Netherfirst!

Idiot moment of the day: wear heels while ice on the ground - def gonna fall on your butt....more than once. Hahaha.

I woke up early today, got dressed nice (since first impressions last a lifetime) to attend the breakfast, and rode the tram to the school by myself. Had to ask the lady beside me which stop it is, and when I got off the tram...BOOM - I fell on my booty. Whoops. It was quite hilarious.

I met everyone I could meet, and I don't remember any of the names, which is really sad. The people here are super nice, the students are super curious, and the school is super huge. Lol.

It's a Christian School and it's got years 1-6. They do ability grouping, and different teachers have different schedules. Punishment is being sent to another room to isolate you from everyone. A lot of students still rode their bikes to school even when there's ice outside. One of the house rules of the school is to only speak Dutch...don't know how I feel about that.

Found out about my VISA today. I can't set up my internet without a bank account. I can't have a bank account until I have a permit. Permits/VISA cost 433 Euros for a year...totally unnecessary since I'm only staying here for 4 months. Ugh. Very frustrating. We have an appointment on Jan 19, so we'll talk then. They don't have student visas, surprisingly.

Also, they don't serve hot meals here. Just sandwiches and very healthy food to keep the weight down for students and teachers. (wish the US had some kind of program like that).

It's snowing outside...and I'm still at school. It is already 4:30. I'm riding the tram by myself again. Riding the tram is expensive. Everything here is expensive.

But other than that, I'm loving it so far! I'm getting used to the cold. I just can't wear heels ever. So much for bringing pretty shoes.

Oh yea, yesterday, I was locked out of my apartment. My card would not work and I had to wait for 45 minutes before someone came and open my card. The mechanic lives 30 minutes away from the apartment. It used to be caretakers had mastercards, but not anymore. I met someone who lived on my floor, he was really nice. Can't remember his name. Names here are just hard to remember and pronounce.

Btw, I'm learning Dutch. Borris who is 5 or 6 taught me the alphabet, and I'm picking up the sounds of certain letters and learned 4 phrases so far. It's pretty exciting. The /g/ sound is super hard!

Hm. I'm becoming more bold by asking questions, hard to communicate with people but I'm getting more comfortable with it.

I miss Skype. I wish I had internet to use Skype.

I'm going to the main office of the apartment I live in tom morning by myself. Another part of the town by myself. Yay! I love traveling by myself. I feel like such an idiot sometimes. Not a bad thing, I guess. :)

Anyways, that's it. I gotta catch the tram. It's still snowing. :)