Hoi Hoi!
So, I've survived a week of school! :) It's pretty cool. I've played soccer, gone to the rec center, met a bunch of people. .all that kind of fun. My favorite class so far is Family and Individual development :) I'm basically taking two Psychology classes, hehehe. . Honors Psyc 101 - intorduction to Psyc. . .and Family and Individual Development. Harmen had his birthday last Wednesday, he is finally 18! :) I bought him a coconut creme pie and had some people over to my dorm, hehe. . . then Kyle - my brother - turned 21 on Sunday. So we had a dinner at Sangria and then back to his apartment for cake and sorbet! :D Yum. The pineapple sorbet was delish! Well, I'm going to go get ready for school now. . .I don't have class until 9:30!!! :D Yaaay! Okay! Talk to you later! Veel plezier!

Hello Hello! Well, It's Saturday night and I'm all moved in to my dorm room! Woohoo! However, right now I'm at a house out past Troy, Idaho helping Harmen move in to his new host family's house :) Classes begin Monday! (I'm excited and nervous all at the same time) My dorm is alright. It has toooons of storage space, so that is wonderful! :D I haven't met my roommate yet, but we've exchanged notes pinned on the cork board in our room, hehe :) Well, I hope everyone is doing well! I'll try to post some pics of my dorm and a bit of college life when things actually get started! Talk to you later! xoxo

Heeey - I'm back! Paris was a lot of fun! We arrived Monday night and then made our way to our hotel. . hehe. . .a one star!! wooohoo!! :D:D Every day we had to go up and down 6 flights of stairs to get to our room, then we discovered a lift, haha. . .:) but we used the stairs anyway. Anyway, in Paris we saw Notre Dame (church), St. Chapel (church), the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower :) , the Arc de Triomph. . . everything was very beautiful, and the Louvre was ginormous!!!! oh my gosh. . .so much walking. . .So now, I've had my first experience with the Metro and an underground train! :) hehehe. . .for breakfast and lunch we ate french baguettes, they were huge! :) and yummy. . .and best of all: cheap! We also walked down the Champs E'lysees where the Tour de France took place - and home to all the Gucci and Louis Vaton, etc. . .stores. . .Amazingly, we met up with my Uncle Kurt and his family in Paris! (by the Notre Dame) and we ended up seeing some sights together and going to dinner! It was veeeery nice! :) Then afterwards we went to their apartment and all had a lovely glass of champagne with orange juice and cute little strawberries inside! A real treat, :) :D But, you would never believe how many stairs I went up. ..stairs into the metro, out of the metro, 200 some to the arc, 600 some to the eiffel tower, and 400 some up to Notre Dame, and the 6th floor of the hotel, haha, oh man. . .so many stairs! :) hahah. . .but it was very fun and exhausting! Thursday, we got up at 5 a.m. and were on the metro at 6 :) then we made our way back on the train at 7a.m. :) When I got back around 1, we had lunch and then I took a nap, after my nap, Harmen, Marloes and I had a wondeeerful dinner with their grandparents! :) Drie in de pan and Stampot! Then after dinner, Martin and Marjan came over. . .Martin with his motorcycle and off I went!!!! :D:D I got to ride on the back of the motorcycle, it was sooo mcuh fun! The most amazing part was when we'd go super fast! aaaah!! Very nice! Today (Friday) I went to the hair dresser! hehehe, yaaay! :) I like it! It's shorter and in layers, now I have to buy a straightener! :D Then Marloes and I used some lovely masks and watched a chick flick :) What a day, what a day. . .Shopping (I didn't mention that :)), Hair dresser, masks and a chick flick - totally a girls day! Buuuuuuuuuuuut, there are some people here, so I'm going to go and have coffe :) I'll put the pics on a little later! :D Doei!

Hello everyone! I'm off to Paris today!!! Buuuuut. . .I'll start from Saturday, hey!

Saturday: in the morning we woke up and got ready to go. . .then. . .Winkelen! (shopping) Bea, Harmen and I went shopping for shoes! I got two pairs of cheap shoes, 5 euros each! :) Some fake green converses and some cute pink flats! After shopping Bea dropped us off at a bus stop and I climbed on to my first dutch bus! It was very nice! :) Harmen and I rode the bus until the Hardewijk train station where we met up with Chris and Aline. Then off to the Dolfinarium!!! :D:D It was amazing! I saw a dolphin show and a see lion show and I even got to pet a ray!!! :D:D It was soooo squishy and cute, and it like it! (It was practically sleeping!) :D Then we walked around and saw fat walruses and looked at dolphins swimming under water and naturally had ice cream! :D After our ice cream I got a very special treat. . .. .paling. . .also known as EEL! haha, it was pretty yummy, but a little bit slimy - luckily it was smoked! hahahaha. . .then we went to Chris and Aline's and had fries, krokets and frikandel! yumm yummm yummm :) The rest of the night was filled with relaxation!!

Sunday: We woke up at 8:30 and got ready for church. .then we all hopped on our bicycles and off we went - but I got to ride on the back of Harmen's, heheheheheh :D At church we sang songs (in dutch naturally) and then a pastor guy preached (in dutch) some was hard to understand so Harmen translated a bit for me! hehe, then we sang again and then it was over, very nice :) At home, we got ready for spelletjes dag! (game day) Around 2p.m. we hopped on our bikes again and made the 1.5 hour trip to hardewijk. . . oh man it was like. . .18 miles. . .just to get there :) haha, then we had a drink and then the games began! :) The first was soccer - and then we spiced it up a little and played soccer with cups on our eyes - (basically the bottoms were cut out and we had tunnel vision and couldn't see in front of us - hahahahah, it was really funny!) The next game we stood in lines and then one by one we had to run to a bottle, turn around it 10 times and then try to run back to the line - I was dizzy but I actually went pretty straight! :D hahaha, then back to Harmen's Tante Sjoukje's house and time for barbeque! :D however, dutch barbeque's are different, the table is set up with salads and bread! (I looooove bread). . .and then over by the barbeque there are various types of meats covered in sauces and you choose which one you want and then you put it on the grill yourself and you go check on it or someone else will tell you when it is finished :) Very cool, actually :) aaand yummy! After dinner, we played a game where there were balloons on a string tied around our ankles, and then you go against another person and the other person tries to pop your balloon while you are trying to pop the other person's balloon, hahahaha. . .I won three times!!! :D:D After games, we relaxed for a bit and then we made the 18 mile trip BACK, hahaha, oh my poor bottom - it was hurting! haha :) then to bed, :D

Monday: Harmen woke me up with coffee in bed! yay! Now I'm just getting ready to go to Paris - so I probably won't be able to update until Thursday or something :) But I wish you all a great vacation or work or just have fun! :) Until my next blog! :D Doei!!!

Hello! Let's see, I'll start from Tuesday, I think.
Tuesday: This was the day of Bea and Harmen's birthday party! The whole family woke up early and we brought our presents into Bea's room (Harmen sat in the bed too) and we sang a dutch song and congratulated them! Haha, it was amazing - they got breakfast in bed and presents! After that we all got ready for the day. The first people came around 9 or 10, then we ate lunch and the next people came around 3. ..then in between dinner, and the next people came around 7 or something. . .So coffee time, tea time, and drink time. . haha. ..it was amazing! So many people to meet! haha, then to bed around midnight! haha, a whole day of celebration! (and naturally we got lots of basketball playing in there as well)

Wednesday: Harmen brought me coffee and breakfast in bed! :D:DWhat a sweetie. ..learning from his dad (he brings Bea coffee EVERY morning - so cute!) hehehe . . .then we got ready for the day. . .and then OFF TO AMSTERDAM! But first we biked to the train station in 't Harde, :) yes, I biked. . . and then our train was delayed because a train had crashed into another train. . .I don't if anyone was hurt or anything. . .but we arrived in Arnhem, I think, and then we waited for buses, becaues we didn't know if the train would go to Amsterdam. . .in the meantime, I talked with some people from England and a girl from Holland, haha, it was fun :) Oh man. .when we arrived though, I was so overwhelmed. . .it was a large city and I don't think that I've every actually walked all through a big city. . So many little shops. . and coffee shops (which are actually shops to smoke marijuana in, but I didn't go in, haha). . .It was amazing, I ate a hotdog from a vendor and I saw the Rijksmuseum (it was free for people from 0-18!). . .next year, it won't be free, haha. . .but some of it was closed off, I think, for updating or something. . .but I saw the whole 17th century! Later that night Harmen and I met up with the daught from my grandpa's brother's kid, haha. .her name is Mirthe, we had dinner and then ice cream! Oh, the ice cream is different, but sooo delicious! :D Then around 11 Harmen and I arrived back at the train station in 't Harde and made our way home by bike! It was a wonderful night ride!

Friday: Winkelendag! Shopping day! All the girls left their men at home and we had a girls' day out in Appeldoorn! (Aline, Sjoukje, Bea, Marjan, Marloes, Anouk and me) :) In just 4 stores I found: 2 shirts, a skirt, a poncho (like my blanket, so I can wear it instead at the breakfast table, :D haha), a pajama dress, and a new b.h. . . haha. . .it was veeery fun! Much walking, talking, and naturally eating. . .dinner and oh my gosh! Bea, Anouk and I bought ice creams. . .thinking they were small. . .but they were huuuuge! hahaha, naturally I finished mine, but I was extreeeemely full for the oncoming few hours, hahahaha! When we were finished we went back to Sjoukje's (sister from Bea) and had something to drink. .then we called Harmen at home, and found out his friend Bart was there - who I had not met, and who was leaving for vacation the next day. ..so after our drinks, we rushed home in the car and made just in time to sit for a bit and show off all our new goodies! But, it's 5:30 in the morning ( I woke up to go to the bathroom and decided to update, so I'll upload pictures later! hehe, see you later!)