Monday, May 23, 2011

I AMsterdam

Lisa, Bettina, me and Emily
Since our first trip to Amsterdam was not very successful we made another trip back.  I went on a Saturday with Lisa and Bettina (Austria), Mike (Canada) and Emily.  It was nice that Bettina had her car here and was able to drive so it was much cheaper; I round trip train to Amsterdam is about 30 euros, we each just chipped in 5 euros for gas and parking so that's a big difference! We arrived around eleven in the morning.  First we went the the park with the famous "I AMSTERDAM" letters.  Then after we took some pictures with the letters we split up; Mike had to go to the airport to change his flight, Lisa and Bettina went to the Rijks Museum and Emily and I went to the Heineken Brewery. The Heineken Experience was really cool and it took us about three hours to go through the self guided tour.  The first part of it was just walking through and seeing the history of Heineken like all the different beer bottles and labels;they also had some of their horses there. Then we went on the "Brew you" 4-D ride where you stood on this platform and they took you through the beer brewing process; the platform would move and shake, you could feel the heat during the pasteurizing process, and even a splash of water.  After, we went to a station that explained all the ingredients used in their beer and then they showed us with a free sample beer how to properly drink a beer and explained the importance of foam. They had a station that you could pick your back ground and then take a picture, record a message or sing this song in Dutch.  I did all three and then you could email them to whom ever so I sent them to my family. They also had these cool chairs that you can sit in and then they have a movie screen on top to watch a short video clip about Heineken. The final stop was the beer sampling, which you got two good size glasses.  It was a really fun experience.
      After wards, we meet everyone back at the letters and were jut chilling with our feet in the water. While we were sitting there Mike turns to me and asks, "Kristen, a year ago would you have ever imagined that you would be sitting in park in Amsterdam with two Austrians and a Canadian?" No! When preparing for this trip it was really hard to grasp and really comprehend all that this trip would offer me.  Now that I have been here for four months, sometimes I forget that I'm in Europe, it just feels so comfortable here.  Though, when we go to a new city we are always like, "OMG, can you believe that we are in ...." its still surreal.
Emily and I in Amsterdam
       After the park we went to this small pizza place and sat outside and ate; it was pretty good though its still weird that they do not cut the pizza for you.  Then we went and got stroopwaffel McFlurries from McDonalds which are amazing-just ice cream, caramel and stroopwaffle pieces! Then we walked around and Emily and I needed to do some souvenir shopping which I was very successful at shopping.  We drove back and arrived home around 8:30.  Then I skyped with my family and later went and played pool with Richard (Canada) at a place close by.  I am not very good at pool but it was still fun; something different to do. Probably the next time I will be back in Amsterdam will be to go to the airport in exactly one month from today! (I have very mixed feelings about this)

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Spring in Holland

     I have been here for four month now and everything has become come really comfortable and I have built some really good relationships with people and have been having the time of my life!
At the windmill with Stephanie and Bea
    About two months ago, I went to visit the national park with Bea, Petra,and Stephanie, which was about a 30 minute train ride outside of Arnhem, then we took a bus and then we walked the rest of the way to the park.  The park was pretty big, and they had bike there that you could take for free to bike around the park.  We went and saw the small castle with a small lake which was really pretty as we had a very gorgeous day with lots of sun. Then we went to the small art museum there and walked around some more.  On the way back we stopped at the windmill that was just outside the train station.
Vitesse football game
    Soccer (football) here is really big, it is as big or bigger than American football.  In total, I have been to four games; one in Germany, one in Spain,and two in Arnhem.  The Arnhem stadium, the Gerlderdome, is just across the bridge from the city center and is about a 30 minute bike ride.  The first game I went to here, I went with Emily and Vitesse (the Arnhem team) won 2-1. The second game I went to was with a group of guys (I was the only girl), probably about 10-15 of us.  It was not to bad outside so I just had on a long sleeve shirt but in the stadium there was a really cold wind, which made the game a little less enjoyable being freezing cold. The team mascot is a falcon and it was cool that before the game started, there is a guy that goes onto the field and lets this live falcon fly around.  This game was not very good as Arnhem lost (4-1) to a team that was ranked lower than them.  Next weekend is the big championship game or something; it will be FC Barcelona vs. Manchester City. Today, there was a football tournament, set up by Shaka (Dutch). Sixtina (German) and I biked there and watched the guys play.  I still do not really know that much about soccer, like all the rules and how the division work but I still enjoy going to the games.
Lisa, Jon, me and Tom
      The Netherlands is not known for their food and I have not really tired that much Dutch food (mostly because I dont really know what is typical Dutch).  I have had stroopwaffels which I like very much and even had a Stroopwaffel McFlurry at McDonalds! One thing that they have a lot over here if french fries which they usually serve with ketchup and mustard (they do not have ranch in Europe!). Doner Kebab stores are very popular through out Europe ( I think it is Turkish).  A kebab is thinly sliced lamb meet with, either in a pita pocket or tortilla shell, with different toppings. Back in the States, pizza was always are late night food, but here is the kebab as places are usually open till around 4ish. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doner_kebab) They also have some other snack foods that I have not tried yet such as krokets and bitterbollen.  (http://www.holland.com/uk/practical/practical-information/eating.jsp) The McDonalds here even serves a McKroket which is only sold in Holland.  Emily and I have still not improved our cooking skills; we still mostly eat pasta, tacos, and cheesburgers.  I eat cereal for breakfast and then bring my own lunch to school-usually a ham sandwich, pretzels or chips, and fruit.  I sometimes eat with Mike, the Canadian who lives on my floor. He is a much more creative cook than me.  The best meal he makes is his super potatoes, though its pretty much a heart attack in a pan-potatoes, hamburger, bacon, onions, cheese, and sour cream, but it is really good!  Both sets of his grandparents are Dutch so he knows some Dutch food, and made me bourrenkool one time which is a really simple dish with potatoes, some kind of sausage, kale and applesauce.  The applesauce on it sounded weird but its pretty good.  We have a good deal, Mike cooks and I do the dishes and we split the cost of the meal.  He is really good at finding things for really cheap so usually it is about 2-4 euros each but that is for two meals, so pretty good. Tonight Lisa and Bettina (both Austrian) are coming over and we are doing a taco night with Mike, Stephanie and Emily.
      With all the eating, I have tried to work out some.  It helps that we bike some, but it isn't enough. I usually do not bike to school, I still prefer to walk.  I would be more up for biking if we had an easier route to go.  When we walk to school, we go through this shopping area so sometimes that is hard to ride your bike though and then there is a really big bridge so I couldn't bike up that either. So by the time I unlock my bike, and push it through the shopping center and over the bridge, and then lock it up, it sometimes just doesn't seem worth the little time that is saves.  The bike is nice to have though when going to the city center, because other wise I would have to take a bus or a taxi back a night which cost money.  My pedal on my bike broke once, but Shaka fixed in and now I have a flat tire so I have to try and get that fixed soon because its really annoying not having a bike so luckily I have been able to borrow Stephanie's or Emily's when I have needed it.  In March, I was really good at going running about every other day, just a mile, but then in April I got really lazy and now I have started again a little, not as often.  I some times play basketball on Monday nights with a bunch of people, mostly guys, there is one other girl that always comes and Clara sometimes comes.  Its a fun way to meet new people and exercise.
Rafa's Cook Out
Lidia's Birthday (Martin, Lidia, Raquel, Lucia, Sixtina, Hanna)
     April was a month full of birthdays, because that's just the best month ever!  Rafa's (Brazil) birthday was really fun and we had a big party. Some of the guys went to Ikea and bought a grill and then got a bunch of meat and we had a big cookout.  It was a lot of fun and I think it was actually a turning point for me socially.  I think up until then, I mostly hung out with Emily and Stephanie and few others. I was really excited for this cook out but Emily, Stephanie and Bea were going to go to Utrecht so I had to decide what I wanted to do.  I decided to not go to Utrecht because I kind of needed a break to get away from Emily and Stephanie since we did so much together and I came here to meet other people and I am really glad that I stayed.  There is a nice lawn area on the side of Honigkamp so of course there was a soccer ball out, which I did attempt to kick around for a little while. The guys were really good cook and the meat was all really good, except I tried the chicken heart and spit it out, I did not like the texture of it; it was really weird! Later that night a bunch of guys chipped in and got Rafa a present that he enjoyed very much and was entertaining for everyone else to watch! Later that night we all went out to the city center.  Most of the birthdays were not as big a Rafa's; for Lidia' (Spanish) we had a small get together on the 5th floor with pizza and cake and some decorations. 
Bettina, Amanda, Emily, Lisa and I at ladies night
       One of the local movie theaters here, the Rembrandt Theater, has a ladies night about once a month.  I group of us girls went to the last ladies night and we saw Something borrowed which was pretty cute.  It was me, Emily, Lisa, Bettina, Jodee (Stout), Madison (Canada), Amanda (China), and then Sixtina, Caro, Hanna, Clara, Cecilia (all German),and Tanya.  It was 12 euros and you got unlimited champagne before the movie, a bag of popcorn, and a good bag which had Nivea body wash, magazines (in Dutch), a box of granola bars, chips, gum, and a few other small things. It was a fun night with the girls.
Tad, me, Emily and Didac at the salsa event
Sean, Mikel, Tad, Tom, Pablo and Hailey
     The rest of the event management parties have all gone.  There was a stereotype ball, X-change cafe, Salsa night and the farewell party.  I made it to all of them except the farewell party, I just just to tired that night. The stereotype ball was basically just another party but you were suppose to dress up as a stereotype from your country. Most people didn't really dress up; a few people people wore flags as capes.  I just wore jeans, Nike tennis shoes, and my red Wisconsin t-shirt.  The X-change cafe was kind of a cool idea, as it was different than all the rest.  It was held at the school; they had different tables set up representing different countries and at the table they had a quiz about the country which you could fill out for a free drink and they also had a food typical of that country.  Also, when you came in the door, you were suppose to put on a bracelet representing what languages you speak and what you want to learn.  The salsa party was a Wednesday which was weird, so I didn't stay long because I had a lot of work to do.  They had a salsa instructor come in to teach us how to salsa; it was fun to watch everyone.  The last party was the farewell party, I had bought a ticket for it but decided not to go because I was really tired (parties here don't start until around midnight) and we were leaving for Amsterdam early the next morning. Through out the semester there have been a few other theme parties; ISA (International Student Association) did a CEO and corporate ladies party and Martijn (Dutch guy) had a Hawain mixer at his place.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Thoughts on Spain

My Spanish book
I really enjoyed Spain and I hope to go back some day to visit some of the other cities such as Madrid, Seville, Mallorca, San Sebastian and many more! We adapted to the culture some what while we were there, such as eating our meals on more of a "Spanish" schedule.  We usually ate breakfast between 9-10, lunch from 1-3, and the supper from 8-9.  It was nice is Spain that things were open later than in Arnhem and there was more of a night life. 
     Both Emily and I have had a few years of Spanish so we were hoping to be able to practice some of it while there.  In Barcelona and Valencia, a lot of people speak the local dialect of Catalan which is a lot different than Spanish but they all still know Spanish as it is the official language of the country. Also, I was really timid to speak Spanish even though I usually knew how to say in Spanish what I wanted to ask, but I was really nervous for them to answer in Spanish because they speak really fast and I can't understand them.  I tried to order most of my food though in Spanish and say basic things such as hello, please, and thank you in Spanish. There is a large group of Spanish speakers currently studying here in Arnhem and Jon and Didac have let me practice with them. Mostly I just occationaly write them messages on facebook in Spanish. I have found a really good website too that has lessons on Spanish.  Each lesson consists of about a ten minute lecture and then there are flashcards and quizzes to practice.  I also found another site which is good for practicing verb conjugations which is good because that is where I struggle the most. When we were walking around in Valencia, we went in a book store and I bought a chapter book in Spanish called Aldabra-La tortuga que amaba a Shakespeare. (the turtle that loved Shakespeare).  It is only about 130 pages and I thought it looked like a middle school level book, but I had Didac look at it and he said the reading level is normal.  I guess even if I am never able to read it, it was only 1.50 euros so not a big lost but hopefully it will give me something to work towards. I think it would be really cool to be able to go live in Spain fro about 4 weeks and take a Spanish class.  I did look at some them online, just for fun, and it is kind of expensive to do.
       It was really interesting buying Souvenirs in Barcelona. When we were on the beach people would keep coming up to you to try to sell you things like massages, towels, sunglasses and food; they were really annoying.  Then even when we went in the stores they really tried to sell you thing. I think its annoying when people in the States come up to you and ask what you are looking for and tell you all about their specials.  In Barcelona, as soon as you picked up an object they would think that you wanted to buy it and would come over to you and start talking to you about it.  Also, they seemed to change the prices of items when you were talking to you.  They usually said "I will give you a good deal" and then told you the price.  

Espana--Valencia

View of the coast from the bus
On Friday morning we packed up and checked out of our hostel and headed to the bus station.  Our plan was to take the bus that left Barcelona at 12:30 to Valencia but when we got there (20 minutes before the bus left) the tickets were sold out (again better planning ahead would have been better as we could have bought tickets online) so we had to take the next bus that left at 14:30.  We just chilled at the bus station for 2 hours where I just read my book and then we ate our lunches.  The bus took about four hours to get into Valencia.  Once in Valencia we had to walk (about 30mins.) to our hostel. Luckily this time we did a little planning as Emily had downloaded a map of Valencia on her ipod so we were able to make it to our hostel without too much trouble. We got checked into our hostel; there was two other girls in our room when we got there, one from Brazil and the other from London and both were there to take a class in Spanish. We tried to find a near by grocery store so that we could get things for breakfast and lunch like last time but we walked all over and could not find one which was a really bummer.  Emily and I walked to a nearby plaza and found a nice outdoor cafe to eat supper.  For ten euros we got an appetizer, main dish and dessert. I was not very successful at ordering.  For my appetizer I got a shrimp salad but it was a lot different than what I expected. There was no dressing and the shrimp where whole (legs, eyes and everything!).  Even though I love shrimp I just could bring myself to peel it to eat it.  I actually had to cover the shrimp up because I didn't like them looking at me. For my main course I had chicken paella; it was good though I had to pick out the vegetables (lima beans and green beans).  For dessert I decide to try flan...it was, well interesting.  I am really big on textures of food and this had the texture of a wet sponge and it was just too weird.  It didn't taste too bad, the texture was just really different though I ate most of it.
The dolphin show (you can see the storm coming)
Valencia vs. Real Socidad
      The next day the weather was not very good; it was kind of cloudy and cold.  We walked to McDonalds for breakfast (though they do not serve all the breakfast sandwiches like they do in the states) and then went to the football stadium to buy tickets for the game that night. Then we walked to the City of Arts and Sciences where a cool aquarium was located.  We walked around the aquarium seeing walruses, sharks, sting rays, penguins, and more. Then we headed over to the dolphin show which was really cool! During the show we could see a storm rolling in and were hoping that the show would finish in time. As soon as the show was over, everyone bolted out.  We headed to a mall across the road.  We were waiting to cross the street and it was sprinkling, thundering and there was a really big lighting. We just made it to the mall when it started down pouring! We ate lunch/supper while we waited for the storm to pass.  Luckily it didn't last long and we were able to walk back to the stadium for the football game--Valencia vs. Real Socidad. Emily had to buy a new ticket for the game because she realized at the aquarium that she had lost hers which was a bummer because we were not able to sit together for the game.  The game was nice to watch even though Valencia won 3-0. (Valencia is ranked 3rd in the Spanish 1st division). After the game we just walked back to our hostel and planned the last two days in Spain.
At the beach
     Since most places are closed on Sundays, we spent the day at the beach which was just a short bus ride away from our hostel.  We had a really nice and sunny day, though there was a slight breeze that was a little chilly.  We defiantly got a lot of sun this day and I came back really tan/burnt. That night we had planned on doing a tapas and flamenco tour where they take you out to eat some tapas and then to a flamenco show. We walked to the plaza where we were suppose to meet the guide, but when we got there we realized there was no way we were going to find who ever it was we were suppose to be looking for! Apparently, there was some festival going on and the plaza was jam packed with people.We decided just to stay and watch what was going on. We were in the back so it was hard to see, but it was some sort of processional with them carry a figure of a women and there was a marching band too.  Some people in the crowd were also dressed up, the ladies were wearing intricate  dresses.  We asked the guy at our hostel reception and our tour guide the next day, but neither of them new what was going on.  Later we looked online and found out that it was the Virgin de los Desampardos which is celebrate the second Sunday in May. It is a religious festival honoring the most revered patron saint of the city, Our Lady of the forsaken. What we saw was the official processional wear they carry the statue and some people were wearing the traditional fiesta costumes of Valencia. For more information about this festivale you can check out this website (http://www.valenciavalencia.com/culture-guide/virgin.htm)
The processional
In front of a fountain in the park
       The next day we went for lunch at a cafe in the plaza nearby our hostel. This time we did not eat typical Spanish food but instead just got chicken sandwiches and fires.  Afterwords, we went on a two hour walking tour around the center and learned some about Valencia's history. Finally, when we were done we went souvenir shopping though there wasn't very much to find.  That night, after getting ice cream, we walked through a park that goes through the middle of the city.  It used to be an a river but it flooded so much that eventually they diverted the water and later turned it into a park.  The park was very active as there was many people running, walking,roller-blading,  biking and playing football. After the sun started to go down, we walked back to our hostel and packed up our things to leave early the next morning.  We checked out of our hostel around 7:15 on Tuesday (I had to miss two classes on Monday but it was too expensive to come home on Sunday) and then took the metro to the airport.  Our flight arrived in Dusseldorf (Germany) at around 12:30 and we had a shuttle that took us back to Arnhem (about an hour and half ride) which left at 13:30.  Once back to Arnhem, it was right back into school as I had a group meeting 45 minutes after I got back


 

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Espana--Barcelona

View of the city from Park Guell
The school here kind of has a lot of breaks which is nice! The first week in May we had May break.  I went to Barcelona and Valencia, Spain with Emily. We spent four nights in each place.  We left for Barcelona on Monday after Queen's Day weekend.  We took a train to Eindhoven airport and flew to a small airport just outside of Barcelona which we then had to take about an hour bus ride to get into the city and then a taxi to our hostel.  Monday night we didn't do much; we got checked in to our hostel, went and got some groceries and walked around the area a little, then we ordered in a pizza and planned what we all wanted to see in Barcelona.  We are not very good at planning things to do before the trip, we only do that once we get there which we probably should do more planning before the trip.
In front of the Sagrada Familia
      On Tuesday morning we did a Gaudi walking tour which took us around the city to see some of Gaudi's famous architectural works.  The tour ended with the famous cathedral La Sagrada Familia which started construction in 1882 and will not be completed until about another 20-30 years from now! After the tour we took the metro to the Park Guell which was also designed by Gaudi. The metro is an easy way to get around the city but you have to be really careful of pick-pocketers!  A lot of the buildings there look like some houses you would see in Hansel and Gretel. From the park we were able to get a great view of the city.  After the park we were walking back to our hostel, down la Rambla when we noticed that the sky was starting to look like it could rain.  We tried to hurry back in time but we didn't make it; luckily we had our umbrellas and at first it was fine to keep walking because it was just a normal rain.  Then it started down pouring! At that point our umbrellas weren't helping much and we were getting pretty wet.  We stopped under some shelter for a litte while, but decided to just walk back to our place because we were pretty close and were already wet and didn't know how long the rain would last.  We got soaked; my jeans and tennis shoes were very wet and didn't dry until the day we left and my shoes need some help of a blow drier to dry.  That night we went to eat a restaurant and we tried paella which originates from Valencia. It contains rice, meat and vegetables; the one we had was chicken but seafood is also very popular. After supper we went to a local bar to watch the Real Madrid vs. Barcelona football game and got a pitcher of sangria.  One of the souvenirs I bought was a Barcelona football jersey with Messi's name and number on the back.
At the beach
    The next day we did another walking tour, but this time it was of the old city of Barcelona which was nice to hear a little about the history of the city.  After the tour we walked to a near by park to eat our lunch (we got groceries to make our lunch because it was a lot cheaper than eating out all the time; we just had ham sandwiches, oranges, and chips). After the park we headed to the beach!! It wasn't as hot as the day before but it was nice enough.  We laid out for awhile and then went in the water.  The water was cold at first but not too bad after you got used to it.  Finally at around 6 we walked back to our hostel stopping to get ice cream along the way.  We also stopped at a supermarket to get things to make spaghetti for supper.  The first night in our hostel room it was us two, two other girls and one guy. The next night it was just us two and the one guy.  When we came back to our room after the beach we saw that three people had moved into our room.  We went and showered to get all the sand and salt water off.  After the showered I went back to the room in my towel to get dressed because when I went in the shower no one was in our room, but when I went back in there was three guys in there.  It was a little awkward and kind of funny. They asked me if I wanted them to leave the room so I could get dressed but I just got my clothes and got dressed in the bathroom.
Olympic Stadium
     On our last full day, we took the metro out to see the largest football stadium in the world--Camp Nou which is home to the 2011 Spanish champions, FC Barcelona.  We didn't get to go in but just walked around the outside of it.  Next we went to go see the Magic Fountain but unfortunately, the fountain wasn't running. From there we walked up to see the Olympic Stadium as Barcelona hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics.  We just walked around there for awhile, ate our lunch and then headed back.  After all the site seeing we went back and walked around La Rambla.  We stopped at a farmers market just off of La Rambla which had a lot of fresh fruit, meat, and candy.  Finally we stopped at a few souvenir shops. After shopping we headed down to the port to just walk around and then went back to our hostel to eat left over spaghetti.  That night we headed back down to La Rambla for dessert and drinks.  We found a vendor that had dessert and had a Belgium waffle with coffee ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate drizzled over it; it was sooo good! We wanted to find a cafe on La Rambla and get sangria and people watched but at the cafes it was too expensive so we just went back to the bar that we had watched the football game at and got sangria there. 
     Overall I had a great time and I really like Barcelona.  It is a very pretty city with a lot of history.
Barcelona

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Queen's Day

Queen's Day
Lisa, Aldo and I
Queen's Day or Koninginnedag in Dutch is a national holiday here in Holland on April 30 and it the birthday of Queen Juliana who is the mother of the current queen, Queen Beatrix. There isn't much point to the holiday other than to wear orange and party.  The night before Queen's Day is known as Queen's night and is also celebrated.  On Queen's night we just went to the city center where they had several stages set up with DJs playing music.  On Saturday we went to the park by the city center to just relax and people watch, then we meet the rest of the group by a fountain in the city center, and later that night moved to a big stage outside the Cavern.  It was really cool to see because there was so many people everywhere and mostly were all dressed in orange.  A few guys from our exchange program bought those full body suits in orange and it was pretty funny to see them walking around.  At the end of the night on Queen's Day the streets were so covered in plastic cups that you couldn't even really see the ground, I feel sorry for whoever had to clean up the next day! There was a few people who studied here last semester that came back to visit for the weekend so I got to meet some of them and other students had some of their friends from their home university visiting.  For more information about Koninginnedag you can visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koninginnedag

Be Nerd! Be Sexy! Geek Party!

Our event management group: Iker, Mikel, Stefan, Pablo, me, Coline,
Petra
Xavi, Max, Didac and I at the party
For my event management class, each group has to put on an event.  Our event was held Thursday, April 28th at the Plaza which is a popular bar in the city center.  Our event was called "Be Nerd! Be Sexy! Geek Party!"  It was a fund-raising party for a group in Sri Lanka with a theme of "nerds."  That week Wednesday we had a table set up at school to hand out flyers and sell tickets.  We only sold 20 tickets ahead of time which was fine because there was no incentive for people to buy there tickets early since they were the same price at the door. We charged people three euros for the ticket which included the admission into the bar, a free shot and a ticket into our raffle.  Our group had to be at the bar at 7 to meet our clients and set up all the decorations though people really didnt start arriving till about 11.  We were worried that less people would come because it was kind of rainy outside and that weekend was Queen's Day so we thought maybe people wouldn't want to go out three nights in a row.  We had a photo booth in the entrance of the bar and it was my job to take pictures of everyone as they came in.  Most of the people were dressed as nerds and we had a prize for the best dressed guy and girl nerd.  Overall the night was really successful and we had 196 guests and made about 600 euros to donate to our charity.  I think it helped that we were the first event management group to hold our event so people were still excited about it but maybe by the end of May when the last party is people might be less likely to go. Our group had to stay till the end party which ended about 3:00am to take down all of the decorations.  Its nice that we did our event early because now we are almost done with the class; we just have to do an evaluation of our event and complete our portfolio.

Easter Weekend

The group at the beach
For Easter weekend we had Friday and Monday off of school and then I have no classes on Tuesdays so I had a nice five day weekend!  The weather had been nice all week and continued into the weekend.  It has been about 70-80 degrees and sunny!! On Friday a large group of about 30 of us went to a lake that had a beach in Arnhem. Half of us biked and half took the bus; I took the bus.  The bus half arrived a little later than the bikers, we couldn't find them so we just went to our own beach.  About ten minutes after we arrived, the other half found us.  Apparently they were a little further down from us at a nude beach, but they weren't there long before they came looking for us.  Even though the weather was nice the water was still pretty cold; I only put my feet in but most of the guys went swimming and then decided to through some of the girls in.  It was a really nice and relaxing day of sun tanning and someone brought a volleyball so we played with that a little.
At the Keukenhof
      On Saturday I went to the Keukenhoft with Emily and Devin (Canada).  The Keukenhof is a large garden/park with lots of flowers.  We took a train to Schipol airport and from there they have buses that go to the park.  It was another gorgeous day and it was nice just to walk around the park and enjoy the flowers. The park had a small lake, water fountains, a windmill and besides the small gardens they had a large field just filled with tulips! All the flowers were so pretty.
     Easter Sunday I actually did not do much at all.  I got caught up on sleep and then Emily and I made Easter brunch of egg and sausage tacos.  Then in the afternoon I just went and laid out in the Presikhaaf park and just enjoyed the weather. That night I skyped with my family who were all at my Grandma and Grandpa's house for Easter which was really nice to be able to see everyone and still feel like I was apart of their Easter celebration.
Xavi, Stefan and I in Nijmegen
      Monday I biked to Nijmegen which is a town similar to Arnhem with Xavi and Aldo (Spain) and Stefan (Germany).  It took us about an hour and ten minutes to bike there, which I think it was about 15-20 miles.  Then we just walked around the city and then biked home.  The bike ride home was a lot harder than going there, me legs were really tired and I was with three guys so they can bike faster than I can!  About half way back we stopped at a beach that was along the way and rested for about ten minutes before continuing home. That night we did a group Easter dinner (yes a day late) in the fifth floor kitchen and there was probably about 20 people there.  Everyone was to bring a dish to pass. We had so much food and it was all very good though most people brought a pasta dish because its cheap and easy to make.  I made ham roll ups which are just tortilla shells with cream cheese, ham and pickles; everyone liked them and there were all gone.
Brent, Tom and I in Den Bose
     On Tuesday I went to Den Bose to finally pick up my residence permit so I am officially legal to live in the Netherlands but only till July 15.  I went with Tom (Minnesota) and Brent (North Carolina).  It was about an hour train ride there and then we picked up our permits.  Since we were there we decided to walk around the town and check it out.  We went out to eat at a little cafe and then walked around, though there wasn't much to see.  On our bike ride home from the train station, Tom found a blue armchair on the side of the road.  It was in good condition so he took it; though he had to carry it back to the dorms which was probably about 3/4 mile away!
     Overall it was a really good Easter weekend! I got to see a lot more of Holland and hang out with some people that I don't normally hang out with which was nice!