Beltsjeblom

Home alone

2009-08-04T16:03:00.003+02:00

Back from Peru and from Budapest and Vienna...home alone. It's quiet and very hard to get myself to work on proper things such as thesis and finding a job... but I will manage. There will be less pictures posted because also the camera is in Vienna (together with Johan).

Peru

2009-06-13T11:01:00.003+02:00

Just two weeks left and I'll be in the plane to Peru. If everything goes well you'll be all able to see what's going on in Peru over here. Yesterday we had one of the last meetings with the group to discuss the different development themes. And turns out, we'll probably also be going outside of the cities! The trip keeps getting better, I'm so curious!

Color

2009-05-28T08:31:00.002+02:00

It was such a great weekend... now it's just raining and very windy. Would be perfect weather to work on my thesis behind my desk. But somehow, this week doesn't work out for me. I sleep very little and all days have been interrupted by small tasks that needed to be taken care of. The annoiance... Looking forward to the weekend, camping time! Hopefully we'll go by car!

Black and white

2009-05-27T13:14:00.002+02:00

We had beautiful weather for a few days. Went picknicking...

2009-05-20T09:03:00.001+02:00

Picknick..

2009-05-18T17:02:00.002+02:00

Longing for a summer picknick with strawberries, grapes and pasta or noodle salad... and the weather that goes with it...

2009-05-07T08:26:00.001+02:00

Another Cambridge shot..

2009-05-05T15:26:00.002+02:00

Just came back from Cambridge, amazing university! Would love to have studied there.

2009-04-28T17:41:00.001+02:00

This is the new color of our wall. I like it!

2009-04-25T17:32:00.001+02:00

Oh dit is leuk! Een photobooth... wou dat ik het zo kon printen. x

2009-04-25T08:53:00.003+02:00

Yesterday we celebrated SOL's third birthday! The picture looks aweful but the cake was great!

2009-04-23T08:25:00.001+02:00

Our first guest speaker for the congress offered € 1000 in sponsoring... can you believe it... three hours in the train worth it.

2009-04-21T07:59:00.002+02:00

Yesterday, I got an egg thrown at me... it missed luckily. Today three hours in a train to meet a guest speaker... not so much fun.

2009-04-19T09:45:00.002+02:00

Just heared that I am going on a study trip to Peru! So much looking forward to it. We will visit several development projects and see what is actually happening. Can't believe I'm goind... although the timing is a bit aweful...Just when Johan is leaving.

2009-04-18T11:43:00.000+02:00

Spring at the campus.

2009-04-15T18:06:00.001+02:00

Weekend at Terschelling with the family. Loved it and miss the island already.

2009-04-03T12:11:00.002+02:00

When I was in Finland there was lots of playing outside.. It made me think of when I was small and that I wasn't always very fond of playing outside. I still like to be inside... think it also has to do with being too lazy to go outside, cycle to the lake nearby or even sit on the balcony.

Yesterday we had our first outside dinner of this year and Annebet was here to have it with us! It's just April and it's warm already.

2009-04-03T12:09:00.001+02:00

Poster for a debating evening organized by our study trip committee. Hoping there will be lots of people!

2009-03-29T16:27:00.002+02:00

Some pictures from the congress that my organization (SOL) organized last Friday. It was so much fun and very educational as well! I did the opening and got very good reviews for my brief introduction! Jej!

Afterwards we went to the pancake restaurant! Time for relaxation!

2009-03-28T11:26:00.000+01:00

2009-03-25T20:48:00.002+01:00

Finland was just so perfect, with traditionally drunk people, warm water at the sinks in the public bathrooms, sauna, shops open until 21 and museums open until 20.30... missing it.

2009-03-24T22:41:00.002+01:00

My first korvapuusti in a long time (I think it has to have been three years ago!). The cinnamon bun that I had at Tampere station was just the perfect start of my stay in Finland.
Below, the view of my old home from the train. I've had such a good time in Helsinki! I still can't believe I don't live there anymore. It was good to have some time with Anu... she's still my sisko! More pictures later this week...

Now it's back to normal times with deadlines, phonecalls, emails, and just a lot going on. I'm looking forward to the time that I can take some time off and focus on my thesis.

2009-03-16T15:56:00.002+01:00

Will be gone for a few days. Tomorrow, handing in papers and first thesis parts (lets make that part), then dinner with Ramonja and later Sneak Preview with my brother. Then staying awake till 2 am in order to catch a bus to Bremen. Finally, sleep then fly to Tampere and take a bus and train to Helsinki.

Hope to be back Monday with lots of pictures and Fazer chocolate!

2009-03-14T10:03:00.002+01:00

I really like poladroid! Yesterday I had dinner with the thesis nerds, as we liked to call ourselves when we were writing our political science theses. It was a great dinner, with a lot of laughs and of course watching ice skating!

2009-03-12T09:08:00.005+01:00

Picture from Joke and my visit to Verónica in Liverpool in 2006. Almost forgot how nice it was to be there. In the diner below we had the best apple crumble and talked about our very first kiss!

I was feeling ill, but now i'm better. Today I'm going to Leiden to meet with my old thesis supervisor.

2009-03-09T12:57:00.004+01:00

Found a picture of Paris a year earlier when I was there with Johan. Liked the way this picture turned out, with a bit of a 70's red glow.

Last Saturday I went to the library and found a really cool Chinese cookbook. This means lots of Asian food to try over the next weeks. Also there was a girl playing the piano in the library, very nice. I just love sitting there, reading magazines. Thinking of all the money that I'll safe because I'm not buying them!

We dyed the fabric of our couch black again. So much nicer. Now we finally should get the grey paint to redo our blue wall. Curious for the outcome of that!

2009-03-08T16:44:00.002+01:00

This afternoon I went to Laura and Mike. Sometimes, I miss last year when university was just like high school. Just 35 nice people in a class. Trips to Dublin and Paris... Well, this year there might be more people, but the trip went to New York. Things can just not be compared.

I'm looking forward to writing my second thesis. I still don't know the exact thing that I'm going to research, but the idea of focussing on one thing and being able to dedicate time to this, feels just good. I hope it's going to be just as good as the last!

2009-03-05T09:49:00.002+01:00

Not feeling that well today. Going to work on my thesis. Lots of fun things coming up next week!

2009-03-03T08:23:00.003+01:00

Picture from my time in Helsinki. We were going deer-hunting.

Working on a paper today... I'm so slow when writing. I get distracted so easily. Yesterday I've been trying to figure out how to organize Make My Day, a day full of workshops at the end of March.

2009-03-01T21:09:00.002+01:00

Watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button yesterday. Really nice movie. Now, I'm looking forward to watching Slumdog Millionair.

2009-02-25T08:24:00.002+01:00

This was one of the presents I gave Johan for his birthday. He loves them.

2009-02-24T17:44:00.000+01:00

I can't upload any new pictures. Somehow blogger is acting up.

2009-02-21T09:20:00.005+01:00

Spent the weekend cleaning and throwing away old things. We managed to fill one bag full of old shoes to go to charity. We also bought new herbs for our kitchen window. I'll try to post pictures of our home more often, trying to make it look pretty instead of cluttered.

I'm actually kind of sad that we didn't end up in the other house. In my head I had decorated it already...

2009-02-19T08:52:00.000+01:00

We're not moving. Saving money and time for trips, an internship (Johan) and a thesis.

2009-02-18T14:40:00.002+01:00

Pictures from St. Petersburg.

Have just handed in the worst paper of my whole university career. Can't really determine if my standards get higher or if I'm just becoming more lazy...

2009-02-17T16:28:00.003+01:00

Picture from the GM Paris-trip last year. On the steps in front of the Sacre Coeur, beautiful view!

My I-apple is back! Now I need to work, but can't put myself to it. Thinking of trips that I would love to make. I'm planning a trip for SOL to a summit in Cambridge from 1-3 May. And, I just heard that my brother is going to study in South Carolina for a while. Can't wait to visit him! So excited for him.

2009-02-16T13:44:00.002+01:00

I've finally brought my mac-book to the repair shop. I will be a few days without it.. and most importantly without the internet. Until now, everything is fine, no detox-problems.

Yesterday we went to a Dutch movie (for free). Stella's oorlog, very good (for a Dutch movie).

2009-02-13T08:00:00.001+01:00

Wishing I was graduated for the second time already.

2009-02-12T11:06:00.003+01:00

Pictures from VT Wonen, my favourite magazine.

Johan and I might be moving to another home soon. Doubting whether that would be a good idea... but at the same time thinking of what it could look like.

Having BBQ in the garden (tiny garden), having a dish washer in the kitchen, and just having more space..

2009-02-10T08:56:00.005+01:00

I tried something new yesterday. The picture in the title, it took some time uploading, but I think it looks quite nice. Nevertheless it's quite big compared to the rest of the page... need to figure out something to solve that.

Oh, I've been thinking too much about Fazer chocolate, viili, rye bread, candy and movies with old roommates, and piirrakka lately. Can't wait to be in Helsinki! This has been a very good choice.

2009-02-09T11:10:00.003+01:00

Love. My parents were married for 25 years last week. This weekend we've celebrated. There was even life music. Our local hero, Jaap Louwes (famous for the line: Beer in your hair) came and played some of his nicest songs.

The rest of the weekend I've been in the worst of moods. The thesis supervisor that I would have liked, has found a new job in Maastricht.. the job seems very nice, but now I have to find a new thesis supervisor, and worst of all, a new topic...

2009-02-07T15:01:00.000+01:00

Another one from New York.

2009-02-06T09:18:00.002+01:00

Yesterday's lunch with Klaasje. I have had such a nice day with meeting lots of friends. Not very productive unfortunately, but very nice.
My new phone camera is clearly not as good as the previous....

2009-02-05T08:16:00.003+01:00

I booked tickets to Helsinki. Or more exactly, I'm flying from Bremen to Tampere. Long bus ride in the middle of the night to get there. This is the only picture that is left from my time there... not the best to be honest.
I'm so much looking forward to meeting Maisa for the first time in her life! I'm already dreaming of all the things that I can do in Helsinki...

2009-02-04T09:00:00.002+01:00

On the last day in Central Park.

Today I need to really work on my to-do-list... Every one thing that I tick off, gets replaced by at least two new things. Up next is writing a research proposal and writing an application for a PHD-position...(exciting).

2009-02-02T11:02:00.003+01:00

Sunday, playing with poladroid. Pictures of Times Square and Kirsten and Dennis on the subway. I could go on with New York pictures for a whole month I think.

Seems I might be back in the blogging world for real this time.

2009-02-01T10:03:00.002+01:00

Last week I went on a study trip to New York. The city is just amazing, so much older than I expected, so much more fun than I expected. All stereotypes were so right and I couldn't help but like it. The muffins are so big I could take a whole day to eat one... the hamburgers were big and good and the french fries, mmmmm!

We also visited really nice organizations such as the UN, Columbia University, the municipality of New York, Women in World Banking (microfinance), the new WTC (with a great view), and many more.... it was just great!

Oh did I mention, I came home with two new pairs of shoes and some clothes ;-)

Polaroids

2009-01-01T14:15:00.000+01:00

Last spring in Dublin.

Paris, June

2008-10-13T09:42:00.001+02:00

Back?

2008-10-12T11:18:00.002+02:00

It's been a while, a long while. And to be honest I still don't know if I should return to the blogging world. I only know that reading the posts of other people always makes me happy. It's therefore that I'll give blogging another try.

Bevrijdingsdag

2008-05-10T13:38:00.002+02:00

Zon en verbrand aan de Maas.

2008-02-11T08:48:00.001+01:00

Ok there it is, I couldn't help but post these pictures. Yesterday the weather was so great that after a really nice lunch and hard work on our assignment we went to the Kralingse Plas. These are the pictures:

Oh, about the lunch. I think I had one of the best chocolate mousses ever, together with homemade soup, nice breads and chocolate muffins this made up our perfect lunch.

I think the sunshine really makes me feel happy constantly. There are just so many things happening and most of them are just so much fun. I'm still playing squash (one of the few New Years Resolutions I'm actually sticking to). We had a nice party with SOL last Friday and the Sunday before Johan and I mountainbiked for over 20 km. in the forest near Appelscha... too many nice things!

Blogging break

2008-01-31T15:51:00.000+01:00

I've decided to take a blogging break! Lots is happening in my life, but I don't feel like writing about it at all. It's so much more fun to talk on the phone with people or on msn instead of letting them read about me.

Thank you for reading... although I have no idea who exactly is reading..

Anke

Candlelight breakfast

2008-01-17T10:09:00.000+01:00

This morning we had a candle light breakfast. All the electrics in our appartment building are going to be upgraded during the day, so from 8 on we had no electricity. We put on candles and it was a really nice breakfast.

Also a New Years Resolutions update. Today after squashing for the second time, I have no sore muscles! Progress is being made!

Now back to another New Years Resolution, finishing my bloody thesis!

Sore muscles

2008-01-08T22:51:00.000+01:00

January is only a week old and I'm already taking lots of things of my 'New Years Resolutions' list. Of course this is just the start.. now it's all about keeping up. Number one on my list definitely is traveling. As much as I've been visiting friends the past year I hope to do the same this year. I think it will be a bit harder with more university things that are obligatory, but the year started good with New Years Eve in Austria. We danced (or tried to dance) the Walz at midnight as all Austrians do. A perfect start of the new year.
Number two on the long, long list of resolutions is to finish my thesis and finally get the MA titel. I did hand in something last Monday and I hope a meeting with my prof will make me all happy and looking forward to finish again.
Number three, doing sports more often. Yesterday me and a friend went to play squash for the very first time ever. Now the title of this post also might be a bit clearer... today I have troubles getting up from a chair and walking down or up a stairs is something that should not be done at all. But next week we'll go again and the sore muscles will get less and less.. Johan also wants me to go running with him, and maybe I will give the running thing another try. I know it will never be my favourite, but it should be good for the body.
Number four... I know it's a long list... meeting friends and cooking dinners. Next week we'll have friends over a couple of times so that should work out fine as well! I could continue with thousands of things here.. but number ten on the list is actually not wanting to change everything at the same time... so to start working on that. I'll leave the new years resolutions to this today.

Austria

2008-01-04T21:33:00.000+01:00

Fake tree

2007-12-16T11:16:00.000+01:00

This is this year's fake tree. I keep thinking next year will be the time we have a real one.

The hearts that I made.
The apple that was in my advent this year.

Exams

2007-12-13T10:44:00.000+01:00

Oh I passed all my exams so far, which means an extra week of holidays in January!

Advent

2007-12-12T22:07:00.000+01:00

Those waiting days before christmas, I love them so much. Never I have trouble waking up in the morning, because I know a small present from Finland is waiting to be opened. Opening the advent present is something that has to be done before breakfast.. en breakfast has to be done before putting clothes on.. you can see how important some things are in my life. First, presents, second, food, and finally the rest ;-)

Every morning something sweet is waiting for me. I already like the candy packages for their Finnish texts. I can get so nostalgic over them reading them out loud over and over.. I know this is a bit silly but I always do this in a foreign language..Today I found some really nice beads in the package. And one of the first days this amazingly good tea, that was called Santas kiss (if I translated that correct). I just love this period every year returning.

I think I catched a cold somewhere this week, because I'm feeling very full of snotty things at the moment. I did go for drinks and a dinner after class to celebrate one of our classmates birthday and we had lots of fun. We mainly talked about investments (this means the guys at my table talked and I studied the menu) and politics (I was very involved here, explaining about dutch politics is so much fun!). Afterwards I figured we had had a very adult business environment like discussion, and it was not boring at all (except for the investment part). Or maybe it was more of a guys discussion.. considering I was the only girl at the table.

Yesterday I had a boardmeeting of SOL here in Delft. I think they liked it here, because there are plans to have the meetings in Delft always.. We discussed so many of our activities and I think all of them can be so great, considering we get the funding to organize them. More about these things later...

We also had visitors over for the weekend. It was nice to have dinner together and walk through Delft with all the lights on the streets and canals. Pity it rained so much though. The rest of the weekend we spent studying hard, cleaning (we did get visitors you see) and throwing away old clothes (three full bags, unbelievable).

Now it's time to study. Next week I have three exams, but with this much time left before the first, I have a hard time trying to focus. Tonight I will just take it easy.

Sinterklaas

2007-12-06T08:54:00.000+01:00

2007-11-30T09:53:00.000+01:00

Hey!

Yesterday I went to Groningen for the graduation of one of my friends. It was really nice to see her getting the diploma and celebrating with her was cool! Now I really got some new incentives to try and finish soon!!!

The rest of today I will spent in Rotterdam and writing my Sinterklaas poems. Tomorrow is the big day, Sinterklaas!

2007-11-24T22:27:00.000+01:00

Oh again it's been some time and now I come with terrible news... the oven is broken! It's ubelievable, considering it must have been years old already when we got it, it's in fact not so unbelievable, but still I feel sad about it.

Last week was one of headache. I have had migraine and laid in bed for two full days. The others were ok in the morning and lousy in the evening. We did have some nice friends coming over Monday and I had my first board meeting this Wednesday. Today I spent fixing the last things for the advent I am about to send to Finland. I did have one picture of the presents, but I think I will wait with putting it on untill I really sent it.

Now it's back to working on school projects. Oh and great news, not only are Johan and I going to visit Verena after Christmass, Aymeric will join us there as well! It must be lots of fun with the four of us. Only hope there will be some skiing. I would like that so much (although without a teacher that might not be such a good idea, and a teacher like I had in Finland - for free and very patient- will be kind of hard to find I guess.

Only one more week and we'll celebrate Sinterklaas here! Today I already send out my advent for Anu of this year!

It's almost December.

2007-11-12T08:15:00.000+01:00

I've finally celebrated my birthday! Our home and the people looked like this:

Very much like we had a party. We had chicken for dinner, together with french fries and 'appelmoes' or apple damage as Johan likes to call it. Afterwards there was pie. I liked it a lot and hoped my guests liked it just as much.

Joke came especially from Belgium for me and yesterday we visited Nicolas in Amsterdam. We went for dinner together and had a really delicious pizza. The timing of this weekend was very good as well. Since I have no finished my first four exams and my political science course, I reconned it was ok to take a weekend off. After Joke has left today I will get back to studying. In five weeks my next exams or waiting for me...

2007-11-01T09:47:00.000+01:00

My exams are finished... at least until next week Wednesday I don't have to worry about exams. I can really say this feels as a huge relief at the moment. It was quite stressful the last week. Now we started a new course on strategy and so far it's been ok. The topic is one of the more interesting (as opposed to IT in the business environment) and I really have the idea I'm starting to learn important theories and models. Some of them keep popping up in every course we do.. so no wonder.
Last Tuesday we went swimming. We spent one hour at the pool (I can still feel it today) and went to the steamroom thing as well. It was perfect!
In the evening I had a dinner with my fellow board members and our committeemembers and tonight I will get all the financial administration handed over! Exciting!
Now, back to studying, there is one more paper to hand in this week and a presentation on Monday... so busy as usual.

2007-10-17T23:01:00.001+02:00

We finally booked tickets to Austria! After Chrsitmas we will go skiing and enjoying Austrian food together with Verena and Georg. Can't wait untill this little mini-break.
The past week has been very very busy. I had exams, paper deadlines and two meetings for the SOL. Friday after the exam we went for a drink with the whole class, orange juice... there are still more exams to come. Then later that night, after I had rushed to Leiden and back, Marijke arrived in Delft. We talked a bit and went to sleep quickly. We wanted to be well-rested before we would go shopping in Utrecht... In the end we had a perfect day, except for the shopping.. I couldn't find anything...

In the evening our boyfriends joined us and we had a pizza and ice cream in a nice restaurant. After that we went to see Room 11. Perfect day. Now back to studying.

2007-10-14T13:06:00.000+02:00

Our bedroom:

New lamp:

2007-10-13T22:54:00.001+02:00

Some pictures from a dinner at Liza her place weeks ago.

2007-10-13T17:48:00.000+02:00

Today:
* I'm the new treasurer for SOLeiden. It's a student association that focuses on development cooperation. Probably more news on this soon.
* We're going to move our bed to the bedroom!
* I received some H&M clothes and shoes and none of them I liked
* I went to the library and walked into a choir presentation, 5 choirs in a few hours
* I spent a few hours to read a book there...
* I found a tear in my favourite jeans, luckily I bought new jeans last week
* I realized two pairs of jeans is not enough
* I'm in desperate need of clothing and time to shop together with a friend
* I talked to Verena over Skype and was really happy to hear her voice again
* I'm in the mood for baking a great Nigella Lawson cake!
* I went for a run again!

And finally today I'm working on a book with all my Helsinki pictures from 2005..

I've already reached St. Petersburg. I think the picture look even better as they are grouped together.
Today is a busy day and I did not even include the studying.

2007-10-04T22:03:00.000+02:00

So much for a weekly update... One of my (secret) new years resolutions was to update at least once a week. So far I guess I'm not doing very well with that. Anyway, lots to tell of course.

Two weekends ago I had a lovely party at Liza her place. It's indeed this long ago.. She was celebrating her birthday and got a really nice present and a Bijenkorf pie!! Almost our whole GM group was there to celebrate with her.

The mail has been very good to me the last week. I received a necklace from Verena. She bought it in Bangkok and it's really perfect. I lost one similar a few weeks ago at a different birthday party so this was nice timing as well. Then I also received some special treats from Finland. Real Fazer chocolate, real ruispalat a beautiful vase and many more small things. All things that remind me of Finland and the good times I spent there. And even now I am typing with a cup of Kaisarin Morsian tea next to the key board. Jammie! I could also smell the bread from outside the package and really hmm can't wait untill the morning for trying.

I also sent a return package, because in Rauma they are waiting for delicious Dutch drop and stroopwafels! Hopefully Anu will be just as happy as I was with her package.

So far that's all, still sleeping in the living room, so no finished bedroom pictures to show I'm afraid. Although we did finish the painting in there we still have to fix some other small things..

Yesterday, I had a real nice evening at the university in Rotterdam. We had some drinks sponsored by the department with the older GM students. After that we went for dinner and drinks. It's so much fun to be in a cozy classroom environment. It's just like in secondary school and I'm loving it.

Also I will be very busy in the coming weeks with assignments, exams, and other things, so please don't expect updates regularly.

2007-09-24T08:49:00.001+02:00

I survived another presentation. I know I've been talking about this before, I really freak out before every presentation. Last Thursday I decided it was a good idea to go out with class mates in order not to be too nervous for last Fridays presentation. The going out was really nice. I had a lovely dinner first at Liza her place at nine in the evening (Greek dinner time). So in fact I had two dinners that evening.. luckily we went dancing ;)
Friday morning I woke up at 7 and started preparing the presentation a bit more. Except from forgetting the word disadvantage and asking the class what was the opposite of benefit... I did quite ok I guess. The girl I was working with at least was very satisfied, and at that moment that was all that mattered to me.
I met Annebet right after school for a nice coffee and I got a birthday present! It's a lovely cd. Then on Saturday I went running, made some baby bundts from my new cookbook and just relaxed.
Johan and I are now sleeping in the living room since we are painting our bedroom. I should get going, there's a busy week ahead.

2007-09-20T12:28:00.000+02:00

This is my new toy. I bought it online. One of my first online buys that was not a book or a ticket. I'm not sure yet if I really like it so much. It's stickers you stick to glasses or procelain plates. I will try that later as well. I have a feeling that might look a bit nicer. But this does give a bit of that old fashioned feeling :) Lovely!

And really I should take some more time taking the pictures....

2007-09-18T22:37:00.000+02:00

It's been a hectic time the past week. Lots of family visits and lots of university work. All in all I can say the new masters does seem like a lot of fun. We have 35 really nice people from all over the world who are all very committed to doing things together. My emailbox is overloaded with group emails, from tips for book sales to squash team invites...
Also, Saturday I celebrated my birthday. I already received a few gifts by mail days earlier. A beautiful necklace from Finland (from one of my favourite stores in Scandinavia, Indiska), a cookbook from Johan (How to become a domestic godess, Nigella Lawson, lovely) and a truly beautiful bag from Spain! I was very sorry I didn't buy this bag when I was there last summer, but fortunately I have three friends caring enough about me to buy me this bag!!! Then there were many postcards, all very sweet!

Thank you for all the nice words!
And then our home, it's feeling and looking like a true home more and more. We now have a real book case... and still lots of space for more books! We finally bought fabric for refurbishing our chair and we painted the hall way, but I think I mentioned this. I really would like you all to come and check it out!

Oh I almost forgot, today I went to the thesis lab again after a long time. And who would have ever guessed, but I realised I had really missed the place (and the people obviously). Since it had been my birthday we even had a tiny celebration, meaning I treated them with some chocolate chip cookies and we played a geography game online... very educational.

2007-09-08T14:12:00.000+02:00

Some random home pictures.

2007-09-08T10:42:00.001+02:00

In exactly one week it's my brithday! Can't wait to celebrate it with friends and family. As you might know me, I have a continuous list of things I would like to have and a birthday is one of those days on which I can cross things of the list. Love that! Don't get me wrong, I do not only like my birthday because I (hopefully) will receive presents, I also enjoy trying to give people the best party. Which, in my case, often just means that I want to bake a nice pie.. :)

The sad thing is, I still haven't planned my party..

New Master

2007-09-05T19:11:00.000+02:00

I haven't been updating that much recently, and it has all to do with the new master I started in September. Our first course runs for 9 days (including the weekend) and the assignment is to advice a company on what to do with a certain patent they own. This patent itself already got me puzzled. After three days of working on it, I still have the feeling I am not sure what we are working on... We have to think of possible applications for the memory device developed by the company. After this creative step, we have to come up with a plan to make money out of the invention. Still following? The question is; are you going to fabricate the product yourself or will others do this for you? Will you lisence another company to use the patent? Questions I don't even feel I want to answer at the moment.
I guess the fun thing is, although I do not seem to get exited about it, that we go to Philips on Tuesday to present our advice. I, of course, should feel honored that a huge company like that is actually interested in my opinion, but to be honest I could not care less. Entrepeneurship, because that's what we are doing here, is not my thing. We even have to keep our ideas secret for the others. And I am not a good secret keeper...I hate the fact that we have to be this competitive, although I guess it learns you loads about the 'real' world... Believe me at the moment I would like to be in the warm and fuzzy scientist land that Leiden is...

Of course it will get better and I will have learned and done lots of special interesting things at the end of these nine days, but at the moment all I want is having a coffee with a friend and an evening to bake a cake. I should get back to work. Please do not let me become a business woman without eye for the fun things of life. I do not want to be the guy working in the train, I rather read a book (and be female yes)

Next time I will write a cheerfull post, promise!
Btw, we did paint our staircase last week. The sides at least.

In desperate need of ...

2007-08-25T09:59:00.000+02:00

Hema or Ikea gift vouchers. I break too many plates. Bad start of the day.

Yesterday evening I went to Westerpop. A small festival just 150 meters from our home. I had a great time!

Spending days at the faculty

2007-08-23T12:38:00.001+02:00

The biggest thing I have experienced the last couple of days? I finally found out how the automatic table of contents works in Word! I couldn't help but being very happy. Everything automatic and it looks beautiful. A skill that will last a lifetime... I guess not a skill that will make you all happy and joyfull that I updated my blog. I can't help it, but these small things are truely the biggest things right now. I spent my days at the faculty in the thesis lab. With a small group we go for lunch and an occasional tea. All we talk about is thesis, future careers and the passed holidays. In fact it's not too bad at all.

I guess I should continue my hard work today as well. Tonight I'm meeting with a friend and giving her this present.

And tonight, a festival in Delft.

Pooring rain

2007-08-17T13:38:00.000+02:00

Rain is pooring down here every day. Staying inside, drinking tea and watching dvd's is basically what I have felt like the whole week now. I was feeling ill, my stomach wasn't working properly (at least it didn't feel like normal) and my head has been killing me as well. However, all this rain did make sure I was finishing two tiny projects. This:

And these:

In large format on a blue background and framed. Now we only need to find a place to put them up.

Yesterday evening Johan and I went to Delft Jazz. We watched Room Eleven performing on a square. Lovely! The thing is in Delft with it's highly male population the average person is pretty tall.... I felt so small standing there..

Hmmm, holidays

2007-08-04T10:50:00.000+02:00

The last few days Johan and I still considered as our holiday. We went to my parents place, which should have been happening long time ago, long, long time ago. Finally visited Marijke and Arjan in their new home. I absolutely love it, but I promised not to say this anymore because it started to sound really fake after a few too many times. Had a really nice barbeque there, it all seemed like a mini-party. I love spontanious!
I saw all my grandparents, we cycled to the ones farthest away and had a really nice time on the bike. This although, did remind me that I really need to workout more often.. Then, the biggest thing of the past week, I spent lots and lots of money on a new laptop!! It's a macbook and I am so, so happy with it. The only problem so far is that I can't get the internet to work here in Delft... I guess I'll wait till some nice nerdy guy comes along to help me with that. It truly is my i-apple (this is a language joke that only works in Dutch, but trust me it's very good)

Now, it's time to start making some ice-cream or fruitpie. The weather is getting sunny and I want to go swimming in the afternoon! Next week my brother will be visiting us and hmm there are so many more great things coming up..

Oh and I just saw the pictures Joke put on her space... gosh I really miss Spain still. Hope I will have some more pictures to show you soon!

Visiting Galicia

2007-07-31T17:09:00.000+02:00

It's hard to figure out where to start with this story. So much has happened since I left for Spain just over a week ago. First of all, the complete chaos at Schiphol, I had decided to fly on one of the busiest days in the year and only just catched my plane. A few hours later in Madrid I found out

my luggage on the other hand had not made it to the plane... No stress and no tears though, since this gave Verena and me the perfect reason for a little late-night shopping. After a night and day in busy, noisy and warm Madrid it was finally time to fly to Galicia and meet Veró.

When we arrived in Santiago de Compostela it was raining, not just rain, but almost a waterfall of water. At that moment it just felt refreshing...Sightseeing in Ourense with a lunch of pinchos and again some shopping ;) The Ribeira Sacre, beautiful views and old manastries. In the evening a visit to the elderly people home Veró her mother was working. It was lovely to see how enthusiast and loving the nuns and other people there were. I had never seen this many nuns together and now I could even talk to them... and they kissed us!!

In the evening it was time for our first party. We went to see some friends of Veró and soon it felt like they were our friends as well. Dancing the night away untill 7 in the morning.. just perfect. Wednesday I had my first octopus! Cooked with salt, pepper and oil, mmm! An afternoon spent at the pool. In the evening we went to visit the hot water springs. Lovely in the dark with just a few lights along the riverbank. A very romantic place.

On Thursday we drove to pick up Joke at Vallodolid. Four hours in a hot, hot car. But with music ant lots of things still to discuss it was ok. Then with Joke we visited Vallodolid and drove back home. Friday was spent at the beach, then in the evening we visited Santiago and the catherdal there. We celebrated Veró her birthday in a restaurant. And she even got a candle. Just a shame it was not lit and that it didn't come at the same time as the dessert... Saturday saying goodbye to Verena, swimming ant talking and in the evening again going out. Sunday I packed my bags and we visited two small vilages. We were offered a fantastic dinner on the river bank by family of friends and had to try homemade wine. Not able to say goodbye yet we decided to go to a party that evening as well, and straight from the party we drove to Santiago. Slept there in the car and finally I really had to leave. After having finished my Harry Potter book, I am really back home now. I allready had my home made Serano ham for lunch (at three.. not used to Dutch time yet) and will save the chorizo for later. Hmm I have to get used to the Netherlands again.

Thank you Veró!

London

2007-07-15T12:29:00.001+02:00

Immediately after we arrived in London we tried to find out where to go to watch the Tour de France Prologue. We just got on the underground and got of with most of the people. Well, that turned out to be the best choice. We got to see the whole commercial caravan. And got to walk passed all the famous sights on our way to Hyde Park. We spent the whole afternoon lying in the grass watching a bigh screen, and listening to the English commentary. I especially loved that.
The second day we got of the underground we walked into this. And then went over Tower Bridge.
Went to Camden Lock, walked along a canal and climbed Primrose Hill. Together with half of London we then had this view.
Then we went to Regent's Park. And walked into several games of cricket. Big Ben
We also did some shopping, unfortunately with almost no money to spend. We did get some really nice wallpaper though. And we saw this on our way from China Town and Little Italy to Oxford Street.

One evening with Rob

2007-07-03T14:08:00.000+02:00

Last Sunday I got a surprise phone call from Rob and suddenly last night again, we met for drinks and had a really good time. At least I had. Even after a year of not having seen each other it felt good right away. We had lots to laugh about and lots to talk about. The few hours that we spent together were not enough by far. Hopefully I will see him again soon in Spain or somewhere else.

Then about the last weeks, I know I haven't been exactly updating regularly.. oops. But that has one very very good reason. I discovered the thesislab at our university. It's a quiet place with all people working on their thesis. It's the best place to be for me at the moment. I even have found myself there from 9 till 5 every day!!! I never thought I could get this good a feeling of just working hard.

Other good news, I passed my French test! This time with an even higher grade... and even after I felt the test went not too well. Besides that I had a real good time with Ramonja and her boyfriend and with another friend visiting last weekend. With Ramonja we played games and on Saturday evening with another friend we decided to google all our old classmates. Which sounds really sad and which in fact is rather sad, but turned out to be lots of fun. I just would have liked me to have at least 1 more google hit...

Now I will continue working on the thesis (after all I am in the thesis lab at the moment).

Pictures

2007-06-25T19:50:00.000+02:00

Some pictures from Paris finally. I am working on my thesis. That's it.

Paris

2007-05-18T08:45:00.000+02:00

It's allready more than two weeks ago...but I should still write about our small trip to Paris. It was wonderfull, the weather and the company were perfect!

We saw all the touristic sights (of which I wanted to post the pictures here..but somehow the computer doesn't work with me..) had lots of fun with Aymeric and got sore feet. And all the crepes that I had, mjammie!

New cabinet

2007-05-13T21:11:00.000+02:00

This is our new cabinet. I am very happy with it. That's all.

Easter is long gone

2007-04-24T12:24:00.000+02:00

Easter is long gone and I still haven't written about it. It's not that it was boring, because in fact lots of things happened. Verena and her boyfriend came over, we had Johans whole family coming over (a party of 17) for Easter lunch, I visited Joke in Brussels, met Nicolas in Gent and was very ill. In short that was the week after Easter. Now I'm just working on my thesis, I still like it so much!

I'm going to work a bit more now, next week I'll be in Paris....

MUN is FUN and Switzerland is great!

2007-04-03T17:44:00.000+02:00

Gabriela and Michael in front of the fountain.
The view from the cathedral in the centre of Geneva.

Last week has been great! In short, lack of sleep, hard work, parties, fierce debate and a lot of laughter made it perfect. The dinners we had in the typical Swiss restaurant with live music (two Swiss man that would not stop playing, fortunately for them there was a group of admiring Americans) and the Italian restaurant (with pictures of Ferrari's and half-naked women on the wall) were unforgettable.

Then last weekend was incredibly nice. A nice train ride through the mountains, Dominik and I went to Bern by bike and most of all a lot of talking and catching up. I would have loved to stay longer!

One more post before Geneva

2007-03-23T10:46:00.000+01:00

I'm not sure if I made it once a week with updates, but I guess I came pretty close the last month. As many times before I started to think, what actually should I write? Should I talk about the MUN delegate dinner we had last Tuesday - too expensive but fun? Share with you the fun I had during a poker night - dangerous for me (see also title of last post)? Talk about my thesis -finally seems to be coming along? Share with you what kind of sucker I am when I just don't feel 100% - buying a ridicilusly expensive pillow?

It is however the nicest pillow and I am still so happy that I bought it in this moment of mental low. I just don't know. There don't really seem to be any extremely interesting things to share.

I guess I could talk about the new lamp we bought as a little celebration that our 'huurtoeslag' finally has come through. It's not yet on our account, but it will be there soon! And then today, my preparation for MUN day. I have been rearranging my clothes for over four hours and found that I actually did have some nice MUN worthy clothes all along. And of course I did this after I had been shopping...Although I did find the most amazing trousers, blouse and shoes...yes shoes again. In just five hours I will be on my way to the airport. Wish me luck!!! I'm so much looking forward to seeing Dominik.

Addiction is my middle name

2007-03-15T16:14:00.000+01:00

It started very small, one episode every week. Only 'Grey's Anatomy' and nothing more. One episode each week. Then I missed 'What about Brian' for one week and of course I had to see that as well. Then it became Saturday, I was bored and I figured it wouldn't be a problem if I was just going to watch 1 episode of 'Men in trees'. Before I knew I was watching the second episode, the third, the fourth and today I watched the final episode....This is sad. I am not supposed to be the girl that watches TV. I want to be the one that seems sophisticated and only watches the news. One female show a week max. And the worst thing is; I can't help it. 'Men in trees' is like a book. A book that I can't put away in the middle of reading. I can't hear or see anything else for hours when reading a book. Men in trees is just so similar. I have to admit; I am addicted. Now I need to go cold turkey. There is no other option. Even though I did buy a new book, I will only start reading once I have handed in an improved proposal. Before that, no addictions allowed.

Spring

2007-03-13T22:29:00.000+01:00

Korvapuusti, or cinnamon rolls, I love them. This weekend was all about doing things. In fact I didn't do too much, I prepared these lovely rolls and some very good souflees for lunch on Sunday. Also I finally got to paint a kitchen door. It was this horrible yellow...
....and now, it's purple. I'll leave it up to you to decide if it's an improvement.

The magic of Finland

2007-03-07T22:49:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I went to the Groninger Museum. The name of the exhibition: Akseli Gallen-Kallela. The magic of Finland. Together with Ramonja and her boyfriend, I watched all the paintings. Some were creepy (with skulls hidden in strange places), some were beautiful, but all of them remembered me of Finland. His paintings are said to take you away to a magic fantasy place like in the stories of Tolkien, but they only took me as far as Finland. Most of his more famous paintings are based on the Kalevala and now I am so much looking forward on reading it.

After that we went out for dinner. North African food, it was good and plenty, but the company was the best part of the evening. After some games of Carcazonne, of which I lost two and won one with just a little help of Ramonja, it was time to go to bed. Lying there I started worrying about all the time I spent in this perfect way that actually should have been put in, the most important thing in my life at the moment, my thesis...

Cute?!

2007-03-03T15:05:00.000+01:00

Friday I was taped during a presentation. The first reaction of the others afterwards was: 'You look cute on camera!'
Now I could just stop the post here and be happy. However I cannot help wondering. Cute!? The presentation was meant to be serious and well suited for a huge conference. Is cute good? It might not be too bad since, according to the professors, I made many mistakes, but still kept the attention of the listeners. I was lost for words, and at some point made a HUGE mistake in language, but all that didn't matter because I speak clearly and it seems like I love the stage...

One of the best things I liked about it was the fact that I did the whole presentation without having a paper to check on what I should be telling my audience. It seems like I don't necessarily need a paper to read from, although it would be a big help avoiding language mistakes...

Sauna, minä rakastan ja kaivatan

2007-02-28T22:24:00.000+01:00

Last Sunday I went to a sauna centre with friends. We had the most wonderful day, trying all the saunas they had. We went from normal sauna to color sauna to salt rock sauna and finally a huge 'typical' Finnish sauna. We even witnessed a 'typical' Finnish löyly (opgieting) where a guy poured water on the heater. Then, and this was funny but very good, he started waving a towel to give us all a cover of heat. And hot is was, hmm, like I was back in Finland. And I don't know what got into me, but afterwards I did not even dare to take a cold shower let alone jump in the cold, cold pool. Of course I used the great excuse that this just isn't like sauna with snow or lake afterwards....I'm just a weak person. Although, nothing beats a good sauna exchange!
Many things have happened in the time between now and my last posting, hmmm, I know it has been long (luckily there are people who push me to keep writing otherwise there would be no more posts). But this one experience I wouldn't want you to miss out on. I ate grasshoppers and larva!!! I always said I would eat them when fried. But now I saw them and I really needed to push myself. Marijke and I were at an exhibition about food and we just couldn't pass these ones without trying. Unfortunately now pictures...

Happy Valentine!

2007-02-14T09:45:00.000+01:00

Hmm, delicious carrot cake.

I'm just so impatient taking the pictures that they always end up a bit different from what I had in mind.

At home

2007-02-05T14:05:00.000+01:00

It was so nice to spent some nights in Liverpool. Our visit to Verónica her home was perfect. We saw lots of the city and went to visit Manchester, Chester and Lancaster. It was my first time in the UK and everything was exactly as I pictured it. The people overly polite, but I don't mind being called love, dear or sweetheart. The food not in all cases that good, but the atmosphere of having your lunch in a local pub makes you forget all about that. It was great to be together again, even though we all and I maybe in particular have missed Verena there. We have been cooking every evening and have made the best muffins (heart-shaped), all the good girly stuff. I'm almost embarresed to tell but in Manchester we actually found a shop we spent 3 hours in....everything was so cheap (and yes I bought another pair of shoes).

Back home I felt a bit sad. I have no idea about when I will be able to meet Verónica again...but there is not that much time for tears. I need, absolutely need, to work on my thesis. I went to my parents for the weekends and enjoyed their brand new steam cabin. It's not a sauna, but definitely worth the visit ;)

More good news; I passed my French test! Next week the course continues and I hope I will have just as much fun with this one as the one before.

A huge sigh of relief

2007-01-23T13:13:00.000+01:00

I set myself this secret goal at the beginning of the year to update my blog at least once a week...it's only three weeks into January and I can't keep up. After serious consideration of quitting the blog and just trying to keep everyone updated by email, I decided that that wouldn’t work either. So here it is: a new update.

At the moment I'm waiting for two of my grades. I finished the French course that I took and last Monday we had the exam. She promised us it was going to be easy and we would be able to make it in no time...well it turned out she changed her mind the week before the exam. We were all having a hard time during the exam, trying to write a story about a man who divorced 5 times and got sick and needed operations at least two times. Well, trying to squeeze all of the information in and trying to use more then just the verbs remarier and divorcer ended up to be quite hard. Keep your fingers crossed! I so much would like to pass the exam, since some of the people (the nicest and funniest) have decided to start French 3 as well!

Here's my new haircut, I went from 'I love it' to 'It's horrible' to 'I'm happy I have something else for a change'. What do you think?!

In just a few days I will be in Liverpool visiting Verónica. Joke will take the same plane as I, so it will be fun all the way. Before the fun however, I still have some serious business to attend. A thesis proposal that still hasn’t been finished (in fact, is still a long way from being finished), MUN meetings that need to be prepared thoroughly (especially since last Friday I kind of messed up). Actually that’s all that NEEDS to be done. Many more things would be nice to get done… Let me get back to work!

Oh btw, I just received my grade for a course on Coercion Strategies. Our group had the best final paper and I can’t help but being very happy (and relieved) about that. The best thing is, our paper will probably published on the website of a Security/Defense Institute our prof. is head of!

More pictures

2007-01-15T18:25:00.000+01:00

Lekker! Zo lekker!
En de echte Mies van der Rohe en veel Arne Jacobsen en er waren Finnen en er waren Nederlanders...
Onze eigen muffins met cranberries!
Spelletjes inExperimentarium
De camera was vies en ik kon het niet....

Copenhagen!

2007-01-11T23:15:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I came back from Copenhagen. I had the most wonderful time, spending hours talking about the most (un)interesting things was just perfect. We even forgot to get up and out of the house sometimes.... well we did have a few months to catch up on ofcourse. After having been to Afrodance with Marijke it was kind of hard to get up the stairs of her apartment and today in bodyshape I could still feel the workout... but the sauna afterwards made it worth everything. Then the day after we decided to spent in the Experimentarium, I think I never had a better time in a museum. We could test our blood pressure, set the daily record on the frog game and played several mind games.

I should add just a little section on the food. We had the best muffins in town, and made our own (very good also), pie with fruits and real smörrebröd. On top of that all, we found a cheap Tibetan, Nepalese restaurant in Marijke her street and went there for dinner.

Did you know there is a law in Denmark that says you can only ride with one person on your bike?? Marijke and I almost had to pay a 500 crones each for not obeying this law....!

I just love Copenhagen!

Color

2007-01-04T17:49:00.000+01:00

Trying to figure out which color to put on the living room wall...

Hyvää uutta vuotta!

2007-01-04T16:30:00.000+01:00

Happy new year! For me the year will start perfectly, at least I hope so. Tomorrow I'm taking the plane to Copenhagen and visit Marijke. We already planned lots of cooking and baking...is this why you go to Copenhagen???! But I know there will be lots of sightseeing, shopping and fun.
The first of January we went to see Aki Kaurismäki's new movie,'Lights in the Dusk'. To see Pub Pete and all those other familiar places, fantastic. That's where I mainly focused on, because to start your year with this depressing movie...and even after watching this movie (which obviously has some core of truth to it) I am longing for Helsinki and Finland sometimes. Favourite part of the movie, when one guy says 'Me menemme Kallion' (hope I wrote this right) and it gets translated with 'We are going to get really drunk'.
In fact I should start packing, the train to the airport leaves early tomorrow...and I still have to go and get some Dutch goodies for Marijke ;)

Oh ja, Johan wil nog even kwijt dat hij deze week nog stoerder is geworden. Ik weet ook niet waarom.