That night her program was hosting a thanksgiving dinner for the students and I was put on the guest list and was excited to get a good ol' thanksgiving dinner on this american holiday even tho I am in europe. Most of the dishes were provided by the students who made them and the program brought the turkey. All the food were some great salads, potatoes cranberry sauce, turkey and pumpkin pie to top it off. After a fun dinner the a group headed to a karaoke bar to prevent an after feast coma.
The next day was spent "dinking" (a term the students use to describe riding around on the back of someones bike) around town and seeing some fun stores and markets and a cool brewery attached to a windmill. That night we went out for some Indonesian food for dinner then headed to a party being thrown in one of the student housing areas. The big sensation of that night was solo cups! These iconic red cups used for various drinking games and featured in almost every movie where american teens have parties are not available in europe but the friend of one student brought some over when he came for a visit. All the americans were amused to see this icon of american underage drinking and the europeans were interested to see what they had always seen in movies and also learn the games that go with them like beer pong and flip cup. On that way home from this party I experienced what i have been told is a staple of the amsterdam experience a place called Febo a which is like a giant vending machine of fast food where you put in your coins and open the slot to get out your food. I tried a fried cheese which was quite delicious and welcome warmth in my tummy on a very cold night.
The next day we got up and went to a pancake house where they make HUGE big plate sized pancakes with whatever you want in them. (they are not as thin as crepes and you don't roll them up but they are not fat/fluffy like US pancakes) I got mine with cheese and onion and it was delicious. Then we headed over to a spot called electric lady land which is some kind of florescent art exhibit I guess you could say. The man who runs it is a delightful hippie Ex pat who is really passionate about florescent rocks. He told us all there is to know about then including that some random place in New Jersey has the largest deposit of these types of rocks in the world. Our friend hippie man said he has other nerdy rock friend from around europe "who dream their whole lives about going to new jersey...like how crazy is that man". He showed us all sorts of cool stuff with blacklights becasue the rocks look totally normal in the white light but put under black light come to life.
The one picture shows the rocks we looked at and the other is this artwork space he constructed and put florescent paint on that you could go into and be a participant in the art. After this groovy experience we went to a cafe to have a Lekker (tasty in dutch) hot coco. That night megan and I made a delicious stir fry dinner in her idy bitty kitchenette and headed to bed rather early so I could catch my flight at the crack the next morning. 
I got back to Cop and had no time to rest because I signed up to go to the Carlsberg brewery tour that day. It was an ok tour not too exciting. I had a Carlsberg christmas beer at the end which I had been meaning to try but turned in my second drink voucher for a Schweppes Lemon soda because they are oh so much more delicious then any beer! This week has been quite a busy one with lots of projects and events. I had a second Thanksgiving dinner because my friend's host family had a whole extra turkey left over from theirs so that was a treat. I have been thoroughly enjoying the steam room at my gym since its SO cold and snowy here and contrary to popular belief I do also use the guys fitness equipment to burn off all that turkey!
