Merry Christmas!

Christmas nails and cute collars

Groningen. Scandinavian Studies-students aren't just good in doing Scandinavian stuff - we're also pretty good at details, as you can see in these pictures of yesterday's Lucia celebration. there wasn't just a Lucia, but there were pretty Christmassy nails and cute collars (and lots of lovely people), too.

Scrooge 2011

Arcen. another festival happened: Scrooge festival, which happens every second year around Christmas. a whole (and super cute) town turns into a Dickens story and almost all villagers participate in it. super cute, super fun.

Glow 2011

Eindhoven. every year this nearby city organizes the loveliest light festival, called Glow. i can't always make it there, but this year i luckily could.

when in Reykjavík

- pay to get up Hallgrímskirkja and enjoy the view
- eat Tromp
- visit Norræna húsið, where they have the biggest collection of Nordic books and movies
- go drink tea and eat cake (and play board games) at Café Babalú
- go swim, f.ex. in Laugardalslaug
- walk around (for hours) and enjoy all the pretty graffiti walls
- see a band play, preferably at Airwaves and/or in Harpa. or just go to 12 Tónar.

the golden circle

i'm usually no touristy tourist, but this time i did go on an excursion and believe it or not, but i LOVED it. seeing the highlights is something that has to get done anyway and now it was a lovely little bus driving us around from Þingvellir National Park to the huge Gullfoss waterfall and geysír. i even was with one foot in America and our guide gave the best facts. recommended!

veraldarvinir, worldwide friends

Reykjavík. the main reason i'm in Iceland isn't to just look at the pretty nature and get excited about things i learned in uni though. no, i'm participating in a so called workcamp, which means that me and a bunch of other young people from all over the world most of the time simply are simply working. we picked up garbage around the lake, painted a house, helped out at Iceland Airwaves (and i talked to Yoko Ono! and hugged Jónsi!) and made music ourselves.

the days are long, but so much fun.

black beaches

Vík. on the way to Reykjavík, we stopped in a little place called Vík, which is famous for its black beaches. it was strange but beautiful. i was mostly impressed by Asami's super small camera and the three sisters (!!!) though. i was so excited to see them after learning about them in class. (sorry for being a bit of a nerd)

a roadtrip to the ice

Jökulsárlón. yesterday i woke up super early to drive to the world's second biggest glacier on the other side of the island, which is a 4-hour drive from Reykjavík. Japanese, Spanish and Dutch songs were sung while getting there, but when we were standing in front of all the ice, we could do nothing else but keep silent. wow.

góðan daginn!

i'm in Reykjavík now! i'm in Iceland! two favorites of mine so far:

1. Icelandic
2. Tromp chocolate, with both marzipan and liquorice. SO GOOD.

☀ ☀ ☀

Groningen. summer is back! and i finally got the 30mm-lens i've been dreaming about, so Veerle and i went out for photo adventures (and ice cream). plus tonight i'll go see Noah and the Whale and i couldn't be more excited.

i don't understand people who don't like autumn at all

Jakkes 2011

how Scandinavian Studies-students start their semester? they go camping at a farmyard with lots of slugs, have water balloon fights (and don't clean up), bike to the sea to get real Danish (?!) ice cream and end up eating kibbeling instead.

Groningen in summer

Groningen. yesterday was such a day that made me fall in love with my city, once again. i discovered a new pretty store, Walnut Mixstore, and went to Noorderzon and saw Long Voyage play. Groningen definitely is best in summer.

hello Haarlem

my mom and i had a free train ticket to use, so we figured we'd go to a city on the complete opposite of the country: Haarlem. i definitely didn't expect it to be this pretty. living in one of these cute streets would be so lovely.

Hent, a fairytale city

(that second picture is taken by Vief)

Ghent. why haven't i visited this place before?! that question circled around my head for basically all the time, because Ghent is the loveliest place i've visited in a long time, and not even far from home! i definitely had a blast. if you ever go to there:

- just walk around for hours and hours and enjoy the lovely houses, the canals, the flowers, ...
- eat a cupcake from Julie's House
- use the lovely city map they have, made by Use-it
- eat the "verwenchocomel" at Huize Colette. or well: just make sure to eat enough chocolate, it's Belgium after all.