Day 34-35: Ghent

On Thursday (February 18), Ashley and I headed from Antwerp to Ghent, Belgium. According to the awesome "Free Map for Young Travelers" that we picked up at Boomerang hostel in Antwerp, Ghent is only a short 45-minute train ride. So we boarded the train shortly after noon and headed to our second stop on our "Tour de Belgium".

We arrived in Ghent to find similar weather to what we had so far experienced- reasonably cold and windy. But no worries, Google Maps indicated it was only a short 15-minute walk to our hostel. WRONG! We ended up walking for about one hour to our hostel, with a few hiccups along the way. Streets in Belgium have a tendency to change names about fifty times as you proceed down them, so we were watching the name change and looking for where we were supposed to turn next. After quite awhile, we decided to go into a gas station and ask for directions. We knew we were nearby, just needed a little guidance! The man was very nice and told us to turn right a few streets down next to the prison. Oh great, next to the prison! We proceeded on our journey (walking quickly past the prison) through a park and to our hostel. We arrived at our destination- Ecohostel Andromeda- about 4:30pm.

Ecohostel Andromeda. Doesn't sound like you're typical hostel, right? Right. It is an ecohostel on an old barge. This couple started this business about a year ago. They have constructed an environmentally friendly hostel on a small boat that floats in one of the canals of Ghent. Ashley and I had opted to stay here (although it wasn't the cheapest option) to experience something different and learn what it was all about. Ashley is very involved in environmental activism at Agnes Scott and I consider myself a "friend of the environment", so we thought it would be a nice choice. It was really interesting to see what measures they took to make it an ecohostel. They served a 100% organic breakfast (including organic Nutella!), used a particular eco-friendly heating system, had a composting pile for trash and grew plants on the top of the boat. Everything about our stay was eco-friendly! It was really cool :)

Once we settled into the hostel and revitalized, we asked one of the owners how to get to the city centre and where we could find someplace to eat. They gave us directions (via tram, bus and walking!) and we attempted to find the tram stop with no luck. So we walked into town and found a nice, quiet restaurant where we had dinner. I ordered a cappuccino and a Belgian waffle, while Ashley had a nice big bowl of soup to help ease here throat. My waffle was great! I had wanted to eat a true Belgian waffle while visiting the country, and I did! Yum :)

On our way to dinner and back to the hostel, we saw a lot of Ghent's city centre. It was really nice and historical. We saw the Gravenstein (see left), an old medieval fortress, and walked over several canals. The sun was beginning to set, but it was nice to see a bit of Ghent!

Back at the hostel, we went up to the computer to check out plans for the next few days of our trip. We made good use of the free internet and looked up train times, directions and things to do. That night, we stayed in a 6-person mixed dorm with another girl from Russia and two guys from Denmark (one bed was empty). Ashley and I had a good laugh, as the owner that showed us to our room mentioned "making our beds properly", which we later read on a sign listing the hostel's rules. I'm not quite sure why they were so uptight about making your bed "properly", but it made for a good laugh! We also had a near catastrophe with the water. Apparently the water at the hand-washing sink near the bathrooms is not drinkable. I had filled Ashley's water bottle up for her with water from there, but luckily the Danish boys warned her about it before she drank from it!

In the morning, we enjoyed the continental (and free!) organic breakfast before setting out for the day. We took our belongings with us again so that we would not have to trek all the way back to the hostel later on. Ashley and I had decided that we really wanted to go and see the Ghent Altarpiece in the morning, so we set out for our "pilgrimage" to this treasured bit of Art History. The Ghent Altarpiece is housed in the Sint Baffs Kathedraal in Ghent. I recalled studying this magnificent work by Jan & Hubert Van Eyck in my Art History Survey course; Ashley knew much more about it, as she has studied it more in depth in her courses. The Cathedral was nice. We roamed around for a bit looking for the Ghent altarpiece. Then we saw that it was housed in a private room at the front of the Cathedral. The 4 euro we paid to see it was totally worth it! This piece is absolutely massive and traces the story of Jesus. The symbolism is fantastic as well. We awed at this masterpiece for several minutes before hitting the gift shoppe so that I could purchase a postcard for my collection. I got one of the scene of The Adoration  of the Mystic Lamb.

After the Cathedral, we headed towards the Ghent Sint Pieters train station to journey to Bruges. We again walked through the shopping district (loads more H&Ms!), before finding the tram stop we were looking for. Ashley and I purchased tram tickets and boarded tram 21 to the station. This was a nice reprieve from all of the walking we had been doing. Plus there was a lot of construction in Ghent, so it was nice to ride back to the station.

We got to the train station just after noon and boarded a train for the next part of our trip...Bruges!

Day 33-34: Antwerp(en), Belgium

Again, I apologize for the delay in writing this blog entry. This week has been pretty crazy between getting my computer fixed, planning trips and, oh yeah, class! But now I've had ample time to reflect on our long weekend trip to Belgium and will tell you all about it!

This was my first trip outside of the country since I  have come to the Netherlands, so I was super-excited to get out and explore a new place! Although it was kind of sad to leave the NL :(

Ashley and I set out on Wednesday, February 17 for Antwerp, Belgium. We had spent most of the day attempting to save my computer from the fiasco that had occurred the day before (see previous entry). We went to city centre and got a flash drive to put all of my infected documents on, and checked with the train station about trains to Belgium. We found out that all trains within Belgium north of Brussels were running, so our journey was on! We headed back to school, where Ashley parked herself in the Tilburg University Library to check out some details for our trip, while I headed to IT services to get a diagnosis for my computer. I spent over an hour at IT transferring my documents to my flashdrive and talking to the nice Dutch guy at the counter about my computer problems!

After realizing that it was going to take a large amount of time to do anything worthwhile to my computer, we decided to go ahead with our trip plans (as we already had our hostel booked and train tickets for that day). We took a late afternoon train from Tilburg West to Antwerpen. We had to stop over in Roosandaal (near the Belgium border) and switch trains to Antwerp(en) Centraal station. Once we finally got to the train station (only about an hour-and-a-half journey), Ashley and I were astounded by the magnificent architecture of the train station. She said that she had read about it before and it was supposed to be really great. It was!

We had written down walking and tram directions to our hostel, but stepping outside the train station, we realized that the dark, cold and rainy conditions were not really conducive to two girls laden with luggage walking around an unfamiliar place. We checked the trams, but could not figure them out (and the information desk was closed), so we decided to take a cab to our hostel. When the cab driver stopped in front of the hostel, we were both like, "Where is it?". They had just one tiny sign signaling the hostel. We got out and retrieved our things from the trunk before heading inside.

Inside Boomerang Hostel, we were both intrigued by the place. This was the cheapest hostel of the four we had booked for our trip, so I wasn't expecting much. The woman at the "receptionist's desk" (a large round table in the common room) checked us in by asking our names and getting our passport numbers. There was no computer system, she just wrote our names down on a piece of paper! She gave us our sheets and told us about checkout procedures and breakfast before showing us to our 12-bed all-female dorm. Ashley and I chose two lower-level bunks next to each other for the night and put our things away. I was thankful that Ashley (the wise traveler that she is) had thought to bring a bike lock and individual luggage locks so that we could lock our suitcases shut and to the bed. I felt like my things were safe :)

We were pretty hungry and wanted to get some dinner. However, we didn't want to venture out too far, as it was cold, dark and rainy, so we walked across the street to Dragon City, a small Chinese take-out restaurant. After realizing that the Chinese woman who was going to take our order knew no English (or French) and that there was no English menu, we concluded that we were going to have to order our Chinese dinner in Dutch! Ashley whipped out her French-Dutch dictionary that she had purchased in France before coming to the Netherlands, and we looked up a few pertinent words (rice, vegetables, water, etc.) before ordering. I (think I) ordered chicken and veggies mixed with rice. After our food was prepared (cooked right in front of us!), we headed back across the street to Boomerang to eat our supper. We joined the others (an interesting bunch) in the common room, and observed the hostel environment while we ate. We played cards for a bit after supper before calling it a night!

Thursday morning we got up (relatively early) and headed into town with our luggage on our backs. Once we got into the main area of town, we saw how nice Antwerp is. There is a lot of nice architecture and much shopping! We stopped in one little shoppe that specialized in lace. I bought a small lace souvenier. Its two small cats playing with a yarn ball, all made from lace. I also bought my first postcard of  the trip here. I had decided to buy a postcard in each city/major site that we visited to have a pictoral memory of my trip (and for the scrapbook!).

Next we went into a huge cathedral. I believe that the guide said it was the largest in all of Belgium. The Vrouwekathedraal, or "Cathedral of our Lady", houses four paintings of Rubens. It was a splendid blend of architecture and art. We paid a small fee to enter, but we were just in time for the free guided tour- in English! Ashley and I were the only ones on the tour, so it was really individualized and personal. The little old man that gave it was really sweet and super-exicted (especially when Ashley told him that she is studying Art History). We were very attentive and learned a lot from the tour, which ended up lasting about an hour and a half....like I said, it was a massive Cathedral! At the end, I purchased a nice postcard of the painting on the ceiling of a portion of the cathedral. The guide had told us that it was a competition between students to see who could create the best painting for the space. So the winning image is on my postcard!

After leaving the cathedral, we began heading back to the Antwerp Centraal Train Station. It was pretty chilly and windy outside, but we decided to walk, as navigating the public transportation seemed a bit confusing. We walked through a really nice shopping district (with like 10 H&Ms!) and stopped at an internet cafe to look up train times before eventually reaching the train station. We bought our tickets to Ghent Sint Pieters Station, the main station in Ghent and were on our way!

Day 31 & 32: More Carnaval and a Series of Unfortunate Events

 On the Monday of the Carnival break, Ashley and I set out to find this nearby farm called "The Seven Goats". Its a local farm that raises goats and produces cheese (presumably goat cheese). We were excited to go, as the advertisement mentioned a 150-flavored pancake menu and "midget golf". (some things don't translate easily :) I had looked up directions (on the net) the night before, and we planned to take the bus to get there. It should be a short journey.

Well, we ended up somewhere in Reeshof, not near where the farm is (or was supposed to be according to my directions!). We finally found a map nearby the bus stop and figured out where we were and where the goat farm was. Quite a ways apart. As we were trying to catch the matinee of the Valentine's Day movie, we decided to abandon going to the goat farm, but I thought it made for a good story :)

So we spent the afternoon watching this American film (with Dutch subtitles) and relaxing in City Centre. That night, it was my turn to cook for the girls! Ashley and I had planned earlier to make a taco dinner to fulfill her Texan appetite! We prepared ground beef, refried beans, home-made guacamole and salsa for supper. (Okay, well Ashley did most of the cooking, but I helped stir!)

Bali, Mathea and Saso (Mathea's boyfriend who was visiting from Slovenia) came over for dinner. This was Mathea and Saso's first time with tacos, but they seemed to really enjoy them! We all ate till we were stuffed and visited for a bit. Saso enjoyed seeing an American dollar bill that Ashley showed him. Guess they don't have those in Slovenia!

On Tuesday, Ashley and I made the most of the sunshine (as it had been pretty cold all weekend!) and went down to walk around City Centre. We bought chocolate croissants for breakfast at V&D, purchased our train tickets for our upcoming journey to Belgium, mailed some postcards and shopped a bit. Then we went to the Scryption, a museum concerning the history of writing in the Netherlands. It was really interesting, especially as we bumped into this Dutch woman that worked there who gave us a personal mini-tour of the museum. She explained the history of how students in the Netherlands learned to read and write Dutch and showed us all of the various writing instruments featured in the museum. It was very interesting! Ashley and I learned a few Dutch words ourselves: "maan", "roos" and "vis". I'll let you look those up :) These are three words that are taught to Dutch children first in primary school to learn the vowels of the Dutch language.

When we got back to my flat, Ashley and I decided to watch a movie on my laptop. To save you the expense of reading an unnecessarily long story, my computer got a horrible virus mid-film and we spent the rest of the afternoon trying to fix it, with little luck. My brother, Drew, was online at this time and we skyped him for some advice, and he offered to help at 6pm (12am my time) once he was home from school. I was grateful!

Tuesday evening got a little crazier. I had told Ashley all about the LG, the infamous dance club and bar where all the Tilburg international students go on Tuesday nights. I was very excited to show it off to her, and there was a special party since it was the end of Carnival. We went down to city centre with Bali and Daniel. Along the way, Daniel mentioned that the trains in Belgium were on strike due to the crash that had happened the Sunday before. This made me concerned, since we were planning on going to Belgium the next morning.

When we got to City Centre, we went to the square where there was a big party. They were playing traditional Carnival music (which isn't very good) and it was cold, so we decided to go inside to a nearby Irish pub and grab a drink before heading to the LG. Daniel treated us to a white Russian...mmm! Then off to the LG. It was one interesting night in the LG. Everyone was in their Carnival costumes and it was pretty crowded as the upstairs was closed. And they were playing horrible Carnival music, described by Ashley as polka-techno, so we decided to leave pretty early and took the midnight bus back to campus.

I had to go to Bali's room to use her computer to Skype Drew, as my internet was no longer working on my computer at this point due to the virus. I spent quite awhile in Bali's room following Drew's instructions on how to get rid of the virus. I shared a nice 2am pasta salad snack with her and her flatmates before heading back to my Verbs around 3:30am with my laptop in hand. It was still running the virus scan Drew had suggested. At this point, I decided to call it a night and resume caring for my computer in the morning.

Day 28 & 29: Take Two- Amsterdam with Ashley

Friday morning was a craze of preparations for the weekend and my upcoming visit with my good friend from Agnes Scott, Ashley Williams. I got up, did a load of laundry, biked to campus to visit the ATM and the library to print our e-tickets, mailed some cards, and went to the grocery store! Shortly after noon, I headed down to Tilburg West to board the train to Amsterdam.

Ashley had been communicating with me throughout the morning about her travel status. She was taking a train from Besancon, France (where she is studying abroad) to Paris, through Brussels and all the way to Amsterdam. I was to meet her in Amsterdam around 2pm. However, due to some unfortunate weather in France, her trains were delayed and she didn't end up arriving until closer to 3pm. Luckily, I was able to arrange my train plans and got to Amsterdam about 3pm. We were to meet up at the Central Train Station in Amsterdam, a station that I have become quite familiar with in my travels around the Netherlands. However, after our many texts to find one another in the station, we soon discovered that Ashley's train had dropped her off at the Schipol (airport) Station. So, Ashley took a short train to the Central Station and we finally met up! It felt so good to see a familiar face!

Ashley was pretty exhausted from a long day of traveling already (she left about 5:30am!), but we headed on down through the busy streets of Amsterdam to the hostel. We were staying at the same hostel (Shelter City) that I stayed at last weekend with the girls. Its pretty centrally located to the station and other good sights ot see in Amsterdam, so it was perfect! And the weather was MUCH nicer this time around, so I was very thankful for that. I even got some nice pictures in the sunlight (hmm, sunlight....imagine that!).

We had to wait in quite a line at the hostel to check-in, as they were pretty busy this weekend. Most universities in Europe have this week off for the Carnaval festivities, so many students are capitalizing on this opportunity to travel....guess that's what we're doing too! When we finally got through the line, we realized it was 5:30pm-time to be at the Anne Frank house! We had booked tickets online to avoid the crazy-long line for 5:30, thinking that would give us plenty of time...however we were running late! But we booked it on over to Prisengracht, and with the help of our handy dandy  map of Amsterdam (which I had saved from last weekend), we got there just before 6pm (when the museum closes!). The woman at the counter was mift, but she allowed us in (thankfully!). We spent about 45 minutes reading the facts about the commemorative life of Anne Frank and the history of the Secret Annex and those it housed for so long during the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands. We climbed the steep, narrow stairs all the way to the Annex. The rooms in the annex are unfurnished, as Anne's father, the sole survivor of the family, wished for them to remain unfurnished. However, they did have miniature models of how the home looked during that time. It was quite a lot to take in, and left us pretty speechless as we left.

Next, we set out to find the Canal Boat Tour port, as Ashley had booked tickets for a evening canal cruise for the two of us. With the help of the map, we eventually found our way! Then we attempted to grab a quick bite to eat before boarding the boat, as the woman at the ticket counter informed us that we were not allowed to bring food on the boat. We only had about 30 minutes until the boat left, which is not much time to eat in the Netherlands. One thing I have found about going out for dinner here is that you need to have plenty of time. We stopped in the Comedy Cafe for dinner and told the man at the bar that we were in a hurry ("our boat leaves in 20 minutes!"). He was super-sweet and helped expidite our sandwiches (which stilll took like 20 minutes!). It was a few minutes to 8:00 at this point, so we took our packaged sandwiches and headed to the boat. We weren't allowed to eat them there, so we put them in Ashley's bag for later.

On the boat, we enoyed a nice glass of wine and some peanuts, while our friendly Dutch tour guide (and waitress!) navigated our hour and a half journey through the canals by sharing interesting tidbits of trivia about Amsterdam. I learned so much on this tour, and it was really interesting! She spoke about how the houses and buildings in Amsterdam appear to be leaning against one another, as the ground is slowly sinking. She also shared a lot of interesting historical information about why the houses were built and how the number of stairs symbolized "how much taxes the family had to pay". We went under seven bridges in a row that were all illuminated with lights. So pretty! Another higlight of the tour was when the guide took a glass and scooped out a cup full of water from the canal. When looking at the canal water from the streets, it appears quite dirty and brown. However, the water in this glass was very clear. Our guide told us that the water from the canals is pumped out once every two weeks and fresh water from a lake nearby is pumped in. So the water is, indeed, quite clean!

After our boat tour, which  I enjoyed immensely, we headed back to the hostel to put our things down before heading to the red light district. We ate our sandwiches and refreshed before heading back out in the night to see the infamous Red Light District (again!). It was quite lively, as it was nearing midnight on a Friday. Ashley was curious to see the sights, so we walked down the street to see Amsterdam in all its glory :) Then we headed back to the hostel to rest for the evening.

Saturday morning, we slept in a bit and had a nice breakfast at the hostel. Then we set out to see the renowned Rijksmuseum in the Museumplein of Amsterdam. We had not made it to this sight last weekend, so I was particularly excited to see this well-known museum. Ashley is an Art History major, so she was looking forward to some good art too! We had to wait in quite a long (cold!) line at the Rijksmuseum. It was kind of crazy, becuase a man a few people behind us had what appeared to be a seizure while we were waiting. They had to call an ambulance, as he had collapsed on the ground. It was frightening, but he seemed to be okay.

We enjoyed mozying through the museum and seeing all of the art. I felt like it really complemented my studies in my Dutch history/culture class. In class, we learned that the Rijksmuseum was established in the early 1800's while the Netherlands was under the rule of Louis Napoleon from France. We saw Rembrandt's "Nightwatch" and many other famous paintings and pieces of art by Dutch painters.

After the Rijksmuseum, Ashley and I met up with my friend Daniel (from Tilburg) and his friend who he was meeting in Amsterdam as well for lunch. We found a little restaurant near the museums that served traditional Dutch food and stopped there for lunch. Ashley tried part of Daniel's beef kroket....and liked it!

After lunch, we parted ways. The boys went to the Heineken Museum (surprise, surprise!) and we went to see the Van Gogh museum. It was good to see again, even though I had visited last weekend. After Van Gogh, we went to the Albert Cuyp Market, a famous outdoor flea market in Amsterdam. It was quite a sight to see! I bought a pair of brown boots (which I had been looking for) here. The highlight of the market was finding the man who serves hot stroopwafels! I had told Ashley about stroopwafels, and wanted to give her an official introduction to this Dutch treat. Needless to say, we thoroughly enjoyed the king-size,hot off the wafel-press stroopwafels :)

Since we had been walking (in the below-freezing weather) all day long, we decided to take a tram back closer to the hostel so that we did not have to walk as far. This was a really good idea! It dropped us off pretty close. We had talked with some girls the night before at the hostel who mentioned that they had been to a really good Mexican place the night before near the hostel. Being from Texas,  Ashley really wanted to find this rarity and have some delicious comida Mexicana! I, of course, am always up for Mexican, so we headed out for dinner at the Pacifico. It wasn't difficult to find, and we were promptly seated. We shared a delicious dinner together, sampling some of their fine guacamole, and another mexican dish that involved cornbread, chorizo and egg. We enjoyed tasting their delicious sangria (yum!) and I had a nice apple cinnamon martini. Needless to say, it was a fun and yummy night!

Around 10:30pm, we headed towards the train station to go back to Tilburg. It was an intersting train ride back, as we observed a multitude of crazy-drunk college students at the 's-Hertogenbosch station when we had to switch trains. In the south of the Netherlands, Carnaval had already begun, so they were dressed up in their Carnaval costumes and pretty wasted. But we made it back safe and sound!

Day 30: Carnaval

On Sunday, Ashley and slept in and made a nice lunch after we woke up. Then we began getting ready for Carnaval. We met up with my friend, Bali, who helped me with my make-up for my Mermaid costume. Bali was dressed up as a zebra and Ashley was as butterfly. The three of us took the bus down to the city center to see the parade. We got some good pictures, then headed into a coffee shop, as it was extremely cold outside and we were beginning to get super cold! We warmed up with a nice cup of hot chocomel (hot chocolate) with some slagroom (whipped cream) on top and watched the parade from the shop's window. It was quite a sight to see! Lots of Dutch people dressed up in crazy costumes and interesting floats driving through the city streets!

Afterward, we headed back to Verbs for the evening. Ashley made us some delicious home-made macaroni and cheese and we relaxed for the night.

Day 21-22: Amsterdam Excursion

As you may know (from Facebook or previous post), I went to Amsterdam this past weekend with three of my friends: Mathea (Slovenia), Polona (Mathea's friend visiting from Slovenia) and Bali (Singapore). Bali and I decided on Thursday that we would join Mathea and Polona on their already planned excursion to the capital, and booked our hostel that same day! Traveling on a whim!

So I will try to relay my first impressions of Amsterdam to you here, along with what we did and saw.

We left late Friday morning from the Tilburg West Station. Bali and I took a later train than Mathea and Polona, as we both had a class Friday morning that we were to attend (however, neither of us ended up going!). We all met in 's-Hertogenbosch, where you have to switch trains to continue to Amsterdam. We made a quick pit stop  at the Chocolate Company (again!) and had some good dessert and hot chocolate (as well as shopping!) before boarding the train for the hour-long ride to Amsterdam.

We got to Amsterdam mid-afternoon, and decided to check in at our hostel first to deposit our backpacks and refresh ourselves. It was an adventure reading the maps and trying to figure out which street our hostel was on! After many twists and turns through the busy streets of Amsterdam, we made it to the hostel, Shelter City Christian Hostel. It was very close to the Central Train Station (about ten minutes walk). One crazy thing (amongst many) that we saw on our way to the hostel was a "public restroom". Sounds normal, right?? WRONG! It was a urinal that was open and on the side of the road (see pic)! So you would be walking along the sidewalk and there would be someone using the restroom right there! Crazy!!!

After settling in the hostel, we headed out to brave the cold and find some good sights. It was still kind of rainy and the clouds made it fairy dark outside. I loved all of the old buildings that we passed...so characteristic of Europe! We also walked alongside innumerous canals-gorgeous! We made our way to the Van Gogh Museum first, where is was Museum Night! We each purchased a museum card, allowing us free access into over 400 museusms in all the Netherlands for only 22 euro....pretty good deal! We began our visit to Van Gogh with a guided tour, but broke off shortly, as it was just talking about another exhibit they had going on. Seeing all of those amazing pantings and drawings by Van Gogh was amazing! I remembered some of them from my Art History course I took at Agnes Scott my sophomore year, and it was neat to see them in real life and in their country of origin!

After visiting Van Gogh, we set out to find a bite to eat. We had some pizza at a local shop and then went back to the hostel to rest up for a few minutes. We had walked ALOT to get to the museum and back....my feet hurt! We played some cards (UNO!) in the hostel cafe before gearing up (actually taking everything valuable out of our pockets) to visit the Red Light District. It was only a short walk from our hostel. I was a bit apprehensive about going, but figured it would be okay since I was with three others and knew it was definitely something I needed to see while in Amsterdam. The Red Light District is basically a street in Amsterdam, and it was busy (midnight on a Friday) with people leering at the women in the windows. I thought it was very interesting how many of the women were not really paying much attention to passersby. Many were on their cell phones, talking or texting. It was a very mixed experience for me. I felt sympathy for the women in the shop windows....that they were that desparate (or drugged out) to resort to this "occupation". But I also felt ashamed as a woman that there are other women who choose to exhibit themselves in this manner for this purpose. It was a lot to take in and think about, but I am glad that we got the chance to see it.

After a night of (some) rest in the hostel, we enjoyed a warm breakfast in the cafe. I had Dutch pancakes! Then we set out for another day of Amsterdam exploration. We went to the Bloemenmarkt (Flower Market) where Bali and Mathea bought Tulip bulbs! Bali and Polona went to the Anne Frank Museum, while Mathea and I visited the Tulip Museum. The tulip museum is in an old house right across the street from Anne Frank.  It was very small, but nice! We learned all about the complicated process of harvesting tulips :-)

We had lunch at a small cafe and set out to find the second-shops and flea market. We suceeded (after much walking!) and bought a few things at the market. At this point, it was extremely cold and getting dark. We went to the Coffee Company for a warm beverage and to rest after all of the walking! I tried a Bambino (hot chocolate and coffee mix with caramel flavor....delish!

Then we set out to visit the H&M before heading to the train station. We took the 9 o'clock train back and were home safe and sound in Tilburg by midnight!

Day 23: Finding a Church Home

One of my goals here in Europe is to grow spiritually and explore my relationship with God further. As part of this goal, I want to find a Church home where I can corporately worship with other believers and affirm my faith through interaction and fellowship with others. So, Sunday morning I decided to try out Tabernacle Christian Church, and English-speaking Christian Church nearby Tilburg (in Reeshof). I figured out some directions and decided to take the train to get there. Well, I missed the only train that would have gotten me there in time, so I decided to take the bus instead. It took a long time to get to the bus stop I needed to be at, and I thought that I would not make the service!

But the walk from the bus stop turned out to be shorter than I had thought and I made it in time! However, the service was not what I had expected. Tabernacle is held in a small room in an elementary school, as it is a very small Church. And I mean VERY SMALL. I think there were about 25 people there total. Most of them were middle-age men and women with smaller children. There were a couple older people and several children. No one my age.  I spoke to one woman for a bit before the service began. She was nice and told me a bit about the Church....I got kind of a strange feeling from the way she spoke about it.

Once the service started, I began to feel more and more weird about the Church. The pastor (or whoever was speaking) would talk in English and someone else would translate what he/she said into Dutch. The praise and worship went on a long time and I did not know any of the songs (although they were in English!). Once the message finally started, I started to feel pretty uncomfortable. It seemed like the pastor was just talking about how disappointing we are to God and how horrible the Netherlands and Church are in God's eyes. Then they had a time for "testimonials" in which Church members could share things that had moved them in the past week. Well, people shared for what felt like forever before the pastor came back to finish the message and have time for prayer. Then they were planning on doing communion, but I left during the prayer, because at this point I had already been there for over two hours and I was feeling very uncomfortable with the whole situation.

So, needless to say, I will not be going back to Tabernacle, but I am glad that I at least tried it! I need to do some more research into other English-speaking churches in the area to see if I can find something, but it will be a few weeks before I can go to Church again anyways.

Sunday night, Mathea and Polona cooked a Slovenian dish for Bali and I. It was similar to American pancakes, but chopped up into small bits and eaten with vanilla and chocolate pudding. It was delicious! Polona also made us her favorite Turkish coffee, which was rather strong, but good! We enjoyed each other's company before calling it a night.


Day 24: Class

Today I had three (okay 2.5 classes). I began with Culture, Society, History at 8:45am. This course is really great, but we already have our first midterm on Thursday of this week! Then I had a breif break, in which I went back to Verbs for lunch before cycling back to campus for my first lecture of Organizational Development. This class is really interesting, as it focuses on changes that take place within and between organizations. We have to do a group project (with four others) in which we choose a Dutch company and interview them about a major change that has taken place in their organization and its effects. Should be interesting! I then cycled to Westermarkt for groceries and stamps (that means postcards!) before heading to my final lecture, the second part of Organizational Development. Luckily it was only 45 minutes, because I was about done with classes at this point!

Monday night, Bali cooked for Mathea, Polona and I, since it was Polona's last night with us before heading back to Slovenia. We enjoyed each other's company, as well as Bali's great Indian dish! She made a mix of Masala sauce, tomato puree, suateed onions and fresh veggies along with toasted bread for us to dip in it. So good! Mathea and Polona brought stroopwafel icecream for dessert....which was amazing!

Day 25: Mentor Dinner(s)

Today I had Group Dynamics (Psychology course) and Dutch I (2nd round!). I'm beginning to pick up some good Dutch, so I think I will practice it next time I go to the supermarket. I cycled back to Verbs after class where I studied until ESN Mentor Dinner, round 4! Tonight Amanda and Phai cooked for my group. They made us stir-fry and rolls from Dim Sun....so good! And of course, the best part of mentor dinners is roaming the other floors for food. We went upstairs where Alex (Chicago) had made mini hamburgers with guacamole...a taste of home! All in all, it was a good night.....bit less crazy than last Tuesday :-)

Day 18 & 19

Due to my laziness, I chose to blog two days in one!

Yesterday, I had my second round of Group Dynamics. It went well. The professor is a bit hard to understand due to his thick accent, but the material is interesting and he provides good examples.

Next, I had my first round of Dutch I for International Students. I am super excited about this course, as it will be very pratical for my stay here in the Netherlands! We have lots of homework, but it is a small class and I think there will be ample opportunity to practice and learn the langauage. Several of my international student friends are taking the same course, so we can study together and practice too.

After Dutch, I came back to Verbs and relaxed for a bit before the weekly Tuesday night ESN mentor dinner. This week, my group was paired with group 9. A Hungarian and a Finnish student cooked for about 30 people.The food was delish! I'm not sure what it was called, but we had a colorful salad (tomatoes, lettuce, corn, cucumber and ranchy dressing) along with a potato/sausage main dish. Tasty! The best part about mentor dinners (since there are 6 going on each Tuesday night) is going around and trying out all the other groups' food. So after our dinner, some girls and I went up to my floor, where my flatmate Martin (Austria) had made goulash. Another member of his group had made sangria (soooo good!).

Shortly thereafter, I went over to my friend Daniel's (Scotland) where Christophe (France) had made crepes and Daniel had made Jello shots for their group. After socializing for a bit, we all headed out to the LG for a night of dancing and well, you know!

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Today I slept in for a bit and made a nice quesadilla lunch before heading to my Social Cognition class. I am not actually taking this class for credit, but plan to attend it most Wednesdays since I have no other classes on Wednesdays. It was really interesting too! The professor is really passionate about the topic, so it makes it so much better!

This afternoon, Mathea (Slovenia), Daniel (Scotland) and I went to City Centre along with Polona (Mathea's friend from Slovenia who is visiting for the week). We had fun roaming around the shops and making some purchases. I bought some much-needed groceries at Plus and part of my Carnaval costume. I'll keep that one a surprise for now :-)

We had dinner at McDonalds....I know, how American of me!?! It was pretty good, you know, for McDonalds!

Class in the morning and iceskating with ESN tomorrow night!

Day 17: Creating a Routine

Today was an early start. But I am going to have to get used to it, as I have an 8:45am Monday morning class each week! This was the first lecture of the semester for my course, "Theme: History, Culture and Society", CSH for short.

I chose to bike to class this morning, as I had allowed myself just enough time to ride to class, but probably not enough time to walk. After dusting a bit of snow off my bicycle, I hopped on and set off for the 5-minute (perhaps less) ride to campus. This was interesting. A native Floridian, I have never driven in snow, let alone biked in it! But, I chose to be adventurous today and give it a shoot. It actually turned out alright, but it was a really interesting/scary/nerve-racking experience! The snow has been on the ground for about three days now, so in some places it is still thick and others it is just icy. This made for an interesting ride, as I dodged the thick snow with my bicycle, as well as any super icy patches. I had my had ready to brake the whole time, and only had to put my feet on the ground a few times to catch myself or stop from skidding. The ice was the worst, but the thick snow was rather interesting. It almost felt like biking through sand! Made me miss the beach :-)

Class was kind of slow....the professor just spoke about what we would talk about in the course and the grading policy, etc. He did mention that this was the worst winter Tilburg has had in five years....gives me hope knowing that we have survived the worst! As our main assignment for the course, we have to form a group and research two European countries to find the major differences in culture/religion/work ethics, etc. At the end of the course, we will put together a 15-minute presentation to give to the class. The professor told us to form groups that would blend both exchange and Dutch students, since the class is about half and half. My friend Mathea and I paired up with four Dutch students (whose names I butchered as I tried to pronounce) that were sitting in front of us. We will be researching the countries of Turkey and Greece....hmm, maybe  I should visit these countries, so I will have firsthand knowledge....

Since my second class (Organization Development) that I normally have on Mondays was cancelled today (according to the email, "the professor was ill"), I had the afternoon free. I ran a few errands, bought some of my books, collected my residence permit letter, and read three chapters for one of my classes tomorrow. I also went down to the sports center and signed up for a sports card. This will allow me access to the sports center at Tilburg, which is literally a minute's walk from where I live! Hopefully I can get back in shape some this semester after my exercise hiatus of the past semester!

After supper, I headed into the City Centre with Daniel (Scotland) and Shawn (South Africa) for pub quiz at the local Irish Pub, Clancy's. We stopped by McDonald's first so Daniel could get a bite to eat. Let me tell you, McDonald's in Europe is SOOO different! This was the first time I had been inside of one, and it was odd! The menu items are quite different (and look so much healthier!). I ordered a stroopwafel McFlurry....delish! It was the vanilla soft serve with caramel swirled in and stroopwafel bits blended through. TO DIE FOR! Afterwards, we headed to Clancy's, where we proceeded to lose against about 20 other teams at Monday night pub quiz. We won Smarties for our champion loser-ship! However, Smarties are not what you might think....here, they are chocolate, very similar to M&Ms! It was a fun night and I learned a lot of useless facts...too bad I can't take pub quiz as a class to put on my transcript!