Rotterdam? More like Betterdam!

This weekend gave a big boost to the ol' "trust your muse" school of thought. (You should trust your Muse, too, because they will make absurdly grandiose rock spectacles with lots of lasers, and you can count on that) I sort of hatched the idea of seeing some other Dutch city last week. You know, somewhere besides Amsterdam, the tourism-and-joints capital of the world, and Maastricht. But by the time Saturday rolled around, I got up at noon, nobody else wanted to go, I was feeling a little bit sick, it was raining like a big rainy thing, and I had no hostel reservation.

So of course I went. I decided to go to the train station, see if it's cheaper and easier to get to Rotterdam or Utrecht, and go there. It was about the same (read: EU$40 and an annoying train-bus-train connection because of rail line work), but I had heard about these windmills in Kinderdijk, near Rotterdam, and I thought that that sounded cool, and also I don't think I would be allowed out of the country in June if I didn't see any windmills. Rotterdam ho!

How'd it turn out? In two words, very well! I got in at about 5:30pm, after all the museums and stuff closed, and I thought I'd have nothing to do all day. Surprise, it's Museum Night! All the museums and art galleries (about 40 in all) were open from 8pm to 2am, having special exhibits, DJ's, parties, drinks, etc. Next time I complain about my rotten luck, remind me of that time I went to Rotterdam and it was Museum Night.

So I saw a bunch of museums with cool art, some neat galleries, some over-the-top pretentious modern-art galleries, a church with organ music, people out on the streets, and architectural wankery. The next day I went to see some windmills, which was not quite so good.

Classes are still pretty easy (although I have no idea if this project we're working on is ever going to come together... urrghhh projects), I got into a Dutch language class (I got into level A2, instead of A1, because of all that reading I did on my own, proving that it wasn't a waste of time after all), I'm still in the acting class and it's not bad, and I'm looking for a trip this weekend. I'm thinking Berlin, but I'm not sure.

I feel like an old man. I walk around a city and some windmills for 24 hours, and my legs were sore the next couple days. Also, I always look like I'm dying, mostly due to the big dark bags under my eyes. ("You look like a, um, dead thing, um, what is the word... a zombie" commented one of my fellow actors yesterday) More importantly, I often feel very tired, no matter if I sleep a lot or a little, exercise or not, eat well or not, drink coffee or not, take Claritin or not. Huh. Nothing new, really. Still, it'd be nice if a doctor or someone could tell me what I'm doing wrong.

But other than that, life is smiley and nice. Well, that's not true either. Life's not "pleasant"... it's certainly turbulent. But in a good way; in an "I'm meeting a lot of new people and trying new things and going to a new city every weekend" sort of way. I like it.