It was pretty late when we got up, and we were pretty wiped out from the event of the previous two nights, so the morning grumbled along, and eventually we (D, my sis and I) were out the door and on our way to pick up my german bro from a friends house, where he'd spent the previous night. Then it was off to Breda, and, more importantly, the local university.
Breda University of Applied Science had been a huge splotch on my academic radar for some time now, contrary to the opinions of my wardens. My largest interest was in their 'International Game Architecture and Design' program, which my german bro had investigated out of personal interest, but never applied too (he prefers his most recent plan: building a mad scientist laboratory in his parents basement), and instead referred to me. It had always been a distant, fantastical world: IGAD, with its harsh workload and four grand pillars of study. The Artist, specializing in 3D Graphic design, using Maya and Houdini to craft immersive worlds and lifelike models. The Programmer, processing lines of code and piecing together the building blocks of movement and mechanics. The Designer, who grabs ideas out of thin air, putting them in terms the others can understand, with an innate knowledge of game styles and strategy and fun. And finally, my interest: The Independent Game Developer, whose coursework encompasses all of the above, plus business and management. They alone gain the skills to craft entire projects out of their pockets, individually and collaboratively working to make magic. Woo-monkey-hoo.
The building itself appeared as a stage in a game, blocky with pixelated signs, and NPC's striding in an out, clutching briefcases and laptops. We beelined towards the structure, my brother detailing his previous experience here as we walked. The outside was grey, glass, concrete, metal. The colors were inside, once we walked in the door and saw the cafeteria.
My brother and I left behind D and my sis, heading into an office and locating an admissions entity. As it turned out, she had also some here from Cali; Sacramento, to be exact. She was more than happy to show us around, answering our non-stop barrage of questions about different components of the facility, majors, and student populace. Meanwhile, D and my sis lounged in beanbag chairs piled in the first room. In fact, the room took on the appearance of a very serious LAN party. Tables lined the walls, and the students there each had laptops, fiddling with models and sprawling out lines of C++. Others were looking up answers on forums, or getting a drink.
Apparently they were closing up for the year, so there weren't any classes to drop in on (which my brother was going to do no matter how agains the rules it was), but she told us that there was going to be a game release party on July 4th. We would be in Amsterdam at that time, but a quick train ride would fix that. We left the school, and then traipsed around Breda, so that I could get a feel for the city. It was a bit grey at first, but when we got down to the park is brightened to a luscious green. We got lunch at Coffe and Cream, a cutesy cafe with incredible food, and then went through the park to a shopping district, where billboards shouted out on the atrocities in the meat industry. My sister was horrified by the photos, wanting to barf, and therefore sort of flipped out on me when I commented "I like it...." Needless to say, I probably should have clarified that statement.
We saw the sights (the city is actually quite beautiful), jumped on gumdrops (pics later), then headed back, dropping my bro off a this friends house and returning to M's apartment. S and M didn't respond to the doorbell, so we let them be and went for a walk. A little ways away was a park, with a green hill-bank that we laid down atop of. We spoke of the shapes in the clouds, and life far back in the prison. I thought of the Little One, and her friends, and wondered if they might be doing the same silly things we did. When we returned, M and S had returned from the store, which explained the empty house. They'd gathered some trinkets, and we chatted for a while before deciding to make lasagna. We got ingredients, and the five of us were like that scene in the Hobbit where the dwarves are throwing dishes. It was quite swell, all in all. (can't believe I just used that word. Well, I guess I can) It was delectable, and we filled the gaps in conversation with music. Eventually we were just at the tv, passing around the remote to find fun music videos. It was truly an excellent day.
We woke up moderately early for the drive, and after a casual breakfast we were on the road, my brother hopping in the car at some point also (hitchhiking or something, I don't know). The 2 hour trip to Maastricht was sleepy and musical, with S's special road trip playlist extraordinary. Maastricht was bustling, with tourists and taxicabs, but it wasn't long before we pulled up to the apartment we were renting.
We met the host, a very gracious man, and then grabbed our luggage, stepping up three curving, rickety, narrow flights of stairs to reach my room. The girls decided to take one big room, my brother and D the other, leaving me with a small, extremely pink, little girls room. The wallpaper was actually embroidered with bright pink butterflies, I tell you.
It was getting to be the afternoon, so we headed out, walking up over the freeway on a support trellis to reach a section of touristy cafe's, which we avoided like the plague. Heading down a side street, we got a late lunch at an Italian place and then went for a walk all over Maastricht, hoping to find a little park to sit down in. After picking up some pappas, we did locate a park with a large petting zoo, multitudes of pigeon droppings, and an upside-down water fountain, which made for some interesting drinking. Looking over to the old cobble stone wall ringing us off from the rest of the town, we saw a man up on top of it, a realized we could go up there. Soon we were laying on the wall, our heads hanging back over the edge to the fifty-foot drop below. Just chatting.
We returned to our second, and third story apartment, which was actually really nice, I'll have pics later. Anyways, S said she felt tired, and went upstairs to bed. After a little bit, my brother said he was going to go up to her room also.
We decided to go for a walk, D and my sis and I, and we tried to get lost amongst the winding streets of the city. We found a park, and laid on the grass watching the clouds again, only this time we talked about my sisters time in India. We failed to get lost, most due to D's creepily good sense of direction and my decision that hedges were not the best way to go. Upon returning, we had ingredients for pancakes, and S and my brother had not come down, so we played some music, danced a little, and made pancakes. German pancakes are the bomb, btw. After that was a movie to watch, and the other two were a bit tipsy on the entire complementary bottle of some fancy french drink, so we all had a laugh viewing 'Easy A'. Then we were off to bed (I ended up sleeping with D, giving my sis my (very pink) room, as the girls room was otherwise occupied), and another day was well spent.
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