Here's the scene: You're in a small, windowless conference room. There's maybe 30 other people there, people you don't know but want to impress and can't afford to offend. The chairs are uncomfortable, and spaced too closely. You're being talked at about a subject you've never heard of (ever) and have no interest of learning (ever). You listen very hard to those speaking because they talk with a heavy accent. Thus when they actually say words in a foreign language your brain doesn't pick up on it at first because it sounds just as weird as their English and struggles for long moment to make sense of it despite the impossibly of actually understanding. The speaker says 'umm' roughly 1 word in 5. Your eyes are heavy, but you mustn't sleep. Time drags on. And on. And on. People actually keep asking questions, as if they know and care about the subject. You want to rip their tongues out to prevent their encouraging the speaker from elaborating. Your back aches desperately, and every attempt to alleviate the discomfort brings the speaker's attention to you, you whose eyes are glazed from his inability to interest you. THIS IS HELL.
My adviser sent me an email saying she'd be in late (again) today. So instead of having them pay me to surf the web researching hostels and train tickets and reading blogs I had them pay me to go into Dwingeloo. I found the camping/hardware/toy/kitchen store and bought myself an overpriced compass. I then went to the bakery and got a croissant. I stopped at the library to see if they had any selection of English books, but they were closed, sadly. Found this building though:
And this shaggy, horned cow on the way out of town:
Stephanie (adviser), also told me she won't be in tomorrow and gave me a bunch of papers to read for Monday. I can read them no problem by then, so I'm taking the day tomorrow too. Instead of vapidly staring at the computer screen I'm going to ride down to Hoogeveen. This way I can time the ride for when I have to catch a train. And the compass should come in handy when I get lost. (When I say, not if.)
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