GEORGE: You have no idea of the magnitude of this thing. If she is allowed to infiltrate this world then George Costanza as you know him ceases to exist. You see, right now I have Relationship George. But there is also Independent George. That's the George you know, the George you grew up with... Movie George, Coffee Shop George, Liar George, Bawdy George.JERRY: I love that George.
GEORGE: Me too, and he's dying. If Relationship George walks through this door, he will kill Independent George. A George divided against itself cannot stand!
It's an interesting theory and something we all encounter in moments when people from our various spheres of social life find themselves in the same room. Whereas George warns against the potential destruction of independence that happens when "worlds collide", our friends look forward to parties and gatherings where the collision of our separate social pockets creates a new and exciting dynamic. Case in point - the TWT parties that grew from three dedicated members to a full out zoo by summer's end of the most unlikely of people brought together. Worlds definitely collided when Emily met all of the MAIPR friends last month, but there was an even bigger collision this past Friday when Tory came to visit Amsterdam.
Tory is the only person in the program who knows me pre-MAIPR and she met a lot of you at events at Isabella last year. We became good friends after a grueling MA year and were both excited to have a friend in the MAIPR program for the coming year. At the same time, we both were happy we were not assigned the same mobility schedule as it meant we couldn't fall easily into each other's company. What made the collision of worlds all the greater on Friday is that Tory knows both Canada Keith and MAIPR Keith and all the friends and faculty that compose the program here - madness! Instead of it being a bad collision, it, of course, was such a welcome visit. We talked for a good two hours in the kitchen (trying to look as social with the others as possible) about last term, where we currently are at, and plans for the future.
Milan (from Slovakia) threw the party in his massive common room - we listened to great music, had a few beverages, and got to know Zoey (from Thailand) who accompanied Tory from Warwick. From there we took the girls for a night on the town to Rembrandt Square. There is a moderately sized dance bar called "Club Smokey" (I don't think it is named after the Bear). They have a decent dance floor and pool tables in the back room. The gang got up to some pool, dancing, and OPDing (a typical weekend night). It was yet another late one, and Sunday was spent lazily catching up on some homework.
Sunday evening I was invited for dinner with the Finnish home students. It was really nice of them to include me in their get together, me being a Warick hommie and all. It was a good chance to chat with Tory again in a less-party type setting. The girls made a really great salad, rice, and chicken - Milan and I were forbidden from helping cook. It was the perfect Sunday evening.
Tory is in town for the whole week but since I am heading out on Thursday night, we are hoping to get together before then. The next four days are absolutely jam-packed. I have a schedule for each day from 9am - 8pm and if there is a moment when I'm not doing something, I'm wasting time! So many errands to take care of before taking off for a week. Top of the list this morning was to pick up my residence permit (a short trip on the train out of Central station). It's a cool identity card that allows me to stay in the country until the end of the year. It also means I don't have to carry my passport with me everywhere, as per Dutch law.
Tomorrow is St. Patty's Day and we have yet to schedule plans but I'm sure we'll get up to something after six hours of class. The Dutch don't have many ties to Ireland, but they'll never pass up an opportunity for merrymaking.
Courtney and I spied a production at the Berliner Ensemble (Brecht's theatre) directed by none other than Robert Wilson that is playing while we are in Berlin - we're hoping and praying that we can get some rush tickets.
Doc's Prescription of the Day: I think the dose of Seinfeld was enough. If I had it my way I'd include a bit of Seinfeldian wisdom everyday. Costanza's takes on life are some of my favourite.
1 comment:
worlds colliding = my biggest fear and favourite thing (all wrapped into one, tied up with a ribbon on it). such a rush! glad you had fun.
ps - i hope you got that turkey ref.
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