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?