Intro Week

Today is the last day of Intro Week for freshman and exchange students. It's been a blast but also has been extremely busy. They packed our schedule full with activities for pretty much every hour of the day, leaving very little time for sleep. We had a sports day, a scavenger hunt around the city, a formal dinner, a pub crawl, and so much more. Needless to say, we are all extremely exhausted, but I've enjoyed every minute of it!

We went into town to get our basics yesterday, and I got a bike! I'm really excited about it. Everyone here has one, and the facilities they have here for bicycling are amazing. When we biked to the shopping center yesterday, we parked our bikes in a free and secure bike storage facility. I've never seen anything like it! They also have bike lanes on every road and traffic lights for bicycles specifically. Nobody wears helmets because they've made it really safe and easy to get around for bikes. Also, the entire country is literally flat. I have not seen one incline at all.

Also, I have been getting to know my unitmates better this week! There are 12 of us living in "The Wall." It's the building connected to the outer wall of the campus, so they call it that. I love how their dorms work here. Instead of having huge buildings with tons of people on every floor, they split the dorms into units so that you will have a little family. I love our group -- it's comprised of 3 Dutch girls who live in Holland, 1 Dutch girl from Chile (I think?), 1 Dutch girl from the UK, 2 Dutch boys, 1 Italian guy from Thailand, 1 Belgian girl, 1 German girl, 1 American boy from Germany, and me. It's a good representation of the demographics of the school. It's all very diverse and accepting. I really love it!

Anyway, I'm just getting ready for school tomorrow now and buying my textbooks, etc. I'm really excited for my Intro to Dutch Studies class. It's so cool hearing everyone speaking Dutch around me and many other languages as well! Everyone in my unit is at least bilingual, and among all of us, we speak a ton of languages. It's such a wonderful place to be. Here's some pictures from my week!

University College Utrecht (UCU)

Lovely selections from our dining hall

Campus

The Dom

Part of my Intro Week "family"

The main canal running through Utrecht

Best view of the city

Eating with my "family" by the canal

Steph -- my unit mate and "sister"

Pancakes for dinner -- a traditional Dutch meal (mine is half sweet, half savory)

Free bike storage facility -- so amazing!

Hello, Utrecht

I arrived yesterday afternoon at the airport in Amsterdam and was picked up by my friend, Laura, who studied abroad at UW as a Dutch exchange student two years ago. We took a course together at UW and became good friends there! We went back to her home, and her family was very welcoming and kind. They also have a beautiful home! We relaxed a bit and then went for a bike ride to the city center of Woerden. It was quiet because shops are not open in the Netherlands on Sundays, but it was beautiful.

After a good night's sleep, we woke up this morning and headed to Utrecht for my move-in day! Everything went smoothly. We cleaned my room and got it set up. Laura was disappointed when we found out that I was in this building because she said it is the worst building on campus, but after entering the building, I was actually quite impressed. After living in UW's Terry Hall freshman year, pretty much everything looks like an upgrade from that.

It's time for me to go back to the Dining Hall to meet my Intro Week "family," with whom I'll be spending the rest of the week. They are mostly first-year college students and are 17-18 years old, so I will be the odd one out, but I'm sure it will still be lots of fun. Pictures and captions are below!

Countryside -- driving from Amsterdam to Woerden

The Dutch have steep stairs!

Woerden City Center

Gelato!

Sitting by the water

City Center by night

My new room!

Goodbye, Seattle

In five days, I will be leaving for Utrecht, the Netherlands, to study at University College Utrecht for my entire junior year. It doesn't really feel like I will no longer be in Seattle in less than a week, but I am so excited for the adventure ahead of me! Throughout my time abroad, I will be updating my travels and experiences on this blog. If you want to stay updated on my life, feel free to follow my blog, and if not, I totally understand...I probably wouldn't want to either.

I still can't comprehend that the next time I write on here, I'll be in Europe!!! Goodbye for now, friends!