Coming Home!

I'm back! And to celebrate my return my Katrina put on a little get-together for me. It was nice to see people again and to chat a bit.

I got presents!

With friends James and Kara,

Roz and Uncle John,

The Barrows and Lorie Martin,

AFS volunteer Carol,

Neightbors Gordon and Jeanie,

And Mom and Katrina!

"Beginnings are usually scary and endings are usually sad, but it's the middel that counts."

-Sandra Bullock

The Last Day

Well. Its my last day in the Netherlands as an exchange student. Tomarrow I leave for the airport at 5:15am Holland time and then 9:45pm California time and Im home. Its so easy, flying around the world. And thats why I dont think going home is so sad. I mean, dont get me wrong, its sad, I love it here, but its not an ending. Its just another part of it. In a year or two Ill come back to Holland and there will be Hollanders coming to the States Im sure.
In this year Ive changed alot. If I hadnt come I still would have changed but Im glad I came because Im happy with how it turned out. Before I came I was me, you all knew me, and I liked who I was, there was nothing wrong with me. Now Im just more me. If that makes sense.
Something that I learned was how to stand by myself, who I am without my family or friends around me. I guess you could say that I became more confident in my iduviduality.
What I want to say is that this year was wonderful, hard, oh so hard, but wonderful. And that Im looking forward to what comes next.

Sleepover

Joyce, Jantine and I slept over at Agathas (theyre my friends from school) we slept in a tent out in one of the fields. Agathas dad is a dairy farmer, and so he let us help him with the cows. It was amazing. One of my happiest moments. And he let us ride in the tractor too.
Besides that it was your normal sleepover, movies, face masks, games, etc.

Suprise!

Friday Sarah, Julia, and some friends threw me a suprise going away party. They rented costumes (I got to be maid as you can see) and we played games, sat around, talked. It was my first suprise party and I really had no idea. Even after I had walked in and everyone was yelling I was thinking what are these people doing? but then I figured it out.

More Zoo

I am happy to report that the zoo did not only have "exotic" animals. There were buffalo, turkies, and moose from North America, Californian sea lions, an entire rat section, and a farm animal part (for kids I guess).

My Class

Today was my last day of school. We only had one hour because the "sport day" that they (not me, Im free of all gym related activies) were soposed to have was canceled.

Wednesday I...

Went to the zoo!

AFS End Camp

This weekend was the end camp for all us AFSers. We came Friday evening and stayed till Sunday afternoon.


All of the students

All of us from the United States.

There was a lot of free time.

We played games, like cucumber eating.

Receiveing my certificat.

The "Trail of Tears" aptly named by Elsa, another American. Its us all walking to the bus station. Lots of hugging an crying went on.

And on the train home.

So I fly back on July 9th. Just over a week away!

Terschelling

Terschelling

I went for I walk.

Terschelling

The reason Terschelling was so busy the weekend went was because the Oerol music feastival was also happening. As you walked on the road by the beach and looked to the left you saw this:

And as you looked to the right you saw this:

Quite the contrast.

The Weekend

This weekend Helen from New Zealand came over. We had ice cream, talked, watched movies, etc. Then Sunday there was an AFS BBQ for our area. It was nice, they had big pots of flowers for the host parents and a picture of all the students and a cup with a dutch blue and white design for the students.

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day to everyone.
And especially to Dad, Love you.

Terschelling

The sea always takes a good picture.

Terschelling

When in need using a garbage bin as a table doesnt seem so bad I guess.

Terschelling

Terschelling

Lots and lots of bikes.

And The Dog Of Course

Off The Boat

(L to R Carolines Sister, Caroline, Julia, Me, Julias Friend)

On The Boat

World Cup

Of course I have to mention the World Cup. The Dutch are very into it. Very. You can get anything and everything in orange, the national color. Classes were only 40 minutes today at school because it was Holland vs. Denmark. Happily Holland won 2-0.

A Mini Vacation

This weekend I went to Terschelling with Albert, Caroline, Julia, Julias friend, and Carolines sister. Terschelling is one of the islands of the Netherlands. It was a very nice trip. I enjoyed seeing a different part of Holland as well as relaxing.

A Bit Old But...

The same day that I went to see all the tulips we aslso stoped at this island that isnt an island any more. They had a nice indoor and outdoor museum all about it. And, if you cant already tell, Im pretending to swim in the first picture. That squiggly blue line behind me is sea level.

This place (yes I forgot the name, this seems to happen quite offten with me doesnt it?) used to be (a very very very long time ago) a peninsula in marsh land and thats when people first started living there. Then sea levels started rising and it went through several stages and finally ended up as its own little island. Only then that started to go and it became pretty tough to live there. Finally there was a forced relocation by the Dutch government because it was really too dangerouse for the people to stay.

Now its a happy bump in an otherwise completely flat, manmade landscape.