Long live holy-days! April and May are particularly pleasant in the Netherlands, not only because the weather is improving, the day is becoming longer, but also due to the many national holidays. This week we had the Thursday and the Friday free from university, which resulted in a looong weekend of 4 days.

Painting by Il Garofalo – Ascension of Christ

The dilemma was the following : to study or not to study. As you might have guessed already, the decision was taken and the backpack was packed. Off I went to the North of the Netherlands, my destination - Leeuwarden. The reason : to explore this part of country and meet with Valya – a classmate of mine.  She is studying Tourism at Stenden University of Applied Sciences. The trip was postponed a couple of times, but now the time had come.

The trip lasted little over 3 hours (pretty long for the Netherlands), but I enjoy traveling, especially in an air-conditioned train, while outside is hot (25^o without clouds) . I was greeted at the train station and we had a little walk around Leeuwarden. I got the impression that it is a lively student city with long canal running through the centre, friendly bars and Frisians. These people speak a different language and are very proud of it and their culture.

A statue and a rocker

I was curious about the different education that my friend was getting at her university, so she brought me to the campus. The Hogeschool concentrates on the practical side of the studies. In other words, the students get to chance to practice their future profession and learn about it by actually doing it. Since it was a holiday, the main building was closed, but the backdoor of the kitchen was still opened. We were guided by Valya’s roommate, who is studying Hotel  Management. I learned that every day the students cook 7000 meals which are consumed by their colleagues and the guests of the Hotel, which is run by the university. After the quick tour I was convinced that the level of preparation of this ‘not so serious’ study was high.

Table arrangements by the students (university’s hotel restaurant)

Later we formed a Bulgarian feast with our beloved drink - Rakia. The beverages ‘showed’ us the way to the disco and it was Thursday – the student’s night. The bouncer at the club wouldn’t let some people in, with the excuse :
“It is too crowded” . However, I was accompanied by two ladies, and therefore I was privileged to get in even with another person’s student ID.

The next day, we decided to visit Harlingen – an old town at the North’s Sea coast. It is famous for its long history in fishing and shipping. The train took us directly to the harbor from where the ferries to the Wadden islands and Vlieland depart. The ferry tickets’ price were not that tempting, and our feet took us to the nearby beach where we enjoyed the sun and strolled into the black mud in attempt to reach the sea.

After the long night our brains needed a good coffee and our bodies asked for some rest. The wish came true in a nice restaurant just above the beach. To make it complete, we had some Lokum, bought at the Bulgarian store in Leeuwarden.

The conversation was flowing and we did exchange a lot of ideas. I learned a lot about my companions and how our life paths have changed us. I truly enjoyed it! Moreover, the coffee ritual reminded us of the leisure times in high school, when we would run from class to linger over a cup of coffee for a couple of hours. In Holland, we rarely allow ourselves this pleasure, since ‘time here is expensive and should not be wasted’. But that Friday was different and university duties seemed far, far away.

The energy we got from the entertaining  chats and the delicious coffee inspired us to explore the city – and it turned out to be worthwhile. The canals were full with yachts, small ships and cool boats.

Local children were eating their ice creams and seemed not to care about the architecture of the town. But we could not just pass it by. We stopped here and there to admire the Dutch mastery of richly ornamented houses, the creativity when it comes to entertaintment and the idyll of the canals.

At the end of the day we truly agreed with Christopher McCandless on his quote that “Happiness is true only when it is shared”. Thank you Valya once again for this wonderful experience. I hoped all of you felt my happiness through this piece of writing. Good night and thank you for reading.