maandag 8 juni 2009
Wow, time flies. It's already the end of June. I've had my last lectures and almost all my exams. I found out this morning that I didn't pass Spanish, so I have to do the re-sit next week. If I pass the re-sit I will get my propedeuse. In the Dutch higher education system you get your propedeuse if you've passed all the exams of the first year(as a sort of first years diploma), and I've almost got mine! It all depends on the Spanish exam, but still I passed all the others so I have to admit that I'm actually quite proud on all the credits I received. I'm especially proud on the project I produced this period together with my project group. We worked hard on it and when we handed it in we were very proud. In the end after the presentation we got a 9,4 for our project! Which is my highest grade this year. It's nice to end the year with a bang.
This year has gone by so quickly, I can't believe it. I've met a lot of interesting new people this year at school. Not only at school but also at my work. Both work and school were fun! Although there were times when work and school weren't the best combination this year. Especially during the exams. For some reasons I always had to work till late when I also had exams. The combination of working till 2 am and having an exam at 9 am is not really successful. But it was certainly not boring.
There were several highlights this year. Berlin, the International Week but also the normal lectures. Berlin was so much fun. It was nice to go abroad with everyone from school. Everyone bonded with each other during that week. We got to know each other even more during the activities. I hope that the next trip will be just as successful as the trip to Berlin. The only problem is that I don't have any money at the moment for a trip because I spend it all on my summer holiday. But that is a minor detail.
These last two periods I spend a lot of time writing these blogs. It was more challenging than I imagined. Especially since my English is still far from perfect. It was challenging to keep on writing about interesting subjects. But I did my best to come up with a variety of interesting subjects.
It's odd to realize that the year is almost over, just one re-sit next week. But this summer is going to be fun as well. I'm leaving for Cambodia the 17th of July. Together with a friend of mine I'm going to travel around Cambodia for a month. We start in Siem Reap and we end in the south at Shianoukville.
I unfortunately have to announce that during this summer I'm going to quit blogging. Maybe I'm going to continue blogging next year and will tell you everything about the journey to Cambodia and maybe not. But this is a nice cliff hanger for you guys to return to my blog maybe next year.
dinsdag 2 juni 2009
Every year the Dutch festival season opens with Pinkpop and ends with Lowlands. In between there are lots of other festivals. Alternative festivals, Jazz festivals etc. You name it and it's there. The music festivals have quite an intersting history, especially the first festival of Woodstock. (who doesn't know that name?)
Woodstock was a festival that took place at the end of the sixties and was a much bigger succes than expected. Nearly half a million people traveled to this festival, although the organization counted at 200.000. With the presence of artists like The Who, Jimi Hendrixx and love, peace & drugs from the hippies the festival has become legendary.
My personal favorites among the festivals are Rock Werchter, Lowlands and Pinkpop(although I've never been to Pinkpop, I did watched it a lot of times on TV and those little Pinkpop hats are simply awesome). Rock Werchter because of the amazing line up every year. Lowlands and Pinkpop because of the atmosphere. The atmosphere at the festival is always great. A lot of beer, music and hanging out with friends.
This year I was watching a interview with Brian Molko the vocalist of Placebo, he had a nice definition for festivals: "A festival is kind of like a big beer picnic for everyone. Everybody's sort of wasted. You're kind of the soundtrack of a beer picnic." It describes the atmosphere terrific although it's from an artists perspective.
A lot of people don't go to festivals because of the toilets and the lack of showers. But the atmosphere makes up for all the Dixie toilets and small tents without effort. You just need to develop a skill to search the cleanest toilet.
Also a lot of people who are going to this kind of festival often tend to be a little bit eccentric and alternative, which intimidates some people but I think that's also charm of the festivals. It doens't matter what you look like, or what kind of music you like. It's a chance for people to break free from their normal rhythms.
(You never get bored either, you can entertain yourself for hours by watching other people)
The only thing I don' t like about festivals is the extremely expensive food. Junk food is even cheaper than 'normal food'. An example, Once I wanted to buy a apple at a festival. The apple was one euro.. Crazy! In the supermarket it's possible to get 12 apples for 2 euro.
But that's really the only thing I don't like about festivals.
(camping at lowlands)
Interesting facts about festivals:
-The name Pinkpop is a combination of the Dutch word 'Pinksteren' which means Pentecost and pop.
-Pinkpop is always in the weekend of Pentecost. Since it's so early in the season, the wheather isn't always that nice, which leads to mud fights.
-This year was the 40th anniversary of Pinkpop.
-Which makes Pinkpop the eldest yearly returning festival of the world.
-Lowlands is a literal translation of Nederland, the dutch word for the Netherlands.
-Rock Werchter already received four times the award for best festival from the International Live Music Conference.
-Sziget, a festival in Hungary, is taking place from the 10th until 17th of August. Which makes it lasts for seven days. You need quite the stamina while visiting that festival.
-Parkpop is a free festival in The Hague. Free is always interesting for students.
