United States > Netherlands 17/18

Let me start off by addressing Halloween, a beautiful American holiday with ancient-Celtic origins. They don't celebrate it here, and no one understood why I had brought so much candy to school, but I had a good Halloween regardless. I am very thankful that last Thursday one of my classmates threw a Halloween-themed party. It gave me a chance to dress up a bit and made it feel like I wasn't missing out on the holiday. I ate a lot of candy today, and had a really good Spanish class. Spanish is one of the only classes where I actually do work, and one of the hardest for me. It was a good day. And it was following up on a really good night of Kung-Fu (last night we did some kicking, it was the first time in a long time and I was very grateful for it).  It was another event-filled month. In the first week I found out that I had to run for school. Either 1.8km (1.1 mile) or 3.6km (2.2 miles). I don't really get grades for school but I did it anyway since I barely do any exe...

Paying for water (a really, really small amount of water) at restaurants Giving me a tiny bottle of coke and also a smaller cup to put it in. Maybe it looks classier but do I really need both? Why are these the default hand-drying method?     Paying for the bathroom, even in some restaurants or some museums (like, I paid to get in...)  Hiding kitchen appliances behind cabinet doors Keeping sandwich bread in the freezer, even if you use it every day Buying cold-cuts almost exclusively pre-sliced and pre-packaged Not refrigerating milk and eggs in the store. (they're processed differently) Not saving leftovers after dinner (lots of people do, but it isn't uncommon not to) Surprising lack of stop signs  Putting lots of American flags on food packagings and other products even if said product has nothing to do with the U.S.  Putting the nutritional information based off 100 grams of the product, even if one serving size is less than or greater th...

My art class for school has all of the students doing group projects. For the project we have to visit different examples of art, whether it be film, music, sculpture, etc. I pushed my group to visit the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, which houses the world's largest collection of Vincent Van Gogh works (200 paintings, 400 drawings, and 700 letters). I am so, so happy that I made them go. Even if they did get bored half-way through and left me to explore the rest of the museum on my own.  I learned so much about Van Gogh's life and work. I saw so many paintings that I'd never seen before, and that were so beautiful. Art museums are difficult. You find a painting you like and you want to stay in front of it forever, but at the same time you know there are so many other great things to see.  The museum worked chronologically, leading us through Van Gogh's life and journey as an artist. The exhibits included paintings of Van Gogh's colleges and inspirati...

I went to a J. Cole concert Thursday night, alone. I wasn't sure how I felt about going to a concert alone, but everyone I knew who would have gone was either so into J. Cole that they got the 100 Euro seats, or not into him enough to spend the 40 Euros I was spending for GA.  I got their a bit early because I had GA. There really wasn't a lot of people so I was able to explore the space a bit (Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam) and buy some concert earplugs (god bless, they were a necessity). I found a good spot on the floor where I could sit on a barrier. I hung out. I was a bit bored because I got their at 6:30 for an 8:00 show that didn't start until 9:00.  But as soon as the show started I knew that going alone was the right choice. Yes, going with friends is always nice, but you don't need friends there to be able to enjoy the music. J. Cole is a great performer, and the audience was great too. The audience members in GA were seriously nice. It's no secret ...

At the DOC we had to create bucket lists for the year. I'm trying to have little to no expectations for this year. I want to make the most of the opportunities presented to me and have the best time possible without being let down. That being said, this is a list of things I hope to be able to do at some point this year. I don't want to do all of them, but they all interest me. It feels like a good time to post it because I'm actually starting to feel like I live here, rather than just being here. Things to Accomplish: Speaking near-fluent Dutch Riding a bike without my hands Doing that thing where you start your bike with your left foot on the pedal and then you kick with your right foot until you have enough momentum to swing your leg over Meeting as many new people as possible, creating worldly connections Things to see:  In the Netherlands: Amsterdam Anne Frank House Van Gogh Museum Museum of Prostitution Haarlem  Delft Maastricht  Den Haag Goud...

My first full month in The Netherlands is complete. Each week was different. My first week here school was supposed to start but instead Rotary arranged for the exchange students to have an educational week long program. The next two weeks I went to school Monday-Friday, meaning that I had just 8 days in school before I took off for a week long Dutch Orientation Course in Schiedam. The first two weeks of school were a bit unstructured. They didn’t quite have a place for us so we just sort of drifted from class without any books. Dutch high school seems to be very book-dependent. There is even a reward system for not forgetting your books. If you bring your books to all your classes you can earn “free time” where you are allowed to skip class. The other exchange students and I are still working out the kinks in our school schedule, but it is going okay otherwise. We’ve formed a good group and like spending time with each other, but we’re all trying to make Dutch friends a priority....

I had a complete Mean Girls moment today. I was in math class and I had to go to the bathroom. At SOTA you hardly ever ask to go to the bathroom. Usually you just take the pass and walk out, especially in a math class where the teacher is busy explaining things.  While there are some policies here that are more strict than in the U.S., like the importance of attendance, generally this school is pretty relaxed. The teachers dress casually every day, you call all of them by their first names, etc. I assumed going to the bathroom would be equally relaxed, and I left the class quietly as I would in the U.S. I was very embarrassed a few moments later when, as I was drying my hands, a classmate came into the bathroom looking for me. Apparently the class was convinced I must have been very upset to leave the room so "suddenly". In hindsight a school that is so strict about attendance probably doesn't like kids to leave the room without warning, but I never thought a scene from ...