Friesland!

It has been almost a week! Lots and lots to talk about. Last week for the first time I saw the sun coming up on my way to school.. normally the sun doesn't show itself all day.

Last week was our final week of introduction at the GH. On Wednesday we headed into Zwolle by ourselves and were given money to order food at a bakery and a cafe, along with some other stops along the way.. but we had to speak in Dutch the whole time. Needless to say I think it was obvious to tell we were American's! The latte I got sure was awesome though!

A few of us "matched" and attempted to take a serious picture together between classes.. epic fail.

This weekend we headed up to Friesland to visit Kristyn's family who let five of us all stay with them! We took the train up there Friday night and back again on Sunday. Their house was awesome and the food was spectacular! They did all speak Fries though.. which only a few thousand people in the world do apparently.. but they were extremely kind and also spoke great English thankfully. Saturday we biked about a kilometer to a nearby windmill. Michael and I had to share a bike.. which was interesting to say the least. Im extremely glad there is no pictures of it!  The way the Dutch manage the water is crazy.. all the canals fill up then the rivers then a lake and finally if everything is full only then does it go into the sea. The windmills are all still used to power the water through the canals.. although they run on electricity now of course! Getting to go inside a windmill was an awesome experience.

This is the way top of the windmill all the gears and such.. This windmill still works even though almost everything is made of wood. Also notice how the roof is made entirely of grass. 

They lived in a really really small town, but it still had an awesome church!

Then we headed to another farm nearby to look at their dairy. The country houses are huge because they used to be half home half dairy.. now most of them are converted into garages though.

They had some massive Fresian horses! Apparently they used to use them a lot more but now they are mainly for show.

Amanda's fascination with the calves...

They are close to the dike that divides the sea from the freshwater lake.. so this was Michael's first time seeing the "ocean"!! The massive dikes here are amazing, but when it storms people still come and watch to make sure the waves don't beat them up as the entire area is well under sea level.

A few miles away this was the fresh water lake where the water is saved unless it gets to high.


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This is a close up of where we were.. the top is salt water and the bottom is fresh, with the dike to divide them.


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To put it into a little bigger perspective where we were.

Typical Dutch town. Lots and lots of sheep across the countryside. Most of the roads are still old brick and extremely narrow.

The girls managed to get Amanda into the snow! Never a dull moment in this house. I also managed to meet a polish guy on the trip who can't even get a visa for a two week vacation to America. Crazy to listen to him talk about America! The train ride back we marveled at how flat Friesland was.. way more so than Iowa even. I am really starting to like train travel and can't wait to take one through Switzerland in May!

Today was our first day of class. I had theology and history today.. both went well! All of the excursions start next week... I think we go to Amsterdam and Leiden. Now for my big news!! After eighteen... 18!!!.. days without Mt. Dew I searched after class for the only place in Zwolle that sells it!

 I was forced to ask for directions at an "American" restaurant...Finally a few minutes later I saw the end in sight!

Finally I found the Mt. Dew.. way in the back of the store.. and it costs about $1.50 american.. So i guess this will be my one and only can of the semester! The highlight of this week was definitely getting a much needed care package from Mallory... made my week a hundred times better! Thank you!!

I think that's it for now... The first two weeks here I had to bike with my face and ears covered and was still numb by the time I got to class but today it warmed up and  I was able to bike for the first time with no gloves.. so that means a lot more being outside and seeing things is right around the corner!