World Cup Commentary

I've spent almost the entire past week watching football.  I mean soccer.  I think I saw (at least most of) 15 of the 23 games so far.  Here are a few things I learned:

Fun and Games

Last week was fantastic. Even though I had eight hours of classes each day, I was blessed with a course that has only lab reports and an individual assignment as opposed to a group presentation. That meant that drinks for Giorgia's birthday last Tuesday was followed by beer at De Ruif on Wednesday night, aquadiente in front of IHE on Thursday, and Stefania's birthday on Friday (I have posted the April photos, along with March and Italy, finally, these are not as well captioned as I would have liked, but I've been taking lots of pictures). Then a day in Amsterdam on Saturday. Last Sunday was our final formal futbol match of the season. The first years lost to the graduating students 3-2 in the last minute, but the match was followed by a nice picnic at the lake. I hope that I don't give the impression of being a lush, but since spring is here it has been easy to relax.

In two days I go to Chicago. I'm really looking forward to seeing my family and friends, but at the same time, I'm a bit nervous about going back to the US after spending the past six months living in Europe with the international crowd. The last time I left the states for a significant period of time (10 months) my sister picked me up from the airport. When I asked her what had changed while I was away here first response was, "Everything is now low-carb, even the beer." I shudder at the thought of another epiphany like that. I'm afraid that I will find everything in the States to be too big, too loud, too fast, too ostentatious. I mean, Mom and Dad live two blocks from the corner store and we would occasionally drive there. But I'm sure after 24 hours it will be business as usual.

No Hot Water, Part 2

Once again we have no hot water. It's really quite frustrating. There is no warning, no announcement posted. On Saturday morning, you just wait and wait for the water to warm up and after five minutes you realize that it is still icy cold. Then you chat with some friends and realize that they have had the same problem. But it's not too bad...until Sunday. On Sunday morning you curse the fact that the water is still cold and that since your last shower on Friday night you have been to a bar, played futbol, cooked dinner with friends, been dancing at a club, and run 10k (and studied of course, but that doesn't make you sweat unless it is exam time). And at this point you realize that your building's heat is ambient (running on steam as opposed to gas forced air) so you're bundled up in a blanket and drinking lots of coffee. But there is hope, your friends have gym memberships next door so instead of the traditional Sunday afternoon coffee, this week you will go out for a sauna. Then coffee. Writing in the second person is tough.

Finally Feeling Better

Last week was a bit exhausting because I got sick midweek. It was just a cold, but it really knocked me out on Friday. I went to class Friday morning, but after an hour and a half my friends forced me to go home. They took notes (I think). That's what friends are for. But I only missed the last hour of our module on economics, project management, and statistics. Next week we go back to the lab, though I'm not entirely sure what we will be doing since the module is entitled "Process Technology."

It's amazing what a day in bed and some sudafed can do. I did some studying and washed lots of dishes. Though it took a bit of convincing, I managed to make it to the bar Friday night. It was the first time that most of my friends (we were missing a few) were able to get together since classes started up last week. Our favorite bartender was there (as you can see Giorgia reaching for him). He mentioned that he was in film school and doing a documentary course. He had seen us together last month and had found out that we were international students and would like to do a film on IHE and international students living in Delft. Hmmm, maybe I'm destined to be a star...

On Saturday I played football again. I really felt so much better after my casual Friday. This week we played outside, so I got to wear the boots I've had since I was 15, rather than my sneakers. They still fit, but I got some blisters in some really strange places from them. Maybe it was the socks. Anyway, it was cold and windy, but fortunately not rainy. After two hours I was exhausted, and sore from a direct shot to the chest (which could have been avoided, though that's up for debate), but of course we went out for a beer afterwards. Well, not really out, we had a few beers at the bar at the TU-Delft Sports Center. I wish the gym at Duke had had a bar. It had a juice bar, but that's not quite the same. At TU you could get a pitcher of beer for €6, probably subsidized for us poor students. Football and beer is a wonderful way to waste a Saturday afternoon. And engineering economics is a horrible way to waste a Saturday night.

No Hot Water

The power went out today, at about 11:50AM. I thought it was just the circuit breaker in the dorm, but no, the whole city of Delft lost power for a good 15 minutes. But I didn't know that at the time, but I had my suspicions. A few minutes after the power was cut, deafening sirens rang out, not unlike the ones that the City of Chicago tests at 10AM on Tuesday. There is no water, the taps are sputtering. Great, I thought, something big is going on and I'm worrying that my milk will spoil.

So a few minutes later the power is on. Also, it turns out that in The Netherlands, they test their sirens at noon on the first Monday of every month. But there is still no water. At around 1PM we have water, but only the cold tap works. It is now 8PM and still, no hot water. This is a problem.

It is a problem because I pulled a muscle in my thigh playing soccer yesterday. The school has a team, which consists of all guys except for me. Last week I managed to hold my own, but this week I was a complete wimp and sat on the sidelines for all but the first 20 minutes. I think I didn't stretch properly (I guess my 20 minute ride over in the wind and rain didn’t count). Anyway, the gym had only ice packs, no heat packs. We couldn't find anything at three stores (Mijail (Ecuador) also pulled a muscle while playing), so as we slowly rode home in defeat, we decided that warm towels would be best. And they were, I felt great after a long hot shower.

Today my leg is still sore. After experimenting with foreign remedies, I finally found some warming balm at a drugstore. I now smell like menthol and camphor. The only way to heat some towels would be on the stove, and all my dishes are dirty. I now distrust the quality of the water because there was a pressure drop that could have lead to contamination (I’m studying without even realizing it). So there is no way I'm taking a cold shower. Hopefully this will be mitigated tomorrow morning before exams.

Hup Holland!

Last Wednesday I went to my first soccer, I mean football, match in Amsterdam. It was a friendly between The Netherlands and England. I did have to leave class about five minutes early (a tour of the TU-Delft library, but I went back for another tour because I needed to return for my new library card, I was the only one in the class that was not in "the system", basically they forgot about me, but that was resolved). Anyway, it's really convenient that the Amsterdam ArenA is just over an hour away by train. So about a dozen of us went, there were a few Columbians, some guys from Ecuador, the Spanish girls, among others. I went with people from cultures that actually know and care about football. So it was nice.

Unfortunately, the game wasn't very exciting. It was a friendly, and both teams seemed uninspired. But the Dutch fans were really fun and colorful. I still have not figured out what the word "Hup"means, but it's on all the banners and scarves and sounds appropriately Dutch. The English supporters were segregated from the rest of us and extra police were on duty, though I'm not sure if it was for our protection or theirs.

The game ended in a 1-1 draw and there were no penalty kicks. I love the conciseness of a football match. Start at 8PM finish before 10PM. So, what do a dozen grad students do afterwards (the ones who don't have to meet their advisors in the morning)? Go to the Red Light District for a drink of course. We didn't actually have drinks there, we just walked around and looked at the windows. We found another place for a drink that was closer to the train station, because after midnight the trains only run once an hour. In bed by 3:30AM. In class at 8:45AM.