Drama, drama, drama...
Hmmm... Where can I start? Yesterday was strange, confusing, even scary... My best friend got dumpt, after 4 years... I've never seen him so miserable ... I was in the same situations a year ago, and believe me it's no fun... It's strange how things can change. One minute you're so sure of the direction your life is taking, where you'll be 5 years from now and with whom, and the next moment, out of nowhere, all those dreams and plans just dissapear. It is beyond awful, but there is nothing anybody can do to help it, shit happens... How terribly pessimistic this must sound, but it is not really... If you prepare for the worst things can only brighten up for you.

to read or not to read...
I am proud to announce that the lights in my room are once again in working order and that it is now my television that has chosen to retire. So, now I really have to read... not only because my exam is on the 7th f november, but more because it is so boring without my telli Ok, so I'm a TV addict... so what? I have now finished my third book. This one was really horrible. I learned at least one new word with each page... The book, 'Anti-semitism in America' by Leonard Dinnerstein is an absolute bore... He doesn't actually says a lot. He only gives thousands of anekdotes, names and numbers to illustrate the changing attitudes towards Jews in America from colonial times til the present. But why use words like belligerence and proselytizer when you can also use simple terms like agression and evangelist??? And I'm not even talking about nice little terms like filiopietistic, transubstantiation, irrascible and opprobrium... Some people just don't get it...

I'll get going once again. I still have to read 40 pages today, and Olaf is coming over so I don't have much time...

Shout! Shout! Let it all out...

May the Sleep be with you...
Update! Yes I am still writing in the dark. And yes, I have finished my book on schedual... only to have enough time to start with the next one... 'Black in the Jewish Mind' Not that I have started yet... haha Anyways, I am TIRED!!! My God!!! Ofcourse it's my own fault... as always... but nontheless that is not a very comforting thought to have... I woke up at 6.45 this morning, just as I planed it. Not that I had to be somewhere very early, but I figured it would be good for me. You may think: 'who in his right mind would actually want to wake up in the middle of the night and would indeed think of this as something positive???' Well, ofcourse you should know there was a reason why the alarm was in fact set on 6.45 and not lets say 8.00 (which is ofcourse still the middle of the night for any human student being). As I was staying at Olafs, I wanted to travel together with him for part of my journey back to Leiden. The poor guy really has to get up this early every morning and travel by train and bus for more than an hour to go to work... Life is no picknick lol...

Hansle & Gretle
You probably all know that in a flat country like Holland it is very convinient to posses one of the most wonderfull inventions of modern times, the bicycle! These machines come in all colours and sizes, they are light and compact, easy to handle, inexpensive (very important for the Dutch lol and ofcourse a national symbol of this wind-mill country. Anyways, like a good integrated part of society, I too have one of these brilliant apparatus... Ok, so mine is somewhat smaller then the ordinary bike, and yes, mine is also true to it's sort because he can actually be divided in two parts conected by one screw... What makes my bike more special than most other bicycles has nothing to do with these facts. My bike is special, because he is all mine (and has been mine for 4 years now, which is very exceptional in Holland lol), and more importantly he has a name, Hans! Why Hans? Wait, you probably prfer reading why he has a name at all!? Ok, my bike has a name because my old laptop had one, and I felt really sorry for my bike for not having one. And why Hans? He just felt like a lone Austrian jodeling shepherd boy, so I called him Hans. He is also a second han(d)s bike, so it is a perfect name for him, don't you think? Ok, now I have introduced Hans. You may as well know, that 'take-a-part-bikes' like Hans can travel on the Dutch railroads for free, because they are seen as hand lugage. That is why Hans always travels with me on all my wonderfull journeys... Me and Hans are sort of unseperateble, he is my compagnion, where I go, he goes and visa versa... It is quite essential for Hans wellbeing though that his screw is in place when he is used. In the train, Hans has to be taken apart, or I would actually have to buy him a ticket, which I ofcourse refuse to do, so I take him apart...lol... For four years now, I have done this without any real problems... But last Friday was different... It was hot... very hot outside... and I took off my jacket, because of the gorgeous wethear... And so I put Hans' screw in my front trousers pocket, insted of in my bag or jacket pocket... So, ok, maybe I'm stupid, but this was never a problem for four years, so why now??? Anyways, you probably guessed, I lost the damn screw (excuse my language) and left Hans handicapt in two parts... This is I assure you not a good thing... Mainly because they don't make bikes like Hans anymore and you can't buy another screw like that anywhere anymore ... Even worse... I had a flat tire today... So I put Hans in the bike's hospital (the shop)... He'll be better tomorrow afternoon... I hope ...

END

The not so good housekeeper
I had invisioned lots of major plans for today... I would get up bright 'n early, read at least 80 pages, clean up my room, do the dishes, go out for groceries, pick up some books in the library and be a model student... Ofcourse these plans wern't exactly as the day turned out to be... as one might expect, (knowing myself) but nontheless, I am utterly dissapointed about today's activities... It's not even that I started out bad... I mean I got up at 9.30, which is not that bad... and I did read some 40 pages... but after that everything went terribly wrong... I went out to buy new light bulbs for my room (as you may have read, I can not see in the dark...lol) Turns out the problem lies elsewhere and the dark ages are planning to stay... So my almost 11 euro's for six miserable light bulbs were entirely misspent... My conclusion: the lamps are broken... ouch... that really hurts... regarding my brokeness and the end of my state scholarship last month (in Holland we get 4 years of scholarship payments from our beloved government... only real students like Olaf, who study real issues like phisycs get 5 years...) So, what do you do? You call the landlord... Not that he will do anything for me, or that he will even sympathise with my problems... No, because he wouldn't even pick up the $%@#* phone.... Arghhhhh!!!! So, no lights... And did I even tell you yet that my ceiling is 3 meters high, which doesn't make instaling new electrical lamps very easy, especially when you are as ungifted in home improvement as I am... There is a reason why I am a student... I am NOT fit for anything practical ...

Fit as a cow
The summer is long gone... Not that the weather outside isn't absolutely faboulus today... The sun is shining (for as long as that lasts ), the temperature is well above 20 degrees Celsius and so all is well. But the time of leasure is over, there is work to be done! And I'm not only talking of very important studying hours or the keeping up apperances with the social crowd. No people, I am speaking about Sports!!! I, for that matter, do not like watching sports for entertainment very much, neither do I really enjoy participating in exhausitng fysical activity. Like it or not, to keep in shape and to reach the unreacheble goal of the beautiful slender body every girl wants, I surrender myself every now and again to the inhuman machinery of the gym. All summer long, I refrained myself from any (public) work-out, and I can already see the results... So, it is time to ban choclate and start to MOVE!!! Ofcourse you should not go alone, you need a person to be your drill seargant, to keep your spirits up and to exersise along you, so you won't be the only idiot out there. And so, I go with one of my best friends, Samuel, as I did last year. But I really must be going now, so TODELOOOOOO!!!

No time to waste...

Hi, I'm new!!!
Hmmmmm.... So I have a column... You are probably all wondering why? Well, so am I... ;) Oh oh, I have come to the conclusion that there is no Winking emoticon... My favorite... So where shall I start? What do I have to say? Usually I have lot's to say (ask Olaf...) I guess I better start by introducing myself, as most of you don't know much about me other than being Olaf's Girlfriend... First of all, my name may sound a bit funny to some... Anyways, Nitzan is Hebrew for bud... and if you wonder why I am in the possesion of such an exotic name... quite simple really, I was born in a place where it is not so exotic at all, in Israel... So, yes I am the offspring of some very socialistic kibbutz folk... Anyways, today I live in the City of Leiden in the Netherlands, the oldest university town of this country... what does one study in such a city? History ofcourse what else? ;) (again I grieve for my lost emoticon....Olaf!!!Help!!!) I'm starting my fifth year now, which means that I should have finished last year... In fact, I am really almost finished... except ofcourse for the most difficult part of the whole curriculum... the thesis... !!!!!!!!!!!HELP!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, and I have to read 1600 pages before the 7th of november, the day I will face an oral exam with the one and only mister Quispel, my prof. Ok, so I don't read that fast... Then why did I ever started out this study??? Hmmmmm, good question...lol.... No, I am very happy with my choise for history... it's only very hard to finish school... I always had a new goal to look forward to but after university you sort of really finish...and that really scares me...

And now you know a bit about me... but still, what doI say??? Hmmm, let's start with the movie I've seen yesterday with Olaf... 'Down with Love' Well, for all you girlzzz out there... Go see this movie... it is really very funny and so unbelievebly retro and filled with all kinds of nice cute things like pink dresses, musical intermezzo's, chocoholics and ofcourse Ewan McGregor....Yum! But the best thing about this movie is the out-of-the-ordinary twist...which I would not dare to reviel here... so go see it and enjoy...

Alone in the dark
Last friday I entered my room after taking a long and very nice shower and turned on the lights in my room... Ok, nothing wrong with that....except for the fact that all six light bulbs decided to refrain from working at that exact moment all at the same time... So I am sitting in my very unorganised room right now, with no lights and dirty dishes of an entire week in the kitchen...and what do I do about it? Nothing! I am writing this column for your entertainment... and it does make a very good exuse don't you think? ;) But I will stop now... I still have to read 40 pages in my book...'Bittersweet Encounters'...on the Black-Jewish relations in America...great stuff!!!

You had to be a big shot last night....