Day 9: Trip to 's-Hertogenbosch

Its official: I have been in the Netherlands for over one week! I am loving Tilburg, Europe, and experiencing a new kind of life!

Sorry for my mini hiatus in blogging. Long story short, I went to ESN Introduction Camp over the weekend, where we had no internet access. The camp was supposed to go Friday-Sunday, but a couple of friends and I decided to leave early and come back Saturday evening (long story...will skip messy details :-). It was nice to get back to campus and relax for the evening. I tried my hand at cooking...I made some pasta! (Baby steps :-)

Since we had the whole day free today, my friends Mathea (Slovenia), Bali (Singapore), Daniel (Scotland) and I decided to make an excursion...my first travel of my semester abroad!! Bali had done some research last night (and talked to a Dutch flat-mate of hers) and discovered that the nearby town of 's-Hertogenbosch would be a nice place to visit for the day and take a walk through. So we set off for the train station around noon to take the train to 's-Hertogenbosch. It is only a 20-minute train ride, so we got there very quickly!

Last night it had snowed, so the ground, buildings and streets were covered in snow! We enjoyed walking around for a bit, exploring the city streets, stopping for mini snowball fights and taking lots of pictures! The buildings were beautiful- that distinct European style that you think of when you picture city streets in Europe! Although it looked much like the City Centre in Tilburg, it was nice to roam a new place. We walked for quite awhile before we discovered the way to the City Centre of 's-Hertogenbosch. In the Centre, we had a late lunch at this small bar/cafe called Opium...okay, it really wasn't that bad! It was actually pretty nice and quite inexpensive! I had a chicken/pesto/mozerella panini for 5 euro and a fancy hazelnut hot chocolate! It was delicious and warm (especially after walking through the snow).

After lunch, we crossed the road to see St. John's Cathedral. It was magnificent- just like one of those cathedrals out of my Art History textbooks! Then we headed back to an Art museum that we had passed on the way to the Centre. We explored it for a bit before it closed...it had some really intriguing Dutch art! Afterwards we set out to find The Chocolate Company, a small cafe serving hot chocolate and various Dutch chocolates that an American woman we had met recommended to us. It was great! We each had a steaming hot glass of hot chocolate, and we got to choose one of 44 flavors of chocolate spoons to mix into the steamed milk. I chose Apple Strudel...yum!

We walked back through the City Centre to the train station. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately!) the shops in the centre were all closed since it was Sunday, so we couldn't do any shopping :-( But it was a really nice afternoon with some new friends. On the train ride back to Tilburg, we chatted and planned some upcoming excursions. Next weekend, we are thinking Breda (another nearby town that has an IKEA), and the weekend after that Brussels! I am sooo looking forward to traveling!