My stories

2006-04-18T20:46:00.000+02:00

Holiday in Spain...

This past weekend was amazing. Heading into the weekend I was a little nervous. Four of my friends and I had decided that the trains were not going to stop us from getting to Barcelona. Our plan for Easter weekend had been made long before we realized that all the trains to Barcelona were full and we had no way to get there. So Plan B. We rent a car and road-trip it. As many of you know I have been on a few road trips in my life so this was not what I was nervous about.... It was the European road trip that kinda had me freaking out.
Why the heck does France charge sooo much for people to drive on their roads? What happens if we get a flat or break down in Germany or Luxembourg or France or Spain or even the Netherlands for that matter? (I guess it wouldn't be so bad in France or Spain or the Netherlands because Bev can speak French and Laurie knows Spainish and Leanne knows Dutch.. but none of us know German) What happens if we can't find a gas station open at night? What happens if we are too tired to drive and can't find a place to sleep? What happens if we get lost? (we don't have a map just directions from the internet so we wouldn't be able to figure out where we were) What the heck are kilometers?? What if.....??? You get the point.
So on Thursday we (Bev, Emily, Leanne, Laurie and I) have dinner at Laurie's house as a send off provided by her host parents... then we get in the car (man I have missed being in cars and just driving places.... it was all the better because it was raining and I didn't have to bike in the rain.) Leanne and Laurie were the legal drivers (the ones that we had put of the rental form thing) so they did most of the driving. We had no problems with the directions...we didn't get lost... we had no car trouble... the French do charge way tooo much to use their roads.... we had a great road trip ...played car games... had awesome conversations (I love road-trip-conversations....... did you know that pee spelled backwards is eep? we all know what that means!) We were able to fill up when we needed to..usually... I still have no sense of how far a kilometer is.... but We made it to Barcelona!!
Barcelona....{content sigh} beautiful Barcelona.....
So leaving Zwolle it was raining and cold....about 17 hours later..... entering Barcelona it was sun shine and warm! We got into Barcelona and found a place to park...(by the way paying for parking sucks!!) We walked to La Rambla (famous street in Barcelona.... it also just happens to be the street that the flat that we rented was on) and we got into our wonderful flat. Dropped off our stuff and headed to the Beach.... That night we had real Spanish food.....yummmm lekker!
Saturday was suppose to rain but it didn't.... we walked around the city and saw the beautiful-ness and the architecture of Gaudi. Man it was great...... we then bought food to make dinner and breakfast and such.
Sunday Easter Morning.... we had looked up a church that we could go to.... International church of Barcelona.... so we headed to this church and participated in an English church service. It was great to be able to understand and to meet so many people from all over the place that all worship the same Awesome God!!!! After church what could we do but head to the Beach?!?!? It was so warm...23 degrees c. ..... So we laid on the beach all afternoon... I got a nice sunburn going on and It felt great!
Monday we had to leave and head back to the Netherlands and the coldness again ..... we made it back.
There is hardly any time left in the semester! this week and this weekend (I'm staying in Zwolle this weekend) then next week. Next Thursday I head to Italy and Greece for 10 days when I get back I have four days of final stuff and then the semester is over. I am then travelling with Ginger for 10 days and then I head home..... Man this semester has flown by!!

2006-04-11T22:52:00.000+02:00

Okay so this is just something that I saw on my cousin's webpage and I thought it was funny... ENJOY!

2006-04-11T22:39:00.000+02:00

Okay so this has nothing to do with my travels or even my life here in the Netherlands but I it is something that I have been thinking about lately. I am trying to figure out what classes I should take this coming fall semester. This wouldn't be such a big deal but I know that I want to double major in Accounting and Business but the problem comes when I have to pick an emphasis. There are a couple that I would like to have: information Systems and Finance. If you know me at all you know that I HATE making decisions and especially if they are going to affect my whole life!!!!! So what should I do? Should I go for the information system emphasis like my advisor suggested, should I pick the finance emphasis which would work well with accounting, or should I go with both? I have looked into it and it is possible to take all the classes I need for accounting major and both emphasis. It would require a lot of work but is do-able. Well okay now I'm done. Leave comments for me please. I need help making decisions!!!

2006-03-28T19:42:00.000+02:00

at the Versailles Gardens
In front of the Chateau De Versailles
I don't think I have to explain this...
Bryan, Jennifer, Tymona, Bev, me, and Nicole in Paris
Emily and I in front of Moulin Rouge
Tymona and I

2006-03-27T19:22:00.000+02:00

So where to start????
Since London I have been very very busy. The week after London I was getting ready to welcome my parents, sister and brother to the Netherlands plus doing like a million other things like a volleyball tournament, Alpha bible study, joffer, and anything else that looked interesting. I hardly saw my host family that week. Then Friday rolls around and I have to be on the 5:48am train from Zwolle to Amsterdam in order to meet my brother's flight ..... my aunt had emailed me that my parents and sister were unable to make the second flight so they were going to fly to London and get a flight from London to Zwolle later. ......... Long story short ..... my parents and sister don't make it to Zwolle until 4:45pm.
My host family had invited my family to dinner that night so we had a gezellig time together. I think that everyone liked each other which is a wonderful thing.
My parents had rented a small house about 25 min drive from Zwolle so I stayed with them that weekend .... we did a lot of driving around the country....I am surprised at how small the Netherlands really is ...I knew that it was small but I never realized how small.
Meanwhile my host mom and kids went to my host mom's parent's house while my host dad started redoing the flooring in the living room and dinning room area.....when I came back on Sunday evening the housed looked in disarray. But by the end of the week the house was back to normal.
My parents had a good time and I really enjoyed seeing them. I took Ginger and Leland to the Joffer on Tuesday night and had fun with them too.
They left on Thursday.

Friday I left right after class to go with Jennifer, Tymona, Nicole, Bev, Emily and Bryan to Paris!!!
So that was amazing.... we saw all the cool sights and I took lots of pictures. We went to the Louve and I saw some really famous works ...Mona Lisa and many others.... we only had 1½ hours there ....... not nearly enough . Paris was awesome but it rained a lot on Saturday but it was still fun. Sunday the group split up and Nicole and I headed out to the Chateau de Versailles. The one word that came to mind was Ginormous!!! The palace was great but the 'Gardens' or forest *(whatever you want to call it) was beautiful! Even with out the fountains running and with nothing in bloom it was breathtaking! I think it is my favorite place that I have been so far. (I think it even tops London!)

We got back to Zwolle about 10:30 last night and I wish that our weekends were longer!

2006-03-05T15:38:00.000+01:00

London Baby!!!!
The excitement started early this past week.... I knew that come Friday I would be headed to London, England, I could hardly concentrate on my school work (having just gotten back from Prague and Berlin and looking forward to leaving for London) and was greatly anticipating being able to understand people and not struggle to make out a foreign language.

The week went by faster than I expected and soon I found myself packing for London. Laurie came over on Thursday night so that she wouldn't have to bike all the way from Stadshagen to the train station in the snow at 5am (the bike ride takes about 20 min normally and with the snow about an hour) We had to get up at 4:45 in order to make the train ... we ended up leaving a little late from my house and bookin' it to the train station (10-15min bike ride) but we made it on time and so did our traveling companion Nicole!

We got on the train and were soooo ready to go to London. We made our transfer in Amersfort and got to Amsterdam airport (about an 1½ hour ride) in plenty of time ... in fact we were early... There was NO WAY we were going to miss our flight. We check in and wait to find out what gate we are to go to....we wait ...and wait ... we go pass the passport check... then wait .....and wait some more.... finally its about a half hour before the departure time.... but then bad news "delayed until 10:44"..... 'jammer!!!!'..... o well it is only and hour and we will still have lots of time in London.....10:15 rolls around and we wait to see what gate our flight will leave from..... "delayed until 11:45"....... this is starting to piss me off!!... we are thinking "good thing we had booked the early flight and have plenty of time" .... 11:35......"delayed until 12:20" ... this WOULD happen to me! ..... finally at 12 we get to go through security and head to our gate!!! We are finally going to be on our way to London!!!

The flight takes off about 1-ish... and we get to London about 40 min later but with the time change it is about 1 o'clock there too. So we are a few hours behind where we would like to have been but what can you do?? We flew into London Stansted Airport which is a bit of a drive from central London so we had to get on a bus for a 55 min ride to Liverpool Street Tube station.. there we bought an all day pass on the Tube and made our way via underground train to our hostel. We had made it!!!! By this time it is getting later and later... we get to the hostel and check in, drop our stuff off, and head out to the city!!

We decided that we wanted to go to a show that night so we headed out to find cheap tickets. We went to Leicester Square and found some cheap tickets to a Musical "Fame" for 8:30 that night... By this time it is getting towards 4 -4:30 ish and kinda getting darker but we want to get the most out of the day so we head to Westminsterer to see the abbey and Big Ben. We timed it perfectly!!! When we got there the lighting was awesome against Big Ben and the Abbey (hands-down the best Abbey I've seen) . The weather on Friday was beautiful. Sunny and clear with bright blue skies!!

We then decided that we could head to Buckingham palace. We got there ...tried to take pictures but it was getting dark and the cameras didn't work that well so we gave up and decided to come back again the next day.

By this time we were getting pretty hungry... so we got some cheap but good pizza and ate it quickly before we headed to the show. We ate outside and were just looking around when out of nowhere I see... well lets just say I almosted choked I was laughing so hard.... what first caught my attention was these hairy legs... as my eyes moved up I notice that these legs were wearing a dress .... and it was the ugliest dress I have ever seen... my eyes continued in their upward inspection and it is then that I notice that this is not a woman but it is a man... he is wearing this getup and to top it off he has a hat with fake braided hair on top of his head... I look over to see if Laurie or Nicole had seen this character and I turned just in time to see Laurie's reaction..... Priceless!!

The show was pretty good. We liked it but decided that the performers were chosen mainly for their dancing and singing abilities and not so much for their acting abilities ... It was fun though.
The show ended at 11 and we (being very very very tired after such a long day ... remember we got up at 4:45 and now it was 12 Netherlands time) slowly made our way back to the nearest Tube station...thinking that we were very smart to pick a hostel that was directly across the street from a tube station...

We get on the train.... which was packed because we were in the theatre district and shows had just got out ... but we braved the crowds ... thinking how good it would feel to take a shower and go to bed.... We don't have that far to go... so we have been on the train for a while and I notice that our station (Great Portland Street) is the next station on the map... so I turn to Laurie to make sure that she knows that our station is next.... not 5 seconds after I finish telling her this anannouncementt comes over the speakers "the next station is closed .... this train will not be stopping at the next station... this train will not be stopping at Great Portland Street station" ... WHAT???? oh well I guess we will just have to walk from Bakers Street... so we get off at Bakers Street and make our way outside. Once outside we notice a sign that says "Regent Park" and because our Hostel is by regent park we follow the sign.... it isn't until we have walked for about 15min that we realize that this is not the right direction.... So we turn around and start walking back to Bakers Street...

That late at night I have a hard time functioning properly... I get extremely tired (especially after such aneventfull day) and crossing the street is sometimes hard ... it is even harder when the cars are coming from the wrong direction... so I am doing pretty good until I try to cross one street ... I look both directions ...trying to be very careful... no cars.. so I make my way out in the street and when I reach the middle of the street I notice this car flying in my direction.... it is getting pretty close so I quickly jump back a few steps and watch as it flies by..... It is at this time that I decide that I really need more sleep.

Well we finally make it back to our hostel and get some sleep. The next morning we get up about 9 and get ready and headed out to see the rest of the sights.

We first headed to Hyde Park. I love it!! It was a gorgeous day ... it was warm and sunny (way different from what Zwolle had been this week) we saw the Marble arch and then walked around the park a bit. We were about to leave the park when I turned to my friends and said "it would make my day if I saw someone riding their horse here, but I don't think I will get to see that" two mins later what do I see coming towards me but two people on horses!! My day was made!!

We them made our way to the Wellington Arch, Green Park, Buckingham Palace, the Mall, St. James's park, and up to Trafalgar Square (we had Cadbury McFlurries here... we had to because we were in England) We then took the tube to Tower hill and went to The tower... this place is really cool I strongly suggest that if anyone is going to London they have to go in the tower. Here again we saw a man in a skirt... it was 'really attractive' especially with the ugly tatoo that was plastered on his legs...people are sooo weird sometimes. We saw lots of weapons and such but also the crown jewels and other very impressive things... we were almost done when we saw that the chapel was roped off ... we kinda had wanted to go in but we couldn't ...it is then that we saw a woman in a wedding dress beinescorteded through the courtyard of the tower to the chapel. I think it would be a bit weird to get married in the Tower but memorable.

We then made our way over to the Tower Bridge and walked over it and back again. I think it is one of the prettiest bridges that I have ever seen.

We then made our way over to St. Paul's Cathedral and saw that real quick. Pretty soon our bodies were crying out for food so we went to a nice cheaper restaurant and had a good meal. Then made our way to the last attraction on our list ....Tate Modern.. an art museum. We were very excited to find out that this was open until 10pm so we had saved it for something to do at night. We got there at 8 and didn't even get to everything but had to leave at 10. We were all very very tired so we made our way back to the tube station (following the helpful orange street lights that point the way) and made our way to Baker Street (knowing that our station closed at 10) This time we made sure that we went the right way.

We had to leave our hostel at 6:45 this morning and we were very sad to go ..... but at least our flights were not delayed ... We made it back to Zwolle and now I have to think about homework and reading Calvin's intstitutes....

I'm sorry that I have gone on sooo long ... I really didn't mean to write so much but I guess thats how it goes and if you don't like it well you probably gave up reading after the second paragraph and thats your loss.

2006-03-02T17:11:00.000+01:00

Ever try biking through about a foot of snow .... while it is snowing..with kids throwing snowballs at you...and you have crazy drivers who don't know how to drive in snow....driving so slow behind you even though they could easily pass you (after all you are in the bike path ...closer to the snow ...and they are on the actual road that is clear of snow)?? Well I have!!They (meaning my dutch prof) say that Zwolle only sees this kind of snow once every 35 years or so.... So which winter did I choose to come here?? Thats right! The lucky year of the 'blizzard' ...actually it isn't that bad just a few days of snow .... but boy how it snowed... today it started out snowing HARD (only two of us were on time for our classes...bike rides that normally took people 20 min ended up taking them an hour ... some had their host parents drive them in a CAR.. and that took one and a half hours for what normally would take 20 min to BIKE...... people don't know how to deal with this on the roads, But by mid morning it was sunny and bright.... Beautiful with all the fresh white snow. (I'm dreaming of a white Easter....... well maybe not!!)

Weather aside it has been a great week. Only four days of classes so tomorrow I am headed for London with some friends! (and hopefully some nicer weather) I am excited about being able to understand people for a few days!!! I love english speaking countries!

2006-02-25T19:34:00.000+01:00

Prague and Berlin all in one week...
This week has been awesome! 27 of us went to Prague and Berlin for the week. There was a lot of time spent in the bus but it was fun. We got to see so much and learn a lot of historical things too. Prague was cool but also very cold...walking around for 6 hours on a walking tour of the city when it is freezing cold out isn't that fun but it was fun to see all the buildings and the changing of the guards and such. The highlights from Prague include going to Melnik castle and having a wine tasteing there... seeing the city from the clock tower...seeing the cathedral... and just getting to explore there. We also went to the Terezin consentration camp. It was very interesting but it was also very sad to see all the graves and the conditions that so many people were forced to live in.
Berlin was a ton of fun. We got there on Thursday night and left on Friday night (we had just over 24 hours there.... not nearly enough time to see everything) We had a four hour long bus tour of the city with an excellent tour guide so we were able to see alot of the city and the more interesting aspects of the history of Berlin and what has shaped it. We had about 8 hours friday afternoon to do whatever we wanted so five of us went to the Berlin Zoo... it was sooo fun. We spent about 3 hours there and only saw about half of the zoo but we had to leave because it was closing :( So we just wandered around and did a few other things.
We got back to Zwolle about 6 am today and I went home and slept for most of the day
I am still trying to recover from so much activity and excitement this week.

2006-02-13T19:50:00.000+01:00

Utrecht
that is where I was this last weekend. It is about an hour away from Zwolle (where I live for the semester.) It was an interesting weekend.... I left Zwolle on Friday night with my friend Laurie. I love to travel here because there are always stories to tell... especially when you are staying in hostels! We met some interesting characters on the train and in the hostel and from just walking around. The hostel that we stayed at was packed full (apparently there was this huge party thing going on in Utrecht this weekend and lots of students came to Utrecht to go) Most of the hostel guests were guys which made it interesting with five of us American girls there.... to say the least we got hit on and guys were taking our picture without permission and all in all they just wanted to get our attention.
We mostly just walked around and didn't really see that much of the city but that was nice too.
When we were in the train station on the way back to Zwolle this guy walked up to Emily and asked if he could kiss her on the lips.... we just kept on walking (no eye contact with anyone... especially guys!!)
Well I think that about sums up what happened this weekend... Wednesday we are going to Amsterdam again and next week we are going to go to Prague and Berlin for the week...I am very excited about that.

2006-02-05T17:19:00.000+01:00

Zondag!!!
You know what they say about time when you are having fun..... I haven't even had time to write on my blog!!! so I sit here on Sunday afternoon/evening and I am studying Dutch and I decide I need a break... Blog time!! So nothing too exciting to tell about. I had classes this week and did the school thing. I have decided that I am really glad that I live close to school becasue I don't think I would make it if I had a long bike ride to and from school. Classes went well I think I am going to like my classes. One of my classes only has five people in it so it will be interesting to see how that goes. It feels like I am not really in classes yet because there isn't that much homework....(there is some and I have been putting that off but it is still a lot less then I am use to) On Woensdag (Wednesday) I went to a Bible study that is put on by a bunch of Dutch students. It was interesting. They are doing the Alpha course so we first ate together and then one of the students did an introduction to the topic (we had a translator ..... which is nice because when we go to church we don't have one and it is really hard to not have that spiritual feeding each week) We broke into small groups (my group consisted of the 6 N-SPICERS that I had come with because we were in the English group!!) We had two Dutch students as leaders/guiders ... so pretty much we just had a really good conversation and discussed what we had heard. That was probably one of the highlights of the week.
On Saturday two of my friends and I decided that we wanted to explore around this area. We biked around and went to Hattem (a town nearby) we took the scenic rout and by the time I got home I was soooooo tired. Biking takes it out of you big time!! All we did was bike there and then shop and then biked back (it took us like an hour to get there and probably 40 min to get back... so our way wasn't the most direct ...... oh... have I ever mentioned that I HATE hills??? They are killer!!!!!!! Bridges too)
On Friday we got the schedule for the whole semester and I am sooo excited about all the places that we are going to see. In two weeks we are going to Prague and Berlin for the whole week we will be gone. I have been trying to figure out where I am going to go on the weekends .... so many places to see and so little time... my weekends are filling up fast I hope I can see at least a fourth of what I want to see!
Well I guess I should get back to the Dutch.... Tot strats

2006-01-28T19:50:00.000+01:00

This week has gone by soooo fast I can't believe that I have been here for a week already. At times it seems that I have been here for so long but on the other hand it feels as if I just got here a day ago. This past week was busy: getting to know everyone, getting to know my way around town, getting use to riding bike again, getting use to the cold weather, getting use to living with a family I just met and getting use to hearing a different language... not to mention the classes and such that I have had this week. Well I made it through the week!! Celebration time!! My host family is out of town this week they are visiting relatives. They left on Friday about 4pm. They told me that I could have a party while they were gone and they also said I could have a friend spend the night so I was just planning on having one friend over and just hanging out. Well Laurie came over and we started watching a movie and about three quarters of the way through the movie 6 other students from our group came by and so the eight of us hung out and watched movies (thankfully my host family has some English movies). This morning I slept in til 10 (which is hard for me to do usually... just ask Jessica) and then we went to the market where we looked around the shops. We had stroopwaffles. (I love the Netherlands!!) Well that is what I have been up to...... until we meet again!

2006-01-25T23:20:00.000+01:00

I miss Wednesday Praise and Worship!!!!
Today we had classes and then a dinner with all the host families, teachers, and buddies (dutch students that hang out with us). After the dinner of Stemppot one of the Buddies was playing the piano and three of us Dordt students and a couple of the other Buddies started singing praise and worship songs.... it felt soo right!! Wednesday night and singing praise songs in a student lounge area at school (thats were the dinner was). Currently I am listening to some praise and worship songs because I just miss it sooo much.

2006-01-24T19:33:00.000+01:00

Sunday I attended a Dutch church service. We biked to church because there is no parking space near the church so everyone just bikes. It felt a little odd. Once we got there I realized that this was not going to be like at home. The church building itself is large and the outside is beautiful. Everyone brings there own bible (bijble) and songbook to church (usually pocket size so that they can carry it when they bike to church). The whole service was in Dutch and being that I don't speak Dutch I didn't understand any of it but some of the songs we sang I recognized the tune of a hymn that I am use to singing. The service was a little longer than I am use to. It lasted for an hour and a half. After church we biked home and then I had a progressive dinner with the other students that live near me. We traveled from one host family's house to another getting to know the family and students a little better. There are three Romanian girls on the program this year and they happen to live in the same area as I do. It is interesting to get to know them and understand their culture a little bit too.

Yesturday was the first day that I went to school. Mostly introduction to the school and program the day was pretty low key. After school me and some friends went to the city center (downtown area) to shop. I left to go home but got lost. (do you know how hard it is to use a map when the streets are not clearly marked??? and when the streets go by different names??? And when it is dark?? I do!!!!) I was only lost for about 45 min which isn't that bad. Last night we had a birthday party for one of the students who lives about 30min bike ride from where I do. (that is if you don't get lost...which of course we did ...but just a slight detour) I cannot tell you how much my legs hurt last night. I am soo glad that most of the area is flat with only the bridges and such having inclines.

Today we went to Amsterdam. It was a lot of fun. We went to the Anne Frank house and took a boat tour of the city. But let me tell ya it is cold here!!! We also had time to shop and we walked through the Red Light District a bit. Amsterdam has so much history and beautiful buildings and lots of bridges (over 1000) and yet it is mostly known for the coffee houses and the red light district It is sooooooo sad.

2006-01-21T19:36:00.000+01:00

I have made it to the Netherlands!! I arrived on Friday the 20th at around 7am local time. After the many many hours of traveling .....(Starting on Thursday morning about 1:50 am Three hours to LA by car.... five hours by plane to Washington DC ... and then Six hours by plane to Amsterdam) We then took a train from Amsterdam to Zwolle (about an hour and 20 min ride) were I met up with my host family and traveled to their home. I proceeded to sleep for six hours to catch up on sleep that I had missed. Today I met up with the rest of the group and we had a walking tour of the main part of the city. We then had a drink in the pub and biked home although it took Bev, Emily and I a bit longer to get home than it should have . We live about a five min bike ride from where we were but Bev and Emily had a difficult time remembering/finding where they had left their bikes so we wondered around trying to find their bikes and when we finally found their bikes we then had to try and find our way home (in the rain, in the dark, on bikes) after just a few misdirections we finally found our way back to our house. We have it easy there are some students who have a 20-30 min bike ride to school each day and we have a five min bike ride.

2006-01-19T04:33:00.000+01:00

Well tomorrow I leave for the Netherlands. It still has not sunk in that I am actually going ... even after packing and getting ready to leave. I don't think it will hit me until I am actually there. I am leaving my house about 1:30 am and driving down to LAX from (as if I won't be tired enough from all the travel I will be deprived of sleep from the very beginning also!) It is going to be a very long day but exciting too! I have never flown outside of the US before so that will be interesting for me also. So the next blog I put out will be from the Netherlands!! Good Night!

2006-01-12T19:44:00.000+01:00

Today I finally received information about my host family....needless to say I am very excited about this semester! I am leaving in a week from today from LA and flying to Washington DC from there I will fly to Amsterdam!! From there we will be traveling to Zwolle where I will be living and studying for the next four months. My host family consists of parents and two children ( ages 2 and 3 1/2 ) I will have my own room in the attic. It is not far from school only about 2 km which will be nice for bike riding!! I have a lot to do this last week and I don't really know where to start! Well today I am planning on getting a lot of my shopping done.

2005-12-16T20:32:00.000+01:00

2005-12-16T20:26:00.000+01:00

The wonderful life of Rachel...
For the next month I don't have to worry about studies or work but I get to relax and just enjoy being home for Christmas and new years.
And then ... to the Netherlands and Europe for four months!! I can't believe that I am actually going to be in Europe for that long.