There's a place where things really do close on Sundays...

Okay, so we explored Well yesterday. It's a cute little town with lots of adorable houses and shops and such. I got a few school supplies and necessities like shampoo, body wash, and wine. At night we went to this pub in town and had a few drinks. I had a Malibu and Cola (Pepsi... not Coke... which was dissapointing) and then all the other girls ordered it too since it was the only "girly" drink we knew they had. I also tried some Dutch beer, which was actually quite good.

Today we were woken up at about 8 am by the geese that live outside our window, who were squaking and making all sorts of racket. By "we" I mean Heather and Jill, I actually slept through that annoyance but was woken up about an hour later by some crazy church bells. There was not one set of bells, but two, and they refused to stop. I put my head under my pillow (my lumpy bumpy uncomfortable pillow that I still need to find a replacement for) and blankets and eventually I fell asleep again after closing the windows and blinds. We then woke up for 10, showered and such (7 girls on our floor and one shower... eep!), and went to brunch for 11. After that we went into town again, thinking the supermarket would be open so we could get some snacks for the room, alas nothing was open. So we walked back. Oh, and it was raining. It rains a lot here, and then immediately gets sunny. It's very odd weather.

We met the Executive Director of the program today, Dulcia Myers. She seems pretty awesome, but also a little strict. Aparently, it's a very important semester for the castle program. For those of you who don't know, Emerson students are restricted to a maximum of 90 days in the Schengen Region, which includes these countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Austria, Italy, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. It is now required to get a special kind of student visa to be able to stay longer than 90 days in any and all of these countries, and because Emerson is an American school and not a Dutch institution, we cannot get this visa. Therefore, the itinerary for the program had to change. This is why we go to London and Prague (cities that are in countries not affected by the Shengen visa) and not Florence and Paris like years prior. This gives us exactly 90 days in the Shengen countries. Also in this agreement, Emerson students who are not American citizens (therefore who do not have American passports) cannot take part in the Kasteel Well program, and students cannot visit any of these countries 90 days before or after the program. Dulcia has been trying to work with government officials to fix this for years, but only recently has one agreed to meet with her, here at the castle, and discuss if this can be changed.

So, the week of October 3rd, right before our London trip, not is the governor of Limburg coming to the castle to see the program and talk to Dulcia, but the president of Emerson College, Jackie Liebergot, and a handful of trustees, will be arriving at the castle. So, lots of pressure on us, the students, to behave and show them how awesome this program is.

Tonight we have a boat tour of Well and the surrounding villages. We're also going to a concert. Should be fun times :) I uploaded pictures to my Facebook, so if anyone wants to see them they can look there. For those who can't see my Facebook, I will have them posted here shortly. Hopefully I'll have some time tonight to do so. I might make a Flickr account and just link to it, because I have to make pictures fairly small here and details are lost. I don't know. We'll see. Also, my Myspace is not working, so anyone who left me comments there or whatnot, I cannot get them and probably won't get them. So for comments please use this blog, facebook, email, or even (gasp!) a REAL LIVE LETTER! I'd love some mail.

Jill just found a PRIZE in her cereal. I haven't seen cereal with prizes since I was like, five. The Netherlands is AWESOME.