Day to Day

Officially a Tilburg University Student!

Avoiding the expensive dryers...

Laura and I

 Not much has been happening this past week for me. I finally got my Tilburg university student card, braved the expensive poor quality laundry machines, and made tacos with a couple friends. This weekend Laura and I are going on a day trip to somewhere in the Netherlands, although we haven't decided where yet.

Making Tacos

 

Skyping My Bestie and Jeffs

Weekly Skype dates with friends back home definitely make being away much easier. 

Famous!

Brugge Belgium

Our group

    This past weekend I took a trip to Brugge Belgium. The invitations got a little out of hand and we ended up being a group of ten. Upon arrival at the train station by the university on saturday morning we realized that our train was not going to arrive because of damage to the wires. We had to find our way to the city centre and then take a bus to Breda, then a train to Roosendaal, transfer in Antwerp and finally arrive in Brugge.                                                                   

  Once in Brugge, we had to find a restaurant that could fit all ten of us and ended up paying way too much for a little bit of food. Later we found our hostel, dropped off our things and explored the city. During the afternoon our group ended up splitting up because some of us wanted to go into every chocolate shop and some wanted to find belgian waffles. I had my first waffle that afternoon.
Later I had dinner with two other girls, Jessica and Celeste. Chicken, salad, and fries. Even though I swore I would never have chicken and fries in Europe again after my high school trip, in which it was all we ate.
    After dinner we got lost looking for the hostel and got soaked from the pouring rain. We met up with the rest of the group at the hostel and played card games.
   On the second day in Brugge I convinced a couple people to go on a canal tour through the city.

Laura and I on the canal tour

Afterwards I bought a postcard for Mishaela and of course some chocolate to bring home. I had a second waffle with tons of chocolate as my lunch. After lunch our group split up again (down to 5 now!) and we went in search of some windmills. At the windmills it began to rain so we decided it was a good time to head home. The trip took 4 hours and we were soaking wet. I was so happy to return to my little room.

 

Immigration

Today I traveled to Hogenbosch to complete my immigration and become a resident in the Netherlands.
Afterwards a friend and I went to lunch.

                               Carpaccio Sandwich 

First Week of Class

TOP week has finally ended, meaning my life is going to settle into more of a routine finally! 

Classes started this week, and I was slightly disappointed to find out that my professors are American, and not European. But at least this means they'll be easy to understand. 

I already have lots of readings to do even though i'm currently only in two classes. 

Tomorrow I have to travel to Hogenbosch to complete my immigration and then rush back in time for class. This weekend I'm headed to Belgium. Looking forward to lots of chocolate and waffles!

This evening I biked to a café in the city centre with two friends. As soon as we left it started to pour rain which made for a miserable bike ride. 

Bean :)

Out to a Café with Jessica and Celeste

Hot Chocolate and Apple Pie Muffin

Biking in the rain

Intro Camp

This past weekend I went to a farm for introduction camp. Here there was tons of drinking and activities. Our group of 11 had to sleep in a room meant for 7 because of a mixup, so there was very little sleep. Below are a few photos from the weekend ->

Day 2 and 3

Yesterday there was a Tilburg city tour arranged for the new international students. We rode our bikes from the residence to the city centre where we met up with the tour. The tour ended at Carpe Diem (The bar for international students). At the bar I met a few more people from Germany, Austria, Korea, and Mexico. Nine of us went out for dinner at an italian restaurant close by. Afterwards we biked back to residence, luckily one of us remembered the way home. This morning all the international students had to meet on campus to learn more about dutch culture and dutch academics. We joined up with our mentor groups, which is a group of 20 students and 3 mentors (older students).

During these meetings I learned how Tilburg is often called "Kruikenzeikersstad"which translates roughly to "people who piss in jars". This is because Tilburg used to have a large textile industry and people had to use pee to soften the wool.  

All of the meetings ended by 5pm and I went to the grocery store with one of my flatmates. Because I couldn't read what anything actually was, I just randomly picked up some things. (Pictured Below)

Bean :)

Arrival

Yesterday I traveled from Toronto to the Netherlands. I said goodbye to Mom, and Dad at the airport and then was on my own. I sat next to a very talkative man on the plane, and was thankful to get off it. I figured out the trains pretty easily, that is until I went to the wrong station. While waiting at that station I met another international student and we found our way to the right one. There we were picked up by and brought to the school to buy a bike, get a room key, and set up a dutch bank account. A couple hours later I was brought to my room where I unpacked and went to sleep. Later that night I met some people in my residence and hung out for a bit. I went to bed by 10:30 and slept until 12:30 today.