My final words....

I'm back in Montreal, my first day back, and this will be my last entry in this blog. There are a few things that I wanted to say that I hope that you are all reading.

My trip home was exhausting but adventurous. Maaike and Paul drove me to the Schipol airport, where we dealt with heavy traffic and parking troubles (get a smaller van, Paul!). They were so sweet to drive me there and not let me leave Holland alone. Goodbye was too short because I was late and we couldn't park the van everywhere, but you both know that I love you and I would have liked to have spent more time with you at the last minute.

I hopped on my plane and got as far as London. However, we landed too late and I missed my connection. It turned out that I had to stay in England overnight and catch the plane the next afternoon. This was kind of sucky since the new security rules made sure that I had no makeup, deoderant, toothpaste, clean underwear, or anything with me. I spent the evening in my (free) hotel eating (free) buffet dinner and chatting with English and Irish rugby fans to pass the hours. In the morning, I hopped on the underground (which wasn't underground until it was near the central area) on the Picadilly line and managed to see Buckingham palace. This was a very short tour of London, about 45 minutes of actual picture taking, but it was fun nevertheless.

After an hour of going through security at the Heathrow airport (yes, I had to take off my shoes), my plane left late again (curse British Airways!) due to an engine problem with the original plane. I landed 1 hour late and, you guessed it, my baggage did not make the trip with me. I still don't have my suitcases, which means that I have no camera cable, so I have no pictures to show you in this entry.

But, in the end, I made it to Montreal safe and sound (to the relief to Mom and Dad), where my sister Lisa picked me up at the airport and took care of me (Cameron was working late).

I went into shock last night seeing my apartment for the first time in half a year, but my cat soon recognized me and things started to settle back in slowly. There's just no place like home.

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Before I sign off, I wanted to leave a list of all the crazy things about the Netherlands and Groningen that for your amusement. This list is inspired by Janelle, who started one herself and showed it to me hours before she left Holland herself.

The crazy things about Dutch and Groningen life, Susan's perspective:
* Giant black and white cows (apparently all B&W cows in the world were originally raised in Friesland)
* Kangaroo farms to feed the rich fancy meat
* Groningen bars are open until 7 am (and still busy until closing!)
* Scary narrow stairwells
* No tipping except for sit-down restaurants (though I always tipped and got great service for the gesture)
* Extra-foamy beer that is poured in a way that will shame the English
* The bike phemenon
- Carrying everything from beer crates to toddlers on bikes
- Taking passengers on the back of your bike with buses whizzing by an inch away
- Wearing dressy clothing on a bike to go to a fancy night out
- Going home drunk on a bike
- Couples holding hands while riding their bikes
- Cars go out of their way to let bikes rule the roads
- 90% of the bikes have been stolen at least once
- Humongous bike parking lots
* Wearing clogs at the hospital for work
* Stores are strictly open 9am-7pm, and never ever on Sundays (so you starve if you don't plan ahead)
* Orange madness during football season (everything from toilet paper to food is orange)
* Public urinals in the middle of the street that pop up out of the ground at night and disappear mysteriously during the day
* The refusal to use 1 cent and 2 cent coins (they round up to the closest 5 cent rather than deal with them)
* Strict IOUs when lending money to friends (hence the term "double dutch" when going on a date), except for buying rounds at the bar
* Big Bird from Sesame Street is blue
* Everyone knows English because American shows are subtitled and not dubbed
* The food
- candy on bread (little sprinkles and slices of pressed coconut candy)
- raw pickled herring, eaten whole with raw onions (the old man favourite)
- peanut soup (like hot peanut butter with onions)
- huge mounds of mashed potatoes mixed up with green veggies
- all butter is unsalted
- bi-colour meat slices with pictures (including football players)
- Febo food from vending machines, particularly fried unrecognizable grey liquidated meat
- all iced tea is fuzzy
- a gazillion potato snacks dominating 60% of the supermarkt aisles
- tea is never served with milk
- vla and kwark
- yoghurt is always in liquid form
- curry ketchup that doesn't taste like curry nor ketchup
- frites with "special sauce" aka mayo, curry ketchup and raw onions served in a paper cone (which they say is Dutch but the frite stands are Belgian)
- awesome fresh water from every tap
* The lack of Dutch who smoke pot (vs. 90% of tourists)
* The whole country is basically under sea level
* Holidays (days off work) every second weekend
* Rain is ignored, you just get wet
* Their outspoken (don't ever say "blunt") and direct way of speaking (which I totally appreciate and respect!)

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I will miss Holland and its people with all my heart. Though, I will be back next year for another internship, I promise! So, "tot ziens" not goodbye!

Keep in touch. You know how to reach me by email.

I will be starting a new blog from Montreal (also listed in my links) so that you can spy on my life from wherever you live.

I love you guys and thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for the best time in my life!

Love,
Susan

Farewell Holland!

The past few nights were farewell party after farewell party, saying goodbye to all the wonderful and loving friends that I have met over the past six months. This was a very emotional and sad period for me, as you can probably guess. I am cleaning out my room taking down the memories I have built up and trying to fit them in two suitcases. I am still in a weird kind of denial that I'm going to be in Canada and that this is all really over.

Tuesday night Maaike arranged a farewell party from my co-workers at the lab, a group of very special people that showed just how much they care about me. This was a very exciting evening for me, as it has been years since I have had a party in my honour. I felt like I was a twelve-year-old having a birthday party!

We started out in the tapas bar and sat around eating good food. Then they brought out some gifts for me that touched me deeply. The most special is a CD of Dutch songs that they had compiled. Each member of the lab chose one song that is special for them and the CD insert has picture profiles of each person with their song listed on it. It actually made me cry. I also got traditional Dutch treats (stroopwafels and licorice candies) and a book of traditional Dutch cuisine. I find this really funny since I am already obsessed about food and find Dutch food the strangest! THANK YOU so much, to everyone in the lab, for doing this for me and making me feel so welcome during my stay with you. You all are awesome!

After dinner, half of us continued for the next entertainment of the evening, to a show at the local festival. The one we saw was an American show (with an American tent) about how to do Ebay powerselling. The show was more to laugh at then to laugh with, but it was good entertainment. I think that the Dutch audience didn't really appreciate what the American guy had to say, but being Canadian, I found some parts quite humorous. Standing around the show was a real national park ranger, ranger Steve, from Yellowstone. His friend was the artistic director of the show and hired him to hang around as a a living prop.

After the show, we split up and people went their own way to enjoy the rest of the evening. It turned out to be quite a nice bonding moment for some of us and I'm so glad that we had this time together.

Wednesday evening Ricard had the sweet idea of arranging dinner in my honour. So him and Myriam and Wicax cooked me delicious pasta and frittata and we spend the evening chitchatting about life. You guys are the sweetest, thank you so much for doing this for me!


After dinner, we decided to play a game of pictionary. This was a good ol' time where we shared with eachother our memories of Groningen and our views of the Dutch life through silly little drawings and many great laughs.


After spending an exhausting day of running around doing errands and packing, Thursday was my very last night in Groningen. I decided that I want to go back to Sally O'Brians and the Three Sisters, the places that started it all 6 short months ago. My hardcore friends came out with me and we drank our sorrows of goodbye away. I will particularly miss Wicax and Jorn," my boys" from my floor, who have stuck with me through my ups and downs since day one. Thank you for being my bestest friends ever!

*** I will miss you all so very much and I love you all! ***

Squeezing in the fun!

Ack! I can't believe that I have only 4 more days left in the Netherlands! I just can't bring myself to start getting ready. I got as far as buying some boxes from Ikea so that I can store some of my crap at Maaike's, sort of like a guarantee that I will be coming back to Groningen. I think that I will be needing to buy an extra suitcase, though, to lug the rest of my stuff back to Canada. It's amazing what one can accumulate in 6 months!

These past few days have been pretty darn amazing, though. I'm doing my best to have as much fun as possible and experience all that I can before I have to leave.

Wednesday night me and my buddies went to Spieghel, the jazz cafe, to chill out to some funky music. On the way, it was pouring rain and we got absolutely soaked! When we got there, we peeled off our wet jackets and tried to warm up around the single candle lit on our table. There wasn't actually any live show, which was sad. But the jukebox was free so we put in a couple of requests. After a few hours, we still didn't hear our music so we asked the bartender if we were pushing some wrong buttons. It turned out that she had entered a gazillion (slow and boring) songs earlier in the evening and there was no way to fastforward. What is the fun of the free jukebox then?

We hadn't intended to, but we ended up staying up really late after the jazz cafe. We hit the Three Sisters and hung out at the back of the bar, away from crazy crowds and superloud music. I took out my camera and that provided us with the evening's entertainment. Some very, very funny pictures were taken that evening!

The night ended with us dancing at the bar that starts with a T, a teeny little dance club. We tried to dance on the tables because there was no room to stand, but when we did people threw coasters at us and so we had to settle with dancing on the benches.

Afterwards was a good meal for breakfast (Donairs... yummm) and a good night's rest.

Thursday, after working hard in the lab to finish off my results, I tried to assist Sjoerd with some bartending but I was so pooped that I ended up going to bed at midnight and left him alone to work. I just needed to catch some zzzzzs so I could continue my research on Friday.

Friday, after another hard day at work, I brought my co-workers (Maaike and Lowrens) together with my international gang and we had a superb night out! The centrum was packed with students partying because it was the beginning of welcome week. There were flame jugglers and dancers on the street, and kids were overflowing out of the bars and pubs. Me and my friends ended up being honorary members of a fraternity (so they call it, but it's not anything like American fraternities) called Cleopatra. Their frathouse was realy chill, more like a house party than a bar. We later headed out to the Kar and danced before finally ending up in front of Febo. Febo is a fast food place that sells unrecognizable fried pseudo-meat products out of vending windows. Dutch kids seem to like to eat this stuff after drinking, and I did admittedly try it once, but I won't try it again. Dangerous food....

Saturday, me and Bore and Myriam and Wicax headed out to Amsterdam. I had arranged this trip so that I could say farewell to Holland the proper way. I had planned to do all these fun things while we were there, including a bike tour and the Heineken museum and Anne Frank museum, but we had been out the evening before and my friends did not support the idea of hopping directly on the 6:30am train after no sleep. Therefore, we left towards noon. In the pic is the new bike parking lot at the Groningen station, quite impressive compared to the old system, with parking attendants and protection from the rain.

So we caught the train at about noon and after taking a detour to Den Haag to visit a friend of Wicax's in the hospital, we didn't arrive in Amsterdam until after 6pm, too late for the daytime activities. When we got there, we met up with Janelle (I went to Paris with her, remember?) and Bore's friend, both who were staying in Amsterdam.

The evening started with a free outdoor concert on the canal. We had to ask directions to the right canal from this guy running the gay and lesbian information hut, a colourful little gem that is isolated on the sidewalk. The show itself was beautiful, it included opera and classical piano. It was so crowded that we couldn't see the performers, but listening and people-watching was such great fun! Weird people hang around this city. There were also people on their private boats parked in the water, eating their expensive snacks and drinking their expensive wine, who were fun to look at. We got harassed by the guy who kept asking for Bore's cigarettes, though, yet 5 minutes later an undercover cop flicked us his badge and asked us if were OK. That really impressed us and made us feel very safe in the crowds.

After the concert we took a walking tour around Amsterdam, guided by Bore's friend. He works in different tourist shops at five different locations around the city so he knew the sites pretty well and this was a nice treat.




Somewhere along the way Myriam had to get some money out of the bank machine. There are so many friggin' tourists in the city that we had to line up for a half an hour to use the ATM (see in the pic)! A strange site that was.

We finally made our way to Bulldog, a famous tourist spot that is a bar, club, and coffeeshop in one. There is a story about how the customers were arrested hundreds of times in the early days, so when the police headquarters went up for sale in the mid-eighties, they bought the building and set up the bar there. You can see (in the pic) the old sign for police headquarters engraved on the front of the building. Inside, they have a wall of fame with pictures of celebrities that have been to the bar and the ceiling is covered in foreign currency.

Afterwards we ate at an International Pancake House that was a blend between a sports bar, a restaurant, and a cheap club with disco balls and bad music. Wicax was the one who actually ate a pancake, which resembled a pizza without the crust more than a pancake.

We needed to stay up all night for two reasons: We were to help Janelle with her luggage and take her to the airport at about 6 am (so sad - she went back to America!), and the first train back to Groningen was at 7:30am. The problem is that most bars and restaurants were closed after 3am. But we did end up finding one place that was busy and looked fun. Quickly, we (except Bore, who seemed to have no clue) realised that it was a gay bar. This was fun because the Drag Parade was taking place the next afternoon so we got to see some drag queens all decked out in dresses made out of plastic (like plastic bag stuff). The bathroom, however, was kind of scary because there was only one stall and I learned that it was a meeting place for couples "getting to know eachother". I had to time my entrance to the bathroom very, very carefully to not interfere!

After sending Janelle off, we left Amsterdam towards 9am and got back to Groningen after noon. We all slept all day Sunday, bringing me to where I am now.