Finallyyyyy

So I FINALLY freaking uploaded my vlog from Copenhagen... Only took me a month and a half -__-  I realize I'm really bad at filming in this video but I'm getting better! (I think...) Anyways, check it out if you'd like, not that I'm saying anyone really looks at this blog besides me hahaha

Sorry but I just HAD to post this. I saw it on Tumblr and it made me laugh so hard.

It's already been two weeks...?

Hellooooo! Or should I say goedenavond? It's already been two weeks since I've arrived in Maastricht; I can't believe it! These past two weeks have been very eventful, with trips and lectures and class and everything. The group I'm with in my program took five four-hour classes of Dutch Culture and Language... In such a short period of time, I went from knowing next to nothing about the language to knowing a lot! I'll put some stuff here that I learned!

• Hallo! Hi! (hello)
• Hoi hoi! (goodbye in dialect)
• 1-10: een, twee, drie, vier, vijf, zes, zeven, acht, negen, tien
• 11-20: elf, twaalf, dertien, viertien, vijftien, zestien, zeventien, achttien, negentien, twintig
• 21: eenentwintig (literally "one and twenty")
• Frietjes (fries) -- one of the most important things

I think I'll leave it at that for now. Anyways, I've learned a lot about the Netherlands in these past two weeks than I could ever have learned on my own. It's really nice to have a schedule and classes to learn about the country, even though sometimes we have to wake up so early.

The group I'm with is really cool! I haven't talked much with all of them yet, but from what I can tell, they're all pretty awesome. I have classes with a few of them and it feels good to be able walk into a class and know someone already. (Classes start in like a week but it's all goooood). I'm kind of looking forward to classes but the class system at the university I'm going to is different than what I'm used to. It's called problem-based learning, and the class sizes are waaay smaller than what is normal for me. I think there will be group projects and participation is a must, so hopefully there isn't a constant shouting of answers by other people so that the quieter people can get in a few participation points here and there (AKA me).

The food here is alrightttt, I cook more than I eat out, which is good! I'm saving money hehe. The fries here are pretty good. And stroopwafels and crumble vlaai and the Basilica bitterballen are so good... I could eat it all day every day. Hopefully orientation on Monday has the crumble vlaai because I have been craving it for the past few days! I had a Maastricht specialty a few days ago; it was meat and fries, but the meat was kind of sour since it was cooked with vinegar and something else that I can't remember. But it was pretty tender! Fries and mayo here are everywhere and that was a side dish that we got for dinner that day.

The weather here has been gloomy. It's been raining almost every day since I've been here... I think it should get better in a bit though! I'm so glad I brought my rainboots and my last-minute purchase of my rainproof thin jacket from Ross that has been keeping me pretty dry these past couple of weeks. Hopefully it stops raining and becomes summer again. I really want it to be warmer because I brought way more warm weather clothes than cold... Gahhh

Anyways, I'll probably have to end this here. These past two weeks have been really fun! I went to Aachen, Amsterdam, Delft, and Brussels! And my friends and I just booked an awesome trip for next week! I'll go into it some other time :) But for now I leave you with a group picture from when we went to Amsterdam last week!

Things I've Noticed In Europe

Europe is seriously amazing. I love it. Here are some of the things I've noticed in the past couple weeks that I've been here.

• EVERYONE is so nice. Whenever I ask them a question about directions or anything in general, they're always happy to help. Even when I don't ask about anything, they come up to me and ask if I need any help. On the train to Maastricht, people helped with my bags and it was really nice of them to do so!
• The roads here are not smooth at all. They're all kind of cobblestone-y, and I'm not really complaining because it's pretty cool since all we have back home is asphalt... But at the same time it's so difficult to roll suitcases. Also, some of the sidewalks here in Maastricht are slanted so it's kind of hard to walk. Well, for me at least.
• People smoke everywhere. I don't like it. ):
• The Netherlands is a very VERY green country. So pretty!
• Some things are more expensive than they should be... I'm gonna be broke when I get back home haha
• It's really hard to keep up a blog or travel journal ): I'm trying though! I'm catching up right now.
• A 9 hour time difference is ridiculoussss, I'm going to sleep at the same time my friends are waking up haha.
• Frietjes (fries) and vlaai (pie) all day every day.
• Everything is really old here. The oldest wall in the Netherlands is in Maastricht, and it's from about 1200... It's crazy!
• Everything in Europe is very close together. It's so easy to travel!
• Cars are small and bicycles are very prominent. I need to get one ughhh
• Maastricht is a good place to be if you want to travel to places! I've been to Belgium and Germany already and it doesn't take more than an hour or two.

I'll probably add more things when I've been here for a longer period of time. These are just some of my first impressions. I love it here! 

First Stop: Copenhagen!

Well it's been a while since my last post... But I am now in Europe! Copenhagen is amazing. :)

DAY 1 || Aug. 4th/5th, 2014:
I got on a plane from SFO to LHR (after sleeping for an hour and a half) and the flight was about 11 hours! I didn't get much sleep, just watched most of two movies (The Amazing Spider-Man and Billion Dollar Arm) and then I finally watched Divergent! (side note: Theo James as Four is hot, sorry Scott) All three movies were pretty good. The food was alright, not the best... But then again what can you expect from airplane food. I got this chicken pasta with warm salad and bread, and a brownie for dessert!

They came around again later with ice cream sandwiches which I would have gotten if it weren't for the fact that I got my period in the middle of the flight... -____- That sucked. And also I slept for maybe an hour and a half. Anyways, I got to London at about 7am and I got to Copenhagen at around 12pm. LHR is a little different than what I'm used to so I thought it was very weird. Eh, whatever, I could get used to it. I waited for my bags and after I got them, I waited for Michelle to land and get her bags. I finally found her after like 30 minutes and we exchanged some USD for DKK to get our train ticket. We took the M2 to Nørreport Station and went to Hotel Jorgensen. That was suchhhh a struggle. A nice lady named Marie helped Michelle with her bags while we tried to figure out where the hostel was. It took a while but we finally found it! We put our bags in our room and went out to explore a little bit. We went to the botanical garden (botanisk have) first and it was really nice, though I think I prefer the one back home haha. The botanical garden also had statues of Greek figures which was pretty cool.

After the botanical garden, we decided to just walk around for a bit, and we found the University of Copenhagen (Københavns Universitet)! From the outside I didn't really know it was a school because it was literally right next to the gardens but now that I think about it I guess it's not the main campus so... Whatever haha. We ended up having pizza for dinner which was alright, I miss the pizza back home now ): After dinner we went to visit Rosenborg Castle and Kongens Have, which is like a garden I guess. There were a lot of people there but it was soooo pretty.

We headed back to the hostel afterwards to get some much needed sleep! But then it was too hot and stuffy so I woke up earlier than I wanted. ):

DAY 2 || Aug. 6th, 2014

We got breakfast at Brioche Dorée at Torvehallerne, which is kind of like a marketplace where you can buy meat, something to eat, or even soaps! There's also fresh produce there, in addition to what I can only describe as permanent food trucks. We got a croissant, a sweet pastry with raisins that was pretty bomb, and a chocolate croissant! We got them for 45 DKK, which is like $8, so it wasn't too bad. 

We had a pretty big day ahead of us since we were gonna walk the whole time until the end. We started going through the park to go see Tivoli Garden. The park was really really nice, and it wasn't too big or too small so it was pretty perfect. It took a while to get to Tivoli, and we went on Hans Christian Andersen Blvd and saw his statue! There were so many people surrounding it trying to take a picture... I took mine from across the street haha. We finally made it to Tivoli and there was a long line to get in. We weren't planning on going in anyways but we just wanted to see what it looked like since it's the second oldest amusement park in the world! 

After seeing Tivoli, we made our way to Christianborg Palace. It was a pretty long walk and it was kind of hot and sunny so it took a little longer than it should have... Anyways, we passed this bridge with a really nice view and the national museum on our way to the palace. What I liked most about it was the garden and fountain in the back haha. 

We went to Nyhavn after seeing Christianborg Palace! It kind of reminded me of Fisherman's Wharf but with not as many attractions. We got a Danish hot dog from there that had pickles on the top with some crunchy onions or something. It was pretty good!

We walked around some more and went to the church that was really close. The church was a really nice church! We went to Amalienborg Palace after staying at the church for a little bit. The square was really big and I even saw some soldiers walking around! 

After that, we headed towards the little mermaid statue, or den lille havfrue. On the way there, we passed by a really cool fountain and church that were close to the statue. There was a crowd of people standing on the rocks in front of her but I managed to get a picture! One guy even climbed on top of her and put his arms around her and took a picture like that. He even took a selfie haha, it was the best part of the day.

We then took the bus back to the hostel to rest our tired bodies after a looong day of walking.

DAY 3 || Aug. 7th, 2014
Today we didn't really do much. We went to Christianshavn and the freetown of Christiania! We took the subway there and it was only two stops away and took maybe 10 minutes to get there. We walked around and went to the top of a church, called The Church of Our Savior. It was one of the coolest places I've been to. The organ on the wall was magnificent, so detailed and very very large haha. They also had organ music playing to set a mood I guess. There were also statues of angels and it was just amazing. Oh! And for 30 DKK (student prices) you can climb up the tower to see a view of Christianshavn and see Copenhagen from the top! We didn't do that until after we had lunch though.

Going to Christiania was an interesting experience... You couldn't take any pictures going through the Green Light District, but there were handmade bracelets, shoes, jewelry, and clothes that you could buy. I didn't get anything but it was pretty cool. There was a pretty intense mural on a side of a building:

After going to Christiania, we decided to grab some lunch and climb the tower. We stopped by a shwarma kind of place and I got a durum? I guess it's like a wrap, but it was pretty good!

After climbing the tower and walking around a little bit more, we headed back to the hostel and just relaxed and packed for the next day since we were flying to Amsterdam to head to my final destination for the next four months! But before that, I had to get some dinner. I got some pad thai from one of the permanent food trucks I mentioned earlier. It was waaaaay too expensive... It was equivalent to about $14 USD, which is ridiculous! But I guess it was alright as a last meal In Copenhagen haha.

Bye Copenhagen! Hello Maastricht :)