Integrating...

Hey everybody!

Sorry my update is coming a couple of days late this week. Things are getting busier and busier here, so I'm not sure how frequent my updates will be, but I'll try and keep them coming.So my Dutch class ended last Tuesday and my exam was this past Monday. Here's a picture of my class and our teacher.

On Wednesday thru Friday, I had an "integration" trip with other students from the exchange program. These students came from all around the world, one from Austrailia, others from Brazil, a few from the US and Canada, etc. I was a bit skeptical of the trip at first, but it turned out to be a lot more fun than expected. We started with several acrobatic tricks/trust exercises. It was the FIRST TIME EVER that I was considered "light" and asked to be the "flier" rather than the base. I did many things ranging from standing on top of someone's shoulders while he himself was also standing to doing a headstand, etc. Here's a good picture of the group, I am on the top left side.

Aside from the acrobatic tricks, we ate A LOT of bread and cheese (typical Dutch food) for lunch and for breakfast and sometimes for dinner, too. We did some team-building workshops and exercises and played some silly games. The best part was there was a bar in the place that we stayed...I think you get the idea that drinking is a big part of the social life here. It was even included in our fee, I imagine, to have several drinks paid for by the school. All in all, we had a great time getting to know one another. I made a lot of friends and was even introduced to my team for our International Business Project. I found out I'll be consulting, along with four team members (one from Brazil, one from Netherlands, one from Canada/India, and one from Taiwan), for a company that provides a platform for carbon-emissions trading.

For the weekend, I decided to stay in Rotterdam and see a bit more of the city, especially since I had the exam on Monday. I went to the Euromast, the highest point of Rotterdam, and took some great pictures. There were some crazies even repelling on the side of the building. I also met a random student from Ireland and had coffee with her (I know, I meet a lot of people randomly!). Here's a great picture of Rotterdam, with the Erasmus bridge, a famous site in Rotterdam. Aside from site-seeing in Rotterdam, I didn't do much else. I go to a market here on a weekly basis, it has everything from old washing machines to bikes to tons of different fresh fruits/vegetables/fish/etc. I also finally figured out that I was biking on two very deflated tires; I love biking now that I fixed that problem! Lastly, I started normal classes today (Tuesday) and it's very different from the US. I realized there's A LOT of interaction here between professor and students during class. So yeah, I think that wraps up my latest news.

I leave for London on Thursday so stay tuned for some exciting updates and pictures!