Life here in the Netherlands is surreal and I can't believe I have been here for almost two months already. The time here flies by and I just realized that it has been close to a month since I've written to all of you. Many of the details of this month are very fuzzy so I don't know if I'll remember it all but I'll give it a shot.
The class structure here is way different from the U.S. but I really like it. Overall here, I follow Natuurkunde (physics), Scheikunde (chemistry), Biologie, Wiskunde B (maths), Nederlands, Spaans, Lichamelijke Opvoeding (Gym), CKV (a culture class), Informatica (computer programing), ANW (general science) currently. When I become comfortable with Dutch, I will also follow Engels and Maatschappijleer (sociology). Each day I only follow five or six of the twelve classes with each classes only twice or three times a week.
Besides school and learning dutch, I've been taking up a lot of my time with running for the local athletics club. We run three times a week on the track, and soon we will begin running on trails in the forest in preparation for the upcoming Cross-Country running season that I have been looking forward to. There will be races all across the provences of Noord-Brabant and Limburg. This past Sunday, my athletics club and I went to the National Relay Championships in Amstelveen. My 4x800 relay team raced well and I myself ran a very fast first 600 but then died at the end of the race. The next race I'll be running in will be the club championship on Sunday which will include the 100m, 150m, 800m, Shotput, Javelin, Long Jump and High Jump.
Also this weekend starts my autumn vacation, which will begin with an Italian coming to live with my family, and will end with a random, unplanned adventure. The Italian, Andrea, will spend the week in a group of Italians and Nederlanders and even me, the American. No other group will have that! We will spend the week visiting Groote Peel (a national park), Amsterdam, Maastricht and the ever wonderful town of Deurne! Then I will go to Italy in March/April to visit all of them in Busto Arsizio where we will visit Milan, Venice and Lago Maggiore.
I've been making friends here from YFU, school and athletics and hopefully I will continue meeting new amazing friends to last forever. So far the people have been so much more than I could have ever protected, they are all helpful and friendly and just overall cool people! We have been to the YFU headquarters for my host brother who I am happy to say will be coming to the U.S. next year on exchange, we don't know yet where he will be placed but I know for sure that he will have a brilliant year there in 2014!
It's never to late to think about hosting with YFU, there are always students who are in need of a family and want to live as a part of your family. I have been so lucky to have been placed with a great host family and I think that every student deserves a permanent family to make their exchange year the best it can be. If you need more time to think about it, you can host for the 2014-2015 school year. I encourage you all to check it out! https://www.yfu.org/host-families
Hope you all have amazing times, whatever you're doing with your life right now. All of my friends in high school in the U.S. don't stress out too much about school. Everyone else, be glad you don't have to stress out about school!
Tot zo,
August
Cisco, our future guide dog.
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