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.