Shake, Quake and Blend

Well, then, progress report...

First of all, my hair. You can't really see it well in the picture somewhere below, but I'm happy to report that Sylvia did a grand job. My color is a bit lighter, shiny, and, I'm happy to report, uniform.

After dieing my hair, we went to Arjun's party (a friend of Maria's). They had an actual bar, pizza, and a pretty good athmosphere. A shortage of girls, too, which always leads to interesting results. We (Sylvia, Maria, Jerry, Tiger -I'm not kidding-, some other guy and me) got tired of the party after a while and tried to find another, but without any result.

On Saturday I slept in and when I got up signed up for two courses next quarter: History of the American Motion Picture (I figure I have to take advantage of being in LA) and a seminar on the Physical Limits of Biological Design. I want to sign up for two other courses, either two biology courses (one neuroscience course and one on cell biology) or the neuroscience course and a literature/women's studies course called "Imaginary Women"

I had great plans for the afternoon, homework and all that...then Sylvia called and asked me if I felt like shopping. Well...I did. We went to Santa Monica, and what did we find there?


My very own café ;-)

After getting back, I made myself some dinner, stocked the kitchen table as an alcohol table and...waited. And while waiting, suddenly the floor shaked! At first I thought, what are the neighbours doing, but there was no noise to go with it and I realised...My first earthquake!

Terry came out of her room yelling "did you feel that!?" and I knew it hadn't been my imagination. I think it's pretty cool. I mean, obviously I don't want to be here when the big one happens, but it's one more LA experience. Now if only I managed to spot a celebrity...

First to show up to the party were Sylvia, Brigid and Jerry, around quarter to ten, and later Maria arrived with some Co-op people, Adam, Benson, and even for a short while Nico, Matthieu and Jamie. It wasn't by far as busy a party as Sylvia's, but the atmosphere was very nice, and I had a great time. What's more, I got presents. And what do you think they gave this alcoholic? A "retro cocktails" booklet, and a blender! I can't wait to buy me some ingredients, not only to make cocktails, but also smoothies, milkshakes...

I am actually remarkably not hungover at all. My system must be getting used to alcohol. I'm not quite sure whether that's a good or a scary thing. This afternoon is Oscar afternoon, and we're going to watch the ceremony at Brigid's, and sleep over.

Homework? What homework?

Don't worry, I do manage to find some time in the middle of all the partying to keep up with my reading ;-)

Cheers,

Hedwig

And just in case you thought I was kidding about the rain...

Palm trees in the rain...LA: the city of contradictions 

Random amalgam of musings

Alright, since not all that much exciting stuff happened since the last post, this is going to be rather random. But then, randomness is fun! Just look at Grafik Dynamo.

By the way, for those of you informed of certain events and wondering about if I feel all right, yes, I feel more than fine even. Wednesday, the sunshine made everything except the weather insignificant, and Thursday...well, let's just say that when, while walking to class, you see not just one but two guy's wearing a T-shirt saying "Kiss me, I'm Irish", I'd say you're having a good day. The sleeping in until twelve thing didn't hurt either.

Fun fact: Sylvia can kick a plank in half on her first try. Woo! I'll make sure not to make her mad from now on ;-)

Haircolor (hopefully), starting tonight: Reddish Blonde

Movie recommendation of the week: Kinsey (because of general hilarity, Peter Sarsgaard, and the brilliant casting of Tin Curry, but also because it delivers a good message about the importance of informing people about sex)

Annoying coincidence: Bettie Serveert, my new favorite band, is playing in LA, there are still tickets, and they're affordable too...But it's tomorrow, and well, my party is my first priority.

Now for a slightly longer segment, my father suggested that I write about the first come, first served mentality in the US, and I think that's a good idea in the context of cultural differences. There are many instances. At restaurants, you often can't make reservations, you just have to show up, get on the waiting list, and well, wait. At Warner Brothers studios, you also had to come early to get a spot. If you wanted to get an autograph from Tori Amos, you had to get a wristband at the record store, and apparently people were lining up at 4 am already (the store opened at 9).

I'm not sure what I think of the procedure yet. I mean, I can see that it's fair, granting priority to those willing to go through the most trouble, but it's not very effective, seeing all the waiting. I can understand the popularity of IPod's now (I'm beginning the drawbacks of my minidisc player now, as I don't have a CD-player to transfer my new CD to a minidisc. Most people don't have stereo systems here, just pc's with boxes). As a person who doesn't mind waiting (waiting for me just means daydreaming time), I don't mind the system, but I can't understand how the US economy got so big with all the waiting that's going on.

Fun fact #2: I have the same shoe size as Peter Sellers. Little man, apparently.

Course news: I had an 86 for my second physics midterm. Seeing how I'm in a class full of fourth years...I don't think I'm doing too shabby.

Currently in my Amazon shopping cart: "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" and "I'm wide awake, it's morning" (something that often does not exactly apply to me) by Bright Eyes, the soundtrack to Garden State, and the posthumous Elliott Smith album "from a basement on the hill". A total of 41 bucks, which isn't much for 4 cd's, but there's no telling when I'll finally jump the hurdle to actually ordering them though.

Current books: Neuromancer by William Gibson and The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene.

New experience of the week: going to the sauna. Never knew that the weirdest, and most uncomfortable, part of it is breathing hot air. It was relaxing though.

I think I'm out of random facts, and you're probably tired of them by know. Next post will be a more conventional one, probably, featuring descriptions of how my hair turned out, and of course of how my party was.

Until then, if you're really in need of more randomness, check out what those crazy New Yorkers are saying to each other.

Over and out,

Hedwig

Family (-photographer) 

Teenager no longer

So, does being 20 feel any different? Of course not. But birthdays are a good excuse for gifts and parties anyhow.

Speaking of parties, I'm giving one, in honor of the start of my twenties, this saturday. Feel free to drop by!

Now, where did we leave off...Oh yes, I had stumbled home from Sylvia's party. I actually managed to get up at seven the following morning and get to my class on time. Of course, it turned out to be quite boring, the interesting ones are always the ones you miss. I went to Physics class, did research for 2 hours, went to my TV class, and actually felt surprisingly awake for the 3 hours of sleep I'd gotten. This would change (*cue drums*).

The family arrived back rather early, around 5 if I remember correctly, and told me that while they'd had a great time, what was it with this rain! Oh, of course I told them it rained here, told them about the torrentiality of it, about the deluge, but no, they had to see to believe how bad it could be...

Birgit was left with me while the rest went to eat. Birgit and I went to Nico's for lasagna (it took a while) and then the big quest started: where to find a party? There were two options: Wing, a friend of Benson's, was having a party, and there were rumors of a frat party with a musical performance by a friend of Michelle's. We decided to go to Wing's party, which was not such a good idea as I barely knew any people there and Birgit tends to be a little reluctant to speak to people she doesn't know. And the frat party...Well, we couldn't find it.

Seems the best way not to go to a party is desperately looking for one. Also, the fatigue finally hit me, and before long I stopped making sense, and I stopped wanting to walk around.

Saturday morning we first went to the Warner Brother's studios, but it turned out they were closed in the weekend. So, Universal Studios it was, or rather the Universal City Walk, filled with eateries (my mother finally understands why I talked so much about food in the first few weeks), and as the theme park did not really appeal to us, we went to see "The Aviator at the theatre there. We also went on a wild hunt for the Hollywood sign, but to no avail. We did manage to go and see the Kodac theatre (the carpets were being cleaned) and the handprints in front of the Chinese theatre. Then, of course, seeing how it's 9 hours later in the Netherlands than here, we decided my birthday dinner, fancy and all, would be on Saturday night and not on Sunday. After first looking at the wings from Dogma at Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash, we landed at Eurochow.


Winged Jacob

As the name indicated, Eurochow serves a mix of European and Asian food, and it was very good. The restaurant looked quite fancy too, and with three waiters asking us what we wanted to drink and our napkins being put in our laps, it certainly felt like a special dinner. Afterwards, the night got even better: presents! A guide of New York, a really nice shirt and an even nicer jacket, a beautiful necklace from my little brother, a framed picture of and from my sister...

Birgit stayed over again, and this time the night was nice. Jordan had a slumber party, and while we did not stay to slumber, we did get to watch the deliciously awful "young guns", a western with a soundtrack that screams "80's!!!" and stars that were probably promising back then but have long since petered out.

Sunday we had planned to go to Joshua Tree, but it rained and rained and going anywhere outdoorsy did not seem like a good idea. So to downtown we went. First stop was the Disney music hall, a recently opened building that looks kind of like the opera of Sidney but then smaller and metallic., really cool in any case. You can walk all around it, and there was a big rose made of smashed up porcelain tiles from holland (we saw some dutch words).

After this we went to Union Station, and to the Los Angeles County Museum of Arts (LACMA). Musea are always a good place to spend a rainy day. There was an exhibition of Arts and Crafts, and there were some African and South American statuettes, some Japanese drawings (in a very nice building)...Actually, we were relieves when we finally found the modern art section. It's strange how things so disrupting can feel so familiar and comfortable.

Sunday night both the siblings were staying over, and we were planning to go to a party. However, as it was already raining so much we were considering building an arch, and with one inch an hour predicted by the weather people, we stayed in instead. Monday morning it was raining still, until, of course, we'd resolved not to go to the Warner Brother studios but to the mall instead: the minute we entered Santa Monica Place, the sun broke through.

After buying some shirts, we drove to Warner Brothers again, then, only to find out all the tours were already full. Warner Brothers and the van Driels apparently weren't meant to be. We decided to go to Long Beach instead, and it was actually worth the drive (oh, it rained again when we were there, but I finally caught on and wore slippers). We saw the Queen Mary, some adorable little shops (Birgit disillusioned me: those big barrels of candy in candy stores? Far from full, there's only a little heap on top), and a double rainbow when the sun made a guest appearance.

That was pretty much it, I think. Jacob was the only one staying over last night, and we just had a calm night in front of the TV. This morning, dad and I made a futile trip to the Tower store (I wanted to get a wristband to see Tori Amos, I'll go tomorrow and see if I'm still one of the first 250) while the others plundered the UCLA store. And now...They're on the plane, *snif*. Well, not really. It was really nice seeing them again, but thanks to the wondrous invention that is the internet, they're never really far away.

Gilmore Girls in 10 minutes. Yes, some old habits do stick.

Cheers,

H.

Sylvia's party

Ok, so I'm going to have to use that disclaimer again...I know it probably doesn't look to good that I post so often in this state, but honestly, I'm not drunk all the time, it's just that when I get drunk I have things to tell, and also that when I'm drunk and I get home I usually force myself to drink a lot of water, and that gives me some time to, well, type.

First then, what happened since the last post? Not a whole lot. I missed Capoeira for the first time (that dryer really doesn't work...and working out in humid sports pants? No thanks), but I made up for it by reading 2.5 chapters of Genetics. I went to the Spongebob Squarepants movie with Lisa (we were the first two, and in the end there were only about 15 people :-|) which was bizarre but fun (David Hasselhoff as a speedboat? Sure, why not). Then today (or should I say yesterday), I watched Wednesday's Genetics class on tape in the library, and saw Singin' in the Rain in my film class (it WAS raining when I got out, but I didn't much feel like singin').

But then, the party...Many people I knew (among them the two guys who sold Sylvia and me our cell phones), many more I did not know (but I know some of them now...). "Neuken in de keuken"-guy was there (I don't know this guy's real name...but one of the two phrases he knows in Dutch is "neuken in de keuken", as he already told me at another party). Some of the people I did not know I got to know (the great thing about American parties).

And the coolest thing: it was the first party I ever went to that was broken up by the cops.

Oh, I didn't actually see any men in blue (say it with me people: awwwwwwwwh), but we were told they were downstairs and we'd better split. The end of the party? Of course not. We just went on at Jordan and Maximo's place, where interesting mixes were serverd (something with a lot of grenadine and vodka), and serious/drunken conversations (I am actually already amazed at my loose-lippedness). There was dancing, also (salsa) and bread being toasted by holding it over a flame (and yes, I am aware of my overuse of parentheses).

Well, my water's finished. If I hurry I can still get in 3 hours of sleep before my 8 o'clock class (yay!).

Good night unto you all,

Hedwig (warning: inflammatory)

P.S. Incriminating (but mostly just embarrassing) pictures were made, you can expect them sometime soon.

P.P.S. I know many people read this blog, everybody tells me so...But looking at my comments, I'm not getting much lovin' in here. So raise your voice, tell me what you think!

P.P.P.S. Ok, really going to bed now...

Laundry day

There comes a time in everyone's life when the big question presents itself:

Why is the rum gone?

No, seriously, the question I'm talking about is, "what now?" or rather "what next?". I was confronted it for the nth time today during my physics midterm. Alright, alright, it wasn't a tsunami-scale disaster, but I'd say it-rained-a-lot-and-now-the-basement-is-flooded is a good analogy. I'm pretty sure I got at least half the points, but I don't think I got much more than that.

So. I ask myself again. Is physics really the right idea?

The thing is, the dilemma is, I like physics because it's difficult, because it challenges me, because I feel like I'm actually learning something. I hate physics because it's difficult, because challenging me also means frustrating me for hours, and because to be quite honest, I'm not very good at it.

Oh, I do alright. I'm not too bad at grasping the abstract concepts, actually. But then there's the calculations themselves. I just don't seem to have a feel for it, no easiness with it. And this brings me to the next point: is a UCU bachelor's enough? If I really want to do physics, I'll have to develop some easiness with calculations, I'll have to become better at this, and I think the only way do do this is practice, practice, practice, which means doing many more physics courses than are offered at UCU.

Oh, I'm sure it's possible to work things out. I mean, I could do one, maybe two, basic physics courses here next quarter, then take some off-campus courses when I get back, and who knows, I might actually be up to speed. The problem is that I'm not entirely sure physics is what I want to do. It's kind of a negative choice, which doesn't mean that I don't like physics, but which means I mostly settled on it because nothing else seemed interesting enough to focus on exclusively for several years. It doesn't mean it's a bad decision, it does mean that I doubt it sometimes.

To put this in perspective, it is true that most people in my physics class are fourth years, so it's logical that they're better than me at juggling around equations. And, truth be told, they didn't think the midterm was too easy either.

Oh well, enough about physics. I'm shaking it off for now, I'll worry when I get my grade. And if all else fails: I seem to be pretty good at human genetics (131/150 on the second midterm), and that's kinda interesting, not too easy and all that, so I have a fall-back option.

Plus, you know, life is great. Why worry or be unhappy about anything when the sun is shining so much you can put your laundry on your balkony to dry, when you're going to Spongebob Squarepants for 2 dollar this evening, when there's a party tomorrow night...And, of course, when your family is in the same country as you, the same state even, and they're going to be here for your birthday, conveniently on the middle day of a long weekend.

While they are in the same state, by the way, they are not currently in the same city. With the Cherokee Jeep dad paid too much for to rent, they went to Monterey first (visited the Hearst Castle, I'm told), they are now in San Francisco, and....it's raining, pouring so much they can't see 3 meters in front of them (or at least that's what they tell me).

They were here on Sunday though, and that was very, very nice. They woke me up at 9 (despite the strange shots, without a hangover, but with angry intestines), and after I showed them the campus we went to Santa Monica, Venice and finally to the Getty center. The last thing I hadn't seen yet (shame on me), and I'm glad I did now. The building and the layout are wonderful, the view phenomenal...but the artwork? I think it's best described as unknown works by famous artists. Seriously, you'd be in a room knowing there was a, well, say a Frans Hals. Well, asked to point out which one it was, you'd probably see two obvious choices...and the actual Frans Hals would be an entirely different painting, one you'd never guess was by Frans Hals.

Dad made a valid point about this though: art history is heavily canonized. We tend to think of artists in term of defining works and styles, forgetting that they might have done a lot of different things too. As a reminder of that, I agree that the Getty is an interesting experience.

The rest of the week so far was pretty boring. On monday I woke up 5 minutes later than usual, and as I wanted to get to my midterm on time I made my coffee to go. Long live my Starbucks mug...which I of course left on the kitchen table. The good thing is: apparently I can still function relatively well without caffeine. Yesterday, I skipped the second half of my film class to go grocery shopping, cooked for me an Nico, and made him watch half an episode of Gilmore Girls (the second half, Nicole watched American Idol. The sacrifices I have to make...;-) )This morning I overslept, waking in a panic at eight, then calming down when I realised it only meant I missed my genetics class (which is taped anyhow, so I'll watch it at the library tomorrow), and that I could still make it to my midterm on time.

In short? *Yawn* I think I'll save you the day by day account from now on, for the simple reason that it's boring. I am in the routine now, go to class, make sure I eat, go to capoeira (I'm quite proud, haven't missed a class yet) etc. A routine abroad is no less boring than a routine back home, and I'll spare you the details starting now.

One small note in conclusion: dad remarked that the tone of my blog is a bit "Ils sont fous ces Americains" (or "Rare jongens, die Amerikanen" in Dutch. I don't know the english version, basically he complained I present americans a bit too much as crazy people). I agree. I do point out things that, to me, are very odd, and I might exaggerate for comic effect. That does not mean, however, that I've lost my sense of cultural relativism: I am fully aware that in American (or basically foreign) eyes, Dutch people and Dutch habits are pretty crazy too.

Ils sont fous, ces humains...

Cheers,

H.

Chinatown! 

Family!

Disclaimer: statement made to protect one's ass*
In this case: I've had quite a few strange shots, so take everything I say here with a grain of salt.

Alright, Friday: rain, as you probably suspected from my previous post. It did give me a good excuse to spend almost 2 hours reading in Kerckhoff coffee house with a giant coffee and a just as giant coffee. I was tired though, and decided to forego the clubbing. I apparently missed something: Sylvia, Maria &co. ended up at a rockabilly club inventing their origin: we are not Dutch or Danish but from Zealand (capital: Stoffel; famous country mates: Abel Tasman (who didn't just discover Tasmania, but also New Zealand, obviously) and the guy who sings the awful song about how he's too sexy for his car; King: Ludwig, who by the way will be shot and left in critical condition next wednesday). I actually wouldn't be surprised if we can convince some Americans othat Zealand actually exists.

Anyhow, back to friday: Koen attempted to cook. With the emphasis on attempted. Apparently, mixing sour cream (main ingredient: non fat milk powder) with wine is not such a good idea. The sauce was truly inedible, and the obvious solution was In-N-Out (with, naturally, the wine we'd already poured). Unfortunately, my intestines didn't much appreciate the combo, and spent the rest of the night reminding me of my stupidity. I did watch "Miller's Crossing", one of the few Coen Borthers' movies I had not seen already. I loved it, the look, the atmosphere, the double-crossings... I think the only ones I still have to see now are "Barton Fink " (about writer's block, apparently), and "The Ladykillers".

Saturday, then, day of the Chinese New Year's parade, but only, of course, after a french breakfast of kind of self-made croissants and chocolate milk that my intestines punished me for. Going to Chinatown turned out to take a bus (I've stopped being surprised about how you can easily spend 45 minutes on 1 street) and two metros. Union Station is really adorable, a beautiful building, but standing on the platform you'd think you're in some third tier Dutch station, cute, but small. Actuslly, not Dutch, Spanish, it looked like a Spanish station. I don't think the concept of trains has really penetrated this country.

On an aside, the group I was with illustrated the kind of people I hang out with here: there were four Dutch people, one German studying in Maastricht, two Danish Physics people (well, officially one geophysics and one astronomy person), an Indonesian usually studying in New Zealand (yep, Benson), one American (but one who studied in N-Zealand as well, a Bulgarian girl (I think), and some others, few of them American. I feel so foreign, such a citizen of the world. We are citizens of the world, those interesting multi-cultural people who will rule the world in the near future, we are those people untied to any conviction or nationalistic feeling, we are those always at home yet never settled...Ok, so that's the booze talking (damn you Nico, why did you have to pass me that glass of whisky every two seconds), but still, I like the idea that one day, every one will be free from allegiances to any one area of soil.

The parade was alright, but lacked enthusiasm. I'd expected more of an excited atmoshpere, but everyone was kind of dull, dreading the rain that never came but loomed ominously from behind dark clouds (note to self: alcohol does not improve your style). The lions/dragons (I never know) were nice though, and we saw the one place in LA (according to my guide) that sells live poultry (making me long for Morrocco). I want to go back there for a longer time when it's less crowded.

I left rather early to go find the Best Western Hollywood Hills. Now, I knew it was on Franklin Ave., but as I've learned, knowing which street something's on is not very useful. The intersection, now that's useful, but the street? Well, luckily I landed within 1000 numbers of the hotel, and I only had to walk for half an hour.

Seeing my family again... Well, the strange thing was actually that it felt as if I'd seen them only yesterday. We went out to " The old Spaghetti Factory", and then I took a taxi home. We'll probably go see Venice and Santa Monica tomorrow, so goodbye, midterms...

Well, hopefully my hangover won't be too bad.

Cheers,

H.




* Kevin Smith

It is raining.

AGAIN!

Why?

Inside Deep Throat

No, sorry to disappoint, but this is not going to be a full-blown account of my recent, uhm, activities. Too bad. If you are looking for smut though, I have just heard that there's an obscene amount of Gil Grissom slash flying around on the net...

Okay, to come to the point, I have seen ridiculously many movies in the past week, and the last one, seen at a free sneak preview in Ackerman tonight, followed by a Q&A with one of the directors, was "Inside Deep Throat", a documentary about the making of famous porn movie "Deep Throat" and its effects. It was very interesting, and besides that very, very funny. The scenes from the movie were funny, but they also did some very good editing, and often the expressions of people before or after they were saying something were hilarious (and telling). There was some scary stuff also, of course. For example, the prosecutor in the case against the lead actor in the movie said, right at the end, that it was annoying that there was so much terrorism because it meant so little energy could be devoted to battling smut (I'm paraphrasing, but you get the point). The director was a very laid-back and entertaining, and had some interesting views on censorship today and all that.

I still sometimes stop and suddenly realise, hey, I'm in LA, that's actually pretty cool! You tend to forget it when you just have your daily life of going to classes, hanging around on the couch watching TCM, and ehm, making out, but it is very cool just being here, and being able to go see movies for free where the director is actually present (or, to be precise, one of the two).

And not just one! Nohoooow, people, a sneak preview, cool? Pff, it was already my second. And the first one, last Tuesday, was no indie cool documentary either, but a full-blown blockbuster (or so they hope): "Constantine". Keanu Reeves as a bad-ass exorcist? Well, strangely enough, that I kinda bought. The motive for the bad guy however, I still don't understand. But well, you don't go to these kinds of movies for the plot, and the film certainly did the whole aethetic thing well.

Other movies (I'll be shorter about these): 4 of the 8 BMW short films (Terry has the DVD), Citizen Kane, Gaslight, and today in film class, "Un Chien Andalou" followed by "Clueless" :-|

Now, I can hear you thinking, is all you do watch movies? Not really, but it is the only part that seems even remotely interesting. Going to classes, Capoeira (5 classes in a row now, and I think I might actually maybe be getting a tiny fraction of a bit better at it), reading "The Elegant Universe" and liking it, and basically sleeping much too little. The weekend should be a lot of fun though. Tomorrow night I'll either go clubbing (I'm actually not superenthusiastic about the idea, I usually need some booze to lose my inihibitions and self-consciousness about dancing) with Sylvia, Koen, Lisa etc. or to the movie "Bride and Prejudice", a Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice, with Ella and maybe some other people. Then Saturday, there's a Chinese New Year parade in Chinatown, and my family is arriving in the afternoon. Yay! Also, I heard Jordan's giving a party on Saturday night, and if Birgit isn't too tired it would be cool to take her there. Then Sunday? No fixed plans yet, but showing them Hollywood or Venice would be cool.

Well, to bed with me now, there has been too little sleeping in the past week...

Cheers,

Hedwig

Homeless

To make a long story short....but no, short stories are boring, you'll just have to sit through the long version.

Friday meant dinner at the co-op (it was nice, but I'm glad I'm not living there, and get to decide myself what I'll eat on any given night), followed by movies at Nico's. We rented "Hellboy" and "Garden State", and watched them both with a big group that got smaller and smaller until, well, there were just two.

Saturday morning meant brunch at Sylvia's. We had grapefruits, pancakes, Pains au Raisin (American format), little croissants (we actually found the US equivalent of Danerolles) and french bread with scrambled eggs. Suffice to say I didn't really eat the rest of the day. I did try to study a little, but due to missed sleep most of my studying consisted of me dozing off on the couch. I did have enough energy to make the brownies I promised, and they actually turned out to taste pretty good. Around 8 we went to Benson's party, which was very nice and very crowded (how many people can fit comfortably on about 20 square meters? A lot). Brigid was staying over at my place, but somehow in the course of the evening I kind of found out I wasn't, so I gave Brigid my key...

Which explains why I am now without a home: Terry is at work, Brigid left for a job interview, and there's nobody to let me in. Luckily I ran into Jordan and his roommate Maximo (with an accent on the o), and seeing how it's raining (again) I'm glad I have a roof. what's more, Maximo has a car and is going to drive me past Urban Outfitters where Terry works. Shower!

This afternon there's the Superbowl, but I think I might skip watching it...One all-American experience less, but at least I'll have gotten some reading done.

For details...Well, you'll just have to e-mail me.

Hedwig

UPDATE: I am now safely inside my home again, so worry no more.

Phone!

I finally got around to buying a phone. 125 dollar for the phone and 50 dollars of prepaid whatever (what is the English word for "tegoed"?). It sounds like a lot, but seeing how this country is crazy, you have to pay for incoming calls and text-messages too. So, especially people back home, don't call me instead of an emergency! ;-)

For those who need to reach me, to get into the apartment or to invite me somewhere (those calls are always welcome) the number is 310-619-7751.

That was all for the short update. Not much happened here, much studying and little worth reporting. The weekend's here now though, so I'm hoping it won't stay that way.

Cheers,

Hedwig

I spoke too soon

Yes, after three days I am online again! It's slow, but it's there. I feel like such an internet addict, it feels like I've finally gotten my fix ;-) Of course, now there are problems with the water, but more about that later.

So, finally time for the one month overview, even if the counter is now already at 1 month and 2 days. I still like it here, love it even. I've settled into a routine, but there's still so many nice things happening. Take last Tuesday. Knowing that Physics homework is due on Wednesdays, and that it was a lot this week, I'd predicted it to be boring, just sitting at home agonizing over why I can't do physics (it's strange...I ended up getting an 85 for the midterm, which is pretty good, but I still feel hopeless) However, you know me, a lot has to happen before I miss Gilmore Girls. Because there's a scheduling conflict with American Idol and it was officially Nicole's turn, I'd made sure I could watch the show on Benson's huge TV. Nicole turned out to be out of town that night, but still, Sylvia and I walked all the way up Gayley (a very long way up a very up Gayley), and of course, instead of just watching GG we watched TV until 9 thirty, were then joined by Tristen, went down to Westwood and were joined by Jordan, ended up eating at Chili's (a restaurant featuring a big sign saying we shouldn't be surprised if their food gave us cancer), and basically having such a good time that I didn't come home until it was almost twelve.

And still had homework to do. But strangely enough, Physics homework seems to get easier as the night (or morning) progresses.

Ok, so I guess it's no small wonder I almost fell asleep during my 8 o'clock class the following morning, or that I've been drinking coffee all the time for the last week or two. But hey, I'm abroad, and I'm using that as an excuse to have as much fun as possible.

And it's not like everything I do is decadent and late-nighted (if it's not a word it should be), not to mention filled with alcohol. I mean, I've been to three Capoeira classes in a row now, on wednesday last week, last monday and yesterday. The first class left me mostly with sore abdominal mucles, the second one with torn up and blistered feet, but after yesterday I'm actually feeling more or less ok. Not that the warming up wasn't torture. Who, after all, would be sadistic enough to come up with the following: first, walk on your hands and feet, both legs and arms straight. Then, turn around, and "walk"with your back to the ground and your hands beneath you. Then switch again. And again, and again, until at some point you couldn't even complete the switch any more, let alone walk. I did "play" in the end though (one of the wonderful things about capoeira is that you don't fight, but you "play", and there are no winners or losers), and well, let's just say grace and suppleness are concept my body denies the existence of, but it was fun, and at least I made a "good effort" (when people say that to you, you know you suck...but it's sports, it's me, so what did you expect).
t
Once again, my whole weekend is planned out (it already feels like weekend for me on Thursday. Class only from 3 to 6, and it's the session of my film class when we spend that time watching a movie, "the Piano" this time. Oh, I have to pay attention and answer essay questions about it later, but it's still a very relaxed way to spend a Thurday). Friday night I'm having dinner with Sylvia and Maria at the co-op, and afterwards there's a movie night somewhere. Saturday there's a party at Benson's, and it's going to be kind of a potluck thing, so I'm going to finally give one of those brownie mixes a shot (I didn't dare do it just at random, knowing what would happen if I had a batch of brownies all to myself). Then Sunday it's the Superbowl, and apparently there's some kind of get-together around that at Jordan's.

Now, about the water thing. First (and this is mostly directed at my parents, in particular my father), don't worry! There's just a small problem with the water that has as a consequence that we get scary e-mails from the university saying "BOIL THE WATER BEFORE DRINKING", and has Terry saying over and over "I'm going to die!" because she drank about 4 glasses before the notice came through (but really, don't worry: the e-mail said the consequences would only be "stomach or intestinal illness", and Terry felt perfectly fine this morning).

Oh, and I do study. It might not feel like it (writing about studying is boring) but I do. I'm now in the middle of a great easy book on supersymmetry (I'll have to use another one, with actual equations in it, for my project though. *sigh*), I'm still up to date on reading my biology chapters, and for film class I also do all the work I should be doing. See, wasn't that a boring paragraph? So trust me, no news about studying means good news from now on.

I think I'd better get dressed, it is 11 already.

Cheers,

H.

The silence, the silence! Why?

Don't worry, I'm still alive...

One simple reason why I haven't posted lately: the internet at the apartment does not work. I'd planned a big "I've been here for a month already! that's over one sixth! Wah! Why do fun things go so fast?"-entry, but that will just have to wait. I might get one of the 2-hour computers tomorrow and let you know what's going on (answer: not much). In any case, I'll be checking my e-mail regularly on a 15-minute computer, so if you want some news, just send a note to H.J.vanDriel AT students.uu.nl

Cheers!

H.