Day 27

Today was our last day of graphic design. We went over our image, text, color contrast homework and looked at everyones to start. Then, he taught us about InDesign, and how to make Master Pages and how to make text families and stuff. Then we got on the computers and started making our portfolios...even though it was not an assigment. Then he told us we could stop and each one of us talked to him and Lotte about what we are doing for our final. Then I went up town and developed my pictures for tomorrows photography class and did some shopping. Then I went back to the classroom and put my picture collages together while Trysha was taking her pictures for it. When I got back to my room, I started working on my final and thats about all I did. Tomorrow is our very last day!!

Day 26

Today was a good day. Trysha and I got up and went to Den Haag, which is only 14 minutes by Sneltrain :). We did some shopping and stuff while we were there. We ate at McDonalds and then came back. Then we did our homework for graphic design thats due tomorrow, and then I started to work on my assignment for photography. Tomorrow is our last graphic design class, and Tuesday is our last Photography class...oh how fast time goes! Then we have Wednesday and Thursday off to work on our final projects that are then due on Friday. On Friday, everyone shows their final projects and then we all have one final dinner together. Then Kiley and the gang will be here for the 4th of July weekend!

Day 25

Well today, we slept in and woke up more towards the afternoon. We went to the market and ate at Bagels and Beans instead of our normal McDonalds...and it was pretty good. Then we did some shopping and came back. It started raining so we stayed in for the day, and then watched a terrible movie. Then Trysha and I started to book our plane tickets to London, then to Venice, and then from Rome back to Amsterdam the day before we fly home. All of Trysha's flights went through...but only one of mine worked... sooooo I have been trying to figure that out all night. Not sure what we will do tomorrow...maybe go to Den Haag to shop!

Day 24

First of all, Happy 27th Anniversary Mom and Dad!!! Really sad I cannot be home for it, but I'm glad I got to talk to both of you :). Today was a more than terrific day. We left for the beach at noon and got there around 2...even though we should have gotten there sooner...but thats the story of our lives..we just roll with it :) It was the perfect temp out and the beach was perfect and everything else was perfect. Just a great day...we stayed at the beach from 2 until about 10:30 to watch the sunset...even thought the sunset was a little disappointing because storm clouds were coming in and there were not a lot of cool colors and stuff...but it was still neat to be there at 10:30 and the sun was not even down yet. We saw a lot of things....maybe more than we needed to see. ha. We got to swim in the North Sea..which was a little chilly, but after awhile you didnt notice anymore :). We got tan...or maybe a little burnt, but it was all good. We may possibly be going back tomorrow after we go to the market, but we are not sure.

Day 23

Today was a pretty normal day. We had our last day of Drawing class. We went over our homework from last week, and then started three 30 minute assignments. We drew three different things pertaining to letters or "characters". They were kind of weird assignments, but we went along with it. After class, Trysha and Kelly went out and sat by the canal to get some sun...and that they did! Tonight we just went out to see what was going on around town..then some guy told us that Michael Jackson is dead, and we were mad at him for saying it. We thought that maybe it was about the only English he knew, but we were still mad. Then when we got back, we found out that it was actually true! How crazy...

Tomorrow we are going to the beach. It is supposed to be 76...that will be about the hottest it has been here yet. We are not really thinking we will get any swimming in...it cannot be that warm yet. But, it will be nice! Then on Saturday I am planning on going to the town of Tenboer..something I have been wanting to do forever!

Day 22

Well today is offically a day past halfway for us here in Europe. Of course, it has gone way too fast. Today we had a very long day in Amsterdam. We were there from about 9-9. We did not see too much as far as buildings go because there are not that many in Amsterdam, but we did go to 3 different museums...two of which were very modern. We also went on a canal cruise all around Amsterdam that was an hour long and saw most all of Amsterdam. After that, we went to the Anne Frank House which was really really neat to see...it was by far the highlight of our day. We then got ice cream and headed back to Leiden. Now we are all doing our drawings that are due tomorrow. At 1 tomorrow, it is offically the weekend. We do not have a whole lot planned, just maybe going to the beach and the market of course...(which always includes McDonalds). Besides that, we will see what comes up!

Day 21

Today has been a pretty good day. We had photography this morning, and for the last hour of it, we went to the Botanical Garden here in Leiden to take some pictures and look around. It was pretty neat actually. After that, I went to the park and took some pictures for class. It is beautiful here today!! (which is 70, not the 90+ you all have back home :) ) It never gets above 70 here, which is good and bad. We are going to the beach this weekend but we dont know what day yet. We are waiting to see which day will be the nicest (Friday, Sat, or Sun). Also, we set the fire alarm off while making supper tonight...oops! All we did was put butter in the frying pan, and there it went. It was really annoying, and of course the fire truck came and all the guys. Then when we finally went outside, all of the people in the building were out there...we were rather embarrassed to say the least. So now I am drawing and working on some graphic design things on the computer...tomorrow we go to Amsterdam!

Day 20

Today was a rather long day for us. We had our normal graphic design class from 10-1, but then we also had photography today because it got cancelled last week...so we ended up being in class from 10-5. It was not as bad as we thought it was going to be...but still. :) After that we came back and had supper; spaghetti and greeen beans. Then I went out and took some pictures for our photography class thats today (when it's normally suppposed to be). After that I came back and drew a little and read and thats about it. Today we just have class. We found out that Kiley and her friends that are in London are coming next weekend (the weekend of the 4th) to visit, so we are pretty excited about that!!

Day 19

Today we woke up about 4 hours after we went to sleep and headed to the train station to get back to Leiden. We got to the train station and, because its Sunday, found that we could not buy tickets from a person. We tried our credit cards in the machine, and they didnt work. They do not take bills, only coins, and we didnt have enough, so we took a free ride to Chatlet (where we had to get on another train) and hoped that when we got there, there would be a door open to go through because in France, they do not come around and check to see if you have a ticket, you just have to use your ticket to get out of the train station at your destination....and we didnt have tickets! Luckily somehow this door was open and we went through it, walked to McDonalds, bought something cheap, and got change. Then we took our change to buy tickets to the airport. After that, it was smooth sailing. The flight was short, we got on the train, came back to Leiden, and slept a lot of the rest of the day. Tomorrow we have Graphic Design and Photography both, so we will see how that goes!

Day 18

Today was another very eventful day to say the least. We started out by going to Pompidou and then made our way to Notre Dame and Saint Chapelle. From there, we went up to the Opera and Galleries Lafayette which is a HUGE 7 story place to shop and is beautiful. We liked looking at all of the clothes...just looking at most because it was like 300 euro for a pair of jeans. I actually bought something there, which is hard to imagine. From there, we at the the Cafe Opera and then made our way down to the Siene River. We then bought tickets to go on the boat tour, but did not want to go on it yet because we wanted to go when all of the lights were on. We decided to go to a couple cafe's to waste time, so we did, and I had fabulous Creme Brulee! It was amazing. Then we went and sat on our boat until it left. About 5 minutes before we took off, the lights of the Eiffel Tower came on and then started sparkling..it was awesome! The boat tour was about an hour long (from 10-11), and we saw soo many things. It was really really cool. Then during the last loop, which took us past the entire Eiffel Tower, it had just gotten completey dark and it started sparkling again. We lucked out!! Then, we thought it was a 20-30 minute walk back to the train station....well that turned into 50 min of walking as fast as we could. We thought that the last train that left for our stop was at 12:13 am.....we were wrong!! So there were no more trains going to our stop from Chatlet (where we were). We had no idea what to do. We were going to stay there and figure something out (or wait until 5 am when the busses started again) but instead we decided to take the train to Saint George's, the closest stop the train went to where we needed to go. On the way there on the train, you could not believe what was going through our minds. We hoped maybe we could get a cab there...which would cost like 100 euro, or maybe a bus?? If not we were going to get a hotel or stay there for 5 hours, ride back to our hotel at 5:30, pack up all of our stuff, and then head back towards the airport to catch our plane. When we finally got off at St. Georges, we were o so lucky to find that there were 2 more trains going our way; we were more than happy....words cannot even explain how happy we were! So tomorrow we head back to Leiden. It will be nice to hear people speak English again. :)

Day 17

Well today will be another one for the memory book. Ha. We have decided that coming to a place where we no less than 5 words of their language, and only about 5 people in this country speak English....makes for a bad combination. After asking 5 different people, 3 of which had high powered guns attached to them, how to get back to our hotel from Chatalet (the middle of Paris), we finally made it, which we thought would never happen. Paris was great today though. We saw a lot of things and ended up walking the whole time...to equal a good 15 miles or so. We did a little shopping along the way and saw the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, the Arc de something that starts with a T, and many other things we dont exactly know the names to. We got to see the Mona Lisa though! Also, we walked up a good 1,000 stairs today, which actually seemed more like 10,000. We got to go up to the 1st and 2nd level's of the Eiffel Tower and also went to the top of the Arc de...Tromphile maybe?? haha I will have to look it up. Our map was very helpful and so was the river...we basically followed it the whole time. Anyway, we are very very tired and are going to get some sleep so we can do it all over again tomorrow! And for some reason my pictures are not loading here, so I will put them up when I get back to Leiden.

Day 16

Today has been quite an interesting day to say the least. We started off with drawing class, which went perfectly fine..except we were a little giddy and time went rather slow because all we really wanted to do was leave :). We got out of class at 1 and made it to our gate in the airport by 2:30. We boarded at 2:50 and finally took off about 45 minutes later. Our flight was only 42 minutes long and went by in a flash. When we got to Paris, we had absolutely no idea what to do, considering we got a deal on the internet with a flight + hotel thing...the only problem was, our hotel is like 40 minutes south of Paris...who knew that even though the hotel is called Stars Paris Envy Hotel, that is actually is not in Paris. So we paid a good 15 dollars to get a train ticket to our hotel. Also, we only found a total of 2 people who spoke any kind of English on our way to the hotel..that was great. We had a guy trying to give us directions about which bus to get on once we got in Envy and we never had an idea of what he was saying...then as we waited some more, we could see him standing by his friends pointing at us and telling more people about how we had no idea what was going on. So after asking another woman who ended up calling the hotel for us, her son walked us to the hotel...even though he didnt speak a word of English besides "mother". The man at the hotel was the best English speaker of the day; he gave us a lot of info. Our hotel room is bring blue and red and the back of our beds is a sail...weird. We found one place that was open and it was a pizza place. We could not read a word of it and they did not speak a word of english (surprise surprise) so we ended up ordering the pizza with the least amount on it..and ended up with a cheese pizza! But we actually got 2..even though we only wanted one. (We forgot that they eat their own pizza's over here). So that concludes our day. We came back to the hotel and ate our pizza's and drank the coke that he gave us and now we are going to bed and will be headed to Parris tomorrow if we can find it! :)

Day 15

Today we woke up early and went to Rotterdam where one of our professors lives. We went to a few different museums and walked around the city all day. We also got to see these knew architectural apartments that are cubed shaped, but sitting on a point basically. We got to go inside one and see it..they are so cool! We also walked along the harbor..which is the 2nd largest in the world, only to the one in China. They also have a pretty cool bridge there. We were there literally the whole day, walked about 10 miles, and saw a lot of things. Rotterdam is a very modern city compared to Leiden and others around becuase it was bombed in WWII and has been rebuilding ever since. It is a fairly large city (3rd largest in the Netherlands) with a lot to see. When we got back, we ate supper, and Trysha finished her drawing for class tomorrow...I am just about to start on mine! Then we are going to this international night thing..hoping to meet some other international students that are studying here. Tomorrow we have drawing and then off to Paris!!

Day 14

Today we were supposed to have Photography class. Instead, when we got there we found out that our professor was stuck on a train that had lost power and was not going to get it back anytime soon. Instead, we decided to work on our graphic design homework which was to design something using photography textures and lines and shapes to create depth in a piece that showed Holland and it being under sea level. It's a rather open ended assignment as are most. I was there for about 5 hours working on it, but finally got it done. Then we came back and took a nap and ate lunch then went on an hour long walk. THEN Trysha and I got to play catch!!!!! It was greattt. We played in the middle of the street...moving out of the way for bikers and cars of course :). Luckily we did not hit a car...we were nevered worried though :) duh. Now we are both working on our drawing assignments that are due Thursday. Tomorrow we go to Roterdam until 4:30 and then we are packing to leave on Thursday for Paris! Yay!

Day 13

Today was Graphic Design day. We started off seeing some more examples of graphic design..this time how they used the empty space in them and how they created depth. Then, we all showed the lions we made on the computer and also our collages. Then we broke into our computer users and drawing groups and on the computers we had to make 3 different works creating space using lines only, and three using shapes only. The people who weren't on the computers were to do two "rubbings". We had to make one textured rubbing be the background and then create our own image in it, and then we had to do one rubbing of an object and then either leave it, put a background around it, or cut it out and put it on a new sheet and do something with it. After class...in which we actually got out of on time...we came back and ate lunch. Then we walked up to Hema (the store) and developed some pictures for our photography class tomorrow. We had to do two "positive" and two "negative" pictures..using under and over exposure...(if I have already told you this, forgive me). Then we made our way back, stopped at the grocery store, and had supper. Now I am just reading and drawing. Tomorrow is photography, Wednesday is Roterdam, Thursday is Drawing and Paris!!!

Day 12

So this Sunday is looking a lot like last Sunday. We woke up around 12, ate something, slept some more, then went to the grocery store to get some things for supper, ate supper, and thats about it. Now I am doing some drawings and thinking of ideas for my "character" that we have to create for our classes. This week we are concentrating on "surrounding". So, we will have to see what that brings. We are very very excited for our trip to Paris this weekend though. We are leaving Thursday afternoon and coming back on Sunday morning. Hopefully tomorrow I will have more to write about!

Day 11

Today was market day again! It just migh be our favorite. We went to the market around 11:30 and stayed and shopped until 4:30 or so. Everyone bought something besides me I think....my time will come! ha. After that, we came back and took a nap, andTrysha and I planned our trip and got a flight and hotel to Paris for this coming weekend. We are so so excited! We can get a hop-on hop-off bus ticket there too that will take us to 9 different sites (including the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre) and we can get on and off whenever we want and we get free headphones to hear the commentator (who does speak in English so thats good). It sounds like a pretty good deal. Also, we will be staying in a hotel as opposed to a hostel which is probably a good idea. Tomorrow we will probably be doing homework and hopefully getting out to play some catch. Hopefully I can pitch some; grass is really hard to come by here!! We have not seen hardly any yet except for out in the marsh lands where the cows and horses live while we are on the train. Other than that, we might go get some pictures developed for our photography class or something like that. It has been a great day though...and this week too as a whole...on to day 12!

Day 10

Today was a great great day. We left at 8:15 am, stopped at the bakery for some breakfast, and got on the 9:20 train to Brussels, Belgium. After taking four different trains, we finally made it there in about 3 hours. Brussels is a really really neat place. We saw 3 or 4 different cathedrals, all of which we could go in. We also went to the Grand Place (I think thats what it's called), which is a huge main square of beautiful buildings (I am going to attempt to put the video I took of it on here). After that, we ate some belgian waffels that were to die for. I had mine with chocolate, strawberries, and whipped cream. It was a great time, and tomorrow we are going to be going to the market again, and maybe try to fit in some shopping. After that, we may make our way to Amsterdam to see the Anne Frank house. As for the rest of the night, I just got done making supper, and now who knows what we will be up to.

Day 9

Today we had our second drawing class. It was 4 hours instead of 3 just like last week, but it was not too bad. We went around the room and each person posed doing something different..so we made 13 drawings in 3 hours..the first hour was lecture. After class, went back and ate lunch. Then we went to a new supermarket we found out about that is much much closer! Then we came back and napped, ate supper, and went to a restaurant called Babbles. So now we are just preparing for our trip to Belgium tomorrow!!!

Day 8

Wow. I cannot believe it is day 8 already, but yet it seems like we have done so much! So after yesterday's city visit, we were a little tired and not all too excited about today's 8 hour visit to Den Haag. But, after the fact, it was a great great day. We left for Den Haag at 9 am and it was only about a 15 min train ride. When we got there, we walked around the city for a couple hours or so and got to see the Hague and Parliment and the Queen's castle. It was really really neat! We were very lucky because when we went to where the Queen of the Netherlands lives, she was about to leave with some ambassadors, which is a big deal. So we got to go to a good spot to take pictures, and the carriages and horses and the band and all that came out (like in a parade) and then the carraiges finally went around to the front of the castle, the doors open, the band starting playing music, and out came the queen and some other people and the loaded in the carriage and took off. Then, a minute later, another carriage arrived to drop off some other ambassadors at the castle. So they all got out and stood there for awhile. Then some guy went up to the head ambassador man and took him around in a circle to see the band and all that, they he came back around to where the others were standing, and then the band played again until the walked inside. It was really cool to see! Then we walked to a museum called Escher in het Paleis. It was all work by Paleis. It was pretty neat. After that we ate lunch. We brought our own PB and J and made the sandwiches in the middle of the city center by a statue of William the Silent. After lunch we went to two more museums, one was a photography museum with another artist who made cars out of bones and stuff like that. I think it was maybe called the Koorenhuis....maybe. Then we went to our last museum of the day, the Gemeente Museum. This is a hugeee museum full of many different kinds of art. I enjoyed all three of them a lot. After that, we took a train to the train station, and then a train back to Leiden and got back around 5. Now we are going to eat supper (grilled cheese and mashed potatoes) (our fav :)) and get ready for tomorrow. All we have tomorrow is Drawing class, so hopefully we can go shopping, and instead of Germany, we are going to Brussels, Belgium on Friday. Then on Saturday we are going to the market again and to Amterdam to see the Anne Frank House....as of now that is :)

Day 7

Today was our first photography class. We learned A LOT of things...more so me because I have never taken any kind of photography class before. She taught us a lot of different things including stuff about shutter speed, ISO, aperture, and all that. After class got over at 1, we got on the train and went to Amersfoort. It is a smaller city about 40 min from Leiden. We went to a museum named KAdE that was rather new. They had an exhibition that just came out called Wonderland. It was very interesting to say the least; not what you would expect from the name. After that we went around the city a little and saw some different things before coming back home. It did not seem like we did a whole lot today, but walking always gets us. Tomorrow is a very long day because we will be gone from 9-5 walking around Den Haag and I am sure we will be visiting some museum's too. No class tomorrow, but then we have Drawing on Thursday and then we are headed to Germany for the weekend...we think :)