Brussels again and the Eye of Doom

I was just thinking that it has been a quiet week here, but it really hasn't!

Tuesday I had to go to Brussels to apply for my French student visa. Yeah, the Netherlands decided last year that they didn't feel like processing the applications anymore and handed us off to an embassy in the next country over... And I know everyone thinks that everything in Europe is close together, but I live in the very northern part of the Netherlands, and I'm far from EVERYTHING. It takes me 2.5 hours and at least two trains to get to Amsterdam. So going to Brussels is a 5.5 hour one-way adventure. And, since our appointment was on a  Tuesday at 11am, I got to leave at 5:46 in the morning! Yikes. But I like riding trains, and had a lot to read, so it was fine. I reached the embassy, waited just a few minutes, handed in my documents, and was told I'd be emailed when the visa was ready (11 hours in a train for 20 minutes in the embassy). Given that I head to France in 3 weeks, I was hoping it was soon! It took us forever to get the appointment in the first place, which is why we had to cut it so close. You can only call the embassy for visa questions from 2:30-3:30, weekdays except Wednesday. We did that for nearly a month, with constant busy signals. So, folks, when doing anything with an embassy, I recommend immediately bombarding them through every communication channel you have, making frequent use of the word URGENT. Yes, in all caps. The way we finally got through was an URGENT email.

After my time in the embassy, I met a friend who lives near Brussels for lunch. In Belgium, there are only sales in the stores twice a year (January and July to get rid of winter and summer clothes, respectively), so when they say sale, it means nearly everything is at least 50% off! It would have been great if I didn't have to move soon and am already worried about carrying everything I have... Too bad. I did get some fun stuff from Yves Rocher though. Yes, I am a girl. After my friend had to go back to work, I wandered around Brussels for a few hours. I have to say, it's not really a city I'd recommend making any special effort to visit. It's got only a few tourist attractions, and I didn't find them particularly amazing. I'm sure there are fun museums, but just for wandering around, it's not a great spot.

Then Wednesday. Urg Wednesday. I sort of hit a breaking point on Wednesday. We're taking a class right now that is on a pretty specific topic (Modeling/theoretical biology if that means anything to you) which involves a lot of math and very specific formulas. I am good at math and don't have a problem with it. This area of biology, however, is pretty specialized and very few people will go into it, so it's strange to me that we're spending 7 weeks, 9-5 every day on it. You know quickly whether you like it or not/whether you think about biology that way. And I think most of us do not. And we've had enough.

There are also several aspects of my program I'm not happy with still (like the fact that the people here in Groningen, who are still in class full time, have to give a 30 minute presentation at our winter school next week, whereas the people who are coming in from Uppsala, who have been done with their classes for a month, can chose whether to do so or not, or even whether to attend). And other things not worth going into. It's not well set up or "fair"- I know, nothing's fair, but this is silly. The people in Uppsala get a huge break from classes regardless of where they're going for the next semester. And people going to Munich can chose to start in March, April or May. I, going from Groningen to Montpellier, get exactly one week to move and then immediately start classes. Break? No? Ok, that's fine, I' sure I didn't want one anyway. And I know Master's programs aren't supposed to be full of breaks, but I'm annoyed that some of my classmates are getting four months off (still on scholarship of course).

Also on Wednesday, long story short, my right eye decided to mysteriously become badly scratched. I was already upset and then spent the evening/night in miserable pain. Lovely. I ended up having to go to the hospital Thursday morning (since that's apparently what you have to do when you have an eye problem and don't have an appointment with a normal doctor). So very strange, this Dutch health care system. The hospital was fine though actually. I just have to wear my glasses for a month and put in drops. I haven't left the house in glasses since I was probably 10, so it's been interesting. Anyway, the eye seems to be getting a lot better, but if you have any control over such things, I'd really recommend not scratching your eye. Or going to the doctor i the Netherlands. My German professor told me that he and his German friends still all go to German doctors!

Happily though, on Thursday we found out our visas were approved and that another classmate was already going to Brussels and so could pick them up for us (oh yeah, you have to go back to Brussels to pick up your visa once it's ready).

There is a huge music festival in town right now. We were very excited about it until we realized that tickets had gone on sale 2 months ago and sold out in 15 minutes... There have been some free shows at a record store, a coffee place, and in the main market square, so I've seen a few things. It's also, however, been absolutely pouring, and by the evening, when these shows are, I tend to have a tired eye and a glasses headache.

Hehe, I'm a mess, guys! And now I'm spending all weekend working on a presentation. Blerg. I like the topic, but am struggling with focus and motivation. Soon (Tuesday) it'll be over! Next week is our winter school, so it will be fun to hang out with some of the other students from Uppsala we haven't seen much. And most of the week is student lectures, with some free time so we can hang out, which will be a nice change from modeling the change in X strategy over time in a environment where Y strategy is common...

3 weeks from today I move to France!!