AmsterDAM!

Last wednesday it was off and away to Amsterdam and other assorted parts of the Netherlands with my Jazz and Blues music class.
This meant that 14 American college kids (4 girls, 10 boys), one professor and his wife, and one student activities coordinator were thrown into the city where just about everything that can be legalized, is.
We arrived on wednesday night, and trotted off to a jazz concert in the main music hall of the city. it was, to say the least, not at all what we were expecting. the lead trumpet player was in lederhosen, his drummer was in a neon spandex shirt, and they played a song inspired by the sounds their neighbors made while having sex.
let's call it "alternative" music.
on the bright side, there was free wine.
on thursday we went on a canal tour of the city, followed by a visit to the van gogh museum. it was interesting, but to be honest i can't stand museums for more than about two hours. after that i get hopelessly tired, and can think of nothing but how nice it would be to sit down on one of the strategically placed leather couches and take a nap.
we had the afternoon free, so after a few rounds of pictures at the "I AMsterdam" sign, we wandered over to a diamond museum and then made our way to a place to have a drink, then dinner at a tai restuarant. the whole gang gathered there, which was really fun (great ribs), and then we went to Bourbon Street.
kick ass jazz bar.
we had a beer with our professor, then just spent the night sitting around and listening to what i would call proper jazz music. the main guitarist started seriously hitting on me, which was pretty entertaining seeing as how he was about 50. we had an interesting conversation though, and garcia (my professor) was getting a kick out of watching it happen.
the guy was actually from america, which was really cool. i asked how and when he got to amsterdam and he said "20 years ago, because i followed a pair of legs". hm, interesting.
at any rate, once he found out we were from ohio he actually played 'hang on sloopy' which absolutely rocked our socks, so of course we all added the O-H-I-O.
friday was probably my favorite day. we went to the anne frank house in the morning, and then took a bus into the countryside and visited a cheese factory and a shoe factory. it was pretty awesome to actually see the little wooden shoes being made, and we even stopped by a real "dutch windmill".
after that we went to the little seaside town of Volendam for an hour or so, just to shop around and sight-see. it was breathtaking. quite possibly one of my favorite places on earth - the boats, the architecture...everything just seemed so perfect.

that evening we went to what can only be described as the worst musical experience of my life.
the place: Bimhaus, a jazz venue.
the band:(someone's name) and the chicago tentet.
the sound: eleven people. eleven instruments. and every single one was playing a different song. it's called 'collective improvisation' or some such nonsense, and it was absolutely painful. eleven different songs. not even garcia could handle it. halfway through the second set my right eye started twitching. absolute nightmare.
at any rate, saturday eventually rolled around and we found ourselves in Delft, the town where Vermeer lived. Being a huge fan of the book "Girl with a Pearl Earring", i was thrilled to death. there was even a little outdoor market, so we all did some shopping and just had a generally good time. it was nice to forget that it was valentine's day for a bit. stupid holiday really. totally comercialized.
we had the rest of the afternoon free when we got back to Amsterdam, so a group of us went shopping and then headed back to the hotel to freshen up (and have a few drinks) before going out again (to have more drinks).
we ended up at an irish pub that we'd found the night before when they lured us in with sparklers. we got a 3 euro discount on all drinks, and the bartender absolutely ADORED us so he kept pouring us free shots. then, because we were american, he started playing this fantastic medley of songs - including cotton eyed joe and grease. we about died. later on that evening we met a few irish boys, who insisted on buying us a few rounds. all in all, a fantastic night (though i wasn't feeling so hot the next morning).
and so sunday came, and it was back on the bus to come home to luxembourg. of course the trains not running on sundays due to construction meant that it took a few of us about 3 hours to make the 25 minutes trek from the chateau back to noertzange (it involved a bus, an hour's wait, and two trains), but we made it.
i survived amsterdam.
and it rocked.
tomorrow it's off to venice and stockholm for carnival break!
love,
me

there's whiskey in the jar

ireland....what's not to love? rolling hills, castles, sheep, guinness, jameson, and cute accents. this past weekend was an absolute blast.
wendy, chris, grace, taylor and i all trekked our way on ryan air over to the emerald isle with relative success - well, except for the fact that i bought a bus ticket not for 2:30pm, but for 2:30am. Luckily, in a fit of european niceness, the bus driver let me on anyway. i seriously owe that man.
our flight was on time, which meant that we got to hear the signature ryan air trumpet call followed by "you're arrived on another on-time flight with ryan air!" it was rather funny, but not as funny as us miming britney spears, katy perry, and tommy tutone for all to see. on the flight grace also tried desperately to explain to us an 80s movie she'd seen in which an alien is sent to earth to impregnate a female and rule the species, but he has no penis so they give him a vibrator.
at this point we stopped listening, and told her that she had most likely been watching alien porn. if such a thing exists.
we arrived at our bed and breakfast, Sandy Hills, to freshly baked scones and the kindest woman any of us has ever met. her name is mary, and she was our hostess for the weekend. not only were there fresh scones and tea waiting, she also invited us into her sitting room in front of the fire to watch television. the house was just lovely - heaven, actually. i didn't want to leave. our room was a little chilly, but that just meant it was time for a cuddle puddle in wendy's bed!! cuddle puddles, by the way, rock.
morning brought a fresh breakfast of eggs, biscuits, homemade jam, tea, and fresh fruit. we trotted off to dublin for the day and went to see the oldest book in the world (not on display, so we saw an 'artistic copy'. psh) at trinity college. honestly i think we were all more impressed by the library - we're talking beauty and the beast here. everyone's jaws just dropped when we saw it.
after lunch at a little cafe, we hit up grafton street for some shopping. i got myself a claddaugh, which is a traditional irish ring that you wear facing one way to show that you're single and another to show that you're taken. it's been switching around quite a bit. we then tried and failed to find the guinness brewery, were sucessful in finding the jameson distillery, ran out of time for a tour, and took a tram to the Gin Palace, where i ordered my first official "pint". ha. yay.
eventually we found ourselves in a cab and heading off to a kareoke bar, which actually provided private rooms for everyone so as to avoid public embarassment.
it was freaking hilarious. we tackled such hits as achey breaky heart (seriously, you should listen to the lyrics sometime), that don't impress me much, i like big butts, and a full group collaboration of "summer nights". that had to have been the crowning moment.
we then proceeded on to our musical pub crawl, which is really just an excuse to drink and listen to awesome music. i also got mooned by a few irish boys in the bar due to the rugby match that was going on (irland v. france. the irish get quite excited when they do well...) it was a positive experience. haha.
sunday our saint of a hostess decided that it was too much of a shame for us not to see the countryside because of our lack of car, so she drove us all over the coast for the whole day. it was rather snowy so it wasn't as green as i was hoping, but it was BEAUTIFUL.
i mean, we're talking the ireland of the movies here. rolling hills and mountains, sheep, seaside towns, and quaint pubs where you can order fish and chips. i got some fantastic pictures.
we made it back to the airport with little issue, but of course there was a discrepency with the passenger list which resulted, upon landing, in us having about ten minutes to get across the runway, through customs, through the airport, and down a street to catch our bus to lux city.
did we do it?
hells yeah.
i didn't get back until 1am (and had zero cash left) and by the time i got to bed at 3 i was down to a little less than 4 hours of sleep for my frankenstein in-class essay today.
that, admittedly, was rather unpleasant.
at any rate, i'm home safe and sound, and off to amsterdam on wednesday for my mini-field study tour. fast times and good jazz music awaits.
love,
me