Independence Day Weekend

Hello again!

Well, once again we lapsed in our posting, for the same reason as usual -- too much work! June was a very busy month with the ending of classes and the start of exams, which Farrell will finally conclude on Monday (not the best way to celebrate the 4th). We have yet to decide how we will actually spend Independence Day, after Farrell's exams of course, so we're open to suggestions! In other news we have officially bought our plane tickets home and we will be arriving back on American soil on August 1, and will be officially home on August 2. However, we will be leaving the Netherlands on July 13 for a fun trip in Italy with Farrell's family, which we are really looking forward to. In between then and now, aside from all the packing that needs to be done (eeek!), we hope to squeeze in a few more day trips in the Netherlands as well as visit all our favorite spots in Nijmegen one last time. With at least one more friets speciaal, yum...

We'll try and keep you posted on our final week and upcoming travels, as well as catch up on all the photo sorting and posting that got pushed aside during this hectic month. Wish us luck!

Until next time,

Jessica (and Farrell)

The Ides of...February?

As the title suggests, February has turned out to be a particularly busy (annoying) month, with perhaps too many unexpected complications. Oh, don't worry! It's nothing too serious, but rather all the little annoying things that could go wrong did.

Aside from having to finish up exams while our new classes were starting, Farrell's bike broke. So, we shared my bike, and if we had anywhere to go together then Farrell had to hop on the back and I biked the two of us. However, soon after someone accidentally injured my tire in the bike parking lot (apparently someone dominoed the bikes and my tire was scraped with a kickstand), but it still worked! That is until the next time Farrell hoped on the back, which prompted the tire to blowout (explode). At that point we were down to zero bikes, and it is also around this point that Farrell's laptop died.

It was expected. His laptop was old and had been thoroughly (continuously?) used over the years, especially if you consider that he is a computer science major and likely uses his laptop even more than the average 20-something individual. So, we have been sharing my laptop, which would not be such a problem if we did not have all of our class readings on the computer. Fortunately he'll have a new laptop soon...hopefully. :)

Now, as for more fun things, we visited our Latvian friend Sandra in Ede (the Netherlands) and had dinner with her family. Ede was a small, but interesting little town near the "Heather fields," which as their name suggests are huge open fields filled with heather. It was pretty in the cold grey, but it is supposed to be just beautiful in the spring/summer. Interestingly, the fields are near a Dutch military base and they use the fields for practice. Needless to say we cannot wait to go back when it's warmer.

For more recent fun, yesterday we went to Arnhem and, using our museum cards Frank got us (they allow us free entrance to some 400 museums in the Netherlands), we visited the Water Museum there. It's kind of hard to describe, but it was a lot of fun. Plus, it was situated in this large park/woods, so of course we walked around on the trails for a few hours. It was pretty cold though and is now turning colder, despite the comparatively mild weather we have had over the past few weeks. There is even supposed to be some snow Sunday, though not much. Hopefully it will warm up by next Sunday though -- that's when we are going to our first "football" game. It's Nijmegen vs. FC Utrecht and we are excited! We will try and take pictures of course, assuming it is allowed and not raining.

Anyway, we will continue to keep you posted. And as for the photos, we ask for your patience once more, since that has been permanently put on hold. (Farrell does not have a laptop, remember?) Still, we will do what we can. :)

Until Next Time,
Jessica

January in Nijmegen

As you may have guessed, we are back in Nijmegen now, though technically we arrived late Saturday evening. We enjoyed a nice final day in Nijmegen with Farrell's Dad on Sunday, as we slept in, went on a lazy walk, met up with Frank's train buddy that befriended him on the train ride from Amsterdam to Nijmegen, and then went to an early dinner at De Hemmel, the delicious, but expensive restaurant we have written about before. On Monday, we had a final walk around the town and the market, followed by a final frites speciaal, and then we walked to the train station, where we said our goodbyes, and saw the train off.

Since, then we have been studying for exams and attempting to recuperate from our colds. Of course, we did take a short break to celebrate my birthday. Farrell bought me a pretty bouquet of daisies, which are sitting pretty in the common area for all to enjoy, as well as a special tin of Lady Grey tea (my favorite). The tea is an especially apt gift, as it is a tin of loose-leaf tea, so I can use it in my teapot that Frank gave me for Christmas. Plus, when I have used all the tea, I will have a nice little tin to put little mementos and such things in. Oh, and as a substitute for a cake he bought us each an apple pie/tart/scone or some sort of pastry from the bakery, which was absolutely delicious.

So, with one exam down, and several more to follow, it was not too bad of a week. Hopefully Farrell will get some pictures up soon, though do bear with us, as there are tons of pictures that must be sorted and only a little time in which to do it.

Until Next Time,

Jessica