just a bit of bitching....

marrying internationally involves alot of annoying paperwork. which involves going from one embassy to some other foreign affairs building which isn't opened today you'll have to do it another time, and then back to the embassy then to a completely different city plus some stuff with the mail and then another stamp at another building...all of which includes paying for something at each stop of course...

planning a wedding on the other side of the world from that of where one's family lives is another nice little challenge. how hard could it possibly be to find somewhere to put 20-some people for a few days? apparently the competitive nature of the American hotel industry has it's advantages. less luxury, less expensive, more rooms, better deals...and of course, accomodation to the customers needs because he is always right. where is that when you need it?

word of advice: marry the boy next door...as long as he is a citizen in the same country as you are...and his family lives close by...and you have a big basement to stuff everyone into...

studying a masters in an other country than where one got one's masters also is apparently quite complicated. i got a nice reject email from the University of Amsterdam - "you do not have a sufficient educational background...". the international degree/diploma comparison site i looked at yesterday said that by Dutch standards i should do the last two years of a bachelor's somewhere, just to catch up.  can some one remind me why i studied for four years for a bachelors that put me in debt for like the rest of my life at a school that no one knows of and apparently doesn't quite prepare me for the future quite as well as was so consistently promised through the entire duration of my "educational career"?

i'm crossing my fingers (and sending a lot of little helpless messages upwards) for the response from the University of Leiden. maybe they will have mercy on me. maybe they'll have a pre-master's program. maybe i'll have to resign myself to my fate as the eternal undergrad-student.

in other news: the netherlands is experiencing record warm and dry spring weather. generally around this time of year they get an average of 40cm of rain and now they have had only 3... or something like that. i don't remember the numbers. just the drastic difference. i'm enjoying the sun...but i'm slightly unnerved by the fact that holland is actually dusty. i didn't even know it could get dry here. very strange. in comparison to the spring of my nspice program, everything is much brighter, warmer, and prettier (no grey anywhere!). and of course, drier (is that a word, in this context?).

this weekend the entire country will celebrate the birthday of the queen (which actually is some time in the winter or something, but they just picked one day to celebrate instead of switching with each new queen/king)... so... this weekend, luuk, carmela, dane, and myself will be running around in the streets with half of holland drinking beer and singing songs in the queens honor. yay!