It's been a while since I updated here, and when last I did I wasn't in the best of mindsets. I think it's safe to say that I'm out of the woods in that regard. I'm starting to form a close group of friends and just give less of a shit about the inevitable frustrations of European university infrastructure (I could go on for days about that, but it's probably best not to). It's strange and kind of cool to have so much free time: time to go to the 500-year-old pub in the center of town for hot cocoa, ride my bike down hidden back roads, amble around the weekly market, travel to sunny Italian cities, etc. I miss being busy--it makes me feel like I have some kind of purpose--but it's nice to take a step back and just live for the sake of living. But only for six months. More than that and my brain would atrophy and I'd go all "Awakenings" on you.
Enough idle chatter. Let's see some pictures!
There was some big important football match on Wednesday, and all these bars and screaming drunk hooligans appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, in the town center. My camera died before I could capture the action, but here's a typical Nijmegen sunset (depending, of course, on the sun being out...which doesn't happen often) for y'all to gaze upon.
More sunset-age. We decided to bike to Germany on a whim (it's only about 15 km away) and we stopped to take in a bit of scenery in Berg en Dal, the last town before crossing the border.
Apartments leading down to the Waal River. The architecture around these parts is pretty drab (it got bombed something serious in WWII and virtually all the buildings are from the early 1950s or later).
I live in a hallway (gang in Dutch) of 15 single rooms that share three bathrooms, three showers, and a kitchen. Last night, I attended my first gangfeest (corridor party). They charge 5 euro at the door and clear out virtually all the furniture. Picture the most crowded, disgusting Mod party you have ever attended. Then multiply it by 16. You have a gangfeest. Substances spotted on the floor: mud, beer, broken glass, still-smoldering cigarettes, a crying Polish girl, blood. Lots of blood. No wonder my shoes are absolutely destroyed...sigh.
This is probably more indicative of your average night in Nijmegen. All the Dutch people go home on the weekends, so Hoogeveldt, my dorm--and pretty much everywhere around the university--is absolutely silent until Monday afternoon. Ergo, all the students party during the week. We have an international student party each Tuesday at Cafe Piecken, a bar literally 30 feet from my door. Then there's Thursday night, which usually means getting toasted at Hoogeveldt and biking to a dance club in town. Yes, we bike to bars here. We bike everywhere. In the rain, in the snow, sober, hammered, whatever.
Carnival decorations are starting to go up around town. Carnival's a week-long celebration before Lent starts. Think Mardi Gras, but with more costumes. Nijmegen's a teeny little city, so the masses flock south to Maastricht for the mayhem. I can't go because I'll be in Italy (poor me), but apparently the mayor hands over the key to the city to the Prince of Carnival and anything goes until the end of the week. I'll be seeing some festivities in Venice, but I'm looking forward to hearing about the insanity that is Zuid-Nederland for the next few days.I think that'll do it for now. I want to hear more about all your adventures, so update, dammit. Londoners: I'm looking at two long weekends in mid-May or Easter break for visiting purposes. Let me know what you'd prefer.
Love you! Miss you!
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