The Dutch can party!
Posted on June 4.
My last few days in Paris were really fun. The weather got a little better as well which always helps. On Friday, I met some fellow Canadians and wandered around with them for a bit. It was nice to talk in English for once! Afterwards I met a Parisien girl for a coffee and had some great conversations. This is what I love about couchsurfing, you meet so many cool people!
On Saturday an American girl living in Germany, Clarissa, came to stay with my couchsurfing host. My host, Norbert, had a friend who gave city tours so we went out and got a brief history of downtown Paris which was really interesting. That night we went out to a concert (small one) with Clarissa and had a great time. I spent too much money though, as I said before Paris is a little pricey. Sunday Clarissa and I explored around Paris seeing some of the big touristy stuff I hadn´t seen yet and just enjoying ourselves.
On Monday I hitchhiked to Lille (north of France) with the intention of heading through Belgium the following day. After, the plan was to go on to Holland where I have a friend I wanted to visit. I got a message from Ernest, my dutch friend, though suggesting that I come earlier because they were having a huge party. So I figured why not? Lille was kinda cool but I didn't really have much time to spend there and set of early the next day for Holland.
I arrived in Wageningen (small dutch student town) in the afternoon and was able to help set up for the party. The house where Ernest lives is really neat. There are 9 roommates in a big old house but it's more like a little family than just living with other students. They frequently eat together, there are photos of the group of them all over the house and they act like very family-like towards each other. I was almost a little jealous.
Man though, Dutch people know how to party. We had about 60 cases of beer (24 beer in a case), 100 bottles of wine and a cocktail bar. They had put up advertising around town and had rented music equipment, lights and all sorts of stuff. Before the party actually got started, all the neighbors had been invited over for a free drink in hopes that they didn't call the police. It was cool seeing a little 80 year old woman show up with a bottle of Czech alcohol as a present, have a beer and talk chat with the young people and then head home to try and sleep. Hah, good luck.
People started showing up around 9 and the party went until probably 5:30 or so. I've never danced to much in my life. Naturally though, this morning there was a bit of cleaning up to do.
Today I'm going to take it easy, relax a bit and hopefully figure out my plans for the next week or so.
For now though I'm hungry...
Oh, new pictures can be found HERE.
My last few days in Paris were really fun. The weather got a little better as well which always helps. On Friday, I met some fellow Canadians and wandered around with them for a bit. It was nice to talk in English for once! Afterwards I met a Parisien girl for a coffee and had some great conversations. This is what I love about couchsurfing, you meet so many cool people!
On Saturday an American girl living in Germany, Clarissa, came to stay with my couchsurfing host. My host, Norbert, had a friend who gave city tours so we went out and got a brief history of downtown Paris which was really interesting. That night we went out to a concert (small one) with Clarissa and had a great time. I spent too much money though, as I said before Paris is a little pricey. Sunday Clarissa and I explored around Paris seeing some of the big touristy stuff I hadn´t seen yet and just enjoying ourselves.
On Monday I hitchhiked to Lille (north of France) with the intention of heading through Belgium the following day. After, the plan was to go on to Holland where I have a friend I wanted to visit. I got a message from Ernest, my dutch friend, though suggesting that I come earlier because they were having a huge party. So I figured why not? Lille was kinda cool but I didn't really have much time to spend there and set of early the next day for Holland.
I arrived in Wageningen (small dutch student town) in the afternoon and was able to help set up for the party. The house where Ernest lives is really neat. There are 9 roommates in a big old house but it's more like a little family than just living with other students. They frequently eat together, there are photos of the group of them all over the house and they act like very family-like towards each other. I was almost a little jealous.
Man though, Dutch people know how to party. We had about 60 cases of beer (24 beer in a case), 100 bottles of wine and a cocktail bar. They had put up advertising around town and had rented music equipment, lights and all sorts of stuff. Before the party actually got started, all the neighbors had been invited over for a free drink in hopes that they didn't call the police. It was cool seeing a little 80 year old woman show up with a bottle of Czech alcohol as a present, have a beer and talk chat with the young people and then head home to try and sleep. Hah, good luck.
People started showing up around 9 and the party went until probably 5:30 or so. I've never danced to much in my life. Naturally though, this morning there was a bit of cleaning up to do.
Today I'm going to take it easy, relax a bit and hopefully figure out my plans for the next week or so.
For now though I'm hungry...
Oh, new pictures can be found HERE.
