Hamburg, Germany

A group of 8 of us international students rented 2 cars and drove 3 hours to Hamburg, Germany. After some trouble finding a place to stay we went out. It is a great town with lots of character. We stayed in a gritty part of town called the St. Pauli District. The neighborhood was full of sex shops, great food, an amazing park, a red light district and great 2nd hand stores.

Here is a picture of this park. We stumbled upon it unexpectedly. It was sunny and warm so there were people everywhere. After a nap in the grass we found a great conservatory with 5 different atriums with different climates and plants.


Here is a funny picture of a smart car for Erin. Not quite as intimidating as the cops in the states.

The rest the the main city was great as well, but for some reason I didn't get any pictures of the lakes or embassys or canals...

Bringing it all up to date...

I'm going to try to more pictures and less words so this isn't so long. Let see how that goes...

So I got here at the end of August. I'm staying in a dorm style building with 52 other international students. Most of them are early 20's or so and they like to go out EVERY night. That is OK because everyone (even the uptight librarian) told us to do more fun stuff then school.

[Edited: I had to change the picture because Sadie says my previous toasting picture made it look like all I do is party here. I tried to find a picture of me studying hard in the library but damn if I keep forgetting to bring my camera when I study... :-) ]

School in going to be fun. You get what you put into it kind of thing but school is school and that not very interesting for a blog. So here is all the other stuff that is going on...

Both my academic program and have had socials parties and dinners for our introduction week so we went out 7 out of the first 10 days here. The picture to the left is our international night where we had to dress up in our national colors.

They only drink lite beer here which is pretty annoying. They say there are some small breweries here that make dark beer but I haven't found them yet.

The first thing 8 out 10 people ask after I introduce myself is "who do you think is going to be the next president".


Aside from the social stuff Megan and I went on a trip to a great little island in the North called Schiermonnikoog. It is a Dutch vacation spot that is very quaint and quiet. It was amazing. Here is Megan drinking coffee at a little shop after a long Sunday bike ride and ice cream (how sappy is that?!?!) :-) Notice the perfect little houses in the background, bike, brick roads, etc... It was really great. The first night we went out to dinner at a restaurant on the ocean and I was literally served a 1.5 gallon pot of fresh mussels with bread and veggies and a nice salad bar for about $13. Then some Dutch people our age that live in the same city as us gave us their phone numbers and invited us out for drinks when we got back from our trip. We were just about to leave and Another Dutch family that live in the States but were out on vacation invited us to their table and bought desert. We ended up staying there for over 3 hours. Anyway, other stuff now.

They have free classes here for students at the school gym. I signed up for fencing lessons once a week. It has been fun so far. I'll have someone take a picture for me. I also started working out with the ultimate fighting club for exercise. It is a REALLY hard workout with lots of punching, kicking and practicing choke holds. I'm still sore 5 days since my last workout... Twice a week will be enough for me.

Megan and I volunteered to cook an "American Thanksgiving dinner" for some of the international students tomorrow (Sunday) but didn't know how many people were coming and that if it was only one or two they might cancel. They called today and we will be cooking for 48 people.... It should be interesting.

They difinately have some things figured out here better than we do in the States. It is a 20 minute bike commute from this neighborhood to the downtown. Some people here have cars but there are more bikes in the Netherlands than people. More later...

Finally-I started a blog!

I just got this started so I can keep you up to date with my time in the Netherlands.

My contact information:

Cell Phone: 0031624981178
Email: crusby@u.washington.edu
Address: Blakerslaan 4
BL415
9724 EJ Groningen
Skype: megan.horst

If you Skype me I have it set to forward to my cell phone here. It is free for you but I costs me about 40 cent per minute so email is probably best or I can call you back using Skype for free or 2 cents per minute.

I have been here for about two weeks now and I has been amazing. School just started and I like my classes. They are all in English and it looks like it will be a good quarter. Not to many classes and lots of short assignments. I should get done by the 3rd week in November and I'll travel to Spain, the Philippines and back out to Kwaj.

The weather here is much like Seattle and the food is very fatty when you eat out. Luckily they have good cheap vegetables at the local grocery stores and I found a little organic store by my house.

With all this fatty food I have taken it upon myself to get some exercise while I'm here so I signed up for fencing lessons and training with the ultimate fighting club here on campus. I'm still sore after 4 days from the last ultimate fighting practice. Fencing is fun too. Those classes are once a week and just kind of fun--not too much exercise.

Here are some pictures from here. Everyone rides bike so it looks like this everywhere. Bikes have right of way to cars and pedestrians in the street. It is pretty great. Megan and I went to a small vacation island on the coast last weekend. I'll post them as soon as I get them on the computer.