Paris and Brussels Weekend

One thing you learn after a semester in Europe is that Europeans really enjoy their holidays. Even though a good many European citizens are Atheist or Agnostic, every time a Christian holiday rolls around, EVERYTHING is closed. That includes school! So the weekend before last (Thursday to be exact) was Ascension Day, and we had a 4 day weekend off school. I took this extra time to fit in a trip to Paris, France as well a short stop in Brussels, Belgium for a concert from one of my new favorite artists, Electric Guest!

Paris would have been nothing without the assistance of my lovely Paris tour guide and host, (other) Katelyn! (This is one of the reasons I go by Kate. In times when 2 Katelyns are in Paris together!) Katelyn has been living in Paris since the fall so she knew everything very well as well as speaks lots of French, which was helpful for a first-timer like me!

Day 1: I arrived in the evening and the first thing I hit up was the French McDonald’s, because I had to see whether that famous conversation about what you call a 1/4 pound cheeseburger in France (from Pulp Fiction) was true. And why yes, it is. Though I have to be specific in that the menu say “Royal Cheese” as opposed to “Royal with cheese.” But maybe McDonald’s France has changed the name during the last 18 years, since the film came out…

Afterwards Katelyn took me to meet up with some of her friends at the Arc de Triomph at night, and afterwards we went to look another famous landmark, the pyramid entrance to the Louvre. Both sights made for amazing, adequately-touristy pictures.

Blurry in the good kind of way.

Day 2: Time to hit the sights! As a first timer with only 2 full days to explore Paris, I had a lot to see in a little time. I saw the Louvre (outside) again, because the line for admission was going to take too long to fit in my schedule. We went to Notre Dame, and stumbled upon a bread festival, where we got to watch the expert breadmakers at work! I also got to try some of the bread with nutella on top- YUM. We ate our lunch on the Seine River and then headed to a shopping district near Katelyn’s school so I could marvel at all the designer stores- Louis Vuitton, Salvatore Ferragamo, the works. We met up with some (I use the term some lightly- I think I met at least 10 people in that hour) of Katelyn’s friends at a cafe for an espresso, and then it was time to see the Eiffel Tower! I just love the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower, with all the people (most likely tourists, also) relaxing and enjoying the afternoon.

After a few much-deserved mojitos and tacos (I would go to Paris just to eat Mexican food…) we went back to the apartment to prepare for the night. We met up with more friends at a nice spot on the River Seine and let’s just say, there are some interesting local characters that crawl around there at night. We were even serenaded by a young French guy who played the clarinet. …I promise it’s not as creepy as it sounds.

Adorable children learning how to make bread.

Topsy-turvy sororitayyyy picture. It had to be done.

Found a French poodle. In France. Owned by Americans. How typical…

Time for the Metro! It’s actually one of the most budget-friendly metros, in my opinion.

They had the best mojitos here.

Day 3: We explored a more hipster part of town. Rode a trolley up to the top of an extremely steep hill so we could get a good view of Paris. Then we walked back down, hit up a thrift shop (white blouse + Parisian scarf for 7 euros, scoreeee), a few gift shops, and then took the metro to see Moulin Rouge, the Opera, and finally, grab some lunch. That night, Katelyn had a few friends over to her apartment and we got to hang out on her balcony and watch the sunset. Love.

I love you, in every language.

The trip to Paris was amazing! I am so glad I got to visit Katelyn, meet so many new people, and see so many sights in a mere weekend. It was quite a feat.

But after departing Paris, I had a bus ride to Brussels to conquer! It took a few hours and quite a lot of Whale Trail games, but I survived the brief bus ride and arrived in my “motherland” – Belgium! For those of you that don’t know, my last name is from the Flemish side of Belgium, and my grandfather is Belgian…hence, “motherland.”

Anyway, Brussels is in the French part of Belgium, so I don’t know if it really counts. I wish Belgium would pick a language. Every sign has at least 2-3 (French, Dutch/Flemish, English) and all of the citizens just can’t seem to decide which one they’d like to speak. Other than their obvious inclination towards French, of course.

I think Brussels was a pretty city, when you were in the right parts of the city of course. The center is very nice, with plenty of expensive, touristy (and thankfully delicious) food venues. May I recommend the Belgian fries and the waffles? 🙂

Had to get one of these pictures, of course…

After some city exploring, it was time for the Electric Guest concert at the Botanique, in the Bruxelles Nord area. First off, Electric Guest was AMAZING!

If you don’t listen to them yet, you should (here’s a link!), because they are an infectious musical group. Their stage presence was epic and the lead singer was so energetic. I got to meet him afterwards and he signed my ticket! Perfect end to the night.

Electric Guest- I think I was too shaky and excited for a proper photo.

Overall, my journey through French speaking lands was fun, filled with lots of sights, and quite a lot of interesting people.

I will be returning to Paris and other parts of Belgium in the near future 🙂

Summer Bike Ride in Eindhoven

I wanted to document what it’s like to cycle around Eindhoven so this video is the result 🙂

(check out the guy who crashes his bike at the very beginning. Recording that was a complete accident, btw).

To Scandinavia, we go!

Last week, I finally made my way to Sweden to visit my love, Allie (her study abroad blog is here) via bus from Eindhoven to Copenhagen. Travel time took about 12 hours…yup. Let’s just say I can survive anything after taking a night bus across 3 countries.

Upon arrival in Copenhagen, Allie “Copenhagen Expert” Woodward took me around to show me the best a few hours in the city could offer. We shopped, walked through Christiania (really cool hippie community) and got Nutella-filled crepes (which I proceeded to spill all over myself, so I ended up wearing the nutella…I REGRET NOTHING).

Other highlights include a glass of wine while were serenaded by live music on the canal, as well as some in-ground trampolines near the water, which made for good pictures.

 

After a day in Copenhagen, we took a train back to Allie’s humble abode in Lund, Sweden where she is on exchange at university there. We nommed on some dinner and got ready to go out to the Nations! They don’t really have bars in Lund, just Nations which double as bar/clubs in residential buildings. It’s a big student scene with lots of typical techno and well-dressed Swedes, drinking pricey beers and ciders. One big difference was that everyone dances when they go out there! The Dutch don’t seem to be into dancing as much as the Swedes (which is not a problem for me. I prefer a good chat on a night out, usually).

Our night at the Hallands Nation with Allie and her French friend, Jennifer, was enjoyable though!

The next day, Allie and I did a BIG brunch…American style (eggs, bacon, OJ, coffee, toast & cream cheese…the works). It was nice be able to indulge in American things and talk about stuff from home, after spending so much time without that luxury. I haven’t actually had that much contact with fellow Americans during my study abroad experience.

Allie showed me around Lund and we bought some Swedish snacks at the grocery store to prepare for our trip to the spa the next day! We went a spa in a small town, Ystad, which is ON THE BEACH. The spa was so relaxing and beautiful. The food was amazing as well (although we had a bit of trouble ordering at first…oh, language barriers).

Overall, the trip to Denmark and Sweden was one of my most fun and relaxing trips yet. Sometimes its nice to just enjoy the days slowly instead of sightseeing all day, like a typical tourist.

She’s starting early…

 

Sometime, in Holland…

A bout of insomnia led me to make a short video with a collection of travels through Holland. It is meant to be a first person view of a few different cities in the Netherlands that I have seen this semester! Enjoy.

(PS- the Amsterdam bit might give you a headache…fair warning.)

Springtime in Holland

Being a Southern girl, from Atlanta, GA, I have my fair share of sunshine in what we call “spring” but pretty much feels like summer to everyone else. Georgia is blazing hot & humid almost every day as soon as April hits.

Here in the Netherlands, Spring has temperatures that Atlantans would complain about during winter. It’s May now, and people are still wearing winter coats, boots, scarves. It also rains weekly, at least. However, this just means that when the sun comes out and the breeze is light, everyone makes the best of it!

My favorite activity on a beautiful day in Holland is lunch, al fresco. (Here’s one of my favorite Lily Allen tracks to set the mood).

During the good weather, I also managed to squeeze in a visit to Scheveningen, a beach right outside of the Hague (den Haag), with my lovely kiwi friend Nichola. We explored a park in the city and then hung out on the chilly but still enjoyable (and extremely empty) beach.

I’ve heard the beach is insanely crowded during the summer. I think I might prefer the quietness we experienced.

After a few beachside beers and a nice chat, we retired to our hostel, where we chatted all night with new friends from France, Germany, England, and Italy….some had more to say than others. Communicating in a range of English speaking skills is always interesting.

My favorite question, which came from the French folk: “Do Americans really eat and drink while they are walking/driving?”

“…Yes. And we are experts at it.”

You never realize that eating while walking is a skill until you impress French people with your powers.

The next day, on the way back to Eindhoven, we made a pit stop in Utrecht so that we could add another city on our map of explored locations.

I loved Utrecht! It’s gorgeous and feels very laid back (much like many cities in Holland). I decided I have to revisit, for longer this time, because a few hours was not enough.

I will be making a day trip to Utrecht this week! Can’t wait to revisit one of my new favorite Dutch cities.

LONDON!

First things first.

Death Eaters Attack London (a reference video in case you have forgotten the scene)

I walked across the Millenium Bridge without being killed by Death Eaters! Boss.

So, as you can see, I recently went on a trip to London for 6 days. I had never been to England at all before, so it was a new experience! It was great to have people immediately speak English to you, and be able to overhear & understand conversations, because you never realize how fun that is until you’re living in another country and don’t speak the language. It’s much more entertaining when you can understand what’s happening around you 🙂

Overall impression of London is that it’s a huge, bustling city filled with a great mix of people. There were a lot of tourists and touristy things but it never felt excessive (like some parts of Amsterdam can feel way too touristy- London was not like this, for me).

Here are the highlights!

Day 1- arrive in London at 5pm, ride the tube (subway) for the first time, check into hotel and pass out from travel-induced exhaustion.

Day 2- Explore a bit. Have a look at Buckingham Palace and take plenty of photos. Take a bus to The Making of Harry Potter (also know as the Warner Brothers Studio Tour London) which is actually an hour outside of the city. This studio tour was, simply put, AMAZING. It also took all day.

Day 3- Go to the Tate Modern (an art museum with some great pieces, from folks like Picasso, Monet and Dali). Afterwards, more exploration which leads to us accidentally coming across Big Ben. Also had a great view of the London eye from here. Walk along the pier by the London Eye and come across an outdoor comedy/entertainment festival, where there are plenty of Londoners enjoying tasty beverages. Try Magners Irish cider and eat some dinner as well.

Day 4- Shopping in London! Finally hit up Topshop as I have always wanted to shop there. More museums, as we explore the V&A (Victoria & Albert) as well as the Natural History Museum (a little too geared towards kids). More shopping ensues, with a visit to Picadilly Circus, which is often described as the Times Square-like area of London. Find out that this is also where you go if you want to be consistently pestered to check out this club or that bar- seriously, watch out for these publicity guys because they are annoying and pop up EVERYWHERE…like pigeons.

Day 5- Have high tea/afternoon tea at a fancy shmancy hotel, which was possibly the most delicious and filling meal of my life. It had everything you’d ever want- English breakfast tea, tiny adorable sandwiches, delicious pastries/cakes. I felt like Marie Antoinette, except…English. Shop around a little more before heading back to the hotel to get dressed up. See Phantom of the Opera (my favorite musical, of all time) at Her Majesty’s Theater (the same theater Phantom opened in, 25 years ago). Tears were shed. Amazing.

Day 6- Last breakfast in London, so of course I opted for a traditional English breakfast- yum! Head straight to the Tower of London, which is so huge it takes several hours to go through. The Crown Jewels, however, takes about 10 minutes because you are forced to hop on one of those moving walkways; which while I understand is used to control the flow of traffic, it was kind of obnoxious because you can’t truly admire the detail of the jewels. Did a bit more Harry Potter sightseeing- found Platform 9 and 3/4 at Kings Cross Station, as well as spotted the alleyway filmed for the Leaky Cauldron scenes. Got dinner and drinks and said goodbye to London 😦 headed to the airport at midnight because our bargain flight (oh, Ryanair) was at 6am.

So as you can tell, we packed a lot of things into those 6 days but it was still a relaxing trip! My favorite part of trips is the spontaneous moments, so it’s great that London has a nice transport system. You can easily hop on the tube (though it’s not cheap, I warn you…day tickets are essential) to explore a new part of the city!

Now that you’ve read all through that…it’s PICTURE TIME.

Yule Ball Ice Sculpture, from HP4.

Golden Egg from HP4

Potions Props from Harry Potter

Tom Riddle's Gravestone...looks much happier in this context, doesn't it?

Had to get one of these pictures...cheesy but necessary!

Finally found Fish & Chips!

The Tower of London

I found Platform 9 and 3/4!

 

Anyway, as you can see my trip to London was exciting (although I might mention, quite expensive). I’d love to go to England again if I ever have the chance!

 

Tilburg Textile Museum

So right now I am in the middle of SDL which stands for “self-directed learning,” a new thing that the Industrial Design department at TU/e has implemented. Students are given the freedom to pick their own learning activities. The faculty gives recommendations for things like lectures, workshops, museums. My coach recommended the nearby Textile Museum in Tilburg, which is only a train station stop away from Eindhoven so I made a day trip for what I thought would be an average day at a museum. The Textile Museum definitely proved me wrong. So much cooler than I thought it would be!

From historical textile machines to the modern technology found in the awesome textile lab, where people are actually working, even those without any remote interest in textiles would find this museum entertaining. I know this because my company for the day, Xander, seemed pretty excited about it even though he’s not even an Industrial Designer.

See what I mean?

The best part was the main exhibit on the first floor, which contained a large collection of objects that were organized by size, shape, and color and would probably make any industrial designer or product enthusiast drool. Unfortunately I found out after getting pictures of the first thing I saw (the wall of scissors), that photography wasn’t exactly allowed in this exhibit. Oops.

But you get to see these two pictures anyway!

Don’t you feel privileged?

These scissors, banned from being brought onto planes, were collected from checked baggage.

Another interesting piece, a room filled with wooden train tracks & toys. Looks like a tree!

Now, back to the Textile Lab.

As you can tell, I was particularly fascinated with the wall of colorful thread.

The rest of the museum went a bit over my head, because the upstairs portion was filled with movies/exhibits that only had Dutch commentaries. Xander explained that the commentaries were just explaining the industrial revolution in the Netherlands and how it affected the textile industry here.

I mostly found entertainment in this little guy. Very realistic looking, don’t you think?

Funky goat.

Phew! That museum was exhausting. Time for a rest in the giant textile chair/bench?

I will close the post with some awesome street art dedicated to Amy Winehouse, which we found while exploring a bit more of Tilburg. Until next time!

New Prototyping Skills: Casting

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of updates! It’s been a busy few weeks to say the least, with final presentations, midterm exhibitions, and the inevitable travel I needed for a recovery afterwards! But the exciting news is, I have lots of juicy posts to update you.

This post is mostly for my Industrial Design/Architecture/Artist friends and anyone else who is interested in metal casting. I had the great opportunity to cast some pieces out of bronze for one of my classes here at TU/e. I had never cast before (and neither had the other 7 people that were present at the casting) so it was quite a new experience. The casting was done at Beeldenstorm, which in Dutch roughly means “statue form.” It is a metal/casting shop (and they also do plastic) on the Technical University campus. It is a resource for many more people than just students, though!

I’m going to describe the steps and also include some cool photos. Nothing like recounting the process of fiery, extremely hot, molten metal being poured into sand molds…am I right?

Steps To Casting via Green Sand Mold

1. Make an initial model impression. First off, you must set your models into a section of reddish sand to make the first half of the mold. This step is pretty simple. You press your models in and pack in some sand around the sides so that all of your details are included in the mold.
2. Mix sand with chemicals to pour onto impression and make side 1 of your mold. After packing in your red sand, the group (it takes several people for this because the process must be quick) mixes a bucket of sand with two different chemicals. You must mix one chemical at a time, and you also have to flip the sand in the bucket so that each chemical mixes evenly. As soon as the mixing is complete, you have to pour the sand onto your model impression, because the sand sets quickly. The sand quickly begins to turn green, and hardens, which is essential to making your mold correctly. Also, we had to mix 2 buckets of sand for each side (for the bigger molds) which meant that we had to quickly mix 2 buckets in a row, because the layers couldn’t harden at different times. If they did, the mold would be an incorrect consistency. After patting down the poured sand, you place some sort of object on top (we used a piece of scrap wood) so you can check the color of the sand to see whether the mold is ready to flip over and repeat this process.
3. When side 1 of the sand mold has hardened, it’s time to flip it over and repeat step 2. The hardening process takes about an hour to an hour and a half, so we just took a break outdoors during the process. Before flipping, you must check whether the green color is deep enough and thus the sand is hard enough to withstand being flipped to the other side. After flipping & carefully removing the side supports for the model, you must remove the excess red sand so that you can make an impression of that side of the models. This is a delicate process. You need to remove as much of the red sand as you can, so that the sand covers all of your models’ details.
4. Repeat step 2 and wait for the entire mold to harden. Once the new side of the mold has hardened, you must carefully pry the two sides apart so that you can remove the models (ours were made of MDF wood) from the inside as well as draw the channels for the metal to run through. The prying apart was also a delicate process, because the sand mold could easily break apart and hours of work could be ruined, so one of the professionals performed this part for us. He also drew the channels for our mold, which seems simple enough but there is an important infrastructure to it. 
5. Once the channels are carved properly, it’s time to spray the mold down to make it firesafe! (This part is fun.) The spray smells awful but the fireproofing part is awesome. After you take your two sides outside and spray the mold-side thoroughly, one of the Beeldenstorm employees took each side of the mold over to the oven, and lit it on fire. You then wait for the sprayed part’s fire to go out. Then it’s time to clamp the two sides together, and pour the metal through the channels!
6. Clamp the mold and watch the professional pour molten metal (bronze or aluminum) through it! This part is pretty simple and makes for some great pictures. Unless of course you want to actually be one of the guys that gets paid to pour this extremely hot stuff- I imagine that process is a bit more difficult.
7. Wait for the metal to cool (about 20 minutes) and take apart your mold to remove your new casted object! This process was much shorter than I thought it’d be. Turns out, metal cools pretty quickly! As soon as the metal is removed, you put it in water to speed up the cooling process so that it is touchable. The metal piece looks a bit less-than-attractive because of the metal channels attached to it, but once this piece is fully cooled you can start cutting and shaping it! We waited to finish the next step after the weekend because of the metal shop’s hours.
8. Shape using tools- cutters/polishers, etc. This step is the most artistic and hand-crafted part of the process. Unfortunately, I don’t have photos due to time constraints we were under, but the process was very similar to wood-shaping (just more time intensive). We also had to wear more protective material, because it turns out that when you’re removing metal, the hot shavings that fly out everywhere really sting when they hit your skin. Who knew? We had to wear faceguards, ear protection, thick gloves, and clothes that cover your entire arms/legs/chest areas. The final result? Two pieces of bronze cutlery, designed to fit the terms repulsive + inappropriate. One piece of the set was required to be “sufficient” while the other was deemed “excessive.” Check out the final product!

10 Rules To Biking Like a Proper Dutch Cyclist

1. Always park your bike next to a nicer bike. Not only does it deter thieves from touching your bike, but it also ensures that the person next to you won’t bang up and damage the already “vintage” at best quality of your bicycle. 
   

   Exhibit A: The bike on the left is from the Rijwielcentrale Bike Shop aka it definitely cost several hundred euros. My bike, on the right, is well used and cost about 30 euros. You do the math.

2. Learn how to bike with a person on the back of your bike (and learn how to ride on the back, also). Not everyone owns a bike. You will often encounter situations where you may have brought your bike but your friend did not. This means that you’re going to probably double up to get where you’re going. I have tried riding on the back. I lasted about 5 minutes before I was just too freaked out. Of course, the Dutch are used to it because they start riding this way when they’re very young. Allie, when she visited me, was a natural at riding on the back. It depends on how comfortable you are with sitting on flat metal bars and not being able to see where you are going.
   
3. Multitasking is your friend. Yep, you can pretty much do whatever you want while you are biking as far as I know. You can text. You can listen to your iPod. You can smoke. You can paint your fingernails. Whatever you want as long as it doesn’t “cause danger.” Take that as you will. I have seen people do 2 or 3 of these things at once. Crazy.
   
4. Your bike is like a pack mule, so use it. Balance is especially important with this one. I have learned how to bike home after a shopping spree- I put multiple bags on my handlebars, wrap them through my fingers and I’m off! It can get a little tricky depending on how heavy the bags are and how many you have, of course, but it’s much easier than walking home with all your purchases in hand.
   
5. Trick out your bike and personalize it! Since most people’s bikes are used, and most of the bodies are brown/black/navy/grey, a lot of the bikes end up looking the same. Personalization makes your bike easier to pick out of a crowd and also gives it a bit more meaning to you. The personalizations range from really girly (stores sell fake flowers for you to wind around the handlebars) to really practical (extra lights, bells, seat covers, etc). You can also buy packs to go on the back of your bike, in tons of different colors or prints. It’s up to you!
   
6. Become an expert in weaving- safely. I have to admit it’s hard to get used to this rule. I am pretty good with weaving when I walk (I’m a natural at walking around in NYC- you’ll only understand this skill if you visit the city). However, weaving when I’m on a bike feels much more vulnerable for some reason. If you wait for everyone and everything to cross your path before you continue on, you will pretty much wait forever. I’ve heard you can get a hefty fine if you cross through a crosswalk without a green bike sign, but most people do it anyway…within reason.
   
7. Park with caution. Bike sheds are your friend. Bike theft is so common here, it’s a bit of a risk to leave your bike locked up on an outdoor bike rack for more than a few hours. I always lock my bike to something rooted in the ground, like a sign or a pole- but that’s also because I don’t have a kickstand. People can also get pretty creative with where they park their bikes. Sometimes it takes a bit of rearranging to get your bike to fit in a spot.
   
8. You don’t have to be a vicious biker, but just know that others will be. This is especially true in bigger cities, like Amsterdam. Bicyclists will run you over. They do not care about your toes, legs, arms, bags- if you are in the way, and you don’t move, chances are you’re going to get hit. I don’t like to bike like this because I think this is why lots of people (at least back home in the US) find bicyclists rather annoying. Luckily, the locals understand this and most of the time, pedestrians will wait for cyclists to pass or they will just move out of the cyclists’ path.
   
9. Bike tunnels can be really cool. Okay, this isn’t really a rule. Just something I’ve noticed. I need to take pictures of the massive graffiti bike tunnel on the east side of Eindhoven, so you can understand what I’m talking about! It’s stunning.
   
10. Bike in groups- it’s more fun and more active than riding in the car. Biking to a certain location with your friends can be really fun. Conversations are filled with more activity, you can see and comment on more things as you pass them, you interact with others on their bikes. Not only that, you’re getting exercise. It’s a win on multiple fronts.
    

Allie’s Visit/Another weekend in Amsterdam!

Writing a bit late on this, since Allie left on Monday, but I am so glad my lovely friend decided to come all the way from Sweden to visit me! Allie came into Eindhoven on Saturday, so I showed her around my town. We went shopping at the Saturday outdoor market in Woensel (and bought some awesome America shirts…while we were in Holland…haha). We ate lunch in the center, so Allie got to try the fries with mayonnaise. Allie is now a converted fan of the mayonnaise 🙂

We also did a bit of additional shopping in the Eindhoven center and then picked up some “Chinese” food- I use quotation marks because every outside food in the Netherlands has a bit of Dutch style to it because apparently, the Dutch are picky eaters. Also, their Chinese food is just different than the Chinese food you’d expect in America. Still very good though!

After a bit of rest, I took Allie out in the Stratum (street of pubs in Eindhoven’s center) to meet up with some friends. Highlights include being some of the only people dancing, as well as watching lots of karaoke in the karaoke bar- always entertaining.

On Sunday, we took a trip to Amsterdam! It was actually helpful that’d I just been there a week before, because I was much better at navigating the city this time. First off, we went to see the Anne Frank House. Like I said, it’s very powerful to be in the Secret Annex, where the Frank and Van Pels families hid during World War II. Everyone should see it at least once!

After the Anne Frank house, we walked through the flower market, where they sell pretty much everything, with a focus on tulips. After getting some snacks (fries and croissants, mmm) we went on a Canal Tour through the city, which was perfectly timed on the cusp of nightfall, when all the lights around the canal bridges look beautiful. The canal tour lasted an hour. I also highly recommend doing that at least once!

Of course, a trip to Amsterdam is incomplete without walking around the Dam and the Red Light District, so we made some excursions to those parts of the city as well. After lots of walking and a bit of dinner, we went to the “Xtra Cold” Amsterdam Ice Bar! We had to wear huge puffy jackets and gloves so that we could drink our beverages out of entirely ice glasses. Talk about cold drinks. The walls and the seating arrangements were also made out of ice- pretty cool. The eskimo bartender also apparently knows someone in school in Atlanta. He asked us what state in the US we were from before we made that connection. Talk about 6 degrees of separation.

After that, we took a late train home to Eindhoven. Monday I had to go to school to work on some projects, so Allie came with. We double-biked (the word I have devised that refers to someone riding on the back of a one-person bike). Allie has a picture of this in action. It’s pretty hilarious. Wish I could post it here!

Anyway, it was a great weekend. Now all I have to do is plan MY visit to Sweden to see Allie 🙂