The Kuh That Goes Buh and Smells Like Poo!

For those of you avid followers - ED - I apologize for the lateness in my posts. For the majority I have not had the availability of time to write what I was up to. Having said that, there is a lot to fill in. Sam arrived. She enjoyed and got to experience what Utrecht had to offer. Yay! for culture shocks! We decided against a visit to Paris. It was jam packed in to our other plans and there was a lot of mental anguished involved - believe me. We decided to start our trips abroad by going to Ireland. In Ireland we were going to meet Brian Smith, an old friend of Wesleys that was going to provide us with the things needed to survive for a while. Unfortunately, we were not exactly on the right side of tour season to get a bus straight from Utrecht, Holland to Dublin, Ireland and so we had to improvise. We started by getting a bus ticket from Utrecht to London. We would spend the day putzing around London to kill time. Then, we would board a bus and head to Dublin that evening. Both of the buses we were taking were over-night buses - thinking we were geniuses because would be able to save money on places to stay. Needless to say, we were wrong. The buses made far to many stops and there were to many stinky, loud, annoying people to actally rest. The result - Sam got really sick and I became overtly cranky. We rode the first bus into London and we went and saw Buckingham palace. After that, we thought it would be the best idea to just go and rest in the bus station until that evening when we could board the bus for Dublin. 10 hours later, we still had not rested because while I tried to take a nap, a police offiver informed us that we were not allowed to sleep in the bus station because the camera's couldn't see our faces. So we sat there until our bus arrived. This bus, worse than the first, was filled with the most trashy English people. Comfort was not an option. We finally arrived in Dublin at 7am where Brian Smity and his boyfriend Brian Holland picked us up to take us on an adventure. Sam was still filling quite unwell and asked if she could just be taken to a hotel for the day and rest while Brian, Brian, and I (plus several of their friends) went into the seaside country for a camping excursion. After getting Sam settled in the Brians and I headed out. We grabbed some food and met with their friends. The wonderful about the Irish is the most sterotypes are true....and it is what makes these people absolutly the best people ever to be around. In the morning after waking up, we went down to the seaside and went for a dip in the Irish sea - mind you the air was only around the mid sixties and the way stung when it touched you. I woke up very quickly. We headed back into Dublin where picked up Sam and did some walking throughout the beautiful, old city. We got to see the Sea Lions which are a very intelligent, beautiful animal and relax overall. Once we had a late lunch Sam, myself, and the Brians headed back out to the country to their second home. It was a lovely little cottage again adjacent to ocean. We saw an old cemetary and lots and lots of beautful landscape. Ireland is beautiful country. Today - Sam and are I exploring a little bit of Dublin by ourselves while the Brians are hard at work. They will meet us to take us to the airport this evening where we will fly to London.....Sorry for the lack of pictures. I will add those when I make it back to Utrecht on Wednesday! Missing you all. See you soon!

Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Art, Jason, Joss, and I

Wow, it has been a few days since I have posted anything. The majority of this week has been fairly uneventful. Before, I left I said "I will not get bored, If I need to, reading a book under a tree will be wonderful because, I will be reading a book under a tree in Holland." This holds true though, there really a very few trees that are large enough to enjoy shade under so the alternative has been me laying on my bed listening to Jim Dale narrate his way through "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince." (Thanks itunes!) Moving to Wednesday, I ventured with Carlijn into Amsterdam to meet her friends for an art exhibition at Gerritt Rietveld - a very well known art school. Once there we grabbed some food in the CROWDED school and began to see the show. Interesting things to be seen here. One man laid a slab on concrete in one of the basement room's and BAM! Art was created. There was a lot of manipulation of visual camera work. (Which is the program that Carlijn's friend was in) There was also a man who manipulated the written word with aid from photographs that produced a seventy page booklet that you could collect throughout the exhibit that had what he called his "My Fiction Book." It exclaimed personal truths of his and placed a picture of the people in his life that associated with that particular event. It also gave detailed instructions on how to create your own fiction, encouraging the reader to be more proactive in their own life and really appreciate everything and everyone that is intertwined in their day to day life. After another hour or so of baking in the sun, Carlijn and I headed back to Utrecht to get some sleep. A little Jim Dale put me right to sleep :) Waking up on the morning of the 2nd was so exciting because I knew I had a BIG journey ahead of me. I had to travel to Cultuurepark Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam to see Mr. Jason Mraz, Miss Joss Stone, and Miss Prisscilla Ahn play live there. I was terrified I would have to take the correct train to Amsterdam (the train system is more confusing than you can imagine,) fine Bus 21 and take it to the Van Haalstraat exit and get out there. Once there I was suppose to cross the gracht (the canal) and ......the directions stopped there. Finally, after walking around a bit, I found a line and I stood in it. Yes, it was the correct line. The only issue being that it was only 5 o' clock. The concert started at 7:30.....this was the longest wait of my life. In line I stood behind two girls. These laughed and chatted the whole time speaking in very fast Dutch. Occasionally, I understood what they were talking about and laughed. Once the people finally let us inside the complex, every little annoying girl waiting in that line RAN to get standing positions. I walked. So did the two girls that were in front of me. They laughed and then finally they talked to me and started asking where was the person I was here with finding out very quickly that I was alone, they had me stand with them (mind you, I was about 50 feet away from Jason Mraz...it was wonderful!). Their names were Barbara and Kirsten. They were so much fun laughing and making jokes with me throughout the whole concert. Once the concert was over we got onto the bus with about 100 other people. It was so full the bus driver did not even make us use our strippenkaart (the way you pay for the buses) to get back to Amsterdam Centraal. On the bus they chatted with some people next to us and were all laughing together. What joyous people. The bus driver was also making cracks over the intercom to everyone on the bus. Once we got to Amsterdam Centraal, I got off the bus with Kirsten and Barbara. They told me I could follow the people that had been standing next to them on the bus because they to were going back to Utrecht. I obliged. They 3 people heading back to Utrecht were very nice and they asked me if it would be all right if they grabbed some food in the station first. I was very hungry as well and had no problem with this. We grabbed some pizza (one of the only things open and the cardboard pizza holder that they gave you with it read NEW YORK PIZZA: DAMN TASTY. I just thought that was hilarious. I was able to find out their names, George and Cassie (they were dating) and their friend Frank. We casually talked all the way back to Utrecht. I found out (I swear you could totally not tell by the way that they looked) that they were AVID fans and participators in "World of Warcraft." But, all the same they were still nice people. Finally, finding my way home exhausted from the day I fell asleep with ease. Waking up this morning has been interesting. It's almost 2 o' clock and I have not left my bedroom. Is it bad to do nothing on a day that you are in Europe. My mind says yes but my body says no.