Orientation

Scavenger hunt group-Bea, Petra, me, Emily

Luke, me, Petra, Bea, Sean, Stephanie, Emily and Max

The school had a program of activities to help welcome us and to get us settled in and learn the area.  On Thursday we had a short presentation about the Arnhem Business School followed by a tour of the school.  They provided us lunch of sandwiches, potato salad, and soup.  That afternoon was suppose to be spent playing different sports and games but we needed to do some shopping for things like food, shampoo, etc. because the stores close really early.  That night we took the bus and met everyone in the city center. First we went to this place called the Freaky Piano Bar which was okay.  Then we went to this other bar called the Plaza for 50 cent beers! That was really fun but they had this fog machine that filled the whole bar and times you could barely see people five feet away from you! It was a really fun night and meet a lot of new people.  We left the bar around 2:00am and went to look for a bus back to the dorms only to find out that the last bus leaves at 12:19am! (which is weird because all the bars stay open until about 4 or 5am) We thought about taking a taxi but they are kind of expensive and would only fit four people and of course we had five.  We (me and Emily and three guys from Minnesotta--Sean, Luke and Tom) decided to walk back which took about an hour (but surprisingly we didnt get lost though I dont know if we took the most direct way) and was freezing cold and I was wearing high heel boots so my feet really hurt by the end of the walk! The next day we met at the school around one to set up our email account and get our timetable (class schedule).  I have a good schedule with only one class on Monday and Tuesday, classes mostly all day Wednesday and Thursday and no classes Friday.  I got all the classes that I signed up for and I am looking forward to classes starting tomorrow. (I will do another blog later talking more about the classes) Then we all gathered at this pub on campus called Lokall 99 to meet our buddy. They buddys were suppose to be all Dutch students who you can talk to and ask questions.  My buddy is a German guy, Christian, because he said they couldn't get enough Dutch students to participate.  There are four international students to a buddy; but in our group only me and Dani, who is from Hong Kong, showed up to meet our buddy.  We just hung out at the pub and talked about almost everything for about two hours.  Then afterwards, Emily and I went and did a little grocery shopping.  We found this pre-made pasta dishes that you can just heat in the microwave so we each got one.  I had a spaghetti one and it was actually pretty good.  We just hung out and talked the rest of the night in the dorms. Saturday morning we went to the city center for a scavenger hunt.  We split up into groups of five and were give packets with about 6-7 pictures of buildings around the city center with questions about them.  We had to go find each building and answer the question.  In my group was Stephanie and Emily (both from Whitewater) and then Petra and Bea (they are from Solvekia but study in Prague) We found every building and had a lot of time to kill before we had to be back.  It was really cold out so we went to this department store that had a cafe in it and got some coffee.  The city center is very nice and has a lot of great shopping; we cant wait to go back to acctually shop instead of just look around.  One of the places on our scavenger hunt was a little food shop (called Lunch table or something, I cant remember) that sold Stroopwafels that are a Dutch specialty. One person in our group bought one so we all could try and of course it was really good.  Its hard to explian but according to Wikipedia they are "two thin layers of baked batter with a carmel-like syrup filling in the middle (pictured above)." Then we meet the group for supper at Wokparadijs which was a Chinese buffet and make your own woks with all you can eat and drink for ten euro.  The food was good and it was fun to sit and talk to everyone.  Afterwards we went to this bar called Juicy Lucy.  After having 50 cent beer on Thursday night, the beer seemed expensive.  It was two euro for this small glass.  Since there was so many of us the bar gave us all a free shot but only a few people bought any other drinks, instead we just danced.  We had learned from the first night we went out, so we left the bar in time to catch the last bus back to the dorms.  The group that I traveled with to all the orientation events was always late.  We would always meet in the lobby of our dorm and traveled in a group of about 20 and usually none of use knew where we were going and know one knows how to make decisions especially when choosing bars.  We usually just stand around talking for about ten minutes about what we all want to do before we do anything.  It is kind of a funny site to see us all walking around and getting on the bus which we take up usually the whole bus.  I am learning my way around.  I know how to get to the school which is only a ten minute walk and we walk through this nice park but the bus system is still a mystery to figure out but I will learn. Today, Sunday, mostly all the stores are closed so its just a day to relax.  We have to make sure that we go grocery shopping on Starday so we have food for Sunday.  I really wish I would have brought a book to read or my DVD's because there really isn't much to do today.  So far, things have been going pretty well and I am looking forward to classes starting tomorrow so I have something to do!

Me, Petra, Steph, Bea and Emily before going out