Dutch society

Hello,

Once again, a week has passed by and I feel like it's time to give you the latest news:)
Last Friday evening I got my first fine ever!!! As far as I've understood, the Dutch love to fine ppl, if there's a reason, there's always a fine coming your way as well.
So, me and Andrew were riding our bikes to Axels place, when the police stopped us. They had clearly parked in the middle of the road, only to find people with no lights, to fine.(for your information: you need to have a light, both in the front and in the back in the bikes here)
I didn't even try to come up with excuses, I admitted that I knew that my light not working. So this police officer wrote the fine(and he really took his time) hahha..he somehow managed to misspell my streetname and number(it's 71 a, not e!) but it'll be interesting to see wether they find me or not...LOL

Another thing that I find rather strange is the church in my neighbourhood. I was being told on my first night here, that it actually isn't a church anymore. The building has been sold, and it has the function as a mosque.....and.....(to make it better) a fitness centre!!!
I've a hard time imagining something similar happening in Espoo, or in Finland in general. Chruches are there and they're not on the housing market.full stop.

Hmmm..the days fly by. This week I had dinner with a Dutch friend of mine, from EYP. He's going to Norway for 5months to work in a farm. I find it to be really brave, but I know that I could definetly never manage it. ( I'm an urban girl;)

Oh, last weekend. Amsterdam was actually a bit disappointing. I had been there in year 2001 and I remembered the city to be much more alive and exciting. Times change and so do I=) I've travelled a bit more now and I guess that with many cities it's so that your impression of them changes from visit to visit. I decided not to go to Utrecht after all(Sorry M-M). I'll probably go there sometime when I've the possibility to spend the whole weekend avec my dear cousine.

Next week, I'll have presentation with my group in Quality Management(Monday) and an individual presentation next Friday in my EU course. I'm happy that this week I've got my books sorted out and I can really start studying to each and every one of my courses (another question is: do I feel like reading?)

hugs
Have a lovely weekend!
-Anna

Ceramstraat + the end of the Introduction week

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

Let me tell you about my neighbourhood where I live in. I live in an area called Korrewegwijk, it's around 10min by bike from the centre. It's a calm area with houses with max.two floors, I live in one of those as well.I've a nice room, with a window to the inner yard. The neighbours have at least cats and rabbits and luckily there are some trees that I can have a look on as well:)
I'd very much like to show you some pictures, but since I haven't got a camera yet(I know, I've talked about getting one for ages, but somehow it seems like I've become far too Dutch, and find it too expensive;)

Yesterday evening we had a house meeting with Ruggero(an Italian, lived here for soon two years) and Justin (Hong Kong, is here for 5months, just like me) Froukje, our fourth flatmate is visiting her sister in Norway, so she wasn't on the meeting. Froukje is from the Netherlands, but she's Frisian (speaks Frisian as her mother tongue). The meeting basically consisted of going through the cleaning procedures of the house, when/how and by whom it should be done.

The introduction week I told you about on my previous post came to an end on Wednesday. We had a magnificent Dutch party on Monday. First we (group 2) celebrated the bday of our mentor Mirjam( we bought her a nice hat) and ate delicious cake made by Axel. We were dressed up in crazy orange costumes, which made us to be the target of the paparazzies when we entered the club..Now I know how Paris Hilton feels every day (except from the fact that she doesn't wear a gigantic orange joker hat) Our definitive star of the evening was Satu aka Miss Holland, later adopting the nickname queen of the Bitches. She wore a tiara, orange string made of a plastic flag and a Holland scarf around her;)

On Tueday I cooked for Axel, Satu and Andrew. We were supposed to go to a language class in the evening, but we ended up eating too much of spaghetti bolognese. hehe, I didn't want to scare ppl off by serving Finnish food =)maybe next time.
Wednesday was Valentine's Day, we watched first a Dutch movie(can't remember the name) it reminded me of the Swedish movie Jallajalla..so you got to laugh a lot. At the Valentine's party we all got numbers, so you could send secret greetings to each other. Let's just say, that I got quite a few notes from the same person and later on a rose as well, must admit that it was a Valentine's Day I wont forget easily:)

Tomorrow will be the time for Amsterdam!!! I might go to Utrecht as well, to visit my dear cousin Marja-Maija (yes, we Ristiluoma's are really conqueiring the Netherlands) and come back first on Sunday, don't know yet.

Keep those comments coming,
Take Care
Anna

Groningen

Dear friends,

So I finally found blog that I creatd for some months ago. I'll try to start writing in it more regularly. The last days have been one big bumpy rollercoaster ride. From salsa workshops to desperate attempts to open my outer door at 5am in the morning(I managed after 30min, damn, the locks are different here)
The city itself is AWESOME, the bar district is really cool and the atmosphere generally is really friendly. I'll strongly recomemnd you to come and visit me('cause you'll do that ,right?!) later in the spring, 'cause the city will most likely blossom up even more.
Our introduction week has been a great success this far, our mentors are really taking care of us. SInce we're around 150 students taking part in the week, we're divided into 10 groups. Group number 2 has shown its extreme potential! we were the ones who took over the dancefloor on pub crawl, we were the ones who sang karaoke four-five times. My solo in Kylie Minogues : In your eyes, was memorable..lol.
Tomorrow the lectures will start, I've only lectures on three days of the week, otherwise I'll start doing sports really soon(it'll happen, it HAS to happen) I'm going to follow courses during the first period in Politics and government in the EU, Quality management and the Idea and Reality of the Nation state (and maybe Communication in and about the Netherlands) we'll see, we'll see.

Before ending this post (and going to much needed sleep...ZZZzzzZZZ) I just need to thank you for the farewell party a week ago. Thank you so much for being there, your kind wishes and presents and everything was really overwhelming..Though meeting new things and new people all the time, you're in my mind.

Good night
-Anna