across the ocean

hi everyone!

first things first--i've added a bunch of new pictures to my Flickr page, so check 'em out! There are a few new views of Amsterdam and a lot of pictures of Alkmaar, a cute town in north Holland known for its cheese market (and not much else!) Thanks for checking them out, it's so nice to be able to share my travels with all of you in (almost) real time! I've been feeling almost excessively independent here--not spending all that much free time with the other Summer Institute students (we see enough of each other all week!) and mostly just spending my time wandering around, sitting and reading at cafes, and exploring other towns on the weekends when I get the chance.

It's nice to just be by myself and have time to think, but I'm starting to tire of appreciating the city all by myself. It'd be so much better to be able to laugh at the little silly things I've seen with someone I love, and to have someone to kill the hours with at canalside cafes. So, while I've certainly appreciated the experience of being here alone and gaining confidence in finding my own way...I can't WAIT for Brandt to arrive on Friday! I wish that all of you could join me here for a couple of days! I heartily recommend Holland for your future travel plans...Amsterdam, at least, is the perfect balance of big-city culture/activity with the slower pace of a charming European village, and I think it would be such an awesome place to visit purely to de-stress.

So, things have been great here, but I can't say I'm too upset that the course is winding down. I'll be really sad to leave Amsterdam, for sure, but it's been a bit lonely being more-or-less confined to the same group of 28 other students (which is more like about 20, because several people are staying in different locations away from the main group.) It's also been a bit hard to play the role of clueless student in the classes I've been taking--which have been quite challenging and sometimes over my head--when I'm used to being the obnoxious teacher's pet at home! It's been humbling, and I'm really proud of myself for holding my own with some of the really bright people here. Still, I have SO much to learn!

Last week's classes were probably the best of the program so far, with Sexuality and Human Rights in the morning and a class in the afternoon called Practicing Theory, Theorizing Practice-- about putting academic theories around sexuality into practice in real activist and advocacy work "on the ground". Alice Miller, a world-renowned expert in human rights (especially sexual rights), and also a professor at Columbia University, taught the morning class, and it was such an honor to meet her. We spoke a little bit about my anxiety over having a lack of direction for the future, and she was very encouraging about keeping in touch with her and allowing myself to be clueless, not jumping right into graduate school, and spend some time figuring stuff out. It was great to hear that from someone with a career I respect tremendously, and I felt a real renewed hope that I don't have to know exactly what my passion is right now in order to have a successful and meaningful career in the future. Phew. I loved the human rights angle that we learned about in her class, and I find myself really responding to discussions about justice, rights to information, and so on...so, there is a chance I'll be putting myself through the wringer of law school sometime in the future...OY!

The afternoon class wasn't as good as the morning, but we did have a lot of really great readings about NGOs and other activist organizations around the world that are doing awesome work around sexuality. There's one group called kuleana, in Tanzania, that works with young street children around issues of their sexuality and sexual health, and their whole philosophy is about empowering the kids and encouraging them to direct the activities of the organization. That's just one example, and there are so many great organizations around the world that really work with sexuality from a human rights approach, not in a patronizing or overly-medicalized way, and I hope that I will have a chance to do rights-affirming work like that in the future....great stuff!!

This upcoming week is the last one, with Sexuality and Issues of Representation in the AM, and Infinite Heterosexualities in the afternoon. I'm not exactly sure what either will be about, but I'm looking forward to using my journalism/media studies skills in the morning class. I know we'll be watching several films and looking at depictions of sexualities, so I think it's kind of a "cultural studies" class. No clue about the afternoon class, but it's taught by another well-known professor from Columbia, so I'm sure it'll be great.

After Thursday's class, we have a big closing party/ceremony where we all receive our certificates and drink ourselves silly, I'm sure...Friday morning Brandt arrives, and then we'll hang out in Amsterdam for another week! I can't believe the Institute has gone by so quickly, and that I've been in Amsterdam for over three weeks. I've been counting the days until Brandt arrives since I got here, so I'm relieved that the course is coming to a close, but it's going to be hard to come home after all this.

Ok, I'm starting to repeat myself a bit and getting even more rambly than usual, so I think I'll sign off...Tomorrow I might take a bus into an area the guidebooks like to call "Folkloric Holland," including a town called Volendam where the big thing to do is have your picture taken in traditional Dutch costume, so maybe that'll be a laugh and a half for all of ya back home...hehe.

Oh--one last thing--please let me know if you have received a postcard from me, because I realized long after I had sent them that I don't think I had complete addresses on all of them. (Jesse and Jon in particular, I think.) I had addressed them at a cafe and planned to add the zip codes and other stuff I couldn't remember...but I think I dropped them in the mailbox without ever finishing them. haha...STUPID!!

Update me on what's going on with all of you. If you've been reading this blog and have not commented at all...DO IT NOW! Just say hi.

All my love!!
xoxo
L