carnaval!! i've been back in canada for a while. but with martijn jetting off to argentina soon and starting his blog, i realized how sad i am that i didn't continue with mine. thankfully my mind remembers my experiences well and i can update them now since i know that in about twenty years my mental capabilities will have diminished...especially considering the events of this blog entry. CARNAVAL!! carnaval is held immediately before lent. while there's a reli...

epidemics everywhere... so there's an epidemic going around the exchange student body. i'm pretty sure the cause has something to do with staying up late every night! it's catching up with everyone around here. everyone is coughing up a storm and their voices are going, including mine. so much for never getting sick. however, i did cave and buy some cough medicine. rachel and i had to ask one of the clerks to translate the bottles for us since we realizes she's ...

introductions and frustrations... people. parties. those two words sum up the last week here in holland. in the last week i have introduced myself approximately 150 times to people from all over the globe: argentina, australia, italy, ireland etc. i'm definitely having a hard time remembering their names, but i'm told that by the time two months have passed i'll know everyone on exchange by name. the best way for a whole group of people to get to know each othe...

finding my way... i arrived in tilburg yesterday. as tante ria drove off into tilburg traffic, i realized i was on my own! it was exciting! i'm in a city that i've never been to, surrounded by people speaking a language i do not understand and trying to live on my own which is probably the most foreign thing to me. once i arrived in the university, they explained welcome week, i signed my housing contract (453 euro a month! yikes!) and they drove me to my new h...