General catch-up

I haven’t blogged in a while mainly because I have had 2 pretty busy weeks, I hadn’t forgotten I promise! I think I’ll split it up into 2 blog posts just so there’s not too much to read.

I got my first journalism assignment back on Scottish Independence and got an A on it, so I’m very pleased with that – especially since it was so fun to write. The work is hard but I’m keeping on top of it (mostly) and doing reasonably well which I’m happy with. The past 2 weeks have been great as I’ve been interviewing people all over campus for my feature on campus life, which means I’ve met so many new people. Linguistics is still great fun and I’m loving it – I think if I had come here for my full degree it might have been an area I would have majored in, but I was instead destined for BA Politics (International). Sociology is still awful, this week my lecturer referred to women as “bitches”. Much misogyny, very objectification – on the bright side though it is super easy and I managed to get an A on my first essay by recycling previous modules. Plus I would like to thank my political theory lecturers for their very detailed powerpoints on Marx that mean I basically need to do no work for it. We’ve finally moved on from the holocaust in my violence, trauma and memory class, which is an anthropology module on genocide – super interesting but a very depressing topic for a hungover Friday morning.

The horrific hangovers have returned, but I am attributing them to my British nationality and blame that entirely for my alcohol consumption – “I can’t help it, it’s my culture.”

Last Tuesday (23/9) my lovely housemate from last year, Emily, was in Amsterdam so I popped over for the afternoon after class to see her. We spent a lot of time walking around Amsterdam, which is great because it now means there are plenty of places I can find my way to – mainly hugely touristy places though, but soon I’ll learn all the local spots. It’s definitely much nicer on a week day. It was one of the last days of nice weather, although I definitely wore too many layers. We went on a long hunt for warm stroopwafel which we eventually found in the museum square, but they were disappointingly below average – but still super tasty! We spent a lot of time sat by the I am amsterdam (Iamsterdam) sign outside the Rijksmuseum just people-watching and trying to avoid getting splashed by the dogs playing in the fountain. It made me think of Oliver, my little puppy dog. We went to find a restuarant for dinner, but food is so extortionately priced here. We did eventually find somewhere within our price budget though. Whilst we were waiting though a Dutch man behind us asked if we were waiting to be seated, and I replied yes, you know as you do – then he shouted at me for not calling him Sir. Just kept repeating “Sir…Sir…Sir” – the rudeness of it, I’m genuinely still in shock. I am not calling you sir, you are not my teacher. I am not your subordinate. Nope. The audacity of it.

Honden in die fontein

Top tip for travelling/biking in the Netherlands: Always remember where you’ve parked your bike, especially if you will be going back to it in the dark when your phone will have run out of battery for light. I didn’t. I left it at Utrecht Centraal station, which for reference easily has over 1000 bikes there and only vaguely remembered where, so spent 20 minutes searching for it in the dark. Not my finest moment.

An old picture – maar hier is mijn fiets

On the Wednesday, so the day after, I went to my friend’s birthday party in her unit which was super lovely – very “gezellig”. Everyone else’s living rooms are so pretty but ours is still quite boring, and messy as we have absolutely no storage space at all…

I have now got plans for fall break as well, Maurits and I will be joining the TripCo hitch-hike to Zaragoza in Spain which I am very excited for. I think we will also stay in Brussels for a few days after.

Dining hall food is still bad.

Sometimes I trick people in shops into thinking I speak Dutch, mainly by not saying anything, until they ask if I want a receipt or something gift wrapped and can’t understand them.

x