still sound

These are a few photos from late January when my friends and I went to our faculty pub and later to Leah and Andrew’s place for some food and drink. Apart from making friends with people from all kinds of different countries, there are quite a few Canadians studying architecture here in Delft which is pretty awesome too.

I ventured to southern Holland today with my classmates to visit the site of our next studio project. I took a few pics plus I have some from the last few weeks, hopefully I’ll get them developed tomorrow or the next day. It’s almost another weekend and I’m already looking forward to it. Hope the week is going well so far for everyone!

 

still new

My weekend started on Thursday since I had my last exam and handed in my building technology project, such a relief! I did a few fun things this weekend to make up for the past couple weeks of hard work.

I met up with my usual group of friends on Thursday at our faculty pub for some cheap beers. [photo 1] We were getting hungry but luckily were saved by some fellow Canadians..Leah and Andrew invited us over for a pizza party [underexposed photo 2.. more from that later]. It turned out to be a pretty fun night. On Friday I took it easy during the day and then met up with Daniël in The Hague for some dinner. Afterwards we ended up getting some beers at de Boterwaag [photo 3], which was fun as well! Saturday was kind of lazy but met up with friends again in the evening, and Sunday I went back to The Hague [photo 4] for a bit with a few friends just to get out of Delft for the afternoon. Sometimes a change of scenery just feels nice, even if it’s only a 10 minute train ride away.

I have some more photos to post over the next while but for now I’m enjoying taking it easy. Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

PS – took the post title from a new Smith Westerns song.. I’m feeling lazy, plus it’s good!

looking ahead

I still have a few more pictures from Delft from after the first big snowfall. I’m hoping it will snow some more sometime soon since I got an awesome winter jacket for Christmas and I’m dying to try it out is some really cold weather [sounds crazy, huh?].

I’m definitely looking forward to the next month..  new classes, a few small trips around NL annnd I just booked a trip to London for “spring break” in February. I have two friends from my undergrad program who are living there right now so it will be great to catch up. Plus one of the friends I’m going with has lived there a while, so I’m counting on her to show me the good stuff!

For the rest of this week I’ll be reading architectural history and putting the finishing touches on my building technology project [which is thankfully 98% done already]. Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend!

biking on voorhofdreef

I took these photos a few months ago when Erica and I biked to a nearby farm to get some honey and some dairy stuff. I really enjoy being able to bike everywhere here.. when I was back in Vancouver I really missed that. Although driving is nicer in the rain..

Still busy busy busy but I feel like the end is in sight… I can’t wait for this project to be over and done with! We have our spring break coming up in about a month and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve started to make some tentative plans to go to London for a few days, hopefully everything will work out and I can book my train tickets soon! Hope everyone had a nice weekend and a good start to the week!

white winter

A few more pictures of the snow in Delft. I woke up this morning to find it snowing outside here in Vancouver! Kind of unexpected but also a pleasant surprise. For some reason whenever it snows I feel like listening to Fleet Foxes “White Winter Hymnal”.. it’s like the perfect snow song.

I had an amazing day yesterday with friends and family downtown. I took some pictures so I’ll save the story for another time but it was great and really made me feel at home. It’s going to be hard going back so soon [I leave Saturday night], especially since I have a crazy amount of work to do and my time management over the holidays has not been very good. But hey, it’s the holidays…. what do they expect?

tot ziens, delft

I won’t be here for a while; some views from inside + outside where I live.

My flight is scheduled to leave tomorrow afternoon.. and there’s been no extra snow since early this morning so I think it should be okay. So excited to be in Vancouver for a little while!

I experimented with a roll of black and white film about a month or so ago and I really liked the results, I think I’ll use it more often.

 

 

lichtjesavond

Last night in Delft was the Lichtjesavond or Evening of Lights [best approximation at an english translation]. They lit up a giant Christmas tree in the main square and there were stands and stalls set up all over the centre selling crafts, food and warm drinks. I had some glühwein and an oliebol [kind of like a Dutch donut] as a treat. There was a lot to see and thankfully small fires and lots of warm glühwein to keep everyone warm.

I’m spending the day at school working.. I’m really trying to push myself this week to get as much done before the break as I can. Although I’ve already accepted the fact I’m going to have to work over the holidays.. I miss the days when all the exams and stress was over before Christmas..

some things last a long time

These are a few pictures from inside the German pavilion. The theme of their exhibition was “Sehnsucht” or “longing”. There were lots of sketches by different architects and designers but my favourite part was the room with the white curtain and also the super cool retro light fixture.

Last night I went with a bunch of friends to the Le Guess Who music festival in Utrecht, about an hour away by train. The bands playing were Junip [with Jose Gonzalez], Caribou [one of my favourite Canadian bands] and Beach House [one of my absolute favs]. It was a really great concert, Caribou was super fun [and loud], Beach House played almost all of my favourite songs [like this one] and Victoria Legrand is so amazing live. I got this cool app for my iPhone where you can choose from several camera and film types; here are some pics from the concert:

Anyways, my friend Erica and I are back in the kitchen today cooking up a storm for our American/[belated]Canadian thanksgiving celebration tonight. There were a few tiny snowflakes this morning and it’s really cold out so it’s pretty much the perfect day to stay inside and have some North American comfort food! I’m really hoping this pumpkin pie turns out alright..

blown away

These are just a random assortment of photos from my last roll. I’m still waiting on another roll to be ready from the developing place.. for some reason it’s taking a while. I don’t think I’ll be able to get them back before I leave tomorrow morning but I’ll have a ton of photos after that!

It’s been super windy for the past couple days. Yesterday was crazy, the Dutch weather really gave me a beating on my way back from school. I did invest in one of these super strong umbrellas [designed here at the university]. It can withstand winds of up to 100 km/hr without inverting which is pretty handy here, seeing as it pretty much looks like an umbrella graveyard on windy days. Biking with an umbrella during 70km/hr gusts of wind isn’t the easiest thing, but I managed to make it home in one piece. Most of the trees are looking pretty bare after all this wind…

I’m really hoping the weather will be a bit friendlier in Venice. I probably won’t be updating for a few days, but hopefully I’ll have some good photos to share when I get back. Hope everyone enjoys the weekend!

vrijdag – maandag

 

Here’s how my weekend went.

Friday: dinner + beers with friends at our favourite Biercafé, Doerak. [photo 1]

Saturday: shopping trip to The Hague with Eric and Ignacio. [photos 2+3]

Sunday: my friend Erica and I organized a themed dinner for a small group of our friends. We decided on Italian food for this week so we made bruschetta, a caprese salad and mushroom risotto. It was quite delicious and I think we’re going to make this a regular occurrence [we're already planning a "north american" thanksgiving dinner for the weekend of the 27th] I’ll post more pictures from the dinner soon too. [photos 4+5]

Monday: wore my new coat to school. The weather was nice but cold…at least the coat passed the test of keeping me warm. The hood is a definite plus! [photo 6.. the sun was in my eyes]

This week will be busy but I’m looking forward to Venice on Saturday!