The exams/holidays..

Exams were chill! People don't put so much emphasis on exams here and not that they dont take it seriously, but students heere treat exams like just another part of the term, not some big event. Theres no study break and exams are all held in class during the classs hours, so its very informal. Theres no exam release dates or exam guidelines or rules, etc. Activities still go on as normal and parties are still held during the week..but examss are just as hard. Anyway it wasn't that bad and.. you know, whatever..

I celebrated by going to see SONIC YOUTH in Den Haag right after my last paper, friday evening, and rushed through dinner and rushed to the station to catch the 45 min long train ride there. Saw Danielson, My Cat is an Alien, No-Neck Blues Band and MONO as well.. Fuckin A! The next day was the second day of the festival and along with my sister (who was visiting), caught Circle, Magik Markers, Clark, Jamie Liddell, and others I can't remember. So it was a mini version of ATP "Nightmare Before Christmas" with mostly the same bands (execpting a few), and at about an eighth of the price. I had to miss the end of semester party at the bar.. but fuck that .. I saw Sonic Youth! The party was still on when i got back anyway (at 530am).. long story about missing trains and eating burgers, as well as visiting the 'snackcar of freedom' (an thats another story again).

After that weekend, was hanging out with Nic and Jeff who came to visit (He just left). We went to Spain (Barcelona- 5 days, and Madrid 2 days) and chilled in the Netherlands. Looks like I'm the only person who perfers Madrid to Barcelona. Barelona is nice, theres beaches and all, but Madrid is more of a city, more 'serious', and I'm a serious guy.. Barcelona reminds me of Amsterdam (to which I perfer Utrecht). Well some highlights of that trip was..

1. Going to Nou Camp and watching a game (Barcelona vs Atheletico Madrid, 1-1)
2. Eating Jamon Iberico (always wanted to try that stuff)
3. Watching Jarvis Cocker at Razzmatazz in Barcelona (great concert.. greatclub/venue)
4. 18`C and sunny skies on christmas

Some un-highlights were

1. Fucked up hostel in Barcelona (Hostel Sun and Moon).. endless amount of complains but I wont get into that
2. Getting sick. I blame the fucked up air conditioning at Sun and Moon
3. Christmas eve.. where's all the parties at??

Also met up with Luke (cousin) and Willem + Kromhout 41 people in Barcelona.

And we came back on the 28th of Dec. Talk about Dec 28- now later..

so the purpose of this post is just to make everyone jealous of all the awesome bands i saw at Pukkelpop in Hasselt, Belgium. I had the most amazing time there camping over 5 days (3 days/nights of concerts). I was going to give a detailed post of it, but it would take me 10 pages. So I'm gonna cut it short and tell you who I saw (3/4- full sets). I've always wanted to go to one of them and ive done it! I really want to write lots and lots about it but I'm lazy. Lets just say i was in the FRONT ROW of the most important shows. (Beck, Radiohead, B&S, Twilight Singers, Feeder, etc etc). And that I didnt enjoy Radiohead at all.. missed TIGA because of them and it was so boring and I almost fell asleep.

Gomez
Infladels
Magic Numbers
Beck (One of the best stage shows ever)
Radiohead (2 Hrs+ with new songs, not impressed)
Jose Gonzalez
Delays
Mew (sounded great live, much better than on record)
Sweet Coffee (mistook them for Zero 7, had a great time)
Feeder (always wanted to see them.. i did.. perfect set)
Scissor Sisters
Massive Attack (amazing)
The Dears
Dirty Pretty Things (babyshambles cancelled but this was just as great)
The Frames
The Twilight Singers w/ Mark Lanegan (2 legends together, best album of 2006.. yesssss)
Less than Jake (why did I see them? old time's sake?)
Randy (worst crowd response ever.. they played great though)
Pipettes (3 pretty girls with coordinated dancing.. perfect)
TV on the Radio
Nick Oliveri and his Mondo Generator (disappointment)
Eagles of Death Metal (disappointment)
Arctic Monkeys (just went cause of the hype)
Daft Punk (every song they have done mixed into one set. great stage/lights etc. so fun)
!!!
65 Days of Static
Zita Swoon
Yeah Yeah Yeahs (all wet and muddy)
Belle and Sebastian
Mylo (just for a while, but a massive tent with insane partying, best dj ever)
Rogers Sisters
Joan as Policewoman
Cursive
Kelley Polar

Insane.. I missed out lots of other great bands.. but had such a good time.. eating, drinking, seeing shows, enjoying the summer sun with European babes everywhere. did I mention I went for FREE?! Long story, but someone was nice and it saved me 130Euros...WTF!!!

TRIP REPORT; AACHEN, GERMANY

So im back from Budapest, but beforeei get into that, we should get my trip to Germany out of the way first.

It was to Aachen, two saturdays ago, to catch the Bundesliga game between Alemannia Aachen and Werder Bremen. It was a last minute thing, and I only decided the night before that I was going to go. Well it was only then that we managed to get tickets for the game. It wasn't a problem because we were going to drive there anyway.

So I went early in the morning, at about 8am, after only sleeping for 3 hours (Party the night before of course), with Fritz. He's German, and from Bermen, and a real football nut.. the kind who has a season ticket and gets drunk and shouts on the streets. And all his friends are too, we had 13 of us in the group and it was one of the craziest days so far in Europe. So We took turns driving, and it isnt that far anyway. Quite close to the Dutch/German border, nar Maastricht.

So we arrived at one of his friends place (also from bermen but living in Aachen) and ate while waiting for everyone to arrive. In the meantime, everyone got drunk and sang football songs (wtf?). The ticket was only 9Euro, much cheaper than Dutch football games. The stadium was shit though! Must have been the worst stadium i've beent too.. Its Bundesliga and half the stadium doesn't even have seats?!?! Well the game ended in a 2-2 draw and Bremen played like shit, but that didnt stop the whole group from going crazy, which lasted into the night.

So we went back and had pizza, getting crates of beer along the way. They drink a lot more than the Dutch. And beer is cheaper too. At 10 we went out again to go pub hopping, so that was nice.. Aachen is kinda like Utrecht. Old town, kinda small sized and based around a large student population. After hitting up 5 bars/clubs everyone went back in different groups depening on the afer bar activity. I just had a drink so we got back around 4 or so. The last group came back close to 6 and coninued the party and refused to let anyone sleep. I was beaten with piillows and shoes till i got up and drank some more. And then finally people got tired and 13 of us had to sleep in the living room and bedroom (it was a one bedromo apartment).

We got up at lunch and drove back to Utrecht. I had to go for so many group meetings and catch up on the work that I was supposed to do. So that was the weekend. GUUUUUUUUUUUUNE LAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNE!!!!!!!

back from the fall break and its busy again..
Some stuff about the hitchhiking trip here..Only one team made it to the finishing point, not us. We stopped hitchhiking after Denmark so we could enjoy the cities, instead of just checking out the highways. Was a good experience overall.

So this is the route we took. We left at 6am saturday morning and got back at 9am the next saturday
(Nertherlands) Utrecht - Groningen - Nieuweschans - (Germany) Bunde - Leer - Bremen - Hamburg - Puttgarden - (Denmark) Rondby - Kobenhavn - (Sweden) Helsingborg - (Norway) Oslo - Trondheim - Bergen - (Netherlands)Amsterdam - Utrecht!

From the Netherlands in Nieuweschans, we walked about 10 km across the border along the highway to Germany to the worst town i've ever been to in my life.. BUNDE! Had some horrible food before realising that we should get out as quickly as possible..there were only old people, and buses stopped running at 4 on saturday..its horrible. We spent the night in Bremen along the street, under a tree after failing to get a ride anywhere.

Puttgarden is one of the ferry crossing sites to Denmark, so we took the Ferry across, which took about 45 mins, to
Rondby. We spent that night in Kobenhaven, and I really like that city and the architecture there. Next day we headed to Norway and chilled in Oslo for the day, and took the night train to Trondheim, where we spent another day, and took the night train to Bergen, where we spent the longest time (2 days), and from where we flew back to Amsterdam (Via Oslo).

So.. some thoughts on the trip.. I really like scandinavia. The landscape is beautiful, and looking out at snow covered expanses is really nice too. Fresh fish and seafood from the fish market every morning is also great. Whale meat sandwiches are excellent too, but more expnsive than salmon. The girls get hotter the further north you go. Everything is too expensive in Norway (try $5.50 for a coke or coffee at 7-11, or $20 for a macdonalds meal) and i cannot get paying an extra 50cts per item in fast food outlets to sit in the restaurant. I had a great time but it was too expensive and I should go in the summer.

Also saw Arab Strap in Bergen so that was great, it was their 10th anniversary/farewell tour. They're also playing in Utrecht, but its always nicer to see a band somewhere else (with scandinavian chicks).

to the north cape! im leaving in 3 hours with Aboud and Naomi and were headed north. First through the Netherlands, into Germany, crossing to Denmark up through Sweden and finally Norway to our destination!!!!

Its for the college hitchhiking competition..
well ill be back next weekend, then its another festival before school starts, if we do make it back!

its been busy the past few weeks with exams and paper deadlines.. but thats all over. so..thats it

What a busy week its been. Its Saurday again and now at 430 in the afternoon I have completed a short paper on Fritz Lang's Metropolis for my Political Science class. yeah it sucks but its not sunny out anyway.

Tesday was my first visit to the Stadion Galgenwaard, home of FC Utrecht and just round the corner for campus. Was the 3rd round of the KNVB Cup (Dutch league cup). FC Utrecht won 3-1 but i was unsatisfied as I was hoping for a frikandel while watchign the game. A frikandel is basically a type of dutch junk food, made from cow's udders, and is like a sausage. yeah its sounds bad but its awesome, especially the Speciaal, with onions and curry tomato sauce. I did get my frikandel at a snack bar near the stadium after the game, good thing or I wouldnt have been able to go to bed.

Wednesday I was unsure if I should meet Steve (from Wales) in Amsterdam but I did get a ride from Naomi's mother who was visiting and going to Amsterdam. So i got a free ride and I avoided getting lost. Willem came along too, a Dutch guy who hasn't been in Amsterdam in the past 6 years. Walked around has a drink and coffee and thats about it.. oh yeah we had another frikandel.

Thursday I was stuck outside Tivoli De Helling as the Satyricon/Keep of Kalessin show was sold out. I kinda expected it but I was hoping for the best. Why I didnt get the ticket in advance, I dont know, because I knew all along that I would go for the show. After standing outside for an hour hoping for some miracle, it did happen and someone offered me his ticket as he didnt want to go in. And inside i stood right infront of the stage and had such a good time. One of my favourite black metal bands.. haha for old times' sake! Then i met Jasper and Mark outside giving out flyers after the show so I helped them for a bit and hung on to his car for a ride home. The bike was surprisingly stable at 40km/h.

Yesterday was Amusement Parks on Fire at Ekko, supported by the guitarists' side project, You Slut!. Such a great show and Steve came along too. More about the show later. After that was a drum n bass party at the college bar, organized by Natasha who lives upstairs. Lenny was the MC and it was a good party, even though it wasnt my kind of thing. Not very packed on campus on the wekends as everyone goes home.

So its today now and im rushing my work as theres a festival in Tilburg, the Zuid Bij Zuidwest festival! tonight is day one and tomorrow theres Radio Birdman among 50+ other bands. All for 10 Euro!

its satuday night and im at home!

went to the swimming pool nearby but it was closed for some repairs. good beecause i saved myself some money. its 4 euro to enter. YEAH WTF!

i forgot about the beach excursion to Scheveningen today.. so i missed out on the sun and the beach parties in the evening. fuck that i told myself thats good, because i would have time to study but i didnt do shit in the afternoon. just made a stir fry of brocolli, carrots, tomatoes, ham and cauliflower and cous cous.

well the night is still young, hopefully something happens and rescues this failure of a saturday!