-- Got a new pair of shoes: spiffy-looking, super-comfortable black ankle-high boots ( Read more... )

Been back and forth between here and Leiden several times in the past few days for various orientation sessions, all of which went really well. :) There are about 15 international MA students, two of whom are also following the Mesoamerican specialization. Ten or so Dutch students are also doing Mesoamerica, but I haven't met them yet. So far, the ( Read more... )

I just got my maandnetkaart, which allows me to ride the train anywhere I want within the Netherlands, and have been making good use of it these past few days. :) On Friday, I took a quick trip to Amsterdam to pick up a document that Rick needed. It was pouring down rain, and despite my lovely Dutch raincoat, I was soaked. Of course, I milked this ( Read more... )

Just got back from biking to the ATM and the grocery store in the rain. On the way there, some asshole kid on a brommer (something like a moped, I think) came roaring at me, purposely steered into a puddle, and splashed me from head to toe with dirty water before laughing and zooming off in a cloud of exhaust. I let out a string of expletives and ( Read more... )

Haven't updated in a while since I've been superduper busy, but I plan on making at least the first part of today a Lazy Day, meaning I will hang around the house reading, eating cookies, and watching movies. Dark, rainy days always put me in this sort of mood-- too bad I actually have to go to the bank and the store in a little while ( Read more... )

Rick and I are leaving tomorrow evening to go to Cologne/Keulen/Köln, in Germany, to visit Eef. She's back there wrapping up some things for a study she did there over the past 6 months or so, and we thought it'd be fun to meet her there for the weekend and do some sight-seeing. I've always wanted to see the cathedral there, and I just think it ( Read more... )

I've been getting lots of good Dutch practice these past few days, thanks to Popweekend here in Schagen. Pretty much everyone in the entire town (and all the smaller towns in this part of North Holland, too!) showed up for the festivities, from tiny kids all the way to elderly people with canes and walkers. Two stages were set up at opposite ends ( Read more... )

Oh my god, I am going back to Texas right now! I cannot handle all the freaking spiders in this country! I've seen about a bazillion times more here than I ever saw back in Texas, and Rick's attempts to make me feel better ("at least as far as I know, none of them are poisonous") are not helping ( Read more... )

I haven't updated for a while, as I've been outside taking full advantage of these relatively rain-free days lately. It's only just now starting to feel like summer around here (and a very mild summer at that!), and I didn't feel like wasting the sunshine by sitting in front of the computer all day ( Read more... )

A couple of weeks ago, my mom sent me a package full of goodies from the US. In addition to a couple of my pie pans (I had been complaining that I couldn't find the proper kind here for making American-style pies), a bag of chocolate chips for making cookies, and some assorted candy, the packaged contained my prescription refills. I'm still covered ( Read more... )