Fall Break Begins

Well midterms week is nothing but a blur to me now. I managed to get everything turned in and so far my test grades have been much better than I expected. I headed for the airport on Thursday afternoon after a long day of two tests and finishing a paper at the last possible second. I saw it rain in Provence for the first time since I arrived in September. Unfortunately it was pouring down rain all over our baggage for about 20 minutes while they waited to load it onto the plane. Ryan Air, the airlines I fly with in Europe, is dirt cheap and for good reason. The only fly a limited number of places, the seats don’t recline, not even the peanuts are free, they can cancel your flight without reimbursing you and they don’t have tarps for their luggage carts. Luckily for me my REI bag is waterproof, others were not so fortunate.

The plane ride went well. I read my first David Sedaris book and it was hilarious. I actually had to stop reading it because I was laughing uncontrollably and people were staring. I sat next to a musician from Montpillier, France who was traveling with the 85 person orchestra he plays in to Germany for a concert. We spoke in french about school, his music, traveling and Bush, of course. Everyone in Europe wants to know what Americans think about Bush and how the hell he got re-elected. When the plane landed the passengers all cheered, as if they seriously doubted that we would actually land safely. This lack on confidence did not reassure me for my flight with Ryan Air to Barcelona.

From the airport I hopped on a bus from Eindhoven to Amsterdam. It was about 1 ½ hours long and I ended up talking to some people from France. There were 5 guys and 1 girl all traveling together for the weekend to Amsterdam. They were a couple years older than me and really funny. They didn’t speak any english so it was pretty cool. They ended up inviting me to hang out with them for the night and stay in their hotel since I traveled alone. So I went out with them for the night but decided to just stay in my hostel since I already paid for the bed. We went to a coffee shop for a couple hours and grabbed some food and then parted ways. It was really awesome hanging out with them. I actually ran into them the next day when my friends and I were walking to the Van Gogh museum. Small world.

After I left the frenchies I headed to my hostel. At this point it was about 2 in the morning and so I put my stuff down and sat down in the bar inside the hostel to have a beer. As soon as I put my purse down this drunk Canadian kid waved me over to sit next to him so I went and sat down. He told me the most ridiculous stories I have ever heard come out of someone’s mouth. They were really entertaining so I just nodded and oohed while he told lie after lie. At one point he told me he was photographing a riot from a rooftop and a helicopter spotlighted him so he jumped off the roof, sprained his ankle and started running. Then suddenly one of the police officers from the helicopter, in full riot gear hunted him down, threw him on the ground, pinned him down with his shield and took him to jail. Right. Earlier in the evening he told me he wasn’t able to smoke, drink caffine or eat chocolate because he had a heart condition and they would cause him to have some sort of anxiety attack. An hour later when I busted out my Beuno Bar (my personal version of crack…chocolate style) he practically drooled all over me until I offered him some. He snarfed half my bar and I kept waiting for him to pass out but it never happened. Damn. Around 4 am I got tired of hearing his rubbish so I crashed out.

End first night in Amsterdam.