Fitty Sheep: An explanation...

ok, fine maybe this desrves a bit of an explanation. I went on a major shopping expedition on Thursday with my friend Jenny, and i bought this sheep, and then we started talking about the sheep, and his name, and it started off as Frank and then changed eventually to Fitty Cent. I also started rambling in various accents, so we decided he was from Ireland, and obviously if his name was Fitty he was a rapper so I decided to do a little bit of creative writing. I dunno whether that explanation made it seem any better or not so I'm just going to blame it on the sushi I ate at lunch that day, because I was also inexplicably sick to my stomach the next day (that being yesterday) Anyway, based on the comments it's nice to see that so many people are concerned for my mental health.

Cheers!

Fitty Sheep, Yo.

Yo, Yo, Wassup Wassup? I'm Fitty Sheep, the smooth talkin', Irish, Rappin sheep. I'd just like to send a shout out to all my sheep in the streets of Dublin, keep countin my Brothers. Peace Out!
(Brought to you by Kirsten and her wonderful sense of humour)

Adventures in Amsterdam

So here is part II of my weekend. Of the two cities which I visited this past weekend I definetely liked Den Haag more, as a city as a whole, However, I also had an extremely good time in Amsterdam, and perhaps the things I did were more exciting.
We met at 10:45 am hoping to catch a train that would take us straight to Amsterdam from Rotterdam but it seems there was construction on the line so we had to transfer at Utrech. This was the beginning of us having to run repeatedly to make our connections through out the day but it was all in good fun. On the first train, I can say that I officially met my first Dutch person who I hadn't met through someone else. There was a boy sitting with us in our group of four seats on the train to Utrech who seemed to be quite interested in what I was talking about to my friends, and kept laughing at my jokes. So we started talking to him and the boy was 17, but quite excited to meet other young people from Rotterdam as he had just moved there from Utrecht (he was going home for the weekend). He was from Nigeria and we talked at great length about the politics and the way of life in Nigeria, which was really quite interesting. So, only an hour into the trip I had already made a new friend.
In Utrecht we transfered on to a train to get to Amsterdam (we had to run of course) and that train ride was 45 minutes. Once in Amsterdam we started wandering around the city, seeing the old city hall and a church, as well as many of the ornate houses which line the canals. Amsterdam is defintely a very old city.
After some time and some Patat (french fries, I got mine with ketchup this time) we came upon the Anne Frank house, which the organizer of our trip very much wanted to see. Most of the others were hesitant because they didn't want to spend the 7.50 Euro, so I said I'd go because I was interested and I didn't mind spending that money. So we waited in a seemingly long line that moved very quickly and we went to the Anne Frank House while the others wandered the city.
The Anne Frank house was very moving. On many of the walls you can find pieces of her writing written, and the house has been very well preserved. In addition you can see many of the artifacts left in the house after World War II ended. The inside of the house was for the most part astonishingly quiet, as many people, including myself, could not find words to speak about what they were observing. At the end of the tour we came upon an exhibition called Freedom to Choose which was a very interesting interactive survey where participants watched a screen where various questions were asked about Freedom of Speech and the Freedom to Protest etc. People were able to come and go as they pleased and after every survey a screen displayed the results from that particular group and everyone who had taken the survey combined.
Afterwards we returned to the city center to meet up with the others who had by that point met up with two of the Dutch friends of one of the girls who then took us on a tour of the Red Light district. I really didn't want to do this but one of the girls was quite adament about going so Insisted that we go while it was still daylight to reduce the risk of being attacked. If you know me well enough to be reading this you probably can guess how uncomfortable I was walking through the red light district because I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that many of those women were likely illegally trafficked into the sex trade, and I couldn't help but wonder why the women who weren't would put themselves through that. The obvious answer would of course be to make ends meat but I don't think that says much for social welfare in Holland or the rest of the World.
After the red light district we went and had Pancakes for dinner. This was the first time that I had pancakes in Holland, and as you may have guessed they are quite different from Canadian Pancakes. They are thinly battered with some kind of food in the middle of it. You can get sweet ones (which I think are supposed to be for breakfast or dessert) or ones that have meat and vegetables in the middle. Mine was a pancake with ham, cheese and pineapple in it and was quite good, and rather filling.
After dinner we went to the museum district. On the way we happened upon this store with very interesting household furnishing and appliances in it among other things and we discovered this room with padded walls and a crazy looking chair and rug in it so naturally we took pictures (see picture) It was wild. So on we went to the Museum district where we stopped and had a rest by a canal. It was very beautfiul with the sun setting. Two Canadian Boys happened upon us and took our picture which was very nice of them. Also while we were sitting I discovered a really neat musical instrument which is basically 9 squares in a box shape flat on the ground which you can step on and it plays a note. So of course I jumped around on it for a good 15 minutes making beautiful melodies.
Following this (see I didn't say after again) (Damn it I just did) The two Dutch boys showed us a building which belongs to their student association (student associations are a huge big deal here) and then we went out for a drink. Then we rushed to make the 11:17 train and arrived back in Rotterdam at about 1 a.m. Being on the train really made me miss home because I though of VIA and how much more comfortable it is (the trains here are like go trains).
All in all I had a very good weekend.
Keep Reading!

Den Haag

So this was the first weekend I actually travelled anywhere outside of Rotterdam and I actually ended up visiting 2 different cities Den Haag (The Hague) and Amsterdam. On Friday I went to Den Haag, we were originally supposed to be quite a big group but half the group decided to go later in the day, which was okay because it was nice to travel in a small group which made it easier to decide where to go.
Upon getting off the train that took us to the Haag we promptly found a bus which would take us to the Canadian embassy where I very much wanted to go and visit. I'm entirely sure what possesed me to make me want to go but we went. The embassy is in a beautiful area in the Haag with other embassies and the leaves are changing. I was of course greeted upon arrival at the embassy by a very high fense and a security guard who was more than happy to let me in, despite the somewhat unfriendly exterior appearance. Upon going inside I discovered that the embassador was not there and I was asked to come back next week for a visit. I also hope to get a position as a volunteer at the embassy so hopeful my next visit to the embassy will be more fruitful than this first one.

After the embassy we went and had lunch at a lovely cafe (which is actually a bar in Dutch terms, but most eateries here are cafes so meh) Anyway the cafe had a very extensive and inexpensive menu on which I discovered they had a salmon club sandwhich which of course I had to try because I had never heard of a salmon club sandwhich before. I enjoyed the sandwhich, perhaps in a different way from the way I enjoy club sandwhiches in Canada but it was an experience, as this club sandwich had eg on it instead of bacon. But the point is, I was in the Hague, and I'm talking about sandwhiches, and no one really wants to know about my sandwiches so I digress.

After Lunch we started browsing the shopping streets and found a very nifty little store with all kinds of gadgets in it, many of them for the kitchen but they were painted and shaped in very interesting ways. As we continued we found an adorable little old chocolate store with the most scrumptious looking chocolates ( see picture) so of course me being me I insisted that we buy some (they came in packages of 2 so we each bough a package). And we continued on our way. Something interesting, but perhaps not suprising is the number of book stores and English book stores in Den Haag. Apart from the book stores at the university, I only know of one book store in Rotterdam, but down the one street we were on there were no fewer than 5 book stores. In one of the stores I found a Peanuts book I had never see before called Snoopy: Featuring the Legal Beagle, and I bought it.

I should probably note at this point that I went to Den Haag with the intention of buying things so this was not just a flare up of shopaholism. Anyway we continued on our way, found a fair trade store (really cool) and then had a cappucino. After that we headed for Den Haag Stadhuis (city hall) which is famously known as the ice house because it is white and quite cold to it's inhabitants and employees. We wandered around here for a while, I took pictures and then we left. Outside Den Haag Stadhuis we found a UN flag but no UN buildings were to be found. That's ok though because we were all very tired at this point and had already vowed to come back another day to do the museum route. So we got another cappucino (everybody trinks koffie here all the time) and headed for home.

I should probably also mention that I replaced my stolen camera the day before we went to Den Haag. It is the same camera as my old one but 4 years younger with new features. I've already taken 73 pictures on it so you can count I'll be comming home with about Eleventy BILLION pictures.

So obviously I've learned an important lesson from this weekend which is it's impossible to see an entire city in a day, but it's fun to try.

Stay tuned tomorrow for Adventures in Amsterdam,
Cheers!

Good Karma... FINALLY!

So after being severely disappointed about not getting to go to the police station there is a knock at the front door, and who is it but the UPS man with m debit card. When I opened the door I said "I'm so Happy I might kiss you" and he answered with "Okay" and with a Big smile on his face, offered me a cheek, so I kissed his cheek. (Sorry Chris) It was cute. I am so happy to have my debit card back, now I can really start replacing thingsl

Progress!

This morning I recieved a phone call from the police because they think that they have a picture of one of the suspects from the transit authority. This is very exciting for me and brings me hope that maybe they might actually find these creeps. Of course Holland has some of the lowest prison sentences in the World so even if they do catch them theyll only get 2 years max... And of course right now, right this very second I get a phone call apparently they have just recieved more pictures from the transit authority but now I don't get to I.D. them today. Oh Man. Well I guess it will be done eventually.

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

Ever since I was mugged I have sort of been fixed on a way to make this into a positive situation. First I tried to convince myself that it was good because I hadn't been shot, then I tried to convince myself that it was good because I would get new technological equipment. Neither of these two things were working very well for me because despite the fact I wasn't shot I still had a gun pointed at me and also despite me getting new technological gadgets (the robbery happened in tandem of the release of the new Ipod) I really liked my old digital camera, and I am really, really sad that it's gone. So I was sitting and thinking this morning and I realised that a good way for me to make this a positive is by joining the campus Foot Patrol at Carleton when I get back so that maybe this won't happen at Carleton too. Note of course that I was mugged right outside my University, which of course makes me ever so comfortable walking home from evening classes.
In addition to this, I was thinking about how this all went down, and ironically, I was torn between buying the bag, which was eventually stolen, and buying a small African hand drum. Now if I had bought the hand drum, perhaps things would have gone differently, as it is difficult to carry your valuables in a drum.
So now all I have left is to sit here and wait for my new debit card to arrive because I really don't have any money to do anything or go anywhere untill I can access my bank account again. Sitting, waiting, wishing.

P.S. Anyone who wants to send me a package needs to send it PRIORITY otherwise it will take 4 to 6 weeks to get here. Thanks!

Canadians In the News...

A fairly well respected Newspaper in the Netherlands ran a story today reporting that Peter MacKay and Condi Rice were having an affair. At first I'm a bit bemused by the fact that this would be a headline about Canada, when there are so many better stories to tell from Canada. Now I'm just disappointed that Peter MacKay has officially crossed over to the dark side. Isn't that a conflict of Interest?

A new and horrible experience

I'm not going to say much about it right now other than that I've been mugged and this is certainly the low point of my trip (knock on wood) It's one of those things, that you just assume is never going to happen to you, and then there are four guys following you, and then one of them has a gun. It also shows you that you can get help from the most suprising sources, people you expect to be useless end up being saviours, and people you expect to be saviours are just sort of there. I'm just getting used to the idea, that some very important things have been taken from me and that I was attacked by a complete stranger but the important thing is that I'm ok. Afterall, things can be replaced.

The Pink Dot Festival

So last night a bunch of the exchange students including myself went to the Gallery district in Rotterdam where they have covered ALL of the buildings in Pink dots. Of course being the fool that I am, I left my memory card for my camera back at my house so I have no pictures to share. Anyway so we started out as a really big group but then we lost the back half (which were actually the cool people) and got stuck with the front half who were more interested in drinking than seeing the exhibits. So I had befriended a Sweedish exchange student named Henrick so we left the group to go in and see an exhibition called tent about Behavioral patterns and things like that. It had some really neat stuff like a voice frequency modulator and these oranges on this table which I ended up juggling. In this exhibit we also met another Canadian, from Toronto, who was doing her masters in Industria design in Delft (a city near Rotterdam) and she invited me to visit Delft which was nice and then we went out for a drink. We also saw the foto museum and some pretty interesting modern art. There were also some very expressionist and existentialist scenes being performed by actors around the district. It was a very enlightening experience which I certainly won't forget for a long time.

Cheers!

Mayonaise on my French Fries...

~Bike Tour~
Yesterday I went on a Bike tour of Rotterdam with the other exchange Students from the Sociology, History and Arts departments. It was very nice I got to see a lot of Rotterdam which I hadn't seen before BUT the bicycles we were riding on were really ghetto and had pedal breaks instead of hand breaks. Well we were up in the cube houses (which you can see some of on the left, and more of in other entries) and there was a very steep incline on the way out. Well we were all trying to navigate this incline and I was going to fast so I tried breaking and that didn't slow me down enough so me, being the idiot that I am take my feet off the breaks and try to stop with my feet, but because I'm so short my feet barely touch the ground on the bicycles. So in the end I ended up half crashing into two other bikes and almost falling over a balcony to my death, but alas I live another day.
~Sushi~
After nearly killing myself Shelly (another Carleton Student) and I were walking towards the tram line and we found this really authentic sushibar with the sushi going around on a conveyor belt. I tried some suhi I had never had before and it was very good, and it was very exciting to find such an authentic Japanese restraunt fairly close by.
~Party~
After Sushi I attended a party at International House where a lot of the exchange students live. This was really my first encounter with drug use at Rotterdam as a lot of the atendees of the party were smoking marijuana or Hash. Of course I did not partake but I went home smelling like smoke it was really quite disgusting. I actually left the party early as it was boring for me.

~School Trouble~
So I ran into major trouble with my courses at school this week. Pretty much there was a scheduling problem that I was unaware of and also the professor of a Masters course which Carleton approved me for didn't want bachelor students in his class which was very disappointing as it was the course I was really looking forward to. I solved the scheduling problem by taking another course called comparative law which also sounds really interesting as it discusses different legal systems in different countries. However, I haven't quite firgured out what to do about the Masters course yet as I'm waiting for a response to my e-mail, begging the professor to let me be in his class. Oh well, alls well that ends well. I guess...

~Other Stuff~
So I've been trying to buy a bike ever since I've got here which is really proving futile because of how short I am. I know that they make small frame bikes new here but I'm looking for a second hand bike and most of the bikes I've tried I can barely get on no less have two feet firmly planted on the ground. It's getting to the point that I am actually considering buying a Children's bike. I'm going to give it one more try tomorrow or sometime next week I think by going downtown.
The weather has been really nice here for the past couple of days very sunny and warm which does good things for the spirit. Tonight I am supposed to be going out to a pink dot festival which is part of open museum week which somehow involves art and food. Yum
Finally, I've discovered the most delicious thing on Earth, Marzipan, I don't know how to explain it it's so wonderful but I'm going to buy some now so I must be off!

Cheers!

Tremendously Good Afternoon

So, I did some more adventuring and I went back to this store I had seen with Steinway Pianos and a White Grand Piano, and it was super secure like someone had to let you into the part with the pianos, but there was nobody there and they let me play the pianos! So not only did I get to play on a White Baby Grand but also a Steinway Grand Piano!!! Ok fine, yes, I'm a nerd, deal with it. Anyway I'm also pretty psyched because I got a new cell today, and it has a camera and it was only 60 Euro, and yay. If you want my number, you're going to have to ask.
Cheers!

Adventuring in Rotterdam

So I lied, I said that I'd post something about Monday on Monday, and I didn't and now it's Thursday and oh well. So both a lot and very little have happened in the past 3 Days so here goes nothing.

~School~
Monday was the first day of Orientation for the exchange students in Social Sciences, History and Arts and it involved a lot of bureaucratic droaning but aside from that there were plenty of people to meet, a campus tour to be seen and beer to be drunk. I've decided that I like white beer because, well it doesn't really taste like Hieniken or any other beer really, so yes.
On Tuesday it seemed that there were more opportunities to meet other exchange students as we had our tour of the library and then went for tea (on in my case Pepsi Light) and Dutch sweets. In this setting it was much easier to interact with people and make new friends. I was invited to go out with some other exchanged students on Tuesday night to a Jazz club named Dizzy. It took us a fair bit of time to find Dizzy and by the time we arrived the club was packed and the concert was almost over. The picture to the left is a picture of everyone on their way to Dizzy. I did find a few cool things on the way to Dizzy however, a bag store called Crumpler which is fairly famous, a very expensive Piano store with Steinways and a White Grand Piano (!!!) and we also walked through the area with all of the coffee shops (not that I'll ever be needing one of those). Anyway it was very interesting.
Yesterday was registration for classes which was kind of late as classes started on Monday but whatever, I thought everything went fine at the time and I had my first class called Sociology in the Trenches of Cyberspace, which is actually far more interesting than it sounds.
The reason I say I thought everything went fine was because I didn't realize untill today that I had a class which I need to take which starts in November which conflicts with one of my law courses which runs from September to December, so I had to drop the law cours and am now waiting for an e-mail from the Carleton registrar to help me pick a new course FAST.

~Weather~
The weather here still really amazes me. One minute it will be totally cloudy, the next minute it will be sunny and the next minute it will be pouring rain. One day it will be warm and the next it will be cold. The only aspect of the weather which seems to be consistent is the humidity and that's bloody annoying because it makes me sweat all the time.

~Other Stuff~
On Tuesday I went downtown, trying to find a bike or a cellphone and instead I found a bunch of people trying to stiff a foreigner. The used bike vendor refused to bargain with me most likely because I wasn't speaking Dutch and everytime I would ask for a triband cellphone someone would give me a song and dance about the most expensive cell phone they had and then when I'd ask for a less expensive one they 'wouldn't understand'. Oh well I'll get the stuff I need eventually.

Today I got my stitches taken out and I also went for a run. I also did some exploring which was fun.

Anyway I'm all tuckered out. Stay tuned for the next edition called Kirsten figures out her coursees!
- Cheers

Kirsten gets lost in Rotterdam

So, I had absolutely no intention of writing an entry today but I have a story so here we go.So basically I was trying to get to the grocery store and my landlady, Anna, had given me directions as to how to get there by going around a small man made lake instead of taking a main road because the main roads can sometimes be dangerous for walking. So I started out following her directions which took me deep into the woods around the lake. By the time I realized that the shops were on the complete other side of the lake I was already half way around so I kept going ocassionally asking for directions along the way. I also ran into a man with a three month old Beagle Puppy that was oh so cute. After having been walking for about an hour two elderly people who had been following a similar path to mine asked if I was lost and when I answered yes and they realised I wasn't from around these parts the woman proceeded to tell me about some time that she spent in Canada, about 4 years in the 60's or 70's but then when I told her that I was from Canada she became really excited and they offered me a ride to the grocery store. Fortunately I was able to offer them a Canada magnet that I had in my bag.
Once I was done at the grocery store I took something like the correct route home and ran into these Geese who looked friendly from a distance but quickly started to charge at me as soon as I got too close. I think they may have had babies close by, there are a lot of baby birds around right now, particularly water fowl. Also on the topic of birds, every morning I wake up to a God damned duck quacking at 6 o'clock in the morning, but I think that duck better watch it or he's going to get eaten.
Finally to the right you'll see a picture of Anna's cat Tigger. Tigger is quite the character. He likes being patted, but not held and he spends a good portion of his time sleeping and gets irritated if anyone wakes him. Last night in the middle of the night I woke up to Tigger crying outside my door which Anna later explained to me as the cat was trying to get into her room but the door was closed. Well I just came upstairs to impart this little story and closed my study door behind me only to hear tigger meowing behind it, so of course I had to open the door and now he is sitting on my desk cleaning himself and sleeping.
Tomorrow I will upload some stories about international student orientation.
Cheers!

Ik Sprekt Geen Nederlands (I don't speak Dutch)

Of the students visiting from Carleton University I am second best at speaking dutch and while Jay speaks fluently now I can only say enough to be polite and I can't answer questions. This has lead to a few somewhat humerous occurences in the past 48 hours so Here I go with more stories
Friday
By the time I arrived in Rotterdam on Friday evening I had barely slept 3 hours of the past 48 and was becomming a bit loopy. While Anna, my land lady, was doing her best at keeping me occupied I began feeling very home sick as I realised that I did not have access to the internet yet and felt totally disconected from everyone. It was at this point that I decided I wanted to go to a cafe which I had seen ( a cafe here is a bar) to try to meet people, but I soon realised I had no idea where the cafe was and so I returned home to eat dinner with Annad. In retrospect this is rather humerous because one of the reasons I had freaked out was because I was so tired listening to people speaking in Dutch was making me laugh because they all sounded like the Sweedish chef to me in my tired, delussional chef and it was rather upsetting.

Saturday and other stuff
All of the Pictures Which you see were taken on Saturday around Rotterdam.

My House and My Neighbourhood
For Rotterdam I live in one of the more upper class neighbourhoods with larger houses and very close to the university. The first thing which I noticed upon entering my neighbourhood was that there are streams surrounding everyone's houses or neighbourhoods, in some cases they actually look like moats. Many of these streams are completely covered by some form of Agae and have many different kinds of water fowl living in them. Ducks and Geese here are quite different from how they are in Canada but thus far I have not got a picture of any ducks or Geese. The swans here however are the same and they also swim through the streams.
My house here is quite lovely, there are three floors, the main floor, the second floor and the attic, I am currently living out of two rooms on the second floor but once the atic is finished being redecorated I will be moving up there.
My land lady, Anna is quite sweet and has helped me in many ways. She's given me a whole bunch of Tommy Hilfiger products which she recieved free through her job and she has taken me grocery shopping. I was quite suprised when I went grocery shopping to find many of the same brands in the stores were the same as Canadian brands, like Keloggs and Kleenex. Something else interesting foodwise in the Netherlands is that it is forbidden to genetically modify food, and I have actually found that a great deal of the food here tastes quite different as a result.
The Market (Blaak)
Yesterday afternoon I met up with some other students on exchange here from Carleton and we went down to the Open Market which is called Blaak, which is actually very similar to the Byward market but on a much larger scale. Many things are sold in the market like plants, all kinds of food, clothing, bags and shoes. Surrounding this area are a great deal of shops, many of them selling electronics and clothes, which look interesting but that I have not had the opportunity to visit yet. At the market yesterday I bought two plants, one was bamboo and another is some viney thing that came in a very nice pot. Plants here are very cheap, the bamboo only costing me 2.5 Euro.
Night Life
After returning to the student residence we all came to my house to drop my things off and we decided to go out afterward. Since I reside very close to the university we concluded that there would be a lot of students out however, what we found were more families and older people. It was later explained to us by a student who we met outside of a Frat house was that students tend to go out more towards the centre of the city, which is why we didn't see anyone. We still had a good time though, we ate at a cafe and I had an excellent meal and unfortunately my first Heiniken. I did not want any beer however our original waiter didn't speak English and brought me a Heiniken when I asked for a moment to decide. Well alls well that ends well I suppose.

Weather
One last note is on the weather. Since I have arrived it has been very cloudy and today it is windy and raining, apparently this is pretty much the norm for the Netherlands but I've heard some talk of the weather improving by next week.

So I start orientation week tomorrow so I'll let everyone know how that goes.

Cheers!

P.S. the Pictures were all taken in down town Rotterdam

Getting There (here)

So I had quite a roundabout route of getting to the Netherlands so here goes.
Phase 1 - Taking a Train from Toronto to Montreal
So this was interesting. Getting on the train at Union Station in Toronto I was all teary eyed as a result of having to say goodbye to my mother and Chris. However, immediately upon getting on the platform a guy came running up to me asking me if I was a McGill student, I said no, though I knew of their improv team and decided to sit with him on the train. Well this guy had a really loud voice and decided to get into an hour long discussion with me over the merrits of freedom of conscience in Canada. On several ocassions people around us had to ask him to lower his voice and it was really quite funny and annoying at the same time. When we arrived at the Train station in Dorval with a little bit of difficulty I found the shuttle bus to Trudeau aeroport. On that bus I met a man who was going back-packing through Northern India (which I thought was really cool) and a man going to Brazil.
Phase 2 Trudeau Aeroport
Normally I wouldn't consider this a seperate phase but I have some interesting stories so yeah. In the line up for British Airway's Baggage check I met an older woman going back to Brittain to visit her family who decided to tell me her life story as many people seem to do but that's ok because it passed the time in the line up. When I got into the line up at 4:45 I was happy because there were only about 10 people in front of me not realising that the Baggage Check didn't open untill 5:30, but again that wasn't so bad because by the time the Baggage check opened at 5:45 there were at least 60 people in line behind me so it was lucky I got there when I did. After checking my baggage I went to have dinner. For dinner I may have potentially eaten the most expensive sandwhich in the World (it was $12.99) and while it was more than likely worth more than the cost my stomach was in such knots at this point that I wasn't even really enjoying it to it's full potential. So then I went and got in the security line up which I can honestly say was more than 200 people long, but thankfully moved very quickly. At the actual security check I had the displeasure of being padded down because apparently I looked suspicious (probably more like nervous) and then went and sat at the spot where my aeroplane was comming. Here I also ran into that lady from the baggage check again and we exchanged pleasantries, she seemed happy to see me.

Phase 3 Trudeau to Heathrow
So inevitably by the time I got on the airplane I had gotten myself into quite a state. The people who were sitting next to me were French and fairly sympathetic but it was very interesting to communicate them. Of course I speak French quite fluently so we chatted for some time. I had a window seat and to ease my nerves I actually watched as we took off. The plane had a complementary bar and when my steward came around I told him that I wanted some water, and then he said in his lovely British accent "Oh come on now wouldn't you like something a bit harder" so I decided on wine. Later when I had finished the wine the steward asked me if I wanted anything else and I said no, he tried to insist that I have some more wine with a big smile on his face, clearly trying to flirt with me, but in any case I declined and promptly fell asleep only to wake up a half hour later and I wasn't successful in doing anything but dozing after that so by the time I got to Heathrow I was quite tired.

Phase 4: Heathrow to Schiphol
Getting off the airplane in London was quite interesting as we were actually quite far out from the terminal and had to be brought back to the terminal by shuttle buses. On the shuttle bus I met another French girl who i had originally met getting on the airplane who was transferring at the same terminal as me. We carried on quite nicely in French untill she heard me speak in English to someone else when she said "Oh, you speak English? You have quite the beautiful accent in French" which made my day, however, afterward we carried on in English. Getting through security to get to my next flight at Heathrow was terrible as we waited 45 minutes for the 20 something people in Front of us to get through. In line I met a Montreal man from my British airways flight who was also transfering to the same flight going to Schiphol (Amsterdam) and we said good bye to my other friend who got stopped at security for a more thorough search of her bag. Once inside terminal 4 departures we actually had to wait untill 20 minutes before boarding for them to announce where our flight was boarding, which is certainly a lot different from in Canada. The man from Montreal was actually sitting next to me on the flight, which was quite interesting but he fell asleep. As a snack we recieved Tuna sandwhiches which among other things had corn on them, I've never heard of anyone putting corn on a sandwhich before and it was really quite disgusting. Anyway the flight only lasted 40 minutes and we arrived on time. It was insanely easy to get through customs in Amsterdam, the man simply looked at my passport and let me go through. I wasn't asked any questions or searched or anything he just said "have a nice day" which again is certainly different from the way things work in other places. Finally. Schiphol is quite different from any other aeroport I've ever been in. It's full of bright colours, vibrant cafés and very little security.

Stay Tuned for My Next Installment of Rotterdam and the Meaning of Life