my last weekend in leiden
Posted by Stephanie Finnvik on Monday, July 18, 2011
A very sad time, it is now Monday and my last weekend in Leiden is now over. It was definitely a great one though!
Friday was very very busy at work. I have never biked home so fast either as I ended up staying until almost seven. For dinner, we headed to Marissa's and made a typical Portuguese dinner called bitoque. After a failed effort at good Portuguese food in Belgium, Marissa wanted us to try the real stuff. It was delicious too!
I have a hard time finishing a meal without some sort of dessert, no matter how delicious, so Karen and I biked to the night store to get speculoos ice cream. It was gone very soon after because it's so hard to resist. Funny story on our trip to the store though, near the central square we heard loud music and I had just assumed there was some sort of event going on. Turns out, someone got a radio in the top level of a being-renovated building and opened all the windows and blared it for the whole city to hear. It was kind of funny because the police were there trying to figure out what to do, and it seemed a few hundred people in Leiden had stopped to watch the spectacle and gawk!
Saturday I met Maya at the market for the my last ever Saturday market stroopwafel. I also got a chicken drumstick and it was super good. I decided to try that versus the fresh fried fish...
I was planning to have a going away party including a boat ride through Leiden and a picnic but the rain decided to never EVER let up! It was pretty good in the morning but by the afternoon there was no hope. In a rush of changing of plans, we didn't have a boat ride but Mark thankfully let us use his place to eat. In my mistake and all the rush (as I was trying to hold out for as long as possible hoping the rain would subside), I know a few people ended up waiting for the boat and I am sincerely sorry about that.
After hanging out at Mark's and Esteban's place for a while, we headed to a bar called Vikings to sing karaoke. In the spirit of having a fun night with friends, we decided to dress up (well, only a few of us).
Karaoke ended up being lots of fun and we sang our hearts away (with pretty much the whole place to ourselves) to Backstreet Boys, N*SYNC, Cindy Lauper, Queen and all the other good ones.
It was a great night and thank you to everyone who came! Being the place was called Vikings, they even had a Minnesota Vikings jersey on the wall - go figure!
The weather has been absolutely crazy here with rain and wind and it doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. Sunday I spent the morning organizing all of my stuff (since it takes me ages to pack) and do laundry and all of that fun stuff. In the evening I went over to Marissa's and her, Karen and I made a dinner of leftovers and watched Transformers. It was one of those blah movie days where all you want to do is anything to stay out of the rain. After the movie was over, and it only seemed to be pouring even harder than before, we decided it was the best decision to make hot chocolate and watch the Sandlot (one of my all-time favorite movies too by the way). By the time the movie was over, there was a break in the clouds so Karen and I left while we could (stay as dry as possible). Sure enough, within a half hour when I got home it was pouring again!
There's a website called Buien Radar and it gives you at the moment radar and you can see just when the clouds of rain are coming. When introduced to it, I was told that it is probably the most useful site I will use while in the Netherlands and, sure enough, these past few days it most definitely has lived up to that!
I've also decided that I'm going to take the stroopwafel man with me. He has a business card and I feel I may be sending him a request to ship to the US if he doesn't mind.
Friday was very very busy at work. I have never biked home so fast either as I ended up staying until almost seven. For dinner, we headed to Marissa's and made a typical Portuguese dinner called bitoque. After a failed effort at good Portuguese food in Belgium, Marissa wanted us to try the real stuff. It was delicious too!
Everyone enjoying our Portuguese dinner (Maya is taking the pic!)
Bitoque, typical Portuguese meal: steak with fried egg on top, rice, french fried, and a salad of tomato and onion.
I have a hard time finishing a meal without some sort of dessert, no matter how delicious, so Karen and I biked to the night store to get speculoos ice cream. It was gone very soon after because it's so hard to resist. Funny story on our trip to the store though, near the central square we heard loud music and I had just assumed there was some sort of event going on. Turns out, someone got a radio in the top level of a being-renovated building and opened all the windows and blared it for the whole city to hear. It was kind of funny because the police were there trying to figure out what to do, and it seemed a few hundred people in Leiden had stopped to watch the spectacle and gawk!
Saturday I met Maya at the market for the my last ever Saturday market stroopwafel. I also got a chicken drumstick and it was super good. I decided to try that versus the fresh fried fish...
I was planning to have a going away party including a boat ride through Leiden and a picnic but the rain decided to never EVER let up! It was pretty good in the morning but by the afternoon there was no hope. In a rush of changing of plans, we didn't have a boat ride but Mark thankfully let us use his place to eat. In my mistake and all the rush (as I was trying to hold out for as long as possible hoping the rain would subside), I know a few people ended up waiting for the boat and I am sincerely sorry about that.
After hanging out at Mark's and Esteban's place for a while, we headed to a bar called Vikings to sing karaoke. In the spirit of having a fun night with friends, we decided to dress up (well, only a few of us).
Karaoke ended up being lots of fun and we sang our hearts away (with pretty much the whole place to ourselves) to Backstreet Boys, N*SYNC, Cindy Lauper, Queen and all the other good ones.
This one is definitely "Tearin' Up My Heart" by N*SYNC. Marrisa and I are "down on our knees..."
It was a great night and thank you to everyone who came! Being the place was called Vikings, they even had a Minnesota Vikings jersey on the wall - go figure!
The weather has been absolutely crazy here with rain and wind and it doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. Sunday I spent the morning organizing all of my stuff (since it takes me ages to pack) and do laundry and all of that fun stuff. In the evening I went over to Marissa's and her, Karen and I made a dinner of leftovers and watched Transformers. It was one of those blah movie days where all you want to do is anything to stay out of the rain. After the movie was over, and it only seemed to be pouring even harder than before, we decided it was the best decision to make hot chocolate and watch the Sandlot (one of my all-time favorite movies too by the way). By the time the movie was over, there was a break in the clouds so Karen and I left while we could (stay as dry as possible). Sure enough, within a half hour when I got home it was pouring again!
There's a website called Buien Radar and it gives you at the moment radar and you can see just when the clouds of rain are coming. When introduced to it, I was told that it is probably the most useful site I will use while in the Netherlands and, sure enough, these past few days it most definitely has lived up to that!
I've also decided that I'm going to take the stroopwafel man with me. He has a business card and I feel I may be sending him a request to ship to the US if he doesn't mind.