Shocking Asparagus

Coraline admiring a ginormous European asparagus. If my memory serves me right, I do not recall ever seeing white huge asparagus in the U.S. They're much smaller and usually green...right? Can I get fellow American to confirm that???? Even back in the day when I lived in Berlin, I was shocked by the size of these things. They're currently in season and continue to shock me.

Enjoying the holidays...

Basically there has been an endless amount of holidays over here. Nothing screams holidays more than festivals. It's really ideal when they're in your backyard too. Last week I had the pleasure of seeing bands such as Friska Viljor, Nada Surf, Vive La Fete, and Data Rock. I have to admit that it was a bit trippy seeing Nada Surf again - the lead singer has gray hair now! It seems like just yesterday that they were in their prime and gave Jen and I a drum stick when we were clueless teenyboppers. I also saw an amazing band called Black Mountain. It was like a time-warp back to 1975 or something...good stuff. Besides festivals and music, there have been a lot of bbqs and outdoor activities due to the amazing weather. No one is too sure how long this is going last, so needless to say we're taking full advantage. On Saturday I rented a kayak with my friend, Eline. It was really cool to see Groningen from the angle of the canals. I definitely want to go again. If you come visit me, it's inevitable.

Divas enjoying some really bad European house music

Finally, I threw together a pick-up game of ultimate frisbee. Great to see friends enjoying a typical American past time.

Picnic time! The intertube was genious...not to mention the jump rope.

View from the kayak

My partner in crime

A very relaxed and happy girl

Sabine leading a bike repair workshop for me. Bikes have been my biggest problem over the past few weeks; although life in Holland without a bike makes no sense, I think we can all safely say that life is pretty good when bikes are your biggest worry.

Happy Birthday Beatrix!

Yesterday was Queen's Day here in the Netherlands. Beatrix, from the royal House of Orange, celebrated 28 years of being queen. To celebrate, the entire country fills the streets and parties for 24 hours. The Dutch are nuts! Today I described the event as 'drunken orange people'. I spent the crazy day naturally in the craziest place in Holland - Amsterdam. Streets were completely filled with orange and there were djs and concerts everywhere. Queen's Day is also the one day of year that there are open markets in the streets. It was quite the experience indeed.

Beatrix herself!...on tv. The whole royal family visited two cities in Friesland for the big event.

Like I said, streets filled with 'drunken orange people'!

Party boat coming through

Lydia, me, and Marieke. Yes, even the American sported some orange...Marieke.

Forgot for a moment how fun it can be carrying your home on your back. It was great to be on the road and in a big city again. Like every big city, there were some random and surreal moments. People-watching was at its finest.

What I was pointing to in the last photo - prime example of random and surreal moment

Alkmaar rocks!...oh yeah!

On Monday I went home with Marieke to her lovely home in Alkmaar. Alkmaar is in the northwest part of the Netherlands about twenty minutes from the sea. It was so great to be in a real home for a while and, not to mention, be around a real family. It was so relaxing and refreshing. We walked through the very cozy city of Alkmaar, watched a bad 'nederhorror' film, went to the sea, and ate some junk food. IT WAS PERFECT!

Marieke and her teeny bopper bro enjoying ginormous cones full of fries.

Beautiful church in Alkmaar - I loved the trees.

First trip to the sea this year - there were purple jelly fish everywhere!

I just love this pic

Superman - I mean me

For Stannie

Greek Easter

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of celebrating yet another Greek holiday with friends. Theodora and Vicky organized a picnic to celebrate full of amazing foods, meat, great conversation, and more meat. I really want to take some of their traditions home with me. Especially their Easter egg traditions. They die the eggs naturally with onion peels and vinegar to give them a crimson red color representing the blood of Christ. The best part is the egg breaking tradition. Two people come together and hit two eggs together. As you can imagine, the egg that does not cracks is the winner. The girls even did some traditional dancing and singing. I learned one of their songs but forgot it as soon as I learned it...Greek is a tongue twister.

We ate all day and occasionally took a break to play some frisbee. Some of them had never even thrown a frisbee before so I played coach for the day. It was fun and funny to say the least. We didn't break any windows which was cool. Thanks girls for such a great day!!! Nicole and I decided that an American BBQ with smores, country music, and line dancing will be necessary in the near future:)

Me wasting the others in the egg breaking competition:) I really did win.

Nikoleta and I

Meat!

...and more meat

Lovin' Life

Time to rewind a bit and update you all. The last few weeks have been peaceful and beautiful; I've been working on my thesis like usual, enjoying spring weather, spending way too much time at a lake near my house, having fun with friends, and celebrating Greek holidays as usual:)

After some time in sunny Florida, it was a bit difficult to find the motivation to pick up the thesis again. The sun has also been making a daily appearance here, which normally doesn't facilitate writing a thesis. Surprisingly, I think the relaxed and happy atmosphere has helped me tie some thoughts together and make some advancements. In less than two weeks, I will conduct the experiment portion of my thesis. I really hope I can collect some significant data so that the rest of the thesis process is exciting rather than an explanation of what went wrong and why. Whether I'm working on the thesis or enjoying time with friends, I'm pretty much high on life 24/7.

The canal by my house. I run along this canal every weekend on my way to the lake.

Ordered pizza on a dock at MY lake with Tjerk - yes, they delivered.

Sex and the City stars Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda enjoying some icecream.

Last week a Dutch friend of mine that I met in Iceland came to visit me in Groningen. Together, Ellen and I, climbed to the top of the Martini Tower. Here's a pic of Groningen from above.

Ellen enjoying the view from the Martini Tower

The three stooges

Vanda and I

Last weekend my friends and I enjoyed some live entertainment for 'Go China' at the main market in Groningen. The tower I climbed with Ellen is on the left.

My two favorite djs in town. He plays Duran Duran for me and she takes me to places called Boogie Nights.

Family Vaca!

Yes, it was time for the annual family vaca to sunny Florida. Due to the relatively large ocean separating Holland and Florida, no one was really expecting me to take part in the annual event. It was the perfect opportunity for a surprise...and what a surprise it was. Not only were there tears at the airport, but also some screaming when I jumped out from an intertube in the swimming pool. Nothing beats family, sun, beach, seafood, and especially key-lime pie. Very good times indeed.


Nothing screams family vacation more than cards.

Paradise

Thanks again...Laura.

My favorite photo from the trip.

Road trip!...Busch Gardens baby!

Look at the fear in his eyes.

Flipper!

Getting my last fix of clam chowder.

I miss them already