All I need now is a Lady Gaga fix

When we went home Friday night, we thought that random couch surfer speed dating would be the beginning of a great weekend...Though it wasn’t what we expected, I guess I have to admit it was still a pretty great weekend.
We woke up around 11:00 after a good eight hours of sleep. Since our host was so generous in letting three girls crash his bachelor pad, we decided to repay him by making breakfast…We made some bomb French toast, and then keeping in Dutch tradition, but mixing in a little IHOP, we put Nutella, bananas, and powdered sugar on top…It was so delicious. And since it was a special weekend, Lily and I decided to make it EXTRA fancy…Yes that is a bottle of Proseco…don’t judge. It was also great because neither our host nor the other girl staying there had ever had Mimosas or French toast. So we were able to share a great American breakfast…And now they understand why our nation has a weight problem.
Then it was time to hop on the metro (minus the homeless man and attacking doors this time) and head to Basecamp. We met up with a bunch of our other CS friends…This is where we met to go on a city walk tour of Rotterdam. We were pretty excited because we thought we’d learn a lot of cool things and get to be tourists for a day. Well too bad the group was so huge that we couldn’t all get close enough to hear our guide. So we’d stop at random times not knowing what we were looking at…wonder what kind of sculpture it was...and then when we wanted to take pictures of things, the group kept walking…However I did see a couple reminders of my two home towns areas San Francisco...And LA...We eventually got to the docks, which used to be the gateway to the New World when cruise ships were the way to travel…But at this point, we needed to leave the tour. We had forgotten some stuff at our host’s house and we didn’t want to be late for the dinner. But first, we stopped off at a department store to get a little snack and relax…Well we got to dinner, which was DELICIOUS!!! We had goat cheese salad, bread with herb butter, seafood, pasta, soup…a total feast. We also got to enjoy a nice relaxing dinner with our friends…Then it was ON TO THE PARTY! I was really excited, when I got there and was sporting my new Euro trash, Black Friday outfit. But unfortunately, the DJ was this 40 year old Cuban guy who had a repertoire of ten songs (including the theme song to Austin Powers five different salsa songs that all sounded the same, and Bob Marley) which he kept playing over and over. We had come to dance, and we were not happy. But then the Zwarte Piets came out and said it was time for Sinterklaas to arrive! And I actually got to meet him…Can you tell I was excited? We also did our present swap and I got a giant chocolate bar with a Dutch postcard. What made me happy was seeing the guy who got the apron I brought, wearing it during the party. But finally, we heard a familiar melody in the background…It was Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance” which meant out came the moves, as well as the dancing face…Unfortunately that was the only song we were able to dance to that night. We were bummed and soon left with our host to settle down for a long winter’s nap. But we still had a great night with new friends…Upon waking the next morning, we decided to skip the brunch (after Lily lied through her teeth to get our money back…it was pretty amazing.) Instead we went to Den Haag to meet up with Lily’s flight attendant mommy, do a little exploring, drink a little wine, and have my first experience of oliebollen…It was pretty amazing. It’s like funnel cake but in a ball and with mix-ins. It’s a Dutch holiday food (and thank goodness it’s only holiday because I have a feeling I’d eat them all year.) Feeling full and fulfilled, I hopped on the train,  back to my humble home to be greeted by my family wanting to know about my trip. It was a good weekend but it was even better to be back home.

Word of the day: slapen - sleep