An update from Leiden

The last few days I have been busy with school, family and friends. On monday dad and sister came to town for one day and we went out for a nice meal together. I ordered one of the daily specials; stuffed pepper (rice, olives, feta cheese) with potatoes and salad. It was delicious! So far all the food at the restaurants here has been really good, and there are so many to choose from which makes it tempting to eat out a lot :)

After dinner I went to a bar to meet up with some of the lovely people I meet during the university introduction days. It was one of the girls’ birthday so some celebration beers were in order!

Tuesday was the first day of classes which was more or less an introduction to the course lecture. I actually only have three days of classes a week right now which is great, but which also means that most of the work we do  is independently. The MA program that I am taking – Cultural Anthropology & Development Sociology - really focuses on your own research and fieldwork, which is also one of the reasons I choose this particular program. After four years of an undergrad with only lectures I am ready for some hands on experience! There is, however, also lots of reading and assignments each week. It is definitely taking some time to get into the study mode again after being out of the loop for a year. Although I think once I am more “settled” into my new home town it will be easier to buckle down and get into the books.

Tonight the lovely Tess from Australia had invited some few friends over to her place for some traditional Dutch pannekoeken. We all brought whatever we wanted on them which can be anything from cheese, ham and tomatoes to apples, bananas and strawberries. I brought the traditional Norwegian style topping; sour cream and jam and I got to try one of the traditional Dutch style pannekoeken which is cooked with apples and bacon and topped of with some delicious stroop :)