Then there was the first day of summer school...

I walked around the city last night and it was absolutely beautiful. Bought my first beer (I didn't know what beers they might have, so I did the most European thing and bought an imported beer- a Carona. Yeah, kinda lame, I know. I made up for it.) Anyways, I people watched for a little bit and went back to the hostel. Fell asleep at 1, woke up at 3, 4, and 5 in the morning due to drunk partying Dutch people yelling outside. Took a melatonin and crashed till 10 in the morning.
Woke up and made myself breakfast downstairs, toast with peanut butter and chocolate sprinkles, some traditional cereal, and fruit juice. Packed up my things and met up with some people that were waiting outside the Utrecht Summer School office. Melissa was one, Michael was another, all the people in this thing are essentially from the UC campuses. Went back through the Hoog Catherijne to pick up a bus pass with a girl from UCSB named Danielle and picked up both some frites + fritesaus (fries and mayonnaise) and some hot dog looking thing on the way out. Tried to look very Dutch whilst eating these items, however realized how non-Dutch we are when we found out the Dutch use a special fork to eat the fries. We soon grabbed special forks. The mayonnaise was just a little too weird for me, however, and was shortly dropped in the rubbish bin.
We made our way to Cambridgelaan (on the University campus, where I am sitting now, fully enjoying my private room), dropped off our stuff, and made it back to Broer's pub for the meet & greet at 1700. Everyone was allotted two free drinks, which were promptly drank, and socialization ensued. I purchased a Chimay Blauw for myself to top off the meal, and people broke off into groups to explore the city once again. For dinner, our group purchased some 5 euro gyros from a swanky little venue that spoke zero English, after which I headed off to see a tower and a windmill with a girl from that group. Most people came back about an hour before we did. However our feet became tired and we headed back here to Cambridgelaan.
Overall I'm feeling better about this place. I still can't understand 80% of what is going on around me, but other than that things are manageable. The shower here works, though the warm water is a little scarce. My room is of a comfortable size, and I have a south-facing view over a forest to the next town some miles away. I can see more modern windmills in that direction.
The weather is rather humid, and especially warm when the sun is out. I am surprised it did not rain today, though not unhappy. Tomorrow I plan to walk on foot back to the city with a small group of students.
Should be an adventure...
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