Four weeks in the Netherlands and I have learned to enjoy every moment of sunshine I can, so today I read in the sun and then took a delicious nap on this wooden platform outside of my unit. I have decided to take each sunny day as if it will be my last chance to wear shorts until who knows when. Since arriving here most of the Dutch people I know have been constantly asking "Do you hate the weather yet?" followed by, "Does it rain in California?" No one ever believes me when I tell them how much it rains in Santa Cruz, I think they think I don't know what real rain is. I might agree with them since when last week when the sky unleased it's fury in the form of pouring rain on me and I was informed that the rain that day "wasn't that bad."
After the first week of classes I am pretty excited about the semester. My Beginner Dutch class is pretty standard for a language class. It's odd what you learn at the start of taking a language because really what are the first things you should learn? So we have learned how to introduce ourselves and say what time of year we enjoy vacationing. My professor is pretty cool though he is very energetic and runs from person to person demanding things in Dutch. My Contours and Colors class is fantastic. I really love how small the classes are because a real discussion of the works starts up. Its a nice change from just lectures. Not to say that no one ever discusses things in lectures at Santa Cruz, but it is much more personal here. My International Journalism class is so cool. My professor is British and used to work in the AP office in Amsterdam. We are learning how to do all different styles of journalistic writing from features, to beats, to reviews, to straight news coverage. We use our second class of the week to edit each others work and meet with the professor. I haven't actually had a class for Gothic Literature yet but the reading list looks pretty good. It is a lot of stuff I read in high school, Jane Eyre, Rebecca, Frankenstein, Beloved and some others. We are also reading some short stories which I am excited about. We also get to watch some films and listen to opera. Judging from the background reading the class has a feminist slant which will be really interesting. The only thing I am not too excited about is Frankenstein, it has never been one of my favorites. Other than classes life here has been good. I went to Amsterdam yesterday with my friend who grew up there and she showed me around her home neighborhood. It made me like the city a lot more seeing actual neighborhoods and places from her childhood, it makes it feel more like a real place. We also went by the flower market which was very exciting! Since classes have started life here has started to become much more routine. I am trying to not to fall into the trap that many people who go to UCU do of staying inside the bubble. My goal is to do at least one thing each week that is worth of writing home about so to speak. I know I am here to study abroad first and foremost but it seems a waste if I never leave my campus! So now I will have to have something exciting by next Saturday. Also on Tuesday I will have been here for a month, I cannot believe how fast the time has gone by.
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