Time is Winding Down

Well I guess I let time pass me by, because it has been close to a month since my last post and I was almost positive that I just updated a week or so ago. Anyway, I am on vacation again and my goodness what a vacation it has been so far. Sunday evening I had a basketball game in Maastricht. It was our last game of the season and we lost 49 to 50. When you are that close to winning, you obviously wish you would have won especially with the game being the last game of the season, but we all played well and I am glad that I was able to be a part of the basketball team on my year abroad. The guys on the team are really great friends and they have made the year a lot easier for me. The same evening, I went to Leiden which is the city where we had our Dutch Orientation Course (DOC) at the beginning of the year. I met up with another exchange student there and on Monday morning we met up with a few others in Amsterdam. Monday was a holiday here in the Netherlands. The holiday is called Queens Day and Amsterdam is the place to be. Total there were I believe 700,000 people from other countries and close to the million that live there. So in total there was almost 2 million people. Now when I think about it, it isn't really that many people but Amsterdam isn't very large in land area so 2 million people in a smaller area looks like a lot. Honestly, it was crazy, but it was a lot of fun. Pretty much everyone dresses up in orange so when you are walking down a street with a few thousand people you just see orange which is funny at times, but when you are with friends it is quite easy to get lost if everyone is wearing the same color. Queens Day is definitely a day to remember from my exchange year so far. It was a great day. Later in the evening on Monday I went back to a place near Leiden to stay with a different exchange student. I stayed there for 2 nights. On Tuesday we biked several miles to go to the beach. When I got there I couldn't help but think of the east coast in the USA and how much I miss it, but who knows, maybe it is just the water I miss. On Tuesday, we also went to my friend's host club for a Rotary meeting. It was quite nice visiting another club here in the Netherlands and seeing how the clubs are different everywhere you go. Wednesday, we both came back to where I live in Limburg. We had dinner with my host family and then later went to a movie. This morning, we took a bike ride into Germany (which I have never done) because I live about 3 miles from the border. I know I have mentioned this before, but it really is a whole different world right on the other side of the border. It's absolutely crazy. This vacation has been hectic, but I really enjoy keeping busy. Tomorrow I will be heading out again to go to an amusement park up north with a few other exchange students and then on Sunday I am meeting up with a family. I have been so busy lately and time is just flying by. I have less than 2 months here and with every day that passes by I just keep getting more and more excited. I can't wait to see my family, my friends, and I just can't wait to get back home. I love it here and it's going to be hard saying goodbye, but as soon I say goodbye to the people here and I will be saying hello to my family and friends back in Arizona.