Almost done!!!!

Since Berlin I've been glued to my thesis. Although it hasn't been nine months, I still feel like it's my baby. In fact, it has been quite the process and like pregnancy, involved many mood swings, cravings, and fatigue. Believe it or not, I've really enjoyed the process! I had a personal puzzle for four months. In case you are curious and don't know already, I'm writing about sex differences in foreign language comprehension performance and how it relates to subject familiarity, text content, and reading processing styles. If you even finished that last sentence and actually want a copy, please let me know. I collected data at a local school here which was a really fun experience as well. It was refreshing to be back in a high school full of confused teeny-boppers. The results from the experiment were so strange and unexpected that I had the pleasure of returning a second time to discuss the results with the participants. The unexpected results really gave me something interesting to write about. I'm pretty pleased with the finished product, although a few finishing touches are still to be made. Within a week I will be completely finished with my degree!!!

Last week my program had a symposium to present and defend our theses. I was pretty nervous but it went better than I could have imagined. I got lots of encouraging feedback and simply enjoyed telling everyone what I have been working on for the last four months. After the symposium we went to my adviser's home for a farewell party. I have to admit that I became slightly nostalgic. This year has been one of the best experiences of my life. Not only have I received a great education and quite the adventure, but I also got to experience some amazing people along the way. It's strange to say goodbyes and question whether you will see these people again in life. It's a pretty international group though so I have a feeling some of our paths will cross again which is refreshing. The celebration lasted well into the evening hours. It was the perfect end to a great year with a great group of people.


Joyce and I hiding our nerves before the big presentations

Gathering afterwards at my adviser's beautiful home

A few girls I am going to miss

Nienke and I after some yummy pizza

Marijn and I dancing the night away

No, actually Paul danced the night away

Catch-up!

It's been over a month since I last updated this blog so it's time for a little catch-up. About a month ago, I took a weekend break from my thesis and went back to my home away from home - Berlin. My good friend Marieke joined me on the journey. She had never been to Berlin before so it was great to show her around and see her reaction to a city I lost my heart to already two years ago. After a bit of shock, I think she began to understand the city's strange and complex charm. On the way, my camera died but luckily we were able to borrow a camera from a friend (thank you Karin) to capture some great moments.

Berlin?

The sun shining over the Jewish Memorial

Back together again

How I felt after a few German beers, chocolate cakes, and pretzels

Marieke experienced a lot of firsts while in Berlin, but unfortunately sushi was also a last.

Right next to the wall a huge concert hall complex was recently constructed. I have a feeling that 20 years ago, no one could even imagine such a sight.

The 'hof' (courtyard) at Karin's. They are definitely something I miss about Berlin.

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