The Holiday Season

Hello everybody,

I hope that all of you had a wonderful holiday season. I'd like to apologize for not post for close to two months, but everything got busy because December is always busy and when it wasn't busy, I was tired or just wanting to relax and enjoy life here in the wonderful town of Deurne. Life here has been amazing and I'm so happy there hasn't been much snow here. Snow in Minnesota is all good and dandy, but a year with not much snow is something I will enjoy. The weather in Minnesota seems pretty insane now, with crazy wind and low temperatures that I am happy to avoid. 

Kokoro (from Japan) and I at the Orientation

The month and a half or so has been pretty packed and probably the best part of my exchange so far. I celebrated Thanksgiving on skype with a lot of the family, but there were camera problems, so I didn't see any of them but at least they could see me. Besides that, the end of November was pretty normal and cozy. 

Since the previous blog post, I've only seen a few of the exchange students one time. The exchange students that are centered around Eindhoven all came to the Mega Bowling in Woensel to celebrate the holiday season, bowl and say some goodbyes to everyone who weren't staying until July. We bowled and had lots of fun and had to say goodbyes. I didn't realize, that it would be the last time I would see all of them together. Marcelo is back in Uruguay after arriving spending a year here. The other student returning home from our region was Marie who is going to study a semester in England. Hopefully everyone returning home doesn't miss this great country too much. 

Oranje Bowling with Pierre, me, Wouter and Katharina

For most of the Netherlands, 5 December was a night where you celebrate Sinterklaas and give presents to each other. But we postponed it because not everyone were home. Instead, we had a small present night with Skype. The stories of the real "pakjesavond" will be later on in the blog, because it happened later in December.

Skype Sinterklaas

The next big event that happened, was Kerstgala which was a dance at The Metro that you could compare to Prom in the States. The difference between Kerstgala and Prom is you don't go with a date here, you go with your friends and try to have one of the best nights of your young life. And it was. I stayed there until 3 but still woke up in the morning for a 9:30 practice. Which is pretty impressive in my mind, but needless to say, I was dead after practice and just relaxed for the rest of the weekend.

Kerstgala, the prom of Peelland College

Klompen

Then it was suddenly Christmas vacation, how time flies. We went out to brunch with all of the people from my host father´s company where we got to eat some really good soup and then walk around in dutch wooden shoes called ´Klompen´ which were really fun. They were generally for farmers to trudge through the mud in, but now they´re just another stereotypical thing from the Netherlands

Cisco talked to a llama 

Brunch

Cisco also got to see a llama and sheep at the brunchery. But all they did was stare at him.

During Christmas Day, I skyped the family but unfortunately because of the weird time difference, I could only skype with my mom´s side of the family. I got two packages from them which were filled with a few gifts for the family and a ton of small things that my mom thought I would miss. One of the things that I've really missed was the Kraft Mac & Cheese that I so often eat in the U.S. during the summer to avoid having to cook. I think I will save it for a day that I miss home. But so far that day hasn't happened, and maybe I'll just have to share it with some friends, if the homesickness never comes.

Oostende

We went to Oostende in Belgium after Christmas. We ended up doing pretty much the same thing as the last time we were there. We walked along the beach with Cisco and went shopping and ate lot's of Belgian food. 

For the 'Pakjesavond', everyone came home. This included Yvette who was at school in Scotland, as well as Lisanne who lives in Sweden with her Swedish boyfriend Emils, who also came. We all made one handmade gift and one small gift for a person that was randomly assigned. It was a nice night with many great gifts, but I forgot to take pictures, which is definitely a bummer.

I think this is enough, if not too much information. So if you have any specific questions about what I've been up to, you can message me on facebook or leave a comment below. Finals week is next week, so I will be busy studying and trying to pass as many of the tests as possible. 

Til the next blog,

August