Her First Press Badge...

It is very cool that the entire Y12 (11th grade) group at the BSN got to go to THIMUN (The Hague International Model United Nations) for an entire week in January. Some of the kids are involved with MUN as a club and they all got to be delegates, while the rest are admin with the exception of Veronica who was part of the Online Press.

Veronica was thrilled to have a press badge and full access to the conference in order to take photos and shoot video. When a security guard questioned her while she was taking a time-lapse video at Den Haag Central Station, she was happy to flash her press badge. You can see that time-lapse as well as several others in the overview video that she put together. She had a great time during the event itself and also during the three nights she went out dancing.

Our Mad Scientist...

Veronica is thoroughly enjoying her science classes this year. She’s taking both Biology and Chemistry at higher level for her IB Diploma. Clearly she enjoyed dissecting this sheep’s heart. She also really loves wearing a lab coat!

She was the lucky one to examine the heart of an obese sheep (all the white stuff is fat). It also had a blood clot, apparently due to the obesity. In addition to lab work, she made a video about HIV/Aids for Biology. Check it out here.

Around Back...

After we dried our tears (and I read Jimmy the riot act), we explored as a group. We’d seen photos from other urban explorers featuring a piano, but it was no longer there. Once it got too dark inside, we headed around back.

It was eerie when a gust of wind would catch one of the few drapes remaining in the building.

Veronica enjoys experimenting with digital editing tools; enhancing the colors of these shutters turned out pretty cool.

Daring to Go Upstairs...

The sun was already at the horizon, and all the light we had was the remaining weak beams of the dying sunlight. My father decided to go ahead, leaving us girls together with the two cameras. When he didn’t reappear after a few minutes, we began to get worried. 

In a normal situation, I don’t think we would have panicked like we did. However, I can now tell you from experience: while in an old building as it’s getting dark, your imagination starts playing tricks. Did he fall down and was lying somewhere hurt, not able to reply to our yells? 

Was there someone else in the building? Zombies, perhaps? (Okay that never actually crossed my mind, but if zombies did exist, they would have loved this place.) Frantically, we began calling for him, having no idea where he possibly could be. My mom took the tripod to use as a weapon and we crept up the stairs. 

There was movement at the end of a long corridor, a man with his back to us. The initial fright gave way to relief when we saw that it was my dad. After some tears of relief, we stuck together. The light had almost completely disappeared inside the building, so we decided it was time to leave. Definitely the scariest adventure that I’ve been on. 

Starting the New Year at a Sanitarium?

Leave it to Jimmy and Veronica to insist we start the New Year with a visit to another abandoned building. Here’s what Veronica had to say about our visit to Sanitorium E in an article she wrote for Going Dutch:

Our other urbex adventure in Berlin was not as well planned, a last-minute decision on New Year’s Day. I spent hours looking for a place that was both safe enough to walk in without the ceiling collapsing and wouldn’t be guarded; I chose a sanitarium outside the nearby city of Potsdam. 

Built between 1912 and 1914, it was originally a lung clinic and then a skin clinic, closing in 1994. The building is protected as a cultural heritage and there are plans to transform it into a hotel. Well, we sure got our fair share of a thrill. The first part of our adventure was finding the sanitarium, which was easier than I had actually expected.

The second part was getting in; again not too hard with an inviting hole in the fence surrounding the property and a side doorway with no door. 

New Year’s Eve...

We spent much of the last day of 2013 shopping and napping. That evening, we headed to one of Europe’s largest New Year’s Eve Celebrations stretching two kilometers between the Brandenburg Gate and the Victory Column. By the time we arrived just before 9 p.m., we were already so far back in the crowds that we couldn’t see the Brandenburg Gate where the main stage was set up.

We had a good view from the Ferris Wheel of the crowds that would eventually swell to around one million. We hung out near the stage seen at the bottom of this photo where we watched a pretty horrible German rap band followed by a great classic rock band. We especially enjoyed watching guys wearing lederhosen singing Lynyrd Skynyrd songs.

This open air festival featured a lot of food tents including this candy stall where we got a late night snack. Just before midnight, Jimmy bought a bottle of Prosecco at one of the drink stalls, which we ended up sharing with an American couple after the girls turned down a glass.

This photo should have been of the breathtaking fireworks, but sadly we couldn’t see them through the trees--no idea why they weren’t shot out over the Brandenburg Gate. There also wasn’t a countdown to midnight, so we were pretty disappointed.

Kati had a very mellow New Year’s Eve back in Holland. We were going to have a neighbor house-sit, but instead we ended up helping out a hasher in need. Patricia was visiting from Vietnam and needed a place to stay after being dumped by her boyfriend. She stayed with us on Christmas night and then stayed with Kati until we returned. We were happy to hear that Kati didn’t freak out from all the firecrackers.

German Christmas Markets...

In most cities, Christmas Markets finish just before Christmas, so we were happy to learn that several in Berlin stayed open later.

No surprise that Veronica was more into catching cool shots than shopping.

The best market charged a € 2 entrance fee, but it was worth it as there was a better variety of handcrafted items. I was thrilled to find a replacement for the antique spoon ring that fell off my finger while dancing on Queen’s Day.