Inconsistent

Two keys - the symbol for my town - on a bridge. The picture was taken from a boat on the canal.

I'm sorry for posting so irregularly lately... I've got a week planned full with job interviews and presentations and at the same time I'm organizing a party for my graduation.

Here at my university it is tradition to have a dinner with family after the graduation ceremony followed by a "party" for everyone - friends family professors students etc- who played a part during your time at university. I say "party" because it's really a particular kind of party. Everyone is dressed up and in many occasions there is no music played, except for the songs that the graduate's sorority friends or roommates or other friends have composed and will sing very loudly. These songs generally cover every embarrassing episode during your time at university: drunken episodes, every guy you've ever been mildly interested in, bloopers...

My graduation and party will be in 2,5 weeks time and yesterday I've sent out the invites. MrBee and I have been testing a couple of bars here in town (which resulted in our own little pub crawl) and I've finally decided where it will take place. It's a really nice bar in an old factory building at a canal here in town. That location is certainly not the cheapest option - which is not unimportant when about 75 people come to drink to your graduation and you have a student budget - but in the end I decided I should celebrate this special moment at a place I feel very comfortable and where I'm sure everything will be great.

I'm really excited about seeing everyone who has contributed to my amazing time as a student together in one bar to celebrate my graduation, but I'm not sure whether I should be too excited about the songs..... I've been a pretty good girl but I trust my friends will come up with lyrics that'll turn my head into a tomato...

Regina

MrBee and I went to see Regina Spektor play in Amsterdam last night. She performed at a venue called Paradiso, an old church with high ceilings, glass stained windows behind the stage and a beautiful balcony right in the center of Amsterdam. It's really a beautiful place.



It was the perfect setting for the concert. Regina was angelic. I can't believe her voice, she was so good. I'll be listening to her new album non stop for the next couple of days I think...

Night At The Museum

In the Dutch university town I live in we have quite a number of really good museums. Tourists from all over the world come here to enjoy paintings by Dutch masters, to see special types of tulips in the botanical garden, to marvel at the Egyptian mummies. Yet somehow in the six years I have lived in this town I had visited only a few of them.

Well, last Saturday we had the perfect opportunity: Museum Night. Museum Night has been an annual event in Amsterdam for quite some years now, but this was the first time it was organized in my town. Seven large museums were open from 8pm until 1am with afterparties at local clubs following. They had bands playing next to Rembrandt paintings, cocktail bars within exhibitions about Japanese folklore, lounge areas in the botanical gardens, DJs in Egyptian temples, lectures, workshops, performance art...

Since most of these museums are located within the historical center of the city, they were all within walking distance. However, there were also buses to take you from one place to the next. And, yes, as you would expect from Holland, there were bike taxis (riksjas) and also boats to take you to museums located next to canals...

Mr Bee and I had a great night. We got to see four museums in one night. We learned things about our city we didn't even know. We were driven around in a riskja. We took a tour in a boat. We enjoyed the lights from the canals.

My town. picture from flickr

Perfect combo of going out, having a drink and still feeling like we did something interesting with our night....

A very very very happy girl

Remember how I told you MrBee and I went to see Phoenix play before we got together and I was still with someone else?

Well Phoenix just released a new album, their 4th, which hasn't left my CD player since I got it (yes I still buy CDs).

You can imagine how bummed I was when I found out a couple of weeks ago that Phoenix was coming to play in Amsterdam but that the show had already been sold out.

But I put up an ad on marktplaats.nl, which is I think the Dutch version of Craigslist, saying that whoever could sell me two tickets to the Phoenix show was gonna make me a very very very happy girl.

And then on Wednesday night I got a call. Someone offered me his tickets for the normal price. I was so excited! He even sent me the tickets before the money was booked onto his account. I love it when people just trust each other... I love this guy. He made my week.

The show was at a relatively new club in Amsterdam in a building that is going to be torn down in a while. It looked really industrial. Very cool. They had all kinds of art projects going on and we actually saw the Phoenix guys hanging out there before the show. Had to contain myself not to go ask them for an autograph. Or a picture. Or a drumstick (I have a small collection of drum sticks from bands I've been to see. MrBee plays the drums...).

And the show was just awesome. Just awesome. MrBee and I were right in front of the stage and we danced and sang along and just enjoyed the music. MrBee later told me I was just beaming all night long. I probably was...

And our way back home we remembered how different everything was on our first Phoenix concert...