My last "class" (actually part I of an exam) was last week Thursday.
My exams are on Wednesday night and Friday afternoon.
It is Monday.
***
sigh.
See, every moment between last week Thursday and this week Wed./Fri. has now become a "should" moment. Either I am studying, or I think "I *should* be studying." Truthfully, most moments have been the latter. But before you get all worried, don't be. I haven't been letting the guilt get to me too much.
Which is what brings me to the topic of this blog post: diversions. I believe I wrote about much the same topic in March when I had a similar situation while studying for my History final/STNL midterm. Enter the story-time about diversions from studying I have created for myself, contained in a blog post that is itself a diversion from studying as I write it (there's a circular argument in there somewhere). Although this is not a comprehensive list, it will cover some of the more exciting points. Here we go:
1) Picnic
Today the Berlin group (aka: girls) had a picnic outside. The weather has been gorgeous, finally, and the grassy green meadow behind Anna's building called for us to come sit for awhile. Picnics are delightful. This picnic was delightful. Altogether a --yep-- delightful experience.
2) Eel
Another experience came at the Aay's apartment last night, and like the picnic it also involves food. We finally had the traditional and "required" Dutch meal of herring and eel on white bread/rolls. I had the eel. It was served cold, tasted salty, and looked somewhat snake-shaped. The verdict?
...
Not bad! Also not something I would choose to have again (I put other seafood waaaaaay above it!), but not horrible all the same. Honestly, not horrible.
I didn't try the herring, though. Is that something I still have to do in the next two weeks, or does the eel give me a pass? :)
For the record, I think all twelve people at dinner tried either herring or eel. The NL2010 group is an adventuresome bunch!
3) Rotterdam
Three cheers for Rotterdam!
Hip hip hooray!
Hip hip hooray!
Hip hip hooray!
I have no idea why I just wrote all that. My mind must be going, I'm telling you.
No, mind, not yet! I still need to use you to take two exams!!!!!!!
See?
A-N-Y-W-A-Y, on Saturday morning Anna and I made the trip down to Rotterdam to see the lovely sights. We have both wanted to go to Rotterdam the entire semester, and we realized that Saturday was probably our last chance. Plus, Saturday was a day much like the past few days here have been: sunny, clear skies, upper 60's...in other words, perfect.
And what were the highlights of Rotterdam, you may ask? Well, would you like them in photographic form?
-the Erasmus Bridge
-Taking a cheesy picture in front of the Erasmus bridge with a photo of Mink Faber, my great-grandfather who sailed from Rotterdam to Ellis Island when he was three. I brought him back!
-Those crazy cube apartments
-Drinking refreshing beverages at a restaurant that overlooked the crazy cube apartments
-A miles-long market filled with hundreds of people. It really was miles long, I promise you.
-The Maritime Museum
Now, although this museum ranks only slightly above the Bijbels Museum and is in the "only go there if you can get in free with a museum card" category, it had one exhibit that redeemed the museum for me: the "Animals on Board" exhibit. It taught us about shipping camels to Australia, had different stations where we could collect stamps of cartoon rats, let us match an animal to its...excrement, and, best of all, had a room of giant stuffed animals to play with at the end!
The seal was my favorite. How often do you come across a stuffed animal with no limbs? I felt sorry for it.
But the animals, and Rotterdam in general, were all a big hit.
...
That's all for now as far as diversions go. I will probably update soon, as soon as the urge to take a break from studying hits again. And who knows what I will find to write about next time?! Until then, stay classy!
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