Rotary Weekend in Den Haag (The Hague)

I know I haven't update in 2 weeks but that is because last week if I wrote it would have been like a paragraph update. After this update it might be another two weeks before I update because I am moving in with my new host family on the 26th so next week is going to be a busy week because of packing and everything. Besides last weekend, not much has happened in that past 2 weeks suprisingly. Or a lot of stuff has happened but I have forgotten what I did because I am sort of having a brain fart as I am typing. Anyway, this past weekend was amazing. Friday I went to Den Haag to meet up with all the other exchange students. My luck with the Dutch transportation system hasn't been too great since I have been here. I missed both trains on the way to Den Haag so I was late to the station where everyone was standing around waiting for me. Besides the bad luck with the transportation, the rest of Friday was great. The first stop on Friday was lunch, and everyone that has been reading this blog knows that eating the food here is one of my favorite things to do. After lunch we visited the House of Europe where one of the main people gave us an introduction to how the European Union is doing economically and how the system works which I found to be quite interesting. Being an exchange student is a responsibility so I enjoy learning about what is going on in the world. We spent about and hour and a half or so at the House of Europe and then we were all greeted by the host families that we would be staying with during the weekend. I must say that my friend and I got really lucky because our host family was awesome. They told us we could visit again anytime so I am going to try and go back. Friday turned out to be a long and fun day. Saturday had more in store for us. Our first stop was a museum filled with mostly art. Downstairs however, were the wonder room where pretty much everyone spent the hour that we had there. The wonder rooms were kind of a mixture of everything ranging from a blue room to a fashion room. The museum was fun, but it was not too interactive. After the museum we walked for close to an hour to a restaraunt on the beach where we had lunch. My goodness what a good lunch it was. Everyone was given 5 euros to do a little Sinterklaas shopping (Sinterklaas is a really big holiday here in the Netherlands but I believe the real Sinterklaas day is on December 5). We all wrote down our names and what we wanted and then we all set off to buy something for whoever we chose from the drawing. I am not too good at gift giving or finding the correct thing so I was not able to get the person what she wanted but I did get her some nice Delft blue pottery that she can take home. What I got, well that is a different story and I am not going to tell. All I can say is that all the exchange students know I am a good kid and I don't really do anything bad so they got me something that I would react to but I thought it was really funny. The rest of the day was pretty much a chill day with the other exchange students which everyone always enjoys. Later in the evening we had sort of a goodbye party sort of thing to say goodbye to the exchange students that came in January. There are new exchange students coming in January again, but this group was a really awesome group and they are definitely going to be missed. So that was a really depressing moment for pretty much everyone. Later in the evening we had a music workshop with a few guys that taught us. We later had to play for Sinterklaas and the other Rotarians that were there. Everyone enjoyed that as well. Saturday in total was about a 15 hour day of doing something with everyone so it was a another long but fun day. Sunday was a good day as well. Our first step was a museum, but it was more of an interactive museum so that was cool. The museum was supposed to show us what it was like to be a refugee and I thought they did a pretty good job because I kind of felt like one during the tour. After that it was lunch time again so we stopped by McDonalds. After McDonalds we made our way to a famous art museum where a lot of famous paintings from people such as Rembrandt were on display. I am not the biggest fan of art, but when you are hanging out with other exchange students, you can make an art museum really fun. After that it was time to walk back to the train station and say possibly a final goodbye to the exchange students that came in January. I rode home with two of my good friends for most of the way because they live near me. I thought I was going to get lucky and have no problems and I would be back with no problem, but nope that didn't end up happening. They were working on the tracks so we had to go back to Roermond and wait for a bus to take us to the Sittard train station. Well like when I was traveling to Amsterdam, I think at least 500 people were waiting for a bus so I was standing there for 2 hours in 40 degree weather. That didn't help the fact that I was already exhausted and now I was standing in the cold so when I finally arrived back at my host family's house I felt like crap and I did not go to school today because I don't feel to great. Anyway besides the bad experiences with the Dutch transportation system, the weekends was awesome and I can't wait until the next one.