Tag: groningen

findings and a gift

1.
the earth’s shaking in açores.
he‘s reading a book i never finished.
these talented ladies opened a shop.
there’s a graphic museum in this city.
photography is cheaper around here in some places and kodak’s service quality seems as low as in braga.
pedro remy is hosting a new photography exposition, from José Manuel Bacelar.

2.
dutch people like ready-made-all-packed things, and the tetrapacks around here are really cute for wallet-making.
i’ll send one to everyone who drops me a letter or a postcard till february :P
we’re in Van Houtenlaan, 27, room number 221, 9722 GR Groningen. (oh yes, i love getting mail around here, the sweet warm feeling of recognising portuguese stamps on the mailbox… priceless! :) )”

in the netherlands

oh.

Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe…
~~fiona apple~~ john lennon
(thanks pedro! :) )

levi watches fc porto’s goals on rtp’s website, and we quickly scan the news on publico to see what’s going on back home, while we wait for a class to start. now that a week and a half has passed, and the initial shock and frustrations were forgotten, everything seems easy. the adaptation period was much smoothed by the fact everybody here speaks english since they were in primary school, and even master’s classes are given in english, to dutch students. and also the other erasmus students’ company helped, of course. we’re all in the same boat here. 150 of us are now living in a which used to be a refugee’s hospital, some time ago. it lacks some conditions (and internet!) and is quite far from the ZernikeComplex (the place where we have classes), but it’s warm and cozy inside, in a strange mix of nationalities and cultures from all continents.
the city is beautiful. really lovely with its small red brick houses and canals that cross and circle it, confusing our sense of orientation. there are so many small details worth exploring, and so many treats to the eye… like an opaque glass lavatory or a bus station by rem koolhaas (the mr. who did the “casa da musica”, in porto).
well, duty calls. :) take care!

Post author By ana
Post date September 12, 2005
1 Comment on oh.

in the netherlands

walk this way

some links to share: * kiss by the hotel de ville, by robert doisneau was sold for over 155k euros. even though the kiss was staged, it’s such a beautiful picture. :)
* soduku: fill in the grid so that every row, every column, and every 3×3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. so addicting!
* david fonseca redesigned his web place (let’s wait for more regular updates :P)

and a note on the personal side:
* groningen it is, after a lot of last minute hesitations and confusions… dealing with the lack of protocols isn’t easy and we got our share of funny replies like this one, from leiden: "We do not have a Socrates programme with your department, and we do not like to start one, so I am sorry to tell you, but you’ll have to find another university for your stay abroad." :P go find someplace else, you’re not welcome here!
in the end, we decided to play it safe and stick to the only university who was offering us some decent garanties. meanwhile i used flickr to discover what the city was like. i found lots of photos tagged "groningen" and even some nice people who helped me getting an insight of what it was like living there. here’s an excerpt from an email from folkert’s ( aka designerd) who kindly shared his thoughts about the city with us:
"I can truly congratulate you on your choice to go to Groningen. I might be a bit biased, well a lot actually, but I’ll try to give an accurate idea.
Groningen is a fairly small city (about the sixth biggest in The Netherlands), yet the biggest in the north. It has a very young population, due to the presence of a university and several other educational institutions.
Due to this young population, Groningen has a vivid nightlife: a lot of bars, clubs and venues. And the best part: most of them are open 24/7, which is pretty unique. Most bars in other cities close at 3 in the night.
OK, you are right about the climate. It might not be as great as Portugal’s, but the Groningen summers can be nice and warm, and at times…wet. :-)
Living in Groningen is great. At least, that’s what I think. You have all the pros of living in a city, but if you like you can be in a more rural environment in no time."

sounds great! (and at the same time, it really feels similar to braga…) we’ll get used to it ireally quick! :D