Officially 3 months! Yeah!

Greetings Allemaal!

Wow, I have officially been in Holland for three months now! This is without a doubt one of the most challenging things I have ever done in my whole entire life. I'm not going to lie, this whole experience hasn't been easy and I definately miss my family and friends more than I can express in words...but at the same time I am so happy to be here. I'm glad that I'm on a year long exchange rather than a 3 month long exchange, because I would not be ready to go back home yet. This week is toetsweek at Ritveld Lyceum. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on which way you look at it) I have no tests this week, but I am still required to go to school each day. The week has actually been less boring than I was expecting, so that's a good thing. Yesterday I started volunteering at a children's preschool. It was a really fun experience, especially since I spoke in Dutch the whole time, and I am looking forward to going back again next week! Ok, so now a recap on the events of the last couple weeks.

My Herstvakantie included a random assortment of activities: mountain biking ( um the name of the location escapes me at the moment, but yes it was in Holland!), travelling to Groening for a feestje (party!), playing in a Volleyball tournament hosted by the Roteract Club of Elst-Over Betuwe, going to a pretpark in Nijmegen and eating delicious pannekoken with Ana (a mexican exchange student) and her host family. Returning to school after Herstvakantie was pretty uneventful, except for the fact that I met my next host brothers. I knew all along that my host brothers went to my school, but I just didn't know who they were. It was nice to finally meet them! I will be moving to my next host family sometime in December. This past weekend was spent shopping in Arnhem and a trip to Amsterdam with fellow exchangers. This was my second trip to Amsterdam. I have to say that the first time I definately did much more sightseeing, but it was nice to be with the other exchange students. We had a really good day! I couldn't tell you what we actually saw in Amsterdam because we spent more time just walking around and talking than actually sightseeing.

One of the most rewarding experiences of being an exchange student is looking back and realizing the progress that has been made. Things are much better with the language for me now!!! I still make many mistakes when I'm speaking, but I can actually understand when people are saying to me ( half the time anyways!). This experience has really opened my eyes to a different way of thinking. There are more differences between the Dutch and Canadian culture than I ever expected. There are things that I have been taught and accustomed to during my 18 years in Canada. Since arriving in the Netherlands, I have been exposed to a new presepective on these same topics and issues. This country is truly the land of the free.

People at home and exchangers elsewhere... I miss you all! Keep the e-mails coming!


Much love,

Deirdre xoxo