Summer School

I arrived at my hostel in Groningen a little after midnight. (Side story: everyone was sleeping in the room when I arrived, so I figured I would change in the hallway so as not to wake them up. I had to get my clothes and toothbrush out of my bag, which was locked because I was carrying a lot of money. After retrieving the items, I locked it back up, got ready for bed in the hall, and then quietly tip-toed back into the room. Suddenly, I realized I no longer had the key... I had put it in the wallet with the money so I wouldn't lose it. I walked back out into the hallway to see better and left the door slightly ajar so that it wouldn't make a noise when the door shut. Ten seconds later a LOUD ass alarm started going off because the door wasn't shut all the way. I'm sure it probably woke everyone up, which was what I was trying to avoid. Moral of the story: don't be an idiot if you're traveling with money, make sure you buy a quality lock, because it was easy as hell to pick the one I bought from CVS)

The next morning started the week-long MEME Summer School. The first two days consisted of learning about the MEME program, lectures from researchers of the different universities, and the best part- meeting my fellow classmates! Everyone is incredible and from all over the globe: Armenia, Belgium, Canada, China, Cuba, Egypt, England, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Macedonia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Portugal, Turkey, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Vietnam, and the USA! I'm so stoked to share this adventure with such awesome people.

MEMEs: The 4th Cohort

A few of us went out at night to explore the city. Groningen has 60,000 students and half the population is under 35, so the city is alive 24/7. A couple hours of sleep and we were boarding a bus the next morning to visit De Hoge Veluwe National Park in Gelderland followed by International Night with the older MEMEs. Each individual had to share something from their home country. We sampled Belgian, German, and Swiss chocolate, learned a few words in other languages, and had a lot of alcohol: Chinese Baijiu (so strong), Turkish Raki (really good), genuine Mexican Mezcal (cannot be sold outside of Mexico), and a Brazilian liquor (I forget the name but it's stored in a coconut for over a week before drinking). The graduating MEMEs presented their thesis projects on the final day. It was really cool to hear the various topics and to glimpse into the future for a peek of what is in store for us new MEMEs. At night the older cohort organized a party to celebrate the end of summer school. We danced the night away and sang along to some classic songs.

Us singing Bohemian Rhapsody

I haven't been here for more than a week and I have already learned so much about the world. I'm looking forward to the next 2 years...