One Excursion to rule them all

Why, hello everyone! It's been a few days, but I have an explanation for that. You see, our Calvin group went on the excursion of all excursions. I say that first because the trip was a two-night overnight-er (Friday evening to Sunday evening), and also because we traveled quite far (by Dutch standards, at least), about 2.5 hours south to the province of Zeeland:


















(And, just so we're on the same page: New Zealand is far away. ZEEEEE-land is in Michigan. And ZAY-lahnd is where we were at. Ok, cool.)

But this was the excursion of all excursions for many more reasons than the length of the trip and extent of the travel. I have come up with ten reasons why.

TEN REASONS WHY GOING TO ZEELAND WAS THE EXCURSION OF ALL EXCURSIONS

10.
Feats of engineering

Let me start with a story. In 1953, Zeeland experienced a horrible storm/flood, considered to be the "Katrina" of the Netherlands (which doesn't make sense -- this flood came first!). Anyway, to ensure that a storm never caused such a devastating flood in the delta of the Netherlands again, the Delta Plan was initiated. Delta plan = many impressive feats of engineering capable of stopping a lot of water. We visited three:

-The Haringvliet Dam



















-The Oosterschelde storm surge barrier



















(Here is a better picture that I did not take)




















-The Maeslant Barrier



















The thing is so big, it fits very poorly into pictures. Here's a better one:






















These were impressive sights. They took years to build, cost billions, and have the likelihood of being overtaken by a storm once every million years, or something crazy like that. The engineers were loving it, I could tell.

We ventured into the two dams on Saturday. The inside of the Haringvliet Dam felt very triangular:




















At the Oosterschelde, we were allowed to "take a stroll:"





































And the Maeslant barrier had a free museum with special exhibits, like this hologram about...dike building? It took several tries to get this picture:



















9.
Host families

For the two nights that we were there, groups of us stayed with different hosts in the city of Middelburg. Sarah, Anna, Deborah, and I all stayed with Prof. Aay's friend Renate, a geology professor at the Roosevelt Academy in Middelburg. She was an extremely gracious host -- she fed us well (more on that later), gave all four of us comfortable places to sleep, and showed us the local sights. From what I've heard, everyone else in our group also stayed with wonderful families for the weekend. The people of Middelburg are amazing!

And, since it fits best here, I will tell you now about one of the sights Renate showed us. The first night we were there, we went for a walk around her new, modern, and incredibly stylish apartment complex. One of the homes there is a FLOATING HOUSE! We saw it and instantly recognized it, because the house is somewhat famous among us as the header on the website about our semester program! Check it out here!

8.
Beach

We only spent a quick half-an-hour here, but our detour to the beach on Saturday was a trip highlight. The weather was beautiful and the sand felt great between the toes. A few guys even ventured completely into the water...





































7.
Veere

On Saturday night, Renate took the four of us to the nearby town of Veere. We saw other Calvinites there, too; I think it was a popular destination for hosts to take students :) This is said to be a very touristy village, but we were there with hardly any other people!























































6.
Middelburg...and the Queen!

We also spent some time exploring Middelburg, the town where we stayed. Renate took us there on Saturday night:



















And we also went on a walking tour of the city on Sunday afternoon, led by one of the members of the church we went to.



















Now, as some of you may know, this coming Friday is Koninginnedag, or Queen's Day, the ultimate Dutch national holiday. The Queen traditionally visits a few towns/villages on that day each year, and this year she is going to...Middelburg! Right now they are busy preparing for her arrival, and we could see signs of that everywhere. Store windows are especially decorated. This store is ready:
























The eyeglasses store is VERY ready:



















And this fountain has been dyed orange just for the Queen!



















5.
Food & Drink (a.k.a., coffee)

This was an excellent weekend in terms of coffee consumption! I think I had four cups after church alone. We also drank coffee at Renate's house, at a cafe in Veere, at a cafe in Middelburg...you get the point. But the food was delicious as well, especially in Middelburg when we went out for appelgebak (apple tart/pie). Delicious! Between five beverages and five slices of pie, our table was crowded!




















4.
Neeltje Jans

I need to back track a little bit. Remember the storm surge barrier? Well, it was surrounded by a water/amusement park called Neeltje Jans. How do I describe Neeltje Jans? Well, after going through the actual storm surge barrier, we experience 135km winds in a wind tunnel,



















saw a seal show,



















and got swallowed by a mussel,
























Among MANY other things (Aquapolis, a jellyfish beach, water playgrounds...). Hooray for Neeltje Jans!

3.
Movies

We also spent time at both the Haringvliet Dam and Neeltje Jans watching movies about the Delta works. Who doesn't love sitting in a theater for a class requirement?



















2.
Church

The church service we went to in Middelburg on Sunday morning was held in Dutch, but the church members knew we would be there and were very accommodating. The main points of the sermon were put on powerpoint in English, we sang an English song in honor of our group (the lyrics were familiar, but the tune was new! Oh well!), and...two among us were subject to a spontaneous interview. Props to Andrew, who went up in front of the congregation when the pastor called for a volunteer to talk about our group. Props also to Deborah, who was called up when the pastor asked who among us knew some Dutch, and who then had to give a spontaneous speech in Dutch in front of the congregation! They both completely rocked it :)

Last but not least...

1.
Ferry

We rode on a ferry! True, it was about a five minute journey, but it brightened our trip to the Maeslant barrier nonetheless. As a Washingtonian and a sucker for ferries, I think this part of the weekend is well worth mentioning.






















So there you go! Trips to dams and barriers, staying with host families, a stop at the beach, a trip to Veere, walks through the Queen-ready Middelburg, delicious food, an amusement park, movies, spontaneous speaking in church, and a ferry ride. What a weekend! We only have one excursion weekend left, on May 8 and 9. Will it be able to compare?

Lovin those Caves

Yesterday I went on a field trip to another country.

...

I know, right? This tiny country thing never gets old. Actually, I guess it wouldn't be that rare for a class from Washington or Michigan to make a trip up to Canada, or even for people from California to...

Never mind. That isn't the point. The point will be this: here is the story of our field trip to the Scladina cave in Belgium. And by our I mean Adam, Chris, myself, and the other lovely people from our Human Evolution class.

Transportation story:
Depart at 6:45AM
30 minute tram ride to Centraal station
Find the train




















2.5 hour train ride to Maastricht:























Can you find it?

1.5 hour bus ride to Sclayn, Belgium, site of the Scladina Cave.






















(The tiny little place isn't on very many maps. We were east of Namur).

The trip down there was pretty uneventful and mostly just took a long time. Thankfully when we arrived, it was time for lunch, and we were treated to some fine Belgian hospitality! Our lunch consisted of giant baguettes with jambon et fromage (they speak French there, you know!), beer and other beverages to go around (beer on a field trip?! Oh yes), and about an hour in which to eat everything. If you ask me, not a bad way to spend your lunch hour after a morning of sitting on a tram/train/bus.

Then it was time for a lecture about the history of the cave. Archaeologists have been excavating there for 30 years now (wow!), the most important thing they've found in the cave was a neanderthal jaw (cool!), and about 98% of all the bones/teeth/what-have-you that they find in the cave are fossils of the cave bear:
























(yikes!)

Finally, it was time to go up to the cave!



















We walked up some stairs in the side of a cliff:

























The view from the top:




















Our guide, Dominic, giving us a bit of a peptalk before going in:



















Then, tada! We are in the cave! Watch out for the treacherous walkways:



















Ooh, stalactites!




















Excavations going on down below:



















We saw things sticking out of the dirt (excuse me - sediment) everywhere -- teeth, ribs, tiny little mouse bones. Dominic said the archaologists only remove items when they have the time to catalog everything correctly, including the layers of sediment, so many things are sitting there waiting to be "found." Look, a tooth! If it were from a neanderthal, we'd be famous right now. Probably only from a cave bear :(





















Dominic sheds light on another important cave topic:




















And, yes, I was really there:
























We emerged from the cave enlightened and in one piece (the cave didn't do so well, though; a few rocks fell victim to a wayward backpack. Dominic lamented the lost stratigraphy for a moment but then was fine). We had time for a quick group shot before it was back on the bus!

















Can you find anyone you recognize?

Then it was:
1.5 hour bus ride
2.5 hour train ride
30 minute tram ride

And like that, we were back at the wonderful VU by 7:30PM, just in time to make the end of STNL class and back into the normal swing of things.

But for a few hours, we were in Belgium, and it was wonderful...
I'm definitely going back!

the Office says hello

Welcome to Dunder Mifflin, everyone!



















Let me show you around. We have the accounting department: Kevin, Oscar, and Angela



















The "other" staff: Ryan, Kelly, Creed, Meredith, Toby



















The sales team: Dwight, Jim, Pam, Andy, Phyllis, Stanley



















And Michael Scott, Regional Manager!



















Aren't these pretty much the coolest ever one-of-a-kind Office character paper dolls? That's why they get a place of honor at the top of this blog post. Just admit it: you wish that my sister was your sister. Then maybe she would send you rockin hand-made paper dolls and other such exquisite crafts. But NO! She is my sister, and you will all just have to envy her artistic skills, and envy the fact that, through the magic of the mail, her crafts now decorate my room.

>>>

(segue)
Now, on to a few other things!

I know I'm expected to give a summary of Eva's birthday party here, so here it goes ;) The intricate Dutch/American cultural differences can be seen in the unique custom of...

You know what? Forget that. Our book of the title "Learning from the Stranger" told us to explore and enjoy the cultural differences around us in this *new* culture, and there is an appropriate time and place for that sort of thing. But I'm tired of always trying to find what's different about the things I do over here, and frankly after two months, nothing seems that much different to me.

So I don't have to say I went to a "Dutch" birthday party. I went to a birthday party. We ate pizza, we did crafts, we played a crazy game with the crafts, we played a more sophisticated version of the game Mafia, and we watched the Lion King. Eva blew out candles, we sang "Happy Birthday," and the pie and apple tart were out of this world delicious. It was fantastically fun, not because it was new or strange, but because it was familiar and normal.

My conclusions from this? Learning from the Stranger is good, but people very quickly cease to be strangers. Then you realize that some things -- friendliness, happiness, parties, Disney movies -- are not cultural, they're universal. And the things that make us different mean nothing compared to the things that keep us the same.

>>>

On that note, I went to the ZOO today!

(cue the song)

going to the zooooo, zooooo, zooooooo
how about youuuuu, youuuuuu, youuuu
going to the zooooo, zoooooo, zooooooo
you can come tooooo, tooooo, tooooooo

Every once in a while, you should take time to take time to re-discover your inner child. (Actually, for me this past week it's been more than every once in a while...) Going to the zoo is just such an activity. I can't remember the last time I went to the zoo for fun -- taking the kids you nanny doesn't quite count -- and, really, what's not to love about looking at animals?

Here are Anna, Bonnie, and Deborah, standing beneath the winged gates that serve as a portal to animalian adventure:



















Here's the niftiest part about the zoo: we got in for only 2.50! Being a VU student does get you some perks; the normal admission price was 18.50. But a quick flash of the VU student ID and our proof-of-registration cards, and we were in for 16 euros less than we might have been. How's that for a deal?

I could bore you with many pictures of animals, but that's what Facebook is for! Instead I will describe the zoo a bit for you. The zoo's full name is Natura Artis Magistra, but everyone calls it Artis. It was founded in 1838, and in 1883 the world's last quagga died there. Thank you, Wikipedia, for that information, and for teaching me that this is a quagga:



















As I mentioned in the previous story, cultural differences were not all that evident. In fact, I won't even use that phrase anymore. Artis was your typical zoo, with maybe the only strange thing being the slightly outdated cages (but that could just be because the zoo is old). But elephants and gorillas are not native to the U.S. or the Netherlands, so they will look about the same when you put them in either place.

Like the birthday party, the zoo was more about fun than necessarily learning something. I am okay with that, since I already do enough learning in class. Speaking of class, here are a few things coming up in the rest of my week:

Tuesday:
All-day field trip with the Human Evolution class to a neanderthal excavation site in Belgium. Fascinating, new country, long day.

Friday:
Human Evolution final exam. I started this class three weeks ago, and in four days it will be over. So between now and then, it's study, study, study!

Friday - Sunday:
The Calvin group has the excursion of all excursions. We're going down to Zeeland on Friday afternoon, staying with host families for two nights, learning plenty of things, and then returning on Sunday night.

Monday:
I start a new class! My last class at the VU :( It's called Molecular Development, and it's going to be a zinger.

Now I'm off to pack my backpack for Belgian adventures tomorrow. Talk to you later, and thanks for reading!

Volcanic ash, anyone?

Boy, oh boy. I have quite the week coming up. In an effort to keep the blog caught up with the times, I'm going to try write a massive catch-up post that brings together all the loose ends of LAST week. And what a week it was!

First of all, I must address the hot topic of the week: VOLCANIC ASH. It is EVERYWHERE, blocking out the sun, clogging the canals, killing innocent birds...

That was a lie. There is no visible ash anywhere to speak of, although someone at church today said he found a thin layer of dust on his car. We can see the effects of this exciting moment in natural/aviation history, though. A few of our fellow NL2010 students, Sarah, Willem, and Andrew, are currently stuck in Spain. They went down there last week to visit other Calvin students and will be there until...whenever it is they get back. So they are definitely getting to experience this first hand.

As for life on the ground, everything goes on as normal -- except much, much quieter. When you live in an apartment complex that lies under the flightpath to Schiphol and you normally hear planes flying overhead every three minutes, it is very strange to have not heard any for three days now. I can say I was in Europe for the Volcanic Ash Incident of 2010, though, and maybe someday get a few people to believe that it blocked out the sun...

Although this comes nowhere CLOSE to "I was in Chile for the earthquake of 2010." Elyse, you will forever have us all beat, whether you want to or not!?



Second thing -- this blog is famous!

Again, I exaggerate. I need to stop doing that. The truth: our Calvin group was featured in the latest issue of the VU newspaper, Ad Valvas. About two weeks ago a reporter came to our STNL class and asked Andrew, Willem, Anna, and me some questions. And --tada!-- we are featured in this article, titled "Hi, I am Andrew Dijkhuis."

The link to the pdf is here if you would like to look at the picture and translate some of the article (we're on page 4). It talks mostly about the differences we've noticed between Calvin and the VU, like the way people talk about religion and weather in the same sentence, or how students act in class (we think they are slightly more disruptive here -- sorry, VU students!).

And there's even a box about this little ol' blog! Now I really feel the pressure to make astute observations about the intersection of Dutch and American culture...
Nah, I'll just keep writing what I want. And if you're interested, you can keep reading. And if you do keep reading, I will love you forever and faithfully read your blog, if you have one. Sound good? Great.




Okay, moving right along now: Keukenhof! Last Wednesday I went with Anna and Deborah to the tulip garden of the world. Right away, know this: not all of the tulips were open yet. We were about a week or two too early.

That being said, the garden still did not disappoint. First of all, many other flowers, like daffodils and hyacinths, were out and coloring the fields:



















Second, there was an indoor exhibition greenhouse filled with thousands of tulips. Some were waist high, as Anna demonstrates here:

























Some had interesting names, like (my favorite) Spongebob:



















And everywhere you looked, you saw this:



















Another wonderful thing about Keukenhof was, well, the food! We had delicious poffertjes (made me think of the Lynden fair!)



















And ice cream!



















But the thing that made Keukenhof were all the unexpected thrills/fun spots. For example, these walking stones in the water:



















(Notice how both children and adults are enjoying the randomness)

Or, look over here -- a maze!



















And, best of all, a petting zoo! We spent quality time with some chickens, a pony, and a few goats, one of which was very unhappy...



Keukenhof: the Disneyland of flowers. It was huge, fun, probably overpriced, crowded with tourists, and worth every penny. And it is one of the main reasons why I'm glad this is a SPRING semester (the other is coming up in 12 days...)

Alright, I think that's enough of a post for now, don't you? I still have only recapped about half of last week, so I will put in another installment tomorrow morning before a new week starts again. But now I have an exam to study for, so until next time -- thanks for reading!