Rainy Netherlands Day

I once again and really annoyed that my computer is not working. So I am again in the computer lab typing this out.

Yesterday afternoon we had what I thought was going to be another boring lecture/meeting. It was the academic welcome or something like that and the Executive Director of the Kasteel program talked to us a little about class and life in general around here. Here name is Dulcia Meijers (pronounced Meyers) and she is an incredible woman. She was extremely well spoken and knew alot. She informed us that on Septemeber 30th, we would be joined here by the one, the only, Jackie Leibergott, President of Emerson College. I am so excited. For those who don't know, Jackie is a big joke around campus because she is kind of a drunk. Right away the jokes started about how Jackie was going to be found passed out in Sophie's Lounge (A place in the castle that serves wine and beer). After that meeting we had a presentation by Johnny and Rene (Both men that are members of the Resident Life staff, kind of like RDs) called the Undutchables. It was a funny yet informative introduction to some Dutch phrases and Dutch culture.

Later on in the night we walked down to Old Well and got on a boat for a 2 hour ride down the River Maas. It was really pretty and a lot of fun. Half the people were a little tipsy because we each got two free drinks when we got there which was amusing to watch.

I awoke his morning to intense banging on the outside wall of my room. They are currently undergoing a renevation and restoration project on the castle so there is scaffolding around the tower where my room is. It didn't bother me so much because I was able to get back to sleep. We are experiencing our first taste of Netherlands weather. It has been raining on and off all morning and I just got back from a walk into town with my frien Paulina. She decided to stop random people on the street and ask them how to say stuff in Dutch, but she found a way to stop only the people who know NO English. It was amusing.

When I got back I had my first class. It was Acting III: Scene Study. The professor, whos name I still have no clue how to pronounce, seems really cool. He is Dutch and speaks English but not too well, so we all have to help him out sometimes. It was hte most intense class I ever had. It is from 2:30-9 with a 45 minute dinner break in there. We finished the last two hours today by improving this 15 scene play that he wrote the structure of about this girl he knew who died and her family. Basically everyone was crying by the end. Afterwards me, Blake and Tori decided to go to the Linden (Bar down the street) to destress ourselves. I really do kind of wish that we were able to do that in America. We only have a few drinks, nothing to make us crazy, just to sort of unwind after the day is over. Oh well I live in a castle.

Wireless is still down...

It is now 4:50 in the afternoon on Sunday and the internet is down so I decided to write a blog that I can post later. I was able to get on a computer in the computer room a little earlier and send some emails/go on facebook. Like I said to anyone I emailed, the communication here is horrible. If anyone wants to talk to me on the phone, I advise you download Skype and we can talk over the computer for free. Let me know if you want my screen name on there if you want to talk. Other than that the best way to talk to me would be through AIM or email. I do really really want to keep in touch with everyone back home throughout the next 4 months. Anyway moving on…

So yesterday after the wonderful drug seminar we hung out for a little bit and then had another meeting about travel. It sort of confused me, but it also got me really excited to get to go away next weekend. The meeting got out at 9 and a bunch of people were going to go to Venlo (The closest city to us about 30 minutes away) to go to coffee shop (A coffee shop does not serve coffee for those who do not know. Coffee shop is the slang version of a place that sells marijuana). I didn’t really feel like driving 30 minutes to go sit an watch people smoke pot for 2 hours and then come back before the last bus left at 11:30, so instead a few of us stayed in Well and just had a relaxing night. We walked down to Old Well (Basically if you make a right out of the castle it takes you to Old Well where there is one bar and if you make a left it takes you to New Well where there is another bar. We went to a bar called Onder De Linden which means Under the Linden I think (I don’t really know what Linden is but I should probably find out). It’s basically a townie bar that gets half its business from Emerson students. The night before the bartender there came over to everyone and told us that by the end of the semester he will know everyone’s name. So the 6 or so of us just sat around for a few hours and drank a few beers and talked and had a nice quiet night. It was exactly what I wanted.. Just a nice quiet night with some awesome people. We took a lot of pictures, but the computer I am on has a problem uploading pictures so I will have to wait until my computer is working again to post them on here. It is really frustrating that I can't post all of my pictures so you all can see them...Oh well I live in a castle.