October 31, 2008: Arrogant Dutch Doctor

This morning I woke up feeling sick for the third day in a row. Given my history of strep throat and the fact that I was leaving for Spain in 20 hours, I decided to call the GP (general practitioner/family doctor). That was at about 9:30am and they gave me an appointment for 10:10am. Perfect. I got my bag together (planning to visit the library afterward) and headed out, stopping by the ATM on the way because without Dutch insurance, I would need to pay in cash and seek reimbursement from the insurance company on my own.

I arrived at the doctor's office and after taking my address and phone number, the receptionist sent me to the waiting room. No insurance forms, no medical history, no paperwork at all. I waited just a few minutes in the waiting room before the doctor came for me - not a nurse. He took me to his office/examining room (all in one) and asked what I was here for. I told him I had a very sore throat and had had a mild headache for about 3 days and that I have a history of strep throat. You're American? Yes. And in America, they give you antibiotics after three days? Well, yes. This is not how we do it in Holland. Americans are too quick to prescribe antibiotics. It's different here.

Ok, I can understand his point of view. Maybe Americans are over-medicated. But I am not one to run to the doctor for every runny nose. I know strep when I have it. I could have waited until Monday in Spain or Tuesday when I returned, but there is a good chance I would have severe dehydration by then possibly leading to hospitalization and frankly, I want to enjoy my time in Spain outside of the hospital. He continued, In the States, how long does it take for your symptoms to go away after antibiotics. Um, a day, maybe two. Oh, you are a quick responder. So how long should I wait before coming in next time? Oh you are welcome to visit any time you are not well... He kept talking but said nothing else useful.

He looked in one ear. Good. He looked in the other ear. Good. I opened my mouth and said "ahh." Oh. Yes I see why your throat is sore. You still have your tonsils? Perhaps in written form that sounded like a rhetorical question, but by the inflection and the way he paused, he clearly was waiting for an answer. At this point, I am not only offended but also beginning to doubt his qualifications. Clearly, I still have my tonsils. Did you not just see them? I said, Yes. Here we remove them at 5. I realize that I should have mine removed, but I haven't found time for a 3 week recovery period yet. Irritated, I held that in.

He felt the outside of my throat. I flinched and teared up. That is painful? I nodded. Very. He listened to my heartbeat, my lungs, and poked my sinuses. Finally, he said Ok. I think your symptoms make you good candidate for antibiotics. What do you take in the States? Penecillin? I resisted rolling my eyes, took the prescription, thanked him and left. I paid the receptionist, biked past my house to the other side of town, picked up the prescription, and was back home and on meds by eleven - an hour and a half after calling for an appointment. Hey, at least they're efficient :)

Note: After talking to some Dutch friends, I learned that it is extremely difficult to get a prescription for antibiotics in this country. You can't even purchase DayQuil (or an equivalent over the counter medication) without a prescription here. Who would have thought in the land in which soft drugs are tolerated that it would be so difficult to get medications for an actual cold?

October 26: Finals and South Africa

[Excerpts from an email]

Life in Leiden is wonderful. It's so different from any situation I've ever been in. Friday night after we finished our exam, a number of classmates went out an a Dutch student told me about her experience working in Ghana last summer. Saturday night I went to Amsterdam with the ladies and during dinner with 2 other Americans and two Irish, we discussed the crisis in the universal Catholic church. During dessert one Irish gal informed me about how US policies have destroyed Latin America and why she supports Evo Morales in Brazil even if he is changing the constitution to remain in power. Then tonight I had a friend over who is Zimbabwean. As she talked, the looks on my housemates' faces were priceless. I'm sure I had the same look at times too, but I had heard her talk about life at home before and how she went with Mugabe's daughter to vote for the opposition party in the first election of this year. She couldn't believe I would travel to war-torn Uganda and I couldn't understand how she, being from Harrare, could say such a thing. I just love the environment and intellectual and cultural discussions that we can have. Granted, this weekend was quite the exception to the rule, but I get to have at least one of these discussions once a week. I don't meet many Dutch students, but the international students are so fascinating. [Note: in my courses 2^nd block, there are a lot more Dutch students and they are helping me learn helpful Dutch phrases!]

I got accepted to the program in South Africa last week and have been pretty much floating on the clouds since then. I keep coming up with all these amazing ways to spend my life and just can't wait to get there. But I am here now and need to remember to enjoy that too - and I am. I'll be in Stellenbosch, South Africa beginning at the end of January, and finals begin at the end of May. There is a possibility that I could make it back in May for Emily's wedding and for Helen's graduation and if I have that chance, it would be difficult to pass up. Roach weddings are such fun and I'd hate to let Helen down. She turns 18 tomorrow and I wish I could celebrate with her. Still, if I have the chance to work in Africa or to travel for a little longer, it would be hard to turn down. I know I'll miss home and maybe I'll be ready to go home by the summer - today marks one week longer than the longest time I'd previously been away from home - so there's really no way to know right now. Anyway, regardless of the length of time I'm in South Africa, I would love to have the chance to visit my Aunt Mary’s religious sisters who work there and/or in South Africa if possible. It’s still a long ways away, but I can’t help but want to plan it all – I’m so excited!

October 21: Bruges, Belgium

I got up on Tuesday morning and enjoyed a continental breakfast of cereal and toast at the hostel before setting off for the day. I had intended to get up early and bike up to the sea, but it had been raining late in the night and into the morning so rather than brave the weather at 6am, I slept for a few more hours.

I met up with my Canadian friend and we explored the town together, starting in the Markt, which is the city center and full of tourists on every corner staring at maps and occasionally looking up with confused looks on their faces then staring at the map again. Hilarious. Admittedly, I was one as well, but I still found humor in it.

We wandered through the Belfry (decided not to pay admission to climb the tower, though) and looked at the large photography exhibit in displayed in the courtyard. Nor sure what the photos were about or where they were taken, but about half were of a UN truck and African children. There were also some more nature-oriented photos. I tried to ask what the display was, but the lady I asked didn’t seem to understand my question, or else didn’t know the answer.

The next stop took us around the corner to the Heilig-Bloedasiliek (Basilica of the Holy Blood). Since 1149, this church has housed a fragment of cloth stained with what is said to be the coagulated blood of Christ, wiped from his body by Joseph of Arimathea after the crucifixion. We got there around 10am and the veneration of the blood was at 11am, so we left and looked around a little photography display put on by a local photography club and returned at 11 for the veneration. I went up and touched the vial and then contemplated the authenticity for a while as others went up as well.

From the Basilica, we wandered around for a while, gazing at the storefronts full of chocolate and marzipan and chocolate sculptures and other amazing treats. My favorite was a large chocolate dinosaur that must have been a meter tall or more. Of course, we had to get some hot chocolate made from real chocolate, not just powder. It’s hard to go wrong with hot chocolate, but this was certainly a finer blend.

The wandering then took us to a courtyard among churches that had sculptures of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Very creepy.

Around the corner, we found the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady). It is home to a Carrara marble Madonna and Child created by Michelangelo in 1504, the only one of his works to leave Italy during his lifetime. Marble is one of my favorite mediums, mostly because its so majestic how an artist can make the movement of flowing garments out of stone, but I have to say, I couldn’t tell the significance of why this Madonna and child was any prettier than the others. Still, I’ve now seen a Michelangelo.

About this time we were hungry for lunch: I got fries with Ketchup, Eric got fries with Mayonaisse – very European. Then we took a tour of De Halve Mann brewery, which brews only beer still made in Bruges. It’s called Brugse Zot, or “Fool from Bruges.” The tour was interesting and the rooftop had a nice view of the city.

As we sampled the local product at the end of the tour, an older couple asked if they sit at the table too – the only tables available were tables for 8 and there were just two of them and two of us at this one. Of course. Oh, you’re American? the man asked me. Yes, where are you from? Washington state. I’m from Iowa. No kidding?! My wife and I, we’re from Leon, did you hear that dear? She’s from Iowa! Yeah, my grandpa lives in Clarinda, I’ve spent the 4^th of July in Leon. Who’s your grandfather? And the conversation carried on. They were visiting their son at Cambridge and decided to see Belgium as well before heading back to the States. They shared their meat and cheese with us, offered to buy us another round, practically pushed Belgian chocolates and nougat into our hands (ok, we didn’t resist much). You’re from Iowa, you’ll do this for someone when you’re our age too, they told us. We had a great conversation about their travels, her visits to archaeological digs in Turkey and his mission trips to do surgeries in Latin America. A lovely couple. I knew that the longer we talked the less likely it was that I would make it to the chocolate museum by closing time, but it was fun to talk to them and there will be other chocolate museums.

We walked with the Iowans over to Prinselijk Begijnhof ten Wijngaarde (Princely Beguinage of the Vineyard) and she told us the story of the Begijns, religious women similar to nuns, who accepted vows of chastity and obedience, but drew the line at poverty and made a living by looking after the sick and making lace. It was a beautiful courtyard tucked away from the busy streets with its own quaint little church. The Begijns are long gone, but the area is now occupied by Benedictine nuns.

I glanced at my watch and knew there was no way I’d make it to the chocolate museum now, so I enjoyed a waffle (that’s right, a real Belgian one) in a small café. On the way back to the hostel to recover my backpack, I checked on hotels for when my family comes to visit over winter break and found a couple of possibilities. I wasn’t quite ready to leave and wanted to stay another night, maybe see Antwerp or Brussels on the way back the next morning, but I was low on funds and not sure if my latest wire transfer had gone through so I figured it was safest just to head back. On the way, the window about 4 rows ahead of me in the traincar cracked and had to be replaced at the next station before we could continue our journey. It actually took much less time than I expected which was nice and I still made it back home by midnight – tired but thrilled with my first backpacking success!

October 20: Gent, Belgium

The semester here is split up into two terms so rather than midterms, we had finals in mid-October. In the week leading up to finals week, I had a major presentation so I spent the weekend in recovery. I didn’t have a final exam until Friday, though, so on Monday morning I departed for my first solo backpacking trip. I had acquired a train ticket to Bruges, Belgium from a friend and it expired on Friday, so I might as well use it.

I arrived in Gent, Belgium on Monday afternoon and hit up a few tourist destinations. I started off in the Belfort en Lakenhalle (Belfry and Cloth Hall), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I climbed 215 feet up the 298 foot Belfry and got a great view of the city. I was at the top with the gargoyles when the bells chimed the hour, and I watched as the automated gears began to turn to ring the bells.

Just next door to the Belfry is Sint-Baafskathedraal (St. Bavo’s Cathedral). The exterior is a mix of Romanesque, Gothic, and baroque and the interior is filled with paintings, sculptures, screens, memorials, and tombs. The main “attraction” is Jan van Eyck’s 24-panel altarpiece The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. I stood staring at the detailed piece as at least two tour groups walked through.

My final stop was the Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts). I didn’t arrive in time to go into the castle, but I wandered around the outside looking at the architecture and the fortifications. I also wandered along a pretty stretch of canal before heading back to the train station – I had a hostel booked in Bruges and wanted to find it before dark.

I just barely caught the train to Bruges (saving myself a 30 – 60 minute wait for the next train) but it was so crowded that after walking through 3 train cars, I did like the other students and sat on the floor in the entry/exit part of the car and listened to my Dutch language podcast.

After a bus ride and a great deal more walking than necessary, I was able to find the hostel just as the sun went down. I checked into my room, left my bag in a locker, and followed the directions of the receptionist/bartender to the nearest grocery store to buy dinner. Pizza and juice seemed like a good enough choice until I returned to the hostel’s kitchen to find that there was no oven and the microwave appeared to be broken. Luckily, the microwave only appeared to be broken so I stuck the pizza in and figured soggy pizza was better than frozen pizza.

As I waited in the kitchen I talked to the other backpackers and ended up eating dinner with a Canadian who just applied to medical school and decided to travel Europe while waiting for the decisions of the schools. We wandered around town that evening finding some nicer pubs and some pretty shady ones. I was amazed at how silent the town was at night. After the cobblestones began to wear on our feet, we headed back to the hostel for some rest before the next day’s adventures.

October 11: Katwijk Beach

After 7 weeks of living just 6 km away from the North Sea without having actually seen it, I decided it was time to experience the beach! I had a free Saturday afternoon so I drug my housemate Toby away from his studies and we glanced at a map and jumped on our bikes. There’s a nice little bike route that guided our way (thank goodness because we only had the vague idea that we needed to head North) and took us along the canals, fields of sheep, and through town. On the way, we saw a couple driving horses from their carriage – Toby thought they might have been Gypsies.

We stopped at a grocery store along the way for picnic food – bagels and lox, chips and salsa, baked goods, and grapes to give the illusion of a healthy meal – and continued on our way. We did find the beach and I finally saw what the infamous Dutch dikes that I’ve been hearing about in class look like. Much of the country is actually below sea level. In fact, 60% of the population lives at or below sea level. So along the North Sea, they built up the coastline to keep the sea from ruining the cities. There was a large hill that resembled the grassy sand dunes of west Michigan along with an overflow dam in case of a particularly strong storm.

It wasn’t a typical beach day, but the weather was nice, the sun was out, and in the evening a light jacket was warm enough so by Dutch standards, it was a gorgeous day. As we picnicked, we watched a wedding party take pictures and horses walk up and down the coastline. After the picnic, it was time to frolick! We wandered barefoot along the beach, waded through the cold water to a sandbar, watched a fisherman at work, posed in front of the sun and left cartoon drawings in the sand. The trip took a bit longer than the anticipated 2 hour study break, but was well worth it. I only wish we could have stayed the last hour until sunset. But now that I know how close it is and how easy it is to get there – just about 20 – 30 minutes by bike – I plan to return when I have a free day, even if it means I’m all bundled up in my winter clothes. I’m only here for the cold season, so I have to take advantage of it warm weather or not!

October 9: Weather and News Update

It's been rainy a lot here lately, but yesterday afternoon and today the sun came out! I have a lot of reading to do, and some papers, but I have finished enough on the computer that I can go out and read in the sun before I go rowing this evening :) The weather is usually in the high 50s or low 60s during the day - though it changes three times daily. So everyone is wearing jackets and lots of layers to adapt to the various temperatures throughout the day.

The election news is very popular here. I actually feel quite well informed on US politics, though I know little about the current events in the country in which I live. Last night I watched the Presidential debate online with 3 of my housemates - one is American, one is Bulgarian but studied at De Paw and Georgetown, and one is British. For the first debate since it was a Friday night we had a gathering of about 50 international students all sitting around the television watching from 3 - 4:30am! It was hosted by Leiden Univ Students for Obama (I believe the group is headed by non-Americans) and only a handful of the attendees were actually American. It was quite impressive to see how interested they were in politics. Many students here are studying politics, law, and international topics, so it's nice to be in an environment where I can have in-depth intellectual conversations with people who are actually well informed.

That's all for now - back to the books!

October 3: Leiden's Ontzet / The Seige of Leiden

Preface: I am adding a whole bunch of new stories all at once. I’m trying to catch up because, being me, I can’t put up stories out of order. Thus, they may not all be as creative as they could be, but you’ll get the idea.

October 3: Leiden’s Ontzet / The Seige/Liberation of Leiden

My high school friend Philip came to visit on October 3rd from his study abroad post in Madrid. He chose a great weekend. October 3rd is Leiden’s Ontzet (in Dutch) or the Liberation or Siege of Leiden – I’ve heard it translated both ways. It’s a huge festival celebrating the defeat of the Spanish in 1547. Think the 4th of July meets the Iowa State Fair.

The whole city was transformed almost overnight. There were carnival games and rides everywhere: roller coasters, a Ferris wheel, and various other highly entertaining Adventureland-like rides appeared in and around town square. Cotton candy stands and fruit-filled doughnut stands and stroopwaffels (a Dutch delicacy of a warm thin waffle – similar to a freshly-made waffle cone with a caramel-like syrup in the middle) beckoned on every street. Vendors called from their games to knock down bottles, shoot darts, or play bingo to win a stuffed animal. Heineken and other beer stands found every few feet had lines of customers waiting. Herring stands – the tradition food of October 3rd – had shorter lines, but lines nonetheless. Amongst all of the food and games vendors were stands selling anything else you could possibly want from scarves to raw meat or cheese to electronics to customized street signs to decorative toilet seat covers. Restaurants extended their storefronts to include tents to form outdoor patios and added Hutspot to the menu for the day – a meal of mashed carrots and potatoes served with beef. The streets were packed and it was nearly impossible to walk a bike through, let alone ride it.

The whole town closes on October 3rd. Shops and grocery stores close early the night before and the University cancels all classes. Festivities focus around the night of Oct 2nd. I’m not sure why, but I suspect it’s because everyone has Oct 3rd off, but not the 4th, so they celebrate all night Oct 2nd and recover on Oct 3rd. This year, however, the 3rd fell on a Friday so festivities ran all of both days.

Philip arrived around noon on Friday (Oct 3) and we walked around town for a bit, collecting my bike from the opposite end of town in the process. I managed to ride it in the previous night before the crowds got too large, but wasn’t able to get it home. My basket was a little bent, but the bike made it through the night in fine form overall. We got an appeltaart to go – the standard Dutch dessert – before I biked him back to my house to drop off his bag.

Philip had never ridden on the back of a bike (or at least not in the last 18 years) and I had only chauffeured Gul, my 110-lb, 5’1” housemate who is able to straddle the bike for even weight distribution. Philip doesn’t weigh much more than Gul, but his backpack did and he is significantly taller. It took a few initial attempts, but we finally made it home without any crashes, scrapes, or bruises the first time or any other time throughout the weekend, including when Philip took a turn to bike me. I live about 10 minutes by bike from the city center (15 minutes with a passenger) so I got my work out as we went back and forth all weekend.

After dropping off his backpack, Philip and I returned to town and explored the canals and enjoyed a couple of carnival rides. We also tried the herring sandwich. That is now crossed off my list and I need not do so again. The top of the tallest ride provided a great view of the city which I was able to capture on film, though I did fear for my camera as I took the pictures. We went back home for dinner then back into town for the evening. I was able to recover both my purse (left at a friend’s house the night before) and my phone (a friend had borrowed it and accidentally left it at a house party) and then met up with the gang at a pub whose name translates to “The Cow.” We stood under the tent there, specially erected for the Oct 3 celebrations, waiting for the downpour to subside before we headed back to town square for the carnival games and rides. Toby was determined to win a tiger, and I really wanted one as well, but we were unsuccessful. He was awarded a consolation prize – an oversized “Mr. Perfect” tie – for his effort. After exhausting the rides and our wallets, we turned in for the night. Poor Philip had been up nearly 24 hours because of his early flight but he was a trooper. We set the alarms for the next day’s Amsterdam Adventure and got some much needed sleep.

October 4: Amsterdam Adventure

Philip and I made our way to Amsterdam the next day a bit tired, but ready for some sightseeing. Knowing he would be visiting, I hadn’t done many of the tourist destinations yet myself. We started off the day at the Anne Frank House, grateful that the sun finally came out. The line wasn’t too long, just about a 30 minute wait, but since it was mostly outside, we were thrilled that it wasn’t raining.

Having acclimated to living 5 km south of the North Sea and being used to the temperate climate and frequent changes in weather, I was thinking how nice the weather was. Philip had also adjusted to his new country of residence and had been enjoying the warm Spanish weather. So as I basked in the sun, he bundled up in several layers, gloves, and even purchased a hat to keep warm as we toured the city. It was then that I realized that I no longer judge weather so much by the temperature as by whether the sun is shining and whether the sky is clear. The city isn’t so bright that you can’t see stars here, but the skies are rarely clear enough.

The Anne Frank House was fascinating to see. It’s a former warehouse that’s mostly the same as it was when she was living there, but the furniture was removed long ago and Otto Frank (Anne’s father) didn’t want it to be replaced – a symbol of the emptiness and loss. Nearly all Jews in the Netherlands were exterminated during WWII. The NL declared neutrality early on so the Germans stormed in and set up camp right in 1940. The completeness of the eradication of Jews was due in part to the Dutch bureaucracy’s detailed records and in part to the fact that there’s just nowhere to hide. It’s a densely populated country (population density = 480 persons/square mile) without mountains or a vast unpopulated countryside. The Frank family was discovered in August 1944, over two years after the family had gone into hiding. Anne died in March 1945, just weeks before the camp was liberated by the British in April 1945.

After visiting the Anne Frank House, we caught the tram to the Van Gogh Museum. I decided that I like the portraits done in Belgium and the paintings of Parisian scenery best. Then we walked through Dam Square and had a nice dinner at A-Fusion in Chinatown, including bubble tea – one of my favorite drinks back home. Philip hadn’t experienced bubble tea before and expected hot tea with fizz. The poor guy was so excited about a warm beverage on such a “cold” day rather than a cold drink of smoothie-like consistency with tapioca pearls inside. After dinner, we wandered around the Red Light District for a bit then headed back to Leiden.

The following morning we headed to Den Haag for mass at the English speaking church there before he headed back to Madrid in the afternoon and I went home exhausted. I’d been jealous of my European friends whose friends were able to visit so easily and it was fun to get to have a friend in myself too. It was a quick trip, but we did a lot and had a great time.

German Get-away Weekend

Gutentag! I have just returned from a great weekend in Germany! The description:

It started off at 5pm when I got out of class and rushed home to pack for Oktoberfest! A large group of us were planning to go – catching a train at whatever time the ringleader figured out. That ended up falling through (trains too expensive, people old enough to rent a car didn’t have licenses, people with licenses not old enough to rent the car…) so Gul, Nickoletta and I headed to Rotterdam for the evening. I came back early to catch the Presidential Debate from 3 – 5am at a party hosted by Leiden University Students for Obama. I was impressed – there must have been 50 people there watching! And not just 50 people around, but actually watching the debates, occasionally throwing in their own editorial comments (moreso to McCain than Obama). I’d say no more than 15 of the people there were American. It continues to amaze me how engaged Europeans are in American politics. We had food and drinks and couches and there may have even been good conversation afterwards, but I headed home before I could find out – it was about a 20 – 25 min bike ride back to my room and I had a train to catch in the morning!

Saturday morning I awoke having missed my train, but feeling kind of rested at least. I had planned to get in to Essen, Germany around 1pm, but ended up not leaving until nearly 2pm. I texted Katharina on the way saying it was an easy journey. Then she called to say that there was an accident on the rail and that none of the trains were going to Essen. Unfortunately, my phone ran out of credit after that and I was left in Germany to find my way to Essen. I wasn’t too far away and found a girl who spoke great English and was also going to Essen. We got on the train and she guided me through the subway system until we arrived at the main station in Essen. I found a pay phone, called Katharina, and she and her father picked me up shortly after that. It was only a bit of an adventure and not too bad at all, other than the stress on the Jenni family as they worried about the American lost in Germany!

We got back to the house and I met the whole family. K’s parents were so warm and welcoming and I finally got to meet her brother Alex – he was nice enough to share his hair straightener with me all weekend! K’s mom made amazing dinners all weekend. As we sat down together on Saturday night, I folded my hands to pray and Katharina caught me – it’s just so natural to me when sitting down to family supper – and asked that I lead the family in prayer. She remembered it after I started it and I promised to say it more slowly next time so the rest of the family could follow the English. Dessert was an apple cake that was, of course, fantastic.

That evening K and I met up with two of her friends (the ones who would be willing to speak English, she said it would be weird for her other friends to come because they would speak German the whole time) for cocktails at Salsarita’s – they swore it was the best place in town. Afterwards, we called it a night – I was tired and we had some exploring to do in the morning!

Sunday morning Katharina and I went to Dusseldorf. We saw the Benrath Palace which is, as a friend described, very pink. Pink is the color of happiness, so all of the exterior of the building are pink. The interior had themes of hunting, the sun, and the seasons. There were also doors to nowhere – they didn’t actually function – but were placed in the location to give the appearance that the house was larger than reality. The entire palace was architecturally symmetrical – his and hers sides since they didn’t like each other that much anyway. Their marriage had been arranged when they were 9 by their families – back in the days when marrying cousins was the thing to do.

After touring the palace (K translated for me), we walked back to the train station and took it into the center of Dusseldorf to see the shops on the “Ko.” The street has all the high end stores: Gucci, Louis Vuitton, etc. It also had a Starbucks, so we got coffee and lemoncake to keep us going for the rest of the tour. The sugar helped wake me up enough to believe that there was actually a dress with a E2,500 price tag and a ring priced at E16,999. As we drank our coffee, it was fun just to people watch and see how dressed up they were on an unusually warm September day. Of course, no one was shopping since the stores were closed on Sunday, but they certainly matched the street they were on (and we did not!). We finished the Tour d’ Dusseldorf with a stroll down the Rhine, making our way through crowds of people out for a stroll on a nice day and jealously watching the jet skiers race by.

Sunday night brought more wonderful cooking and mousse du chocolat. K and I were pretty tired so we had snacks, watched a movie, and conked out early in preparation for the next day.

Monday morning, I enjoyed Cinnamon Toast Cruch for breakfast (the cereal I get here in the Netherlands just cannot compare to the taste or breadth of selection in the US). K’s mom drove us to Cologne to see the sights and I took my first trip via the Autobahn. We toured the Dom Cathedral – a church that has been standing for over 1,000 years – an impressive building by any standards, likely difficult to construct even with today’s technological advances! It has beautiful stained glass windows inside and provides a home to the remains of the Three Wise Men. We also walked through St. Andreas across the street, home of the skulls of the biblical Maccabee brothers as well as the crypt of Albertus Magus (St. Albert the Great). I love seeing how old Europe is and how much history there is to experience, especially compared to life in America where my aunt and uncle’s 100+ year old house is an anomaly.

The three of us enjoyed lunch on the Rhine in between the sites and drank the Koelsch that Cologne is known for brewing. I shared lunch with K’s mom – a pretzel and sausage for me (a Bavarian specialty), and some sort of meat and potato and cabbage meal for her, more typical of Cologne. As we made our way through the city, we did a

bit of shopping for me (only 6 weeks in and I’m already tired of wearing the few clothing items I brought) and purchased some Berliners (jelly doughnuts) for the ride home. We also visited the 4711 Store, the famous location where American soldiers bought perfume to take home to their wives during WWII. It was a fun day, but a bit exhausting and I slept the whole way home.

Monday evening we enjoyed another amazing dinner – some sort of meat and sauerkraut and

mashed potatoes – and then K and I got started on dessert! We whipped up some American-style chocolate chip cookies using the English-system measuring cups my grandma had given her before K returned to Germany – a great idea! The first batch was regular chocolate chip cookies, but for the second round, we took some of the baked cookies and broke them up into the cookie dough and baked them again. The result: cookies that were partly crunchy, partly chewy, and entirely amazing! It was an idea from my roommate back home (her aunt makes them that way) and it’s brilliant. K’s friend came over and we ate the cookies and the dough and watched an American movie for my last night in Germany.

Monday morning, I got up, packed, and jumped on a train back to Leiden and reality. But only for a few days. Thursday is the start of the Leiden’s biggest festival of the year, celebrating the Liberation of Leiden from the Spanish several hundred years ago and Philip arrives on Friday from Spain to join in the celebrations! So today is for grocery shopping (the stores will likely close from Thurs – Sat, and are never open Sunday anyway) and studying before the weekend starts all over again!