Eileen poses in Amsterdam with pink bike and brownish canal and multicolored floral scarf!!
I just realized I've been using the men's bathroom in the hostel all along. If that's not a gender statement I don't know what is.
Today I learned that the Netherlands is roughly the number one tallest country. That explains the higher sinks, higher ceilings, and beautiful people. I love a tall world. Everything is better.
Quite a bit has happened since my last post I think. Tuesday we had a lecture in the morning, given by Iveta (I think I want to be Iveta when I grow up. She's hilarious, probably one of the most intelligent people I know, she runs a lot so she has a rockin' bod, she lives in Yellow Springs with her husband Dan the man and her 8 cats who are trained to only go in certain parts of the house because Dan the man has a cat allergy, and she has the coolest Czech accent. She told me she wants to run with me around the canal and that I should visit her in Yellow Springs once we're both back in Ohio so I think that means we're already best friends forever and that I'm on the right track to being her when I grow up), about conducting research as a feminist and situating yourself in the field. I didn't realize how much revolves around power when researching. Note to self and others if interested: review notes on that lecture because it's hella interesting. I think I contributed pretty well to the discussion. I actually read and took notes on the readings before class so I think that helped.
After the lecture, I went on a run, showered, and then we had a tour of the city. On my run I actually went down the canal which was cool. I didn't see my calico cat friend this time but I did pass a pair pf guys walking along kicking a soccer ball and I think one of them tried to pass it to me when I passed, but I missed it so there goes my chance of looking cool in front of/making friends with them. Ugh. I also passed a precious moment of a middle aged couple sharing a goodbye kiss as one of them boarded his/her motorcycle/scooter thing. So cute.
The tour was awesome. I snapped some sweet pics. It sort of revolved around the Dom tower, part of St. Martin's Cathedral (aka the Dom church) which I think is in the center of the city and was a big deal in Medieval times. Cool stories. That's where the Netherlands' Declaration of Independence was signed, but the actual date of independence is a little fuzzy/debatable or something. It's funny because in the US we make such a big deal about our Declaration of Independence/Independence Day. I also found out that the canal's purpose was for goods/food to be delivered on it and then stored in the rooms along the canal because it was underground and thus cold enough to preserve the food. I also found out that bikes are really cheap here (like 25 euros?) and that a lot of people own like 4 to 5 bikes because they keep them in different cities so they can take the train around and then have a bike wherever they get off. Brilliant. I can't even begin to describe the absurd amount of bikes here. We need more/better bike paths in US cities. The city here is so quiet because there aren't that many cars. It's awesome.
After the tour, we all got ice cream from an ice cream truck and then went shopping. I got some sweet high-waisted jeans which I'm sporting in the above photo. I NEED TO BUDGET BETTER. But really awesome pants. On our way home we saw a little parade thing on the canal which was precious. At one point a live band/singer started playing Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, it was great. There has been an ongoing orientation thing happening all across the city for UU. Really extravagant events/tents and stuff. And I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but there has been a constant crowd of college students gathered right outside our bedroom window whose chatter/cigarette smoke make it kind of hard to sleep at night.
Then we came back and I had dinner and tried to do some work but I couldn't concentrate so I fraternized and went to bed. The hostel has still been keeping up with their good music selections. They played a remix of Blondie Heart of Glass and some Band of Horses and some Pavement. I'm finding that a lot of music here is remixed versions of other songs which I think is awesome. There was a male version of a Robyn song playing in H&M. I found out that a crappy pop artist in the Netherlands is Thomas Berge. Really funny/poor quality music video.
Wednesday morning we had a lecture with Iveta in the morning where we talked about Standpoint Theory and then about the science question in Feminism. The articles we had to read for those (Harding and Haraway, respectively) were both pretty interesting but also pretty heavy and I had a hard time keeping up with them. I love the way Haraway writes because I really appreciate her use of figurative language and she has a lot of funny/clever/witty metaphors and stuff (which is what I strive for with my academic papers), but I think that the subject matter was just so foreign and complex and dense to me that I had the most terrible time following it. I think I like that writing style only if it's about a topic that I understand better. I think that philosophical WGS stuff is better understood (by myself, at least) if stated in a more straightforward manner with less roundabout terminology/multiply perceivable descriptions (if that even makes sense?). So since the readings were so hard for me to understand, the discussion during class was also difficult. Listening to other people discuss it was sort of helpful, but I just love going into class with a good idea of how to contribute and be able to follow along. It was hard for me not to zone out this time because I didn't have a very good idea of what was being discussed. The things I did begin to follow almost immediately changed track and I was lost again. It wasn't terrible though. I was still able to take notes and get somewhat of an idea of what Standpoint Theory was and stuff like that.
Then we went back to the hostel, I made a phenomenal apple/feta/honey omelet with jelly on the side. Then I did some research to see if the books I wanted were available at the UU library. Some are! I'm excited to go study up on those. Then Iveta came to Strowis and she and I had a meeting about my research project. She went over my proposal and my survey questionnaire with me and was suuuper helpful and encouraging. I love all of the positive feedback I'm getting about my research project, it's really reassuring and makes me feel even more enthusiastic because everyone seems really interested/excited to see how it'll turn out (as am I). Iveta gave me some good tips and is even sending me a link to a helpful website and maybe some scanned books she has. So awesome. I'm excited because I think the majority of my research is going to be on the general public with like surveys and stuff which I think will be so much more fun than using mostly books and written work as my sources. Should be fun but also is nerve-wracking because I've heard so many horror stories of field work where researchers got rejected or couldn't work up courage to ask people for their time/effort to complete a survey and stuff. For some reason I'm not too worried about that though. I think that any results are good results no matter how small in quantity. We'll see.
After our meeting I did a little more work and then took a two-hour long nap that was really disorienting. Refreshing though. Then I made some pasta for din, chatted with some of the gals, and read for homework. When I thought I had digested all of my food I went on a run. Don't think I waited long enough though because I had to walk a little in the middle of it. Found a new route though! I love running around here because it's usually all around the canal for the whole time which is beautiful and then there are som many people around that it keeps me entertained. There's also all of that orientation stuff going on so there were a lot of big parties and moonbounces and events and things. Fun. Then I passed a movie theater on the way back to Strowis and saw a poster for a new Woody Allen movie so that's exciting. Would love to check that out.
When I got back some people said they were going out and then one girl (Hannah) said she just wanted to go somewhere and get cake so I was like hell yeah I love cake let's do it. So I showered and started getting ready (got walked in on while in the shower and THEN in the bathroom by two different random girls in the hostel oops thought I was better with locks guess not). When I was putting on my makeup in the common area with sinks and mirrors, some kids came and one started talking to me in Dutch (seemed a bit cocky but also foreign language = communication barriers). I let him ramble for a while before I interrupted him saying that I only speak English (his tall blonde friend started laughing at that). The first kid then started retelling his monologue in English about how he's from Utrecht and he just met these kids today and now he's in their hostel. Then the tall blonde kid (with what I thought was some kind of accent) asked where I was from and I said America and he laughed and asked what part because he's from Seattle. Funny because I didn't even recognize his American accent I guess because of the context. It's interesting how that works.
A few girls upstairs were doing stick n' poke DIY tattoos and watching Across the Universe so I went and watched them do that (they turned out pretty cool) and then a few other girls and I went out. The whole time I was thinking we were going to get cake but then we ended up at a gay bar. On a Wednesday night. At like 11pm. I wasn't even in the mindset to hit the bars let alone the gay bars. After a few 90's songs (Hanson 'Mmmbop' included), Hannah and I peaced out. Then got reeeeally lost for like a half hour trying to get back to the hostel. On the way, I stopped a person on his bike to ask for directions. He happened to be from New York and was just visiting his friend in Utrecht. He was useless for directions but we had a nice English conversation with him. I noticed how much more relaxed the conversation was because all of us were native English speakers so there was no accent or need for interpretation or anything. I think it was interesting because my whole demeanor changed once I realized he was American and it became much more effortless to interact. But then I was wondering why that is because even with Dutch people, their English is very accurate and it shouldn't be tense or anything to have a conversation because there really is mutual understanding. I didn't think it was like that until this occurrence with the New Yorker where I noticed my change of attitude. I kind of wish it wasn't like that because I want to be able to converse with the Dutch people in a natural, organic way, but for some reason I must feel somewhat unnatural and tense with our conversations. Gonna work on that. Anyways, the NY guy was lost too so we were all kind of hopeless. Eventually we found our way back and went to bed.
Yesterday (Thursday) morning, at 9am, Iveta met us at Strowis and we all walked to the train station to leave for Amsterdam for the day. SO AWESOME. Amsterdam is som beautiful and even more of a cultural experience than Utrecht. We immediately went to the Red Light District which was already pretty active at like 11am. Such a cool experience. Prostitution/sex work is such a taboo in the US that it was sort of an adjustment to see these scantily clad women showing themselves off in the windows waiting for/flirting with possible customers. The main part of the district is around this giant beautiful church, which was funny. I've never before heard church bells in the background as I walked past prostitutes (at least every other time I've walked past prostitutes that's never happened) (kidding) (I've never walked past prostitutes before). On top of that, among the sex windows/souvenir shops/bars and restaurants, there was a kindergarten literally in between red light windows. Such a different culture. Here it's just a part of life so it's not a big deal for little kids to go to school near such action. One of the girls on the program with me (Sharon) made a funny comparison and said that when a Hooters was opened within a certain distance of her middle school, the whole town was up in arms. This way, I bet moms who were also sex workers could drop their children off on the way to work. How convenient! As we passed some of the windows, I eventually warmed up and began to make eye contact and smile at the women.
The coolest part was that we got to go to the Prostitution Information Center and listen to Mariska, a former sex worker and now icon of the Red Light District tell us about her story and her position on sex work and the negative stigmas and how sex workers need respect and support. Seriously mind blowing. She began when she was 16 because she wanted money to buy a dog and stopped when she was 21 because she was ready to stop, not because she didn't like it or thought negatively of it or anything. To her it was simply work. I know I'm never going to be able to reiterate the positive things she said about the industry (not that it's my place to even try) in as articulate of a way as she did, but I certainly was impacted by it. So interesting. Then she took us on a tour of the District and I bought two postcards from her.
After that we got delicious crepes from a crepe/waffle place in the district and shopped around a little.
Then we went to a giant women's center in Amsterdam where we were given a presentation by Women on Waves, an agency that gives medical abortions (using pills instead of surgery) on international waters on a boat for people who want an abortion but it is illegal in their country. Also very interesting and informative.
Then we did a little shopping and had filafel for dinner (on our way to the filafel place, we passed a strip club thing that had some explicit neon signs. The man standing outside noticed me having a little awkward giggle at the signs and shouted some obscene suggestive remarks at me regarding my hair color and stuff. Super disgusting and made me feel really weird and gross and offended like I've never felt before. Then I had to remember the environment I was in and that such behavior is expected and tolerated in the Red Light District. Strange experience). After dinner, we sat along the canal to people-watch/observe one of the window girls as she interacted with potential customers. We even saw one man go in and then come out after a while. It's cool because 2 people in the program (Bethany and Ezra) are doing their research projects on sex work, so it was cool talking to Bethany about how she wanted to go about it and her apprehensions and stuff. We all want her to interview a sex worker and she wants to as well but she 's nervous and also doesn't want to take up their work time by interviewing them, which is understandable. I hope she and Ezra find a way though because that would be awesome.
A lot of the discussions we've had in class and then the presentations in Amsterdam have all been really cool and new to me that it seems to be evoking emotional responses. Like sometimes I'll suddenly feel an urge to tear up and it won't even be expected or anything, it's funny. I don't know, I think I've just never really had the opportunity to learn the things I'm learning and discuss them in these ways and have the experiences that I'm having. I'm usually not provoked to think about these things in different ways like this. I'm so grateful.
Anyways, then Sharon and I came back to Utrecht and got some ice cream and went to bed. Awesome day.
Today we had class until noon and discussed queer-ing methodologies. So interesting because to "queer" something is like to skew it or think of it in a different way or even to break an idea down so much that it is dissected to its very origin and then one can really see how the idea was formed. Ask me about those notes too because there's some cool stuff in there. Then I came back and made some eggs for lunch and went on a run around the canal. Saw a lot of cool and pleasant people/sites this time. I guess it was a good time to go because so many people were out. And the weather was absolutely gorgeous today. It's been pretty consistently cool (except not consistent at all because there will be almost every weather element possible in one day here) so I keep having to sort of bundle up but today people were laying out in the sun and stuff it was nice. Then I came back and showered and did some skyping with my mom and sister and friend Debbie. Super nice to chat with those peeps. If anyone wants to skype or facetime or talk to me at all, please do. I miss everyone already. Tonight we went to a little dance party around the corner which was super fun. Sidenote: a quote from Joy, one of the girls on the program, as she was leaving our bedroom to go to hers: "Okay.. well.. I'll be upstairs putting on lipstick and dancing to Bruce Springsteen. Let me know what you guys " Adorable. Anyways, dance party. It's funny because at school, I think I'm a pretty weird dancer compared to other people at our parties, but here, so many of the girls and people dance just as weirdly as I do, it's so fun. So much flailing and hopping and 80's style jamming it was great. Now about to hit the sheets. Might go eat some cheese because that sounds good.
xx
Today I learned that the Netherlands is roughly the number one tallest country. That explains the higher sinks, higher ceilings, and beautiful people. I love a tall world. Everything is better.
Quite a bit has happened since my last post I think. Tuesday we had a lecture in the morning, given by Iveta (I think I want to be Iveta when I grow up. She's hilarious, probably one of the most intelligent people I know, she runs a lot so she has a rockin' bod, she lives in Yellow Springs with her husband Dan the man and her 8 cats who are trained to only go in certain parts of the house because Dan the man has a cat allergy, and she has the coolest Czech accent. She told me she wants to run with me around the canal and that I should visit her in Yellow Springs once we're both back in Ohio so I think that means we're already best friends forever and that I'm on the right track to being her when I grow up), about conducting research as a feminist and situating yourself in the field. I didn't realize how much revolves around power when researching. Note to self and others if interested: review notes on that lecture because it's hella interesting. I think I contributed pretty well to the discussion. I actually read and took notes on the readings before class so I think that helped.
After the lecture, I went on a run, showered, and then we had a tour of the city. On my run I actually went down the canal which was cool. I didn't see my calico cat friend this time but I did pass a pair pf guys walking along kicking a soccer ball and I think one of them tried to pass it to me when I passed, but I missed it so there goes my chance of looking cool in front of/making friends with them. Ugh. I also passed a precious moment of a middle aged couple sharing a goodbye kiss as one of them boarded his/her motorcycle/scooter thing. So cute.
The tour was awesome. I snapped some sweet pics. It sort of revolved around the Dom tower, part of St. Martin's Cathedral (aka the Dom church) which I think is in the center of the city and was a big deal in Medieval times. Cool stories. That's where the Netherlands' Declaration of Independence was signed, but the actual date of independence is a little fuzzy/debatable or something. It's funny because in the US we make such a big deal about our Declaration of Independence/Independence Day. I also found out that the canal's purpose was for goods/food to be delivered on it and then stored in the rooms along the canal because it was underground and thus cold enough to preserve the food. I also found out that bikes are really cheap here (like 25 euros?) and that a lot of people own like 4 to 5 bikes because they keep them in different cities so they can take the train around and then have a bike wherever they get off. Brilliant. I can't even begin to describe the absurd amount of bikes here. We need more/better bike paths in US cities. The city here is so quiet because there aren't that many cars. It's awesome.
After the tour, we all got ice cream from an ice cream truck and then went shopping. I got some sweet high-waisted jeans which I'm sporting in the above photo. I NEED TO BUDGET BETTER. But really awesome pants. On our way home we saw a little parade thing on the canal which was precious. At one point a live band/singer started playing Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, it was great. There has been an ongoing orientation thing happening all across the city for UU. Really extravagant events/tents and stuff. And I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but there has been a constant crowd of college students gathered right outside our bedroom window whose chatter/cigarette smoke make it kind of hard to sleep at night.
Then we came back and I had dinner and tried to do some work but I couldn't concentrate so I fraternized and went to bed. The hostel has still been keeping up with their good music selections. They played a remix of Blondie Heart of Glass and some Band of Horses and some Pavement. I'm finding that a lot of music here is remixed versions of other songs which I think is awesome. There was a male version of a Robyn song playing in H&M. I found out that a crappy pop artist in the Netherlands is Thomas Berge. Really funny/poor quality music video.
Wednesday morning we had a lecture with Iveta in the morning where we talked about Standpoint Theory and then about the science question in Feminism. The articles we had to read for those (Harding and Haraway, respectively) were both pretty interesting but also pretty heavy and I had a hard time keeping up with them. I love the way Haraway writes because I really appreciate her use of figurative language and she has a lot of funny/clever/witty metaphors and stuff (which is what I strive for with my academic papers), but I think that the subject matter was just so foreign and complex and dense to me that I had the most terrible time following it. I think I like that writing style only if it's about a topic that I understand better. I think that philosophical WGS stuff is better understood (by myself, at least) if stated in a more straightforward manner with less roundabout terminology/multiply perceivable descriptions (if that even makes sense?). So since the readings were so hard for me to understand, the discussion during class was also difficult. Listening to other people discuss it was sort of helpful, but I just love going into class with a good idea of how to contribute and be able to follow along. It was hard for me not to zone out this time because I didn't have a very good idea of what was being discussed. The things I did begin to follow almost immediately changed track and I was lost again. It wasn't terrible though. I was still able to take notes and get somewhat of an idea of what Standpoint Theory was and stuff like that.
Then we went back to the hostel, I made a phenomenal apple/feta/honey omelet with jelly on the side. Then I did some research to see if the books I wanted were available at the UU library. Some are! I'm excited to go study up on those. Then Iveta came to Strowis and she and I had a meeting about my research project. She went over my proposal and my survey questionnaire with me and was suuuper helpful and encouraging. I love all of the positive feedback I'm getting about my research project, it's really reassuring and makes me feel even more enthusiastic because everyone seems really interested/excited to see how it'll turn out (as am I). Iveta gave me some good tips and is even sending me a link to a helpful website and maybe some scanned books she has. So awesome. I'm excited because I think the majority of my research is going to be on the general public with like surveys and stuff which I think will be so much more fun than using mostly books and written work as my sources. Should be fun but also is nerve-wracking because I've heard so many horror stories of field work where researchers got rejected or couldn't work up courage to ask people for their time/effort to complete a survey and stuff. For some reason I'm not too worried about that though. I think that any results are good results no matter how small in quantity. We'll see.
After our meeting I did a little more work and then took a two-hour long nap that was really disorienting. Refreshing though. Then I made some pasta for din, chatted with some of the gals, and read for homework. When I thought I had digested all of my food I went on a run. Don't think I waited long enough though because I had to walk a little in the middle of it. Found a new route though! I love running around here because it's usually all around the canal for the whole time which is beautiful and then there are som many people around that it keeps me entertained. There's also all of that orientation stuff going on so there were a lot of big parties and moonbounces and events and things. Fun. Then I passed a movie theater on the way back to Strowis and saw a poster for a new Woody Allen movie so that's exciting. Would love to check that out.
When I got back some people said they were going out and then one girl (Hannah) said she just wanted to go somewhere and get cake so I was like hell yeah I love cake let's do it. So I showered and started getting ready (got walked in on while in the shower and THEN in the bathroom by two different random girls in the hostel oops thought I was better with locks guess not). When I was putting on my makeup in the common area with sinks and mirrors, some kids came and one started talking to me in Dutch (seemed a bit cocky but also foreign language = communication barriers). I let him ramble for a while before I interrupted him saying that I only speak English (his tall blonde friend started laughing at that). The first kid then started retelling his monologue in English about how he's from Utrecht and he just met these kids today and now he's in their hostel. Then the tall blonde kid (with what I thought was some kind of accent) asked where I was from and I said America and he laughed and asked what part because he's from Seattle. Funny because I didn't even recognize his American accent I guess because of the context. It's interesting how that works.
A few girls upstairs were doing stick n' poke DIY tattoos and watching Across the Universe so I went and watched them do that (they turned out pretty cool) and then a few other girls and I went out. The whole time I was thinking we were going to get cake but then we ended up at a gay bar. On a Wednesday night. At like 11pm. I wasn't even in the mindset to hit the bars let alone the gay bars. After a few 90's songs (Hanson 'Mmmbop' included), Hannah and I peaced out. Then got reeeeally lost for like a half hour trying to get back to the hostel. On the way, I stopped a person on his bike to ask for directions. He happened to be from New York and was just visiting his friend in Utrecht. He was useless for directions but we had a nice English conversation with him. I noticed how much more relaxed the conversation was because all of us were native English speakers so there was no accent or need for interpretation or anything. I think it was interesting because my whole demeanor changed once I realized he was American and it became much more effortless to interact. But then I was wondering why that is because even with Dutch people, their English is very accurate and it shouldn't be tense or anything to have a conversation because there really is mutual understanding. I didn't think it was like that until this occurrence with the New Yorker where I noticed my change of attitude. I kind of wish it wasn't like that because I want to be able to converse with the Dutch people in a natural, organic way, but for some reason I must feel somewhat unnatural and tense with our conversations. Gonna work on that. Anyways, the NY guy was lost too so we were all kind of hopeless. Eventually we found our way back and went to bed.
Yesterday (Thursday) morning, at 9am, Iveta met us at Strowis and we all walked to the train station to leave for Amsterdam for the day. SO AWESOME. Amsterdam is som beautiful and even more of a cultural experience than Utrecht. We immediately went to the Red Light District which was already pretty active at like 11am. Such a cool experience. Prostitution/sex work is such a taboo in the US that it was sort of an adjustment to see these scantily clad women showing themselves off in the windows waiting for/flirting with possible customers. The main part of the district is around this giant beautiful church, which was funny. I've never before heard church bells in the background as I walked past prostitutes (at least every other time I've walked past prostitutes that's never happened) (kidding) (I've never walked past prostitutes before). On top of that, among the sex windows/souvenir shops/bars and restaurants, there was a kindergarten literally in between red light windows. Such a different culture. Here it's just a part of life so it's not a big deal for little kids to go to school near such action. One of the girls on the program with me (Sharon) made a funny comparison and said that when a Hooters was opened within a certain distance of her middle school, the whole town was up in arms. This way, I bet moms who were also sex workers could drop their children off on the way to work. How convenient! As we passed some of the windows, I eventually warmed up and began to make eye contact and smile at the women.
The coolest part was that we got to go to the Prostitution Information Center and listen to Mariska, a former sex worker and now icon of the Red Light District tell us about her story and her position on sex work and the negative stigmas and how sex workers need respect and support. Seriously mind blowing. She began when she was 16 because she wanted money to buy a dog and stopped when she was 21 because she was ready to stop, not because she didn't like it or thought negatively of it or anything. To her it was simply work. I know I'm never going to be able to reiterate the positive things she said about the industry (not that it's my place to even try) in as articulate of a way as she did, but I certainly was impacted by it. So interesting. Then she took us on a tour of the District and I bought two postcards from her.
After that we got delicious crepes from a crepe/waffle place in the district and shopped around a little.
Then we went to a giant women's center in Amsterdam where we were given a presentation by Women on Waves, an agency that gives medical abortions (using pills instead of surgery) on international waters on a boat for people who want an abortion but it is illegal in their country. Also very interesting and informative.
Then we did a little shopping and had filafel for dinner (on our way to the filafel place, we passed a strip club thing that had some explicit neon signs. The man standing outside noticed me having a little awkward giggle at the signs and shouted some obscene suggestive remarks at me regarding my hair color and stuff. Super disgusting and made me feel really weird and gross and offended like I've never felt before. Then I had to remember the environment I was in and that such behavior is expected and tolerated in the Red Light District. Strange experience). After dinner, we sat along the canal to people-watch/observe one of the window girls as she interacted with potential customers. We even saw one man go in and then come out after a while. It's cool because 2 people in the program (Bethany and Ezra) are doing their research projects on sex work, so it was cool talking to Bethany about how she wanted to go about it and her apprehensions and stuff. We all want her to interview a sex worker and she wants to as well but she 's nervous and also doesn't want to take up their work time by interviewing them, which is understandable. I hope she and Ezra find a way though because that would be awesome.
A lot of the discussions we've had in class and then the presentations in Amsterdam have all been really cool and new to me that it seems to be evoking emotional responses. Like sometimes I'll suddenly feel an urge to tear up and it won't even be expected or anything, it's funny. I don't know, I think I've just never really had the opportunity to learn the things I'm learning and discuss them in these ways and have the experiences that I'm having. I'm usually not provoked to think about these things in different ways like this. I'm so grateful.
Anyways, then Sharon and I came back to Utrecht and got some ice cream and went to bed. Awesome day.
Today we had class until noon and discussed queer-ing methodologies. So interesting because to "queer" something is like to skew it or think of it in a different way or even to break an idea down so much that it is dissected to its very origin and then one can really see how the idea was formed. Ask me about those notes too because there's some cool stuff in there. Then I came back and made some eggs for lunch and went on a run around the canal. Saw a lot of cool and pleasant people/sites this time. I guess it was a good time to go because so many people were out. And the weather was absolutely gorgeous today. It's been pretty consistently cool (except not consistent at all because there will be almost every weather element possible in one day here) so I keep having to sort of bundle up but today people were laying out in the sun and stuff it was nice. Then I came back and showered and did some skyping with my mom and sister and friend Debbie. Super nice to chat with those peeps. If anyone wants to skype or facetime or talk to me at all, please do. I miss everyone already. Tonight we went to a little dance party around the corner which was super fun. Sidenote: a quote from Joy, one of the girls on the program, as she was leaving our bedroom to go to hers: "Okay.. well.. I'll be upstairs putting on lipstick and dancing to Bruce Springsteen. Let me know what you guys " Adorable. Anyways, dance party. It's funny because at school, I think I'm a pretty weird dancer compared to other people at our parties, but here, so many of the girls and people dance just as weirdly as I do, it's so fun. So much flailing and hopping and 80's style jamming it was great. Now about to hit the sheets. Might go eat some cheese because that sounds good.
xx
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