Op uw plaatsen!

Goedenavond!

I've been in the Netherlands for two weeks now, and it has been amazing so far. My exchange friends are pretty cool, if I may say so myself. It's pretty funny having English as a common language with people from all over. Everyone pronounces things differently, and there's plenty of "What ARE you trying to say?" going on. It's pretty bad when even I can't think of the right English word to describe something.

Here's some new Dutch vocabulary. You can guess where I've been learning most of my Dutch...

• Op uw plaatsen - Take you mark
• schieten - shoot
• pas - pass
• vijf/twee meter - five/two meter
• sorry/forgive me - het spijt me
• de fiets - the bike
• God - God (but sound like you're hacking up something in your throat for the g)

I live in a building with a bunch of exchange students and we have dinner together almost every night. I love this tradition! Here's a exchange-family pic of one of our first dinners together.

Left to right...

Sandra - Ireland

Me - Texas, but claiming to be mostly British while I'm here :)

Eric - Chicago (one of only 3 Americans I've met so far)

Jason - Hong Kong / Australia

Rhiannah - Australia

Claudia - Italy

Proost from International Night at de Ruif bar!

Johanna - Finland

Me

Kacii - Czech Republic

Eric again

My room ---

Sorry it's messy. We have HUGE windows.

The Dutch like to leave their curtain open...all the time.

Nothing too special, but it's a big room.

Kitchen sink, but no kitchen, and a bathroom.

I know you want to know more about water polo aka the bar. Basically, we practice for about an hour and a half, get out of the pool at 11:30pm and then stay at the bar until at least 2am. Beer's the perfect recovery drink, right? I've met some awesome Dutch guys through Wave (the water polo and swimming club). It's a great way to get to know the local students, because often the exchange kids stick to themselves.

Back to water polo, practices are just about the same as what we do at UT. Swim set, passing, shooting, drills, and scrimmage. I have only met 3 water polo girls so far, but they are all really nice and love the sport as much as I do. Quite frankly, to hold your own with 16 other guys in the pool, you better love the sport.

To tell you a little bit about school... I have had very heavy first two weeks. I'm taking an enhanced oil recovery class that is all day for five days with PhD students - ah! It's quite laid back, and I find it very interesting. This is good, since I'm going to be a reservoir engineer and all. That class has no exam, just assignments that have to turn in within two weeks of the course ending. Did I mention the system is different here? My other classes this quarter are Applied Reservoir Engineering, Petroleum Geology, and Heavy Oil. In the fourth quarter, I'll take Production Optimization, Reservoir Characterization and Development, and a week-long geology field class in Germany (!!). So don't think that I'm totally goofing off here... there is some work being done. 

For my PGE friends reading this, all the master's/PhD students here worship Larry Lake. They base a lot of their theses on this books. Dr. Lake, if you are somehow reading this, you have quite the fan club over here. I think one student even said you were like her god... 

Anyway, my bike has been trusty so far, but the paint job is wearing off a bit. The blue is chipping away to reveal the lovely redy orange below (aka rust). But she is faithful! I've been super Dutch lately. Biking in the rain, biking in a skirt, biking with poor Linda sitting on the back, overtaking other slow bikers, drinking very small coffees, and having coffee breaks for 15 minutes 3 times a day (hence why the coffees are weak and small). That is one difference I've noticed; you don't have Starbucks venti's over here. The cups are tiny, and at least half full of milk. They make fun of Americans for not being able to do anything in moderation - including coffee. Everything is smaller - paper towel rolls, coca-cola bottles, sinks, stairs, you name it. It's refreshing to not waste as much, and realize what I can live without. Do I NEED a venti Starbucks every morning? No. A homemade Italian espresso shot made by Claudia will do just fine!

Okay enough for today. Love to everyone at home... Can't wait to have my sister here for a week. She gets here a week from Saturday! Any suggestions for a spring break trip are welcome! I'm thinking Italy...