Category: uncategorized

date: 1098132777

mood: happy
listening to:

wow, so many things happened in the past weekend (and not the week). let me attempt to piece them together:

the last thing from the disease that i have, is this horrible, horrible cough, and im sniffling a bit, but i’m actually finally feeling BETTER. today was day one without any painkillers! it is scary – i was sick for basically almost 2 weeks (if you don’t count coughing right now as being sick), to the point where i couldn’t function properly. kinda sucks, missed basically 2 weeks of stuffs. however, the good thing is that i bonded closer with everyone, cause its like … you know, people become closer when they are sick.

anyway. exciting stuff!
friday, despite feeling better, i stayed home in the evening, as i still felt worried that i would be sick. however, the more important thing is that instead of staying online for 5-6-7 hours like i did for the past few weeks, i left pretty much right after my philosophy class (i really will be glad when the course is over – it is interesting, but honestly, i find it way too difficult. i don’t see the point of people being so … smart. i mean, it is great, interesting, but when i’m graded for it – yuck! i think this applies to many things. hmm… maybe i should CONTEMPLATE that! */sarcasm*) to finally talk to the russian prof that i think i’ve mentioned before.

so here’s the deal. i am 100% sure that the credits that i will get for ANY of the courses that i am currently taking or will take here will be completely, totally, useless. like, 0 use. none. because philosophy, is well, philosophy, languages will not count towards my degree at ALL (like, i’m not even getting an abstract credit for them), psychology is one level below what i need (i made sure with the prof here and the prof in toronto – i stand no chance), and i highly doubt that “european miracle” or “the presence of art” qualify as courses relevant to my degrees.
therefore, in no fear to load on more work, i seeked out a russian prof here, who apparently does research in machine learning. we set out to meet – 2 weeks ago – but i was sick.

so, on friday, after a 2 week delay (with explanation of course, but i was not surprised to find out he was skeptic), i went to his office. i will be assisting him on a project! it involves decision trees, programming in java, and “Version-Space Support Vector Machines”. which tells you nothing, but honestly, i ain’t going to try and explain it here. i am extremely enthusiastic about it – i’d rather work on that or any of my other courses, and the fact that it is actually highly and perfectly relevant to what i study is just a great bonus on top of the fact that it is INTERESTING.

anyway, after talking to him, getting a lot of cool stuff to read, i went out into – the pouring rain.

yes, netherlands is finally showing its real face. i forgot the umbrella at home (you kidding me? it hasn’t rained once in the week i stayed home! the week before that i don’t remember, but MAYBE it was once or twice…), and being the genius that i am, didn’t have a jacket with a hood.

so i set out to search for a store with a cheap umbrella. instead i have found that:
-> rain didn’t stop
-> a great truck with some vietnamese snacks which was DELICIOUS – 1.50 for two crunchy rolls with sweet sauce, and very hot, perfect for this weather.
-> a store with an expensive umbrella (12 euros), and a 12 year old golden retriever who was SO friendly
-> a store with a LOT of cheap stuff and no umbrellas (as i found out after bringing 6 euros worth of stuff to the counter, talk about shopping by proxy: i FINALLY got 2 cheap kitchen knifes for our kitchen, which aren’t falling apart. of course it is a matter of time before they do, considering the fact that we only have 4 knifes for 11 people… and we all cook things that, surprise surprise, require cutting. not sure what the guesthouse was thinking on this one…, also some hooks for the wall, as well as a cup for my pens/pencils (30 cents, yeah!), and some socks. socks are always useful.)

after visiting the last store i realized that it is pointless for me to try and find a store with an umbrella as i don’t see any more stores – only bars which i didn’t really want to sit in alone, even to drink tea. therefore, since i didn’t want to get sick, i treated myself to a cab ride home – except, the treat turned out to be very reasonable and pretty much as expensive as the bus, and DEFINITELY worth it, considering i am still .. sick … ish.

after coming home, i did a bunch of reading (of interesting materials that i quickly downloaded after the class), and basically stayed home, as i said before. i think i cooked – and i think it was GREAT. yes, i am now a fantastic cook. everybody says so. and i’m not even sure WHY, but … it works.

saturday i woke up way too late for my own good, vaguely attempted to study for most the day, did laundry (that is an exciting event with a rare rate of occurrence: this time it was blacks and blues which transferred into blacks and dark colors. i bought detergent, as the free one that comes with the coin that you get at the guesthouse has bleach sparkles in it and i kind of prefer my black clothes to stay black). i also used the FREE dried to dry my bed sheets and towels – the experiment succeeded and nothing broke. i am very happy.

saturday evening i hung around being very unproductive (more reading of slashdot, watching tv, eating unhealthy snacks), until my unproductivity reached critical point and i had to do something SO unproductive that it would become productive – in this case, it was going out dancing! i went with francesca, sandra (the spanish girl) and chris. it was exciting, in the sense that i haven’t went out in about forever (2 weeks seems like that here), and that i felt up to the task of going out. we left around 12:30-1, went to twee haren where we had 2 beers (we walked there, it was easy: and yes, i wore 5 layers of clothes, with 2 of them being sweaters, 1 being a thing sweater, one a shirt, and the last one a nice jacket. i looked like a snowman, but seriously, i could care less, i’d rather be healthy), then to de allah, where i sacrificed a euro for the sake of putting all my layers (almost all, except the thing sweater) int he upstairs wardrobe. we danced for about 2 hours – the music became very … bad … here nowadays. very rarely there is a song that i REALLY like, and usually it is stuff that is too cheesy for my taste. next time we’ll try something else.

anyway, we left around 3-3:30, and again there was a line up to get in. it feels SO nice to leave a club and see this crowd of people trying to get in… you feel like … you are elite (1337) for some reason.

anyway. took a cab home – 7-8 euros, we took it from a further point. chris and i were for taking a cab home, francesca and sandra really wanted to stay for more dancing, but i just said “you can stay, but i must go because i am tired and don’t want to feel sick”, chris agreed with me, and they just kinda tagged along. for 2e/person, it is really very nice to have a quick ride home… it is like a beer, and saves so much cold after leaving the club!

came home, fell asleep.

sunday: woke up early, around 10-11. why? because sunday i planned to go with mirjam to liege to do some shopping in the market there!

woke up, had quick breakfast, took the bus to the train station. met mirjam there – her and her estonian friend also came along. we went to liege (7 euros return!). walked around the city until we found the place where the market USED to be – i asked a woman (oh! oh! it is BELGIUM! so it is in french! so i spoke french and EVEN got to assist/correct her friend in french cause i speak better! it is so exciting – english, russian, french, i feel very … much as an exchange students) when did it close, she said it closes at 1 on sundays and it starts at 8am.

supposedly the market is VERY cheap, so next sunday mirjam and i planned to go there again.

after walking some more, and finding everything but bars which were too expensive food wise closed, her friend had some french fries (which were tolerably okay, not great) and i had a tea (LIPTON!) before we jetted back to the train station to make the next train to maastricht. we made it, even with the fact that we stopped in the only convenience store that i saw open on the way, where i found the holy grail of them all:

a 100 bag box of lipton. i bought that, a box of matches (for my mom), and two bars of belium chocolate (which are great by the way – i am quietly eating away at them over the past day).

the trains are great. remind me of russia. the sound, the fact we ate peanuts and drank juice on the way to liege was awesome, like in russia, when you board and pretty much right away start eating…

liege gave me the impression of being dirty, high in crime. it was raining, cloudy, and despite a HUGE carnival on the main road, 5 steps to the side and i didn’t feel comfortable (not unsafe, just uncomfortable). shoes are nice.

so, checkmarks next to france and belgium.

after arriving home, thomas picked me up (wohoo! i still don’t have a bike, and couldn’t buy one at the train station as the guy wasn’t there), drove me home. mirjam’s friend went to den hague, where she studies, and mirjam went home as well. i will see her again on tuesday after my french class.

at home, i studied for a bit, again read more fun stuff. then went to have dinner with francesca, julien, simon and nicolas at the C building (building next to ours, also part of guesthouse). nicolas cooked real italian pasta with some interesting tomato based sauce. i brought grapes for desert, simon brought wine, francesca brought some pasta, not sure what julien brought… anyway, it was fun. the floor is very italian. out of 16 people 10 are italian… heh. jennifer, the scottish girl who i am going to rome with (did i mention she is cool? she is COOL!) also lives there – she laughs about “what were they thinking when doing the placement!”.

italians really DO talk with their hands. hehe.

came home and pretty much right away went out with simon, andy (american) and … another guy whos name i can’t remember and who is german. they are part of simon’s study group. we just went to a nearby pub for a beer – so came home in an hour, around 12:30. ended up standing outside and just chatting for about 15 more minutes – great people, but the american swears a lot!

came home, watched tv for a while, then went to sleep.

monday!

woke up early. studied philosophy (arendt, labour, work and action), and chinese (for a little bit) for the whole day. took a shower and ran to class.

ah, but i missed a very important part. i am going to switzerland! (very likely) this week! thursday to sunday (or monday). with simon. he is going there to see his girlfriend, i am going there at the great chance to see the alps, bern, and generally surrounding areas. wooohoo!

and next month i’m going to rome.

all i have to do is organize a trip to germany and denmark and i would have covered everything! of course the more the merrier, but … still, i feelt very happy, i made friends, i am/have travelled, i am studying okay, my language courses are fun, i haven’t died of hunger or eating junk food yet, my room is cosy and clean… you know. i can survive in a new country where i don’t know anyone. it feels like a nice accomplishment.

and finally.
quotes from chinese class:

“next class i will teach you how to send a package. of course almost nowadays no one mails letters anymore, but pakcages are useful. bombs for example!” *astonished silence from the class*

“i have a hard time buying pants here but an easy time buying pants in hong kong, because here they are always too long”

that’s it. no photos, this time around. no emails either – sawwy, when stuff happens i dont have the time and when stuff doesn’t happen i just want to vegetate. at least ya’ll getting a comprehensive update ;)

plans for this week:
tuesday: philosophy x 2, say i’m gone friday, french (yikes, i missed 2 classes in a row), mirjam dinner.
wednesday: psychology. say i’m gone friday.
thursday: 8-9 hour train ride (homework time), swizterland
friday, saturday: yay, swiss alps
sunday/monday: ride back

and next monday is a week from now so i don’t know what will happen.

YAY for being healthy(er)!

date: 1095082628

mood:
listening to:

i wrote this before i got internet. this starts off where i left off last time – friday evening.

—
18:40 – going home

so, we left off at me leaving the common room/building.

well, not all things are as easy as they seem. after deciding to leave, i realize that my card doesn’t open the locked door (for some reason unknown to me), and that the last people just left the building about 20 minutes ago (the student committee that takes care of events and books and such – i got my books from them with a discount by buying a 10 euro membership card. over the 2 semesters i will definitely save money, as they have 10% off books, and my two books already saved me 8 euros). i email my parents that, hmm, i seem to be stuck, but i hope it will be okay. pack up my laptop, my stuff, and go to try the door again.

the door with the card doesn’t work, however the other door, larger front door entrance which doesn’t have the card, opens easily.

i go outside, take a breath, think, “how nice that i am free”. out of interest i try the larger door, and it opens. i think “hmm, i should go to the washroom before i bike home, i mean, the door is open so why not”. i open the front door, go to the washroom, walk back and open… hmm… well, nope. the front door doesn’t open. at all.

oh man.

so, i am alone, in the school building, on friday at 6:30 in the afternoon, when there is NO one else in the building, it is already locked (so my best bet is security coming at 11, but that’s a bit far away), and no one will visit until monday morning (with the hopeful exception of security guard).

i mildly panic.

i try opening the card door again. no luck.
i try opening the front door with pushing the sliding thing, trying various buttons on the walls, simply pulling on it reaaaaally hard. no luck.

i look above me, and see fire exit signs, but they point to these two doors. but i hope at this point that the building has another fire exit. i walk around, find a classroom on the ground floor (find is a big word for me opening the doors to the only 2 classrooms they have on the ground floor – pics coming up soon, diny), open the door and walk out the back.

pheww.

now, good thing: no alarm started ringing. i really expected it to start, because the other two doors have fire alarm handles encased in class, so i expect that if you break it the alarm sounds, which would make sense. but nothing rang.
i also had to walk a bit more, because my bike is on the other side of the building. but i think it was worth it, just to feel okay at being outside. hehehe.

i biked home, realized i don’t feel so well, so i just kind of sat in my room for most of the evening. i believe francesca made some spaghetti with some kind of special sauce, but i don’t remember the name, nor anything else. the rest of the evening was kind of blurry, i was tired and didn’t really feel like doing anything.

later on, closer to 10, the floor became alive, because the P building had a party that was permitted by the guesthouse. they all decided to go, and take my bottle of wine. however, to take my bottle of wine, they had to take me, therefore they persuaded me to go as well.

very reluctantly, i dressed (baggy black pants ala hesi, black sleeveless shirt, pink jacket, running shoes), we went to the entrance of the main building (which is connected to P, C and B buildings). there i sat on the little stone fence, waiting for the others to figure out whats happening. turns out the party isn’t happening, but they still want to go out.

at this point, i’m like “okay, fine, i dressed and everything, might as well walk”, especially and particularly due to the fact that we were walking to the bar which was about 5 minutes from our building.

—
12:00 – the bar

the bar is called highlander, and its a medium sized bar, with a pool table, a round bar stand, some interesting decorations on the ceiling (the photograph is courtesy of francesca’s camera phone… i sent the photos via infrared to my laptop. w00t!), fairly cheap beer (1.50 for beer of the week, 1.70 for heinken, which is what most people drink).

pretty much right after getting there i realize that i have lost my new cellphone.
i mildly freak out. tell simon and francesca (who were with me at the point) that i lost my cellphone.
we look around the bar on the floor, which is wildly unsuccessful, as the floor is literally foot-to-foot is full of people.

we decide to quickly walk back to the rez and see perhaps i left it at home or lost it when i sat down on the lawn. (i was fairly sure it was the 2nd situation, so i wasn’t that worried, but nevertheless…). we walk home, not finding it, i go upstairs, look in my room, chris hears the noise and pops out into the hall asking whats up. i say i lost my cellphone, he offers to use his to call mine, i give him the number, he starts dialing and the elevator doors open as simon and francesca come in with my found cellphone! we all decide to bike back to the bar, and chris joins us this time around. (photo courtesy francesca who i suppose took it right after finding it)

we bike to the bar, each one our own bike.

afterwards, i was fairly bored at the bar, however ending up not spending anything on drinks as i am sick. therefore i only had maybe half a beer, but its good, i didn’t feel like drinking in the first place.

the time we spent there wasn’t nearly all that exciting, i hung out with people who played pool, took 2-3 miserable shots, then hung out with other people who were standing next to the bar stand (chris and simon, and later sandra, francesca and julien). it wasn’t all that exciting.

until…

i hear some noise next to the door.
people are taking ceiling lights (like, soft chandeliers type of things on long strings) and aiming them towards someone.
i stretch my neck and see a female cop.

undressing.

yeaah.
here’s the rated x part.
for the next 15 minutes the music was played of some sort striptease type (“let me see you strip” by rob zombie, among others). the cop was blond, and underneath the fairly elaborate uniform that the guy for whom she was doing the striptease, she had white various clothes.

pretty much all of them save for a tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii ny piece of clothing in the lower area was taken off during these 15 minutes.

i am not sure how many details i should even be divulging here, but it was fairly hilarious for me, as it was the first time i have seen a striptease. it was hilarious to see everyone around us (me and sandra, she was standing next to me and we were exchanging jokes about the event) going CRAZY, especially guys, and how everyone were trying to stretch out their necks.

the various props that were used included whipped cream, hand cream, various articles of clothing tying eyes/hands, and an american (??!?) flag behind which the guy took off her underwear (to reveal another, smaller, pair, hah).

there was also a HUGE bodyguard present, who looked fairly threatening and prevented people from coming inside. what was funny is that in this case the people were francesca and julien who went outside for a moment, right before this began. so when he DID let them in, it was like right in the middle, and you should have SEEN francesca’s face as she walks in and there’s this nearly naked woman shaking her goods right in francesca’s face.

afterwards, it was around 2:30am, and the bar began clothing. we all were shuffled outside, where we decided to go to a dance club.

and, then, it started to rain.

so we are standing outside, it is 2:45 or so, when we decided to go to the bar, and it literally started to poor (to use the russian expression, like from a bucket). we all became soaking wet with in seconds.

i am happy i had my jacket! this was the first rain that we have gotten in the past week. i believe we are very lucky, as even now, 2 days later, it is still sunny!

anyway.

obviously the bar was canceled as we are all sick. we bike home, some of us running, some of us sitting on backs of others bikes, and some just biking (like me).

i just now realized i’m overlapping what i had written later, so please pardon the repetition and continue reading.

—
05:10 – after the bar

i am writing the ending of this day without writing the beginning, since i am too tired to write more, but i wish to write at least the end when i am full of energy.

after leaving the bar, we went to our bikes and were discussing whether we will go to another bar (with more music, and still open), and who will go, when it started to really, really, REALLY rain.

i mean, it was POURING down.

you got soaked within 1 minute, flat.

this was the first rain i have seen in a week – it was fun but now i am worried i will miss the sun quite a bit when it begins to rain here. it was fantastic to have this wonderfully warm weather. (supposed to be 29 tomorrow and sunny, yay).

anyway… bar was canceled, since all of us were soaked (as it started to rain when we were outside). so we all biked home, as fast as we could. fabio and jerome ran, and the rest shared a bike or biked on their own (i biked on my own).

we all got absolutely wet during the ride, parked our bikes and went upstairs.

i changed into dry clothes, hung up mine to dry, and went outside to get one of my bananas. within about 5 minutes there is an influx of about 20 people, none of whom i know. i am not sure what nationality they were, but i believe they were accidentally invited by francesca.

they hung out (and annoyed me a bit to be honest) for about 15 minutes, after which the security guard came, and said that this is the 2nd complaint of the night, and the people who are not sleeping on this floor (how very delicately phrased!) should leave. almost everyone left right away, with the exception of about 5 people.

for the next 2 hours, we sat in the dining room, eating peanuts (courtesy me), and bread with nutella (EVERYONE eats nutella ALL the time, and we even have an expression now, “nutella party”, because its like 3 times a day, people eat nutella, all together), and playing guitar. it was absolutely awesome: because the italian people (who were singing), *absolutely* cannot understand the english lyrics of MANY modern songs, so it was sooo funny to listen to them mumble something along hte lines of what is actually being sung. sooo cute!

one of the highlights of the evening was the song “wish you were here” by pink floyd. i amazed myself, and i think others, but knowing all the lyrics. god, its a fantastic song. played by fabio:

so, do you think you can tell, heaven from hell…

anyway… people were slowly leaving, some to their own building, some to their own bed, and i believe, some to NOT their own bed. around 4:50 there were only 4 people left, simon, fabio, myself, and another italian guy whos name i dont know (but he’s from a different group of those that i met on my first nights here), but who knows guitar/music at least fairly well.

i sat there becoming more asleep by the second, and eventually gave up and went to bed – well, now, it’ll be bed, but that’s all for tonight.

what an exciting day!! and tomorrow, i sleep as much as i want. woohoo!

date: 1093633128

mood: scared
listening to:

with (too) many stories.

it is very scary to be alone.

i had adventures, but internet is too expensive. i’ll report the extremely long version when i have laptop (right now this is internet cafe).

i miss you all! (i really, REALLY do)

date: 1087788161

mood:
listening to:

http://antwrp.gsfc.n…v/apod/ap040620.html
http://scarf.modblog…gview&blog_id=201252

date: 1083913950

mood: http://www.parlux.com/notes-opac-w.htm
listening to:

okay so its fairly late but i FEEL that i’m getting better. today was so bad – i woke up totally hurting from the teeth and most of the day (up until 8pm or so) i felt like … Shit. you know. so bad, coudln’t get up, could barely move, weak etc.

anyway, around 8 i got some energy, then around 11 i felt like dying again (relaly really bad wave of feeling horrible) and around 1 i felt starving.

went upstairs to make scrambled eggs but all was asleep, so i was like … “nah, i’m not gonna put the effort into it now” i stole this pudding like thing my mom made for me. it came in perfectly useful for the moment – no effort and its sweet and non-chew-required-ab le.

anyway, i feel better. and i foud this perfume that makes me Happy. it was just lying on the kitchen counter and i totally love the smell. i wanna get it! and its the first perfume that makes me feel that way.

exceeept… no clue where to find it!

anyway, i’m done and out. i feel less painful yay!

date: 1081966648

mood: chuffed
listening to:dire straits – walk of life

i just GOTTA share.
all the ingridents are fairly arbitrary size wise..

a handful of LARGE shrimp, deshelled/detailed, precooked but frozen (you know just from the bag). wash in hot water to get ice off.

sauce: 5 small cloves garlic, 2 tbpspoons extra virgin olive oil (!! v important that its extra virgin olive oil, substitute butter otherwise), and a tiiiny bit of butter (like … 1/3 a thin slice), a handful total of basil and parsley

cut all the sauce ingridents that can be but to tiny pieces (or … mince but i dont know how to do that)

throw butter and oil onto pan, high 30 seconds or until butter isn’t white anymore

reduce to medium, throw shrimp and sauce ingridents

for about 4-6 minutes … just let them sit.. turn over from tiem to time. its relaxing ;)

afterwards take lightly toasted bread (lightish), cover with mayo, slice tomatoes, slice avocado, add lettuce, add shrimp, add the other piece with more mayo/lettuce/whatever else you want.

i ended up eating half of it just mixing the ingridients along the way because they are SO DAMN GOOD TOGETHER.

like, amazing.

back to study. yay i started so its all good ;)

date: 1080368436

mood: relaxed
listening to:

2 slices multigrain white bread, toasted
1 Tbsp. MIRACLE WHIP Dressing mayo
1 tsp. chopped fresh basil
1 romaine lettuce leaf heapful of mixed greens
5 slices OSCAR MAYER Deli Style Smoked russian Ham
2 thin peeled avocado slices
1 tomato slice
SPREAD toast slices with dressing; sprinkle with basil.
TOP 1 of the toast slices with lettuce, ham, avocado and tomato; cover with remaining toast slice.

i pulled an all nighter last night, then i slept for roughly an hour during my break, then i had half a boring class, then i came home, i walked around ate fantastic fish, fell asleep and slept until 10ish, woke up, did more stuff on the computer, had the abovementioned FANTASTIC sandwich, aaand that’s it. so calm and peaceful.

and the sandwich is amazing i’m so making that again tomorrow. avocado is the BESTEST thing evah.

oh and i want more cookies. =)

date: 1078856388

mood: thoughtful
listening to:lovers in a dangerous time [radio, no idea who sings this]

i had a horrible headache all day yesteday.
its better now.
i’m good. great, even. just weird. =)

doing assignments when headache not killing. 240, and such.

date: 1075673504

mood: studious
listening to:patricia kaas – mon mec a moi

sarah came over this weekend. robert me and her went out for coffee, after a brief photoshoot (2 hours) of sarah by me. there’s some neat stuff, i might post.

the picture of the month of january is:

i’m doing reading.

date: 1073628314

mood:
listening to:

1 bottle and im buzzed.

met hesi in pub, we talked, it was nice although too loud for talking at times. therefore the smirnoff.

at 6:15 i realized i have a 6-9 class today.

my dog doesn’t have a hot spot, she has histiocytoma – http://www.vetinfo.com/dhistio.html
blah. vet said not to worry so far.

my classes are fun. i like all of them. no more math! even if they are hard and info overloading at least they are fun.