Regen

I have always loved rain. Always. The way it sounds when it gently taps your window panes, the smell of it, the taste of it...

But that was before Amsterdam. This place has a serious rain culture. The people here have this heightened awareness of the weather and always have umbrellas with them. Apparently, it rains only 7% of the time in Amsterdam, but it seems hard to believe. They say it rarely rains all day. Instead, it'll rain a few hours. or minutes. Or all the time. It's crazy. But the true mystery is how the dutch people handle it.

They stay dry, they stay gorgeous. They ride their bikes while holding umbrellas and cellphones and still manage to have perfect hair. I can barely ride my bike without crashing into cobblestones, cars, mopeds, other bikes, pedestrians, tourists, and the odd irregularly-placed tree, let alone hold two things and manage to look beautiful in a grey, pressed suit. But I digress.

I'm learning a little bit more every day about traffic laws and bike rituals. I've biked in the rain, alone, from school to home, and made it just fine but I looked like a cat that was thrown into the canal.

Even today, I found out something new about the route I always take to school and made it in under 15 minutes. You also have to add 5 to 10 minutes to your travel time for locking up your bike. I've already (thankfully) gotten much better at managing my two bike locks, and my rented bike hasn't been stolen or towed or destroyed yet, which is always a plus in my day.

I've been "living" here in Amsterdam a week now. I feel like I'll never get it right, but at the same time I do feel a gentle kinship to this biking, hectic, crowded, canal of a city. So different from Philly, so different from DC.

The Netherlands is so teeny tiny, yet  people think of Amsterdam AS the Netherlands. And trust me, Amsterdam is not this crazy opium den that Russ's mother has in her head. Children ride in little boxes on the front of bikes, or other times two or three kids in special seats on mommy's bike. People here really try to save the environment. They have picnics in parks. And they don't overdose on drugs half as much as they do in the States. Because soft drugs and alcohol are easily available for teens, it's not this "dangerous, enticing" thing that teens in the states grow up with.

I won't even start on the amazing sex positive sex education these kids are getting in schools and museums and from their parents....

Just some things to think about.

Nesting

I suppose it's time for a blog post, since I'm finally settled in my host house. I've been here two days now, and my room is really perfect for me. Indian patterned bedspread, view of canal 4 floors below, wind when it's stormy, white walls and moroccan boxes. I love this place, but it's SUPER clean. Quite different than living with a girl and two boys who barely cleaned our shared bathroom. Irina (my artistic, short, fit, vegetarian, round glasses-wearing, aged, brown-haired host mother) is possibly cleaner than my Oma. Which is saying something. Even the floors in this apartment seem to be afraid of dust.

Which works for me! I have no problem keeping tidy when there's inspiration, and Nicole won't be here to keep me in check. But my housemate Courtney is silly and polite and we get along well. Tomorrow I have dutch class, I get my bike, and I sign up for UvA to use their computer lab and take classes. I already have an official ID (oooh la la).

But, I should recap. I spent my second week in europe with Liam, first in Freiburg and then in Amsterdam couchsurfing (where I think I got terribly welt looking bug bites, and they STILL itch me. On my hands, face, and legs.) We also visited Basel, which is so gorgeous... But after leaving Liam at Schripol Airport on Sep 6th, (he was so sweet my entire holiday!) I've been with 24 other students of the SIT (or School of International Training), a very large and successful field based global study abroad program. Three of the 25 students are named Sarah, four students are from AU, four are boys, and 24 are my friends. I seriously love everyone here- they're so happy to be studying sex in Amsterdam for four months, with week long trips to Croatia and Morocco. Really fantastic group of people.

I should go to sleep, it's very late and I have to figure out a bike rental and go to my first real Dutch class tomorrow.

Basel

Yesterday Liam and I (tried to wake up early and) went to Basel. We took a 55 minute train from Freiburg to Basel, Switzerland (or die Schweiz) which is the closest swiss city from here. Even though Liam explained that it's smaller than Freiburg,  it seemed larger and much more urban. And it was DEFINITELY more expensive, (5,40 CHF for a cappuchino? you kidding me?) but they can afford that price of living, so go them. The fashion I saw? meh. Kind of trashy, kind of borning. And they stared at me like no other. Even worse than the Germans. But that was the only negative thing I could see, because Basel is GORGEOUS.

We went to an Apotheke Museum and saw crazy animals in oil jars, lots of old powders and pestles and even old perfume vials which of course I loved. And I signed the guestbook in English to give them something to read for fun. Liam and I also ate our sandwiches that we packed earlier, right by the river, and I had some Holunder Saft which is my new favorite thing (Elderberry flower extract) and some chocolate, of course. We basically walked around and enjoyed the sunshine, and eventually found ourselves sitting on the Rhine looking at beautiful Basel and we decided to watercolor (using Rhine water). Liam also bought me a mouth harp (or Jew's harp, look it up on wiki) and we played around with those as well as his bubble pipe. The Swiss 30 somethings didn't like the bubbles so much, but their loss :) It was a good way to end our Basel trip.

Afterwards we came back home to Freiburg and ate thai at a really sweet restaurant (Reisgarten). The owner's baby was crawling adorably on the floor. We vicariously kissed her cheeks. Liam's friend Danielle called, so we went to a couch surfer's house and had a few beers and then went home. Tonight we'll bike to the Opfinger See and make a campfire and make smores. Pretty excited. :)

First Post

I'm sitting in my brother's apartment in Freiburg, Germany.  I've been in Germany for 8 days now, and I love it so much. I still haven't really registered that I'm here in Europe for another four months of crazy adventuring and difficult classes. That it's already this incredibly frigid and that August is over.

I've made this blog to keep tabs on my travel experiences, as I'm now a tourist in a tourist capital city. (sound familiar?) I will be living with a family in Amsterdam, the Netherlands for four months, as well as going on week long excursions to Morocco and Croatia (WARMTH!) with my classmates.

As far as Germany goes, the biggest differences are the silly toilet buttons, ordering in restaurants, the beauty of old houses (none of that awful goddamn siding) the stares I constantly receive, the expensiveness of everything, and the deliciousness of the food. I've discovered Flammkuchen, which is an Alsacian pizza basically with créme fraiche, leeks chopped finely, bacon specks, and cheese. It's nomtastic. It tastes like these rollups my mom used to make at parties, actually.

But you should see the way these people stare. They look you up and down, and they don't say "danke" when you open the door for them. Also you don't have to smile or be nice if you're, let's say, a cashier at a supermarket. I'd be fired in five minutes from BRU if I looked half as unpleasant as some cashiers that I've come across.... but I digress.

I've already gone to some second hand shops in Heilbronn, and found a kick ass faux leather brown jacket and a mustardy 30s hat. But even second hand and fleamarkets are more expensive than DC.

A part of me wishes I could stay and study in Germany, but there's plenty of time for that later in life. A few more days here with my brother in this beautiful city, and then it's off to Amsterdam with me!