A Day in the Life

My mother suggested that I do a blog post on a typical day for me over here. She was like, I get it, you're traveling, now lets see some new content.

So, that's what I am going to do. A day in the life post. I picked today, Wednesday September 23, 2015.

7:30am: Alarm goes off, hits snooze
7:40am:Alarm goes off, hits snooze
7:50am: Alarm goes off, crap, I'm running late

8:10am: COFFEE and breakfast. YAS. I have to use a coffee press for my coffee every morning. Which requires me to boil water every morning. Ugh. Wish I had my Keurig. For breakfast, I have yogurt, some sort of berry and granola. Or what they call muesli. It's so scrummy.

Breakfast

8:25am: I walk out my door, down the elevator, walk 50 feet and enter my school. It's a long commute. The longest part of my commute is actually traveling through a revolving door of inefficiency. One would think a revolving door would be efficient, but no, not if everyone goes into each section one at a time so you aren't awkwardly squished against someone while you shuffle in a half circle. So, I impatiently wait my turn.

8:30am- 11:00am: Class begins. I have about 2.5 hours to catch up on all the social media I missed while I was asleep and all my friends and family were awake and having fun and further my education by listening intensely and learning about marketing. Today I have internet marketing. Woo-hoo.

11:01am: Walk back to my room knowing that after my intense 5 minute walk... It's lunch time.

11:15am: Make lunch
11:16am: Admire lunch
11:17am: Devour lunch

Sandwich, Ants on a log minus ants and melkbiscuts. Yes my lunch looks like its for a 5 year old.

12:50pm: Next class. I have no idea why they start at such a weird time. This class is International Financial Markets. This class is my least favorite here. You know those teachers who have HORRIBLE handwriting, refuse to use PowerPoint slides, talk with a thick accent and jump around from topic to topic with no rhyme or reason to this lecture or correlation to the book? Yes, that's the class I'm in. And to make matters worse, the topic isn't that interesting.

WHAT. What even is the letter in the title next to the E??? Pi? Is that the symbol for Pi?

I'm squinting to read this. I have had Lasik eye surgery and I AM SQUINTING. Also, what does this even mean?

2:30pm: FREEDOM. SWEET SWEET FREEDOM.

2:40pm: Two of my friends and I decided to go out for an afternoon bike ride to Waterlooplein flea market. It reminds me of the kind of stuff they would have at the Huntington Beach farmers market, except this one is all day everyday.

2:50pm: Biking through the pouring rain
2:53pm: Completely soaked.
3:20pm: Slowly starting to dry off as we walk through the knickknacks and such.
4:00pm: Bought a sweatshirt.

S'CUTE

4:30pm: Finished drying off and warming up with a nice cup of hot chocolate and a bagel. YUMM

Frothy chocolaty goodness

That chive cream cheese shhhhmear doe

5:00pm: Ashley lost her bike keys. Mind you, we all locked our bikes together. Soooo we're screwed
5:02pm: Searched all over the market for Ashley's lost bike keys.
5:10pm: Found keys still in Ashley's lock still attached to bike. Thank god no one stole them.
5:11pm: Headed back to the dorm. Finally dry and enjoyed a nice bike ride back.
5:30pm: STARTS POURING RAIN about 5 minutes from dorm.
5:35pm: Arrives back at dorm looking like a drowned lion.

6:00pm: Changed into my warm fuzzy pj pants and tucked them into my warm fuzzy slippers while I snuggled under my warm fuzzy blanket.

7:00pm: Wednesday Dorm Potluck Dinner. Everyone who comes to the potluck brings a dish to share. Tonight's potluck was smaller than last weeks. But it was still really fun. It was more intimate. The Australian even shared her Tim Tams with us. You bite of the corners of the Tim Tam and drink your tea through it like a straw and then eat the chocolatey goodness as it melts in your mouth. It was delish. We discussed Australian things because, as many of you know, I nanny for three Australian girls and work for their parents at a stand up paddle board shop, therefore, I am half Australian. I know all the slang: nappy, knickers, boot, fairy bread, milo and now Tim Tams.

I made grilled squash

A well balanced potluck dinner

So Aussie, mate.

9:00pm: Homework time. Luckily I only have one class tomorrow and I already did the readings this weekend. WOOHOO. Just have a couple questions to answer and then I'm doooonnneeeee

9:30pm: Netflix and chill.
9:31pm: Alone.
9:32pm: Modern Family, season 1 episode 10

11:00pm: I should go to bed. And dream about how my sister and mom are going to Disneyland without me tomorrow and how I wish I was there.
11:01pm: If I go to bed now, I'll get a nice, healthy 8 hours of sleep.
11:02pm: LOL jk I'll play on my phone for the next hour or so... Goodnight

Discovering Holland

So, I've been here for a month.

Woah.

 I've done a week of welcome, Spain, started school and went on a discover Holland trip. It's crazy how much I can do when I'm not nannying, working or doing sorority stuff. I have so much free time. It's weird.

The past two weeks I've been exploring the Netherlands and discovering the country I'm living in. Last Friday, a group of girls from my dorm took a train to Zaanse Schans to go look at some windmills. I had been here a few weeks and had yet to see a windmill so I figured it was about time.

Row of windmills 

Oh look, another one

Cute little street with cute little houses 

We went on a very rainy day

Insta pic. @marissaneitzel

8 pictures later we got one where our hair wasn't blowing everywhere

S'CUTEEEE

We could smell this chocolate place the moment we got off the train

Make you own chocolate

We also decided we should go to the famous sex museum,

and then out for Mexican food. I was all about the Mexican food. And margaritas. But man the Mexican food here is EXPENSIVE. I'm used to $1 tacos with a side of beans, rice and chips and salsa. Not $15 for one taco.

DISCOVER HOLLAND TRIP

This past weekend I went on a trip with our international student network program to Maastrict and Valkenburg in the Netherlands. We took a bus Friday evening to Maastrict. They had food, transportation, accommodation and activities included in the price, which was suuuuuppperrr nice. I liked Maastrict a lot. It was a nice little town. Great shopping too. Expensive, but nice.

City Center

Medieval Walls

More old city walls

The oldest city wall. Built in 1229

Don't make me daaaance

Cannon Commander 

The next day we took off to Valkenburg. This city was even smaller. There wasn't tooooo much to do here but I liked how small and quiet it was. Kinda like Shingle Springs. Small and quiet.

BAMBI!

Thought this was purdy

and this too.

Old Castle Ruins 

View of the city

I was bad.

One of the activities we did was sliding on hills. You sat on a sled and went down the hills on the metal tracks. The sleds had breaks and everything. It was pretty cool. I added a video that better explains it.

View of the slides

Had to take a ski lift to get there

CREW

Lastly, we stopped at the point where the borders of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands intersect. It was pretty neat. I can now say I have been to Germany and Belgium too. I still want to go back and explore those countries though. Because 3 minutes in each country wasn't enough.

The exact spot where the 3 countries intersect

Right foot Germany. Left foot Belgium. Rest of body the Netherlands.  It was like Twister.

Other than discovering Holland I have been doing a lot of homework. Super fascinating. Maybe next time I'll post pictures of that so people know I'm studying too and I haven't forgot why I am here.

Lastly,

Just a friendly reminder that it is now Halloween time at Disneyland.

Till next time.

Barcelona y Escuela

Hola.

I'm writing this while eating Cheez-Its that I brought from home. YASS.

Last week we had a mandatory introduction day at our school on Monday and then the rest of the week off. A couple of my friends and I thought this would be a prime opportunity to take a trip somewhere since we had about 5 days. We booked plane tickets on Sunday, a hostel on Monday and on Tuesday, we woke up at 3am to catch our flight to... BARCELONNNAAAAAAAAA.

Finally saw the sun. Didn't think I would see it again until I was back in California.

This was my first time staying in a hostel and I have to say, it was surprisingly great! The staff was super nice and helpful. They had activities planned thoughout the day and night. It also had a large kitchen and common room. I shared a room with 7 other people. It was fun meeting people from all over the world. Even though most of them were American.

Kitchen and dinning area

We had 2 days of travel and 3 full days in Barcelona. It was so fun to be able to (semi) communicate and read in Spanish. I felt like after 4 years of Spanish all I knew was hola but it turns out I know more than I thought. I also know adios. And tequila!

We went to a couple of Barcelona's must see attractions. I am obsessed with the spanish architecture. Every corner you turned had amazing buildings. Even if it was just an apartment building, the iron fence terraces, the columns, the facade was all so beautiful. Of course, the churches and cathedrals were breathtaking too. Made me wish I had a better architecture professor in college. We barely brushed on Spanish architecture. Anyways, I posted a ton of pictures below.

Arc de Triomf 

Parc Ciutadella 

Parc Ciutadella

Parc Guell

View of Barcelona from Parc Guell

CREW

Is this where Cheetah Girls 2 was shot? YES. (see below)

CHEETAH-LICIOUS 

Basilica La Sagrada Familia

How nuts is this interior?

And then the facade! So much detail.

Random building I liked.

Cathedral. Bad lighting. Still pretty

La Casa Batllo. Same guy who did the Basilica 

Sadly, we didn't go into the Batllo house. They wanted 20 Euro. And I was like ehhhhhhhhh. Maybe another trip.

My favorite day was the last full day, when we took a tram 30 minutes up the road to the beach. It was so nice to be back at the beach and get some sun before returning to the cold and rainy Netherlands.

Super awkward that most of the females had their tops off. All ages... but hey. You do you.

My favorite thing about traveling is the food. OBVIOUSLY. I really wanted to dive in and try the local cuisine. When my best friend (shout out to Tegan) studied abroad in Madrid, I'd always ask her what kind of food she ate there. She told me tapas and paella. And she was right. On every street that's all I would see. Tapas and paella. Naturally, I tried both. And topped it off with sangria and/or a mojito.

I could eat here everyday. We actually went 3 times.

Seafood paella

SAAAANGRIAAAAAAAA

One of the best mojitos I've ever had. 

You already know.

One highlight from the trip was going out with the hostel to take salsa lessons. I thought it was really fun even though the instructor only taught like 3 basic steps. Which I already knew because sophomore year of high school I taught my PE class salsa dancing. In return I got out of running the mile for 2 weeks. Little did everyone know I had no idea how to salsa dance and I just YouTube'd it, taught myself and then taught the class. Hahahahaha. And then didn't have to run the mile. WIN WIN.

Overall it was a pretty fun trip and I was excited to practice my spanish. Now I'm back in Amsterdam and I am still staying Hola and bueno to everyone.


First Week of School:

Woke up sick.

Awesome.

Other than that... I've only been to two days of classes so far and it's not so bad. It's weird that none of my classes are design classes. I already miss all my design supplies and programs :(. But, I'll be doing all that stuff for the rest of my life so I'm not too worried. In my marketing communications class our "creative activity" was to think of a new brand and create a logo. I was done in 3.5 seconds. So I guess I can still use my design knowledge in Marketing. I would tell you my idea/ logo but it was brilliant and I don't want anyone to steal it.


My blogs will become more and more boring the further I get into school.

 Hopefully I can plan a few weekend trips soon!


That's all for now!