Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Cantus

I just want everyone to know that I voluntarily put myself through some massive hazing. That is what Cantus is and it was one of the best nights in Maastricht.

Basically, there is a leader, there are punishments, and there is lots of singing. OH and how could I forget...A LOT of drinking. I am so glad I never got punished, it looked horrible. One girl had to take a mixed Absinthe shot. Anyone who has hung out with me here knows I am very fond of Absinthe, but a  mixed Absinthe shot freaks me out! Plus with the amount of beer we were required to chug, it just inevitably equals getting sick.

One of my friends kept not being silent when we were told and had to chug lots and lots of beer in front of everyone. Before we drank we had to say "prosit senior prosit corona." If you forgot.. more beer. If you left your book open.. more beer. If you talked out of line.. punishment then more beer.

I know it sounds ridiculous, but it is tradition. AND SO FUN!

The only problem was... I needed to be productive the next day. Didn't happen.

Monday, December 5, 2011

¿Que Pasa Barcelona?

Barcelona might have been the happiest, most uncomfortable, fun trip I have taken so far. Of course I got to see a few of my sisters (SO AMAZING) and the beautiful city... but man oh man the men there are CREEPERS. I don't know what it is about my boobs but they get a lot of attention out here. A man stopped me in the street by putting his hand across my chest (yes that's how small they are, get over it) and somehow managed to get a death grip on my wrist. He started asking me a million questions about my ethnicity because I was so beautiful blah blah... Morgan noticed I was stopped and rescued me. THANK GOD. Adrienne and I were followed a few times and all of us were harassed forever. At one point one of them said something rude and I immediately screamed back,
"Vaffanculo!"
which is "fuck you" in Italian (yes, I do realize that is the complete wrong language). Currently after this abroad experience, I know a bit of Dutch, Spanish, and Italian.

Another funny moment was when this rando was following us and Lindsey (badass) turned around at started screaming at him to leave. Then ALL OF US started screaming at him. He walked in front of us and kept saying "You want to see my ass?" Libby goes, "Yeah I want to see your ass"... (WHAT)... "I want to see your ass gone!" (OH OKAY, makes more sense). Literally I died laughing because at first I was so confused/scared that he was going to pull his pants down and I wasn't really sure what Libby was getting at.

The best part was the shots bar. There were so many choices. A few that we did were the Colorado (of course it had absinthe), Boyscout (with a marshmallow), Harry Potter, Beso Blanco, Bob Marley, Playa Banana... the list goes on. Most of them were absolutely delicious.

As far as the sights go, Park Güell and Sagrada Familia were beautiful.

Monday, November 28, 2011

gobble gobble... but not really.

Cheers to the most dysfunctional Thanksgiving ever. Shana, Elana, and I went to pick up people from the Brussels train station. After, we tried to go find a place to eat and the only thing that happened to be around was this gourmet, extravagant restaurant. So, obviously (we rich folk) went in to have a nice Thanksgiving dinner. Of course we couldn't afford an entree, so we all got and appetizer and dessert. Yum.

Then to top it off we went to the most magical place on Earth... Delirium Cafe. Long story short, got booted out of the hotel and Elana and I spent the night at Delirium. COOL.

Went to Amsterdam yesterday. Another long story short, Bulldog's Coffeeshop space cakes make me retarded. The end.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

If you're lucky enough to be Irish, then you're lucky enough

Not in a million years did I think I would love Ireland so much. First of all, EVERYTHING IS IN ENGLISH. YIPEEEEE. Second, everyone is so friendly and HILARIOUS. On the first day we went to the Cliffs of Moher. As part of our tour we got to go on an old family farm that was in County Clare. Their farm was located on The Burren, which is the rocky, hilly part of Ireland. The hills are covered in limestone and it is what they use to build all their stone fences. The west part of Ireland is exactly what is seen in P.S. I love you. After hiking around we played with baby sheep and had home baked cakes and pie from his Grandmother (who thought i'd be chillin' in a house owned by a nice Granny that made me pie?). The cliffs were unbelievable. At the highest point it is about 1050 ft. tall and span 5 miles long.


This is a tree that has a million things tied onto it. Apparently it used to be an old Irish tradition that if you had a problem, you tie something to the tree and then your problem stays with the tree. I left something on that tree, hope it works.

Dublin is such a cool city. More importantly the Irish pubs are quite the experience. There was live music everywhere and the people sure do drink...a lot. I fit right in! :)




The Guinness factory was one of the coolest places in Dublin. Apparently the guy that made Guinness had such pride in his product and faith, he signed a 9,000 year lease for the land for his brewery. WHAT?

 Also, at one of the pubs, they did a cover of The Kooks, She Moves in Her Own Way. So me and this old Irish man were singing and dancing to this and having the BEST TIME EVERRRR.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Berlin, concert, carnaval

Suzanne and I went to Berlin for the weekend. The bad part was staying in a hostel of 8 people that were super inconsiderate. My favorite part of Berlin was the East Side Berlin Wall. It is the part of the Berlin Wall that is still standing that artists have decorated. I also got asked on a date in Berlin which was super exciting. But, unfortunately... I BAILED.

The day after getting back from Berlin, I went to The Kooks concert in Amsterdam. Honestly was one of the greatest shows I have seen in forever. They are so wonderful live, and the new album is so good. My favorite songs they performed were Tick of Time and Seaside. PHENOMENAL!

Then a few days after that, (haha I know, I learned how to rally REALLY well) we went to Carnaval. Carnaval is basically the 100 day countdown to the actual Carnaval. I literally can't explain what it is. Its basically like their Halloween plus ten times more alcohol than anyone normal can consume. The most ridiculous costumes EVER. Everyone participates in it too, all ages.


Other than that I have been SUPER busy and I leave for Ireland tomorrow. O M G.

Friday, November 4, 2011

halloween




All of the American's definitely showed Maastricht how Halloween is supposed to be done. Hope everyone's Halloween was as wonderful as mine! Now, I'm off to Berlin! More outrageous stories coming soon!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

croatia

Croatia was one of the funniest adventures of all time. First we had to spend the night at the Cologne airport, which I thought was really going to suck…but I was wrong.  I was sitting in a random chair and next thing I know this guy sat down next to me. He was on the professional men’s volleyball team! I made friends with the team and actually went and saw one of their games. 


The first day of exploring Split was beautiful. The people here have overall been really nice. I have been eating so much seafood. NOM. We hiked up this huge hill and found a zoo. Yes, zoo is a universal word. It was absolutely hilarious because their zoo was basically a farm and then a tiger and a bear.  Oh yeah they had 2 monkeys too. The kinds of animals they had there were bunnies, goats, horses, donkeys, chickens…ect. It also turned into a petting zoo because the animals came to you when you called them. HILARIOUS



We also went to Dubrovik. It is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We hung out all day in the old city. On our way back we were not so lucky. We got on the wrong bus and they kicked us off at border control. We hung out at border control until another bus came... mind you this is at around 10 at night. That happened to be the last bus and it was not going to take us home. That bus took us as far as it could without passing Split. We then got off on the side of the interstate at a toll booth and were told to "either sleep on the side of the road or
hitch hike home. So we hitch hiked. We finally made it home around 3 am.


There are cats everywhere in Croatia. I found a kitten and of course had an allergic reaction. No meds, no pharmacy, no hospital... I just let my face be swollen and suffered.

Also Right before we left, I fell down a marble staircase. I have not been this sore in a long time. I definitely have many bruises to prove it. 

Friday, October 14, 2011

bad news beers

   

Claire and I joined a beer pong tournament. We both definitely drank wayyyy too much. Each game was about a liter of beer. We played 4 games, and then got 2 more liters just to drink. Do the math, that's a lot of liters. YUM! Our team was called Bad News Beers. Clever eh? I cannot wait till the next tournament. I am going to win. My friends won this tourney and the trophies are soooo cool.

We also went to the Netherlands v. Moldova game. One of the coolest things I have ever done. WE WON!  The stadium was packed and it was pouring rain. But it was the coolest thing ever.

I met these girls from all over the world and we decided to bring dinner from our "home." I have never had such good food. There were people from Russia, Poland, Israel, Costa Rica, Holland, and Italy. I brought homemade chili, which was also bomb. I can't tell you what the names of the food were, but I can tell you that YOU missed out.

Monday, October 3, 2011

beach

This past weekend I went to The Netherlands coast. After all the Oktoberfest festivities and midterms week (killed me), this was much needed. Also, this weekend was special because it was Olivia's birthday. We had the most wonderful time. The water of course was freezing, but it was the perfect weather. I haven't seen a beach sunset in the longest time.

I have NEVER had such great food as I did in Haarlem. We went to dinner at this tiny vegetarian restaurant and I ate so much. I probably gained 30 pounds, no joke. The desserts out here are phenomenal. I am seriously not looking forward to the crap food in the United States.

We had an argument with one of the Bus drivers. He was so rude to us. I wasn't quite sure where to go and he told me to go to "E." I repeated what he said, "E?" and he said, "Do you not speak English? A B C D EEE." Woah. Seriously everything in my power not to kill him.

We also met a worker at the Hostel that might come visit us in Maastricht. She's a really cool girl and told us a lot of things we can do in The Netherlands. We all sat around a fire and talked to some Haarlem locals for a long time. One guy played the guitar and another girl brought out "her secret stash or marshmallows" Amazing weekend.

Friday, September 30, 2011

oktoberfest

First of all let me say that it was one of the best weekends I have ever had. Somehow I ended up there with like 25 boys and me. I stayed in a tent with my friends Matt and Chris and it was one of the funniest things ever. There's about a million tents everywhere and they are so close you can hear everything from everyone. I pillow talked with my tent neighbor. ANYWAY, the beer was fabulous :)

Yes, I know my eyes aren't straight in this picture.

And that picture definitely sums up the weekend. I managed to steal a stein and not end up in jail, go on bumpercars, and took naps on a hill. If I typed everything that happened to me, it would be a novel in itself. BUT my friend AJ did make the cover of the Munich newspaper. AND I gave my email address out (???) because I definitely had emails from Ben from England (who are you?). Also there are many people in my pictures that I never recall meeting.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Amsterdam

I finally made it to Amsterdam and it is definitely one of the most bizarre places on the planet. There are basically three types of shops in Amsterdam- bars, coffee shops, and sex stores. 

Let me just start by telling you some of the weird things I saw in Amsterdam. 

First, there was a MOB of 500 people (girls and guys) walking down the street shouting their love for Justin Bieber. I wanted to barf. I don't understand how this even happened because I am pretty sure he was not in Amsterdam this weekend. A video of it is on fb if anyone is interested.

In one of the squares were werewolves, everywhere. WTF?

Then there was the Red Light District. May or may not be one of the creepiest places on earth. The girls are eye level to you and some are really gross. I guess I thought it was going to be totally different than it was. In one of the Amsterdam books it says that pretty much anyone can be a prostitute if they wanted to. The rooms are rented out for hours and thats it. So if I really wanted to pay off college, I guess I could. Worth a try right? I heard you can make 500-600 Euro in a night. CHACHING.

Then there was this place. Fancy/decorative condoms? WHAT? 



Sunday, September 11, 2011

Are you kidding ?

So, I went to this huge highlighter party at De Alla. I had a good night despite many...many unfortunate things that happened. I'll just get right to it. First, walking there was a disaster due to the pouring rain. Then, one of my friends threw up all over me. I was covered in red wine and jager vomit. After running upstairs to the bathroom to clean myself up, I went back and carried on with my night (wow right?). To help the situation I was also covered in glow stick juice and face paint so it didn't look that weird that half of me was red. Finally, I ended up dancing with this guy that apparently had cut his arm open unknowingly. When I got home, I also had blood all over me. Not to mention, this place was a sauna and I never dried off from the rain. So my shoes and whole outfit are ruined because they are ridiculously stained. My friend who vomited on me apologized many many times, but still cant look me in the eye.

I also went to a music festival and it definitely reminded me of Colorado. There was tons of stages on a huge field and lots of cool shops. I saw a poster promoting a reggae fest, will definitely be there.

I got a new tattoo! The guy that did it is named Wouter and he was such a funny, humble, dutch man. It was not as painful as I thought it would be.

I was going to make a trip to Rotterdam tomorrow, but once again I am sick. All of us keep passing around each others colds. Its stupid.

Some other random things I have done:
- Played Jenga in a coffeeshop
- Went to Highlander (bar) after a coffeeshop and walked in on some weird ass party and everyone was dressed as animals (creepy).
- Almost got kidnapped by three guys
- I officially have a stalker. His name is Gorkem (wtf)
- Found these cute boots (so expensive).. but a girl should treat herself once in a while right??
-I am going to the soccer match Holland v. Moldova. PUMPED

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

school

SCHOOL IS SO HARD. I am pretty sure just about everyone had some sort of mental break down in the past few days. They kind of just throw you into this business of PBL learning. I have class three times a week which is the most out of anyone I have talked to. PBL is interesting because you really don't need to attend lectures. What you do attend is student group meetings and debates. This has been very difficult to get accustomed to. Also, trying to listen and understand everyone's strong accents is so hard. I am the only person from the States in one of my tutorial groups. Huge pain in the ass.

I am going to the tattoo parlor tomorrow :)
I want to get a dove tattoo on the inside of my arm. I am hoping it comes out looking almost like a scar. I hear there are a lot of complications with white ink tattoos, but maybe something else can be done like a light gray or something. Who knows, I am just really excited.

At the moment everyone is getting ready to go to a highlighter party. SUPER EXCITED. I don't have class the next two days so I finally get to rage again.

I don't remember if I mentioned it or not, but I ran into the kid that did the drive by boob grab....with his MOTHER. HA

Friday, September 2, 2011

hungover

I still can't understand how everyone is so skinny here. Everyone eats french fries with mayonnaise all the time.

Sick.

This has been an unbelievable experience so far. There's this cool coffee shop called Cool Runnings after the Jamaican bobsled movie.

Everyone goes to this bar (cafe) called The Highlander pretty much every night. I have met people from all over the world. It's hard to keep track of all the people actually. Since there are so many exchange students from everywhere, it's easy to make friends.

Last night Maastricht University hosted a pub crawl. Each group was about 15 kids and 2 students chaperoned us. My group was obviously the best. The boys taking us to each bar were in a Dutch fraternity. I was talking to them about Greek life at DU and I can say I am grateful to be in a sorority. Hazing here is 4 months long. Yeah what the hell right?
Anyways, the pub crawl was the best decision I have made here. One of the best nights ever ever ever. After this trip, I am going to need a new liver.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Is this real life?

This is my first drunken post so just go with it. I got back from my study tour in Brussels, Bruge, Paris, Versailles, and Reims. If you asked me to sum it up, I would have to say...we all drank alcohol like it's water. This group of kids that I am with everyday is the funniest bunch I have ever met. Now I am meeting the international students and I wondering what the hell I was thinking not going to Australia. Every single person (including all the guys) have crushes on all the Aussie's here. But the drunken fiasco just continued as soon as we got back to Maastricht. I tried Absinthe tonight...awesome. Then I walked home through a park and seesawed with a boy for a good 15 minutes (I can't even remember the last time I have seen a seesaw). This is what my life has become. GOODNIGHT.  

Friday, August 26, 2011

Best Story Yet

If there is any post to read it is this one. I was walking through the park with three of my friends. Coincidentally, I was talking about how these sketchy guys were there last night and that it was really uncomfortable walking through there. There were these two kids there maybe ages (8-10). One of them looks at me and says, "I WANT SEX."I immediately freaked out and we all kept walking up this ally way. Next thing I know they got on their bike. One was pedaling and the other was riding on the back. They were following us up this ally and eventually passed us. They turned their bike around and started heading straight towards us. Right as they are about to pass me the kid reaches out and GRABS MY BOOB. IT WAS A DRIVE BY GRAB. So if you can picture me getting molested by an 8 year old and then freaking out in the street, that is what happened. Then they followed me home.

Lesson learned: Watch out for all boys ages 8-60 during all hours of the day. Guys here are ridiculous.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Fake call

Finally just about everyone has a cell phone so now we can all find each other. There's this really cool feature on all of our phones. It's called "Fake Call." It says in the hand book, "You can simulate an incoming call when you want to get out of meetings or unwanted conversations." Basically you can set a timer for your phone to call itself. Then you pretend to talk to someone and walk away from creepers.

Today we went on a city tour, boat tour, and to the caves. All of them were so cool. The caves are so big and I think the tour guide said there are over 200 of them under the ground. They have names carved in to every wall dating back to World War II and earlier. There was also charcoal art done all over the walls. There was everything from dinosaurs to the royal family tree.

Also, today my friend was not so lucky when ordering food! Pizza with egg ? HA

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Check out my ride

Bought a kiddie bike for 50 Euros today. Lucked out because there's somewhere around 200 people searching for bikes and not many are left. Because they are in high demand, the ones that are left are around 200 Euros. When I bought it both tires were flat and I had to ride it home. Legs. So. Sore. Ok so  you basically ride your bike in the street which is really scary. There are roundabouts here and the bike lanes are included in that. It's really intense riding around here. The bike lanes are shared by the mopeds also. I realized that if I am going to get injured (or killed), riding my bike is how it will be done. I also purchased lights and a cool bell for my bike. Don't want to get fined!

Last night was a thunderstorm comparable to the Colorado thunderstorms. Absolutely insane, everyone was awake.

Some funny things about my new home:
-Showers are co-ed and don't have slants to the drains. Yes, I flooded the shower
-They charge for condiments
-No free refills
-Water is not free
-Some public bathrooms you have to pay to use
-The McDonalds is a two story building
-There's beer on tap inside one of my school buildings




Monday, August 22, 2011

Dutch Life aka Thug Life

Finally in The Netherlands and holy hell this is stressful. Even my own blog went Dutch. I went to a restaurant and just guessed what to order. It ended up being pretty good, but it was quite the gamble. I ordered an ice tea and they gave me some sort of sparkling drink that was also pretty good.

The grocery store is in a mall and there's a million people in there because it is tiny. I went in there to shop today, but decided not to buy anything because there was just too much going on.  The mall looks like a million dollar stores crammed into one giant place.

This is on the back of my door, I laughed for a good while. Basically if there is an emergency I call Satan.

Well after 2 days of flying and all kinds of drama-rama. I am going to the bar. I need a drink.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

How to keep myself entertained with all this travelling.

I am at the Philadelphia airport running on no sleep. I am in a very frazzled state. Being alone with hours and hours of travelling time ahead of me has made me lose my freaking mind.


Things I have done for entertainment:


-People watched
-Eavesdropped
-Joined in on conversations while eavesdropping
-Called just about anyone who will talk to me
-Walked through every store in the airport
-Watched hours of Modern Family
-Listened to people from other countries say over and over "THIS IS AMURRRICA." (hilarious)
-Looked up fun facts about The Netherlands. They are as follows: 


= The Dutch are the tallest people in Europe
= After the Scandinavians, the Dutch are the world's biggest coffee drinkers 
= One quarter of The Netherlands is below sea level.
= People in Holland eat raw herring with onions on top (Should I try this? Ick)


Well I think it is time to walk around the airport again. Maybe I missed something?