Third and Final!

Hey everyone, well I just realized that I haven't update my blog in 15 days. So let me fill you in on what has been happening on the other side of the world. First of all, I just keep realizing how fast time is going by and how little time I have left in the Netherlands. It is so sad to think about, but you all probably understand. I have so much to do when I go back to the USA (I probably already talked about this). So in a way I am excited to get back to everything. My family, my friends, baseball, and the warm weather. Anyway, These past few weeks have been kind of down. I have been sick for literally almost an entire week, but today I almost feel normal again, so I am very happy. I was also sick a few weeks ago. I don't know what's going on with my immune system but most people are saying that I don't have enough Vitamin C or I don't eat enough fruit or vegetables. I can definitely see that it may be the reason, but I try to tell myself that it's not because I like eating junk food. Just because I have been sick doesn't mean that these past few weeks haven't been any fun because they have been. The past few weeks were also the last few weeks I had left with my second host family. I had a great time staying with them and I sure hope that gave them a good experience because it was their first time hosting somebody. I know I had a great experience while I was staying with them. I think I am pretty lucky to have the host families I have. Not much has happened at school the past few weeks. Most of the days were laid back because a lot of teachers were gone so I didn't have too many classes. However, I did find out that we have another test week coming up. And with my luck, of course it has to start the day of my birthday, but oh well. I am sure that it will still be a great day. Come to think of it I am turning 17. Dang, I am getting old. And mom/dad since I know you are reading this, I just thought I would let you guys know that you guys are getting pretty old too :p. So now that I got my stupid joke of the day out of the way I will talk about something else. Yesterday, I moved again to be with my third and final host family. Unfortunately, I was still a little sick so I wasn't as alive as I normally am. So far, I really like it here. The family is a big family and I am the youngest one which I am not use to so it's going to be quite an experience. I think these last 3 and half months are going to be ones to remember. I think these next 3 and a half months are going to be the best of my exchange. I will try my very best to make sure of that. I am really looking forward to getting to know my new host family better and hopefully I can make it a good first experience for them as well. I will try and update again soon!

Delft

Hey everyone, it feels good to be updating more often again. I hope all of you enjoy reading my posts as well. Last Weekend, during vacation, an exchange student and I went to Delft together. He is one of the exchange students that I don't know very well, but I got to know him better last weekend when we went to Delft together. Anyway, Delft is one of the most beautiful cities I have visited in the Netherlands so far. For those of you who know about the famous blue pottery than you should know that it comes from Delft. Surprisingly, we didn't actually go in any places that actually sold the pottery. One of the reasons being that we only saw 2 places that actually sold stuff like that. Okay, so I will try and recap the day as best I can. We arrived at the Delft train station at about 11:30. From there we walked to the center of the city. That is when I actually was able to see how beautiful the city was. The population of Delft is about 95,000 people (I just thought I would throw that random fact in there). It is a decent size with a few cool shopping streets. I particularly like Delft because it is very quiet and peaceful even though it is where a lot of students attend college. It was so easy to get around because of the small crowds. Normally when you go to famous towns like Delft, it is flocked with tourists and things  like that, but maybe my friend and I got lucky. Anyway after walking around for about an hour we decided to get something to eat. We went to McDonalds (why, I don't know but it sure was good). Since I can never stop talking about food I will tell you what I ordered. I ordered a stroopwafel mcflurry. I think I have tried to explain what a stroopwafel is before but it is really hard to say what it is. Let's just say that is a really good tasting cookie kind of thing. So as you may have already guessed, they put that in the mcflurry. My goodness, I am going to miss that mcflurry when I go back to the USA. After McDonalds, we walked around some more trying to decide what to do. In a really nice center square, there is a beautiful Church called the Nieuwe Kerk. When we went in, we had a choice to pay 2 euro to go inside and look at some art work, or 2 euro to climb the tower. We obviously decided to climb the tower. Personally, I have never been in a church tower before so it was quite an adventure and quite a trip climbing up the stairs. We were able to go outside and that was when the excitement/adrenaline really kicked in. First of all, it was extremely windy so it felt like we were about to blow over the railing and we must have been about 100 meters off the ground. Normally, I am not one to be scared of heights, but this time I was. I soon got over that though once I looked at Delft from a higher point of view. Delft looks amazing when you're above it. It literally took my breath away (but I also may have been out of breath because of all the stairs). I have to say that it was one of the most exciting and most memorable moments of my exchange so far. After that, we just continued walking around Delft and taking pictures like tourists do. We left delft about 5 to go to Leiden so I could visit my host family from the DOC. It was so nice seeing them again. They really made that week a lot better for me and much easier. My friend and I were invited to have dinner with them so we stayed til about 8:30 and than it was back to the train station. Fortunately for my friend it was only about a 5 minute train ride for him and for me it took about 3 and half hours to get back. I really don't mind though because the time goes by fast and I am here to enjoy as much as I possibly can. I will try and update again soon.