Kaas Maken

Yesterday I went on a day trip with my program all throughout the south of Holland (everyone is always confused about what to call the Netherlands/Holland so here it is. The Netherlands is the country, Nederlands/Dutch is the language, the people are all Dutch, Holland is a province in the Netherlands where Amsterdam is).

We began by getting on a big coach bus and starting going south, the Dutch countryside is so beautiful. There are cows EVERYWHERE! I was so excited. I took so many of pictures of cows on the drive that I ran out of camera battery for the rest of the day, but I was so excited, cows are so great.

We went to a traditional family-run Dutch cheese farm. It was sooooooooooooooo smelly, but so delicious. There were also cows everywhere here, including a baby calf just over a week old. We learned how they make the traditional cheese from Holland (which they are famous for) they basically take really hot milk and add some stuff and then wait for it to curdle and then cut it. We tried some cheese in the middle stages of being made out of this giant vat of milk and fat and slimy cheese before it is actually cheesy, it didn't taste like anything. But they had free samples of ACTUAL cheese everywhere and they were so delicious, I feel like Holland has made me discover cheese for the VERY first time. There was also a small Dutch girl named Deborah (who was probably two) running around the farm during the whole tour yelling "Kaas Maken, Kaas Maken"which means cheese making.

After the cheese farm we went to Delft, which is a small town in the south where Willem van Oranje is buried (the hero of the Dutch). It was so great, before we went into the actual town we took a tour of the porcelin factory where all of the blue china is handpainted. That was also really cool, but we didn't get endless free samples of cheese. Nothing may ever compare to that cheese farm.

Delft was an incredible little town, we went on a tour on these bike/scooter things that we see tourists on all over Amsterdam (and we always make fun of them, because they look ridiculous). But I have newfound respect for the groups of 60 year old tourists I see on these scooter things, they are really difficult to maneuver. I love Delft, I think it may be my favorite place (aside from Amsterdam) that I have been in the Netherlands (although I haven't been to many places).

As I write this I should be reading about women in the domestic workforce for my gender, migration and development class. I should probably take care of that.

Fun Dutch Fact of the Day - Carrots are originally a purply color but in the 16th century the Dutch chemically changed the color to orange to have more national pride (the national color is orange because of Willem van Oranje, which means William of Orange) therefore we have orange carrots.

9/23

I know it has been an extremely long time since I have posted anything on the blog. You should probably know that the only reason is because of my exquisite study habits. Obviously.

I have been having the most incredible time whilst I've been here. I think I might just have to stay here forever. Seriously. It's unbelievably beautiful and the lifestyle is so wonderful. I feel like everything is easier here, the way things work - they just make sense.

A couple days ago I went to Den Haag (The Hague) which is where the seat of government is for the Netherlands. I saw the queen! She was wearing purple and in a golden carriage. That's pretty much all I know about her, but nonetheless I saw her. Den Haag was really cool, it was nice to be in a place that wasn't as touristy as Amsterdam. I also saw the Vermeer painting Girl with the Pearl Earring, it was in this old parliament building/palace type thing that had been turned into a museum, it was so cool.

One of the things that I like best about the Dutch is how sensible they are. No one here goes to church, but everyone here goes to clubs. Therefore, a lot of the old churches and synagogues have been turned into clubs and restaurants. It's all very practical.

Yesterday I had one of the best days since I've been here. It was unbelievably beautiful and my friends and I went for a bike ride in Vondel Park, which is absolutely amazing. It's starting to feel like Fall here and I LOVE IT! The trees are starting to turn and I have started spending all of my time sitting in my windowsill people watching (Amsterdam has great people watching). It's so beautiful!

I'm going to try and post pictures soon but my computer is broken so until that is fixed you'll have to trust your imagination and my impecible ability to describe things.

Sarah and Jules destroy Amsty

So. I for the past 8 days, I've had 2 of my best friends, Sarah and Julia, staying with me in Amsterdam. It was probably the most fun thing in the entire world. We had the BEST time. The last week has just been a complete whirlwind so I'm trying to remember the more important details to share with you.

For instance, I experienced my first lesbian bar. It was called Dirty Disco Dykes. The name explains it all. It was wonderful.

On a more sophisticated note we went to the Foam Photography Museum and saw this weird exhibit that was fashion using photoshop, it was really strange. We also went to the Van Gogh Museum (which I can get into for free with my student card) and it was so great! They had some really GREAT exhibits and I'm going to start going there all the time!

I started classes yesterday, I have about 4 hours of class a day, which is really nice. I'm trying to change my schedule around so I'll let you know my classes when I figure them out, I know, it's riveting.