19) Éire! (Ireland)

I have had a very busy past two weeks but the reason for being so busy has nothing to do with schoolwork... Yes, I may be on exchange and my purpose for coming to Utrecht in the eyes of the University of Victoria is that I fulfil all of the requirements of being an exchange student (as in do all of my readings and pass my courses) but that doesn't mean I can't put school on the back burner and have a little fun!  Actually, to be honest  ever since I got here I have put school on the back burner because life in the Netherlands is just that much more exciting than the school work! ( Don't worry I am still doing very well in my courses hehe). 

So after suffering through exam week of the first block, I went to Germany!  Spent the Easter long weekend with the Mildner Family in Bremen. I actually met Vivica and Barbara in the dutch city of Groningen as they wanted to do some shopping and then drove about 2 hours to Bremen. Easter in Germany is very different than what I am used to but it was neat to see how they celebrate the holiday. North America I think commercializes the holiday much more (as they do every holiday) but there still were some sitings of easter chocolate in the stores. As I am very familiar with the city of Bremen from my visits there over the years it was nice to not feel like I had to run around and see any sites but instead enjoy the family time and go for walks with their dog Juni.

I am glad I had a relaxing weekend in Bremen as the next week was going to be very exciting and full of activities. My good friend from home who is being an au-pair in Lille(France) and I wanted to go somewhere since we both had some time. I am lucky to have met two people from Ireland who are also studying in Utrecht and I am still not really sure how it all happened but it was decided that Erika and I would go to Dublin. Arthur, one of the Irish who I have become close with was playing lacrosse in a tournament in Dublin for his home university University College Dublin, called 'Dublin Fest' so he offered to show us around a little and invited us to the Dublin fest activities. And the other girl from Ireland after finding out we would be in Dublin invited us to her birthday. O and one of my Canadian friends who is also studying in Utrecht was going to be in Dublin and suggested a tour to Erika and I to Northern Ireland that she was doing. So basically without even planning anything ourselves but booking our flights and finding accommodation we had a week in Ireland planned.  

I think my photos will speak enough for themselves about the beauty of Ireland but I will just say "wow"- and I was very happy to see the ocean again!!

The 5 days were filled with watching lacrosse matches, going to lacrosse parties, sitting on a coach for a day getting out a few times to see Northern Ireland, walking the streets of Belfast, shopping at Pennies ( Irish version of Primark  SOO CHEAP),  , walking the streets of Dublin, seeing the Dublin nightlife, seeing the Irish National Gallery, seeing UCD campus, seeing Trinity College campus, trying to learn some irish, o and fitting a little sleep in there.

Enjoy the photos!

Dublin- view from O'Connell Bridge

LOOK WHAT WE FOUND!!!  a self serve Timmy's

Arthur and I all dressed up in Lacrosse pinnies for a Dublin Fest party

Northern Ireland

Cute story from WWⅡ

View as the coach was driving

Ruins of an old church 

THE OCEAN <3  - Scotland is apparently in the distance

Suspension bridge we walked over

A bit cheeky in Belfast 

18) Out and about

One thing I keep getting made fun here is my accent. Ok I know we say 'eh' and I know we use some slang words but really how I say 'about' is not unusual! 'Out and about' is the one that I get made fun of the most for- so I use it as much as I can to annoy people :)
The last week here we had beautiful weather, sunny with a high of 17 somedays- it was great so I was out and about a lot. Last wednesday I went on an adventure to Utrecht castle, known in Dutch as the Kasteel de Haar. It is outside of the city centre and about an hour long bike ride- well it is an hour if you don't get lost. Heard of some of my friends getting quite lost and it taking twice as long. We didn't get lost but thank goodness for my iPhone location device to keep us on track. It was amazing, one minute we were in the suburbs of Utrecht and the next in the country farmland. Spent the day there and had a picnic on the castle grounds- which included a maze and deer park. The bike ride back to IBB was a lot quicker since we knew the way.  The other days last week I studied a lot outside and went for walks around the city centre trying to soak up all the vitamin D I could.
Last Saturday I went to the city of Leiden with one of my flatmates. The weather was not as nice but better than it had been in Vancouver from what I heard!  Leiden has a very good university, two wind-mills, a castle, an older part to the city and there are poems on many of the corners of buildings. Gemma and I saw all of this and managed to get some shopping in. There was a market that day so we spent a lot of time seeing all the nice cheese, breads, fresh fruit and vegetables and I also came across a North American food store! I was drawn in by the Canadian flag hanging outside. All I found that they labelled as Canadian was maple cookies and moose poop ( chocolate covered almonds).
Now that I have finally caught up the blog I can keep my posts more recent. This week I am finishing up essays and then it is Easter break. I am lucky that all my exams are done so I have three weeks off until next block starts. I will be in Bremen (Germany) with the Mildners for Easter. On the 10th I will go to Ireland with Erika and get to see some of my irish friends while we are there. On the 19th I am going to Sweden to visit my friends Emma, Johan, Sabina, and Josefin!  Really exciting few weeks ahead of me and I am looking forward to the travels very much! now if only my essays would write themselves...

Happy Easter or as the dutch say...Vrolijk pasen!
Doei for now,
-Xoxo

The castle gate

castle church 

view from the gardens 

scary old door

A dress-up birthday party! the 3 musketeers? 

Leiden windmill #1

Leiden city emblem 

Windmill #2 - Gemma and I 

17) Keukenof Gardens

After seeing everything Utrecht had to offer for a tourist we went back to Amsterdam. Mom decided to stay at a hotel near the airport as it was more convenient for getting to the Keukenof Gardens and for her flying out. This hotel was so nice, I was not complaining! there was a sauna, pool, steam room- it was great!  The only thing was I forgot I was in Europe when I walked into the sauna and steam room area the first time- everyone goes nude here just because so lucky me I got to spend some quality time with naked Dutch people that weekend.
Anyways back to my point, we got to go to the Keukenof gardens! Really the best thing for me to do is post photos of how beautiful it was so that's exactly what I will do.  
Mom flew out early the next day, really happy and thankful she came to visit me and see what life is like here.  I am learning how quickly time can pass when you are having fun!
Fun fact: the tulip originally comes from Turkey.

clever

flowers in the shape of a tulip 

Miffy hug! 

edible flowers 

are you drooling?

mom with her freshly made real stroopwafel 

my new style 

- Xoxo 

16) Utrecht and Antwerp

Utrecht is great for living in and going to school but there really isn't that many tourist things to do directly in the city. I got to show my mom around where I go to class, where the shopping is and we also went for coffee but the most exciting thing was when we walked all the way up the Dom tower. I am sure I have posted photos of the Dom tower in my earlier posts but the main thing to know is it the tallest church tower in the Netherlands at 112.5 metres. We climbed the windy and narrow stairs to the top with a tour group and it was really neat to see Utrecht from that view- plus we got a good workout!
We also went to Antwerp for a night, again, just because everything is so close! Visited Rubens house in Antwerp and went shopping of course. Antwerp is known for its great shops.
I was hosting the weekly group meal so lucky for me had the help of my mom! we made a feast :)

The bells in the Dom tower! 

Almost at the top...  

Utrecht from above

main shopping street "Oudegracht"

In the distance the buildings sticking up... on the left hand side is the stadium area and the building on the right hand side is where I live! 

Happy tourist  

The very top of the tower 

Antwerp city square

yum!!! 

Rubens house! 

:) 

outside in Rubens garden 

The feast! 

- Xoxo 

15) Zürich!

On thursday the 15th my mom and I flew to Switzerland! I really wanted to go there and since we had the time we made a weekend trip out of it. Our hotel was just outside the city centre so had to take a tram in but  the transportation system there was fabulous. We got out of the airport and I kinda realized I had no idea  how to get to the hotel or where I was. I guess I got used to knowing my way around the Netherlands and how their transportation system worked etc etc... so took my mom and I few minutes to find our way to the hotel but once we did it was a piece of cake. The Swiss of course use their own currency, the Swiss Franc. Really neat money but the coins were a bit confusing!!!
That night we just roamed around the area our hotel was and found a great place for dinner. It was called "Not Guilty" and they served great salads and soups. I had the Indian Dal soup with a chicken tandoori salad and my mom had the celery soup with an italian salad. We loved the place so much we had to go back the next day! Friday was our shopping and explore the city day. Saturday was our shopping and explore the city day- o and we also took a tram up what they considered a mountain. And sunday since all the shops were closed was our museum day! In our time there we learnt that Switzerland has good beer, beer, beer, chocolate, beer, chocolate, bratswurst, and salads.   Flights were really delayed that night but got back to Amsterdam safely and then to Utrecht.

Colourful eh?

what shall we do?

dogs are basically humans in Switzerland 

main shopping area 

Biggest clock face in Europe

Typical swiss-german meal right there

beautiful day! 

family calls me Sar

got this piece of pineapple at McDonalds 

Afternoon treat! 

up that "mountain"

- Xoxo