It has been a long time since...

Hello everyone that still keeps following me. I know it has been a long time since I last wrote in here, but I haven't found the patience to do it lately. And the more time I take the less motivated I feel, because there are stuff that I want to talk and write about, but the time passes and too much stuff piles up... and then... I just want to write excuses for not writing. =)

So I'll just sum everything up in this post and maybe I'll write more in the future... or maybe it's just the way it is... just a small blog with few posts. =)

Anyway...

After my trip to Luxembourg I had a short week of work that finished wednesday, because thursday 30 of April was a public holiday here in The Netherlands, The Queens Day. In Queens Day eve I went with some friends to The Hague to celebrate. It was a really nice night. The streets were full of people, there were Dj's in lots of places playing music outside. I found this really cool, because I'm not a fan of discos, speacially because the music gets too loud and the space gets too small. So outside djaying allows for disco fans and people like me to be together in the same place with the best of two worlds, space and music. Allowing conversation and dancing... Besides the dj's, the people and the bars there was also a kind of a Theme Park in the middle of the park. With things that I thought only existed (or maybe never really thought about) in Portugal, but it seems that are the same everywhere. Really the same. I can almost swear I saw those same machines in Portugal. =p

In the Queens Day we went to Amsterdam and if The Hague was crowded, then Amsterdam was really insane. With waves of people always coming and going in every big street of the city. And most of them were dressed in Orange, to honour the House of Orange. It was a really nice day, even though a bit tiresome.

In the following day I went with Mariana and Sofia back to Portugal for a one week visit.

In the next day, saturday, the "Queima das Fitas" (Burning of the Stripes in a literal translation) started. This is a week long event for students of the University of Porto, dedicated specially to the senior students, like me, who finish their studies at the University this year. =) It was a really awesome and touching week. I really enjoyed it!=)

Besides the "Queima das Fitas" it was really good to be with my family and friends! It was a very busy week, with lunches, dinners and almost even breakfast scheduled to try to be with everyone. Of course and unfortunately a week wasn't enough to meet everyone, but it was really good nevertheless.

On the 10th of May I returned to Delft and on the 11th of May I celebrated 3 years since I've started dating with Mariana! It has been some amazing years and I must say that she makes me happy!=D Thank you!

In that day I also returned to work and at the time that I'm writing this there are only 6 weeks left to finish my report and a web application that I'm developing, so it's time to run for my life and finish my studies, at last!

In this last weekend Gustavo came from Boxmeer with a Catalan friend of his. It was nice to meet him again and hear his story about the farm they are working on. It was another nice weekend in The Netherlands. It was the first visit I received! Yay! :p

And as one visit is not enough yesterday a former member from BEST Porto, João Oliveira, arrived in The Netherlands and is staying at my place for one week. He didn't actually came to visit me, but since he will start working in Roterdam in June and is still looking for a place to stay he asked for shelter.

And that is all for now! =) Hope you were able to read this far!

Now back to reporting, enough procrastination! And you... go back to work!

25th of April 1974

Yesterday was the celebration of the 35th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution in Portugal. For me it is one of the most important and meaningful public holidays of Portugal.

This was the second time I wasn't in Portugal in the 25th of April.

This year I was not only in The Netherlands but also in Luxembourg and even passed through Belgium. I went on a quick visit to the Luxembourg with some friends.

But I didn't forget what day it was so to make my own small celebration I listened to José Afonso, a Portuguese singer whose political songs were a way of fighting against the dictatorship that ended in the 25th of April of 1974.

As we say in Portugal "25th of April forever, fascism never more! Long live Liberty!".

As suggested in the comments box here is a link to some videos of José Afonso's songs.

Corpus Experience, Leiden

In the same day that we visited the Keukenhof Gardens we also went to visit the Corpus Experience. The Corpus Experience is a 5D (yeah, 5D, at least that's what they say) experience museum about the Human Body. In this museum we travel around different rooms that represent different parts of our body. During the journey there are some explanations about what we are seeing and how our body works.

The idea is really nice but I think that the final result is a bit disappointing, because most, if not all, of what I heard there I already new. It's probably a great place for children to visit, but they should have told us that before...

So even so that it's kind of nice to visit I won't recommend it to anyone that has studied natural sciences in the basic school.

So for me the most interesting thing in this museum is the building... which has a giant iron man sitting in/inside it. =P

Corpus Experience

A Visit to Keukenhof

When Mariana's cousin was here one of the places we visit was Keukenhof Gardens. As the name might suggest it's a great place to see flowers, and specially the famous Dutch tulips.

Here are some photos of this visit:

A philharmonic band! =) They played the "Pink Panther" Really nice!
no, not drunk... it's just my camera's fancy color options

hmmm, flowers...
Look at me, look at me!
Really nice colors!=) Tulips field

One more camera trick!;)
The Flintstones's car!

Touristing weekend

Last Thursday a cousin of Mariana arrived in Delft for a eight day visit. So, as good hosts that we are, we did a plan (well they did) to show her a bit of The Netherlands. Actually it was also meant for us to know a bit more about the country where we are living.

Since the prices of the museums and of the trains are quite expensive we rather leave some places to visit when people come by to visit us. Saving money and avoiding double or triple visits.

In the days she was here they visited The Hague, Amsterdam, Leiden and Antwerp. Since I am working full time I was only able to join in the weekend trips. Those were to Amsterdam (Yes, I still had (and have) things to see in Amsterdam) and Leiden.

It was a really nice weekend, a tiresome one, but a really fun and nice weekend.

The only not so good thing is that I should have taken some time to work on my report... but then again what is life without a bit of stress (for when the time comes...).

Next weekend I'm going to Geneva with Mariana, to visit José Melo, a friend of ours.

Before finishing this I would like to congratulate my friend Cláudio Alves for having finished his Master! Hip, Hip Hurray! =)

One Done, Four to Go

Last Monday I celebrated one month since my departure from Portugal.

Since I've been in the Netherlands I've visited a few cities. I wanted to make a post for each one but I haven't found the time to do it. So I thought I should just make one post and write a bit about each of the places that I visited. I won't add pictures now because I don't have them with me now. Maybe I'll do that later. I won't promise, because it might slip my mind.

Rotterdam
This was probably the city that I liked the least. Maybe because there weren't many people in the street and we didn't have that much to see. I think Rotterdam is known for it's modern architecture, built after the city had been destroyed in the Second World War. So most of the points of interest are buildings or constructions (or survivors, like the only building that survived the Second World War). Sadly some of those are not that interesting, at least not for me.

Some cubic buildings

This building is called "The Pencil"... because it looks like a pencil... amazing, no? =p

But maybe it's because I don't know anything about architecture. Personally I rather look at monuments, sculptures or paintings, than buildings. At least to those buildings.

This hippo was part of a strange sculpture, that was close to the train station

Together with this rhino they were some of the funniest things I saw there

Anyway besides looking around we also walked a bit (a common thing here in The Netherlands) and we went to the Erasmus Bridge, which is not that amazing, but it's Erasmus Bridge, and I'm in Erasmus so... you can see the "importance" of it.

The Erasmus bridge!

It's funny because I always heard that Erasmus is a Bridge to Europe... never understood that they really meant that. ;) In Rotterdam there's also a Zoo, but I didn't have the chance to go there yet, maybe another time. And if I go to to Zoo I'll also try to climb to the Euromast which is a building that it's famous because it's really high, so maybe it's nice... maybe.

Amsterdam

This was not the first time that I visited Amsterdam, and I know that it wasn't the last (I hope). At least there are still a lot of museums to visit. This time I went to visit the House of Rembrandt and the Jews History Museum. I found the first really amazing, taking us back 400 hundred years and showing some of the habits and objects of the 17th century. There was even an actor showing how did Rembrandt's pupils prepare their paint. It's a must visit! The Jews History Museum is divided in two parts. The first is an introduction to the Judaism and to the habits of the Jews. It has lots of information, maybe too much for someone like me who doesn't know that much about the subject. But I think I learnt a bit. The second part is the most interesting, and shows the history of the Jews in The Netherlands. Portugal's name pops a lot in this part of the museum, mostly because a great number of Jews came to The Netherlands from Portugal and Spain after the Portuguese and Spanish inquisition... Not the best moment for Portugal... Anyway the museum is really well organised and with lots of information, from the time of the Inquisition until the present day, focusing in also the impact of the Second World War in the Dutch Jews. Besides the museums we also visited the Red Light District, which wasn't as shocking as some people have told me. The city is not that big but it's big enough for long walks and during one of the walks we found a Portuguese delicatessen shop, where I bought a bottle of Monte Velho... Portuguese wine for the win!=)

Utrecht

In my second weekend here I went to Utrecht. It was a Saturday afternoon and it was raining, but the city was filled with people wandering around the center. If it was in Portugal probably the streets would be empty, but not here, and yes they also have Shopping Centers. I didn't visit much, just wandered around watching the movement and the city.

A random Sun Clock

A nicely parked bycicle

The only thing I visited was the Cathedral which was partially destroyed due to a hurricane, leaving the main part of it separated from the bell tower.

The Cathedral

This time I didn't climb to the bell tower, because when I arrived there wasn't any suitable time to do it. One of the things I enjoyed seeing in Utrecht was a bunch of teenagers dressed like Manga/Anime characters, I recognized some of Naruto's characters.

The masked teenagers by the game store

Maybe they were there for some gathering. I also saw a nice gaming shop with many board games, nice medieval costumes and "Warhammer style" figures. It made me think that if I had more money I'd be a lot more geek/nerd... scary thought, uh?

Dronten

This was the last place I visited and it is the smallest. I don't even think it's classified as a city, but I'm too lazy to check it. It's located in Flevoland the youngest province of The Netherlands, that has been "stolen" from the sea. Dronten is really small and it has nothing to visit.

A nice firetruck

And a (really) big bunny in a pet shop
Notice the roofs... I guess it must snow a lot in Dronten

The sun there is not warm, nevertheless it's the sun, so when it shines one must enjoy it

What I guess it's normal since it is 50 years old or something like that. There I only saw shops, supermarkets, some small restaurants and lots of sport centers. Anyway I wasn't there to visit the city but to visit Gustavo, a friend of mine who is there in Erasmus.

This is Gustavo, the host, in the place where, as he says, risked to eat dutch food =p

Buying food!

So it was worth it. It was really nice to see him and to take a look at another type of Erasmus, completely different of the one that I'm having. The Erasmus there live all in the same neighbourhood, so they all know each other. Also the fact that they are not doing an internship or a thesis allows them to party a bit, should I say a lot, more than me. But I'm OK with it!;) Really, I am.. PLEASE STOP REMINDING ME ABOUT THAT! .. OK, never mind this last part. =P

And that's it! =)

Next destination: Unknown.


PS: I still don't have pictures from Amsterdam with me... maybe I'll update this post with them in another day.