Having spent the last ten days in the Netherlands, I feel as though I can move to Germany without wishing I was in Groningen the whole time. As a result of this and the end of my denial, I booked my flight last night. I'm going out earlier than the conference to try and find lodgings, and am flying from Manchester on September 3rd. That's thirteen ( Read more... )

The promised lowlands update.

De dingen, die ik leuk vond:
- Ring of Fire with the Dutch, and them not understanding the concept of a finger. 
- Sitting on the hill near the Alpha blowing bubbles and listening to many bands.
- Leonie's bubble comment: I keep blowing big ones but I can't get them to release!
- It being so hot and sunny that we all have ( Read more... )

Last night, between the hours of 2100 and 2230 (GMT+2) I experienced what can only be described as the highlight of the Summer, if not of the year. Sigur Rós are amazing. I can't describe it.

I <3 Jónsi

Bigger update to follow my return to blighty tomorrow.

Ik zit met onze lieve Abelszusters wijn te drinken. We keken naar "Thank You For Smoking" en ik heb avondeten gekookt. Nu zitten we om naar de Ting Tings te luisteren en Anouk staat te dansen. Er zijn te veel muggetjes en hoewel ik eerder geen muggenbulten had, heb ik er nu twee: een op mijn linker been en een op een van mijn vingers. Morgen gaan ( Read more... )

The train's very expensive in Holland if you're not eligable for korting. It appears you're only eligable if you're rich (€55 for the card :( ) or if you're a Dutch student. So, it appears that good old Rita is in charge of the NS (they maintain that it stands for Nederlandse Spoorweg but I know different). I think I threw out the magazine ( Read more... )

I have only been learning Dutch for a little under two years. I'm way better at it than I am at German, which I've been learning for seven years. I am going to Germany for the first part of my year abroad, and Nederland for the second. Between the 10th and 19th August I will be in the country, to go to Lowlands and basically laze around in Gouda ( Read more... )

I officially moved out of my second-year house today. I wasn't as sad as I thought I was going to be. I'd done most of the packing on Saturday and my dad helped me finish the last few bits off and to clean the room before we left. It's strange being at home. There's a lot of food that's good-quality, but as of now I am going to have self control ( Read more... )

The last few days have been fun. Being able to do nothing and not feel guilty about it is an amazing feeling. So that's what I've done.

Nic and Leonie came to Sheffield last night to go out, but the celebrations started during the day; I went to Los Igaunos (sp?) with Catherine and had tasty tapas and then this thing from Brazil that I couldn't ( Read more... )

My parents visited today. I'd managed to drag myself out of bed at 7.30am to go to the library at 9, when it opened. Did some work on Brecht. Would like to have done more, but what can you do? Did some grammar revision. Was about to start my Schnitzler revision when a woman came into the room and made the following announcement: "Due to high winds ( Read more... )