One tin of chocolate covered blueberries, please.

With reference to my last post, I have officially been in de Nederlands for about 6 days now and (not surprisingly) have been told on several occasions that my name A) sounds like a last name B) sounds Scottish or Irish C) is not had by anyone else in de Nederlands (or at Wageningen University) D) is long and E) is unique.  I guess Sarah could, in this case, say "I TOLD YOU SO!"  I can just hear her saying it now...but she's in Costa Rica so she probably won't see this for at least another week. :-) 

My adventure turned into a misadventure right from the get-go, which if you know me, is not surprising.  I was supposed to fly from Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee to Chicago and then from Chicago directly to Amsterdam.  Needless to say, that didn't end up happening.  I received a phone call at 6 am on the 30th, the day I was scheduled to leave, and was told that the flight out of CWA to Chicago was cancelled (it was supposed to be at 1:30 pm) but I could leave on a 5:30 flight to Detroit.  I was annoyed but it was probably better in the long run as, me being me, had procrastinated and final packing still had to be done before I left. 

Fast forward to 3:30 pm: I walk into an unusually quiet (and CWA isn't the most bustling place in the first place) check-in area with my fully packed hiking backpack, messenger bag, and rolling suitcase (assisted by my parents and Josh).  I think this is kind of odd and I soon discover that all flights out of CWA are cancelled for the day and probably the next...I wouldn't be able to leave until the next week.  My only option (after flip flopping between the United and Delta Airlines counters) is to drive to Minneapolis and catch a flight at 3:20 on the 31st to arrive in Amsterdam at 6:50 am on the 1st.  January 1st.  

Thankfully my parents are wonderful and it worked out that we could do the drive.  My only complaint was that I would be spending New Year's Eve on a plane over the Atlantic Ocean (or Greenland, as it were).  

Something that I found interesting is the idea of Duty Free sales.  I have never encountered them before, but apparently it's typical on international flights.  If you don't know, Duty Free sales on flights means you get to look through a catalog filled with various things such as alcohol, perfume, food, gadgets and when you buy them you don't get taxed by any government.  Kind of nifty if you fit under the correct regulations.  Thinking of you all,  I wrote down the description for Canadian chocolate covered blueberries.  I found it entertaining: 

Warning!  Can be wildly addictive.  Moist and flavorful dried blueberries enrobed in creamy milk chocolate.  A true Canadian delight in a super savvy tin. 

While you digest that description, will someone please tell me how the heck blueberries can be "enrobed"?!! Also, the pictured tin was not "super savvy" as they describe it...I'm not entirely sure how a tin can be savvy, period.  Lastly, I have to confirm this with the Canadian exchange student, but I'm pretty sure that chocolate covered blueberries are NOT a "true Canadian delight." Crazy Duty Free sales catalog. 

I began my first class on Monday morning at 8:30 am.  It is called "Plants and Health" and it's about how plants can be used for the compounds they make/can be engineered to make for health purposes.  A major difference is the fact it is an all-day class--I have class until about 5:30 or so every night.  As such, I wake up when it's dark and return from class also when it's dark.  Not a fun routine.  

We have lecture for about 2- 2 1/2 hours with a short break and then break down into groups of 4 or so to do a group assignment, which we have to present at 4:30 to the rest of the groups.  Yes, we get an assignment, have the afternoon to work on it and produce an end product (some sort of presentation, for the most part) and then present it.  A little more intense than a typical college class in the U.S. 

I have had the fortune to work with pretty good people all week--most of them have been friendly and fun to work with.  I also have met people from more places than I can remember--Mozambique, Egypt, Finland, England, Greece, France...the list goes on.  It's nice because the class is taught in English and that is the primary language of communication amongst everyone (except the Dutch students...they sometimes speak in Dutch to each other).  I have a bit of a thing for accents, so listening to everyone's accent is really interesting.  

Something else that's, well, disconcerting, is the fact that because I'm a native English speaker, people ask me how to say things and can easily understand me (for the most part).  There is a boy from Cambridge in my class, so I guess the same could be said for him.  Also, whenever someone speaks English really well (and they're not Canadian or American) they generally speak with a British accent.  The boy from Finland in my class threw me for a loop because his English is so good and so British that I thought he was a Brit...until he informed me that that was not the case.  Tricksy, tricksy those Finnish people.  

Tomorrow I am going to Amsterdam (woot!) with some other exchange students from the U.S.  We were going to spend the night, but apparently many hostels require at least 2 night stay.  We didn't plan that far ahead, thus we will be going for the day.  I hope to hit up the Anne Frank House (please tell me you forgot it was in Amsterdam like I did) and perhaps get some "super savvy" European boots.  

Hopefully this trip doesn't turn into an entire misadventure, but we will see! 

Tot ziens! 

Mackenzie