Closing Thoughts

AT LONG LAST all of my essays, presentations, and exams are complete. In the last month, I have written around 14,000 words...just a bit more than I had in mind...Grades look like they should be fine. Now begins the period of serious packing. I filled my two smaller suitcases today. Here's to hoping I'm able to fit all the rest of my stuff into the big suitcase and my backpack!

Tomorrow I have a sort of farewell "tea party" with some of my friends. I'm looking forward to taking a break from packing and spending time with other people - I haven't had much time for that with all this essay-writing and exam-studying! :(

I thought I'd take this opportunity to share a few last thoughts about my trip. I had a wonderful time, first of all. I learned so much more than I was taught in my class. Dutch culture and politics, is...well, complicated, obviously. It is, however, relatively similar to American culture. How, I couldn't precisely say. But just after spending a few days in France and Italy, I could tell it was vastly different from French and Italian culture. In my history seminar, about half the class did their presentations and final essays on American political culture. When I asked about it, my professor and several classmates joined in explaining to me that there is a sort of fascination with American culture and politics, which is really interesting to me.

There are a number of things I will miss about this country. Big things, like Amsterdam. I LOVED Amsterdam. It's such a beautiful city. I also like the landscape - it's very idyllic. Lots of farms. The word "charming" comes to mind, haha! I love the culture, too. I have really loved learning about it. It's...funky. That's the best way I can describe it. Funky. Of course, there are some very silly people, particularly in politics: The PVV, the Freedom Party (basically), is the only party I've ever heard of with only one member. I've heard more about it and it's member, Geert Wilders, than I have about any other aspect of politics in the Netherlands! (Mostly, I think, because so many people hate the party!)

Things I will not miss? This dorm, for one. I will not miss the vomit on the carpets, the people sprinting down the hallways pushing squeaky grocery carts at 3:00am, the poorly ventilated bathrooms, the kitchens that hardly anyone ever cleans, the loud techno music playing from the adjacent rooms while I'm trying to go to sleep, etc. In a bizarre twist, I will also NOT miss the landscape - it's so FLAT! Scarcely any hills to speak of. And the WIND! Even now, in June, it can be strong enough to knock you off your bike if you're not careful. And it's still too cold out. I still usually need a jacket with me when I go out. The sun here also rises far too early. I'll be glad to be farther south again!

I have really enjoyed my experience, but I am terribly homesick at this point. I'll be glad to get home on Tuesday.s. I

One other thing I can say for this semester though is I have been incredibly productive, artistically. You may remember I did National Poetry Writing Month in April. I'm currently working on the first short story I've written in a long time. And (here I take the opportunity for some SHAMELESS self-promotion), I have started a little poetry project. I have created a list of 100 topics which I will be using to write 100 poems. I've already written a few! If you're interested, here's a link to the first post.

Thank you to everyone who has kept up with this blog over the past months. I know I have not been the most faithful correspondent, but I hope you at least enjoyed my pictures!

I wish you all a wonderful summer, and I look forward to seeing many of you soon!

XOXO Jes

Florence, Day 2

Well hello! I finally have a chance to create another post! my school assignments have kept me quite busy lately. Two essays and a presentation down, two essays and a final exam to go. *Huff huff huff*

So anyway, Italy:

My second day there, I took the opportunity of going up into the Duomo. I had originally planned to go up into the dome, which opens at 8:30, and then be done and get in line to enter the main church at 10:00 when it opened. Turns out, I did the right thing in going into the dome. First of all: it was spectacular. The murals were absolutely incredible. Depictions of people being tortured in hell at the bottom, paintings of the angels in heaven near the apex. The climb was pretty intense - several hundred stairs, most very tightly spiraling, some steep enough that you were basically climbing a ladder. But when you finally made it to the top: oh, the VIEW! Yet another fantastic view over the city of Florence.

Climbing down was a bit of an emotional and psychological challenge, though. I couldn't decide whether to go down some of the staircases forwards or backwards. The church itself was fairly unremarkable. The dome and the outside are really the best parts.

And it's good I figured that out. When I got back outside, at about 9:45, the line to get into the church already crossed the piazza. I decided I had seen enough of the church from near the dome, and left.

For lunch, I walked down to this little place someone at the hostel had told me about, Acasamia, in the Mercato di Sant'Ambroggio. For 6 euros and 70 cents, I got a full bottle of water, an appetizer, a salad, a main course, and a coffee. The place was entirely full of locals. Granted, for the most part I had no idea what I was ordering - the menu was in Italian, and it was clearly a menu they change on a daily basis, because there were only three options for each category. However, the food was good, and it was in a wonderful little market square.

That afternoon, feeling exhausted from several days of intense walking, I let myself chill out a bit. I sketched a bit, had some more awesome Italian food, and then hung out with the guy at the front desk of the hostel for a bit. Then I got my stuff together and went to the train station.

All I can say for the train trip back is: thank goodness for my Eurail pass. It meant I was able to get a cheaper ticket on the high speed train from Paris to Amsterdam. Which was good because by the time I reached Paris again, I was so sick of trains.

And with that, my trip to Paris and Florence ended! I am sorry it has taken me so long to get through all these photos. The end of the semester has really been brutal so far. Ah, but I have only 2 weeks to go!

Once again, I apologize for the quality of some of the pictures. They really don't like flash cameras in churches.