It is times like this when I wish that I did not have two roommates from warm-climate southern Europe countries. Though I'm starting to think it is mainly Sara that is the problem.
It drives me absolutely insane when I walk into the kitchen and the window is open and the heater is on. Okay, I may not have grown up conserving water like it's a precious material like these two have, but this heat thing drives me insane. I can't tell you how many times I've been yelled at by my father throughout my life for "letting the heat out" by standing around with the door open when the heat is on. Yes, maybe we do get charged a flat unchanging rate for utilities every month, but that doesn't mean we should turn the heat on and open the window. I don't really understand it. Why even do that? If it's too hot, turn off the heater. If it's too cold, close the window. If it's still too cold after you close the window, then I guess it's okay to turn the heat on. Sara opens the balcony door, and then she decides it's a bit cold so she turns on the heat. Then if it's still too cold, she closes the door. This is so backwards to me. Can't we close the door first? And then wait half an hour? And then if you're really that cold put on a sweatshirt? And then if you're still too cold, maybe we can turn on the heater? I guess logically if I have such a problem with it, I should talk to her about it. Why can't that be common sense though? Right, because where she is from in Italy, winter is 65 degrees and she isn't used to having to deal with this kind of coldness. Whatever.
I have taken two of my written exams, and I did my Dutch oral exam. Got a 7 on the Dutch exam (disappointed in myself for that one) but I won't know the results of my written exams for a few weeks, I guess. In the meantime, I have another exam tomorrow, and the last one on Friday. Then there are also the assignments that count as exam scores. The oral presentations one I already did, and received an 8. Turned in a logbook for "Introduction to Dutch Culture and Society" that one took barely any effort. It won't matter too much either, the grade is pass/fail and it is only one credit. The biggest worries are Cultural Theory & Pop Culture, and Research Skills. An essay and a research paper. I don't want to have to resit a bunch of my first term exams. That would really not be cool.
Roommates. Drive me nuts. Ahhhh!
2012-10-30
To Whom It May Concern:
You can now comment on my blog without signing in, as an "anonymous user".
Also, I have discovered that I have control over whether or not you have to prove you are human. You no longer need to do that.
Also, I have discovered that I have control over whether or not you have to prove you are human. You no longer need to do that.
2012-10-26
Update: Friday 26 Oct
I'm having fun experimenting with food.
Wednesday, after spending a long day in Amsterdam with Jenn, I came home, threw a few things in a pot, and sat around the kitchen resting my tired feet until I decided food was ready. What did I throw in the pot? Well I've been wanting beef stew but I don't even care if it has beef in it. My favorite part is delicious squishy carrots and thick soup anyway. So I chopped some celery nice and small (I dislike celery, but I am willing to admit that it lends nice flavors when cooked), diced an onion and quartered a few mushrooms. Fried them in olive oil for just a few minutes and then added water, carrots, potatoes, beef bouillon, parsley and pepper. Boiled that for a while until the carrots started getting soft, and then threw in some rice. Rice and potatoes for thickness. I have no flour. I succeeded, it was nice and thick. And so delicious. I felt so proud (next time I'll put in more carrots though).
Then there was today's success.
This was actually the second pizza I made (it's a pizza, in case you couldn't tell). The first one was eaten. By me. I really wanted pizza, I hadn't had pizza in quite a while and it just sounded good. So I went to the store and bought this pizza making kit, which I've had before at Jenn's house. It has in it a package of flour (I'm not sure if there's anything in with the flour), a little package of olive oil, and a package of pizza sauce. You get to mix the dough yourself (I did that with my hands as I don't have a mixer with dough hooks. Messy hands, yay) then you are supposed to spread the dough over a baking sheet, cover it in sauce, shred cheese on top of it and put on whatever toppings you want. Obviously since I don't have an oven, I couldn't do it that way. Instead I split the dough in half, and split the sauce and cheese very unevenly in "half" (the first pizza had more cheese and less sauce than the one in the picture). Put olive oil in the pan, spread the dough in the pan on the olive oil, turned on the stove to cook that, then flipped it over and spread on the sauce, cheese and veggies, turned the heat down a bit and covered it all with a wok because my pan doesn't have a lid. It was so good. The second one, I left out to cool a bit, then wrapped it in plastic wrap and stuck it in the fridge. Because I don't need to eat that much.
So now I need to come up with more ideas. And maybe I should start writing these things down so I can do that in the future too. I got really tired of always eating the same things over and over.
Jennifer and I are making hope jars. At least, that's what I'm calling them. The idea is to come up with 365 reasons to smile, reasons to love life, reasons to love yourself, put them on strips of paper, fold the papers up and put them in a jar which we will decorate. Then if ever we get sad or lonely or angry, we can pull out some papers and read good things. Jenn found the idea in a blog. We liked it, so we thought we would do it. The problem is coming up with 365 things.
Wednesday, after spending a long day in Amsterdam with Jenn, I came home, threw a few things in a pot, and sat around the kitchen resting my tired feet until I decided food was ready. What did I throw in the pot? Well I've been wanting beef stew but I don't even care if it has beef in it. My favorite part is delicious squishy carrots and thick soup anyway. So I chopped some celery nice and small (I dislike celery, but I am willing to admit that it lends nice flavors when cooked), diced an onion and quartered a few mushrooms. Fried them in olive oil for just a few minutes and then added water, carrots, potatoes, beef bouillon, parsley and pepper. Boiled that for a while until the carrots started getting soft, and then threw in some rice. Rice and potatoes for thickness. I have no flour. I succeeded, it was nice and thick. And so delicious. I felt so proud (next time I'll put in more carrots though).
Then there was today's success.
This was actually the second pizza I made (it's a pizza, in case you couldn't tell). The first one was eaten. By me. I really wanted pizza, I hadn't had pizza in quite a while and it just sounded good. So I went to the store and bought this pizza making kit, which I've had before at Jenn's house. It has in it a package of flour (I'm not sure if there's anything in with the flour), a little package of olive oil, and a package of pizza sauce. You get to mix the dough yourself (I did that with my hands as I don't have a mixer with dough hooks. Messy hands, yay) then you are supposed to spread the dough over a baking sheet, cover it in sauce, shred cheese on top of it and put on whatever toppings you want. Obviously since I don't have an oven, I couldn't do it that way. Instead I split the dough in half, and split the sauce and cheese very unevenly in "half" (the first pizza had more cheese and less sauce than the one in the picture). Put olive oil in the pan, spread the dough in the pan on the olive oil, turned on the stove to cook that, then flipped it over and spread on the sauce, cheese and veggies, turned the heat down a bit and covered it all with a wok because my pan doesn't have a lid. It was so good. The second one, I left out to cool a bit, then wrapped it in plastic wrap and stuck it in the fridge. Because I don't need to eat that much.
So now I need to come up with more ideas. And maybe I should start writing these things down so I can do that in the future too. I got really tired of always eating the same things over and over.
Jennifer and I are making hope jars. At least, that's what I'm calling them. The idea is to come up with 365 reasons to smile, reasons to love life, reasons to love yourself, put them on strips of paper, fold the papers up and put them in a jar which we will decorate. Then if ever we get sad or lonely or angry, we can pull out some papers and read good things. Jenn found the idea in a blog. We liked it, so we thought we would do it. The problem is coming up with 365 things.
2012-10-23
Update: Tuesday 23 Oct
Right. So I said I wasn't going to come back to the US for Thanksgiving. Because I don't need to spend that much on a ticket right now. And I shouldn't miss a week of classes. And I miss my mommy. And my daddy. And my kitty. And my puppies. Oh wait, those are reasons to go back. I changed my mind. I'm going back to the US.
So then... How not to gain back a bunch of weight when spending a week in the US again... It's only a week, what's the worst that can happen? A better question (or perhaps just an equally good question) is what food do I want to eat when I go home that I can't get so easily here? Hmmm. Much to think about. I could make a long list of things that I'd be happy to eat but then they would probably not go very well with question number one about gaining weight. Like, I'd kill for some ribs smothered in barbeque sauce, or a huge plate of pad thai... On the other hand, I'd be perfectly happy with making an entire meal out of nothing but baked potatoes with butter, sour cream, cheese, green onions and bacon. I could do that here if I tried really hard; but I don't have an oven, they don't have massive baking potatoes, they don't have cheddar cheese (if they do, it's expensive and hard to find), and bacon (enough said).
I suppose if I'm really that worried about it, I will just grab a dog or two and go for a two hour walk.
Anyway, yesterday I went to de Haagse Markt (the Hague Market) which claims to be the biggest market in Europe. I'm not sure if that is true, but it is huge. Enormous. I had intended to get food there for lunch, so I bought fries at the entrance. They were very crispy. I think she might have overcooked them... Oh well, they were good. I was there to see what I could buy in the way of vegetables, and everything on the end that I started at was clothing. No, really. Slot after slot full of clothing, shoes, watches, things like that. And every once in a while, a random slot selling things like pots and pans, or textiles, or phone cases, or books. Finally after I found my way through the crowd on that end, I found the food.
Okay, so I had gone to the market in hopes of finding things that I couldn't get in a typical grocery store. That is definitely what I found. I wasn't paying too close attention--it was very crowded. They had small buckets full of vegetables, and you could get the whole bucket for one euro. That was mostly for garlic, bell peppers, hot peppers, green beans, things like that. Or you could get 10 tomatoes for one euro. Or two mangoes for one euro. Or six oranges for a euro. (I started writing this list and got tired of putting parenthesis so * on things that aren't in a typical grocery store) Eggplants*, bananas, apples, lemons*, limes*, habanero peppers*, Moroccan peppers* (those were skinny and red), Turkish peppers* (skinny but not as skinny and a light green), some bigger yellowish-green peppers which I never saw a label for, avocados, plums*, melons*, lettuce, summer squash*, zucchini, cucumbers, and a lot of other things that I now can't remember. I also saw a table with pallets and pallets full of eggs. Then one completely covered in piled-high trays of Greek olives. Another table with piled-high trays, this time with various different types of nuts. Seasoned and unseasoned. The market was fun. I didn't buy anything but those fries. Sara said she'd go with me next time, one euro for a bin of bell peppers is nice but how am I going to eat 10 bell peppers before they go bad? Next time, I will go earlier when there are fewer people (because that was intimidating and made it difficult to see anything, or move) and I will take someone with me to share shopping.
Okay. This week we have study break. Eh, I don't know how to study. I feel that I'm not going to learn anything new in the next week anyway, and I already know the things that I already know. So there's no point in stressing out over it because that's just going to make the exams more difficult. I'll do fine! I think. And if not, we have resits. Yay for Dutch universities, you always get two chances to pass your exams. I don't want to do resits... I will pass my exams. I'm confident. Even if I shouldn't be.
Picture!
So then... How not to gain back a bunch of weight when spending a week in the US again... It's only a week, what's the worst that can happen? A better question (or perhaps just an equally good question) is what food do I want to eat when I go home that I can't get so easily here? Hmmm. Much to think about. I could make a long list of things that I'd be happy to eat but then they would probably not go very well with question number one about gaining weight. Like, I'd kill for some ribs smothered in barbeque sauce, or a huge plate of pad thai... On the other hand, I'd be perfectly happy with making an entire meal out of nothing but baked potatoes with butter, sour cream, cheese, green onions and bacon. I could do that here if I tried really hard; but I don't have an oven, they don't have massive baking potatoes, they don't have cheddar cheese (if they do, it's expensive and hard to find), and bacon (enough said).
I suppose if I'm really that worried about it, I will just grab a dog or two and go for a two hour walk.
Anyway, yesterday I went to de Haagse Markt (the Hague Market) which claims to be the biggest market in Europe. I'm not sure if that is true, but it is huge. Enormous. I had intended to get food there for lunch, so I bought fries at the entrance. They were very crispy. I think she might have overcooked them... Oh well, they were good. I was there to see what I could buy in the way of vegetables, and everything on the end that I started at was clothing. No, really. Slot after slot full of clothing, shoes, watches, things like that. And every once in a while, a random slot selling things like pots and pans, or textiles, or phone cases, or books. Finally after I found my way through the crowd on that end, I found the food.
Okay, so I had gone to the market in hopes of finding things that I couldn't get in a typical grocery store. That is definitely what I found. I wasn't paying too close attention--it was very crowded. They had small buckets full of vegetables, and you could get the whole bucket for one euro. That was mostly for garlic, bell peppers, hot peppers, green beans, things like that. Or you could get 10 tomatoes for one euro. Or two mangoes for one euro. Or six oranges for a euro. (I started writing this list and got tired of putting parenthesis so * on things that aren't in a typical grocery store) Eggplants*, bananas, apples, lemons*, limes*, habanero peppers*, Moroccan peppers* (those were skinny and red), Turkish peppers* (skinny but not as skinny and a light green), some bigger yellowish-green peppers which I never saw a label for, avocados, plums*, melons*, lettuce, summer squash*, zucchini, cucumbers, and a lot of other things that I now can't remember. I also saw a table with pallets and pallets full of eggs. Then one completely covered in piled-high trays of Greek olives. Another table with piled-high trays, this time with various different types of nuts. Seasoned and unseasoned. The market was fun. I didn't buy anything but those fries. Sara said she'd go with me next time, one euro for a bin of bell peppers is nice but how am I going to eat 10 bell peppers before they go bad? Next time, I will go earlier when there are fewer people (because that was intimidating and made it difficult to see anything, or move) and I will take someone with me to share shopping.
Okay. This week we have study break. Eh, I don't know how to study. I feel that I'm not going to learn anything new in the next week anyway, and I already know the things that I already know. So there's no point in stressing out over it because that's just going to make the exams more difficult. I'll do fine! I think. And if not, we have resits. Yay for Dutch universities, you always get two chances to pass your exams. I don't want to do resits... I will pass my exams. I'm confident. Even if I shouldn't be.
Picture!
2012-10-19
Update: Friday 19 Oct
First and foremost, I would like to apologize for not having posted in so long. The thing is, I told you that I would write a blog post on Disneyland next. But then I really don't feel like writing a blog post on Disney. I just don't want to. So I thought I would put it off until I feel like writing that blog post, but I still don't feel like writing it and I want to post. So... Maybe one day I will post about Disney, but not right now.
So I just had this conversation recently with Tessa's (Australian) cousin Taylor. It was probably the most hilarious conversation I've had all day. It started off with Taylor saying that Frisian is the language of north Holland. At which point I had to correct him. Although Holland is the most visited region of the Netherlands (at least by tourists) it is not the entire country. The problem with him saying that Frisians are from North Holland when he means Holland as the whole country, is that North Holland is actually a province in the Netherlands. And it's not where they speak Frisian. They speak Frisian in the north of the Netherlands, yes, in a province called Friesland. So when I explained all of this to him, he got very confused. I explained that Holland is only the two provinces of North Holland and South Holland (I live in South Holland), he then asked "then what is the Netherlands?" The Netherlands is the Netherlands, bud. Why do you want another name for it? That's what it is. It was very hilarious. We went in circles around that for a while and in the end I still don't think he understood. In answer to his "what is the Netherlands" question, I told him that the Netherlands is 12 provinces. And a few islands in the Carribean. Jenn, being the little smartypants that she is, said "like Hawaii. And Cuba." Taylor then stated that Cuba has Mexicans, at which point I had to tell him to go back to geography class because Cuba has Cubans.
So today was my last day of classes before study break (or fall vacation but our teachers tell us we're not allowed to call it that because we have to study, though the school's year calendar calls it a fall vacation) so now I have a week off. A week off to sit around and relax, I guess. And study, of course. No really, I think I really am going to study. The week after study break is exam week. I have 4 exams, though there is a final grade of some sort for all of my courses and I currently have ten courses. Yes, ten courses. It's a lot. Luckily two of them are semester-long courses, so I only have 8 final grades total. Exams in French, Cultural Dimension, Intercultural Communication and Project Management. The other final grades are an essay for my elective course, a group research paper for Research Skills, a presentation for Oral Presentations, and an oral exam for Dutch which is done in pairs. There is also a group audio-visual assignment for Intercultural Communication, it's 50% of the final grade (the written exam is the other 50%). That being said, I clearly have a lot to do over study break. A lot to study for, an essay to write, hopefully my group members for my two group projects won't be too busy over break and we can work on our things... They all went back to their own countries though so I doubt much work will be done. The one good thing is that I have already done my presentation for Oral Pres. and I passed with an 8 (out of 10). Feels really good to know I have passed my very first exam (and my very first class) of my school career in the Netherlands.
My classmate, Salma, introduced me to the kantine at the school. They have soup. Two different kinds every day, and it's so good. And I have yet to see the same kind of soup on two different days. One day I had broccoli and cauliflower soup, and another day I had pumpkin tomato soup, and another day I had onion soup (that time I bought bread to dip in it) and today I had goulash soup. Also they had this yellow Indian paprika crayfish soup (I don't remember what it was called) that smelled amazing but I don't like shellfish, and another time they had a provençal soup, and another time they had a vermicelli soup, and another time they had a mushroom soup (brothy mushroom soup though, not creamy). This is a bit problematic. It's a crime that anyone would introduce me to this. Now all I ever want is soup. Even when I'm not hungry. I'll just go to the kantine and get a €1,20 or €0,70 cup of delicious soup. And drink it. Who uses spoons anyway? I wonder if the kantine is open during study break. Wait, I really don't need to go get soup during study break. Oh man....
So I just had this conversation recently with Tessa's (Australian) cousin Taylor. It was probably the most hilarious conversation I've had all day. It started off with Taylor saying that Frisian is the language of north Holland. At which point I had to correct him. Although Holland is the most visited region of the Netherlands (at least by tourists) it is not the entire country. The problem with him saying that Frisians are from North Holland when he means Holland as the whole country, is that North Holland is actually a province in the Netherlands. And it's not where they speak Frisian. They speak Frisian in the north of the Netherlands, yes, in a province called Friesland. So when I explained all of this to him, he got very confused. I explained that Holland is only the two provinces of North Holland and South Holland (I live in South Holland), he then asked "then what is the Netherlands?" The Netherlands is the Netherlands, bud. Why do you want another name for it? That's what it is. It was very hilarious. We went in circles around that for a while and in the end I still don't think he understood. In answer to his "what is the Netherlands" question, I told him that the Netherlands is 12 provinces. And a few islands in the Carribean. Jenn, being the little smartypants that she is, said "like Hawaii. And Cuba." Taylor then stated that Cuba has Mexicans, at which point I had to tell him to go back to geography class because Cuba has Cubans.
So today was my last day of classes before study break (or fall vacation but our teachers tell us we're not allowed to call it that because we have to study, though the school's year calendar calls it a fall vacation) so now I have a week off. A week off to sit around and relax, I guess. And study, of course. No really, I think I really am going to study. The week after study break is exam week. I have 4 exams, though there is a final grade of some sort for all of my courses and I currently have ten courses. Yes, ten courses. It's a lot. Luckily two of them are semester-long courses, so I only have 8 final grades total. Exams in French, Cultural Dimension, Intercultural Communication and Project Management. The other final grades are an essay for my elective course, a group research paper for Research Skills, a presentation for Oral Presentations, and an oral exam for Dutch which is done in pairs. There is also a group audio-visual assignment for Intercultural Communication, it's 50% of the final grade (the written exam is the other 50%). That being said, I clearly have a lot to do over study break. A lot to study for, an essay to write, hopefully my group members for my two group projects won't be too busy over break and we can work on our things... They all went back to their own countries though so I doubt much work will be done. The one good thing is that I have already done my presentation for Oral Pres. and I passed with an 8 (out of 10). Feels really good to know I have passed my very first exam (and my very first class) of my school career in the Netherlands.
My classmate, Salma, introduced me to the kantine at the school. They have soup. Two different kinds every day, and it's so good. And I have yet to see the same kind of soup on two different days. One day I had broccoli and cauliflower soup, and another day I had pumpkin tomato soup, and another day I had onion soup (that time I bought bread to dip in it) and today I had goulash soup. Also they had this yellow Indian paprika crayfish soup (I don't remember what it was called) that smelled amazing but I don't like shellfish, and another time they had a provençal soup, and another time they had a vermicelli soup, and another time they had a mushroom soup (brothy mushroom soup though, not creamy). This is a bit problematic. It's a crime that anyone would introduce me to this. Now all I ever want is soup. Even when I'm not hungry. I'll just go to the kantine and get a €1,20 or €0,70 cup of delicious soup. And drink it. Who uses spoons anyway? I wonder if the kantine is open during study break. Wait, I really don't need to go get soup during study break. Oh man....
2012-10-07
Update: Sunday 7 Oct
I'm sorry! I swear I will get around to posting about Disney, I just have other things on my mind at the moment, I want to post about that before I forget.
I'm having reminiscent moments lately. When I walk outside into the damp cold autumn weather, it really makes me miss home. Last year I missed autumn weather, this year I miss it again. I miss the crispness of the air when it's just starting to get cold, and that whole I-can-see-my-breath thing. Of course I'll definitely be able to see my breath here too when it gets colder, but since it's so humid that probably won't be until it gets later into the winter. The Netherlands is a beautiful place, and I love it here, but it's so different from home. Two autumns ago when I was just starting at Boise State, I remember how beautiful I thought the campus looked with all the trees changing, and the occasional rain, and red and yellow leaves all over the ground. It's weird, I never realized back then that it would be such a unique autumn for me, because I'm not going back to Boise State.
I also miss that southern France autumn. It was so beautiful. I miss piles of wet yellow leaves all over the ground and walking an hour to school in the fog. Sometimes when I'm walking through the streets in a random city (for example, Friday I went to Gouda) I suddenly wish I was in a tiny mountain village in France, getting ready to go to a little locally-owned restaurant for some authentic Pyrénées-region soup. That soup was amazing. I have a CD by Lady Antebellum, one of my favorite bands, that my friend gave to me just after I got to France last year. So when I hear the songs from that CD, I think of standing at a bus stop in the cold with Lady A singing in my ears, with a nice warm scarf and the jacket that my mommy brought me from home when she came to visit.
I get to miss Thanksgiving again this year. Of course, I could make my own "Thanksgiving feast" but it's nowhere near the same. I guess I don't mind too much. One girl in my class, Nora, is German but lived in the US for one year during high school. She says she loves Thanksgiving, and she had this idea to have our own Thanksgiving party. Except she's vegetarian. And she just loves stuffing. Vegetarian stuffing? Interesting. I don't know about that. No, the part that I really do mind is that going home for Christmas would cost way too much. Hopefully I can find someone willing to take me in for Christmas, being alone would just be too sad. My roommates are going home. For New Year Jenn and I are going to the UK to meet up with some strangers, so I have that holiday covered, hopefully I figure something out for Christmas. It'll be okay.
I'm having reminiscent moments lately. When I walk outside into the damp cold autumn weather, it really makes me miss home. Last year I missed autumn weather, this year I miss it again. I miss the crispness of the air when it's just starting to get cold, and that whole I-can-see-my-breath thing. Of course I'll definitely be able to see my breath here too when it gets colder, but since it's so humid that probably won't be until it gets later into the winter. The Netherlands is a beautiful place, and I love it here, but it's so different from home. Two autumns ago when I was just starting at Boise State, I remember how beautiful I thought the campus looked with all the trees changing, and the occasional rain, and red and yellow leaves all over the ground. It's weird, I never realized back then that it would be such a unique autumn for me, because I'm not going back to Boise State.
I also miss that southern France autumn. It was so beautiful. I miss piles of wet yellow leaves all over the ground and walking an hour to school in the fog. Sometimes when I'm walking through the streets in a random city (for example, Friday I went to Gouda) I suddenly wish I was in a tiny mountain village in France, getting ready to go to a little locally-owned restaurant for some authentic Pyrénées-region soup. That soup was amazing. I have a CD by Lady Antebellum, one of my favorite bands, that my friend gave to me just after I got to France last year. So when I hear the songs from that CD, I think of standing at a bus stop in the cold with Lady A singing in my ears, with a nice warm scarf and the jacket that my mommy brought me from home when she came to visit.
I get to miss Thanksgiving again this year. Of course, I could make my own "Thanksgiving feast" but it's nowhere near the same. I guess I don't mind too much. One girl in my class, Nora, is German but lived in the US for one year during high school. She says she loves Thanksgiving, and she had this idea to have our own Thanksgiving party. Except she's vegetarian. And she just loves stuffing. Vegetarian stuffing? Interesting. I don't know about that. No, the part that I really do mind is that going home for Christmas would cost way too much. Hopefully I can find someone willing to take me in for Christmas, being alone would just be too sad. My roommates are going home. For New Year Jenn and I are going to the UK to meet up with some strangers, so I have that holiday covered, hopefully I figure something out for Christmas. It'll be okay.
2012-10-03
Update: Wednesday 3 Oct
I totally intended to write a post about Disneyland but I didn't feel like it earlier this week, and at the moment I am sitting in the atrium at my school (underneath a staircase even) and I am on my netbook, so all the necessary pictures would just be too much trouble to deal with at the moment. That post will come later, I promise.
No, today I want to talk about... things. Things like me, and school, and other things. I think that "thing" is not too bad, as words go.
So there is this "me" thing. I'm trying to figure things out. I know there are some things, new habits that I'm automatically developing, that might even shock my mom, who my whole life has told me I need to eat more fruit. Yeah well, I don't like very many fruits... still, it's a good alternative to pigging out on fatty foods all the time. I think I have to buy more apples and oranges weekly, I eat a lot. Mainly just apples and oranges though, because while I like bananas I don't like green bananas, and the slightly brown bananas are okay but they go from yellow to horribly brown way too quickly. Either way, I am losing so much weight lately, and I'd like to attribute that to the fact that I eat less, and I eat healthier, but really I have no idea why I lose weight. It's not as though I exercise a whole lot. There's also the fact that in the past month or so, I only get heartburn when I eat foods that I didn't make with mostly fresh ingredients. For example, last week in Disney Jenn's mother kept feeding me candy, and it gave me heartburn every single time, but it was basically the first time I'd gotten heartburn at all in a couple weeks. That's pretty nice. I eat noodles for dinner a lot, with a rather odd assortment of random vegetables. Or an apple with peanut butter, because I don't like apples by themselves (and Jenn and Tess think that's disgusting, but they have never tried it, so they have no room to talk). There was more I wanted to say about the "me" thing but I can't remember anymore...
The school thing. I really like the school thing in many ways, but there are things I also don't like. Which is to be expected, you can't ever like everything. What don't I like? Well at the moment the class that angers me the most is Dutch class. Okay, so it lasts for one semester and it's pass/fail, all that we earn for it are LWE credits (Living and Working in Europe). It moves horribly slow and seems so utterly pointless to me. My teacher explains the same things over and over and over, but not very clearly. I mean, I learn languages very easily so.. I get it. But then she starts asking questions around the room and when people are confused, she starts yelling. Pardon my language, the other day she literally yelled at the class "What is the fucking question?" and then to one kid, she was trying to ask him something and he was really confused and she said "fuck it. I hate you!" It was pretty shocking. Hilariously terrifying. I dislike the class, I dislike the teacher, and I feel that I would be better off learning on my own, or from my Dutch peers. The problem with that is that I am very self-conscious and I don't like to talk to people in their own language (especially when I don't have the very best grasp on it) because I don't like to be wrong. This all just frustrates me, because it's not a required class, and I really could learn it all on my own if I tried hard enough, but I want those LWE credits. We're required a certain amount per year, and I don't want to have to find something else to fill the credits. Most of the stuff we have gone over in class are the basic things that I kind of already knew, to some extent. We're four weeks in now, I feel like we should be further than that. I don't know.
On the other hand, there's that "things that I like" part of school. While I don't particularly care for "Cultural Dimension of Europe" or research skills, I really like intercultural communications, and oral presentations. It is because of these classes that I believe I will choose to focus on the private sector next year rather than the public sector. Public sector is politics and such, which at first is what I thought I would prefer, but then I went to my very first oral presentations lecture. Oral presentations is the class in which we have to build a business presentation and present it as if we are actually a representative from some company, giving a business presentation to a room full of business people. Okay yes, I have problems talking in front of people. But I have this huge love for words... Written and spoken language. I think problems with talking in front of people can be overcome, if I try hard enough. I think private sector would give me more options in terms of future careers. Maybe I can work for an international company somewhere, anywhere in the world. Also, if I focus on private sector there's a university in Norway where I could go for exchange, and I would love to go to Norway, for just one semester. Then in my third year I have to do an internship, and I was told that the private sector internships are usually well-paid, whereas the public sector internships typically don't pay well, if they pay at all. My internship can be anywhere I want it to be (I think. I'm not sure if it has to be within Europe), so I guess I have to think where I might want to go.
I'm going to start writing down my blog ideas in a notebook... I think of so many possible things to put in my blog, and then I never remember them when it comes time to write. It's not a huge loss because I still write pretty long posts, but maybe if I didn't always forget, I could post more often...
No, today I want to talk about... things. Things like me, and school, and other things. I think that "thing" is not too bad, as words go.
So there is this "me" thing. I'm trying to figure things out. I know there are some things, new habits that I'm automatically developing, that might even shock my mom, who my whole life has told me I need to eat more fruit. Yeah well, I don't like very many fruits... still, it's a good alternative to pigging out on fatty foods all the time. I think I have to buy more apples and oranges weekly, I eat a lot. Mainly just apples and oranges though, because while I like bananas I don't like green bananas, and the slightly brown bananas are okay but they go from yellow to horribly brown way too quickly. Either way, I am losing so much weight lately, and I'd like to attribute that to the fact that I eat less, and I eat healthier, but really I have no idea why I lose weight. It's not as though I exercise a whole lot. There's also the fact that in the past month or so, I only get heartburn when I eat foods that I didn't make with mostly fresh ingredients. For example, last week in Disney Jenn's mother kept feeding me candy, and it gave me heartburn every single time, but it was basically the first time I'd gotten heartburn at all in a couple weeks. That's pretty nice. I eat noodles for dinner a lot, with a rather odd assortment of random vegetables. Or an apple with peanut butter, because I don't like apples by themselves (and Jenn and Tess think that's disgusting, but they have never tried it, so they have no room to talk). There was more I wanted to say about the "me" thing but I can't remember anymore...
The school thing. I really like the school thing in many ways, but there are things I also don't like. Which is to be expected, you can't ever like everything. What don't I like? Well at the moment the class that angers me the most is Dutch class. Okay, so it lasts for one semester and it's pass/fail, all that we earn for it are LWE credits (Living and Working in Europe). It moves horribly slow and seems so utterly pointless to me. My teacher explains the same things over and over and over, but not very clearly. I mean, I learn languages very easily so.. I get it. But then she starts asking questions around the room and when people are confused, she starts yelling. Pardon my language, the other day she literally yelled at the class "What is the fucking question?" and then to one kid, she was trying to ask him something and he was really confused and she said "fuck it. I hate you!" It was pretty shocking. Hilariously terrifying. I dislike the class, I dislike the teacher, and I feel that I would be better off learning on my own, or from my Dutch peers. The problem with that is that I am very self-conscious and I don't like to talk to people in their own language (especially when I don't have the very best grasp on it) because I don't like to be wrong. This all just frustrates me, because it's not a required class, and I really could learn it all on my own if I tried hard enough, but I want those LWE credits. We're required a certain amount per year, and I don't want to have to find something else to fill the credits. Most of the stuff we have gone over in class are the basic things that I kind of already knew, to some extent. We're four weeks in now, I feel like we should be further than that. I don't know.
On the other hand, there's that "things that I like" part of school. While I don't particularly care for "Cultural Dimension of Europe" or research skills, I really like intercultural communications, and oral presentations. It is because of these classes that I believe I will choose to focus on the private sector next year rather than the public sector. Public sector is politics and such, which at first is what I thought I would prefer, but then I went to my very first oral presentations lecture. Oral presentations is the class in which we have to build a business presentation and present it as if we are actually a representative from some company, giving a business presentation to a room full of business people. Okay yes, I have problems talking in front of people. But I have this huge love for words... Written and spoken language. I think problems with talking in front of people can be overcome, if I try hard enough. I think private sector would give me more options in terms of future careers. Maybe I can work for an international company somewhere, anywhere in the world. Also, if I focus on private sector there's a university in Norway where I could go for exchange, and I would love to go to Norway, for just one semester. Then in my third year I have to do an internship, and I was told that the private sector internships are usually well-paid, whereas the public sector internships typically don't pay well, if they pay at all. My internship can be anywhere I want it to be (I think. I'm not sure if it has to be within Europe), so I guess I have to think where I might want to go.
I'm going to start writing down my blog ideas in a notebook... I think of so many possible things to put in my blog, and then I never remember them when it comes time to write. It's not a huge loss because I still write pretty long posts, but maybe if I didn't always forget, I could post more often...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)