21

I had the best birthday party, ever. It was so fun, so crazy, and so unstoppable. The post-party was even better. We cycled down to Storm and I danced, like a mad cow, with 3 espanol dudes. My magnetic presence commands! Actually, now I am pretty embarrassed and I am sure I was really dancing by myself, just around friends. I also fell off my bike again although this time I managed to prop myself up before hitting the ground. I am so bad with this drink and cycle situation.

(8.27pm, 27 feb);

We skipped Pothuy's last night because the couch was comfy, we had martini, chocolate cake (I baked and everyone loved it!), and we were playing "asshole". 12 on the clock - we did the whole euro-kiss-kiss-happy-birthday get-together. Today we had lunch in a really cosy cafe. It was one of those rare days, for I decided to put on makeup and dress up. I stepped out of the building and it started pouring. Why...

HAHAHA. I am having a webcam conversation with my brother and it is damn funny!!! I mean, he is damn funny!!! I know I said that that having a webcam is stupid because you are looking at someone looking nowhere at you, but HAHAHA, it's been almost a month since I last saw my brother.

Irony is how we define everyday situations to be. You are merely a figment of the imagination. You are no more than an embarrassing moment. I hate it when you are rudely awakened to the fact that there is a disconnect between you and a story. The desire to be engaged in an elegant and lyrical work of art disappears. The baby episode in Rebecca West's "The Return of the Soldier" was meant to unite two ultimately different worlds, a what-if, a what-could-be, an indication of happiness. It felt so deliberately imposed, it wrote me off the text.

Freud got me thinking again.

I like the idea of keeping a journal for my literature class on war and masculinity. You don't forget what you learn each week and you are free to give as much comments as you want. It gets you inspired, driven, and sometimes, angry. More than a 1500 words essay with a given topic.

Except maybe for that pathetic bit of class time, my schedule excludes any form of intellectual activity. Why am I sitting in front of the computer, contemplating whether or not to read something like Joanne Burke's "Dismembering the Male"? AHHH. What is happening to me! Today is laze and protest day - I am not even going to do grocery shopping - I shall simply steal someone's potatoes.

See? This is for serious note-taking.

Carnaval in Den Bosch

The carnival is a three day event with plenty of partying, street parades, music, eating and drinking. There were people dressed up as nuns, pirates, animals, brides, superheroes, people with boots on their heads, or a fake limb for a prop...it was just about anything and everything that you could ever come up with.

During the carnival, Den Bosch is also known as Oeteldonk (referring to the marsh around the city). The flag of Oeteldonk bears the colors, red, white and yellow. The symbol for the carnival is the frog. I'm not sure if Oetel means frog, because some sources say it does and others don't.

It was just too bad that we didn't dress up for the occasion

This man popped out of nowhere!

a little polish dance

Loving Utrecht in Kampong style

After days of dreary chills, the sun finally came up. The Waterleiding Museum (waterworks museum) wasn't that interesting but I felt I should see it since I pass by it almost everyday on my way to class. I cycled around the neighborhood and came by Grift Park. There was an animal farm at the side of the park and I basically spent the afternoon with pigs, roosters, hens, rabbits, goats, and sheeps. You really learn to appreciate the surroundings, breath in the fresh air, and "Freedom! I say...Freedom!"

Grift Park

It's weird that there were these 3 gigantic abstractions in the middle of the park. Is this a satire of circumstance?!



Bunnies! Cuter than Miffy.

You can't shut this guy up
My idea of a perfect date - a goat that wouldn't even look at me. (not forgetting those pierced ears!)

Disco?

Every tuesday night, international students flock to this club called Storm. The music is bad, the atmosphere is bad, everything is pretty much the pits, but everyone goes there still. It is the place to be. I suppose I will be there again next week. It's an unwritten rule in the international student handbook.

On Monday night, there was a party in the apartment. The French was the one having a birthday, 2 Polish girls had just arrived in Utrecht (they hitch-hiked from Paris to Utrecht), the Portugese is really good looking (he was at Storm too...that's why it is the place), the Spanish and the other Singaporean had an intense racial argument (with me backing the Spanish, though not of choice), the Dutch adores Singapore and can repeat our mrt warning signs in all 4 languages...

I visited 3 museums today. The centraal museum displays 17th C paintings, as well as modern art from movements like Dada, Surrealism, Lettrism. I must disagree with the slogan of Lettrism because it reminds me of George Orwell's 1984. How can one define himself "I"/"You", if you reduce words to, nothingness? I'm not sure if I interpreted it correctly since I'm unfamiliar with the movement.

Woodman must be really bored.


I'm the subject and the object.










The Universiteitsmuseum was my favorite museum. It was so fun and they had a room where you could actually interact with the artworks. Anatomical structures that line the stairways are what you are first introduced to.

"I know I'm the smallest, but dude, some respect, please."

The power lies in the brain. Brain hat.

"I'm the epitome of beauty!"

"Yeah...but you're not going to escape...The Chair."

Not your everyday bathtub.

The last museum I went to was the Museum Catharijneconvent which showcases medieval religious art. It was quite boring for me, so I didn't spend that much time there. On my way back from the museum to the station, this fucker was whistling some creepy tune while following me on the streets. This picture was meant as a joke, but at that moment, it was "Lord help me!" I was really terrified.

Self-discovery

Today's (mis)adventure: I caused a flood in the washing machine / I caused the washing machine to flood. I had to manually empty 3 buckets of water from it.

Orientation

The bells in the Dom

Bird's eye view of Utrecht

Trouwen? (Marry me?) A man proposed to his girlfriend when she was touring the tower. Romantic? Yes...they parted after a few years of marriage.

Like a painting

For these gorgeous photos, I climbed 465 steps times 2.

I have a bike, but I am horrible, HORRIBLE, with directions. I can actually get lost on a straight route ie. follow a one way direction sort of route. And not just a straight route, but a route that I took only 8 hours ago. Maybe it's a good thing I skipped the party. I have problems finding my way back when sober...I will have even bigger problems if I have to do so when drunk...

That aside, I suspect I'm the culprit of the power trips in the apartment. Twice it occurred when I spilled some boiling water on a plug. The first time, they arrested the toaster and took it away. The second time, I don't know...I cleaned up the spilled water and got my ass out of the kitchen. :/

I got me bike! Cycling back to the studenthouse for the first time is the coolest thing I've done so far. I had to navigate the route and read the map while cycling...wooo...it is a beautiful day!

Social life

Waddya know. My room is directly below the kitchen. I can basically hear everything, "I'll give you this...and you this..." I fell asleep and went in and out of consciousness, half thinking that I was at a party right in the middle of my room. I finally wake up at 2am in blurry thoughts and sleepy eyes , "Are you serious?", and join the others in the kitchen. There's a Polish, 2 Germans, the other Singaporean, a French, and a Chilean. Now I have decided to go for the ESN party because the Chilean, an exchange student who had just arrived, is going. Hooray for the kitchen above my head!

Some extra bit(e)s:

I can't remember what this is called but it consists of potatoes and herring

This is absolutely delicious! Turkish wrap

This, this, this melts in your mouth like heaven. It's a dessert called slagroomsoesjes. The outer crust is crispy and the inside is cream-like. Eaten during the period between frozen and melted.

In Utrecht:
passing through the bell tower

academy building of university utrecht

oudegracht