Exploring Zwolle!

I've learned so much this first week in Zwolle! It's been very interesting to explore the city on runs and bike rides. It's been beautiful weather, around 45 F, perfect for running and biking outside like the other Hollanders...and snapping pictures like a tourist.

A nearby neighborhood, an area with buildings 750 years old.

The downtown of this historic city, and....our first windmill tour! 

The new apartments near my house....the majority of people here live in apartment style housing. 

Canals, bridges...Water! everywhere. 

I've noticed a couple different, new things:

First off, I realized I love bike riding! We have about a 25 minute commute to school, but it's relatively flat and takes us through the city center of Zwolle, which is beautiful. I have yet to perfect coffee drinking and bike riding, so my normal routine of breakfast on the way to class has been changed to quickly chugging a cup of coffee before I leave and anxiously waiting for the daily coffee time break at 10 am when I can have another caffeine pick-me-up. While I really enjoy the biking, figuring out directions has been a little more challenging...thankfully I have fellow students to guide me, although I still managed to get lost for over a half hour the first two mornings of class and sent them on wild goose chases to find me ..oops! This afternoon, I biked, by myself, from my house to the city for church and back without taking one wrong turn...hopefully that means I've overcome my directional challenges.

Where I bike everyday.....in a lane right next to traffic

Secondly, nothing is free here. In the States, I never think twice about asking for whip cream on a latte or for dipping sauce like ketchup. After getting charged .60 euros for whip cream on my coffee, I've been more careful about responding "sure" to extras.

Classes this week have been pretty long, I'm not used to being at school from 9am to 5pm everyday without going back to my room between class, it reminds me of high school. My host family is still wonderful, I'm learning some Dutch words in my orientation classes, so now I can have small conversations with Marat and Amber and am not just smiling and waving when I see them like the first couple days :) This coming week a couple of my regular classes start, and next week we'll start excursions around The Netherlands.

Spending time with the SPICE group this week has been great, we've been getting to know each other much better and spend most nights at each other's host family houses at nights or in the city. We've begun trip planning and are taking our first weekend trip to Belgium this weekend!!!!!

 An entire snow village made of chocolate...the coffee, chocolate, and wine (some of my favorite things) here are very good!  The first beer I've ever liked; it tasted like a fruity punch. 

Library I found... New Study Spot!

Just a few of the sites I drive by on my way to school...more to come :)