The sun'll come out...

In April

Despite the above post dated today, which states that I am in Paris, I am actually back in Maastricht. That post was from a few days ago but was disseminated via mass email. I just wanted it archived here. As you may have noticed - since you're reading my blog -, I've decided to start blogging. I'll post new entries to my facebook and the links via email, so I can help reduce the clutter in your inboxes. I'm just here to help.

The rest of the trip to Paris was leisurely but fun. We spent 2 days there; on the first, we went to Versailles (I know, not in Paris), on a bus tour, to a fancy Parisian restaurant, and on a boat tour. Never-ending tours. I'm beginning to feel like Dylan. On the second day, we went to the Louvre in the morning and were given the rest of the day to explore. The Louvre was beautiful and surprisingly enormous. My friends and I actually got lost in the sculpture wing of the museum; suffice it to say I've seen so much sculpted anatomy recently, I don't even want to see myself naked. The rest of the day was devoted to being touristy (Eiffel tower, the Seine, etc), capped off by an authentic French dinner of Italian food. The next day we went to Notre Dame, toured the Champagne Pommery cellars, and rode the bus back to Maastricht.

It's comfortable being back in good ol' Holland. Maastricht already feels like home. I wish I could say that I had been looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, but my sandpaper sheets and granite mattress aren't the world's most comfortable. Still, my hall is nice (and fuller than when I left a week ago), and I'm finally catching up on sleep. Most importantly, I can make my own coffee.

More observations about Europe:

• American culture, as should shock nobody, is pervasive in Europe. There are 4 McDonalds in Maastricht, which the Dutch claim to hate but eat at anyway. American tv is also popular here. Children's shows are dubbed into Dutch, while the others have subtitles. Also, in Dutch Sesame Street, Big Bird deals drugs. Oscar is a coke-head. Elmo, thankfully, was killed off years ago.
  
• France, which is apparently too good for American culture and language, dubs all of our shows into French. This is annoying as I would rather watch Family Guy in English, but Bubba from Forrest Gump speaking in a French/Southern accent is pretty funny.
• The Dutch have a motto of "act normal because normal is crazy enough." I can dig it. I don't have a joke here, but it's a good philosophy.
• The Dutch also have a weird rivalry verging on aversion to Germany. However, it is sort of like the old school (pre-2004) Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. I don't think the Yankees/Germany, really care what the other one thinks.
  
• Lingering questions from Kill Bill? Uma Thurman is a badass.
• It's really gray here in Maastricht. But the sun'll come out soon... I hope. One of these days, I'll actually go somewhere warm and sunny.
  

No depression yet, although I do start class on Tuesday. I'll keep you all posted.

P.S. If you know him or not, please send positive vibes/prayers/love to Pops/Bob Eiseman/my grandpa, whose health has been less than pristine of late.

The beer on the bus

Goes round and round

Greetings fellow Earth-dwellers,

I'm not currently in Maastricht, but having a great time in Europe. My flight to Copenhagen was happily uneventful, but the absinthe on the flight to Amsterdam was really something special. Maastricht is an incredibly beautiful (and incredibly old) city. I've already been on 3 different tours of the city, and I still haven't seen large portions of it. There are an awful lot of churches in Maastricht, which is ironic because the people are by and large areligious. They are reverent of their history, but not particularly of religion; thus, the heathens maintain the outside of the churches but modernize the insides. I've been to a bookstore, disco, bar, hotel (in monastery), and post office - all in churches.

The culture is getting easier and easier to adjust to. Some things are vastly different from the states. For instance, I was perusing a Dutch newspaper and stumbled upon pictures of topless women. I've since taken a subscription.

I'm staying at the UM International Guesthouse, which is nice and cozy. My roommate, Ben, is a cool guy. He also plays guitar and loves Dylan, so the adjustment hasn't been overly difficult. We have a huge room, complete with stocked kitchen. The showers have great water pressure, and the hall keg always has fresh beer on tap.

If only for the ubiquitous beer, cheese, and brats, the Netherlands feels an awful lot like Milwaukee. Some haven't found it as easy, but the Dutch are very laid back and accepting. To ease my cross-cultural transition, I attended a class in cross-cultural communication where I learned that people from different cultures see things differently. My mind was blown.

Just as I was beginning to get acclimated to the Dutch way of life, my program went on a joint European study trip. I was in Brussels and Bruges, went to Versailles earlier today, and am currently in Paris. I know the travel sounds grueling and tough, but it's actually not that bad. We've toured the EU headquarters, seen Manneken Pis, gone to a few breweries. Having a great time.

There's a lot of walking here in Europe. If it weren't for the aforementioned beer, brats, cheese, and bread I'd be wasting away. So feel free to send me care packages.

According to the highly informative pamphlet my study abroad office gave me, my wonderment with my surroundings is about to start ebbing, and I will soon crash into a manic depressive state. It's not so much that I miss you all, but the lack of free refills is maddening!!!!!!

Some other interesting things about Europe:

• Everything's old. I'm even old enough to buy a beer. The architecture is beautiful, but I've barely had a sober moment (just kidding... I've had a few).
• Cobblestones are death to my ankles.
• There's beer everywhere. We can even buy it from a cooler on our bus. Hence the title of this blog.
  
• Order a coffee and you get americano. Order coffee americain and you get coffee. Many of you may have already known this, but it's tough for me to reconcile.
• Lingering questions from Pulp Fiction's opening scene? Dutch people do in fact put mayo on their fries. It's disgusting. Also, a Whopper is just called a Whopper.
• Judging by the amount of people shopping, I think that no one works in Europe unless they work at some sort of shop.
• Scarves. They're big in Europe.
• Waffles, too.
• Despite my attempts to follow locals to the hospital, I've yet to see the famed Dutch welfare system in action. However, considering how much some of my fellow students drink, it's only a matter of time.

Keep sending me updates about your lives people. I'll keep sending about mine.