Proofreading This Was... Long

Hello all!
I haven't written for a while, because I was busy with my Russian. Isn't that cool? An exchange student hosting another exchange student? It was really fun, but really tiring. I had a Russian boy who was apparently very well liked by Russian girls, hahaha. It was such a busy week, oh my gosh, seriously, busy the whole time. Hm... let me think, what did we do exactly?...
Wednesday they came, and the first thing my Russian did was give me a big hug and say, "Emily! You are very beautiful! I am liking it!" Best.... introduction... EVER! So then mijn Rus and I just chilled at home and ate Dutch food with Carla (fries, croquette...)
Thursday I had to go to school, but he went to Leerdam to see a glassworks shop and other stuff, then he came back and I took him on a bike ride to my favorite place (a nice park). At night there was a school party, which was alright, you know, dancing with friends is always fun.
Friday we all went to Amsterdam to see the Rijksmuseum, (where the famous and impressive Rembrandt Night Watch is hanging). Then we just walked around and then ate at a Turkish restaurant where we were only allowed to order pizza or pasta (??) haha because it was cheaper (but I got a Turkish pizza, so, yeah). Then we went to a Dutch SOCCER GAME! My first soccer game ever, and it was pretty fun. I mean, the game itself was kind of boring, but it was funny to listen to the crowd get worked up over nothing... like: "ah.........aaahh.....AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH........awww." hahahahhaha. And I sat next to this awesome girl so we just chatted the whole time and tried to catch the little puffy things that were floating around.
Saturday was Mauritshuis, where the famous but not very impressive painting The Girl with the Pearl Earring is hanging. I missed it last time I went, so I made sure to see it this time. It's so small, jeez, no wonder I didn't see it before. Then we went to the Gemeentemuseum (uhh... the city council museum??) which was weird but cool at the same time. After that we went to the Omniversm to watch a film about tornado chasers on a surround imax screen. I was really looking forward to it, because the screen was awesome and I like to learn about natural disasters, but I fell asleep!! Jammerrrrrrrrr...
Anyways, then we packed the 7 of us into the car to go to Belgium. We celebrated Easter there with Carla's parents and sister's family.
Sunday: Matthias, my Russian and I visited Antwerp, which is always fun. A Russian, an American, and a Dutch guy wandering the streets of Belgium. Interesting sight. But I had a cold!!! So I couldn't eat much of the yum BBQ that we had for dinner. I could just lay on the couch. In the evening we drove back, and Matthias laughed because I knew the chorus to "Ik Ga Hard", which was playing on the radio. I went with my guest to a beach party, but left early because I had a cold. He stayed later, and I saw him again on....
Monday: I still felt sick, so I couldn't eat much breakfast, and I forgot to pack a lunch. So you won't be surprised when I say I literally almost blacked out getting onto the tram. But I asked one of my friends for some food, and I was better after the apple. We went to the beach to go surfing, which I didn't want to do because I was sick, but I would have gone swimming if I hadn't fallen asleep..... hahaha but at least it was nice and warm. Then I was supposed to go to my friend's house for dinner, but there was this weird miscommunication so I just went home and ate with the fam. Then headed over to the carnival, rode this intense ride where it feels like you're flying and just being super awesome, then took my Russian back home.
On Tuesday we went to Delft to see the Royal Delft uhhh thing. Yeah, they make famous Dutch pottery there, which is ridiculously expensive. Which is why I bought some "fake" Delft blue things at a souvenir shop :] and I bought a Miffy keychain!! Cute!!!! And I bought blue bubblegum ice cream, which would make anyone happy... Well, maybe not lactose intolerant people.... or people who don't like bubblegum..... or a lot of people, actually. Anyway, then we climbed the church tower which was PAINFUL but the view from the top was pretty incredible. Then we went into the actual church, which I've done before, but it's still nice. There's this awesome grave in there with scary, mean looking babies holding giant candles on it. I don't know why I remember that especially. They're probably to scare away grave robbers or something. They would sure scare me away, I tell you. Then I went "shopping" with a few friends (basically just waited outside the store talking with the kids who didn't want to buy anything), then went to school for the farewell "party". If by party you mean sitting at tables eating potato salad and wondering what to do. Nahhh I kid, it was nice, everyone was there in a confined space, so I could see everyone for the last time. Then a lot of us headed over to a bar/club thing, which was basically empty when we came in, so it was cool to have it to ourselves. Had a really good conversation with some girls. It's nice to know they trust me enough now to say personal things to me. Took my Russian back home, enjoyed the last of our many shared late night pizzas together, then went to bed.
Wednesday was when the exchange week ended, so I took my Russian back to Schipol Aiport. When we said goodbye, he said, "I will you to miss." Aww.... he was such a sweetie. Really. His English wasn't perfect, but I understand because I've been there... learning Dutch was hard. But when he did know how to say something, he was actually really funny. Example:
*Walking to tram halt, I duck under a spider web that's in a tree*
Russian: Why did you do that?
Me: There was a spider web.
Russian: Are you afraid of spiders?
Me: No. I just don't want them in my hair.
Russian: So....you're not afraid of spiders, but you're afraid of spiders.
Hahahaha see what I mean?
Anyway. He's gone now. I think he had a good time, well, he said it was a "perfect week" so I guess he did. Speaking of the Russians, I thought they would be really big, fur coat and Davy Crockett raccoon hat wearing, dark haired and bearded intense people, but they were pretty normal, in a good way.
Oh yeah, back to the timeline.
After we all said goodbye, my friends and I went to Starbucks. Starbucks? In the Netherlands? At the airport, yes. One girl was like, "Of course you knew what to order, Emily, you've been here so often," and I was like, "Uh, I just looked at the poster over there and ordered that," hahaha. It was pretty good, though. Ohh I like the song that's playing on my itunes right now :]
Then I was going to go home and sleep, but when I got to the tram halt, my tram had literally just left, and my friend's tram had literally just arrived, so I impulsively got on with her. She said it was going to be a long ride, but I didn't mind, because, remember, I used to have to ride the tram for 24 halts when I went to my old school. She lives in a different city, on the beach, called Monster. (Ahh!) But no, really, it's a really nice place. We drank juice. Damn that was good juice, I want some morrrrre. Then we went back to school to go to a poetry reading/debate at this apparently very exclusive place. A lot of kids didn't show up though, which sucked because the school kinda paid for all of us to get in. And I didn't really enjoy it because I was SUPER FREAKING TIRED and still sick and it was in this really difficult Dutch and it went on four hours and hours and hoursandhoursnadhoursandhours so I was just glad when it was over. I got really snappy and mad at people, which hasn't ever really happened to me before, but I had a really turbulent/stressful week, so my emotions were like, all over the place (not because I'm a female, just because a lot of stuff was going through my head), but then I kinda calmed down on the bus ride and had a good conversation with my Japanese friend. She told me a lot of stuff about her life in Japan, which was really interesting and made me realize how complicated we all are. Then I finally got home and went to sleep. I would have gone to school today, because the Dutch, unlike Americans, don't really care if you have a cold, you go to school anyways. Luckily I have a non-Dutch host mother, so when I was almost out the door she sent me right back up to my room. Good thing, too. I'm feeling a bit better, but that's after a nap, a bowl of choco-pops, and 2 rolls of toilet paper (used as tissues). When I'm done writing this I'll take a bath with sinus clearing things.
You know, I feel really bad for people who are sick and can't do anything about it. I mean, if they still have to work, or don't have medicine or a bed or a blanket or something. I mean, that would really suck. I'm really going to become a volunteer in a lot of poor countries, because I think that's important. I need to help people, because it's like, I think I have all these problems in my life when really there are people with problems I don't even want to think about.
Hmm.... speaking of things I never want to think about.... ever since I was little, I've been creeped out by things that I knew shouldn't be creeping me out, especially things like certain kinds of corals or pictures of the internal structures of plant stems. I thought I was the only one who experienced this weird phenomenon, but as it turns out, there are others with this condition. It's called "trypophobia", and it is a strange fear of holes, especially holes with things lodged into them. This picture, for example, is very disturbing to people like me:

Also other things, like small parasites very close to one another on other animals, bumps or holes for veins in meat, porous rocks.... I know, it might sound crazy, but it turns out a lot of people are affected by this. Now that I've "diagnosed" myself with it, I guess I'm glad to know finally, but at the same time, now that I'm aware, I'm afraid I'll just intensify it. But now I've finally rationalized with myself, and identified why it makes my skin crawl and my head feel stuffy. I think it's because I subconsciously affiliate this kind of thing with holes in flesh, and anything that reminds humans of physical vulnerability usually makes us pretty queasy, because we don't like to think about wounds or death.
Uh.
I'm probably forgetting to say a ton of stuff, but um I don't remember if I'm forgetting.
OH YEAH duh, I chose a college!
This fall I will be attending......
drumroll please.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t925JwYXhVA
The oh so very beautiful, KENYON COLLEGE located in Gambier, Ohio!!
I'm sooooooooooosososososososo super excited! I can take control of my own life, how awesome!
Ughhhhhhh it's already 10:30 and I need to take a bath before I go to sleep. I might have to go to school tomorrow, but we'll see. Oh yeah, if I'm feeling well enough I'll go back to the carnival on Friday to hear some nice music with my host dad, and Saturday it's KONINGINNEDAG!! (Queen's Day) So I'll be going to Amsterdam with two of my American gal pals where it will be a crazy crowded sea of orange wearing Dutchy awesomeness.
My style has changed a lot here, but I haven't bought enough clothes to really show it, but when I come back to America I'll wear different clothes than I used to, I think. I like plaid. A lot.
Oh, and one last really random thing, there's this really, I mean REALLY popular song right now called Mr. Saxobeat, and I told my dad it was about him hahahah Mr. Saxe-o-beat. I think he thought that was funny. This one time he bought some Axe, then drew a really cool "S" on the bottle with white-out and said, "Hey look Emily! I have my own scent!"

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My dad is the coolest, hahaha.
My mom is also the coolest.
I just have the coolest family, basically.
Even if my dog doesn't understand the concept of the game "fetch".
Tot ziens,
Emily

If Looks Could Kill...

I would have been murdered.
This girl thought I was going to take "her" chair at the library (which I wasn't going to do) and she got mad at me and gave me this death-filled glare. Needless to say, I "let" her sit in the chair.... then someone threw a chocolate at my head.
Whatever.
I had a good weekend. On Friday my host family and I went to a restaurant to celebrate Carla's birthday, then my host parents and I watched a movie and ate ice cream. Saturday morning I made American pancakes again for everyone, then we went to a park/land that used to be owned by a rich guy with a mansion thing, which was nice. The purple plastic octopus figurine in a tree was the highlight of my day. I fed a cookie crumb to a duck. Then I tested it to see if it would try to eat my drinking glass, which it did. It even jumped off the ground and tried to pull it out of my hand. Carla told me I should stop teasing the duck or else it would bite off my toe. I figured that was some pretty good reasoning, so I stopped. After that I headed over to Delft to celebrate a couple of girls' birthdays. Some other kids from school were there, and we just played Wii, hung out on the porch over the water, and ate typical Dutch "cook it yourself" food. Then a few of us ended up running around on a playground, which was definitely one of the best moments of my year - no really, it was. My friends said I was hardcore 'cause I was barefoot. When we were done there we went into the city to get drinks, then went to a club to go dancing. In the morning I tried to find the station but instead ended up just plain old lost. Again. Finally found it, then went to Keukenhof with my host fam and Sera (my friend from Japan, weet je nog?) which is right now one of the most popular places in the Netherlands, for the Dutch and the non-Dutch alike. Why? Because it's full of tulips!! It was so beautiful! That was really nice. You'd be surprised by how many different kinds of tulips there are. We took a great family portrait there, which I'll put online asap. Anyways, on the car ride back, Matthias, Carla and I rocked out to K3 songs. Yes, you'd better believe we turned it all the way up and busted out our most awesome dance moves while singing along to Belgian children's music....
"Wie is de leukste van het land,
Spiegeltje, Spiegeltje aan de wand.
Dit is de allermooiste avond van mijn hele leven."
That's how cool we are.
Then I went to a friend's house to paint nails and watch movies. I made purple happy faces on my nails, but A.) I'm no artist, and, B.) I'm no skilled manicurist, so my sad excuses for smileys are sort of falling apart. But hey, you know, it was a fun, girly get together. Matthias actually laughed when I told him I was going somewhere to paint my nails, but okay. (Matthias, you are awesome and sorry for the misunderstanding today.... my only "problem" with you is that you are too cool for me.)
Soooo I got home at 11 pm or something, took a shower, came up to my room and typed this up. That was my weekend, basically. Oh but by the way, I didn't have a jacket on the entire weekend! I didn't need one. It's like, HOT can you believe it? I have to keep my window open at night, otherwise it's just too hot to sleep.
This is random, but now that I think about it I ate really Dutch food today. Meaning I didn't eat vegetables. Breakfast was a roll with butter and chocolate flakes, plus orange juice. Lunch was ice cream and a herring sandwich with onions - oh, I guess onions are vegetables - plus a bite of someone's waffle. Dinner was just random party snacking, like chips and fried cheese. I don't know, it just feels so...... Netherlandish.
Wow I can't believe my spellcheck didn't underline "Netherlandish".
But speaking of culture....
A Russian boy is going to be staying with us for a week. It's an exchange program through my school. In October (while I was still at my first school), some kids from my class went to Russia for a week, and now those kids are coming here. One guy couldn't take his partner in his house, so I offered to take him in instead. I'm looking forward to it, we made really good plans to show them around (which is nice for me, too). They're coming on Wednesday.
Ugh, I have so many projects for school to do and just tasks in general that have to get done! Oh well, I think I'll manage.
Pshh, what am I saying, of COURSE I'll manage! I'm Emily Saxe! I can do anything!
Tot ziens,
Moi

Procrastinating

I don't know why I feel like writing a post right now, but it might have something to do with my recent consumption of pizza and the white wine.
I took a 2 hour bike ride today. I know what your question is, and the answer is yes, I was lost for approximately half the time. However, I didn't worry about it too much, because I am lost and I always will be lost. When I realized I was in Delft, though, I did start to worry a bit.
Too much pizza and too much wine are both supposedly linked to heart disease.
I read a book. It was another one by Safran Foer, but I liked this one a lot better than the last one I read. This one was called Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I liked it because I understood it and could relate to it (in a small, small way).
A few days ago, my English teacher told me to ask my classmates for help if I needed it. My classmates thought that was pretty interesting. Apparently I didn't do so well on a reading test. Oh well, what can you do? My English has gotten worse since I've been here.
I heard something said by a Belgium woman in Belgium that I thought sounded like something Belgians think American people would say. She said, "Finish your fries, dear, then you can have some more cola." .... Literally never heard that in the states before.....
Been going to the gym more often. I like it. But there's a TV that you're sort of forced to look at, because it's right there in front of you. They usually play weird things, like MTV or Discovery Channel. Sometimes it's Animal Planet, and sometimes they show videos of kangaroos giving live birth.
Kangaroos.
Are.
Disgusting.
I used to think it was kind of cute that the little joeys could sit inside their mommys' pouches and chill there until they were ready to hop around merrily in the big, scary world on their own.
Well, maybe that's all fine and well for Joey Jr., but I really didn't need to know the details, thank you very much.
This is how I lose weight.
Oh, I don't know what to say, except that Anne-Laure tricked me into giving her a sticker she didn't deserve.
I'm tired.
Tot kijk,
Emily

Shocking News

1. Elise saw an advertisement for beer which claimed that the more you drink, the more cheerful you become. She then said, "I think Daddy should drink more beer. That way he'd be happier." Carla thought it was funny. Matthias did not.
2. Shutter Island is not a scary movie.
3. Wearing a skirt on a bike is not a good idea. Unless you can bike with one hand.
4. The stove wouldn't light all week. So Matthias climbed under it to look at the cables. One had been Chu'd through. Mystery solved: Chu never had cancer, he'd just been electrocuted. Oof........
5. Too bad the Euro is worth more than the Dollar, I really want to buy new clothes.
6. My parents are going to visit me in June for a week.
7. I don't like cities. Too crowded. Too lonely.
8. I have acquired a taste for beer. (I don't get drunk or something, I just like it now and then. Which sucks because I can't drink in America.)
9. I can't wait to go to college.
10. I think I might be talented, I'm just too lazy to find out.
11. I really miss my dog, Lucky. Here is his picture:

Tot ziens,
Emily