Days of Exploration

Both yesterday and today have been days of exploration. Yesterday, a group of us went down to the center of Amsterdam, where most of the buildings are over 300 years old. The tram, our main mode of transportation, delivered us to a beautiful bridge overlooking a canal. Though there are different canals and bridges at every block throughout the city, it was nice to see the more historical ones in the city center.

After wandering around for a while, we decided to get a snack/meal/coffee/tea at Sara's Pancake House. The pannenkoeken (Dutch pancakes) were delicious, of course, but they are not like the American version. Picture instead a thicker crepe that takes up the whole plate. Toppings were varied: just powdered sugar, banana and rum, apples and bacon, or just syrup. Pretty much any topping was available. Even though we had no idea where we were, we enjoyed spending time getting lost and seeing a little more of the city. After finding a tram stop, we consulted a map and found our way back.

My exploration of this area continued this morning on my early morning run. My sleeping schedule is definitely off; I usually can't ever get up in the morning to run. Anyway, I took a bike path next to a canal, which led to road with a winding river on one side and lovely houses and farmland on the other. The river was picturesque as the sun rose slowly over it, giving the whole landscape a pinkish glow. The snow reflected the same light, making the fields another glistening pink.(apparently snow is unusual here at this time...but it's not like I'm not used to it) Several ducks and geese squawked loudly as I passed, but I only saw one dog, which was nice. Eventually, I got to an old town (maybe Ouderkerk?), but I had to turn back at that point. But the return was beautiful too.

So far, it's been a great few days. I'm kind of glad that classes start tomorrow though. I'm looking forward to having a little more structure to my days. Thanks for reading!

Tot ziens!

PS- I spoke my first real Dutch the other day; I said the word "twintig" which means twenty. The store clerk got really excited about it. :D

Pictures!

Here are a few pictures of my room. The first attempts to capture the toilet in the shower, but I don't think it really does it justice.

I'M HERE!!

Hello everybody!

I've arrived in the Netherlands, and I am loving it so far. We haven't really done much yet, but I've been a fan of what we have done. My room is small but has relatively nice out-of-an-Ikea-box furniture. The bathroom...well, not so nice. The toilet is in the shower which kind of grosses me out. I'll try to put up some pictures once I'm more organized; I haven't really unpacked yet. I'm in a building with a bunch of other people in the group so I've been doing a lot of visiting.

So far, I haven't really seen that much. I've basically been wandering around the area by our apartment building taking care of things like paperwork and getting the internet. We did venture off to go grocery shopping. We looked completely ridiculous as we walked in a group of 15 about half a mile with full bags of food. But it was worth it. The store itself was interesting; I couldn't find a thing of baking powder, yeast, or baking soda anywhere. I suppose I'll just have to keep looking.

Well, I've got to go run! I'm excited to explore a little bit. Tot ziens! (goodbye in Dutch)