The pictures were all messed up on the last post - so in order they go
1 = Grand Place - Brussels
2 = Manneken Pis - Brussels
3 = Gravensteen - Gent
4 = Jan van Eyck Plein - Brugge
5 = Markt - Brugge
6 = Halve Maan - Brugge
7 = Burg - Brugge
8 = Beginhof - Brugge

What I saw in Brugge, Gent, and Brussels -

This weekend was a weekend away to Belgium :)
Eline, Rebekah, and I saw three cities... in two days. It was quite impressive. We ate a lot of good Belgian chocolate, waffles, and fries while we traveled. All in all it was a success and a lot of fun.
Now onto the question of ... what exactly did you see? This is a questions I am hoping to answer with this blog to help you and I know - what exactly I did see because I like trips that are both fun and a little educational!
In Brugge we saw:
The Beginhof - a monastery - a night (on the right)- along with live nuns (the benedictine sisters) celebrating their daily liturgy. Picture above shows the monastery with its baroque style.

We saw the Burg Square where the "old gothic town hall" was located (on the left) also at night.

We went to Halve Moon Brewery where we go a tour along with a free glass of unfiltered blond beer. :) At this brewery the tour guide stated that the Belgians like a lot of froth on the top of their beer so one is never to complain that there is too much on the top of their glass. While waiting for the froth to go down - the tour guide said one should enter a relationship with their beer and get to know him or her. What do you think?
Here is us with our free glass of Brugse-zot: see picture above.

One of the first places we wanted to see was the markt - the center of town. The beautiful 12th century Belftry tower is located here. It is also magnificent to see at night.

As a nurse, of course I wanted to check out an old mid-evil hospital turned museum called sint-jan hospitaamuseum - unfortunately we did not go to the museum but the outside was so neat and a little... eerie to walk around.

We checked out a cute little museum called choco-story where we got to grab a handful of chocolate before we learned about the history of chocolate, watch a lady demonstrate how to "make" chocolate, and sample more chocolate :)

We also checked out the Jan Van Eyck Plein (his statue is in the picture with me) where we saw the oldest bridge in Brugge and walked down Spanjaardstraat to see house number 9 where St. Ignatius of Loyala stayed on visits to Brugge. SO Cool!

At the end of the day we had to check out BrugsBeertje to sample some beer and eat cheese!

Then... we moved on to the city of Gent!
We saw the Belfort tower, the Graslei, the Sint-Niklaaskerk, and the most exciting of all - the Gravensteen mid-evil castle!

Gent didn't impress too much after the castle and we couldn't find a place to eat a good waffle...so we left for Brussels! The capital of Belgium.
Brussels did not disappoint. We were there a little short of three hours but it was enough to see what we wanted - the Grand Place and of course the Manneken Pis. After sightseeing a bit we found what Brussel local recommended to be the best Belgian waffles around at Dandoy. YES YES YES! Highly recommended. Take a look at that delicious - ness. That is it. Right there. The end of the Belgian tour and I doubt I will ever go back - but it was great to see once!
I have many more stories of our trip but it would take SO long to describe every detail.
When we got back to Holland it was snowing so beautifully in Zwolle - maybe we can go skating on the canals next weekend!
That's all for now! We go to Amsterdam tomorrow so I will blog about that next :)
Have a great Monday!

SPICE Buddies

Before I post what has been happening here I must give a shout out to two very good friends of mine here in Zwolle. Since I have been here they have been great friends to our whole SPICE group. Along with other SPICE buddies, Gerald and Tom have made us feel welcome here. They also come along on excursions on school with us and make it fun. They also keep an extra eye on me since I tend to get left behind. Gerald is also so kind and is helping me fix my bike - I broke my key in half when my lock was frozen the other night :(
I promised them a post on my blog as long as I got a good photo with them -

my room.

so















my room is red, small, and cute :)
i have just enough space that i need.

my desk -
my closet- that may or may not be growing
the other side of my room - a shelf that i use for my perfumes, accessories, a small mirror
a chair i use when i do my hair and makeup with a full length mirror on the wall
and last but not least... a picture of my bed with a groovy bedspread. :)

doei!

Delft.

This weekend was the first of many tiny "vacations" in the Netherlands and surrounding area.
I was fortunate to go to my friend Eline's aunt and uncle's home to stay outside the city of Delft.
They lived in a very cute home with a small farm that had goats, chickens, horses, a dog that looks great in a scarf, and a cat!

It was so nice and secluded that it felt very peaceful and relaxing while we were there.
Our adventure began on Saturday morning when we got to the train station and put money on our train cards. We checked in and hopped on the train to Rotterdam where we then would switch over to another train for Delft. Things went smoothly but since the train was busy we had to split up and sit a distance from each other. I luckily sat next to my friend Rebekah who had a travel book so we began searching for our next destination and quickly found a very delicious sounding paragraph related to Belgium waffles - so that will probably be it.

First, we talked, then slept a little, and before we knew it we were in Rotterdam! We got out and switched trains. No problem. Then we waited a mere 10 min. to Delft and hopped off. Perfect! We made it! Or so we thought.

Eline's uncle was picking us up and we were unable to located his vehicle or him! We were really confused until someone mentioned that maybe Delft actually has two stations.
Yes.
She was correct.
We had actually gotten off in Delft "South" AKA Delft... the ghetto.
So he drove to pick us up - how sweet :) We got in a car... yes - for the first time in a week I rode in a car again - weird! Then we drove to their beautiful home and had a delicious lunch that was made up of a lot of breads - which we needed the energy from because sight-seeing is tiring!
Eline's aunt is very good at giving tours and also a lot of historical information about Delft so the whole afternoon we learned a lot. I really appreciated seeing the tourist attractions as well as the hidden treasures of Delft.
It was a lovely afternoon that we spent together and we ended at Eline's cousin's apartment for coffee/tea and chocolates we bought in Delft. We also ate stroopwaffels. YUM :D We took Eline's cousin and a movie back to Eline's Aunt and Uncle's and watched a little of the movie, ate dinner, finished the movie and then she took us out on the town. We hit up a little restaurant/bar and had some drinks. Then we headed back to our cute beds for some shut-eye :)

We woke up for church in the famous church "Nieuw Kerk" for an English translation. It worked perfectly and we even got to see where the royal family is buried underneath the church. The people at the church were very friendly even though it was huge and cold. After church we went back to the house, read some little kid books in dutch, ate some cake, had some warm soup and then more ... BREAD with various jams, jellies, butters, sugars, sprinkles etc. Its quite fun to try something different on your bread every time but I always end with PB and choc. sprinkles because you just can't go wrong ... LEKKER!

After the meal we went with some more of their family to the seashore. It really was a beautiful day for the beach... not. ;)
The wind was blowing and the water was spraying while the sea raged and yet... we saw it.
Who knows if I'll ever make it back there so I am so thankful for the chance to see the sea despite the terrible weather.
There are sand dunes surrounding the sea so there was a lot of sand that got in my eyes :(
We drove back to Delft and then had a final meal, said thank-yous and good-byes, hopped on the train back to Zwolle.
I skyped my fam. tonight and we have a rough draft of the things we will do with our time together here. I am so excited that they are coming :)
Now that I am home-sweet-home I look forward to some sleep and more Dutch lessons tomorrow!
Good night!

1st Week of School at the GH

Good evening from rainy, stormy Zwolle.

Today, Thursday, was the first day we had to bike in the rain since we got here. Apparently that is amazing since they expect it to rain every day pretty much. So - I am pretty happy I got rain pants for Christmas. They worked like a charm.

I will update a little bit about what I've been learning at school and the activities we have taken part in. I will need to peek at my schedule because I can not remember what we did sometimes - we have done so much!

On Monday we did a lot of socializing at school. The day started with a little welcome, then a coffeebreak, then we signed a form, took a tour, heard a speech, and ate lunch. We took another tour of the whole GH building and that is when a very embarrassing thing happened. We went up the nursing floor (the top floor) because I wanted to see it. There was a nursing lab that I went into and of course every one told me I had to "show them something." So I went over to a fake arm that was connected to some fake blood (water with food coloring). I was looking at it a little and I decided to touch the tube that it was attached to. Little did I know the tube was close to coming apart and that is exactly what happened. Fake blood starting squirting everywhere and not just a little... I got it all over my hands and luckily I got it in the sink quick enough before it made a huge mess. I am glad I could provide some laughs for the whole group. Monday night we met up for hot chocolate with a group of us. I took my host sister along too :) The hot chocolate was amazing. They gave us steamed milk and a chocolate lolly to dip it into so it would melt and also whipped cream on the side with a little cookie. LEKKER! (YUMMY)

After our tour the SPICE buddies gave us bike lessons. I think we all did pretty well and I am proud to say that I will be biking to school alone tomorrow without any help. I hope I can write here that I made it successfully without getting lost. We will see. I do enjoy the biking but with wind and rain - its not so fun. On Tuesday evening I had my first fall off my bike. It was a pretty bad wipe out but only have one bruise on my knee to show from it. I got the wind knocked out of me and I was pretty shaken up after but I am OK!:) So is the bike. These bikes are made to handle a lot. I also fell off my bike today and I really don't know why this keeps happening. My bike really doesn't like me right now. I hope things get better -

So Tuesday we began to learn survival dutch. Its intense and I would rather do my Rosetta Stone on my own. Its only for two weeks and I am sure I will appreciate it when it is done but right now I am not a fan. I think I felt more confident of myself after a Rosetta Stone lesson. At least we don't get a grade. After school we went shopping for some dutch orange clothing items that we were required to wear speed dating. We also got stroopwaffel mcflurrys. Absolutely delicious. When I came home I was informed that my "host-niece" was coming to stay with us. She is 2 and absolutely adorable. They taught her to say "How are you" and "Katie" so we played for a while, ate dinner together, and I read her a book last night before bed in Dutch. She didn't listen very well because it probably did not make sense to her. She is gone now and it makes me sad but I hope she comes back to visit soon!


Tuesday night was the Joffer night where all the SPICE students and SPICE buddies go out on the town. It was a good night overall and I look forward to many more. All the buddies are very friendly and nice to us - I appreciate how they make us feel so welcome here in Zwolle and at the GH.

Wednesday we began the morning by receiving a Dutch/English Bible from the Gideons. I am happy because I have been reading my family's Dutch Bible for practice and now I have my own!
Then we discussed the differences between churches in the Netherlands and churches in the US. VERY interesting. Then we had Dutch class and in the afternoon I had a meeting with the nursing professor...FINALLY!

I got to learn about my internship and I am very happy that instead of working at the nursing home type place I will be observing at the hospital here in Zwolle on the Cardiology floor. I am so excited because I am very interested in Cardiology. I do not start until March so unfortunately I will not have much to say about it until then... other than that it is great news.

After my meetings we had a speed date session with the SPICE buddies. We got to know them a little better and they were able to also get to know us better. Once again, always fun and hilarious if they are around. After that we had a Stoppotbuffet with our host parents and professors from the GH. Basically it was a lot of Dutch food... That was fun but I was so tired and ready to come home for a good night of sleep. I watched the Bachelor and a new episode of New Girl then called it a night. Who knows if I'll ever give up my American TV shows when I'm here.

Today after school we had a scavenger hunt in Zwolle. We had to do random things in order to get to know the town better. Tomorrow we will find out who won.

So I will end with my plans for the weekend... our first weekend trip to Delft! I am going with a few girls from SPICE to visit one of their Aunts. I can't wait to blog about it.

Its almost the weekend!

To all that are reading - I miss you dearly and I wish we could all be here together. I would love that. I hope you are all doing well.

The First Weekend in Zwolle.

These last couple of days have felt so packed with different activities and I have enjoyed it so much. On Saturday we started with a citywalk in Zwolle learning about various locations that have much history involved with them. Since this is the first time I have heard this information I can't say I have much I can teach you. After four months here I may be able to remember more facts about the area, etc. :)

Saturday morning I woke up late because I was not able to sleep from 1-6 am. I had a hard time getting used to the time change... I got ready for the day and met my host mom downstairs while I ate some breakfast.

We went to the center of Zwolle for some shopping and I made my first purchase with Euros. I bought conditioner. :)I looked at the cute (schattig) clothes/purses/scarves etc. and I am looking forward to going there with my host sister Gera sometime because she has very good taste.

We met up with the SPICE group at the Peperbus - a very tall tower in the center of Zwolle. We climbed to the top and took a lot of quality photos. It is a old catholic church so it is very nicely decorated and it is interesting to see all the art inside. Apparently, if we are ever lost in the city we are told to go to the Paperbus because it is easy to see and make a phone call to the GH so someone can come rescue us ;) Picture is of me on top of the Paperbus.

After the city walk we went a restaurant for coffee/drinks/appetizers. We had a lot of fun and I tried a purple soda. It was very good but full of sugar.

I then rode bike with my host parents back home for the typical Saturday night meal - fries!
My host sister came home and was quite excited to eat them - I don't blame her... they are delicious and of course "American." Yay! There was also a lot of other food after we ate the fries and then more fries after that. Needless to say, I began to ask them what they do to exercise and how they manage to stay so skinny. ;)

I can't remember the names to the food we eat but it is very different - some is very tasty and some will start to grow on me. Most importantly though is the fact that they are very generous and kind with guests here. I feel very welcomed and a part of the family. After our evening meal we chatted for a while and I told them my plans for the evening with the SPICE group.
Our SPICE group was invited to go out for the night in Zwolle with a view of the GH buddies. It was a lot of fun and I was able to see what nightlife is like here. We went to the Flying Horse Bar and rode home on the bikes together as a group.

My host family told jokingly me today they are "concerned" because no other host student of theirs has gone out on the second night in Zwolle. They like to tease me about that... and about a lot of other things... like my Dutch pronunciation.

This morning we went to church together at 11AM and I could not understand a word of course. I sang the words to the songs in Dutch though. Its great to learn that way because you can listed to the others singing and begin to hear how words should really sound. After church we came back home and sat around with chocolate cake and coffee. Dessert first everyone.
Then we played the WiiFit. I was very bad at the balancing game.
Dessert first, exercise second, then eat lunch. That is the order.
So for lunch we had soup and bread with herbs and lettuce. YUM!

Then at 2pm the 6 SPICE students that live near me came over for a progressive dinner that began with more cake ... coffee... etc. at my host families house. We visited for a while and then we made our way to Rebecca - the only SPICE student from Calvin - 's host home. There we had more dessert, coffee, tea, drinks etc. Then we went to church at 4:30 - we (SPICE students) were introduced to the congregation at that time. We had to stand up, do a little wave, and sit back down. It was cute because they translated some things in English to us during the service like the Blessing and the kids would all look back at us because they knew that because there were Americans in church that is why things were translated. After church we went to Kaitlyn and Sarah's host family house for more delicious soup. We visited with them, hopped on our bikes, and went to Katrina's house next for the main dish. The same routine continued the rest of the night as we made our way to Eline's host family for ice cream/apple pie, and finally Karl's host family's home for chocolates, tea, coffee etc.

Today has felt like a holiday with all the food, drinks, visiting, etc. but it was so fun. I am very exhausted now - ready for bed. Tomorrow we go to school. We will all be biking together. I hope we don't get lost.
Good night.

My Dutch Family -

I made it to Zwolle! We arrived at airport in Schipol around 9:50 AM this morning. We were greeted by many students and Professors by the GH (Gereformeerde Hogeschool). The students are our SPICE buddies and they helped us get all of our luggage on the train to Zwolle because many of us took too much ;)
I am very grateful for how smoothly things have gone since arriving here. We had no problems on the flight - it was long but I got to watch a Dolphin Tale and get to know the wonderful people that will be on this adventure with me. We were lucky to get out of Chicago in time last night to Amsterdam. The weather was getting worse and worse.
I really enjoyed flying over Ireland this morning and my absolute favorite was flying into Amsterdam. We enjoyed a view that we may never get to have again. It is absolutely beautiful here.
I have enjoyed meeting everyone so far. I was picked up by Rutger, my hostdad. We went to the GH to get my brand new bike. It is very nice. Lets hope I do not crash.
I was able to see the house I will be living in, settle in, and then go on my first ever bike ride in Europe.
The bike is a tad bit wider up top than mine at home and the brakes aren't exactly in the same place either. Needless to say, I think my hostdad wishes he could have gotten my attempt at riding out of their driveway on video. I think he was very nervous but I made it just fine the rest of the way to down town Stadshagen. It is a suburb of Zwolle and it is quite precious. I really like the shops and how it has a city feel yet it is very small.
Gera (my hostsister) and my hostdad took me to a restaurant where she used to work. I ate what is called a Kroket.
I had to look this one up,
A croquette is a small fried food roll containing, usually as main ingredients, mashed potatoes, and/or ground meat (veal, beef, chicken, or turkey), shellfish, fish, vegetables, and soaked white bread, egg, onion, spices and herbs, wine, milk, beer or any of the combination thereof, sometimes with a filling, often encased in breadcrumbs.^[1] The croquette is usually shaped into a cylinder or disk, and then deep-fried.
Tonight I met my hostmom and ate Boerenkool. It was delicious. You can look it up if you wish. I watched a little Dutch TV after with a cup of delicious coffee and then I felt ready to wind down for the night. My hostdad got me an adapter for my plug ins and I am very thankful for it. I had a dead computer and ipod touch since we landed :/

I will include a picture of my host mom, dad, and family.
Their names are very difficult for me to say but I promise them that in four months I will be much better. We read the Bible in Dutch and English after dinner. Their goal for me is to be able to read it in Dutch by the end of the four months. I am up for the challenge.

:)
Its time to sleep!
Good night!
welterusten

Its today!

Sorry for the lengthy last post...
This one will be much shorter :)

I leave for Europe TODAY ... crazy!
I just got a phone number you can text me on when I'm there: 731-732-4602
I will receive texts when I have WIFI.
Packing was crazy ... it might still get crazy in the morning but tonight I am more than done with it.
I spent so much time trying to figure out controversy over our flight tomorrow and to be honest I am not sure if even United knows what is going on.
I am nervous also about the weather in Chicago... but where will worrying get me?
I already almost forgot to do a homework assignment tonight. My mind is SO not on school.
I can't wait to write a nice post when I get to Europe about my host family, etc. but first I must release the Blog! This will be an adventure. I promise nothing spectacular ... only fun stories and pictures of my time there.

Thanks for following so far and look for the first post when I get there. It will be all over my Facebook page don't worry.

I also plan to customize the page and make it look better for all you that think its pretty boring and plain looking... just wait.
Good night!

Good-bye Dordt, Good-bye KP12

I am sitting back in good ol' KP12 tonight and I love hearing my room mates giggle again :)

I leave for Holland on Thursday and YES I am very excited. I will post more about that soon.

First, I must reflect on these things:

I will miss being here at Dordt in KP 12 with them this semester.

They will now have normal shaped dishes because I'm not here to melt them in a dishwasher ;)

However, the community bowl has gone missing so there is no where to put the rest of the things you don't want to eat yourself (aka nuts and mint m&ms)

Anyways -- I made a list of KP12s "Lessons Learned" which became more like Katie Schaap's "Lessons Learned" :)

I want to share some memories we've made so I remember and you can be amused by my little mistakes ... but after each of these mistakes there was a learning moment... so they are not all complete mistakes.

1) Don't turn on the dishwasher when there is already sitting water in the bottom...

The dishwasher fixer man had to be flown in from a southern state to fix these dishwasher issues- he so happens to show up after I come back to my room from teaching swim lessons - still in my swim suit. SURPRISE!

2) Don't put a lame video on Facebook. People will watch it in class.

The video I posted is called Salt 'n' Pepper - Sarah De Jong and I created it. It is pretty lame but we enjoyed making it. It was created the first evening we ever had salt and pepper shakers in our room. Pretty exciting for us.

3) Don't put plastic on the bottom of the dishwasher; especially the back rows= morphed dish. Sorry Sarah. It was a really cute dish. Good thing it still works as a bowl - just a little oddly shaped.

4) Do ride NAAATHAN as much as possible. He was cheap.

Nate came to Chicago with us over Tri-State. He had a lot of adventures with us. Gas station exercise and poking his head out the car window while we were going down the interstate. Hold on tight!

Nathan is our stick horse. He was abandoned all Christmas break in KP12. He's still recovering from the trauma. Sorry Nate.

5) Don't put someone else's nuts in the community bowl. It will play tricks on your mind.

This is a long story. Ha ha Janelle. Sorry.

6) Look carefully at your bottle of "body wash" its not lotion.

Yikes. I used my lotion on my face over Tri-State and I thought it was a weird consistency.

I should have lathered up with some water instead of trying to rub it in.

7) Always make sure your pen is clicked off before rubbing it no your leg to itch it. This one was not me -- :)

Good thing hairspray works wonders to get out that ink stain ;)

8) Always unplug things before fixing them.

I was attacked by the mixer - I suffered minor injuries. Don't worry - I kept the blood out of the cookies.

9) Be sure the coffee pot is below the coffee maker. Otherwise the counter floods with coffee ... bad news bears :( = no coffee.

Quotes:

"That's so dope"

"If I was having any more fun I'd have to sit on my hands to keep from clapping"

"I hardly even recognized you with your clothes on."

"What time is your tush getting out of bed"

"Hi Jarred, this is Dad ... hope you're not at the fruited tree!"

"That waterfall has never looked so good."

Timeless Marcel:

"That's what the community calls you."

"Treats and snoozin'... snoozin' and treats."

Needless to say, KP 12 had a lot of laughs and fun memories last semester. I am going to miss you wonderful friends but I look forward to hearing about the new memories you will be making this semester.

Remember,

"The most beautiful discovery friends can make is that they can grow separately without ever growing apart..." Elisabeth Foley

I can't wait to update you from Zwolle, but first I must turn in my tuition check, eat lunch at the grille one last time, stop at the bookstore for a souvenir, and say good-bye to some wonderful people in my life.

Let the journey begin!