Amsterdam, Here I Come

I can finally say, with complete confidence, that I will be spending this coming semester studying at the Universiteit van Amsterdam in The Netherlands.

This means that I will finally have a use for this blog!

As a blogger for my university, there will undoubtedly be many things I should not or cannot write about on that blog. Therefore, I'm going to use this blog as a sort of rough draft version of my real blog. I'll write my real experiences and thoughts here (with pictures, of course!) and then edit it to go on the real blog.

I'll also post contact information here. Stay posted for more exciting Amsterdam updates!

You Have To Be Cool To Be A Blogger

...which is why I am not a blogger.

Well, technically I am. For my school, I mean. This is not a blog. Not really. I don't consider it one. I mean, not a real one. This is a play blog. Do you get it? If not, then I justify my point of why I don't deserve to call this a real blog.

Anyways, I came to the conclusion that you must be cool to be a blogger in attempting to write my student blog this evening. Usually, I write my blogs about once a week and there's no problem. This time, however, I got a reminder email from my boss telling me I had one due. The first thing I thought: but I have nothing to write about. I have literally done nothing blog-worthy in the past week. The most exciting part of my week was making waffles and watching Muppets From Space. But I've already talked about waffles in another blog and I'm pretty sure everyone would assume I was high if I was watching a muppet movie while eating excessive amounts of food.

That's another thing. I can't imply anything about drugs or alcohol usage in my student blogs. Now, I'm not a huge frequenter of either of those, but a lot of my stories are so ridiculous and lame that most people would assume I was on something and therefore I can't write about it on my student blog.

But I digress.

You must be cool to be a blogger. The other student bloggers are really involved on campus or doing internships. Me? I eat waffles and make couch forts. Seriously, that's all my blog says about me so far.

I hope that one day I'll be interesting enough to be a real blogger, but until then I'll stick to these pointless, self-absorbed blogs for my close friends.

Contact Info While in Amsterdam

Mail or care packages can be sent to:
Lauren Bird
Prins Hendrikkade 189b
1011 TD Amsterdam
The Netherlands 

Keep track of my adventures:

Check out my photos on flickr

Watch occasional vlogs or creative videos at my YouTube channel.

Please do not call or text me on my regular number
(this number has actually been canceled. so, if you sent me a text, I'll never see it. sorry!)

If you want to spend a ton of money, you can call me at +31 06 3131 1098

Skype me:
I can IM or webchat with Skype. I can also use it for free international phone calls via my iPhone if you are logged on.  Just search my name or my username, birdacious, if we're not already friends.

Remember that Amsterdam is seven hours ahead of Texas.

The Earth Looks Better From a Star

I'm a 20 year-old university student at NYU, where I consider studying many things and end up with nothing to tell the relatives. After spending eighteen of my developmental years in Texas (including three semesters of my undergraduate education), I jetted off to Europe for a semester at the University of Amsterdam and then settled down in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I spend my time off from university.

This blog is where I chronicle my life as a university student in New York as well as my travels (rare as they may be), my thoughts (also rare), ways to decrease world suck and anything else that I deem worthy enough to be put into blog-form.

The Lorax is my travel buddy, who is extremely pretentious and only likes his picture taken in front of famous landmarks (except for the odd occasion that he has too much dizzy water and becomes a total camera whore). My friend, Kelly, bought him for me at Kohl’s and, for some reason, I decided to bring him with me while I studied in Amsterdam (despite the fact that he wouldn't fit in my luggage and I had to carry him around the airport like a three year-old). I took a few twitpics of the Lorax at the airport to pass the time and, with the input of my followers, I decided to take photos of him at every place I visited. Thus, The Adventures of the Lorax began.

Another recurring segment here is 21 New Things, which, to my knowledge, is the brainchild of the awesome Sarah Von of Yes and Yes. The concept is that you try one new thing for every year old that you will be on your next birthday. Check out the list on the sidebar to see my progress so far and go to Sarah's site for a list of bloggers doing the project.

The last thing to look out for are Easter Eggs that I leave around the site. If ever the title of an entry does not seem to fit (like this one), search for the hidden link within the text. It will lead you to a clue as to the meaning behind the title. More than likely it will be some awful British pop culture reference or a song by the Elephant 6 Recording Company.

If you feel so inclined, you can subscribe to my blog, follow my blog with bloglovin, follow me on twitter or friend me on last.fm.

"Honest, yes; objective, no. Let my truth be my prejudice." W. Eugene Smith