ELIANNE PRANGE

No more school for two weeks felt pretty good. No early morning and more of the big city. However we spent our first free day, Saturday, in Tarrytown. We really wanted to get our nails done for christmas, since it is kind of a typical and cheep thing to do here. When we walked in, we felt out of place. Literally everybody was looking at us and we had no idea what to do with ourselves. Which ultimately led to us just standing there awkwardly in the middle of the shop. After some time we got some directions by pointing fingers from the Chinese staff at the chairs where we were supposed to take a seat. They had run a warm foot bath for us and from there it was a lovely relaxing experience. I got red on my toes and dark green on my hands, very christmassy if I say so myself. We got lunch at a local cafe called Mint. Renee and I shared the mozzarella pesto pannini and a fruit platter, both very enjoyable. On Sunday we went to Manhattan. It was a cold Christmas day w

It was a normal Friday night and we where chilling on the sofa in the joint activities hall at campus. The dining hall would open in just a couple of minutes and my tummy was rumbling. Just as we were about to get up David came running towards us. Slightly out of breath he asked us if we wanted to go to a free broadway show, we jumped at the opportunity. A few minutes later we found ourselves in Lucas' (the other amazing guy from activities) car riding to the train station. He explained what the musical was about since we had no idea. Apparently it had something to do with drag queens and Todrick Hall, which was all that I needed to know. I knew that would like it. Todrick Hall is a famous youtuber, from whom I had seen a lot of music video's and he is incredibly talented. The broadway show was called Kinky boots which might give you a hint of what the musical was about. It had it all, it was stupidly funny, stunning outfits, and the singing was unbelievably good. The compa

   I used to think that bowling was a thing I could do. Well apparently not. We decided to go to the mall on Saturday for Renee her birthday to go bowling. We got a smoothie and did some Christmas shopping. We bought a tiny cute silver tree and some decorations for our dorm room and it really got me in the Christmas spirit. Once we got to the bowling alley, we were only allowed to play one game because there was a party being held there later on. Bas was terrible at it so he lost. Yuma, whom I thought had never bowled before actually had, she became second to last. Then there was me perfectly in the middle... I threw one strike though. Renee ended up scoring second place and Elien got first place. We went back to the campus and hung out for a little while, and soon it was late in the evening. On every floor of our campus building there is a lounge, we went to ours and waited till 12. Renee her helium balloons were a perfect entertainment. I sang her happy birthday, twerked with B

It will be Renee her birthday next week and she wanted to take some pictures before hand to put on her Instagram, which of course I wanted to help her with. We had planned to buy balloons for her and for me because than we could shoot some for my birthday as well. Unfortunately they did not have the eight anymore, *sad face*. However we did have a lot of fun with hers, it was quite obvious that it was her birthday(which actually it wasn't but we pretended it was for the fun of it), therefore a lot of random people wished her a happy birthday and recommended us the get wasted and spent a lot of money. Kind made me think about the whole purpose of prolonging the age of which you are allowed the legally drink to then get so bloody drunk that you brain matter gets destroyed anyway. Huh weird. After buying the balloons (which where ginormous by the way) we needed to find a bathroom for renee to change clothes in. We walked into a crowded Starbucks where we did not have any luck in f

'I think everybody should have the right to love whom ever they want to love' 'I totally agree. Do you think this will become harder since Trump is now the next president?' 'Personally I do not think so, I am worried though that the right to same sex marriage will change back to what it was.' 'Of course Trump wants everything to go back to the mostly white Christian community that America used to be.' 'Yes unfortunately. I am still doubtful about whether he will actually go forward with his plans. The Republicans do have majority in the congress, which does not improves the outlook for the future of the LGBT community in America.' ' I know I even heard that -I mean everybody knows Trump is Christian- that he wants to send people who are attracted to the same sex or trans people to camps where they are told that it is wrong and he wants to "make them better" in the sense of making them straight again. How do you feel ab

A friend of Renee was in the city this week and they decided to out for dinner together. She was with someone, so naturally Renee invited me along. I had expected it to be kind of awkward, like these kind of things usually tend to be but I was pleasantly surprised. We still had to get past my age since I've always had the struggle here on my gap year that I am actually younger than most people think, which is annoying. Luckily it didn't seem to bother them that much. We met at Renee's and mine favorite new cafe, which is more like a healthy snack bar called by CHLOE. We ate dinner talked a lot about school and what we wanted to do later on in our life. We had planned to go to Bryant Park because they hadn't got the change to go and see it yet. We sauntered past many little shops only going in to escape the harsh cold for a couple of minutes. It is fun because you can say whatever you want to say even if it is really really rude because nobody will understand it

What does it take to be you? Have you ever noticed that the grumpier you are, the more assholes you meet. Let me give you some advice; if you can't change your fate, change your attitude. Happiness begins with you. Not with your relationship, your friends, or your job. But with you. Do not change yourself to belong in the city. Therefore you should ask yourself, if I could be anyone would I choose to be myself. And if the answer is no I hope you find a way, to be yourself someday. Because in the end You are your longest commitment. The concrete jungle is a city for change, change is inevitable. No matter if it is good or bad, change is one of the few things in life you can always rely on. Do not fear it, but feel reassured you won't be the same person twice. Because in the end everything in life that is constant, is change. Try to better yourself. Do good and be good, but know the difference between people who do good and good

         The things you feel when you are standing on top of the world while watching the sunset are almost indescribable. You hear immense power coming for underneath you, and at the same time the peaceful quietness that being so high produces. Bas, Renee, Elien and I stood on top of the rock watching the sunset for about three hours. We left because we had to, not because we necessarily wanted to. Earlier on we had decided that we wanted to pay Bryant park a visit. When we arrived the lovely smell of all lot of food stalls selling the most outrages types of fries and crazy combinations of pastries which made my mouth water. Our tummies rumbled and we headed to the place we wanted to have dinner at. I had heard of by CHLOE before, I found it on Instagram and knew immediately I wanted to have dinner there. I got the guac burger with sweet potato fries. It was the best meal I had had in a long time. If it were up to me I would eat there everyday. I have always b

"Art is a harmony parallel with nature."

It was a dark day for all of us. The unthinkable became real. The unimaginable became reality. The thing all Americans with brains feared would happen, happend. Although we had talked about it a great deal in class over the last months, it still felt unreal. We started watching it on a big screen in the movie theater here on campus with a lot of students. It was about half past nine. At eleven Trump was still in the lead when we moved to the lounge. We got kind of bored at around twelve, not knowing we still had a long way to go. We played some stupid games, irritated each other, laughed a bunch. And then a couple of guys joined us. They were joking about Trump becoming president. Well two of them were joking, the other guy I am not so sure about. Then we got kicked out and went to our room. Finally, at three thirty am, the night ended. It was a horrible one. Trump became the most powerful man in the world. Everybody was shocked; everybody was scared; the dollar went up; Canada&

          This week wasn't the most eventful week. I just did a lot of doing nothing. What I did do was volunteering. EF had organized a registration plan where you could easily sign up to participate. Renee and me really wanted to do some volunteering since it looks good on your resume, but when we heard what Light The Night was about we forgot that completely. LTN is a charity walk for cancer survivors, patients, and just in general to raise money for research. We were at the lantern give away point. There were there kinds of lanterns. The first color was red, which was meant for all the supporters. The second was white for all the survivors and patients. And the third and final, the one I was at, was yellow. It stood for all the people walking in memory of someone. I had anticipated that it would be quite difficult to be at this end of the table. You know, everyone who will come up to me will have lost someone and is now here to represent them in loving memory. Soon w

You are probably guessing that this post is going to be about Halloween. Even though it is, I would actually summarize it as an week of "waiting an eternity". It started on Wednesday, I thought we had missed the Haunted House on campus but it turned out that it was open for two days. Therefore my two comrades and me were very excited. But as we approached the area where it was supposed to take place we were sadly surprised by how long of a line there was to get in. I mean it was just organized by the campus so how long could it take, right? Well the answer was quite long, two dreadful hours of waiting in the freezing cold long. But that held us back, I was still looking forward to it. These kind of things never scare me really, I am to much of an realistic person to actually believe in this stuff. My company on the other hand felt rather negative feelings about the whole thing, which made things even more fun, for me. As we tiptoed in we were amazed by all the decorati

What does it take to be a New Yorker? A New Yorker is one who seeks adventure, one who reeks success, one who never stops until every goal is utterly fulfilled. which takes tact, the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way they look forward to the trip. And if you do not have what it takes you work as hard as you can until you do. Because there is always someone better than you, more successful than you. Thus you get up and start over again, If it is important enough you will find a way, if it is not, you will find an excuse. However sometimes you have to take a step back, and realize, today is a good day, for a good day. So say to yourself little citizen 'I might not be the best at what I do but only I am the best at being me.' Because the best way to take care of the future, is to take care of the present moment. It takes a smart someone, to understand this undertaking, and I am not talking about t

"It is the simplicity that counts, because sometimes simple things stand out."   

This week was themed photography even more so than others. The first event happend on Tuesday when the girls and me went to Coney Island. It was a very sunny day in the middle of October. I mean it should be autumn but the weather decided to prolong that insurmountable fact a day. So we got on the train whereafter we took the subway to the Island. I took us about 2 hours to get there and when we finally did, everything was closed. Although because of that it wasn't worth the long trip, we made the most of it. We walked the promenade, bought some ice cream and took some pictures. Soon we had seen all that was there to see and went back. I had already gotten great news so it did't matter to me anymore. I guess that you wouldn't either if you knew you would go to a free broadway shows. And above all we got to see Matilda, the only one we still really wanted to see. Flash back to last week when we decided to go to more broadway shows, well we made good on that promise. First st

It was a Progress week, which means they were going to test your capabilities and the things you had learned in the past weeks. On Monday I had an writing test and on Tuesday Grammar, listening and reading. Luckily the whole class passed and we are all going to level C2.2. I rather like my class, they all are very friendly. The half of them are Sweden, a couple from Argentina one from Mexico, one from Belgium and three including me from The Netherlands. We mostly just talk during classes, which improves my speach and pronunciation. I really enjoy going to classes because of that. On Wednesday we went to The Lion King. I hope everyone gets to experience a musical like that once in their life time, because let me tell you it was indescribable. We arrived on times square via bus. And not just any bus, no a typical american school bus. That was definitely something. Surely because we were always the tourist, and now people were taking pictures of us. But to stay on the topic. I had goose

Week three went by so fast I can barely remember what happened. Well actually not really that much happened. We attempted to do the laundry. That was an adventure. Certainly because we, luckily just in time, found out that we didn't buy laundry pods but dishwashing pods. Besides the obvious big white dining plate on the front of the package and the prevailing smell of dishwasher that did not ring a bell. It worked out though, we just stole some from our roommate. Don't worry we will replace them, one day probably. Furthermore, on Saturday we went into the city and made some really beautiful pictures.       It was a rather spontaneous idea really. We just got up went to breakfast had a shower and headed to Friday's language lecture. After about 45 minutes and playing about an estimated of 100 Fruit Ninja rounds, I decided that we were not going to spent this beautiful day sitting inside doing close to  nothing. It took some persuasion because we had planned

It wasn’t the most eventfull week, but it was one to mention. Last week I changed my spin classes giving me a lot of free time. Despite of that I didn’t do much with it. Mostly I had to fill in forms for my studies. Well first I had to find some studies that I am actually interested in. And after that I needed to fill in applications so that I can find myself a house in Amsterdam. That is where I want to study in case you didn’t know. On wednesday things turned around for the better. Or so I thought.. EF organized A trip to the Yankees game. It looked like everybody was going,  the train almost bursted of all the people in it. I was really excited though, and looking all ready in my Yankees cap and customized vest. Me and my friend even decided to get fries, which we never do. And it was all fun, but than it started to shower. I mean not rain rain, more like a slight drizzle. However, it was enough to dempen the mood a little. Oh and the cold, do not let me get started on how

My first week went rather smoothly. I made a lot of new friends on the plane, the bus ride to the campus and during class. One of them who, even decided to change dorms so we could be roommates. my other roommate is quite shy, or she just doesn’t speak English very well. I think I’ll go with the last one. She is really sweet though. Always makes her bed, even helped us decorate the place. All the food here is better than I had suspected, not great, not gross. That is probably all I have to say about that. About trips... I took a lot of them already. Twice to the shopping mall, thereby  my savings are at a low. Luckily I’ll get money from my parents at the beginning of the month. Last Saturday I went to Global Citizen, that is a festival for charity and to raise awarenes for women’s rights. A lot of celebrities were there to perform including Major Lazer, Kendrick Lamar and Rihanna. With the city skyline behind us and the blasting of music, good vibes and friends it was a day to re