Gone Euro-Watching

I’ve been busy getting ready for Leiden. I’ve also been surprisingly busy working out my plans for 2009-2010. Things are good, but I’ll actually have something of consequence to say. Cheers!

It’s been a quiet week in Amherst, my (NON) home town

Time to put the L in AWOL. I’ve been rather busy lately, as I am wont to do. There’s the Proj Awkward stuff, a large Amsterdamse thesis, and school work in general. I’m going to try to post this week, but I can’t make any promises.

The thesis in question (see the related library books) has to do with the Bijlmerramp, male and female prostitution, immigration to Holland, and 1992. If anyone knows about any of these things, (and how we do in XR2) do let me know.

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood

Especially if you live here.”Yummo.”

PS Still very, very glad that I switched to wordpress. The lack of font flexibility and overall look of blogger was kind of getting me down. I think it’s about time to erase the old one now, hmm?

Where the hell have I been?

I’ve been here, in Amherst, the first half of the blog’s namesake. I’ve been drowning in work lately. I’m sure I’ll miss this place after May, but sometimes it just makes me want to die inside.

I’ve been studying for random tests, churning out essays, none of which I’m fully satisfied with, and getting sick. Surrounded by the same, damn 1,600 people. I love (some of) you guys, but this is not Brooklyn…or Breukelen…or Amsterdam. This really isn’t Amsterdam. This isn’t biking past the Westerkerk at 1 AM, this isn’t running to Albert Heijn before it closes, this isn’t the Van Gogh museum, this isn’t the pancake bakery.

Instead, it is a wilderness based debt factory. Why do I nap all the time? I feel like I’m not doing anything constructive but I have no time anyway.

PS Fedde Le Grand: also Dutch. For a country with only 16 million people, it seems that every other person from here is a superstar DJ. Kind of like the way that they produced all of those Golden Age painters…but catchier?

Gone A’ Learnin’

Wow, it took a while for me recover from that terrible VMA performance. (That’s right, I’m blaming Britney for my slacking) . Things will be a little on and off until October 1st. They’re will be an entry here and there, but not as regular as I’d like.

When I come back, hopefully I can start the Pimsleur challenge. (What is that, you ask? Stay tuned!)

So tired right now

Hey all,

Sorry. Druk, druk, druk. Be back soon. Faster, stronger, better/Vaster, sterker, beter. (En minder misselijk.)

I can tell you that I’m working on a new translation feature. I might need some help since I’ve got some leaky grammar, but I think it’ll be fun.

-Management.

Later…

Dutch Word of the Day
leeg: empty
Deze huis is leeg.
This huis is empty.

At least I hope so. This is a house I found in Clinton Hill near the Broken Angel House. I think it’s had a fire. It’s too bad because the exterior is beautiful. I really hope the shell remains after they do whatever it is.

It’s also a good graphic for this program note: I will be out of blogging range from tomorrow till Sunday. I’ll be back then.

Lucy, we’ve moved.

Dutch Word of the Day
bewegen: to move
We hebben ons bewogen.
We have moved.

I’m really happy at this new address. It’s like moving into a new house with all kinds of fun gadgets. I mean this in the nerdiest way possible. I don’t know a lot about CSS, but I can figure it out. WordPress is not as hand-holdy as blogger, but it has so much more fun stuff. If you’re used to Blogger and want to come over to the dark side, go for it.

In order to celebrate the new “home”, I made a Lego canal house. Look, there’s a step gable at the top and a little canal in the front. Wow, this is the nerdiest entry ever. I must be getting closer to Amherst.
P.S.: If you haven’t noticed, this thing has helvetica. Hell-to-the-yeah-vetica.

Gone a- Potterin’

I normally wouldn’t want to rush through the final book of the series, but if I don’t finish this by Wednesday, some idiot will spoil it for me. Wish me luck!

And no, I won’t torture you with
countless Harry Potter entries after this. We’re in a bit of a deluge right now and everyone needs a break.

Vijf honderd een worden voor sneeuw

Dutch Word of the Day
spinnen: to spin around
Je spint me recht ronde.
You spin me right round.

I found an overpriced DJ equipment/ vinyl store on the Bowery while wandering away from the Bechdel reading. I don’t know who made this record, but I approve of the cover.

You might be familiar with the “501______Verbs” language book series from Barrons. There’s a Spanish, Italian, French etc. The upside: Barrons makes one for Dutch. The downside: there’s only 201 words. It’s like they just gave up when they weren’t even mid-way. The same series does this to Portuguese, Turkish, and Swedish. Polish gets a generous 301 verbs. Latin, totally dead, gets 501. I wish they’d explain why.

It’s terribly maddening to me. Dutch is as hard to learn as English. It has a million verbs, they just don’t take it seriously enough. The explanations in the intro are very good, I just wish it was as comprehensive as I expected.

Hell naar de Nee!

Dutch Word of the Day:
sluiten: to close
Sluiten tijd…
Closing time…

At least for the Amsterdam chapter. After sitting on the runway for 3 hours, and not getting all of my luggage until this morning, I’m just glad that I made it here. Phew. Once I figure out the groove of this blog now, I’ll be back.

Since there are an infinite amount of Dutch words, those will return as well.

Worst Flights Ever

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Flight-Delays.html

They lost my baggage, too. We’ll see when that comes back.

Because I Already Packed the Dictionary Away: Part II, Reviewing the Reviewers

I like this new series. It’ll last at least until tomorrow, cause I am not cracking that bag open again for awhile. In the interim, let’s review some reviewers, shall we?

The Wallpaper Guide to Amsterdam:
This is the most aesthetically pleasing of the guides. It’s tiny and full of colored pictures of everything you’d want to find in Amsterdam. Everything you’d want if you’re a hipster with overstuffed pockets. Some of the places, like Supper Club, Inter Continental Amstel Hotel, I couldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. Hell, after the euro gets through with me, I won’t be able to afford a ten foot pole.

Lonely Planet: AMAZING. Everything you could every want, the entire range of food and hotel accommodations. They include some Dutch history, too and other little tips. It can do no wrong.

Amherstdam: Yeah…it’s not like I even built up a review guide. There’s no real way to feel your way around Amsterdam with this website. I’ve highlighted and defined random words that you’ll never need or use. You know where some hideous children’s clothing, a weird boob statue and strange looking dogs can be found. But I did throw in that pronunciation guide! (Once.)

I think we have a winner.

Somebody call 112!

No, you don’t have to. I’ll be back tomorrowish? Hopefully? Yeah…

Why are only Google related sites working?

Dutch Word of the Day
samenwerzing: conspiracy
Wat is met dit Google samenwerzing?
What is with this Google conspiracy?

I love the Google Empire as much as the next man, but I love the rest of the internet as well. How come the only sites I have able to acess for the past half hour have been Blogger, Flickr, YouTube, G-Mail and Google itself? and very quickly, too.

Although Flickr’s directly Yahoo related, it has Blogger friendly features. These are the only things I can get to. New York Times, Wikipedia, Facebook, everything else is of limits. Maybe they have the strongest server, but this still very strange.

I can’t access Amherst.edu to check my email. (I tried Williams.edu just for kicks, but I can’t reach them either so I guess it’s not their fault…this time.)

Still working on finals. Knocked out a huge paper today with two more to go. Yum.