My articles

Here are my articles I wrote for my journalism project.

Hope you like ' em ;)

This is the logo for our newspaper (guess who made iiiit?? ;) )

Front page article:

BRIGHTON (MA) -- The hero, a five-year-old Yorkshire terrier named Spotty, saved a 53-year-old woman, her husband and two children from being probed by aliens last Thursday.
In the night from Wednesday to Thursday the Wilk family was woken up by a bright light outside their windows. When they went to see what it was, they saw a “big spaceship,” as the 7-year old son recalled. His father was more precise and explained that they saw an “insanely huge bagel” over the roof. Spotty, who slept in the same bed as Mrs. Leonards, the neighbor, woke up because of this flood of light and ran downstairs in an attempt to protect his sleeping owner.
What he found was “the huge bagel” and four aliens standing in front of it on his neighbor’s front lawn.
The family agreed that the creatures were the most horrible things they had ever laid eyes on. According to the FBI archives, it’s not the first time they operate on Earth. They are known as “the Four Friends”.
They have been connected to some serious crimes committed in the last couple of centuries, including the Kennedy assassination, the execution of Joan of Arc and the theft of the Holy Grail.

Over the years the FBI have been able to collect pictures of these “Four Friends” and have released these to us so the community can help them locate these frightening creatures.
Warning: these pictures may not be suitable for children under the age of 21.

When Spotty arrived on the front lawn and discovered the threat he came in action right away. He started barking until the aliens’ brains started leaking slush-like material. This has already been collected by Mulder and Scully and sent to Grissom for an intensive analysis. This analysis has concluded that the material is highly toxic and that it has never ever been seen before on Earth.
With the melting of the brains the aliens were eliminated and could finally be investigated by the FBI, a dream for many of its researchers. And that is how, Spotty the Yorkshire terrier saved the world in one night.

My Celebrity Gossip Column.

Come on, you could have foreseen this. You all KNOW I LOVE gossip ;)

Oh and I made most of it up, or at least, I changed some facts. Except the Lindsay Lohan one, that is straight from E!.

Kristen switching Brits??
You all know Kristen Stewart.
The lovely girl who plays Bella in Twilight?
That girl dating Robert Pattinson?
First one: True.
Second one: Not so much.
A source close to the actress confirmed that she was present at the Troubador concert last week and that yes, she met up with Rob.

But the big mistery was who she LEFT with!
It wasn’t with her on-screen love, FYI, it was with his BFF Tom Sturridge!
Pictures confirm the two leaving together and getting in the same car that night.
Sorry Robsten Fans, seems the Nonstens were right about this one…

Brad Pitt suing Salt director?

Wait,what?

Angelina Jolie, who plays Salt in her new movie of the same name, got injured during the lastdays of shooting. The actress had to do a difficult jump and landed in the hospital, instead of thecushion where she was meant to fall.
As you all know, Angie and Brad are a package deal.
Brad gets a hair out of place? Angie kicks the butt of the one responsible.
Angie gets as much as a scratch? Brad goes all Terminator on the one guilty for that crime.

So when Mr. Pitt was informed of this, he allegedly brought director Phillip Noyce to court.
A source informed me that the hearing will be on Friday and they will be asking for a BIG settlement.
I guess having 6 kids certainly sucks the money out of you…

Lindsay Lohan getting special treatment in jail?

Yes! LaLohan has only been in her cell for a day and already is she getting priviledges.
Apparently Dina and Ali Lohan have been there today to visit their (respectively)daughter/sister. That doesn’t sound strange though, right?
Well, official rules of the prison are that inmates only get visitation rights at the weekend.
Check your calendars now. Is it weekend? I don’t think so.
I wonder what the little birdie will tell me concerning the cause of this strange report... Flirting with the guards, Miss Lohan?

Miley Cyrus ENGAGED?!
This news isn’t about someone being sued, or breaking the rules or even cheating on your boyfriend. No, no, this is actually positive news.Different sources have been telling us that Liam Hemsworth is considering proposing to the former "Hannah Montana".
The 17-year-old star has been dating her “Last Song” co-star since they were filming the movie in the summer of 2009.
Aaaww, little Miley is growing up! I’m thinking: HAWAII WEDDING!
I wonder when the song about this particular milestone in her life will come out...

And last but not least, my Advice column.

All the problems are made up, by the way ;)

Ask Miss B. anything you want. It MAY be useful...

1) Dear Miss B,
HELP! I’m invisible.
My friends? Don’t have them.
My job? Sucks.
My life is a mess.
I have considered suicide, but it’s too painful.
As you can read I have a problem. I might as well shoplift, not go to class, stay in bed all day, you name it, I’ve tried it.
What should I do to get ANYONE’s attention?
xo Desperate Invisible

Dear Desperate Invisible,
I need to start by saying that you need to get your priorities straight. How can you put shoplifting and not going to class in the same category??
So, now on to your problem.
You’re invisible, huh?
Not so much anymore. You wrote to a newspaper that you’re invisible. You got published. YAY! About your class, just sit in front with a big wig, clown suit and loads of make-up and people will notice you. If not? Then you are LITTERALLY invisible and you can just go around your school being goofy and pulling pranks that NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW!
I hope I helped you, good luck with your life.
Peace & Love.

2) Dear Miss B,
My problem is simple. I can’t stop eating.
It’s not like I binge eat. No.
I just get spastic and I act like a recovering addict when I don’t have food in my hands or my mouth. That can be a problem since I swim, a lot.
Help me?
Greets,
Hungry Again.

Dear Hungry Again,
Sheesh, that’s a tough one.
Have you ever thought about gum? It’s technically food…
Oh, maybe it’s just the thought of food that makes you go all spastic and addict. Try printing out pictures of food. Any kind of food, such as hamburgers, pasta, chocolate, you name it. PRINT IT OUT!
But if that doesn’t help, have you ever thought of actually getting a life?
Make it your life job to get a girl/boyfriend. You’ll be SO distracted that food is going to be the last thing on your mind. Frustrated that it doesn’t help? Start taking boxing classes and just punch it out of you.
YOU CAN DO IT!
Peace & Love.

3) Dear Miss B,
I’m embarrassed and sitting next to the person who this is about right now. My problem is so big I sometimes can’t even SLEEP!
A year ago I started going out with this guy.
Great and I love him.
But since the start of our relationship I haven’t been able to pronounce his name.
Like, EVER.
I took speaking classes, but NOTHING helps!
Please help!
Thank you,
Tongue Tied Girl.

Dear Tongue Tied Girl,
Aaaawwww, you have a boyfriend! That is so sweet!
Don’t take everything so seriously, it’ll be fine!
Can’t pronounce your boyfriend’s name? It’s not the end of the world, you know?
Look at the world around you, people are dying of hunger, natural disasters are everywhere, there’s a dude that CAN’T STOP EATING!
I understand your need for help, but chillax.
The answer is simple. Talk to him about it.
And not about how guilty you feel or how you love him nonetheless. No, that is SUCH a cliché that I don’t think it even works anymore.
No, ask him to say his name again. And again. And again.
Don’t try to repeat him, just listen.
After a while you will come up with a nickname that will be perfect for you to use around him. But please, do me a favor and don’t name him “Pookie” or “Bear” because if you break up or if you’re at a very formal serious event and you want to talk to him, you can’t scream “POOKIIEEEEE”! That, darling, is what I would call a fail.
Your sleepless nights will end here.
Peace & Love.

Sooo, what do you think of it? :D

COMMENT! ;)

xoxo

ps. I'm working on the detailed description of both my trips, it'll come VERY soon..

pps. Sorry about the format at the ending, it's late and I'm REALLY not in the mood to figure out what is wrong..

News and updates

HELLOOOO!!

A day ago I was walking on TIMES SQUARE right now.

I miss Times Square.

I'm at the family again..

I miss the bed at the BEAUTIFUL hotel.

I miss NYC. It's as simple as that.

People who have travelled with me know that I'm not easily impressed by cities. But NYCDEFINITELY makes my list of towns that I can just sit and enjoy the view that I would not get bored. It can be added to that tiny list of mine of cities that I ADORE and am impressed with.

It stands together with London and Rio de Janeiro. But I think it has a VERY big shot at being my #1.

I'm not going to tell everything now.

Because

1) I still need to give you guys a full report on last weekend's trip to Niagara Falls

2) It's so much to write that I can't post everything now

3) It's almost midnight and I have school tomorrow (which means I have to wake up early.. hehe)

I CAN though, tell you a little about what I'll describe.

- The night before NYC

- The bus tour

- Walking around Times Square

- Taking a Limo

- Times Square at night

-MY RAY BANS!!!!! Yes, I FINALLY have them! :D

- etc etc etc

Lookie Lookieeee!! :D

I have posted pictures on Facebook, but I PROMISE that I'll put the pictures on Orkut and Hyves as soon as I can. For Hyves I'll also post the Niagara Falls pictures.. :)

I miss everyone LOADS!

xoxo

ps. Sofia, NYC is your city. Even if you've never been there, I know you well enough to say that everything there SCREAMS Sofia. We NEED to go there together!

pps. For this week's project in school, I had to write articles about multiple subjects. Since I typed it all and it has been very well received by my friends here, I was wondering if you would want to read it? I'll also post it asap, kay? ;)

Guess where I'm going..

Hiii you guys!

Guess where I'm going on Saturday morning (VERY early)?

NEW YOOOOOOORRRKKK!!!

Can you notice I'm stoked about that? ;)

I'll make A TON of pictures (I AM the ultimate tourist.. ;) )and I'll post as soon as possible a complete detailed story about what I've done there..

Mr. Google has yet again provided me with a little sneak peak of what I'll see:

For the people who have been living under a rock their whole lives: This is the Statue of Liberty. :)

GEEEEZ! What is it with this house??

First, the toilets all break (I'll tell you the "Tale of the Indian woman" another time).

Now, there's flies EVERYWHERE!

It's 11pm for crying out loud!! Where the F are they coming from?!?

Ok, so where was I?

Oh right. The detailed report.

Talking about that; I'm SORRYY you guuys!

I still didn't post the Niagara Falls one, but I was really tight on time this week..

I'm going to post it VERY soon. Really.

You can at least start looking at the pictures on my Facebook account..

I'm going to sleep now, so I'm all fresh for school tomorrow (in contrast with today where I was practically sleeping the whole day..)

I miss everyone so muuuch!

xoxo

PS. Sofia, I know you hate me. We're even now.

DISQUS Update

Hi everyone,

I figured out how to be able to comment with Facebook on here.

See, I'm slowly learning how to work with this blog. And it's only been three weeks! haha

So there you go, COMMENT AWAY! :)

xx

NIAGARA FALLS Day2 Pt.1

Hi agaiiiin!

I'm not going to tell everything that happened on Saturday because that post would be HUGE. So I'll divide it into parts.

Saturday July17th.

7 am. The alarm goes off.
I know I have to wake up, because I won't have enough time otherwise to take a shower, look for something to wear AND be on time for breakfast. And for those who know how I am in the morning (which is: not very fast), know that I need an hour to get all ready to go..

Soo, took a shower, bla bla bla. Went down stair, had breakfast (10 dollars!!! Not normal how expensive it was!!) and we all went to the front of the hotel because Mr. "Folks" said the bus would be there to pick us up.

The bus wasn't there though.

So we had to walk that tiny bit to the Falls IMAX theater. Yes, Niagara Falls has an IMAX theater.

No interesting movies though, except one about the Falls and its history, that we HAD to watch.

About how the Indians discovered the Falls and everything. Not exactly what I think of being: "OOMMGGGG, SO AMAZIIING!"

After that: Maid of the Mist.

What's that?

That's the boat that goes RIGHT in front of both the Falls.. It's pretty cool!

We had to wear these hideous blue ponchos, but without them you would get totally soaked, so I put them on. You know, for fun.. ;) Before we got on the boat (so standing in line, with the blue ponchos on) we took some pictures of the hideous poncho things.

Here's one of me with the Brazilians that went on the trip:

Before I go on, I need to say that I HATE boats. I don't know why. It's like an irrational fear.

I think I saw Titanic too often or something like that... --'

Ok, so we take off. I'm not even thinking about the fact that I'm on a boat and that this boat is going to be passing MEGA close to the Falls. We even saw in the friggin' movie what could go wrong!! So yeah, only when we had left the shore and the boat started wobbling on the water did I actually realize: "Now is the moment for me to be scared..."

You all should be proud of me: I didn't get scared one single moment of that ride!

We're on the water and of course I have chosen the wrong side to stand on. I thought when I got on: let me stand on the side railing because then we'll have a perfect view of the Falls. No. Bad choice. I was standing on the wrong side anyway.. --'

But nevertheless, I got some AWESOME pictures to show you..

As you can see: a lot of people actually chose (or where pushed into, whatever you prefer) the right side of the boat to stand on..

The closer we came to the Falls the wetter and wobblyer (is that even a word? I don't know. If it isn't, I just made it up...) the ride became. It became harder to keep the camera dry, take pictures and try and keep your balance all at the same time.
As you can see: a lot of people actually chose (or where pushed into, whatever you prefer) the right side of the boat to stand on..
The closer we came to the Falls the wetter and wobblyer (is that even a word? I don't know. If it isn't, I just made it up...) the ride became. It became harder to keep the camera dry, take pictures and try and keep your balance all at the same time.

But I still made some uuuhhh great (?) pictures for you guys. One more thing to add to that list of things to do all at the same time: think about the waiting audience back home… --‘

So we finished, got off the boat and into the elevator once again to go up.
Again, I was astounded by the fact that I wasn’t afraid of the height we were reaching with the elevator…
Mae, you can be proud of meee!! ;)
When you get upstairs you have an AMAZING view of the Falls.
Like Postcard-view…
Wait, why am I trying to describe this again? I can SHOW it ;)

See, postcard view… ;)

Hmmm.. What did we do next?? Lemme think…
*goes to pictures and looks what came next*
Ooohh, right, the Power Plant!
Ok, so since we were with a guide and he set up this whole schedule for us to follow we also went to the “Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant”. We even got a TOUR! :O
So we heard about the whole history of the place (that the company who produced electricity a whole while ago collapsed or something and then this dude Robert Moses decided to build a power plant that could function off the Niagara River’s water. And with the use of the water the erosion of the rocks at the Falls would also reduce significantly resulting in the backwards movement of the Falls to decrease a LOT) and then we went outside to see the view…

See the Niagara River with the plant as well? And some road that I thought would make a great picture :)
And after that we took the bus and went to the OUTLET!
We stayed there for a couple of hours, but one thing that definitely drew my attention was the lack of difference in prices with normal stores.
Even with that little remarkable piece of information you should know: I bought brand new ALL STARS.
You people all know how obsessed I am with All Stars, right?
Well for the people that don’t know it, I am.. :)
They’re grey so they fit with everything and they’re the little boots…
When we saw practically every store in the Outlet (and after having gone multiple times to all the sunglass stores in vain, because I didn’t find my Ray Bans there) we went to get a snack. A pretzel with some good-old fashioned strawberry lemonade… It was good. Even if the service was a little crap, because there were these three girls (all three with tongue piercings with which they were playing with THE WHOLE TIME! That’s how I know they even had the piercings in the first place, I didn’t actually LOOK into their mouths.. haha) talking about something insignificant and they were taking AGES to get stuff done.. No wonder the line was so huge.. –-‘
After being at the bus on time and having to wait for some Asian girl who was late we got the bus back to the hotel.
When I looked around at the amount of bags people had I noticed everyone had at least one bag (me included of course). Some people even had so many bags they had to almost JUGGLE all the bags with both hands… Can you imagine how many bags those are?! A LOT!

So back at the hotel, we made ourselves ready for our free night in Niagara Falls.
We decided to go eat at the Hard Rock Café…
We didn’t though. You know why?
IT WAS FULL! There were so many people there!
So what we did, there was this restaurant next to the hotel (honestly though, everything in that little town was close to each other.. Even CANADA!) with a special sale thing of ‘ribs’ (just Spareribs you know, we all know them.. For the Portuguese readers: costeleta de porco) and we took two of those for the five of us…
We found out later that the restaurant was actually the hotel’s restaurant, but then with another entrance.. haha
While waiting for the food to come we decided to give our cameras names.
Mine has been named Rosie. (So whenever I start talking about Rosie: it’s not a dog or a new friend, no, it’s my camera)
Giulia’s is Stoli. My suggestion.
And my new All Stars (which I was wearing of course) are named Chuck.
Me Giulia Cazzamali’s babies: Rosie, Stoli and Chuck. Are they sweet or are they sweet? ;)
So, we took a picture of us all at the restaurant, but Chuck’s fotos were better than Rosie’s. Here you go and have Chuck’s.. hehe

After dinner we went to have a look at the Hard Rock but there wasn’t very much to see, so we didn’t stick around for very long…
But long enough to take this picture:

The moment I saw it I thought of you Isabela. I thought: I NEED to take of picture of this, especially for you :)
After that we went to walk around the little street fair/ market that was going on there. But it wasn't excatly interesting, so we didn't stay for long.
We did stay long enough to find one of the Brazilian boys from EF and have him join us in trying to think of something to do...
Then he suggested we go to Canada and we were suddenly all awake (we were all very tired and considering going back to the hotel) and excited to go...

I'm going to leave you with this. As it IS only Part 1.
Next part is going to be about CANADAAA!
So stay tuned... ('Cause I still have to write that part.. hehe)

Miss you alll! Kiissss!
xoxo

PS. Here's a little preview of Canada:

Me & Giulia

NIAGARA FALLS Day1

Hiiii you guys!

Here it comes. A full, detailed description of what I uuhhh experienced (?) in Niagara Falls.

Before I actually start I just want to say one thing: COMMEEEEEEEEENT!!

Friday, July16th.

Same day as the start of the Boston Twi-Con by the way! hehe

I had second and third hour (to know what those are see my previous post about Schedules). We had to be at Hynes Convention Center at 1pm, because we were told the bus would LEAVE at that exact time. Ok, fine.

One thing though, if you check until what time my American History class was that day (and you would also know that it takes a while to actually get there and eat beforehand and we were going to meet some people at the other dorm as well, so we could go together) you would see that it only ended at 12.30. That would leave us only 30 MINUTES to get to the bus!

Sollution: I skipped my American History class, but did go to my English class the second hour. I had to finish a report on the immune system and have my teacher proof read it and everything. Besides, why would I skip that one, since it fit in my schedule? ;)

Soooo... At 11 I met Carolina (my Italian friend/roommate) at the reception desk (our usual meeting spot), only meet meet each other there again at 11.15am to go to Kenmore (the other dorm) to meet with three more people.

When I was waiting, a girl came up to me to ask if I was going to Niagara Falls and if so if she could go with us to the bus meeting point. Only later would I discover that she was BRASILIAN! Which is totally cool.. :)

We went to Kenmore, had a quick McDonalds to not be hungry in the bus, because we figured it would be a while for our first reststop.

After that, we took the Green Line. Walked a little (after having to ask to people on the street how the heck we had to get to Hynes Convention Centre) and finally got there. Exactly on time. :)

There was this very, enthusiastic (let's call her that) woman checking our names to make sure everyone was there so we could get on the bus. Naturally, though, there were some people late. Of course.

I should mention that half of the people from EF that were going (it weren't only EF students, but people from other university and schools as well), half of them were Brazilian. Just sayin'.

Our guide was this older man who, in every single sentence, used the word "folks". Honestly.

The Brazilians even started calling him "Folks". haha

Soooo, when everyone was finally on the bus, we could start our 9 hour ride to Niagara Falls. Yes, you read that right. 9 HOURS.

I read, I slept, I talked to people around me, I listened to music, I got bored and we stopped twice to eat/rest.

When we FINALLY arrived in the little town that is Niagara Falls we could see CANADA!! It was SO close! Me, as the tourist I am, took pictures when we went to visit the Falls that night.

Wait, I'll get to that in a sec.

While we were entering the town and looking for the hotel (yes, the tour guide had to look for the hotel. First we ended up at the wrong hotel and then he discovered that we had to be at the hotel on the other side of the street.. haha) I was listening to the beautiful song that is Perfect by Hedley. LISTEN TO IT! ;)

We arrived at the hotel, had our rooms assigned (it was so funny how he tried to pronounce the names of the Asian people.. hehe) and decided to go see the Falls at night.

Me, Carolina, Guilia, Luiz and his Taiwanese roommate. We came at a bridge where we could very clearly see Canada. On the picture, I'm on the bridge and the buildings back there? That's Canada :)

We walked along and we finally arrived at the Falls. Or at least this place where you had to go down a flight of stairs to get a little closer to the Falls. Did I tell you that it's lighted at night?

It's SO gorgeous! Wait, I don't need to describe it, I can show it! (I know the lay-put is extremely annoying with the pictures all in the middle, but Blogger won't let me put the pictures between the text otherwise.. --')

Since it was already 11.30pm and we needed to be wide awake and ready to go the next morning at 8.30am we decided to go back to the hotel. But not before we took some pictures of course!

Yep, that's Canada, right there..

And that's me with Giulia, my roomie at the hotel :)

As you can see, my duties as a tourist were beginning quite well :)

The hotel? Well, it was just more than marvellous. Honestly.

We were with the two of us in a room. Two twin beds. And AC (air conditioner). And a well functioning shower. And a TV!

I finally fell asleep at around 1am.

But you know me, I'm good with little sleep ;)

I'll leave you with this and as soon as I can I'll post about Saturday and Sunday over there! :)

I'm leaving you just like this, because the laptop is EXTREMELY slow today. I don't know why.. --'

MISS YOOOU!

PS. For LOADS more pictures check my Facebook! If you don't have Facebook, I'll post the pictures on my Hyves and Orkut pretty soon..

PPS. I'm gonna do this in Dutch because it sounds like crap in English: Vrede op aarde & Liefde aan paarden. (It means: Peace on earth & Love to horses)

Randomness #Idon'tknow (again)

Before I post the story of Niagara Falls (which I am working on right now, don't worry) I NEED to share my fair share of randomness for the day.

Honestly these sites (failblog.org and verydemotivational.com are GENIUS!)

First: a Failblog one:

http://failblog.org/2010/07/18/epic-fail-photos-street-crossing-fail/

Second: a Very Demotivational one (you're gonna love this one D)

http://verydemotivational.com/2010/07/14/demotivational-posters-twilight-eclipse/

I'll post more from this chain of sites.

I just love them.. haha

xoxo

Tiny preview

Tomorrow I'll post the Niagara Falls trip in detail.

But before I go to sleep I'll leave you with a little picture.

Click on the picture to make it larger.

The Falls at night. From the Canadian side.

Do you love it? Or do you love it? ;)

Nighty night!!

xoxo

Update

HII everyone

Just letting you know that I changed the commenting program to Disqus.

That just basically means it's easier to comment and it's easier for me to leave replies to you guys :)

Dayenne, you know what this means hon. CONVOOOOS! haha ;)

Miss you aaaaall!

xoxo

PS. It's not possible yet to comment with Facebook accounts. As soon as the computer is in the mood to help me, and I actually figure out how to do it, I will. Scout's Honor. :)

Randomness #Idon'tknow

Look how pretty I am.

Blind? Noooooooo, just very cautious. :)

Niagara Falls

Just quick update for whoever's interested:

Tomorrow I'm going to NIAGARA FALLS!!! :D

Dear Mr. Google provided a picture for you guys to know a little how it looks like. When I get back I'll post a ton of pictures :D

I'm so excited!!

xoxo

PS. Guess what I'm doing right now? It's 9.45pm and I'm still packing.

Like I said om FB, I cannot pack.. haha

Schedule

Since my posts on here haven't exactly been descriptions of my days, I'm just going to explain to you what my schedule is. That way when I talk to you about whatever class you know what all the rambling is about ;)

The school week officially starts at Tuesday over here at EF. The newbies get all the information needed and a tour of Boston and their schedules of Monday, so it would be a little hard for the week to officially start then. So, logically, I'll start describing my schedule from Tuesday on ;)

Tuesday:

First hour (8.15am to 9.35am) I don't have any classes.

Second (9.40 - 11.00): Upper Advanced 3

This is basically my English class. But because it's the highest level we don't have any books, we don't do any grammar, just projects. Every week a new project about a new subject. Last week it was architecture and this week it's Science. It's strange having a class without any books, especially a class that's supposed to be a language class...

Third (11.10 - 12.30): Nothing yet again.

LUNCH (12.30 - 13.00): Yes, we only have half an hour for lunch. If you're not there on time there's gonna be a line from here all the way to the reception!

Fourth (13.00 - 14.20): Advanced Presentations

Yes, a I have a class that teaches me how to do presentations. So people from my class in Holland who are reading this: prepare to be blown away by my presentations when I get back.. haha.

Fifth (14.30 - 15.50): Upper Advanced yet again.

Sixth (15.55 - 17.15): NO CLASSES! :)

As you can see the classes are 80 minutes long and for some of them it's an ETERNITY!

Wednesday:

1st: Nothing

2nd: Upper Advanced

3rd: Advanced American History.

This class is actually pretty interesting. Last week we talked about the 4th of July and where it all started. With the Declaration of Independence in 1776. This week it's more about slavery and when and how it ended and all..

4th: NOTHING

5th: Upper Advanced.

Yes, I have A LOT of these classes during the week. Especially because I have an Intensive Course, which means 16 classes a week...

6th: Just guess.. No it's not Upper Advanced. FREEEE.

Thursday (todaaaaaay):

1st: Independent iLab session.

But no one ever goes, so I'm sitting here at school behind my laptop writing here because I have nothing to actually do in the iLab sessions.. hehe

2nd and 3rd: NOTHING.

Yes, I'm going to be sitting here until lunch starts, because I have stuff to write and a presentation to practice anyway.. --'

4th: Advanced Presentations. I have to give a presentation today about what not to be afraid of during a presentation.. haha

5th and 6th: Upper Advanced.

On Thursdays we always have field trips that have something to do with the subject of that week's project. Today we're leaving early though, 2pm instead of 2.30.. I'll take pictures, I promise ;) Oh right, you want to know where I'm going, right? MIT Museum :)

Friday:

2nd: Upper Advanced.

Wanna know what we'll be doing tomorrow? Wait, let me look at my planning.. *puts on Good Life by One Republic while you wait* So, we're gonna check the homework that we got yesterday and see what we can improve on our article that we have to hand in next Monday. (Me and Minna, the Finnish girl, are doing it about the Immune System.)

3rd: Advanced American History.

Rest of the day: Nothing to do.

This particular week we (meaning me and the three Italian girls) have to be at a meeting place to go to NIAGARA FALLS at 1pm. :)

Monday: A VERY full day..

2nd: Upper Advanced.

3rd: Lecture.

Every week someone else comes to talk about different subjects. It's very interesting, although this week it was about American History and he talked about the same things as he discussed in class, so I finishing up on some things for Up. Adv. :)

4th: Advanced American Culture.

It's very cool. We learn about everything that actually goes on in this country. The teacher said that one of these weeks we'll watch American TV shows and talk shows and stuff, like Saturday Night Live, which I LOVE. (It was my suggestion.. hehe)

5th: Upper Advanced.

This class is basically to show the rest of the groups what you have been doing in the passing week.. Last week we had to show our final floor plans and this week everyone will read each other's articles.

Soo, this was it. My schedule.

Don't forget of course, that after school EF has a lot of activities so most of the times we hang around at school waiting for something to happen.. Yesterday we were a little bored, because we didn't know what to do so we just went to Kenmore (where the other student dorm is) and walked around over there :)

I don't have any pictures to put with this post.. :(

I MISS EVERYOOOONE!

xoxo

Great Song

Dudes, you need to hear this song.

It's amazing. I heard it in the trailer of "Eat, Pray, Love" (looks to be a VERY cool movie, by the way. I heard it was based on both a book and a true story. So, you all know what I'm gonna do, right? Get the book of course hehe) and couldn't get it out of my head.

Now I've finally found it on the great mr. YouTube.

Here it is: Good Life by One Republic

I haven't figured out how to post video's on here.. As soon as I have I'll update. ;) Scout's Honor.

Update: GOT IT! Gotta love the Blogger and YouTube help page :)

Did I mention that a girl from my class went to their concert here in Boston last week??

JEALOUS!

Gotta go!

I MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!

xoxo

Buses

If you've visited my Facebook or Hyves or Orkut you'll see that I went to the aquarium today.

But the story of what happened today will come another time.

Today I'd like to talk to you about buses.

Yes.

Buses.

Let me clarify why this is an interesting subject:

Some are our BFFs and others just come whenever they are in the mood to come.

Seriously.

Imagine this: it's your first official school day. You have a time to be there of course and you don't want to be late. What's the last thing you need? Buses that don't show up.

Let me explain our journey to school every day:

1) Walk for about 5 - 10 minutes to the busstaion.

2) Take bus 74 or 75 to Harvard Station.

3) Take bus 86 to somewhere near school (I still don't know the name of the stop. I just know it's in front of a place called Joey's.)

4) Walk for 15 minutes to school.

Nothing special about that, right?

The BFF: 74 and/or 75.

The enemy: 86.

Mission: getting on an 86.

How to complete that mission on a regular basis without stress, waiting around for half an hour: Unknown.

Seriously. The 74 and 75 come at the times that they are supposed to come. We get on them, go to where we have to go and all of that without one little bit of stress involved in the situation.

The 86 however, when he decides to come, is always late. Or " Not in Service". For this whole week that I've been here there was not one day that we didn't have problems with the 86.

First day: he just doesn't come. Or at least, he passes the station and doesn't stop.

Consequence: We had to take a cab.

Second day: We go with a girl that has been here for two weeks and then it COMES! --'

Wednesday: Two 66s stop. We wait for the evil 86 to arrive. In stead of stopping for us (we were waiving at it like crazy people), IT JUST CONTINUES! So we wait for the next one to come. Basically we waited there for like half an hour!

Consequence: We're late.

Thursday: The 86 never even comes! After waiting for 20 minutes we decide to take the 66 and then the 57.

Consequence: We're late, because the 66's route is longer.

Friday: We wait for almost half an hour. We decided to leave home earlier though. So when the first 86 came, the driver decided it was out of service. When the second came, after a guy called the MBTA to know where the hell the 86 was, we FINALLY got in.

Consequence: Yes, we were finally on time! :D

Here's the evil thing that is called an 86.

Oh, and have I already told you about our skill to get lost everytime we go somewhere?

No?

Well, for starters my sense of direction isn't exactly what you would call good.

And it doesn't help that we don't know the city yet.

So basically. We get lost. It's as simple as that.

Next post'll come soon.

I miss everyone SO MUCH!

xoxo

First Day

Warning: this post may be a bit boring. Sorry in advance.

It's already my 5th day here, but whatever. I'm a little behind schedule, you don't mind right? ;)

Soooo, I was at the introduction speech.

I don't have very much to tell about that.

Just that every staff member was introduced (the whole lecture hall was full with people. We had to sit on the ground! :O) and they explained how the lessons would be like.

On that Monday we didn't have any classes yet, but we did have a Walking Tour through Boston.

First we took the train for an hour (walking to the train I met 3 Brazilian people who are also studying at EF) and then we saw some important buildings in downtown Boston.

One of those: The library. I'm going on a field trip there today, so I'll tell you more about it when I come back. ;)

We walked through parks and I met a lot of new people.

In front of the library there was this marching band type thing performing and they were all in costumes and everything! Me, as the tourist that I am, made a video of it and I think I even took some pictures (which I will post when I get back at the host family, because I'm on a school computer now without access to my pictures of course)

And then the group split up and me, some Spanish speaking people and two of the Brazilians stayed on the square we were to watch this show of 5 or 6 dancers from the Bronx in NY. It was real fun ;) It was mostly street dance , but there was a lot of interacting with the public going on too.

After the show ended we entered this market building where they had stands selling juice, smoothies, fruit and all kinds of things. Unfortunately I didn't make any pictures of it, don't ask me why.. hehe

After having walked around a bit we decided to go back to school, because we had to pick up our schedule for the next week. If we hadn't done that, you can imagine that we wouldn't know where we had to be the next day and more importantly when.

Eeeeewww! There was just this huge insect on my foooooot!

Sorry, back to my story.. I had dinner at school (after having to pay for it --' ) because after that we were gonna have an " ice cream social". Basically what that was, was that we had to go to the student lounge terrace and have ice cream and meet new people. When we arrived there weren't that many people there, but as we waited more started arriving and we started talking to people and putting our still unpolished English skills to use. I met a Dutch guy and he was all happy that he finally had found another Dutch person. Apparently he had been asking around all week that he was here if someone knew a Dutchie.. hehe

Dang it, I have to leave yoooooou..

I hope I have time to continue this tonight after my Student Barbeque. :)

I miss EVERYONE!

xoxo

FROM BOSTON 2

Here I am again.. ;)

After getting lost coming back home, in the 35C heat!

Wait, I'm ahead of my story now..

So, where did I cut my story off yesterday?

Oh, right! The woman in the plane.

Frequently asked question: How much sleep did you get in the plane?

Not very much. During take off I was sleepy, but it was take off so I did my best not to sleep.

And then I slept for like 10 minutes tops, because when I woke up the first movie was starting and that was the only one from the three that I hadn't seen, so I stayed awake for that. After that I tried sleeping again but I got distracted yet again, so sleeping wasn't going to happen any time soon.

But enough about the flight, because it was actually kinda boring and just normal, really.

My arrival? I had to wait an eternity for my luggage to come out at bagage claim. The dude at the imigration fell for my puppy eyes, I must say. He was extremely nice to me, so that's a good thing. hahaha

But now the good part starts: I get out of bagage claim and look for the people from EF that are supposed to pick me up. When I finally find them it's these two dudes who are just annoying each other. I had to wait like 45 minutes with them or something until one other guy came out (he had to go to Secondary Interview or something like that). I was laughing so hard! One of them was French and the other one.. Uuuhh... I have actually no clue where he was from. I just know that both of them had real good American accents! ;)

I arrived here on the great holiday that is the 4th of July. For me on the other hand, it was just a jet-lag day. I arrived at my host family somewhere in the afternoon and the fireworks would start at 10pm. But me and all the other girls (two Spanish and one Italian who has also just arrived) just decided to stay in, because we were dead tired. We did hear the fireworks, so that should counts just a bit right?

July 5th, 6am (yet again)

The time difference kicking in. Nervousness for the new school didn't help either..

So at 7 we left the house to get the bus.

The first bus? No problem at all.

We went all the way to Harvard Square to catch bus #86 to go to school. We waited for half an hour and guess what? The bus never came. We had to take a cab to get to school.

Of course after this we were praying that the bus would come at night when we would return home.

So, we finally get to school. IN TIME! :D We walk in the hall and are sent to the Lecture Hall: "Go up these stairs and then the big doors." So we're like, ok. We get in the room and it's packed with all these new people. Here in the US they don't see your Lastname as the D (from van Dijk), but as the V because they count the van as an actual name aswell.. So I'm in the wrong line ofcourse. It was my luck that the other line wasn't very full...

And then the introduction lecture.....

Yes, I'm leaving you with a little cliffhanger today. It's just that I'm half asleep in front of this laptop so I can't type anything without having to retyped every single thing two or three times. So, it's my cue to leave.

You'll hear from me tomorrow again!

xoxo

PS. Reinate, Iris, Sabine and Sofia I'm NOT forgetting you guys.

PPS. Sofia, yes I still love you.

PPPS. Fabio, I miss yoooou!

PPPPS. I don't really have any pictures to complement this post. Sorry, for all the text.

FROM BOSTON

Check the date. Go on do it.

What do you see? It's July 5th right?

You know what that means?

I AM IN FREAKING BOSTON! :D

This is my second day here. Or at least, my second day here is ending :)

You wanted a full report of what I'm doing here?

Well, here it comes.

July 4th, 6am

I wake up to go wash my hair and get ready to leave around 7.20.

Little detail before I continue my story: I couldn't check in the day before on the internet.

So, we get to the airport, like, 3 hours in advance. It's PACKED. The line for the KLM check-in is HUGE. I discover that my my check-in won't work, so I'm put in a seperate line. And then I discover that my luggage is too heavy, so I had to remove some stuff.. To keep it short: Drama. haha

So, I get at the gate a few minutes before boarding starts and I 'm hungry so I go and stand in an impossibly long line for a doughnut. Of course when I get back at the gate the line for boarding is also impossibly long.. --'

So, I decided to watch people. You know, to kill time. So, there's this Russian couple standing in front of me. Instead of just waiting in line with everyone else, the woman goes to sit down somewhere and leaves her husband alone. Okay. And then the man asks me in VERY broken English: "Guard my place? Yes? Be back in few minutes." And I'm like, sure, whatever. As long as you' re back before it's your turn, because I won't cover for you.. What the dude does? He goes to the chairs and stits next to his wife. Yes, he jus sat there. And I'm like "What the...."

So eventually they get back in line and it's my turn (they had security guards interviewing people about their visas and passports and whatever else). I use Sofia's advice and put my sweet puppy eyes on while answering questions like: "Who packed your bags for you?" "Were you the last one to touch your luggage?" And so on.

I get in the plain. The eight hour flight was boring. I watched three movies on the screens in the hallways. "Date Night" , "Valentine's Day" and " Dear John" (I had to keep myself from crying at Dear John, because the man next to me was probably already thinking I was a little off.. haha)

Annoying thing was: The woman in front of me kept moving her head. So I couldn't see the screen and had to move my head with her.. Which didn't exactly please the man next to me.. haha

Whoopsie, I still have loads to tell you! But it's already past midnight and I have to wake up at 6am tomorrow, so I'm going to sleep. I'll tell you more tomorrow..

See yaaa! :D

PS. Iris, Sabine and Sofia I'm NOT forgetting you guys.

PPS. Sofia, yes I still love you.

PPPS. I haven't uploaded my pictures on the computer yet, so that should explain the lack of pictures on this post. Sorry! :)