Today we started in the CREA building, a new addition to the university quite close to my dorm that offers extra-curricular classes to students, like painting, sculpture, acting, yoga, dance, and creative writing. Yoga was full (and my outfit wasn't really yoga-friendly), so I took a risk and signed up for creative writing. The instructor was very nice and made us feel very comfortable sharing our work. I also got to see some other kids who will be studying English lit (finally!). Our assignment was to write for 15 minutes about a character who goes into a space he hasn't visited for awhile, when something unexpected happens. I wrote about Alex's bedroom in Mechville, but got caught up in the description and didn't quite get to an unexpected event. I got some kudos, though; something about the juxtaposition of a character who's been in a city and now doesn't fit in with his former home. I want to go back for yoga classes once school starts so I can have an opportunity to chillax and stretch from all this biking!
We visited Artis Zoo, a pride and joy of Amsterdam because it's very old, apparently. It had your standard set of sad, cooped-up creatures who should've been left in their homelands, but there were some beautiful plants and it was fun hearing everyone's names for the different animals in their own languages.
Peacock just walking around.
Feeding whatever this is.
Sock monkey reppin
This one's actually for kids to climb on.
Inside my bathroom stall.
Coaches dancing, trying to pump us up about the zoo.
What the canal looks like, except much cleaner.
Remember how you've always wanted to see a hippo fetus? You're welcome.
Have a video of a dancing elephant.
The group went to an Italian restaurant for lunch. This turned out to be quite hilarious because the Italian students were horrified that our teachers were drinking coffee with their pizza. The Irish girl and I were also trying to describe to a girl from Spain what a pencil sharpener was, and she though we meant a shark...language barriers are hilarious when in the right company.
We piddled around for awhile before going to a Boom Chicago show, an improv group from America. They do skits based off of suggestions from the audience. There were plenty of American-based jokes that cheered me up because I could follow the humor and liked the familiarity of the accents and such. I also made my way home on my bike at night from the show, a miracle and a half!
Tonight is the big final party at Melkweg, and I'm going to go and enjoy myself because I think I've earned it.
Tot ziens,
C
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