Groningen = Amsterdam!!

More shopping today.... so much to do! GUESS WHAT?! Marijuana.. shrooms... prostition.. LEGAL! YEP! wow.. didnt think it was but the police were handing out pamphlets which explained the ins and outs of the city.. also u can grow your own marijuana in your house..

So.. I will see you all very soon! ;) Still getting used to the bike laws.. certain parts of the road you cannot bike on.. etc.. I'm sure Ill get used to it soon..

I'm still starving! Hah I have no food! Only beer in my fridge ;) and some bread and jam which I am so SICK OF! I can only carry so much on my bike and I really needed sheets, kitchen utensils and of course souveniers for everyone at home!! :p So far I've only had 3 beers I believe.. I just want to get stuff done and get settled in before I go out and party

Here is an email I sent to mom last night:

"Wow, this is funny talking to you via email, not used to it..

You probably did try to call me, and it worked right.. however i was not online.. i need to be online and next to my name there will be a green check mark when i am! So then you can call me, otherwise I am not available..

Right now i still have to get myself settled in.. i bought some stuff today like washcloths, soap, and some bread and jam (lol).. my apartment is really small but i like it cuz its MINE! :)

My landlord is pretty nice,.. hes an old man, Mr. Taris

I still need to register for school, i hope i will do it tomorrow.. they seem a bit disorganized at the school :( and one of the faculty knew who i was!! she was excited to see me and shook my hand enthusiastically but could not give me my information letter, student number, or anything else!!

I hear the dutch people TALK a lot about doing things.. make appointements to TALK about doing things.. etc.. and like Americans, we just get it done! I like it our way better.. I'll let you know if that rumor about dutch people is true, but so far it seems like it

I miss you and home and everyone else:) But i'm still doing fine! I will be making more friends and will hopefully go out this weekend

The city is very young.. A LOT of students, and they are into fashion more than we are i think.. skinny jeans and leggins are common, as well as black and white outfits

My neighbor OOtsie is nice shes from germany.. and i met a lot of nice students today but i need to get a cell phone here so i can call and meet with them..

i have an appointment to open a bank account NEXT WEEK!! i'm a bit affraid i will run out of money, i can't get a cell phone until i have a bank account i have less than 200 euros left and i need to save it for food..


I can't tell you how far I walked and biked today! it was insane.. i have bruises on my clavicles because my backpack was so heavy.. and i was so tired i just wanted to go home, but couldn't find it! I road past my house and ended up in farm country! lol.. then i turned around and was able to find my way.. i hate being lost over here! I can't say any of the street names cuz they're all like oooshin aashin or whatever!

Well its 3am.. i woke up and couldnt get back to sleep.. i only have one SMALL pillow, no sheets so its a bit uncomfortable..I have to get up early, shower, organize and then go to school at 10.. I want to get more things like some food for my fridge and a french press for coffee.. as well as dish soap, laundry soap.. and .. uh... some sheets and a pillow!!

How is the family? They asking about me? Have you hung out with any of my friends? how is patrick? I miss him too!

I met some very nice girls i will hopefully exchange info with them tomorrow at school.. I'm taking a museum tour on friday.. i will take pictures.. i don't like my blog.. so i dunno what i'm going to to about that.. it takes to long to type and upload pictures and make it look good etc.

Love you mom and talk soon..

Jen P.S. I think the reason skype sounded bad is because i used it to call your cell phone, i think that computer to computer works a lot better cuz i just talked to my friend computer to computer and we heard each other perfectly"

~~~ Okay that was the end of the email to mom~~

There are a bunch of pigeons flying around outside my window hehe.. So now I am going to do some stuff and may go to a party at a local park later..

Love,
Jen

P.S. Here is Katie.. shes a nice girl I met from Canada.. She is working on her master degree in law and is very nice.

Above is Savas, he reallly helped me out today! I had been chatting with him on facebook before i got here and could tell he was very nice. He is from Greece and is half dutch. He speaks dutch, english, and greek and also a bit of german. So he showed me around, took me shopping and we chatted about the ways of the world!

Welcome to Groningen (HHgghhhrroningen)

I will start from the beginning of my trip, sorry I'm a bit frustrated I just typed a bunch of stuff and accidently deleted it!

The trip was LONG and GRUELING! I did not get much sleep.. maybe 5 hours Sunday.. no sleep Monday.. so by Tuesday when I arrived.. I was dead tired..


In Brussels.. WE GOT DETAINED! They were doing a passport checks and apparently we needed to have a VISA, funny enough, the girl next to us who was also getting grilled was on her way to the university of Groningen from New York :)

Of course, I was trying to talk the inspector out of detaining us, but I think I just ticked him off more.. hehe.. We went into a room where there were about 10 "inspectors" STARING at us.. uhhh a bit unfomfortable.. I was hoping they like Americans!! :) They let us go and now I have to get a VISA!

After getting off our FOURTH plane.. we were in amsterdam! Ok I was already feeling really cracked out.. after taking a whiff of the fresh green air I felt EVEN MORE cracked out. hehe..



Here is Victor:

He works for the student organization and met us in Gronigen after we got off the train. He was very nice, showed us around, helped by bikes.. told us a bunch of cool stuff.. then we got sushi (*gag* you CALL THAT SUSHI?!*).. BTW sushi is not very popular here.. I'm going to open up a sushi bar, as well as a taxi bike service for drunk people and .. Oh yeah.. I'm going to ship these cool untensils they have for smashing up lemons in your drink to the US and sell the shit out of them! WOOHOO!

Here are some pictures of the city:

Here is the speaker.. for those of you who saw that lovely youtube video of the University I showed before I arrived :)

Here is the front of my building

My Bike!
My Room.. My kitchen:
View outside my window:

And that is all I'm going to write for now! I'm tired.. I could write pages more but I still have unpacking and organizing to do..

Ciao for now!

Check back soon:p Love and miss you all!

Getting Prepared!

So... getting prepared to move to Europe for 10 months.. what would you do!? Well.. I need to build up my tolerance, right? I mean.. Ive got some pretty intense field research going on here... how many drinks can I handle in a night without causing a bicycle crash or accidentally getting my shirt hooked on to a windmill? Too bad I don't have a bike or a windmill to test out that part...




A lot of people seem to ask if I'm scared, nervous or 'freakin out'.. NO I'M NOT!! I'm so excited!! I can't wait!!! Its going to be amazing.. I've put my life on hold for the last 5 months! I've been preparing mentally and physically and I think its about that time! HELLOOOO GRONINGEN!

Let's see.. I COULD stay here.. HAHAH!! Let's be real, the reason I'm going???....a bit tired of the same old same old I suppose.. Isn't life meant to live anyway??

I'm glad I have the opportunity to keep up this blog. I mean..*ahem* I already have a large fan base living vicariously through me.. soooo. .. I guess I need to keep you guys updated as to whats going on in my amazing life! :p


Keep checking back for updates and photos before I leave. I want to get you all situated here and make sure I have a handle on this blogging thing.

Thanks for reading!

~Ciao Bella ~Jen~