#8 - Czech'd Ourselves Before We Almost Wrecked Ourselves (In Heidelberg)

Our school "spring trip" was to Prague, Czech Republic this year! I was personally very excited about getting to go to Prague, since I'd always been envious of my high school peers: they went to Prague our senior year and all got "Czech Me Out" t-shirts--and I wanted one really badly.

Needless to say, I GOT ONE. 

Besides my cheesy souvenir, Prague was great. It's a really interesting city because it's such a melting pot of different things: culture, architecture, art, people, etc. I spent most of my time in Prague with my World Since 1914 history class, but over the weekend I got to see a tour of the city, the Cathedral at the Prague Castle, Terezin (a Jewish ghetto and prison right outside of Prague), an awful American-made museum on Communism, AND I fought the power here at the Castle to be allowed to go off on my own one afternoon to see the Mucha museum. Alfons Mucha, essentially the father of Art Nouveau, is by far my favorite artist, and it was great to be able to walk through his tiny museum and really take my time, by myself. 

A Mucha stained glass window in the Cathedral.

Photo credit: Nick Heller.

After our organized Prague trip ended on Monday, Rebecca Bradshaw and I headed out to Germany, where we decided to go for our "spring break" of six days. We chose to do this 1) because we both had Eurail, which meant we didn't have to pay for ANY travel for six days, 2) we're both acting students, and Germany's got a great theatre reputation. So we did five cities in six days: Dresden, Berlin, Göttingen, Heidelberg, and Munich. Dresden was my favorite, and Heidelberg probably my least favorite, only because we walked around in the dark for three hours in the pouring rain with our backpacks on trying to find a hostel--and then the hostel a) sucked and b) was expensive. We saw shows in Dresden, Berlin and Munich--the Munich show, at the Kammerspiele, was by far the best. It was an absolutely incredible physical comedy that would be much easier for me to gush about in person, so I will.

The view from the Heidelberg Castle.

All in all, the trip was great. The Germans--though we'd heard from some of our peers that they could be a bit harsh--were incredibly nice the whole trip, and the country is really beautiful. Not to mention, German actors literally get 10-15 minute curtain calls. Like, no joke. Why on earth am I trying to become an actor in the United States?

For my very few Prague and Germany pictures, click here!

#7 - Welcome to my office!

Interlaken, Switzerland.

Daaaaaaang.

Yeah, so. Kelly and I decided to do our own thing in Switzerland this weekend, but since I had to see a show for a class, we couldn't leave until Friday morning. This meant traveling from 8AM to 6PM, consequentially cutting out a lot of time in Interlaken. Thankfully, unless you're partaking in one of the many high-adrenaline, blood-pumping, why-in-God's-name-am-I-doing-this extreme sports, there's not a lot to do. So, Friday night, we found our hostel (the Funny Farm...classy naming, I know) where we were greeted by an ENORMOUS SAINT BERNARD. Yes, the hostels in Switzerland have dogs. Particularly large dogs. Yes, I spent a lot of time in the public lobby of a highly populated hostel baby-talking and practically rolling around with a big, hairy, smelly dog. I talked about that Saint Bernard a whole lot while we were there. After putting down our stuff and silently deciding that our Iowan roommates were, frankly, boring, we headed to the Thai restaurant right down the street (Saint Bernard? A Thai restaurant? Interlaken is practically Lynchburg, VA) for dinner. Mmmmmmm. After that, we attempted to play card games with the 36-carded deck the generous bartender at the hostel had given us, and then we went upstairs and studied for mid-terms until approximately 10:45.

Then, Saturday, we got up fairly early and walked around the shops. I looked for an antique bookstore everywhere, feeling that since I was in the Swiss Alps, maybe I could find a copy of Heidi for my mother; alas, there are not many bookstores in Interlaken, and the ones that do are mostly too small to carry any copies of the novel. We got a quick lunch at the Thai restaurant (YES it was that good) and then met up with our skydiving group.

Yeah, skydiving.

It was pretty phenomenal. We flew to 13,000 feet, I sat on the stairs of an open plane and my instructor barrel-rolled us into the sky over the Swiss Alps. Free-fall for approximately 53 seconds, where I made no sounds--just grinned like an idiot--and the parachute was pulled at 4,000 feet. After that was about 5-7 minutes of airtime, where my ruggedly handsome Australian instructor Mick did as many tricks (aka spinning around a LOT) as he could to try and frighten me. He couldn't. But he did tell me, in the midst of our 4,000 feet-high conversation, that before he skydove for a living, he used to work in an underground coal mine. How's that for poignancy?

To see the rest of my Interlaken pictures--and there aren't that many--go here!

#6 - How many visits does it take to become a Belgian Citizen?

Because by the end of April, I will have been to Belgium three times. 

Two friends and I decided to make it an easy weekend and go to Belgium, relatively close to us here in the Netherlands. We were going to hit up Brussels on Friday and spend the night, then on Saturday, head to Antwerp. We didn't really do anything in either city besides just walking around and eating at various times. I sent Stefan Van Bragt, a Belgian family friend, an email before our trip, and he put us in touch with his daughter, Isabelle (the last time I saw her was maaaaaybe when I was under the age of ten). She and her boyfriend, Thom, were nice enough to meet us in Antwerp, where they both go to university, and show us around! 

The one thing I took pictures of in either city was this open-air, totally legal, graffiti park. Instead of boring you with more text (SHUT UP KIRIN SHUT UP), I'll just post a few of those pictures.

Above: Kelly SMIRKING.

I'm pretty sure this is one of the best pictures I've ever taken.

If you want to see the rest of my graffiti pictures, go here!

#4 - When I say "Amster," you say "dam!"

Having already been to Amsterdam once, I was excited--but not nearly as excited as everyone else--to return. I knew that I'd be revisiting the Anne Frank Huis (I'd seen it the first time) but I was okay with that. I'm a museum kind of person, and since this was a group trip, and a carefully orchestrated one at that, we were going to a lot, with which I was more than okay. And though I enjoyed my second trip to Amsterdam, I have to say that it wasn't overwhelmingly awesome.

We got there Friday morning and took a quick walking tour of the city, which only made me miss the bicycle that I rented for the semester at the Castle SO BADLY. (Sidenote: A few friends and I took a 12-mile round-trip bike ride to Venray, a nearby town, on Thursday, and it was awesomely easy, albeit a bit cold.) Amsterdam must be the most bicycle-friendly city in the world. Pedestrians are more in danger of getting hit by a bike then they are by a car! The city is entirely navigable by bike, so to be walking around it for hours was just a cruel joke. After that, we headed to the Rijksmuseum, which I hadn't gone to my last visit. I'm a slight art buff as well, so I ate up all the Rembrandts and Vermeers. Our tour guide, Jenneke, was incredibly knowledgeable and pointed out so many things I'd never known about classic painters.

After a group dinner, we were allowed to go off on our own and explore the city. Now, approximately 70% of our group (of 80 students) was headed to a Sex Show in the Red Light District. Granted, the Red Light District is an unique Amsterdam experience--and I did walk through it; MAN is it awkward when the prostitutes make eye contact with you!--but I thought a 25 euro sex show was perhaps a little pricey. Instead, I decided to participate in another uniquely Amsterdam experience--a coffee shop. Just to clarify for anyone reading this--marijuana is totally and completely legal for any persons over the age of 18 in the Netherlands, as long as it is smoked within the coffee shop and not taken out; possession and use of marijuana outside of coffee shops is illegal. 

So I participated in the entirely legal activity of getting high within a coffee shop and not taking any marijuana with me upon leaving. Having been my first time ever smoking marijuana, I was not expecting to get high, since that seems to be a common acceptance among people who have used it before. I did get high, and though the experience itself wasn't unenjoyable while it was happening, it's definitely not my thing. I felt useless and apathetically content. I didn't want to do anything, or be anywhere, but I wasn't even upset about my apparent lack of enthusiasm for LIFE, I was just okay with it. And I had, quite possible, the most stereotypical high ever: I had cottonmouth, I got the munchies, I laughed at almost everything and simply smiled when I wasn't laughing, and even had a "high" thought (Re: When trying to describe my subtle loss of balance: "It's like gravity HALF lets go of me!"). So good for me for trying it in a setting when it was entirely legal (I can't stress that enough!) and safe, but I will not be smoking again regardless of legalities. 

Saturday was the Anne Frank Huis first, which, due to a fever that crippled me for most of Saturday, I rewalked very quickly and spent most of our time there trying to recuperate in the cafe. After that, we headed to the Allard Pierson collection. Though it contained stuff I'm usually all about (ancient artifacts from Egypt and Greece along with an exhibition about printmaking!), I couldn't muster up the strength to focus on most of it, and hobbled around the building in a feverish daze. After leaving the Allard Pierson, I returned to the hostel at 4:30PM, got in my bed, and slept clear until 8:45AM the next morning.

Sunday was the Jewish Historical Museum and a Portuguese Synagogue, which were both FANTASTIC. Our guide was spectacular, really knowledgeable and passionate about the subject matter. The Synagogue was gorgeous and the museum was incredibly well done. I took tons of pictures, because Sunday was the day I decided to pull out my camera. After the Jewish Museum, we headed for the train station, and successfully accomplished our first independent travel! 

The Castle tonight is very quiet; most people are attempting to regain some semblance of health after what I can only assume was a whirlwind weekend. I am tired, but not a big partier--I think this will only benefit me in my stay here. No annoying hangovers and/or other ailments to impede my travels. I head to Paris in four days on technically my first independent, which will be both scary and exhilarating at the same time.

For Venray and Amsterdam pictures, follow this link!

#3 - Richten en Schieten!

First day of classes here in the marvelous Netherlands...

...and my only class of the day was cancelled. HIEPERDEPIEP HOERA!

So, instead of furthering my incredibly expensive education, I walked around the Castle grounds with Rosie. We set out with the intention of taking pictures, and after taking approximately three inside pictures, decided the 40-degree weather was too nice to waste. Hopefully, inside pictures will be taken at some point, but here are a few!

YEAH THIS IS WHERE I LIVE WHAT?!

And then Rosie decided to take me to NARNIA. No joke. Narnia is in the backyard of the Castle. Unfortunately, it's a "VERBODEN" area. So Rosie and I oh-so-secretly ninja'd our way across this lovely bridge/dam area:

TO NARNIA. For the sake of keeping it mildly secret, I'll only tease you with one picture, and then you can jealously imagine how awesome the rest of it must've been. I'm glad I got there once and photo-documented it before we all received a reminder via email that the outer grounds of the Castle were off-limits. SUCCESS.


Anyone that wants to see more pictures of Narnia, or the Castle in general, follow this link! The pictures came out pretty well, thanks to my incredibly generous father letting me whisk his much nicer Canon off to Europe with me!