"I cannot translate you" Day trip to Delft and the Don Quichot ballet

Three other girls and I decided to go explore the nearby city of Delft, which is known for Delftware. We took an early train and arrived 30 minutes later with the whole day to discover the city. We first ventured to the Oude Kerk, Old Church, which was built in 1246 and is known for its leaning tower. It contains 27 stained glass windows and is just breathtaking. We then headed to the Nieuwe Kerk, New Church, which is located in the market square. A neat quality about this church is that Princes, Princesses, Kings and Queens from the House of Orange are buried in the church. We each made some purchases of Delftware and were able to see an artist hand pant some delftware in his store. Unfortunately one of the girls, Sarah, dropped some of her delftware, and had to go back and repurchase some items.

It is wonderful to have a museum card that allows us to get into all the museums in Holland. We took advantage of this and explored the Prinsehof Museum. The building actually used to be used as a convent and it contains the bullet holes from the shooting of William of Orange. It was neat to be able to see artwork of things that I saw earlier in the day, and also that I have studied in classes. We happened upon another museum by accident, the Lambert van Meerten Museum. It is the house of Meerten that he built in 1892 and contains Delft pottery, paintings, glass, and furniture that was originally used. When we finished I asked the man working if he knew where the toy store was located. He responded "restaurant?" "No toy store," I repeated. He looked at me and responded "I cannot translate you." It was quite a funny conversation to say the least.

I feel as though I am really becoming an expert biker these days. Yesterday I woke up and was greeted by none other than rain. I had plans to travel to Amsterdam to see the Don Quichot ballet, and so I attempted to ride my bike to the train station. One hand was holding the umbrella, while the other hand was gripping the handle bar in order to keep myself balanced, dry, and somewhat presentable. Everything was going just fine until the wind decided to blow causing me to swerve left and right. It made things pretty difficult, but I made it in one slightly wet piece hah! The ballet was located in the Amsterdam Music Theatre. The performance was beautiful, and it was nice no translation was needed to understand it. I was so glad I took advantage of the opportunity to experience something that I wouldn't be able to in the States.

This Wednesday I am heading to a soccer game in Amsterdam.. USA vs. Netherlands. This Friday I am leaving for Italy for my spring break. I will be spending four days in Rome and three in Florence. I am definitely looking forward to this week :)

Texel Island.. Where there are more sheep than people

This past weekend I was able to participate in an optional trip to Texel Island, one of the Dutch Islands. On Friday we took the train to Den Burg and then boarded the ferry boat to take us a short way to Texel. Right after arriving, we picked up our bikes and began the 15 minute ride to the house. This was no easy bike ride. Each person had their backpack filled with items for the weekend, as well as having an unexpected sleet storm pelting us in the face. So, we were all relieved to finally make it! That night we went into town and picked up groceries for the weekend. Another "dutch favorite" was bought that night at the grocery store... buttermilk, which is basically spoiled milk. A red flag should have gone up right away after my experience with herring, but a few of use decided to try it. It tasted like a liquid blue cheese.. basically awful!

On Saturday we rode around the island. We were able to see friesian horses, sheep, and a breathtaking landscape. We came upon a man made fort that dated back to the 17th century. It was absolutely beautiful. We continued on our bikes up a hill and were amazed when we reached the top. The hill overlooked the sea. We were able to ride our bikes along the sea to reach our next destination the Maritime and Beachcombers Museum, where we explored for 2 hours. Our last stop, my favorite, was going on a shrimp boat. The boat took us out to sea, and allowed us to try fresh shrimp! It was absolutely freezing, but so well worth it.

On Sunday we went to the Econmare. This museum housed rescued seals, and we were able to see them get fed. This museum was right next to the North Sea, so we spent some time there exploring the dunes and wishing we could get in the water :). One of our directors decided to take the "scenic route" back and it ended up being an hour of biking again with the wind blowing us down. We all hobbled in and gave him a hard time for doing something like that to us! ha!

Overall this trip to Texel has been my favorite experience so far! It was an unforgettable weekend to say the least.

Ik spreek Nederlands "I speak Dutch"

The days are really starting to pick up speed, and I can't believe this week is basically over! For the entire week I have been learning dutch for 4 1/2 hours a day. When I return to my apartment I spend another couple of hours studying the text and translating a new one. Basically I eat, sleep, breath dutch at this moment. I am excited to say that I only have 2 more days until I take my final :) All in all, I have really enjoyed being able to learn a new language and be able to apply it in my every day life here.

This past weekend was pretty eventful. On Friday I visited the Naturalis museum that consisted of fossils, animals, and a huge earth. This museum had so much to offer and it was nice to have it only a bike ride away. Unfortunately my bike started making a terrible noise that made people turn their heads as I rode by. I had no idea what the problem was and decided to take it back in to the shop after only being the proud owner of it for two days. He informed me that I had been riding around with a flat tire. hahah woops! On Saturday I went to market once again. I decided to try a Dutch favorite, herring, which is raw fish. People here will tilt their head back and eat the fish in two bites.  I on the other hand wasn't as daring and took a small bite. (I love sushi so I thought I would have no problem). Good thing because I could barely swallow it. I learned herring wasn't a favorite for me.

I am looking forward to spending the weekend on Texel Island. Texel is the largest Dutch island with both the North Sea and the Wadden Sea surrounding it. We are planning to go on a shrimp boat and go to the Maritime and Beachcombers Museum. I am excited about another opportunity to explore and spend a weekend experiencing new things :)

A day trip to Haarlem

The best thing about Europe by far is the ability to hop on a train and be in a new city in minutes! Ten of us decided to take advantage of this and took a twenty minute train ride to Haarlem. We first made our way to St. Bavo's, a church that dates back to the 1500's, and is basically breathtaking! One of the most amazing things inside was the Christian Muller organ which contains 5068 pipes and is almost 30 meters high. Mozart played it when he was only ten years old. I found myself just sitting in one of the pews and thinking about all the history that this one place contains. 


Side note: I got to St. Bavo's and after a few picture my camera starting flashing that the battery was low. I did not have time to charge it before leaving, and was so disappointed that I might not be able to capture the rest of the day. I decided to pray about it, and asked the Lord to allow my camera battery to last a little bit longer. Well, my camera lasted the whole day :) I love how He cares about the little things.


After visiting the church we headed to the Corrie Ten Boom house. This woman is basically amazing! Her family hid the Jews during WWII in the "hiding place." This hiding place was located in Corrie's room. There was a secret entry way inside the closet, where about 6 people could squeeze. Throughout the house  buzzers were installed that could be pressed to warn the Jews inside to get to the hiding place. They only had 70 seconds to get in, and they practiced this daily. The Ten Boom family helped many Jews escape. If you haven't heard of this story look it up.. it is worthwhile!


We then headed to two museums, and by the time we finished everyone was exhausted! It was a great Thursday, and I loved exploring a new area just a train ride away :)

Ik woon nu in Nederland "I am now in The Netherlands"

Orientation officially ended on Friday so the weekend was all open to explore! On Saturday I was able to experience the local market for the first time. It was filled with everything you could possible need or want. The best part is it is cheap :) I was able to get fresh apples, grapes, and lettuce. It will definitely be a weekly tradition from now on. Sarah, a girl from my program, and I then headed to Bagel and Beans, a local cafe, for lunch. I love finding local cafe's and looking out the window and realizing I am in Europe... great feeling! :) I also went bike shopping and found a purple bike that will hopefully be ready by tomorrow... it was one of those "fixer uppers" ha! It will be nice to finally be able to have a faster form of transportation besides walking.

Today I started my first Dutch class! It actually wasn't as bad as I expected, and it will only last two weeks since we meet for a couple hours four days a week. I already put my Dutch skills to practice today at the grocery store... well all I said was hi and thank you in Dutch, but I was very proud of myself. Hopefully by the end of the class I will be somewhat capable of having a conversation with people here :)

We have Thursday and Friday off this week! The plans for the four day weekend include biking to a nearby city and having a picnic, visiting the Corrie ten Boom and other museums nearby, and planning spring break plans to Italy since it is in less than a month! Definitely looking forward to this weekend :)

Amsterdam

I went to Amsterdam with some preconceived ideas about all it would entail. Some ideas turned out to be right and some surprisingly not :) We had a train to catch at 9:01 so a group of us in Smaragdlaan left at 8 to get there in time.. that shows you how desperately I need a bike ha! We took the train to Amsterdam and were welcomed by a swarm of people. Right off I could sense that it was nothing like Leiden. We walked out of the train station and were surrounded by yet again breath taking buildings. We headed to the nearest canal and got on a boat that took us through numerous canals and gave us a different perspective of the city. On the boat we saw Anne Franks house, numerous churches, beautiful houses, and hundreds of houseboats! After the tour we went into the Red Light District, which being as naive as I am scared me to pieces haha! On our way there we stopped at Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder meaning Our Lord in the Attic.  It is a 17th century town house with a church in the attic that was used as a secret place for Catholics to worship during the Protestant revolts. After that we went continued our journey through the Red Light District. It was not as awful as I thought it would be so that was a blessing! We ate lunch at Amsterdam University and then finished up at another museum. However this time we were challenged to find our way back to the train station.. good thing there are other people who can read maps :) After some confusion of where and when our train was we finally boarded and headed back to Leiden. I was glad to get back! A group of us attended a church service tonight with students from Tawain and Leiden. It was so neat to be able to worship with people from all over. I am excited to get plugged in with it this church :)  It was a very eventful day to say the least.. Tomorrow I am planning to get my bike and go to the market! 

Exploring

Even though The Netherlands is a small country there is so much to see especially in Leiden :) On Wednesday we took a two hour tour around the city and got to explore De Burcht (pictures to come), Churches, local hangouts, and just walk around a soak up the city. There is so much history and I catch myself just being in awe of how beautiful everything seems. After our tour we went back to Central and had our first "borrel" with our teachers and classmates. This is custom in Leiden to have drinks and chat about life. I tried some white wine along with some other girls, but none of us liked it so we took shifts to the bathroom and dumped the rest out ha! The borrel finished kinda late so a group of us went out and ate at a Chinese restaurant. In Europe, eating out is a lot different then in the States. When you eat out in Europe you go and spend 2 or 3 hours just sitting and talking. It is all about the company instead of the food. We however were so hungry and couldn't really do what the Europeans do. We were probably their fastest customers!

Today was another full day! We learned about the history of The Netherlands and got to go on a tour of the oldest house left in Leiden where some of the Pilgrims stayed. I never realized the Pilgrims went to Leiden before traveling to North America. Anyways,  the house dated back to the 1300's and it was really awesome to see items that were as old or older than the house! A group of us got tickets to a soccer game coming up in March.. USA vs. the Dutch! Tomorrow we are going to Amsterdam for the day where we will travel to some museums, hopefully see Anne Franks house, and eat at Amsterdam University. I start Dutch on Monday and am excited to be able to finally recognize some words :)

Arrived :)

I finally arrived to Leiden! So much has already happened the two days I have been here. I have a couple of "PTL's" throughout my adventure so far :) So I got to Philadelphia and headed to my gate where my plane would be taking off. I sit down and happen to look over my shoulder to see this girl with a Leiden booklet. I was so thrilled and introduced myself so we were able to ride the trains and find a taxi to get to Leiden. The first night we all went out as a group to a pancake restaurant.. I am not exaggerating when I say that it was the biggest pancake I have ever seen! I was exhausted from only getting about 30 min of sleep on the plane so I went to bed around 9.
 I am living  in an apartment building and my roommate Lauren just arrived today so it is great to have some company in the room. Central College, who I am going through, is located about a 30 min walking distance from my apartment so I am definitely looking into purchasing a bike. 
So what I have learned so far is that everyone in Leiden rides a bike. These bikes come in all shapes and sizes. Some have a seat in the front and the back to carry extra people. Some have baby car seats, and the rest are regular. You can find bikes parked all along the street and in front of places... It is so funny! Today I got a cell phone and an internet cable. I was so proud of myself because I was able to find my way back to my apartment 35 min away without a map and asking for directions. That was a great feeling since I have only taken that route 3 times since I have been here and since I am awful with directions! ha! I went to the grocery store and had a hard time picking out items since everything is in dutch. Lauren and I made sandwiches for dinner and it was after finishing that I realized we needed to bake the bread ha! It has been a good adjustment so far. The Lord has been so good!