Halftime

So I haven't updated in a while, and this is going to be a short post. However I am now officially over the halfway point of my time here in Europe and I thought a blog entry would be appropriate.

It's exam/essaytime in the Netherlands, hence the lack of anything in my life to blog about. The system at Vrije Universiteit is apparently two mini, 2-month semesters per semester. Up until now I've been taking two courses (International Commercial Arbitration and Internet Governance), consisting of a gruelling 3 hours of classes a week spread out over 2 days.

However, as slack as the semester has been, I'm actually a little worried about my exams. One thing that has caused me anxiety was the "sample question" posted on my Internet Governance course website by our professor:

One of the IG models is about transnational en international regulation. Give one argument why this is a good combination, so transnational en international, and give one argument why this is not a good combination.

Right. This is also from the guy who in his concluding lecture decided to leave us with this sage advice:

We will watch as important aspects of privacy and free speech are erased by the emerging architecture of the panopticon, and we will speak, like modern Jeffersons, about nature making it so-forgetting that here, we are nature

So basically I'm winging it. And as I still don't really know what international commercial arbitration is, it actually seems like it might be a bit of a struggle to get that 55% or whatever it is I need to pass.

After my exams tomorrow and Friday playtime is over school-wise and shit gets real with upwards of 10.5 hours a week (but only some weeks) over the course of 4 days. I don't know how my poor, lazy, body and mind will adjust.

Honestly though, I have the feeling that November and December are going to absolutely fly by. This weekend will be my final one spent completely in Amsterdam before I come home. I've got trips planned to Berlin, Hamburg, Valencia, Madrid, Lisbon, Krakow and Budapest, as well as a 5-day music festival in Utrecht. On top of that I opted not to write any exams this semester (allowing me to fly home on December 18th rather than the 24th), which means I have to somehow squeeze in about 10 assignments/papers in those short, 38 days.

Oh well, I'm optimistic. It won't leave much time for blogging but I'll do what I can to write about my travels and Dutch Christmas which, by the looks of the racist candy popping up in stores all over town, is going to be quite the event.

The loveable little character featured above is Zwarte Piet or "Black Peter", Sinterklaas' right-hand-man who kidnaps children who have been naughty at Christmastime and whisks them off to Spain in his boat. Actually.

Much more to come!

Why I Love Prague

I recently visited Prague, Czech Republic. I'd heard consistently from people who've been it was a great place to go and I should really czech it out (ha! only czech pun, promise) but no-one was ever able to explain distinctly why or what exactly I should be doing/seeing while I'm there, or what made it so memorable. As such I've decided to make a list of the reasons why, in a short, 3.5 day trip, Prague took its place as one of my favourite cities:

• It's Super Old and Beautiful

There are a lot of old, beautiful places in Europe. So this isn't necessarily a unique feature of Praha, but things like the main square and Charles Bridge are truly spectacular. It seems like a lot of other cities I've visited were devestated by WWII with a lot of the buildings having to be rebuilt afterwards, whereas in Prague most of the city centre is original and completely gorgeous. I took way too many pictures of the beauty of the city, which you can view here if you feel inclined, but below is a sample.

• There's a Bone Church

OK, so this one isn't in Prague per se, but Prague is very close to Kutna Hora, a town with a bone church. If you've got more than a couple of days in Prague this town is definitely worth a side trip as it's again, old and beautiful, the food and drink is much cheaper than in the city (which is already very cheap) and there's a weird, creepy, touristy bone church that I enjoyed thoroughly.

• They Love Hockey

In my first couple of hours in Prague I witnessed both a young man walking down the street carrying his ice skates and hockey bag (a rare if not non-existant sight in Amsterdam) and this:

Which, obviously, made me happy beyond belief. The original purpose for Josh's and my trip to Prague was to watch an NHL game in the city as the Bruins and Coyotes were playing each other on October 9th an 10th and it would be our only chance to watch some hockey for a while, considering Canucks games start at 4am.

The stadium filled up more than the pictures show, but it was still far from a sell-out crowd. While the game itself was mediocre, it was great being in a hockey arena where beers cost less than $7 (actually like the equivalent of $3, excellent). The fans who were there were really into it, they seem to love the Bruins in Prague, presumably because of Krejci, and there were some good chants going on. There was also one very vocal, crazy Czech Phoenix supporter sitting right behind us who screamed "LET'S GO PHOENIX, LET'S GO" every time any Boston chants started, which was pretty great. The childrens' chamber choir singing The Star-Spangled Banner before the game was also adorable/hilarious, though I don't know if my video truly captured how cute it was.

• Absinthe

It seems like there are a lot of mixed opinions about where, exactly, one can buy "real" absinthe. You see the stuff for sale all over Europe, in Canada, etc., but it seems like most are just very high-percent alcohol and don't contain wormwood, which from my understanding is what makes absinthe absinthe-y. I definitely know nothing about this and was too lazy to read the entire Wikipedia article, but it seems as though it's pretty well-known the real stuff has never been banned in the Czech Republic and you can buy it there. Drinking absinthe was never a part of my reason for travelling to Prague, but Josh and I met some charming Canadian guys on our first night at the hostel who were going to down a massive bottle of absinthe, smoke a bunch of mangy Czech weed and hit the town around 2am. While we decided against joining them in their adventures we did go to an absinthe shop the next night to have a couple shots of the stuff. I really enjoyed it, the whole history and ritual around it is pretty cool and it definitely has a nice effect, though I didn't see any green fairies.

• The Men Grow Fine Moustaches

We saw lots of men with some top-shelf moustaches. I didn't snap any pictures, as I don't like taking pictures of strangers, though Josh always insists it's easy to do so surreptitiously. There are very few moustaches in the Netherlands, which makes me sad, though we'll see if that changes come Movember (or as Americans call it, No-Shave November. Not as cool.).

Jan Krejci, one of the founders of the awesome Czech 'stache.

• There's Art and/or Weirdness Everywhere

Penguins and a giant chair

John Lennon Wall

Attempting to be arty like the Praguians. Not so much.

Giant baby with no face.

A pub in Kutna Hora with a tank containing 3 large and very pissed-off turtles at the bar. The following pictures are all from Kutna Hora, which had plenty of weird to go around.

I really enjoyed the campaign posters, not sure why.

• The Delicious, Cheap, Delicious Food

Last, but certainly not least was the food. Oh, the food. This is actually what made my trip. All I wanted to do was eat but as the food is all exceptionally heavy and meaty or cheesy, breaks were unwanted but necessary.

Street vendor specializing in sausages and FRIED CHEESE sandwiches

Josh is a happy boy. And mulled wine is a perfect, $2.50 compliment to any fatty snack.

First non-cheese meal = Wild Boar Goulash! With Dumplings! Delicious.

My meal in Kutna Hora (massive glass of wine and roasted veggies and pork absolutely blanketed in cheese) cost about $6 Canadian. Love.

Thanksgiving Dinner! Josh had duck and dumplings.

I had venison pate and baked camembert with chilli peppers.

Ending my trip the way it began, with delicious fried cheese.

The stunningly beautiful weather and leaves changing colour, etc., might have helped form my opinion that Prague is a central European utopia, when I'm sure there are actually downsides to the city, as there are everywhere. But for now I'm going to echo the advice of anyone I've met who's travelled there and say it's definitely worth visiting if you're ever in Europe. Also, I'm at the point where anywhere that isn't the flat, characterless Netherlands is seeming like heaven to me, but more on that later.

cinque terre

For years, people I know who have travelled visited Cinque Terre, a coastal string of five villages in Northern Italy, have told me it is one of their favourite places in Europe and an absolute must-see. They were all right. It's absolutely stunning, and as such I thought I would just write a very short post encouraging everyone who has a chance to visit. The link for my Flickr album is below if you want a taste of what Cinque Terre looks like:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51962116@N05/sets/72157625108636166

My apologies for my crappy camera and even worse photography skills.