09.28.08
Posted in Amsterdam, General at 11:33 by Staci
It is official! I’ve received my Masters of Science in Environment and Resource Management with high merit. Yeah! It is over…Oh wait, I still need to finish writing my thesis. Just a minor detail.
But, I’ve officially graduated. The diploma is mine, as evidenced in the attached picture where I am signing it as is part of Dutch tradition. And no cap and gowns here in Holland…sad:-( But, it was still a lovely day with a roughly 3 hour ceremony to acknowledge the 27 students present who were graduating and the other 15 not present. This was followed by a Borrel (drinks) to celebrate, and then one last hurray at our student pub, GeoVUsie (80 euro cent drinks kept us quite happy this past year, but the price just went up for the students this year….90 euro cents….we got out just in time:-)).
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04.14.08
Posted in Amsterdam at 17:52 by Staci
My friend and former co-worker, Kristy, gave me a magnet when I left my job at the Ohio Environmental Council and prepared to embark on this journey across the ocean into the great unknown (ok, Amsterdam isn’t so unknown, but you get my point). This magnet now hangs on our refrigerator and serves as my daily reminder to take chances. It contains words to live by and inspiration that must be shared.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did.
So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
-Unknown
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01.22.08
Posted in Amsterdam at 21:45 by Staci
Ok, so this post is technically a month late, but hey I am working on my Masters and was a bit busy in the month of December!!! Cut a girl some slack! My Environmental and Energy Policy Tools course was wrapping up with an intensive group project on “Alternative Management Strategies for Mitigating the Human-Lion Conflict in Cameroon” which involved multi-criteria analysis and a lengthy report. Add on top of that studying for a comprehensive exam covering techniques from GIS to cost-benefit analysis and stakeholder participation, and needless to say December kept me busy.
But, Jeff and I did find a little time to get into the holiday spirit. One day while at the University canteen, I heard Christmas music (back home traditional music) and woah did that ever put me in the spirit. I started singing right there! My countdown to coming home, seeing family & friends, kitties, and hopefully snow (got that wish) began!
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11.24.07
Posted in Amsterdam, General at 23:16 by Staci
As usual I am behind with everything. I have started adding photos to some previous posts when I didn’t know how to upload pictures. Jeff tries to keep me ignorant so he can hold his computer genius over me, but I will no longer be oppressed. I am woman hear me ROAR! Ok, so maybe he had to SHOW me how to use the picture gallery, but now that he has I am an independent blogger!
So, please click on the following pictures to access 3 photo albums (Bon Voyage Party, Trip Across the Big Blue Ocean and Our Arrival in Europe). Or you can click on August under the Archives menu bar to the right if you want to go to the original posts with updates.
Dank u wel.
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11.16.07
Posted in Amsterdam, General at 01:57 by Staci
I know, I know, who would have thought I would need to travel all the way to Amsterdam to finally learn how to make pierogies from scratch!??! For those non-Polish people out there, pierogies are dough filled with potatoes, cheese, and onions (really any variety of fillings you could think of, but potato and cheese are the staples) that are served up best when lightly boiled and then sautéed in butter and onions with a little salt, pepper and paprika sprinkled on top. That is my preferred way to eat them at least.
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10.27.07
Posted in Amsterdam at 11:11 by Staci
Well, now you know a little history about where we went on the excursion for school. Now for the details and a map to give you some perspective on just HOW MUCH PEOPLE BIKE HERE! If you read Jeff’s post about Amstelveen (the town we live in) you know we are about a 25-30 minute metro trip to Amsterdam central station. To date, Jeff and I have not rode our bikes into the city. We take the tram or metro. Well for the bike excursion we were told to meet at central station and take the ferry across the river to North Amsterdam where the trip would commence. Now we had to meet at 10am on the other side of the river, so trying to leave here and take the metro with my bike meant I would be traveling in peak morning commute and some rumors are that you CAN’T take bikes on metros at this time. I have not verified if this is true or not yet, but since other students were planning to bike from down in this area to central station, I thought I would earn my next Dutch merit badge and bike into the city like a true Amsterdammer. 
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Posted in Amsterdam, General at 10:39 by Staci
So, for my second course in the ERM program, we did an excursion to a hazardous waste site north of Amsterdam that is currently being reclaimed. The site is called Volgermeerpolder. The city of Amsterdam began dumping waste here after the peat was harvested for burning at the turn of the century. Turns out household waste was being deposited along with industrial waste through the 40s-70s. Think lots of unlabeled drums and materials that years later would leak dioxins, PAHs, agent orange, benzene and heavy metals into the nearby canals and soil. The waste is 4-6 meters in depth across the entire area with an estimated 10,000 drums of unknown substances. Come the 1980s and residents nearby call on Amsterdam to close the site. After a year of public outcry, the site is closed. (This is a link about the site, it is in Dutch, but you can see some pictures: http://www.volgermeer.nl/ua.asp).
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10.15.07
Posted in Amsterdam, General at 22:37 by Staci
Well if you know anything about Amsterdam (or the Netherlands) it is probably that people love their bikes. In fact, bikes are everywhere! You should be more scared of bikes than cars when walking through the city. You might recall from a previous post by Jeff that I get to ride my bike to and from school each day. Since we moved to the “nicer” apartment my ride has doubled. And despite Jeff’s earlier claim I actually bike 5.5km each way. Not that I am complaining. I figure my ass and thighs will thank me after a year of this exercise (and my ankle is holding up pretty well – thanks to my surgeon and physical therapists for preparing me for this!).
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09.20.07
Posted in Amsterdam, Housing at 18:57 by Jeff
After 1 month in the new apartment, we finally have cable and an internet connection. This means no more trips to Brussels to get some work done, which is quite the stress relief for me. Having to travel just to get a stable internet connection isn’t exactly ideal. Now I only have to go to Brussels to drink and play golf, which is much better. 
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09.14.07
Posted in Amsterdam, ApartmentSaga at 17:39 by Jeff
This is part 3 of Team McLennan and the Journey to a New Land. If you’re just joining us, check out Part 1: This Isn’t Heaven, This Sucks and Part 2: Team McLennan Strikes Back.
So at this point in the story, we’ve been in The Netherlands 5 days. In that time, we’ve moved into and out of one apartment and moved into a second. We don’t have a bank account, cable or internet access. We do have a pre-paid mobile phone thanks to Jon, and there’s an open wireless internet connection in the neighborhood that we’ve been leeching from (thanks neighbor,) so we’re not totally out of contact, but it sure feels like it.
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