Dutchieland part 1
I arrived in Dutchieland late July at approximately 1 am. We had been driving since 8am the day before so it took us about 17 hours, stops included. The worst part was when German police decided to pull us over because – not quite sure why – and then hold us, after checking our passports and asking questions, because evidently our car smelled marijuana. Brilliant. They searched each of us and the car, opening all the lugage and bags and smelling inside of them aswell. All the while the sun was setting and it keept getting darker. Eventually they had to let us go, but they insisted that the car smelled marijuana.
First few days I stayed in Gotum, outside of Leeuwaarden, and we went riding icelandic horses one of the days.
After that I moved into a nice, but very warm (and stupid vloorbedekking!) room in Zeist, Laan van Cattenbroek, outside of Utrecht where I took a summercourse in dutch.
As you can see I lived above a bar and a liquor store. It was a nice house though. Only dutch students, 5 others except for me – but since I only stayed there during August alot of them were away for holidays.
With the EILC (Erasmus Intensive Language Course) there were weekly excursions to different locations. One week we went to Zeeland and learned about the delta works, visited Neltje Jans and went to the beach.
Izzy, Chris and Geraldine at the beach in Zeeland
Silvia, Geraldine, Izzy, Pauliina and Christina looking at map at Neltje Jans.
Week after that we went to Enkhuizen, with a stop at a cheesefarm & cloggfactory (in Amstelveen) on the way there, and the Zuiderzeemuseum. At the cheesefarm we were told how cheese is made and we got to taste different kinds of cheese which was really nice. We were also told about the cloggmaking process and got to see how they were made. After this we had jummy dutch apple pie.
Geraldine, me, Silvia, Marina, Izzy, Chris and Pauliina at the Zuiderzeemuseum
These were the two big daytrips that we made during August and the weather was absolutely lovely most of the time. My time in Utrecht was mostly spent at the J.Boswell instituut or at the stable.
All EILC-classes at J.Boswell August 2009
For last activity with my EILC group we went to theehuis Rhyjnauwen for pannenkoeken!
Winnie (teacher), Geraldine, Christina, Me, Izzy, Marina, Filippa, Fedja, Fernando, Hendrik and Ben – we like group-pictures as you might have guessed by now.
And that was it for the EILC but not Utrecht. I rather like the city, at least during summer. Last I saw of it it was raining, but I think I will forget about that and stick to remembering warm summer days and a really awesome thunderstorm.
That about sums my first month in Utrecht up. Alot of sunshine, cool people and fun experiences. New places, new friends and a certificate that I have successfully completed the dutch A-levels. By end of August it was still a bit uncertain where I would live. I had to start my studies in Zwolle mid-september and it was time to figure out living arrangements. A shared room a’la highschool movie did not really apeal much to me (bunkbeds! Who wants to spend 5 months sharing a room sleeping in a bunkbed?!). More of that in part 2 … and for then I will try and make the text a little bit more interesting aswell. I wasn’t actually planning to make a story of my whole stay over there but now, who knows. I got the first month out of the way, only 5 more left and god knows I certainly have the time …
