Day Five-History is sexy

Second first day of classes! I started my day off with my first block of World History since from 1914. I knew this class would be great from the moment it started because the first thing we did was watch the entirety of “Springtime for Hitler” from The Producers. My professor is really funny and engaging; he was talking about history is the best subject: “History can be sexy.” I’m especially excited because the class covers both the first and second world war and I’ll be learning it from a German professor. It’s going to be a new, interesting perspective to have, to hear about the wars from the German point of view. Ralph (my professor) started off his intro to WW2 by reminding us that Hitler was Austrian not German. Lunch today was a delicious tomato soup and came at the perfect time because I was starving even after eating breakfast! It seems as if we’re always hungry here! We keep joking that our parents secretly sent us all to a fat camp because we’re all going to lose so much weight while we’re here between the lack of eating and the steep climb up two flights of stairs.

After lunch was my second block of history which was just as good as the first. When class ended I headed back to my room to relax and look into planning more trips. Dinner tonight was salmon and mashed potatoes (surprisingly good). Dessert was a delicious caramel icecream/mousse log that was incredible! After dinner I had travel writing with my lesbian professor Denya who is going through a bitter divorce from her Dutch partner whom she moved from America to be with (this info is via her other class because we were too afraid to ask, apparently she was very emotional when asked the question “how did you end up in the netherlands?”). Very interesting to say the least! She seems really funny and passionate about what she does so I think everything will be ok. We read a story in class about the Capuchin monks and their bone chapels so I got to talk to her about that. After class was a meeting for the Amsterdam excursion this weekend which was led by Doyna and Robbert. We found out what group activities will be offered and what museums we can go to. I’m so excited!!

Cailin, Joe, and I are planning a trip to Krakow, Poland for the last weekend we can travel at the castle because we found ridiculously cheap tickets. A lot of other weekends are up in the air (I’m still trying to find my way to Morocco!).
Tomorrow is our first American night at the Linden and everyone is really excited. We get a free welcome shot of Floogle (a vodka-type liquor that tastes like lemonade) from Jan, the bartender, and he gives us an official welcome to Well. We’re invited to play any music we want from someone’s i-pod and at the end of the semester we can vote on who had the best mix of music.