnaval could happen every weekend but then I guess I would need a lot more costumes. This is probably going to come tomorrow when I am procrastinating from the essay I ought to be writing.

Recently my friends Joey and Finn came to Amsterdam for the week and on Tuesday afternoon (just gone) they came to visit me in Utrecht. It’s so nice to be able to show people around because I really do love where I live and it’s nice to show people a bit more of the ‘real’ Netherlands than the touristy side you see in Amsterdam. We went to lunch in this lovely little cafe on the Oudegracht called Vers (which translates to fresh) and had such delicious sandwiches. I feel like I chose a good place, but having never been there before I really owe the credit to Fleur for the recommendation. After this I went against all advice of the other UCU students and climbed the Dom (which at 112m is the tallest tower in the country). Legend has it if you climb it during your studies you won’t graduate – however since I’m not graduating from UCU I decided to take the risk. 465 steps later and we were treated to some beautiful views, according to the tour guide you could see all the way to Amsterdam and on a clearer day even Rotterdam and The Hague, I was far more excited about being able to see my house though. I will probably follow this up with pictures, but I might wait until Joey uploads his as I only have a few because my phone got too cold and turned itself off.

Many more things to tell you, including all about my British themed birthday party, but since my birthday is on Tuesday I feel I might just do a birthday themed post, which quelle surprise will include more food!

So that’s it for now!

It’s a Gouda life

Except Gouda isn’t pronounced at all like good. Not one bit. “How-da” – with the trademark Dutch throat full of phlegm for the g. About 2 weeks ago now, me and some of my kids went to Gouda for the afternoon – it being only 14 minutes from Utrecht by train. Turns out there isn’t all that much to do in Gouda, which worked out well after we lost someone at the station and spent 30 minutes trying to find them – downside of having one of the biggest train stations in the country. But off we went to the home of Gouda kaas and the beloved stroopwafel. Gouda is such a quaint place – really cute back streets and canals (as ever, canals everywhere, I’m more surprised when there aren’t any). I especially liked all the footbridges over canals into people’s houses or shops, really lovely. Obviously being in Gouda though the focus was really on cheese, and oh my god did we eat a lot of cheese, I think the shop was out of samples by the time we had been in and tried every type. We did all then buy cheese though, largely out of guilt for the number of free samples we ate. I got some geitenkaas (Goats cheese) – but hard goats cheese as opposed to the soft stuff we are used to at home. I really should have bought some gouda though. Next up on our tour of Dutch delicacies was stroopwafel – we went to a cafe that specialises in them and they are easily the best ones I have ever eaten, which is saying something because even Albert Heijn own brand stroopwafels are good. I didn’t buy any though – instead favouring the stroopwafel liquer which really is the best thing I have ever drunk and am considering going back to Gouda just to buy some more. I even bought it in my best Nederlands: “Hoeveel kost het?”. It was actually a rare occasion when a shop worker replies to you in Dutch even though they know you are English. I had spoken to her in English and then as soon as I said something in Dutch she swapped the language. Makes a change from getting English responses when you have made the effort to attempt Dutch, and trying to speak another language, especially with no lessons, really does take a lot of courage particularly when your pronunciation is as bad as mine. We managed to find a little cafe in the warm since it had started snowing. Fresh mint tea is something that I think the UK really needs to get more into, every cafe here sells it and it’s wonderful. We then tried to find a restaurant, but apparently everyone in Gouda wants to go out for dinner on a Friday evening so we couldn’t get sat anywhere, then we had the great idea of going back to Utrecht. Meneer Smakers – probably my all-time favourite burger bar. It’s always so busy but the burgers are unrivalled and it’s got such a cool feel to it. I think it ties with the pancake house for my favourite place to eat in Utrecht.

Back on Campus – Introweek 2.0

After a short trip to Bussum to the home of one of my unitmates, I arrived back on campus and it was time to start preparing for introweek. This time however I got to experience it from a completely different angle – I was chosen to be a Mum which meant I got 10 of my own children (along with Sebastiaan and Fleur – my co-parents/spouses). I don’t think any of us realised quite how exhausting it was going to be, but for every tiny bit of stress and all the exhaustion it was so worth it. One of the most fun weeks I have had since getting here. This introweek was a lot smaller than the fall one as it was only halfies and exchange students. Halfies are students who start in January as opposed to August. I think this made it a much tighter knit group and was just really gezellig. To do a play-by-play account of the week would be too much, but I had something scheduled for almost every hour of the day, which included campus games (our family came second), capture the flag, ice-skating, a city tour at night, formal dinner, and parties almost every night.

My kids are great – 3 degree students and the rest exchanges – and a really international group. We had 2 Canadians, 2 Americans (one half Italian, one half Vietnamese), a Dutch-Australian girl, an Israeli girl, a romanian girl, someone from China but on exchange from Singapore, a girl from Mexico, and someone from Indonesia but an exchange from Hong Kong – plus 2 Dutch parents and one British one. My accent was mocked mercilessly during the week with an entire night spent with everyone trying to talk in their best British accents which were all shocking attempts.

I think one of my favourite activities was ice skating, I’m pretty awful, especially by Dutch standards – but it’s so much fun. Although there was one girl (not part of our huge group) who must have been about 9 who was such an incredible figure skater – needless to say we all disliked her for making us look bad. The rink was also a speed-skating rink and watching them skate in their lycra suits was absolutely hilarious, quite potentially my new favourite sport (to watch, not partake in). Surprisingly ice skating was actually warmer than our day trip to Amsterdam on the Friday.

Amsterdam was definitely the coldest day I have experienced since being here. I ended up wearing 2 pairs of gloves and still not being able to feel my fingers. This just meant constantly finding warm places to sit, have tea or eat. However due to the fact that all museums here have an admission fee, we decided to not go into any and just walk around in the cold all day which is certainly bracing if nothing else. I do miss how London museums are free though – makesgoing to them so much more appealing and accessible. If you are not sure you would be interested in a museum, why would you pay an entry fee especially €15 which seems around average for Amsterdam? Whereas free museums really allow you to just try things out and you don’t have to commit to the entire museum if it’s not to your taste. I also tried my first kapsalon whilst in Amsterdam (well a bite of someone else’s), whilst I can see the appeal of them I really am not a convert, it’s just a bit of an odd concept – Doner meat, fries, salad and cheese. No thanks, think I am more of a kroketten girl if we are discussing Dutch drunk food.

If I am being honest, I think I preferred this introweek to the one I had in August – maybe it’s just because I feel more settled now or maybe the activities suited me more. UCU definitely feels like home, and I know how to do things, I can do my shopping, sort out all the trains, I just feel far more confident than I did when I started knowing no one in August. It’s very odd to think I do have to leave here in 4/5 months – I think going back to Leeds will quite the culture-shock, but hopefully it will improve my English which has become absolutely shocking since moving here. The other day I genuinely used the phrase “what you did say” this is what comes from living in a super international enviroment, I think there are around 54 nationalities on campus and only around 600 students, it’s definitely unique and I feel very lucky to be here.

Going solo – Brussels

I spent a lot of time trying to plan going somewhere during winter break, and both of my initial plans fell through. Warsaw and Copenhagen will have to wait (already got plans in the making for a trip around Poland). Instead though I ended up going to Brussels by myself, which rather than being super depressing and desperate was great. Definitely a convert to solo travelling – being able to go to whatever I want was great. I can fully realise that most people may not want to spend a full morning doing a tour of the European Parliament and going to the associated museum exhibition, but I did and loved every minute of it. Being able to eat exactly where and when I wanted was fantastic plus meant I had to achieve one of my New Year aims (as opposed to resolutions) which was taking myself out to dinner. I enjoy going for dinner and I enjoy good food, but being able to do it by yourself is hard. The first night I went to this great Art Noveau cafe that served incredible pitta breads and salad (Le Perroquet), and spent half the night concerned people thought I looked sad and desperate but soon settled into it. That said if solo dining is something you want to try, I would definitely recommend taking reading material – there is only so much people watching you can get away with and I didn’t even have the luxury of eaves dropping since it was all in French. The second night I went to a far more touristy restaurant mainly because of the deal they had going on – huge pot of mussels, beer, and frites for €15, I wasn’t going to pass that up. Here there were loads more solo diners and I got chatting to a French man intially about my book, but then about London and Utrecht. It’s odd how there is this shared kinship between people when they are alone. Whilst we are on the topic of food obviously I need to address the two most important food items I bought and ate there – of course waffles and chocolates (Vlamse frites get an honourable mention). I had heard people talk about Belgium waffles but never had I truly understood the magic until I bought one with strawberries, bananas, and dark chocolate. Heaven. It wouldn’t be a city break for me if I didn’t also try to tick off as many of the sights as possible and squeeze in all the culture, apparently my description of having been to museums as having “done them” says a lot about my family and our very organised trips (but enjoyable) everywhere. I did miss out two things I really wanted to see mainly due to the appalling weather and rain, favouring sitting in cafes reading and eating cake over trekking through a park. The atomium and the royal gardens will have to wait for a nicer day. Brussels is so nice, I will definitely be back. First stop when I arrived Wednesday evening was the Grand Place (which I returned to again and again) and the Manneken Pis which is disappointingly small. The Grand Place is so beautiful, particularly when it is all lit up at night. Just round the corner from here there were hundreds of chocolate shops where I selected my own box on 17 Belgian chocolates – after eating the entire box I think I made good choices. Also in the area was a beautiful shopping arcade which I had been to before last time I went to Brussels but this time explored a few of the shops a bit more – which, me being me, included going in every book shop I saw even though almost all the books were in French. I also went to the Royal Palace whilst wandering around – there was clearly some kind of event going on as expensive black cars were all the way down the drive and people in very fancy clothes were walking around. Very odd though how they have no proper fences between the road and the Palace so I wonder if maybe it is only used ceremonially, because I can not imagine Buckingham Palace with that little security. Looked very pretty from the outside, but I didn’t go inside because I was travelling on my own and to be honest I am not a huge fan of walking around palaces after the first 2 rooms – I don’t even know if you could go inside. Instead I walked over to the Mont Des Arts which has an incredible view over the whole city and is just a lovely place to sit I imagine (which I would have done were it not raining). Around here are loads of museums including the Musical Instrument Museum which looks so cool from the outside. However on good recommendations I went to Magritte Museum which was so good! As someone who isn’t hugely into art the fact I spent around 2 hours in this museum is a testament to how good it was. My prior knowledge of Magritte was limited to a book my Granny had at her house when I was younger, so it was interesting to see the huge amount of art he produced and some of it was so incredible. Would thoroughly recommend especially since I got in for €2 because of my age. The layout of the exhibition is slightly confusing though – I got mildly lost once. After dinner that day I decided that I would rather find somewhere to sit and have a drink than go back to the hostel, so after a quick flick through my guidebook to Europe I decided to try and find some of the bars/pubs/Bruin cafes that were recommended – I ended up having a beer in the pub where Magritte and the rest of his gang of surrealists used to hang out (La Fleur en Papier Doré / Het Goudblommeke in Papier) which was really cool especially because there was writing on the wall done by them. It did feel very much like a local pub though although it is very central – which was slightly alienating for me sat alone with my beer and book. I absolutely loved Brussels – it has incredible street art, food and is such an easy city to get around, only real shame is the weather. But here’s to challenging yourself, solo travelling, and the start of a semester where I really intend to make the most of my time on the continent.

Back on the continent and back to blogging: a review of Christmas

I’d like to first and foremostly apologise for my absence of blogging towards the end of last semester, and the somewhat sporadic nature of my posts before that. The truth is I didn’t feel like I had anything to write about and was too busy just getting on with the mundane day-to-day of life – a year abroad sounds so exciting, but a lot of the time, it is little different to life at home (except you don’t understand the language). This semester I have decided to be more proactive and take every opportunity (and hopefully, maybe, become better at blogging). We’ll see – but I do have a lot of plans in the making.

I got to spend 3.5 glorious weeks at home over the Christmas break, the perks of doing December exams meant I had so much free time to just relax – so I spent lots of time reading, sleeping and watching Netflix. I went to the ballet twice and fel;t very cultured, the Nutcracker (English National Ballet) and Matthew Bourne’s Edward Scissorhands (Sadler’s Wells, but a touring company). I much preferred the latter, but then generally I have a preference for more contemporary ballet and also Edward Scissorhands is one of my favourite films – really anything with Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder or directed by Tim Burton and you are onto a winner with me. It really was incredible though – so much to see you did not know where to look, I would happily go again. The set was fantastic and the music, really can’t fault it – plus got to go with my best friend Anna so the company was alright. Really just brilliant.

London with Anna

I had quite a few opportunities to go into London and completely reignited my love affair with that city – as a man in Brussels said “when you are bored with London, you are bored with life”. I spent a lot of time just wandering around – Spitalfields, the south bank, Covent Garden, never happier than when I am exploring a city by foot. I caught up with a few friends from Leeds and even more from home – one of my friends is doing an internship in Parliament so whilst waiting for her I got to take some touristy shots of Parliament and the London Eye. Obviously whilst doing this I pretended to be Dutch, because who wants to expose themselves as a (somewhat) local whilst engaging is such touristy behaviour – but being a tourist in your own city should definitely be encouraged and I intend to do that this year in Utrecht.

Currently the Wellcome Institute/Collection has an exhibition called the institute of sexology which I went to, and honestly I would say it is the best museum exhibition I have ever been to. This says something because I go to quite a lot of museums. Absolutely fascinating, engaging and thought-provoking. I must have spent about 2 hours in this reasonably small exhibition because I wanted to absorb everything – my only complaint would be is that I felt that it ended quite suddenly, but it would have been hard to top the documentary that was showing which almost everyone had stooped for and watched the entire 40 minutes of. Really made you question constructions of sexuality and dialogues about sex. It is open until September and I cannot urge you enough to go if you have even the slightest interest in the subject, and let’s face it, who isn’t at least somewhat interested in sex?

I got some really lovely gifts for Christmas (thank you if you are reading this) and ate an obscene, but impressive and delicious, amount of food and drank vats of Baileys. I think it is definitely good I am back in the Netherlands though, not riding your bike for 4 weeks really impacts your fitness – currently nursing some slightly sore thighs after getting back on my bike and braving the cold Dutch weather.

I’m glad to be back in Utrecht (after a short detour via Brussels), although I am very set on things being different this semester because looking back towards the end of the semester campus got a bit claustrophobic, so definitely going to do more stuff of campus and travel a bit more. I think doing an off-campus course will really help with this, especially since it looks so interesting.

This week is going to be a busy one, but plenty to write about as it will be Spring introweek and I am parenting, get to take all the new first years under my wing!

The blessing of being homesick

This is a column I wrote for my international journalism class and will be published in the campus newspaper:

Having lived in the Netherlands for three months I expected to feel very settled, but the closer it gets to Christmas the more homesick I feel. Culture shock is said to go in phases, first the honeymoon period, then disintegration, re-integration, autonomy and independence. I am firmly stuck in the disintegration period at the moment.

Homesickness creeps up on you when you least expect it and about the weirdest things. Having lived away from home for three years now and not once getting homesick – it’s strange that I am suddenly afflicted with it. It’s not family I miss particularly, nor friends, it’s just that feeling of home.

It’s going to work and getting a Boots meal deal, it’s mince pies and brandy butter, it’s walking to university, it’s fish and chips and being constantly offered a ‘cuppa’. I’m not patriotic, I’m not particularly proud to be British but right now I have a yearning to be back with the familiar.

To hear British accents when I go outside and to understand what is being said in shops and on buses – to not feel like I only understand half of my surroundings. It’s the language barrier that makes the experience of living abroad so lonely. It’s not until you can’t do something that you realise how important it is – listening to grannies having a natter on the bus is one of those things. Knowing what to say in shops is so undervalued, I constantly have to pray they won’t ask if I want a receipt – however hard I try I cannot remember that vocabulary. I miss understanding everything and being understood and not feeling like people have to go out of their way to accommodate for me.

I love it here. It really is starting to feel like home, it’s not that I’m miserable. That’s the thing with homesickness, everything can be great but still you know something is missing. A nagging feeling reminding you that this isn’t home and that is what makes it so difficult. There is the desperate desire to seize every opportunity and make the most of the time you have. Realising sometimes you need to sit out and let yourself be homesick feels like a waste of valuable time – but what it does is makes you realise what you’ve got.

Feeling homesick is horrible – but it forces you appreciate everything just that little bit more and really that’s a blessing.

Sorry!

I haven’t blogged for so long – and I’m really sorry. I will hopefully try and catch up over Christmas. But I’ve just been so busy and really settling into day-to-day life, and everything feels normal now – there is much less ‘exciting’ stuff to write about, plus I have had a hideous amount of school work the second half of this semester. But I will do a quick run-down of stuff I have done since I last blogged which is ages!

• Dad came to visit at the end of mid-term break which I may have blogged about(?) – we went to the Heineken factory, and a speciality beer place in Utrecht that sells hundreds of vareities of beer – including one called Raging Bitch IPA which every time I go I ask for to no avail. (This was actually all before Prague, so I probably have written about it)
• Went to see Swan Lake at the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam which was really good even if we were in the cheap seats. In all honesty though I much prefer the Matthew Bourne interpretation, contemporary ballet is far more dynamic.
• Went to Eindhoven to a light festival – Eindhoven is the technology capital of the country so it made sense for this to be here. I took a few photos which I will post soon. But really incredible, a lot of it was done by arts and engineering students and included light shows projected on churches and houses and installations in trees. Really lovely way to see Eindhoven (even if it was dark) as it took you outside of the main city centre.
• Had lots of dinners with friends
• My Mum came to visit which was lovely and I should really do a full blog post on – but it mainly consisted of eating, drinking and wandering around somewhat aimlessly. We went to the Stedelijk contemporary art museum in Amsterdam which is fantastic and I can highly recommend – even if half the art work we could definitely do, but half the fun was laughing at the art and forming your own interpretations (us uncultured, what?). In Utrecht we went up to the top of the V&D which I will also post photos of and you get see all across the city – but still not as high up as the Dom.
• Saw the new Hunger Games film – it’s good, but didn’t wow me.
• Went to Den Haag (The Hague) for an afternoon to see Shirin Ebadi speak. She is an Iranian nobel peace prize winner and gave a fascinating talk on women and Islam and the incredibly false perceptions of Islam as anti-women. Plus The Hague is beautiful – definitely need to go back and spend more time there.
• Went on a pub crawl around Utrecht with some of the teachers and the dean – nice to get to speak to them outside of the classroom. The hangover the next day was not so nice – why is the beer here so strong? Also became convinced I could speak Dutch whilst drunk which resulted in me insisting on order fries in a mix of Dutch, German and English. Well done Emma.
• Celebrated Becca’s (one of the other Leed’s girls) 21st birthday!!!
• Got Sinterklaas presents!!! Yay, thank you Sint & Piet xoxoxo
• Got accepted to be introweek parents next semester – so I get my own family!!!

So that’s a quick update might post some photos and such soon, but for now back to essay writing – Rape as a weapon of war, cheery topic for a cold Tuesday afternoon!

The 1975 & International Journalism

A while back (4th October) I went to go see The 1975 in Utrecht and ended up reviewing it for my International Journalism course. I thought I would post it here as well, so here goes (apologies for the shocking headline). Many thanks to the very lovely Anna for buying these tickets and super sorry you couldn’t come – next time!

2.5 bottles of wine later: an incredible performance by The 1975

Emma Healey reviews the 1975 in Utrecht.

“I’m sorry I don’t speak Dutch. Please don’t see it as a reflection of my ignorance, see it as a reflection of your intelligence.” – Matt Healy

With a sold-out performance at TivoliVrendenburg as part of a world tour, it is clear that The 1975 have burst on to the music scene – a far cry from the years of rejection by numerous record companies, and even last year performing at the Camden Barfly. These years of hardship however have only served to improve them as a band and their time experimenting with different genres have left them with a sound that bridges the gap between pop-punk and indie- and electro-rock. A blend that situates them perfectly as a band for the millennials – but it is a testament to their talent that their appeal stretches beyond this. They have been well-received by music critics and their self-titled debut album reached number 1 on the UK albums chart.

As the latest export of Manchester’s music scene, The 1975 step in the footsteps of artists such as Oasis. Whilst they are an extremely talented foursome, it is clear that the androgynous, tattooed front-man Matt Healy is the shining star and heartthrob of the group. As the son of Denise Welch, Coronation Street and Waterloo Road, and Tim Healy, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, he is no stranger to the lime-light and from his performance it is clear that he thrives on the attention and the adoration of his (largely female) fan base. Whether he is dancing, smoking or drinking copious amounts of wine (a total of two and a half bottles during the two hour set), he is met with screams – something Healy hugely plays with in his interactions with the crowd.

Photo by me

At a sold-out gig consisting predominantly of well-established fans, the atmosphere was fantastic, particularly during their hits such as “Sex” and “Chocolate” which the crowd enthusiastically sung along to. The electricity during the better-known songs as well as the skill of the tech team succeeded in carrying this atmosphere through slower and less popular songs that otherwise could have fallen flat.

The lively atmosphere, charismatic performance and raw talent make The 1975 one to watch out for – if this performance was anything to go by, it shouldn’t be long before they are selling out stadiums.