Ok so I know its lame but after all the changing places and buying new things and adjusting to new languages, people, responsibilites and timetables its nice to actually be into the second week where things should be relatively the same!
Day 57 - Nerd alert!
Monday: same history class, a spot of study in the reading room (home to the a mouse apparently!), signed up to be part of the uni magazine and yearbook committee (could that sound more geeky?!) and then cycled a new (and thankfully easier way) home to cook stir fry for my Asian housemate :P
Day 58 - Nana nap
Tuesday: admittedly dozed off momentarily in an 8.30am lecture (held in a beautiful old church-style room), later watched Moulin Rouge for another lecture, dinner that night with two Dutch girls and a German girl I met during orientation (Iris, Celine and Nele) at Celine's. Each week we'll be rotating dinner at one of our houses to try and stay in touch ... and improve my Dutch hopefully. Iris informed me very politely that my accent is "geting better..." lol
Day 59 - Friendly face
Wednesday: day off from classes, joined the uni gym (now I just have to start going!), met up with Auntie Leonie who was in town post Uncle Pete's birthday celebrations in London and Sufi celebrations in northern Netherlands. Was so weird to see her, all the way on this side of the world, but just like Mum it also seemed like no different to catching up at home. Gave her the usual tour before we sat down to dinner. When I decided this was an ideal time to bust out my Dutch and ask the waitress "spreek je engels" she looked at my blankly, actually uttered some sort of "HUH?", then it dawned on her what I was trying to say... "oooooh" and she left, returning a moment later with two English menus. Success ...?!
Day 60 - Thursday: finally got my Dutch bank account card and PIN, second Dutch lesson that night. Far less daunting than the first but still don't know what the teacher is talking about (more than) half the time. Learned some invaluable pronunciation tips though (would you believe "ee" is meant to sound like "ay" and "ui" is meant to sound like "owh"?!?!? Each thursday night I go straight home to do my Dutch homework before everything we've learned leaks out of my brain onto my pillow!
Day 61 - Time flies
Friday: honestly this week flew. Back to the food markets for Tess and my weekly shopping effort, also picked up a random selection of Dutch licorice (some sweet, some salty, some weird ... but mostly tasty) to try more than just the little "chalk" ones. Its all super popular here and there are more varieties than you can comprehend. Good thing they all come in different shapes and sizes to tell them apart. After another cool poetry class (I'm actually starting to understand some of the more abstract ones) it was off home to cook dinner for Nakita and two Scottish girls, Katie and Kathleen. Round the (tiny) kitchen table we made our travel plans for this period. Next weekend its Belgium and about a month later we're off to Berlin!
Observations: Have been having the most bizarre, unsettling dreams and awful sleep the past couple of weeks. Dreamt Dad had cancer, Brett practically dumped me at a family wedding and I got accused of being a terrorist!! Perhaps Mum was right about the Feng Shui in my room! Also starting to get writers cramp, haven't taken this many notes in LONGHAND for years. And I'm freaking out about exams already because I haven't done one in like four years.
Mistakes: Chicken going off because of the lack of freezer ... seriously contemplating buying a second hand one.
Mini victories: Scoring a 40 euro return trip to Berlin! Discovering there is a facebook group just for people living in our guesthouse.
Dutch I've learned: "Ik kom uit Australisch" = "I come from Australia" (haven't learned how to say land down under yet :P)
"Dat klopt" = "that's right" (don't hear this one directed my way much in Dutch class yet!"
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