Last Week in Verbs 28

I have never in my life had to say goodbye to so many close friends in such a short period of time. Even when leaving university for the summer each year I always had the knowledge that I would see my friends again in the fall, and we would be in the same country all summer as well. When my first few close friends left (including Andrea and Jiri) I didn’t think too much of it knowing I would see them this summer. But now that Dominika, Koko have left (among others) the realization that I may never see them again is beginning to set in. This week has been a week of tearful goodbyes and long hugs.

On Tuesday Verbs 48 held their last party, as Baran was leaving the next day for home. The night was rather uneventful, apart from Koko showing up dressed as a rabbit, and the police making an appearance for the first time all semester. By the end of the night I found myself in Laura’s room Mikko and Duke, before I headed to bed. This week the world cup began, which means I have been hearing tons about football. To the right is Laura's favourite part of the world cup; Hup Holland Hamsters

On Wednesday I visited Giethoorn, a town up north in the Netherlands with Koko, Ellaisha, Thomas, Shu, Clem, Janine W., and Rena. This town is probably the nicest place I have visited in the Netherlands. The streets are all canals and boats are required to get around. We rented a small motorboat that could fit all eight of us and toured around the towns canals and out into the lake. We visited an Italian restaurant for some lunch before heading home. It was a beautiful sunny day spent relaxing (and avoiding the studying that waited for me back in Tilburg). On Wednesday night there was a second party held at verbs, the second in a line of many.

Thursday was the day Andrea left for home. At 7am he ran through the hallways banging pans to ensure that everyone was awake to say goodbye to him. Where he got all that energy after staying up all night, I’m not quite sure. Clem, Shu, Koko, Ellaisha, Cagatay and I walked with him to the train station to send him off. After a dramatic goodbye with hugs, and a few tears, the train doors closed, only to have Koko quickly open it again. This went on for ten minutes until it was finally time for the train to leave. I wasn’t able to go back to sleep as I had a group dynamics lab at 8:45 that morning. My very last class of Tilburg University! In the afternoon Clem also left for home. Beka and I had planned to go to the pond to study but I was pulled into helping at a clothes sale with Willem. The event consisted of me biking with 4 huge bags of clothes and then sorting clothes for ten minutes. The rest of the afternoon was spent standing around without much to help with. There goes my good deed for the day. Thursday was Celeste’s last day in Tilburg so she offered to make us mushroom risotto for dinner. It was a welcome invitation, especially when she surprised us with homemade cheesecake for desert.

Friday was not the most pleasant day here in Tilburg. Due to our contract ending that day many people were either leaving, or moving to a new room. The evening before there had been a party in Verbs 54 (previously the most pleasant, clean, quiet floor). The new residents of the floor completely destroyed the kitchen, breaking all of the ceiling tiles and leaving a huge mess of bottles. Walking into the kitchen was like walking into a construction zone. On top of this, a couch was set on fire outside in the middle of the night. Not sure how I slept through firemen showing up. Needless to say, many people were unimpressed, especially those who lived there previously and those who may be unwillingly charged for the damage even though they weren’t there.

I spent the morning moving all of my belongings from verbs 28-18 to 52-12 my new room for my last week in Tilburg. My room turned into a storage room for lost homeless souls over the weekend. I had Jessica sleeping in my room, so along with her belongings I had all of koko’s (which is much more than you’d think for someone returning to Japan), and Lukas’s belongings as well. We laid outside on the grass all afternoon. We brought Dominika, Marek, and Leon to the train station and said goodbye.  That evening Laura’s parents picked her and all of her many many belongings up to bring home. A very tearful good bye ensued, including me, that is until Laura invited me to Delft with her parents the next day.  

Most of the day Sunday was spent studying for my evolutionary psychology midterm on Monday morning. That evening was Koko’s last evening in the Netherlands, so we spent the night dancing around the kitchen and taking awkward photos. On Monday morning we woke up at 5:30am to bring Koko to the train station and say goodbye. The sign said that the train would be 5 minutes late so we had delayed out goodbyes and hugs. The train ended up arriving on time so we helped her get all her stuff on the train and tried to hug her goodbye but were literally pushed off the train so it could leave.