Last Day in Amsterdam...

So, today was my third and final trip to Amsterdam. I went with Kate and Shawna, two girls who are in my circle of friends but who I've never hung out with without a ton of other people. It was nice to spend time with them and bond a little since we weren't as close. We definately had a lot of fun.

It started with lunch at my favorite favorite favorite sandwich shop that me and Aaron discovered when he visited called Soup Kitchen. The Healthy Herbie sandwich and Cream of Spinach with Pesto soup were amazing as always. To think I will never taste them again is saddening. I hope I can find a good equivilant in the US, perhaps Panera will adopt the Spinach soup...

I bought lots of souvenirs for family and such. It was fun, I think I found some good ones. Amsterdam is a really good walking city. And really pretty. Canals everywhere, even the red light district looks gorgeous in the day, with the swans swimming through the middle. We were going to wait until dark and walk the red light district again, but it was only dusk by the time we were tired and out of money. So we headed back.

It was a fun day with new friends. Definately a successful trip :)

I came back, however, to CRAZY luggage regulations. Aparently the flight we take to London, where we're supposed to bring allll our stuff to since we're leaving for home from there, has different weight regulations than we had on Northwest coming here. Just going Netherlands to London. The weight restrictions are so different that technically we'd have to get rid of half our stuff to be able to get over to London without spending about $200.

So. The parents have begun calling I hear. This will be an interesting last day tomorrow...

Love and miss everyone! FOUR DAYS!!!

DONE!!!!!

I am officially done with papers, done with studying, DONE WITH FINALS!!!

It is SUCH a relief! I am so happy. Now I can finally finally finally relax! I did most of my packing last night, so I don't have too much to do. Tomorrow I go to Amsterdam to finish up my shopping for people. It's nice to just enjoy the last few days!

And, neither of my finals were hard :) My papers were tough, and I had to kind of pull stuff out of the air to get to the ridiculous length requirements... I think I did okay though.

So happy to be done with work. 5 Days until I'm home!!! Who misses me? hehe...

Miss you all, SEE YOU SO SOON!!!

<3

One Week!

Exactly one week until I'm home!

That is, if I survive finals... arg.

Wish me luck! See you all so soon!

<3

Greece!

First of all, Happy Birthday to my Mom! Since I was a complete idiot and forgot on the day it actually occurred, let the whole internet be aware, November 29 my mom turned... 29! Hehe. She's been 29 for a while now, but shh I didn't say that. Anyway, anyone who knows her email send birthday wishes of epic proportions to make up for my stupidity. Or leave comments here if you don't know her email.

So. Greece.

For one thing, Agean airlines has the best airline food ever. Also, it's the first cheap airline that actually served us food we didn't have to pay for.

Greece was gorgeous and amazing and a perfect way to end the semester. Jill, Heather, Meredith, John, Jenna, Devon and I went. It was a pretty good group to travel with. It was t-shirt weather, sadly not beach weather, but still wonderful and sunny. We only really had one day to roam around since we left on a Friday instead of Thursday night, but it was worth it. We went to the Acropolis, the Theater of Dionicis, and a bunch of surrounding ruins. It was sunny and beautiful the entire time we were there. We ate at a Greek restaurant where everyone had Gyros and I had a Greek Salad. We wandered through some marketplaces that sold mostly antiques and such. There was not a souvinir place to be found. I was afraid I'd leave Greece without my shotglass souvinir, which I get in every country I visit and have accumulated quite a collection so far.

At one point we lost Devon. Jill, Heather, Jenna, Devon and I were searching for souvinir shops and ended up on this street lined with clothing shops. Jenna dashes into H&M to see if they have a jacket she wants, and we all follow her. But Devon was taking a picture and didn't see where we went. So when we leave H&M we wait outside for her, but she never shows up. Jill goes in and searches the entire four floor store but does not find her. We walk up and down the street looking for her, and she's not there. We're freaking out just a little and eventually go back to the hostel and there she is. After she lost us she just took the metro back. I get freaked out when stuff like this happens because I expect the worst, I forget that a lot of people here have really good travel smarts and are able to keep a level head and find their way back themself. I wish I was like that, but unfortunately I tend to flip out and I can't go anywhere alone. Which is sad, because I am really upset I missed out on Berlin and would love to spend the one day/night we have free going there, but I am the only one with an active Eurail left and it's too expensive for most people to buy a ticket. So I'd have to go by myself. But I'm too scared. Anyway.

That night a few people went on a Pub Crawl, which I really wanted to do, but I got a massive migrane and had to stay in. Pub Crawls are fun, Aaron and I went on one in Amsterdam. You pay a certain fee that lets you into 5 clubs for free with a free drink at each and free shots at the door. But my head was seriously in pain for a good part of the second half of the day. I lay down and tried to nap it out, but it didn't work. Also, no one had brought any sort of tylenol substance. So I didn't go on the pub crawl. Meredith was also sick though, so I had someone to talk to at least while I had a pillow wrapped around my face as to not let any light touch my head and make it hurt even worse. Everyone came into the room at about 4, when we had to wake up at 5:30, completely under the influence of Greece's famous Ouza shots that were 50 cents each and aparently potent as hell. I'm a bit sorry I missed out on that. Jill was still loopy when we got to the airport at 7, it was funny.

At the airport I finally found a store that had the tiniest souvinir section ever. Athens aparently is not fond of souvinirs. I almost bought some Ouza for my Greek relatives (since aparently Ouza is a traditional Greek liquor) but it was in a 200 mL bottle and you can only have containers of 100 mL on the plane. Oh well. I got them another little gift instead. I still need to get them another something, maybe another little gift for my brother, and something for my stepdad. I keep seeing things for my mom and getting them, but he's very hard to shop for. I think I am going to Amsterdam one more time before I leave, and possibly the Brussels Christmas Market. That is, if I get all my mountains of work done before then. Which looks nearly impossible as of right now with a total of 30 or more pages left to write. Uuuugh. But worse comes to worst I'll shop in London, since we go there for two days before leaving for the U.S, it'll just be a bit expensive there. Any ideas on what to get for the remaining family members?

The trip is almost complete and I can't wait to be home. It seems like I'm the minority that actually is homesick. No one else wants to leave. I'd love to return someday, but right now it's just time to be home. I miss you all lots. Lots of love.

It's that time of the semester again...

time to choose classes! And, of course, everyone's laptop suddenly decides to stop loading the Emerson Courses List. Which means the computer lab today was PACKED. Thankfully I had already written down the codes for the classes I wanted, so it wasn't a huge deal. However, a couple of classes I really wanted to take were full, so my dear friend Jenn went to the webpage and IMed me the codes for a couple classes.

I'm still considering a Marketing minor, or perhaps a Journalism one, but I like my schedule as it is right now and since you only need 4 classes for the minor I could start next fall working towards it. We'll see. You can declare a minor at any time too, so I don't have to do it by the end of the Spring semester like I have to declare Writing Literature and Publishing as my official major. I'm also wondering if I want to declare a BFA instead of a BA, but I'm not entirely sure what that entails other than a better degree. If it's a lot more work then I should probably stay away seeing as how I stress out over schoolwork enough as it is.

Anyway. My schedule as of right now is:

Monday: American Literature 10-11:15
Tuesday: Magazine Writing 2-3:45, Advanced Creative Writing 4-5:45
Wednesday: American Literature 10-11:15
Thursday: Magazine Writing 2-3:45, Advanced Creative Writing 4-5:45
Friday: American Literature 10-11:15, Psychology of Gender, Race, and Ethnicity 12-3:45

The psychology one takes out my psych gen ed and my us diversity gen ed so now the only gen ed I have left is Science I believe. More room on my schedule to later take a marketing or journalism class! Also, if Copyediting clears up (it's full as of now) then I'm snatching it up, so that might mess with the schedule a bit.

One paper down, one more to go for this week. I'm contemplating taking my laptop to Greece though, so I can work on my other million and a half papers I have to do before the end of the week. Let's see... what's left... a short story, two revised short stories, an 8 page paper on the effects of tourism on a culture, a collage and accompanying paper on how Europeans view Americans, and an 8 (?) page paper on an ethical subject of my choosing (Animal Rights). Oh God I have lots of work to do... Plus two finals to study for. Uuuuugh.

That is all. It is dinnertime.

<3 and miss you all, only 16 more days!!!

Travel Break, Take 2.

Okay, so, as you could probably tell by my last post, I was very moved by Prague. It was a really gorgeous city with a lot of history, it was interesting since before this trip I didn't even know where Prague was let alone anything about it, so everything was unexpected. Of course, the concentration camp at Terezin was just amazing. There wasn't a single dry eye by the end of the day. I had always wanted to visit a concentration camp since that whole aspect of the war is facinating to me (though of course also horrific), and I'd still like to visit one of the bigger ones someday, it was really a moving experience.

The exchange rate was in our favor for once. About 20 Crowns to the dollar. I think that with the way things were priced 20 dollars for us would be about 300 Crowns or so for them. So, most of the souvinirs I bought for people are from Prague. Haha. It was nice though, to have a little extra spending money.

On our way to meet our tour group, Shaunagh, Heather, Jill and I decided to take the Metro since we were running late. We bought our tickets, passed by these weird yellow things that we didnt know what they were, and went to wait for the train. Suddenly, a Metro Police guy comes out and asks for our tickets. We give him our tickets. He tells us they need to be validated. Aparently, that's what the yellow machines are. Another Metro Police appears, and takes our passports. Then we follow them back up to the ticket machines, and validate the tickets. Then we're fined 500 Crowns. Even though we explained to them that we didn't know, and that we actually BOUGHT the tickets and paid for them and everything. I wonder if it was because we're American that they didn't let it slide... Weird. So we all lost 20 bucks. We had to stop Shaunagh from attacking the guys, she was so pissed that they didn't just give us a warning. It was annoying, but an interesting story I guess.

We also went to the Mucha Museum. Again, something I knew nothing about, but the artist featured there was awesome. He made all of these prints of beautiful women with flowers and stars and planets... he was one of the major poster makers for Sarah Burnhardt, that's how he's most famous. I ended up buying a poster of his Roses picture (how it's going to make it home to America in one piece I have no idea...), four cards featuring his "Stars" series, and some postcards that show the different times of day (Morning, Noon, Night). I plan on decorating my room with them when I return.

And, as Chester pointed out, Saturday night it was mandatory for all castle students to go to the club. I forget what it was actually called, there's speculation that it was called "Roxy" but it was a five story dance club that aparently is one of the bigger clubs in central Europe. It was a lot of fun. Lots of dancing. I had to figure out how to make my "travel clothes" work for "club attire." I had a semi-decent long shirt and leggings I had been using to keep warm under my pants (PRAGUE WAS FREEZING) and I borrowed someone's black flats and I looked at least a tiny bit club-worthy. Everyone else was doing the same fashion improvisation. The friend Jill and I made in Dublin, Sam, met us in Prague and came with us to the club too. Now he has lots of new American friends, haha. It was nice to see him again, and helpful since a lot of people there spoke German so he could translate for us a little.

We also saw a multitude of churches, and took a tour through the Jewish Quarter with all the old Synagogs... I definately spelled that wrong... it was interesting but by that point we were all exhausted. The last night nearly all the castle kids crammed into one of the apartments (they housed us in these wicked cool apartments for the week) and had a potluck thanksgiving dinner. It was a lot of fun, and super cheesy since we went in a circle and said what we were thankful for. It was a nice thanksgiving, even though it was five days before the real thanksgiving.

The night we were let go for our Independent Travel Break Jill, Heather and I hopped on a sleeper train to Florence. I enjoy sleeper trains, they remind me of camping in a weird way. The beds are small and not very comfortable, and you can wake up in the middle of the night when the train stops and almost throws you out of your bed. But it's fun. However, when I woke up I was sick. I had a sore throat that only got worse as the day went on (we had to take a six hour train after we woke up from the sleeper one). When we got to Florence we ate dinner and went right to bed. The next morning I couldn't even talk and now I had a cough. So I stayed in bed all day. And the next. I saw none of Florence besides the train station and the hostel. Which is sad because I really wanted to see the statue of David. And Jill and Heather said the markets had lots of cool stuff, where they got lots of gifts for people back home. I missed out on good shopping. Sad. The second day we were there our friends Morgan and Whitney arrived. We had made plans to stay at the same hostels, so we were together the rest of the trip.

We went out on Thanksgiving to an authentic Italian restaurant, so authentic that no one spoke English. I chose the option on the menu that said "Vegetariano" or something, and it ended up that it was an assortment of undercooked vegetables with grill marks and a hunk of melty cheese. The cheese was good, and I ate the zuccini, but my throat was still too sore to eat much. So I went back to the hostel for an early night and left my friends to the two pitchers of Thanksgiving wine.

The next morning we left for Rome. I was still sickly, but feeling a tiny bit better, more active at least. When we got to our hostel the owner could tell I was sick and asked if I needed a doctor. So he called an international healthcare line and found someone in the area who was covered by most American insurance companies, then called the doctor and made an appointment for me. I went, they told me I had a throat infection but not strep, I got medicine, then came back to the hostel and slept for the rest of the day. When I woke up, another hostel worker was making dinner for the entire hostel. He made this Indian dish with curried rice. Then the hostel owner, Lorenzo, arrived with bottles of wine for everyone and a jar of honey for me ("No wine for you, you're too sick. Honey is good for the throat!"). None of this cost extra, they just wanted to feed us. They were really the most considerate hostel we've been to. All of the other people who were staying at the hostel talked to them like friends and joked and such, it was a really cool atmosphere. They really went out of their way as much as they could.

After 24 hours of antibiotic I was feeling much better. So, for our final day in Rome, I pulled myself out of bed and went exploring. The warm weather was a nice change from the bitter cold of Prague... We started at Vatican City and saw the Sistine Chapel and all of the many twists and turns it takes to get there... you have to go through a million little chapels and buildings before you get to it. And you can't take pictures... though I took some anyway... It was cool though. Very vibrant. It kind of hurt to look at it after a while since you crane your neck so much. It's really amazing to see the detail though. Definately an experience. Then we went to Saint Peter's Basillica. We were waiting in line to go in when these trumpets went off and people started cheering... The Pope was there! We ran out into the audience and took pictures of him while he addressed the crowd in Italian that we obviously couldn't understand. Then he made a gesture as if blessing the audience, and went back inside. So, yeah, we SAW THE POPE. It was pretty cool. After that we returned to our place in line, and it started to pour. We got soaking wet and waited an hour just to go inside. It was a church. Lots of statues and religious stuff. Yep.

After that we went to the Spanish steps, where we got a cool view of Rome. Then we walked to the Pantheon, which was an ancient Roman building that is now a basillica. And finally, the Colloseum. It was huge, a lot bigger than I had imagined. Around it were other ancient ruins. It was so amazing to see pieces of rock that were older than our country. Buildings that have been standing for thousands of years. We didn't go inside the Colloseum since it was expensive and we heard it was boring-ish, but it was really cool to look at. That night we made pasta in the hostel and went to the Treve Fountain. That was one of the places I really wanted to go, since I'd read a Richard Scary story about it when I was little. I threw pennies into it and made wishes. I think you're only supposed to throw in three, but I threw in five... one for mom and Drew as requested as well. One means you'll return to Rome, two means you'll fall in love (in Rome or in general I don't know), and we all forget what three is. I was unaware of this and was just making random wishes. I would like to return to Rome again though, I feel like one day was just not enough.

Now I am back home at the castle after a very turbulence-filled flight. I have mountains of homework to do and am exhausted. And hungry. And three more hours until dinner. Arg. Only one more weekend travel left: Greece next weekend. Then finals, and then we're off to London for two days before flying home. I'm going to miss Europe a lot, but I'll be so happy to be home.

I miss everyone lots and lots. If any of you actually finished reading this beast let me know: Comments?


Oh and P.S. Rest in Peace my Hair Straightener :( My beloved CHI burnt out in Prague. I don't understand why, I just bought it this summer. Heather has the same kind and used it everywhere I used mine, so it couldn't have been the voltage or whatever... And I remember that I couldn't find the recipt after I bought it, so I doubt I can send it to the company to be fixed or whatever. So now I have to make sure I save an extra 100 to get a new one when I get home. Ugh. Not pleased.

Amazing.

I remember when mom came to visit me in Paris, and we went to the museam to see the Monet exhibit she cried when she saw her favorite painting. I thought it was a little silly, but she said that it was one of those once in a lifetime moments that just made you cry because you were so moved by it. I had my moment today, along with most of my group. We went to the Terezin Concentration Camp.

I knew I wanted to see one when I found out Id be going to Europe ==side note, this keyboard sucks and I cant use apostrophes or quote marks and the z and y are switched== Ive always been facinated with The Holocaust ever since I read The Devils Arithmatic when I was 10. I wanted to see Auchwitz but when we planned out all our trips for the semester we just didnt have time. But then we heard the school takes us to a smaller camp.

The school took us to Terezin. We walked through the camp, where the prisoners were kept. I saw where they slept, saw the isolation chambers, saw the gallows and the shooting wall, but no tears yet, just lots of pictures and utterings of wow. The camp was mostly for prisoners, but it became a work camp halfway through the war. No one was gassed there, they mostly died of starvation or cold. Then we went to the cremetorium. There was a group of Jewish people standing down by the incinerators, singing and praying and holding hands. There are a lot of Jewish kids in the castle group, some joined in. One even led a song. Then I lost it. I started just sobbing my eyes out. That was my moment. I wasnt looking at a history book or watching a movie, I was THERE, where so many people died just because of who they were. So many children that never grew up, so many families torn apart, all because of hate for no reason. That was my big moment, like mom with her painting. The nwe went to the museam and saw pictures that children drew while in the camps. I bought a book of poetry and pictures from children in the camp. There was a wall with all their names on it, all the children who died there. There were two little girls with the last name Blom.


I cant imagine if I was Jewish. I am not Jewish and I still felt so much about all this. If it was actually a part of my history... I cant even imagine.


Tomorrow I leave for Italy. I just needed to share this experience while it was still fresh. Even if this kezboard sucks. Florence and Rome, here I come.

Romantic Weekend Getaway!

I'm going to brag for a moment and say that I definately have the best boyfriend ever. He came all the way to another continent to visit me, spending crazy amounts of money, just to stay for a week. It was amazing and wondergful and I miss him so much already.

Saying goodbye at the train station and waving as the train pulls away is the saddest thing ever.

Anyway.

Aaron arrived Wednesday afternoon. All through my 2:30 class I was on the edge of my seat, bouncing around all excited. When I got out at 4:15 I went to my room and paced since I didn't think he would be there until 4:30. That lasted all of two seconds before my friends practically threw me out to go wait for him. And as I was crossing the bridge over the moat, there he was, leaning against the big tree staring into the distance and looking deep in thought. I broke him out of the trance by yelling "AARON!" and he ran up to me and picked me up and swung me around in his arms. Cliche, cutesy meeting, and it was perfect :)

We spent the rest of the day in Well, I showed him the castle and he met my friends and ate in our dining hall. Then we went to American Night at the Linden but it wasn't as exciting as it usually is. Aaron got to try my favorite Dutch beer, which was a little sweet for him he said. Then we walked all the way to his hotel, and of course it was raining. It always rains in Holland. I think it rained every time we had to take that long dark walk.

The next morning we checked out of the hotel, had breakfast at the castle, and were going to leave for Amsterdam but Aaron was having some bank issues so we had to wait for Bank of America's customer service to be open. Then we took the train to Amsterdam and checked into our hotel. It was about 5 by this time, so we got dinner and just chilled. He was still a bit jet-lagged. The hotel was cute, our room was very small but the woman who ran the place was very nice. Her cat was cute and sat on my lap.

The next morning we got up, ate breakfast, and went to the Van Gogh museam. It was pretty cool, but didn't have many of his famous paintings. Still very interesting though. Then we went on a search for the Anne Frank house, which we finally found. It was pretty amazing. I almost cried.

The next day we were going to go to Brussels, but we got up too late so we just spent the day in Amsterdam again. Didn't do a whole lot, just walked around and enjoyed the sights. That night we went on a pub crawl (could have been the night before, I forget) of various pubs/clubs in Amsterdam. It was really fun. 20 Euro for six clubs, six free drinks, and shots along the way. Oddly enough, we didn't get too drunk. However, we did get very lost trying to find our way back to the hotel after we decided we'd had enough. And it started to rain. And we didn't have money for a cab. But we found our way back and all was well :)

Then we came back to Well for the following three days. I still had some classes and Aaron tagged along and read his book. Tuesday we tried to go to Brussels again, but it was 60 Euro for a ticket so we decided to just go to Nimeijn instead. It was mostly shopping, which I'm sure was thrilling for Aaron, but it was still fun. We had lunch in a cute pub and shopped around. I still haven't found a peacoat I like, I think I'll just end up buying one when I go home. It's an impossible mission to find one that fits me well, is warm enough, is in a color I like, and not too expensive.

Today we got up very early and said goodbye. Exactly one month until I see him again. I miss him already. It was definately a week to remember :)

<3

IT'S TODAY IT'S TODAY!! :)

Aaron arrives today!!! :)

It is now 12:02, his plane came in at 6 am. So if he took the 7 am train to Venlo that'd take 3 hours, then the Venlo bus to Well would take 40 minutes... so, assuming nothing went wrong, Aaron has been in Well for about two hours! He's probably jet-lagging in his hotel room right now. We've decided to meet after my last class ends at 4:30.

LONGEST 4 HOURS EVER.

So excited for our week together.

I cannot wait :)

Switzerland = Heaven.

Oh my god. I cannot even begin to describe my amazing weekend. Switzerland is, hands-down, my favorite trip so far. Each day we were up at the crack of dawn and did amazing and wonderful things all day long and then fell asleep before 12 at night. Seriously, the most exhilerating experience of my life thus far.

Thursday night we took a sleeper train (from either Germany or somewhere in the Netherlands, I forget) to Switzerland. It was a tiny, tiny room with three bunks on either side, attatched to the wall. We were quite cramped, but we were only there for sleeping. It was fun, sleeping on a train. Then we woke up at 6 am and got on a bunch of other trains until we got to Gyron, where our hostel was. We arrived at around 3 I believe, due to train layovers and such. As soon as we got there we no sooner had put down our backpacks then our host told us to hop the train to get to the Paragliding place.

I had a few misconceptions about paragliding. At first, I got it confused with Hangliding, which is where you dangle beneath a big kite and jump off a cliff. Then I was told this adventure involved Parachutes, so I pictured it being a jump off a cliff, a free-fall, and then you pull the chord and float around. But really, it wasn't that insane. What you do is put on all your gear, strap yourself to a strange man, and you run around with the parachute deployed until it's in the air (like as if you're running trying to get a kite in the air) and then you run towards the edge of the cliff and before you're even close to it the parachute lifts you into the air. It was utterly amazing. So beautiful. I managed to snap a few pictures while I was in the air, before my camera batteries DIED on me. Ugh! For the rest of the trip it worked sporatically, obviously I forgot to pack spare batteries. But yeah, wow. It wasn't scary at all. It felt kind of like I was on a ride at an amusement park or something. Very comfortable, you just sit and float around. The instructor guides the parachute around for you. The only scary part was landing, because you have to swoop back and fourth and ease yourself down. But it was beautiful. An experience of a lifetime.

We didn't even go right back to the hostel. Our host picked us up (transportation was all included in the package) and drove us to the Thermal Baths and Spa. Of course, I'd forgotten my bathing suit, but one of the hostesses was my size and let me borrow hers--how accomodating! We had two and a half hours to explore. It was wonderful. The Thermal baths are these huge outdoor swimming pool type things with warm warm water. There's areas with jets so it's like a hot tub, and this whirlpool like thing in the middle you can float around in circles. Then there's saunas and steam rooms and even a medetation/aroma therapy room. We did it all. Shaunagh, Samantha and I even did the Turkish Bath, where you had to pretty much be naked (no worries, the one we went in was female-only). Truly a bonding experience, haha. It was so relaxing there. It makes me want to go back to the Thermal Baths in Arsen (ten minutes from Well) though I think they're significantly smaller.

When we finally got back to the hostel, Jules cooked us dinner. He didn't go paragliding with us, so he went to the grocery store and bought spaghetti, salad, and French bread to cook us dinner. It's funny, all the girls went to jump off a cliff and the boy stayed back and cooked dinner. Haha! It was so nice to have a home-cooked meal, and really sweet of Jules to make it for us. We ate , got fitted for our ski gear, and then fell right asleep, since we had to wake up at 5 the next morning.

So, 5 am we all roll out of bed, put on our gear, and rush to the van to get good seats. 15 of us packed into one van, plus ski/snowboard gear, with a crazy driver. Not that he was a bad driver, he just went quite fast. Luckily I got one of the seats towards the front. Since it was the pre-season, the nearby mountain didn't have snow on it yet. So, he took us two hours away, to the Matterhorn in Zermatt. The Matterhorn. That mountain on the Tolberone chocolate bars. There's a ride in Disneyland modeled after it. Yeah, that one. I skied in the Swiss alps. I don't think that registered in my brain, that I was about to ski in the SWISS ALPS, until we were at the base of the mountain staring up at the thing. We had to take a lift up to the ski place, then another lift up the mountain, and yet another one to actually ski. Shaunagh and I were beginners, so we waited while Matt (our Australian host) took the experienced skiers to the top of the mountain. We napped in the sun. Aparently, if you ski down one side of the mountain you end up in Italy, which is what Jenna did. It's right on the boarder. Then Matt came back and gave us a little ski lesson since the instructor we had signed up for couldn't make it... saved us some money though since Matt didn't charge us. We only went down the mountain twice, but they were long trails and we were exhausted. I discovered I ski much like I snowboard---very slowly and I never let go of the control. I probably should have risked falling some more, just so I wasn't going at a snail pace, but just the experience of sking in the Swiss Alps was enough for me to be completely satisfied.

Shaunagh, Samantha, and I then trekked back down the mountain and had lunch in the adorable little Swiss town at the bottom. We were excited that the Swiss Franc was 1:1 with the American dollar... however, lunch at McDonalds was 12 Francs for Chicken Nuggets, Salad, French fries, and a coke. Everything was very expensive there, despite the good exchange rate. I limited my souvinir shopping to a few postcards and a shotglass for my collection.

Then we drove the two hours back to the hostel where we ate the leftovers of the yummy dinner Jules made us the night before, and made a campfire outside under the stars. You could see them so clearly there, it was beautiful. Other travellers at the hostel came to the campfire and we all talked about our travels. There was a couple (?) who hung out with us for most of our stay, Andi and Jory. Andi was studying at Cambridge University in England through her school's study abroad program, and Jory was in the military and stationed near there. There were also two Aussie girls, Claire and Amanda, who were also first-time skiers, they had just graduated high school and were backpacking around Europe. Then there was Dire, Camille, and Maria, who were originally from a school in Texas, but were studying abroad in Italy. Their school has a program very similar to Kasteel Well. They live in an old Monestary in a tiny town outside of Florence and have long weekends to travel. It was cool meeting new people and sharing stories. We thought it was sooo late when we ended up going to bed, but it was only 10. We all fell asleep right away.

This morning we woke up again at 5, packed our things, and started the long journey back to the castle. It took us 12 hours to get back, hopping trains each time. We did get some sleep though, which was nice. Now I'm back at the castle, waiting to shower, and finishing up homework.

Switzerland is so beautiful. My favorite trip so far. I will return someday, hopefully again to the Chatlet Martin. I will never forget it.

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Europe isn't big into Halloween... Ireland and Scotland are starting to get into it, but those places are a bit too far. So, the Kasteel Well staff is throwing us a party. Everyone here is scrambling to make a costume out of the ordinary clothes we brought to the castle, plus weird makeup. It's quite funny, people are coming up with some pretty interesting ideas.

I am the creepy girl from May

Heather is Samara, the creepy girl from The Ring

And Jill ia A Cat.

Much merriment in the Castle Barn, and then off to the Linden pub to make all the Dutch people roll their eyes at the CRAZY Americans we all are (as opposed to the stupid Americans we usually are).

That's about all interesting that's going on right now. Many more interesting updates after this weekend when I go to Switzerland :)

P.S. AARON VISITS IN EXACTLY ONE WEEK

P.P.S. The name "Aaron" looks funny in all capitals because of the double first letter.

Amsterdam!

When you step off the train in Amsterdam, the first thing you notice is how the air smells. It literally smells like marijuana. It's crazy. I thought all the pot-craziness was just a stereotype but no, the air actually smells like pot. It was an interesting city though.

We didn't see too much since we were only there for the day. We spent most of it just wandering around, searching for the Red Light District. We found it, and it's very interesting. Women just stand in the windows. Most of them are talking on their cell phones. It's quite funny, they don't try to get any customers, they just stare off into space or talk on the phone. And it's only one street (or at least just one that we found) and if you don't look too closely at what's really in the buildings it's actually really pretty. There's a canal down the center where people ride boats and there's swans and ducks floating around it.

We didn't go to any of the places I really wanted to visit, which is fine because I'll be there for three days with Aaron and I didn't feel like spending 7Euro to get in the Anne Frank house or Van Gogh museam twice. I bought a good amount of souvinirs though, and got some touristy pictures.

Today is utterly boring. I couldn't find anyone to go shopping with (Venlo or Nimegijn), and everything is closed here since it's sunday, so I'm just sitting in bed with my laptop waiting for a movie to load. Later I'll do the little bit of homework I have.

Though next weekend should be awesome, SWITZERLAND. So exciting and terrifiying, hehe. Then the weekend after that will be even more awesome, because Aaron visits :) Lots to look forward to!

Love and miss everyone, as always.

I Survived!

Midterm week is finally over. Thank God. There was one that was really hard, one that was fairly challenging, and one that was pretty easy. We'll see how I did.

Last night was American Night at the Linden, always a good time. I feel like the local teenagers just laugh at the silly Americans who come in to get drunk on Wednesdays... but it's not my group of friends who dances on the pool table, so I think we're doing okay.

There really isn't much new stuff to report, Midterms have been killing our souls all week. Hopefully we'll have a nice, relaxing weekend. We're staying at the castle for the most part with a day trip to Amsterdam on Saturday. I think tomorrow we're going to the spa, it's fairly inexpensive, 10 Euro for 2 hours in the thermal baths. Maybe we'll explore Nimeijn since we haven't been there yet.

I am sleepy and boring, I apologize. I'll have more interesting things to write about later.

Miss and Love you all,

Ashley

Ireland = Amazing in every way possible.

First, I'd like to mention how gross traveling makes me feel. For one, hostel showers are very sketchy, so often we don't use them and end up greatly regretting this decision later. I am all sorts of gross and there is a line for the shower. So I guess I'll blog.

Wow. Ireland was gorgeous. From what Azelie told me I thought I was going to be dissapointed with Belfast since it didn't seem as populated and interesting as Dublin, but she forgot to mention how absolutely beautiful it is up there. Okay, not the city really, that was kind of sketchy and gross, but the tour we took of the Giant's Causeway was spectacular.

Okay, those of you who didn't know my travel plans for this past weekend: Our friend Shaunagh's dad grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland. So we all decided to go with her for the weekend, even though we didn't know exactly what was there. My good friend Azelie, from home in Hatfield, is studying in Dublin (Ireland, not Northern Ireland) and I've been dying to visit her, so Jill decided to spend a night with me in Dublin. When we arrived at the Dublin International Airport, Jill and I took a bus into town, and the rest (Shaunagh, Shawna, Heather, Nick, Whitney, and Megan) took another bus up to Belfast. It took Jill and I a fairly long time to find our Hostel, but when we finally did we were greeted by an adorable German boy who became our travel buddy for the rest of our stay in Dublin. His plane had been delayed or something so he had to stay in Dublin on his way back to Germany. It was really cool to talk to him and get a different view on America from someone our age. I don't think I'd really made friends with an ACTUAL EUROPEAN yet (I tend to get shy and think no one likes me because I'm American, so I don't start conversations often), so it was really interesting for me. Yay for international friends! His university isn't too far from our Castle, so there's a chance we may see him again before we trek on back to America.

Then Azelie appeared and hugged me for a good ten minutes straight. Her friend from school, Amanda, was also visiting. She is doing a semester in Spain. So we bar hopped for a while. It was a Thursday night, so there weren't too many people out, but it was really fun. I don't like Guiness beer, I have decided. It tastes like what dirty cat litter smells like. But Azelie introduced me to this beer and black currant liquor mix that is called a Snakebite, those were good. I wish I had been able to spend more time with her, I really miss her a lot. But she's going to Amsterdam the same weekend me and Aaron are going, so I'll probably see her at least once there.

The next morning Jill and I woke up to one of our roommates shaving his chest in the morning light coming through the window. Hostels are quite interesting like that. There's usually lots of people in a tiny space and from many different backgrounds. Chest-Shave-Man didn't speak much English, we think he was from Spain. So anyway, Jill and I packed up, got some lunch, said bye to Sam (German boy) and got on a train to Belfast. We found our hostel pretty quickly, it was really nice. Almost like a hotel with bunk beds. Megan had got us a private room, so we didn't have to lock our bags in cages like the last hostel. Then we took a nap. Got dinner. Went to the pub with the rest of our group who had just gotten back from getting tattoos.

The next morning we got up painfully early and hopped on a bus to the Giant's Causeway. It was so beautiful. We stopped at a lot of pretty places. I will try to get pictures up soon, I'm really behind in getting the non-facebook pictures up. I need to switch picture websites since I'm out of room on my flickr account. Anyway, first we stopped at Carrick-a-Rede, this beautiful little bit of land by the sea with all these land masses sticking out of the water. To get to one of them you have to cross this tiny rope bridge over a cliff. It was awesome. We also stopped to take pictures of these old castle ruins before finally heading up to the Causeway. When we were not even two minutes from the spot, our tour bus hit a car. This took some time. It would have been hilarious if it hadn't cut into our touring time. But finally we got there and it was beautiful. Again, by the sea, huge land masses, but between the two there's these volcanic formations. It's just a really pretty spot, it's hard to put into words. Pictures, soon.

So, that was Ireland. It was definately amazing. Now I have to shower and study for midterms, ugh! Next weekend we're going to Amsterdam, but aparently plans have changed and now we're only going for one day. But I guess that's fine because Aaron and I will be there in two weeks and it'll leave more stuff for us to see together :) I'm really excited, I miss him so much. I can't wait to show him my castle and Well and just everything. And I miss Siobhan, but she can't visit. And my cats. And my family. I'm getting homesick pretty bad. But if I break it into parts it doesn't seem to long. Amsterdam next weekend, then Switzerland (don't freak mom: I may go paragliding! I am so excited! I know Dad would be rooting me on to do it) and the ski trip, then Aaron visits, then it's the Prague trip, after 5 days in Prague we have 5 days for Vienna and Italy, then I think it's Greece and that's the last weekend before I go home!

So, yeah, amazing weekend. :)

I am in love with the Pringles Man.

Since the train coming back to the castle from France on Saturday, I have bought and consumed four containers of Sour Cream and Onion Pringles. No, not the little tubes, the big, full-sized ones. Yes, I did have some help. But, wow. I hope these things don't have TOO many calories, the nutrition facts are in Dutch. There goes however much fat I burned off walking a million miles in London/Paris... I think this will be one of those occasions where I OD on a certain food until I can't stand to look at them anymore. Previous cases: Bologna sandwiches, cottage cheese, the buffalo chicken sandwiches at the dining hall... not that I don't still eat all of those (minus bologna) on occasion.

Also on the subject of food: Yesterday in Intercultural Communications we got to learn about different countries and their types of food. We also got to EAT! He brought in different foods from other countries for us to try. It was wonderful, our favorite day in that class so far. We also learned about Dutch Christmas, which was pretty cool. They have Santa Klaus instead of Santa Claus, and he lives in Spain instead of the North Pole. He's dressed more like a preist or pope instead of the guy on the Coca-Cola cans we know and love. Instead of elves, his helpers are two little African slave children. Um, yeah. Then we got Santa Klaus chocolates and slave children lollipops! It was... interesting... and delicious.

Anyway. I am very nearly caught up with all my work here. I just have to write one essay for Ethics and I am back on track. Midterms are next week though, hopefully I'll do okay. None of the teachers have given us any clue what to expect on them, so it'll be tough. But none of the mid-terms count for a particularly large amount of our grade, so it'll be okay.

Tomorrow I'm off to Ireland for the weekend. Jill and I are staying in Dublin for the night so I can visit Azelie, then we're meeting the rest of our usual travel group in Belfast sometime the next day. I'm excited to be going somewhere that speaks English. I have no idea about the food there, but if potatoes are still plentiful that's fine by me. Also, Irish is one of my favorite accents. Aze says it's beautiful but suggested we stay in Dublin because there's more to do and Belfast is kind of dull in her opinion, but we've already made reservations and such so we'll have to make do.

The weekend after that I visit Amsterdam with Jill and Heather. I think that's it, but there may be more of us. I'm excited to scope out the area and pick out the best spots for when Aaron and I visit. I know I want to see the Van Gogh Museum, the Anne Frank House, the Sex Museum and the Torture Museum. I doubt I'll try anything in the "coffee shops" but it'd be interesting to see how one worked. And I'd like to see the red light district, but maybe in the daytime, because I could imagine that place being sketchy at night. I booked the hotel for Aaron and I last night, I found a pretty inexpensive one in a nice location within walking distance to the major attractions with breakfast included. I think I did a good job. I'm so excited for his visit :) EXACTLY THREE WEEKS FROM TODAY! He arrives on Wednesday the 7th, he's taking a train/bus to Well, staying in a nearby hotel for the night, then Thursday afternoon we're going to Amsterdam until Sunday, and then he'll be back at the hotel for Monday and Tuesday and we'll hang out in Well and the other little Dutch towns and then he leaves on Wednesday. I'm beyond excited, I miss him lots.

The weekend after Amsterdam with Jill and Heather I just decided to go on a ski trip in SWITZERLAND! Okay, so, some of you are laughing. This is probably because if you know me, you know that: 1. I do NOT like the cold, 2. I cannot ski, 3. When I attempted snow boarding it resulted in a BROKEN LIMB, and 4. I am not very good at things that require a lot of physical endurance. Yes, all this is true. However, I have always wanted to learn how to ski, I enjoyed the little snowboarding I did, I will bring every warm piece of clothing I took to the castle and wear it constantly, and it's fairly inexpensive at like 140 Euro for the entire weekend: lodging, rentals, access to the slopes, and for 15 Euro more you get instructions. And at least one other person can't ski and is going, so I won't be left behind or whatnot. Jenna, Shaunagh, Sammantha, Whitney, and I think a few other people are also going. I'm excited. Even if I tire myself out even more, it's definately an experience I'm looking forward to. How many people can say "I've been skiing in Switzerland?" it just seems like a cool thing to do.

After that weekend, AARON VISITS! :)!!!

Hehe. That is all.

Love and miss everyone, like always, I enjoy your comments so keep them coming!

<333 Ashley

PS. Leave your address if you'd like a postcard! I don't know when I'll get around to it (and stamps are .89 euro each, ugh!) but I'll try to send one to everyone who wants one at least once :)

Paris...

Okay, so, now for the Paris Post.

Paris was lovely, and I was really happy to spend time there with mom... I just didn't enjoy it as much as London. There's many reasons for this.
-I was dead-tired from all the walking around London we did. My back and legs were in a constant state of pain.
-It was cloudy most of the time, I think if I'd seen it in summer I'd find it more beautiful
-I don't know as much French as I used to, so I felt really dumb whenever I tried to converse with a French person
-I missed our usual travel group (though I love Heather and Jill dearly I kept thinking how much fun we'd have if John, Jenna, Eric, Shanagh, etc. were there)
-By the time we left for Paris all my clothes were dirty and gross because I only packed like four shirts and two pants into a single backpack, plus my hair was frizzy and disgusting since I didn't have my vast assortment of curl-tamers with me and I'd left my straightener at the castle.
-I built Paris up so much in my mind I couldn't help but be a little dissapointed.

This isn't to say I didn't have fun there. And it was really pretty. I don't know, I just wasn't completely in love with it like I thought I would be. But I did have a fun birthday. Mom took us out to an Italian restaurant and we had spaghetti and this wonderful wine, then we trekked on up to Sacre Coeur, where you can see all of Paris. It was this cute little section of Paris that was really old and rustic looking. Jill and Heather went back the next day, while I went to the Musee D'Orsay with my Mom and Val. I wish I'd seen Sacre Coeur in the day, but The museam was wonderful. It had some of my favorite artists, Monet and Van Gogh, plus a lot of works that I'd studied last year in Art History. Mom cried when she saw Monet's painting of the bridge, it was her favorite painting ever. She said it was one of those "once in a lifetime moments." I'm hoping my favorite painting, Starry Night, will be in the Van Gogh museam in Amsterdam, I wonder if I'll have the same reaction.

We also went to The Louvre. Saw the Mona Lisa and many other wonderful works of art. That place was just far too massive. I had to sit and take a break in like, every room. It was cool though, definately a must-see in Paris. We also saw Notre Dame, but I'm not totally into churches and religious stuff. I just kept thinking of the Disney movie, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and kept trying to remember if the movie showed the church accurately.

Two nights we had dinner in our room (not allowed for whatever reason, which is weird... but they allow you to have food and chips you buy AT the hotel) and it was adorable, because it was fresh bread, cheese, crackers, fruit, and wine. And chocolate! It was so much fun, we felt very French. I liked this almost as much as the nights we ate out :)

At the hotel there was one really nice desk clerk, and one really mean one. The mean one was this woman who yelled at me about the internet and was giving my mom a hard time about calling a cab. Plus, she accused me and Heather and Jill of staying in my mom's room an extra night after we'd checked out and gone to the hostel. I'm sure my mom complained about her to the manager or whatnot, she was quite rude. The nice desk clerk was this guy named Dipesh from Nepal. We stayed up late and talked with him about America, it was cool to get an outside perspective of our culture. He also asked us to correct an essay in English for him, and talked about all the places he'd traveled and such. I feel bad we didn't meet up with him again, but we're facebook friends so hopefully he'll keep in touch.

Jill's birthday was a day before mine, and Heather and I had bought Jill a dress she had wanted in London. While she was in the shower, we hung it up over her bed, next to the window, with a sign that said "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" I told Heather I bet Jill wouldn't even notice it. Which she didn't. It was hilarious. Heather and I were cracking up laughing because she was just sitting on her bed complaining about how the razor she bought gave too many knicks. Finally I asked her if she could tell if it was still raining outside, and she pushed the dress aside with the curtains, stopped, realized what it was, and was like "ooooh!" since she thought we were laughing because we poisoned her chips or something. She seemed to enjoy it, and it fit! :) For my birthday they got me a shot glass and bag that I'd wanted that said Paris on it. Two things I had wanted since I got there :)

After two nights in the hotel we went to the Aloha Hostel. I got us lost because I'd brought us to the wrong street. But when we finally found it, it wasn't too bad. Free breakfast, and there was a bar. It was a bit of a change, going from comfy beds and a nice big shower to bunk beds and a shower that we couldn't figure out how to turn on. Our last night in Paris we split a plastic bottle of wine and Heather drank a bit too much. Then Jill and I chilled in the bar for a bit. The next day we hopped on the train and came back to the castle.

I missed the castle a lot, I'm very happy to be back. I'm happy to feel clean and wear different clothes. I am running a little low on conditioner for my hair, which is scary because they don't seem to have Pantene Pro-V Sleek and Smooth here, which is the only stuff that gets my hair the way I like it. I don't ever want my hair to be how it was last week. Yuck. Next two-week trip I am definately taking two bags, I don't care how inconvienent it'll be or if it's 12 Euro to check it on Ryanair.

Now, back to the endless amounts of homework! Hurrah!

Oh, my Brussels trip is finally on Flickr. I may be changing image hosting sites soon though since I'm running out of space. http://www.flickr.com/photos/internationalashley/ click the box on the side that says "Brussels"
If you have facebook, the London and Paris pics are there. For those of you without facebook, I'll figure out some way to post them when I have time.

Love and miss you all like always... comments? <3

Aloha!.... from Paris?

At the moment I am blogging from the Aloha Hostel in Paris. I am very tired and my feet hurt like hell. I am now 20 years old, hurrah! One more year until the fun starts back in the States, right? It was a pretty fun day. We went to the Louvre, saw numerous famous works of art, then got lost trying to find the hostel, then met up with my Mom and Val for dinner and went to Sacre Coeur.

This computer won't let me see my email, wonderful. Gar!

But, more about Paris later... like, tomorrow, if I want to pay another 2 Euro for thirty minutes and not be able to check my internet. I would like to discuss LONDON.

London was amazing. This may be mostly due to the fact that they actually spoke English and we felt a little less like Dumb Americans. However, we did go to every touristy site imaginable... haha. But it was amazing.

London would probably be quite near the top of my list of favorite cities if it wasn't for..
-My fingernails were CONSTANTLY dirty, no matter what I did to remedy this
-When you blow your nose, it comes out BLACK, which probably has to do with reason 1
-The 2-to-1 exchange rate, which was very much not in our favor
-People are too dressed up... I'd like this, because I looove dressing up, but living out of a single backpack for TWO WEEKS doesn't allow many options. I felt slobby, but there wasn't much I could do about it.

We got to see TWO Broadway-ish shows in London's West End. I saw Wicked AND Spamalot. They were amazing. And, even with the shitty exchange rate, probably half of what it would cost to see them in the US in New York. Wicked was even better than I thought it would be, even though I was expecting American accents because of the soundtrack... guess I'll just have to figure out a way to see it in the States too :) But yeah, it really surprised me how well they went by the storyline (even though there were many major changes). It wasn't as comedy-ish as I thought it would be. And Spamalot was hilarious. I kept thinking about how me and Dad used to love The Holy Grail, and how much he'd be cracking up at the show if he'd been there. And I'd probably be embarassed at his loud laughter, but it'd make me crack up too... I think about him like that a lot, I miss him...

But on a happier note... Yeah, it was awesome. Mom and Val took me to the Tower of London, which was this old castle where they used to keep prisoners. It was pretty cool. Then my friends and I went on a tour of London about Jack the Ripper, also very cool though we went through some shady areas. We also went on The London Eye on the ONLY day it rained during our stay... still awesome though. The hotel room was tiny tiny, our hostel room now is bigger than the one Emerson provided... but still, it was a good time. We saw Big Ben and Westminster Abbey and Camden and all sorts of cute little places. The Tube is actually surprisingly easy to navigate. Leister Square and Piccadilly Circus are probably two of my favorite places ever. Definately a good time. I'd love to live in London someday.

So, Paris is wonderful so far, surprisingly I'm not liking it quite as much as London, but probably because I feel even more "dumb American" here since I've discovered my French has somehow gotten even worse since the Brussels trip. I need to take more French classes somehow. I can understand like 70% of what I read, but I can't speak it well or understand it spoken at all.

Like I said, I'll talk more about Paris when I get the time. I just didn't want to have to try to remember two whole weeks at once. This is my London entry, mostly. Hehe.

Love everyone and miss you all like CRAZY. Spending time with Mom has been awesome though and made me a little less homesick. But still, I miss home! I'm even getting homesick for the castle!

<333 Ashley

The President's Visit

(okay Siobhan, just for you, and update... haha)

So the President of Emerson College arrived yesterday. She's here to meet with the governor to try and work out the whole visa issue that's been going on. Therefore, we had a huge dinner to welcome her. It was really nice actually. It wasn't mandatory to go, but pretty much you didn't get to eat unless you went, since the caterers that do our dining hall were the same ones catering the event. We all had to dress "Smart Casual" which we took to mean dressy-but-not-school-dance-dressy. It was fun, I love dressing up!

The president used this occasion to honor all the staff members of the castle. She gave them all sorts of crystalwear gifts with the Emerson logo on the bottom. It was pretty cool. Dulcia was given high honors and such, as she should, since she's pretty awesome. Jill, Heather, and I arrived late so the table with our friends was full up. So we ended up sitting with the photographer, a teacher, and two of the dancers. It was pretty cool actually. The photographer was trying to explain to me that red wine doesn't taste good chilled. I was disagreeing. I guess my wine tasting abilities are not up to par.

Speaking of wine... they just kept refilling our glasses. I think I had about four glasses over the course of the meal before I decided to stop, leaving me with a light buzz. Some people took it a bit too far. We heard stories of a few drunken people that Dulcia rolled her eyes at. Really smart, getting drunk when the president of the college is here to make important decisions about the program... Anyway. I forget the guy's name, but the entertainment was this Dutch musician who was pretty famous in the 60s and 70s, with I think two number one hits in America. When he came on stage the teacher and photographer gasped and one was like "My parents have ALL his records!" and the photographer was like "he was my IDOL when I was 15!" so I guess this guy is a celebrity. He sang and played piano and flute (SIMULTANEOUSLY, it was cool).

The lyrics to one of the songs was kind of silly, it went like this:
Someone left a cake out in the rain
and I don't know if I can take it
because it took so long to bake it
and I'll never have that recipe again...

So, yeah, if you know that song, that's him.

It was a pretty awesome night. Afterwards Jill, Heather, and I walked to The Linden, but there weren't too many people there so we went home early. What was funny though: when we went outside as we were leaving, my Literature teacher was sitting at one of the tables, smoking, with like 15 students gathered around him as he seemed to be telling some wild tale. Pretty funny. Tonight is America Night at the bar, the busiest night for Emerson kids, but I probably won't go since I have to finish my homework before the London trip. I got an extention on one essay, so I just have to write an essay about The Oddessy. I'm totally stuck for ideas though. Any suggestions?

I'm so excited for London!!! :)

Be back blogging about it on the 14th. Leave me some pretty comments to come back to! Love and miss you all! <3

I found my keys!!!

The crisis is over! My keys have been found! REJOICE!
They were in the pocket of my brown sweatshirt, in the laundry. Now they are on my Emerson College lanyard so it'll be harder for me to repeat this nearly tragic mistake. Now I can use that 70 Euro for a bike rental! Woo!

Also, my jetlag produced some good results: Last night I was able to do both assignments that were due during the week I was absent. This is good because my teachers didn't give me the kind of extention that I'd hoped for. Basically I have to write two essays and read a book in the next two days because it's all due directly after our travel break. Nice.

Tonight I ate the biggest eggroll you could possibly imagine. It was the vegetarian option during dinner. The thing was like a meal in itself. And, coincidentally, earlier in the day I had randomly stated in Philosophy my sudden desire for Chinese food, in the middle of a group discussion about Hume and Hobbs' views on violence in man. The eggroll was wonderous and just what I wanted, minus the duck sauce. I've yet to try the Chinese food place down the street, fearing that it won't be like my beloved greasy American version... but now I have high hopes.

I created a facebook group to hopefully pull in more readers to my blog. Mostly, because I like comments. It's a need of mine. Actually, I think it just lets me know people are reading and that's the purpose of this blog, so that people back home can see what I'm up to and people who are here with me can relate and add stories and whatnot. If I don't think anyone cares, I'm less likely to post daily. So, yeah. That's that. Perhaps my plan will work...

Heather has also been blogging about our adventures on her blog: http://heatherbeeadventures.blogspot.com/ so head on over and check it out as well.

That's it for now. I have to read a good chunk of The Oddyssey before we all gather for Zombie Movie Night. My jet lag is wavering but still very much here, so it'll probably be another late night.

Love and miss you all like always.

I lost my keys.

I lost my keys somewhere. That's 70 Euro down the drain for a new set. Maybe by some miracle I left them at home and Mom will find them and bring them to me on Thursday... but I probably would have seen them in my packing was that the case. I probably dropped them in the airport somewhere, never to be seen or heard from again...

When I arrived at the castle after a fairly decent flight (though I couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep) I had no way in. I looked around for open windows to see if anyone could hear me and let me in, then realized our dorm had a buzzer. So someone rung me in. But I still couldn't get into my room. I was all ready to camp out outside my room until my roommates got back that night since I was pretty sure Residence Life didn't work on Sundays... but then Chester Lee came to my rescue yet again and opened my door. (did I mention that, when I got the news about my Dad, he was the one to 1. Download a train schedule 2. Drive me to the train station 3. Pay for my train ticket 4. Accompany me all the way to the airport and navigate the train switches along the way and 5. Show me which gate to get on in the airport? Plus he told all my teachers what happened, and told me not to even think about schoolwork until I got back. Yeah, he's kind of my hero a little bit)

Jill and Heather had left me Welcome Home! signs on my desk and bed. Also, a shotglass from Scotland with Scottish Terriers on it. I love my roomies.

So, upon entering, I scoured my room for my keys. No luck. So I put on my pajama pants and crawled into bed, hoping to sleep for a few hours at most. This is about 10 am at the latest. I wake up at 5 pm as my roommates return. Yes, that's right, I got a whole 8 hours, a full "nighttime" of sleep. Now it's 2 am and I have no hope of any sort of normal sleep pattern for at least another day. Must. NOT. Nap tomorrow...

Everyone gave me hugs and my friend Eric nearly made me fall over when he saw me by running and JUMPING onto me and hugging my face so hard it made me bite my tongue. Aw, I missed everyone lots.

We leave for London on THURSDAY. I get to see Mom and Val on FRIDAY. I'm really excited :) I'm glad they're still going, even with everything that happened. I'm so excited for London and Paris, they're the two places I've always wanted to travel.

Aaron officially got his tickets today!! I am so excited!!

Lots of fun things coming up. I'll be sure to take endless amounts of pictures!

<3 and miss everyone, as always.

Another plane ride...

So, despite the tragic circumstances that brought me home... it was nice to be back for a little while. I was missing everyone a lot, and it was nice to see my family, my friends, my wonderful boyfriend, and my cats again. Also, it was really great to eat American food again!

Now I have to pack. I got some new clothes, new SHOES and I must remember to bring my silver shoes that I missed so much. I also have the Easy Mac that Heather requested, hopefully it'll make it through Customs. Still unsure as to how I'll get Papa Gino's Chicken Tenders (buffalo) over there, but I'm sure as hell going to try. I think I'll have enough room for everything, it's the return in December I'm a little worried about. But I was like 20 pounds under the limit when I went there, and I won't have the heavy bottles of shampoo and stuff when I get back. So I should be okay.

I want to thank everyone yet again for all the love and support they've given me these past few days/week. It's been amazing to see how many people's lives my dad touched. Even people who only knew him a little while will miss him. So many people came to the wake, it showed how loved he was. The funeral ceremony was beautiful. It was fun to hear all his friends tell stories about him. I'm glad I was able to sing for him one last time.

Now I'm off to the Netherlands yet again, to deal with another plane ride (not my favorite) and another week of jet lag. Hopefully my teachers will be sympathetic. Dad would have wanted me to go back and continue my adventure. He was so excited and proud.

Now, to get back to packing. Love you all! I'll miss you! Keep commenting! <3

No Scotland for me, or Berlin either for that matter. I am flying home for a week due to a death in the family. If you're my friend or family, you know what happened already.

I just need lots of hugs right now.

Classes, woo.

Okay, so, for lack of anything else to talk about I guess I'll talk about my classes. Right now I'm in Sophie's Lounge and working on my essay for Ethics but it's stressing me out so I need to take a break. I have until next week to do it, but with the Scotland trip this weekend I want to get as much done tonight as I can. I already have to read all of The Odyssey by Tuesday, which I plan to do on the train/plane this weekend. I've already had to read most of it twice for other classes in the past so it shouldn't be so bad.

Anyway, classes are alright. I think I'm really going to like Creative Writing and Literature, but knowing me that's obvious. Here's my classes:

Intro to Creative Writing Fiction:
The teacher is really cool. She has us meditate. Her voice is very relaxing, kind of like something you'd expect on one of those audio book things. We have to do a short story every two weeks, but a small one 1-5 pages, then two larger ones in lieu of a final. She believes that first drafts can't have cross-outs and you need to just keep writing no matter what and kind of let go of all thoughts and such. It sounds cool, it'll be hard to get used to. I'm just really excited to have an excuse to write. I tend to write more and better when a grade is on the line. I have a good feeling about this class and teacher.

Literary Foundations:
I feel like this would be boring if it wasn't for the teacher. We're reading a bunch of old books that most of us have read before. However, the teacher is hilarious. He doesn't stop himself from swearing, he has this ridiculous Boston accent, and is just generally crazy. He wears his hair in a big hair clip. He likes to go off on tangents that include the quote, "I could have solved the war in a minute... just go over to Iraq and instead of bombs drop TEDDY BEARS!!" I'm really excited for this class, it seems like he has a lot of passion about the books as well so hopefully it'll be interesting.

Intercultural Communications:
I wasn't entirely sure what this class was about other than it was a requirement, but it seems pretty cool so far. We just learn about other cultures (mainly Dutch so far) and how they're different and about culture shock and whatnot. Yesterday a former prostitute came to talk to us. She was amazing. She's done so much in her life and isn't ashamed of any of it. She said she might even go back to sex work someday. Right now she does the more informational side of things, working in Amsterdam like that. She was cool. Next week we get to talk to two German students who spent a year in America and we get to see what it's like from a foreigner's point of view.

Topics in Philosophy, Ethics and Values:
This is my hardest class, I know already. It's abstract and different. I'm trying really hard to be into it, but I'm someone who likes direct answers and in philosophy you don't get that. Your answers are questions. It's frusterating. Also, the reading material she gives us is hard. The teacher is really nice and I don't mind the class... I'm just a little scared of the work. It's interesting.

So, yeah. This weekend is Scotland. I still have to put up the Brussels pictures, Flickr is just annoying because it takes forever to upload. Hopefully I'll have all that done next week if I don't have too much work.

Miss everyone lots! Thanks for the comments <3 love you all!

Mail is fun!

I got my package from my mom today! It was very exciting. I saw the paper in my mailbox after dinner and got really happy, then I realized the paper said I had until 17:00 to pick it up (5:00 non-military time), and it was 19:00... but the office was still open. So I waited for someone to return from dinner and they gave me the package! They said the time limit was old, and not in effect anymore. Yay! I got all sorts of little goodies, even a little black cat stuffed animal, since I joked about taking Jack (my little black cat back home) to Europe with me. Maybe I should make him a collar, since the real Jack back home has been making escape attempts and now needs to wear one.

Not much else has been happening. I had my first writing class today, and it seems amazing. The woman seems really cool. And the class isn't what people told me it would be: just spending all semester writing one or two long-ish stories. It's actually reading a bunch of short fiction, writing 1-6 page stories every two weeks in the style of one of the fictions, and then two longer fictions at the end. I am really excited to have a reason to start writing again! I've been reading this amazing book, My Sister's Keeper, and it's been sparking my imagination. Also, being surrounded by such beautiful landscape and being able to roam around Europe at my leisure is pretty inspiring as well. This is good. I was afraid I was losing my creativity.

Tomorrow, in Intercultural Communications, an ex-prostitute is coming to talk to the class. I am really excited, they sent out a bio and she seems like a really cool person. She works in Amsterdam now, but I think she works with the legal aspect of that stuff, since prostitution is legal in The Netherlands.

So... yeah. Not much happening. We sent out postcards last night. I didn't have enough to send to everyone I wanted to, but those who I promised postcards should get them soon. The rest of you will get them soon... but later. I walked to the market to get more stamps and other essentials.

That's all. Dodgeball game tonight, I'm contemplating whether or not I want to join, I thought I was done with gym class forever... though Dodgeball was one of the more favorable activities... we'll see.

I Enjoy Brussels! (Not the sprouts...)

An updated list of my favorite cities:
1. Boston
2. New York
3. Montreal
4. BRUSSELS

Oh my goodness. From the delicious waffles we enjoyed upon entering to the amazing free concert last night, Brussels was one of the best places I've visited in my life so far. I had no idea what Brussels had to offer aside from maybe chocolate, waffles, and the French language, so I didn't have many high expectations other than being able to say "hey I've been to Belguim!" No. Oh my goodness. The city is BEAUTIFUL. Not all parts, some were a little dingy, but the arcitecture was so pretty.

Aparently the town mascot is Le Mannekin Pis, this statue of a little peeing boy. And they dress him up for special events. It's really funny. There's a rumor that he pees beer during special occasions. There's also a rumor that he has a sister, a little peeing girl, but we couldn't find her anywhere.

Last night was amazing. Our friend Eric wanted to go to this dance club, and we scoured the city but found no such club. Just when we thought hope was lost, we heard bass. We followed the sound until we got to this huge outdoor concert playing techno music. We couldn't get in, but standing across the street we could see and hear perfectly. The music was loud and fun but no one inside the concert was dancing. They were just standing and drinking. So, of course, we all started dancing. It was awesome. People were waving to us and taking pictures (probably thinking "wow those stupid Americans!" but who cares?) But people started dancing. Then some Belgian people danced with us, so we had this group of us dancing across the street from the concert. People sent us drinks! Which was cool, but we didn't drink them just to be safe. Then later, one of the people who sent us drinks went on stage and performed. It was nuts. And so much fun. One of the girls who danced with us was a 16 year old girl named Kristina who had just moved to Brussels from Russia. She was really cool, we got her email so we can keep in touch.

Today we just wandered around more, got lunch, had more waffles. The waffles were to DIE for. They were so much better than our waffles here. So much sweeter and just all around better. I had mine with strawberries (fresh! not canned!) whipped cream AND chocolate. Amazing. So good. I miss the waffles.

I have to get to my homework now, we came home early so that we all could catch up on work. Next weekend: SCOTLAND!!

The Dutch put sauce on EVERYTHING

So, another day where not much happened. I had a 10 am class and then no class the rest of the day. I ate lunch, napped, did homework, ate dinner, watched episodes of my favorite tv shows back home online, and then ordered pizza with Heather and Jill. Tomorrow I have another 10 am class, so I probably should go to bed soon.

I am scared to get money out of the ATM since our friend Shawna had both her debit and credit card eaten by the one in town. No one else has had problems, but she has the same bank as me so I'm a little weary. Though another girl also has the same bank and she was fine. I still have a good amount of cash left from what I changed over in the US, but I'll need more soon with all the trips we're going on in the coming weeks. Tomorrow Jill and I are going back to Venlo to shop around, I'm going to try the ING bank there. It's a bank that exists in the states so hopefully it'll work fine. Shawna used my Skype to call the bank and we all got to hear the RIDICULOUS conversation that ensued. She was transferred to Visa, and back to the bank, then to Visa again, then was disconnected twice, talked to five different people that told her different things, was told she could get a new card overnight, then told she had to cancel her card, then told that she was getting sent a new one. It all ended ok, hopefully she'll get a card soon. Both her credit and debit are gone, meaning her first trip this weekend had to be cancelled.

Not much else to say except that I am craving some choice American foods. I really wanted a hamburger the other day. Not McDonalds, just a juicy cookout hamburger with lettuce and tomato. Then today I wanted buffalo tenders. I also wanted a hostess cupcake. None of these things exist in Dutch. I was not impressed with the pizza we ordered tonight either. Hopefully the cravings will go away soon and I'll grow accustomed to Dutch food more... not that the food here isn't good, it really is, I just miss my messy greasy comfort food back home. Oh, and the title of this post: every night at dinner, regardless of WHAT is for dinner, there is a sauce to put on it. I never know what the sauce is, but it's always there. A new one every night. With the exception of last night's calimari, all the food here has been good. The sauces have also been good. It's just amusing to me that every dish has a sauce.

Aaron coming to visit is becoming more of a reality every day! I'm trying not to get TOO excited, lest something go wrong and he can't come, but still. It'd be nice to see a face from home. Especially such a cute one ;) And more cute faces from home: Mom and Val are meeting us during our London trip then we're going to Paris (we=Me, Heather, Jill, Mom, and Val). I booked the chunnel tickets today. Still have to book a hostel for the second half of the Paris trip (so mom if you're reading this don't cancel it just yet). The Chunnel was a hassle enough. There was a problem with the address to where they should send the tickets, I gave the castle address but I don't know if it went through correctly so I'm waiting for an email from the company and I'll call tomorrow if I don't get one by then. But I'm sure everything will work out and it'll be fun times :)

Sleep now. Love and miss everyone, leave me comments full of love!

Important Sending Stuff Information!

For anyone who would like to send me a package, there are some things to remember:
-Do NOT use UPS. They aparently have not been reliable in the past and I guess there are some billing issues between the company and the castle. Also, the U.S. Postal Service is an option that is cheaper but takes a looooong time and hasn't been the most reliable service. They suggest using FedEx because it is quick and reliable.
-Try not to make it too heavy, shipping stuff overseas is expensive. The heavier the package, the more it will cost.
-Use this format for my address:
Ashley Blom
Street Address: Kasteellaan 20
Town or City: Well
Postal Code: 5855 AE
Province: Limburg
Country: The Netherlands

*Remember: My birthday is October 11th, hehe ;) If anyone wants to send me anything... an itunes giftcard would be wonderous. I forgot some songs I wanted to bring. And Euros are nice, haha. You can get them at any local bank! And anything else, I don't know, you all probably know what I like. Even a card would be thrilling, I haven't gotten any mail yet. ALSO: if anyone has any pictures, I totally forgot to bring any to put on my walls = no pictures from people at home. I'd love some photos to be sent here!

Okay. So, not too much has been happening. I think the most exciting thing I did today was go shopping again. Now that classes have started and I am not obligated to get up at 8 am I probably won't, but then I'll miss breakfast. So I got some snacks.

I added more pictures to http://internationalashley.blogspot.com And tried to put them in chronological order. If you click to the side, that says European Adventure, it's a bit more organized and easy to see the pictures.

Megan's birthday was last night. We went to The Linden and celebrated. It was fun, but I think I'll avoid going to the bar in the middle of the week from now on. I didn't have class until 2:30 though, so it was okay, but it's money I don't need to spend. But yeah. On the walk back Jill and I were very entranced by the stars. I didn't realize how pretty they are here. So we laid down in the field and looked at them for a while and we saw a shooting star. It was really cool.

Internet appears to be back up and running, which is convienent. It was a pain in the butt to have to keep going to the computer lab whenever I wanted to check my email. Hopefully it'll last!

We booked our next trip today! We're going to Scotland! We found plane tickets for $50, and a hostel for like $20. I like my new little group of friends, they're fun. Another idea we had was to go to Switzerland and either go skydiving (I doubt any of us would be brave enough, but it's something I've always wanted to do) or take a plane tour of the Swiss Alps. I think by then we can activate our Eurail passes so we won't have to fly. We also are considering going to Greece and Ireland. Plus in a couple of weeks we're going to London, and then Mom and Val are meeting us there and we're going to Paris. I'm excited :)

Homework to do... <3 and miss you all, like always.

Cola Epiphanies and Venlo!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/internationalashley/ LOOK! PICTURES!
Not ALL of them yet, because internet shut off halfway through uploading, but it's something to look at so far :)

Okay, so, before departing to The Netherlands I was warned that my beloved Coca Cola would be scarce. Worse, that it'd be expensive if I did find it. However, I am happy to say this is not true. Not only is Coca Cola in vast abundance, it is cheap! Even including the exchange rate, it's less than its American counterpart. Also! It tastes BETTER. I don't even know how. Usually I prefer fountain coke, but the bottled coke here is amazing. Aparently they use real sugar whereas the US uses some sort of artificial sweetener. So, it's probably bad for my teeth, but delicious nonetheless.

Today a few classes were cancelled since the teacher hasn't flown in yet, so Jill, Eric and I decided to explore the city of Venlo. At first we were a little distraught that it takes 8 strippenkart stamps to go one way to Venlo (its like a bus pass, 45 stamps is 20E) but the town is so pretty it's worth it. The delicious lunch we had in the pub was worth it! I got french bread with ham and cheese (which was served to me on a pretty platter, not sandwich-like in the slightest, and I had no idea how to go about eating it...) and tomato soup with feta cheese. Jill and Eric split tomato soup and a hamburger meal... Dutch hamburgers look so much more high class than ours. They're served on pretty bread rolls and the meat looks a lot more appetizing.
Then we wandered around the shops and such... this is when I finally felt like I was in another country. In Well it's pretty and old fashioned, but it's pretty much like Hatfield: Lots of cornfields, barns, horses, cows, chickens (they look like they have bellbottoms, the chickens, it's crazy) and only a few little shops. But Venlo really feels far away. Cobblestone streets, lots of little buildings, old fashioned architecture... really nice.

I bought a couple of pretty shirts and a long sleeve white t-shirt to wear under the t-shirts I packed so I can wear them longer. I feel a little better now that I have some more dressy-ish shirts. I still need another pair of leggings, but I couldn't find a color I like. It was like 10 Euro for three shirts, meaning only $15 American. I think I did well shopping. There's one more thing I want to buy, which is a pair of calf-high boots with no heel. I found some for less than 20 Euro but decided to wait until we go again (sometime at the end of the week). But no worries, I don't plan on doing weekly mall trips searching for sales like I do back home. I plan on saving my money for my various trips (we can't activate our Eurail passes yet or else they won't last through our Prague trip, so our first few trips we'll have to just pay for transportation) The stores are so cute. We went into a pastry shop that was to DIE for. Jill got a little cake that was delicious.

What's nice is that people just assume we're Dutch. Every store we went in (and the pub too) they greeted us in Dutch and asked if we needed any help--in Dutch. The first time someone did this Jill just stared at them blankly and they repeated the sentence, then she's like "um... sorry... I don't understand..." and the person smiled and repeated it in English. This is probably because Limburg doesn't seem like a very touristy place. I feel like I should be like "Spreek u Engels?" ("do you speak English?") but I feel like I wouldn't say it right and it'd be insulting. Also what's cool is everyone here speaks English with a British accent. One of my professors is Chinese and he speaks English with a Chinese AND British accent. It's really cool.

I would like to say that my Literary Foundations teacher is probably one of the coolest teachers ever. For those of you who went to Smith: he's like... if Mr. Hopkins had a Boston accent instead of a New York one, was a little more liberal with the swear words, and wore his hair in a ponytail. He's so cool. We began The Oddessy, which I've read a couple of times already... but he's making it really interesting so far.

So, in theory, we now have internet 24 hours. The internet was back up and running earlier... but now it won't work again. But when it decides to actually work, it means I can talk to people on Skype at a normal hour. :) And AIM too. That is, if I can afford to go to bed at a late hour. So we'll see. Skype is really helping me cope with missing people. Being able to have a ten minute conversation for 20 cents = awesome.

We're going back to Venlo Thursday or Friday since we only have one class, then BRUSSELS this weekend! Then next weekend we're going to Amsterdam. Should be fun times. I'm excited. That's all for now. Love you all! Comment and let me know you're reading!

First day of classes...

Today was the first official day of classes. Already I'm realizing that I chose classes with lots of writing involved. Kind of sucky, but I AM a Writing Major so I should expect it. I just ate dinner and decided to sneak to the computer lab since the wireless internet is down yet again. I don't like the keyboard here so this entry will not be long. Because wireless is down I still haven't been able to make a picture blog yet. I will do this soon. Thankfully they're sending someone to fix the internet tomorrow.

My allergies are killing me right now. I couldn't stop sneezing in one of my classes and had to excuse myself to the bathroom and wait until the sneezing subsided. I took some Bendryl and a nap and it's better but my nose is still very much like a faucet. I think it's from living in this old castle with all its dust and such. Hopefully it'll get better as I get more used to it.

There was a boat tour last night. It was really pretty, but a little chilly. We each got coupons for two free drinks. I got a screwdriver and a hot cocoa (non alcoholic). I loved seeing all the personal boats and little houses and waterfowl. I took many pictures.

I realized that I brought plenty of warm clothes, but not many overly pretty warm clothes. I forgot how into fashion most people seem to be here, and it makes me wish I'd gone a little more adventurous with my packing. I have only two skirts but they're more functional than pretty and the leggins I brought only work with one of them, and I REALLY wish I'd remembered to bring my pretty silver shoes because the black flats I brought give me blisters. Maybe it'll be too cold to care soon, but also maybe I can find some deals in Venlo, a nearby city. But I haven't visited there yet so I don't know what they have for shopping.

Not much else is new. I'm still missing everyone lots. I think I talked to five different people on Skype last night. I love that thing.

I'n gonna go get ready for my next class, Literary Foundations, which goes until 9. Comments on my blog are much appreciated and encourage me to write more :)

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.

HUGE fish!

I would just like to point out that our moat has ENORMOUS fish. I saw them and screamed and Jill yelled out the window "HOW DID YOU GET SO BIG??"

Today we are touring Well, the village we live in. Some people went to the bar last night or explored the town already. Heather, Jill and I were far too tired to think about doing anything but sleep last night. So this will be our first time seeing the village. We have to buy school supplies and such. They provided us with pillows that feel like they're filled with little bits of foam. I think when we go into town I'll try to find a cheap one that is filled with fluff instead.

We've decided that next weekend, for our first trip, we're going to Brussles in Belguim. I have no idea what's there except chocolate, but I'm excited. It's supposed to be really pretty this time of year. I will also get to practice my French since that is mostly what they speak there, as well as Welsh I guess. We're going with another group of girls that Heather is friends with, and our friend Eric is probably coming too.

Not much has happened so far today, I will probably blog again later. <3

Things I Learned Whilst On a Plane...

So, airline food is not as bad as everyone says it is. It's about on par with a frozen tv dinner, not bad at all. There was chicken and mushroom over rice, a salad with lettuce cucumber and tomato, half a sliced apple, individually wrapped cheddar cheese and club crackers, lemon cookies, and cous cous. I enjoyed it.

Getting on the plane wasn't as hectic as everyone said it would be. We checked our bags, went through security, then waited for the plane. It just took a long time since there were 80 of us. The plane ride itself wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I was still a little scared. I tried to sleep but I don't think I slept for very long. The drinking age is NOT 18 in the air, regardless of where you're traveling, which I discovered when the person in the seat in front of me tried to order a drink. That was amusing. Also, the in-flight movie was pretty cool. There were actually like 20 movies to choose from, and they were all free. I ended up watching The Ex, but it wasn't very good. Terrible actually. There were also video games and music videos and such, even shopping with the duty-free section... I bought nothing, it seemed too expensive for me. I ended up sleeping for maybe two hours when we began to land and I woke up with an explosive pain in my ears. I got some gum and it helped a little but wow. Ow.

I have now been in The Netherlands for 9 hours. I've yet to find the phone to call home. I thought I found one, but it was for local calls only. After I've gotten my fill of internet (which was just hooked up moments ago after being checked for viruses and whatnot) I'll go explore and find one. So far we haven't done much but unpack and eat lunch in the dining hall (which is adorable and looks more like a restaurant than a cafeteria) and listen to the staff tell us stuff about the program.

The grounds are gorgeous. Everything is so green and pretty. There's horses across the street and obscure birds everywhere. Mom was right when she said the ducks looked weird here... they're enormous and kind of ugly. They're white with black spots and red-ish beaks. There's also white geese that everyone is saying are swans. They are geese.

Our room is really nice. We've had a bunch of people come in and express jealousy. I haven't explored the other rooms yet. We didn't get a tower room but it's just as nice. Our enormous windows look out onto the moat and part of the garden. We can see the ducks and GEESE swimming around. We're on the lower floor which was wonderful since Heather and I packed as much as we possibly could using all four types of baggage available to us. My one mishap so far is that a bottle of hair oil I use religiously on my hair (Biosilk!) leaked. About half of what I had is gone and pooled at the bottom of my suitcase. Thankfully, there were few casualties. I had my clothes in plastic vacuum bags so they were completely fine. It was just annoying to clean. There's a lounge for us to chill in that sells food and beverages (including beer and wine, limit 3) in the evening and has a piano and guitar for the more musical among us to dabble with. I haven't seen much else in the castle, but I'm going to probably explore before dinner if I'm not too tired.

Dinner is soon and I need to find a phone to call mom. I will update again, hopefully with some pictures of my room and such.

Miss you all and love you lots!

People I'll Miss...

Here's some pictures of the things in the US that I'll miss the most...

















































I'm gonna miss all of you sooo much... thanks for an amazing summer. I love you all!!