Life in Holland

It's been about two weeks since my last post, and while I've really only been in Zwolle during this time, it's been great! I'm becoming more comfortable with the area and loving it more everyday! Classes are pretty normal, besides our weekly excursions around the Netherlands, which are the highlight of the school week. I spent the last 2 weekends in Zwolle getting to know the SPICE students better and meeting some Dutch students also. For the Superbowl a small group of students, in need of some American culture, decided to stay up and watch the game which started Live at 12:30 am here. We anxiously turned on the TV to discover the commentary was in Dutch. We improvised and found an English commentary online to go along with the game, but missed out on most of the commercials :( This week I've been watching to olympics on the BBC channel which I argue is even better than watching it in America, because the commentators have the appealing British accent. Thankfully my host family enjoys watching the olympics just as much as me and we spend lots of our free time during the week watching them together. They especially are enjoying the success of their speed skaters; I love having two home countries to cheer for :)

I couldn't have expected to like Holland as much as I do. Outside of the traveling and touring, which is what I initially thought I'd like the most, the SPICE students and all the people I've met here in Zwolle have been wonderful! I love hearing stories about the history and current issues of The Netherlands from my teachers. I love spending time with my host family and understanding more the culture of families here. I love spending time with the other SPICE students, getting to know one other better, forming new friendships, and making memories traveling or going out together.

This week I've also been struck with missing home. In light of my best friend's mother's health difficultly - Sara, I wish I could be there to pray with you and talk to you through this difficult times. My host family and I pray every night for your mother and family and are so thankful for the improvements she's had so far! Also, this past week my best friend Kiley got engaged! Kiley's engagement is something all of us roommates were anxious for; I'm so very happy for Kiley and Taylor! I wish I could be back home to hug her and celebrate with her, though! As I've said before, thank goodness for Skype and the internet so I can at least convey some of these feelings to them!

This past week, a group of 5 students including me, decided to take a quick one day trip to London. We booked an overnight bus trip for Friday night and Saturday night to go back and forth. We left Zwolle at 7 pm Saturday and arrived in London via the Chunnel at 5:30 am. Surprisingly everyone in our group was full of energy, most likely from the adrenaline of being in London! We purchased a transportation pass and a venti Starbucks coffee and spent until about 8:30am exploring the city by switching between several double decker buses. We then began searching for the many tourist sites in London:

Our bus entering the Chunnel Train

Big Ben and Parliament

Westminster Abbey

The London Eye

Tower Bridge :)

London Tower Castle





Abbey Road

We made the typical tourist mistake

Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Train Station

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

Buckingham Palace 

                 

We found the guards! 

Fish&Chips

...and of course we had to take a couple of the typical London Tourist Photos

Red Phone Booths- they're everywhere! 

One of the double decker buses we rode on throughout the day!

These reminders are actually very helpful - saved me from walking into traffic a couple times. 

The many monuments, especially in remembrance of WWII 

The early morning bus rides allowed us to see so much more of London including some of the different neighborhoods and parks as well as the countless monuments and statues. We also took the tube, which allowed us to get a feel for the culture in London more. It's very international and diverse, which made people watching fun. We always tried to guess which language was spoken or which nationality a person was from during our tube trips. After a 12 hour day of non-stop traveling and touring, we found what we thought looked like an authentic British Pub and ordered some famous fish&chips. With one more look at the Tower Bridge in lights, which was probably my favorite site of the day, we hopped on our bus at 9pm for the very long and uncomfortable bus ride back to Amsterdam. We took a ferry from Dover, unfortunately it was 3 am and we were all extremely exhausted so we didn't see any of the surrounding cliffs and channel, which I'm sure would've been gorgeous. We finally arrived back in Zwolle at 11 am, and now looking back, after resting awhile, the bus ride doesn't seem nearly as bad and definitely worth it for the wonderful memories made and sites seen this weekend. London is a beautiful city! I know we hardly skimmed the surface of all there is to see, the mix of Renaissance and Modern Architecture is a perfect balance and the historic buildings that are there have been kept in wonderful condition. A trip back to the UK to explore London more and visit surrounding cities to see more Medieval and scenic landscapes is a must :)