where am i? wouter's house, tilburg, holland.

what have i been doing?
1: last night i saw more people dressed in orange then i have ever seen in my life. i saw more orange balloons and streamers and hats and general orangeness than you could imagine. why? last night was the big soccer game, in the eurocup 2004 competition, between holland and sweden. and last night i watched the game from a jam-packed bar on the main street in downtown tilburg. the tension, the excitment, and the roar of delight that came with plentiful jumping up and down in the air when the penalty shoot-out ended with holland winning was crazy. and you thought that we get hyped up with the rugby. soccer over here is a huger deal than can be possibly explained. am so pleased to have had a true european soccer experience. and of course i was all dressed up in my day-to-day orange clothes and a holland jester type hat. now my thoughts stay with holland as they play this wednesday... HUP HOLLAND.

2: today i ate new zealand royal gala apples in zeeland. that's right folks, the daddy of new zealand. such a beautiful area, much of it on reclaimed land due to the impressive dykes built out into the north sea. so another ocean has been witnessed by oneself, more beaches to be added to the list. i saw the old traditional style windmills that make me think of that cute children's book about that cow... errr, clarence? who falls in a canal. and then the new super alien style windmills now generating power for the region.

hurrah for me. as of 4 hours ago i finished my masters. but no time to chat. i have some celebrating to get on with.

in this past week the temperature has risen 10 degrees from 25 to 35. this has caused statements such as: 'i had to put water on my face and my pillow last night' (sandro), 'i couldn't sleep because the pillow was sticking to my head' (naomi) and 'i wish we had a little paddling pool' (me).

so two exams down this week. and they were fine. i got to talk about a lot of water related things. like greek fountains and roman fountains and arches being flooded and becoming fountains. and that the maccabees invented the swimming pool along with ritual baths. things i had studied a lot because of the heat. because it's hot!! and a little paddling pool would be quite nice.

i don't study at home anymore. my room is a sauna. literally with temperatures in the 40s. i promise. no exaggeration there. why? because there are 50,000 (perhaps slight exaggeration) mosquitos waiting outside my window. so my window stays firmly shut. no mosquitos but high temperatures that do not permit studying.

look whose back. dee dee dee. bex is back. dee dee dee.

ha, right, so wasn't gone for long eh? that is because i have an awesome flatmate who leaves her door unlocked when she leaves, and puts notes under my door saying her computer is all mine for the weekend! woohoo for elien.

not much fun stuff to say though. sadly. here is my routine. i get up at 9am. i eat some brekky. muesli these days. good for the mind. then i pack my bag and head up the street to morna's to study. such an arrangment is very beneficial to us both. i get her up in the morning, she stops me from falling asleep over my notes in the day and we both end up getting a lot of study done. hurrah! though obviously quite a boring 'hurrah' huh? sorry about that.

so until next time i am procrastinating...

farewell little computer. you have served me well.

due to the aforementioned handsome lads heading to hamburg tomorrow, my computer is to be returned this afternoon. such an event will bring with it a variety of consequences:

a) i will have a whole lot of space on my desk.
b) i will have no exam procrastination options.
c) i will be given back my deposit!

of course i shall be visiting - but from the computer lab up the road.

so here i am. one thesis down, and five exams to go. quite the anti-climax really.

whereas the last exam period was full of coldness, rain and gloomy clouds, now it seems leuven has finally submitted to the sun. this makes it slightly more difficult when it comes to studying, but i surprisingly got quite a lot achieved at the park today, so perhaps i can escape my bedroom more often now. which would be wonderful.

my blog entries, my msn chatting and my general emailing will be coming to a bit of a halt soon. this computer is due back on friday at the rental shop. so once again the saga of carrying these boxes half way across town will be undertaken - hopefully by two handsome lads who wish to impress me with their strength.

of course this does not make me disappear from the rest of the world. no doubt i'll make trips up to the computer lab but obviously not with quite the same frequency as turning on the computer every morning when i wake up!

my future plans are set a bit more in stone now. or at least in receipts. so just as an update, here's the latest:

7th june: exam one
9th june: exam two
15th june: exam three
16th june: exam four
18th june: exam five
- from the 18th until the 2nd i will endeavour to completely relax. some of us may (if it's cheap) fly back to barcelona girona and camp on a beach for a few days. otherwise just will do nothing or take day trips out of leuven.
2nd july: graduate
3rd july: fly to turkey
- nearing the end of july my daddy is coming to visit me in turkey! hurrah!
29th july: return to belgium
- between then and the 13th august i shall make my way across to england
13th august: fly from london to toronto
- sometime mid-late october i fly back in to auckland. date still to be confirmed.

well well well. guess what? indeed. thesis is printed and ready for copying and binding. despite rising early and going to the copy shop - it seems they are all closed on saturdays. never mind. it's still all done and ready and copying can take place first thing on monday morning.

hurrah!

here is my thank you list: to dad for HUGE (note capital useage) support and help with everything. to mum for statistics help. to stephen for excel help. to rachel for statistics help. to regan for computer help. to frank for turkish spelling and computer help. to julian and naomi for moral support!!!

you guys are the best!

the sun is shining. a day of relaxation in the park is beckoning.

yeah, so after making such a fuss about my blood type, typically i forgot to go and pick it up yesterday. got it now though. those that guessed were right.

my room is like a sauna right now. it is ridiculously hot but i refuse to open the windows. last night i had an uninvited guest who went by the name of mossie. note the past tense. mossie came to a very decided end this morning, after much damage had already occurred. i refuse to go through the same event tonight which means putting up with temperatures that must be over 30 now (though im suspicious there may have been another, as mossie did not have the amount of redness inside of him that i believe left my own body). i'm drinking water to keep my brain alive, as well as eating speculoos (think gingernut flavour but just normal biscuity crunch).

my supervisor has finally swayed and given in to the idea that i want to finish this week. so today he sent me half of my thesis back with corrections to be made. yeah, it means more work, but it's not the end of the world, and he did write 'it looks good' which is quite the compliment i assure you! the second half arrives tomorrow. so today i have been fixing things, changing things, adapting things. yawn. i think i'll be on here late into the night. but hey, it will be worth it in the long-run!

is it normal to bruise when you get a needle stuck into you? i've had a few blood tests in the past and a few injections against different diseases... but i've never ended up with a bruise. especially not a big blackey bluey reddy weird looking one that seems to follow my vein part way down my arm. (just a little way, mind you, i'm prone to do a bit of exaggeration)

so i'm going to turkey and they want to know my blood type. seems logical enough. seems simple enough. of course i don't know it myself, but surely someone back in new zealand will. does dad? nope. does mum? nope. does my doctor (whom i have had since i was born!!!!)? nope. does my little baby book? nope. hmprh - that baby book contains so many other randomly random facts. you'd think it would talk about my blood. however it seems that i officially have an unknown blood type. i must be one of a kind. but on monday the truth will be revealed. i'll even be given a little card that i can put in my wallet and show off. and i will show it off. i've been missing out on showing it off for the last 23 years! it's a pretty big deal. really. it is.

in other exciting, world breaking news... i ran out of milk and had to eat cornflakes with water this morning. that wasn't the news. i just saw my bowl and remembered. anyway. so yeah. today i gave this presentation. it was quite the big deal, with a panel of four lecturers, arguing back and forth (though luckily more with each other than with me...) and asking questions. it's actually worth more than an entire class so i hope i did okay.

i'm nearing the end. i'm nearing the light. i'm nearing insanity too. this weekend will be one of plenty of work but hopefully plenty of work leading to one completed masters thesis. my only slight concern is that i met my supervisor again today and he wants me to resend everything through to him on monday. which i don't like the sounds of as i'm printing it all off and handing it in next friday. oooh, one week away.

so yeah. soon you will be hearing a happy me. a happy me with no more thesis. and no more school as next friday is the last day of term. i think i can afford to be happy for perhaps two days and then i will have to drop back to reality as the dreaded oral exams approach.

moh. sometimes work just doesn't happen. you know? once upon a time (last thursday for instance) i would have been exceptionally frustrated about this fact. but today i've come to terms with the reality that sometimes i can do work. and sometimes i cannot. today i cannot. so i sit here and ponder un-work related things that i could do. this involved colouring in all the places in europe i have been to and how i got there. on my big map of europe on my wall. that took a substantial amount of time. i have seen a good chunk for an unemployed student without a loan living off new zealand currency. let's all say a big hurrah to my parents for teaching me how to budget. one, two, three 'hurrah'.

paris is one amazing city! i know i have always had a tendancy to prefer the ancient cities of athens and rome... but when it comes to just loving a beautiful european city for being a beautiful european city, paris is right up there on my favourites list.

today i'm in a list mood. so here's the list:

1: note dame is an impressive church with perhaps the most incredible stain-glassed windows i have ever witnessed. wandering around inside i was in awe of the elaborate motifs and at the same time, slightly unimpressed with people's disrespect when the sign clearly states that no photos should be taken...

2: eiffel tower is gorgeous, night and day. nothing like sitting on a park bench eating a baguette and brie, drinking french wine and admiring the view. and then taking the lift up to all three levels, stopping each time to note the difference in wind speed. preplanned to experience the day and night scene - i saw paris in the daylight, the sun setting, and the lights coming on as evening fell. note: new zealand is the most furthest place away from the eiffel tower according to the distances given at the top! auckland is 18,542km and wellington is 18,983km away! very cool. we are famous, in a far away kind of way.

3: sacre coeur is another great landmark, perched up above the city in splendour. not sure which church i liked more. they were both completely different from each other. the best part about this one was that often jesus gets represented as the guy hanging on the cross. but here, he's very alive and well and reigning triumphant.

4: the louvre museum is just fantastic! the egyptian exhibit was incredible and to finally see the book of the dead and other exceptionally famous works (if you are an egyptologist person). and the hellenistic and roman sculpture was also amazing - once again i was able to see so many of the things i had studied and only ever seen in a picture. typically my camera is now filled with incredible masterpieces that i can fully appreciate because i have learnt the ins and outs of the history and style and artists that created them. also saw the mona lisa which was surrounded by a zoo of tourists. a very pushy zoo too i might add!

5: l'arc de triomphe is very big and lines up perfectly with the champs elysees, the egyptian obelisque and the louvre. it made for a very pleasant walk. napolleon won a lot of battles.

ok, that will do for now. i have a thesis to finish! eeek.

i'm off to see the paris, the wonderful paris of france.

yes.

see you on the other side.

whatever side that is.

here's the thing.
a) i feel like writing on here before going to sleep.
b) it would be nice to write to you all and tell you about the exciting things going on.
c) the slight problem of having absolutely nothing to talk about is an issue.

life right now could possibly be the most hectic and busy period i've ever experienced. and yet, still nothing to say. suppose that points out the large amount of tedious work that comes when your thesis for the year is due in under a month.

soon i will have elaborate stories and adventures that i can inform you of. just not today.

oooh, i almost forgot. on friday i'm going to paris. i mean really, it's just such a short hop away and is very cheap too. am working very hard now so i won't be concerned as i relax at the top of the eiffel tower. heh heh heh.

22 may: school finishes
1 june: hand in thesis
7 - 18 june: exams
19 - 1 july: continue to explore europe
2 july: graduation
3 july: fly to turkey
29 july: fly back to belgium

and after that things get more blurry... hopefully i'll get to see my dad who will be over in this neck of the woods... might also try to get to england to see friends there... and then it's fairly definite that i shall be heading to canada for a little while... before returning home to new zealand (shall certainly be back before christmas, if not earlier)

so how about some highlights eh?

driving: it's such an odd feeling, after so many years of being able to drive without really thinking, to getting a fright when the windscreen wipers go on instead of the indicator. the hardest part for me wasn't the road, but the car itself... just having all the gadgets opposite, and having to look out the left window. also slightly un-nerving was the 120km/hr highway thing, where some cars were passing us at least at 170km/hr!

countryside: very different from anywhere i've been. a lot of barren rugged hills, very jagged and prominent. incredible variations in wild flowers - combinations that could never be reproduced so perfectly as done by nature herself. compared to all other places i've been to in europe - with the trees in straight lines, and parks bordered by fences - spain's countryside felt far more real and beautiful in that natural reality. interesting to see so much of the land covered by glasshouses for irrigation, covered in olive green material - deemed by us to be due to the salt spray from the ocean.

beaches: gorgeous coastlines once we escaped the built up cities, with an aqua-marine blue ocean. the rocky shorelines were a sight to behold, from high up as we drove around cliff faces, to down on the beach itself.

barcelona: gaudi is incredible! a city i shall definitely return to one day.

overall favourite part? watching the sunrise over the mediterranean, perched on top of a cliff with an old ruin of a fortress behind me and nothing but the ocean infront of me. birds soaring. ocean calmly lapping at the shore. sun rising in elegance. peace.

photos not yet ready but check out the map to your right. we landed in jérez de la frontera then head south west to cadiz. then up to seville, across to granada and down to the south coast (motril). across through almeria, up the coast through murcia. past alicante to the eastern tip (calpe). then all the way up to barcelona. nearly 2000km in 4 days.

day one: destination - cadiz. south-west coastal town. swam in atlantic. watched sunset. put up tent on the terrace roof above a hostel.

day two: destination - car. ridiculously small silver vechicle, named 'thecar', with a lot of power and a cd player. drove from cadiz up to seville, then across to granada. unable to see the alhambra, we headed up into the sierra nevada mountains and witnessed snow. continued driving southward to motril on south coast.

day three: destination - south coast. beautiful blue sky, rugged cliffs, rocky coastline. unbelievable variation in wild flower species. huge waves that drenched us. tiny roads that led to nowhere except straight into the middle of the most powerful wind i have experienced! ended in a little place which for the moment i have forgotten the name of... but a little campsite with our own rocky beach on the south-east coast. watched the stars come out. listened to the waves beat against the shore and the wind howl between the palm trees. yes. palm trees. spain is full of them.

day four: destination - east coast. continued to drive up the coast. but not until after watching the sunrise and walking along the clifftops and staring out at the ocean. made our way up past alicante to a beach resort town called calpe. swam in the mediterranean. fished off the rocks with a spaniard. ate three full fish at a seafood restaurant. lazed on the beach under palm trees.

day five: destination - ifach rock. this rock, towering 332m into the air is incredible! shall show photos as soon as they get uploaded off the digital. eric, joe and i climbed it - with the help of a tunnel, some ropes in places, and the onlooking and cawing of seagulls nesting less than a metre away. spent the rest of the day on the beach before driving up to barcelona to drop off car. as this occurred nearing midnight we took a vote and decided to camp out in the airport instead of paying for accommodation. ha. the life of poor students.

day six: destination - barcelona. floors of airports are not as bad when you are with friends. headed into barcelona. amazing city! sad we only spent a day here. climbed the sagrada familar and wandered in the park guëll - both designed by gaudi and both so refreshingly different from everything else i have seen in europe. wandered down la ramble - the main street - to the port. then off to a different airport to have another floor night's sleep.

day seven: awoke and bordered ryan air plane back to belgium.

highlights to follow soon...

as brenda pointed out in her comment, i'm off to spain. in a few hours. and i have a very long list of things to do before i get there. writing on here was not on the list. but don't worry because once i'm done writing this, i'll add it to the list, and then have the joyous feeling of achievement by crossing it off again. ahhh, i get it from my parents you know. the love of crossing things off a list. indeed.

anyway, nothing like flying for 2 hours and ending up in a new and foreign land with another language to attempt and with beaches along the mediterranean sea to explore. and to top it off, no need to think about bus timetables, no need to think about train schedules, no need to think about booking hostels... this is the classic road trip in hired car with borrowed tent scenario.

hurrah!

for those interested in particulars, here's the scoop. heh. what a word - 'scoop'. me and joe leave belgium at 8pm tonight and arrive in stansted london a few hours after that. we then get to play cards and draw pictures and keep ourselves amused by making up stories about the people in the airport - until the next morning. yeah, i know, yet another night in an airport. why do i do this to myself you might ask? because this way we save money, and get to spain faster. heh. i'm such a genius at travel arrangements.

right, so we then arrive in jerez, southern spain, 11am on wednesday (that would be tomorrow!), where we meet morna and eric, who have previously been wandering about in the sahara desert. from there we pick up our nissan and hit the road. we've got four days to drive up the coast of spain to barcelona.

then we spend two days in barcelona looking at, um, stuff? to be honest, the only thing i know about barcelona is the olympics and that olympic theme music. heh heh. but i'm sure there must be some stuff to do there. then we fly directly home to belgium early on tuesday 20th, getting back about 8am.

right. so what's going on with me? you may be asking. or may not. i wouldn't know. but if you were, here's my answer. and if you weren't, here's my answer anyway.

in the midst of recovering from jetlag (which i find a ridiculous concept because a) i was only in new zealand for four nights, and b) i never adjusted to new zealand time so c) why am i waking at 4.30 every morning??), i suddenly became very aware of the amount of work that needs to be done before the crunch-hand-in-thesis date at the end of may (perhaps one good point about the jetlag is that i get many more hours in the day to work). my supervisor sadly did not make me feel any better when he suddenly announced that part of my data was 'wrong' and that he had some 'new ideas'.

data being 'wrong' is not what one (heh, would you have ever imagined me using such a term mum, after all those years of not liking it!!) likes to hear when the thesis is due in 6 or so weeks. and as for 'new ideas'. i think i have come to loathe such a term. especially when they involve graphs. and maths. and things that i did not spend four years at university studying.

so a not-so-happy girl talked to her ever-loving father and it now seems that, thanks to good internet connections and a wonderfully supportive family that all can do maths, i quite possibly shall be okay after all!

very good news.

i have been gorging myself on easter eggs from new zealand. and i have my eye on the four one litre bottles of l&p that i put in my hand luggage but so far have resisted temptation. apart from that, leuven is still overcast, my room is still a mess and i still like the colour orange.

i got home to leuven late last night to find a letter, written 18th of march, from my grandad. he always liked to finish a story. i suppose it's his way of getting the last word after all.

my trip to new zealand was mixed with happiness to hug all of my family again, and sadness at not being able to hug my grandad. but i'm so glad i went home because i got to say goodbye properly. and even though i was unable (due to upsetness factor) to speak at the funeral, i was able to spend time with him on my own beforehand which i am very pleased i did. the six of us grandkids were given the difficult honour of being the pallbearers.

my grandad was an incredible man who loved me and who took such a genuine interest in my life. i am so fortunate to have had the last 23 years of my life with him. the memories i have will be always greatly treasured and never forgotten.

i love you too grandad.