Weekend #1

I've been putting off writing more the past few days, not because I'm overwhelmed with classes but because I'm actually homesick. I miss Boston and everyone there terribly. But the really shocking part is that I actually miss North Carolina. I miss my mom, Liz, Sophie, Jasmine, Angel...even our tiny town. This is a very new feeling for me since I never got homesick in Boston. I don't really know why I'm feeling homesick or how to cope with it. I'm hoping that once I get into the swing of things with classes and everything I'll be much more comfortable here.

The Netherlands vs. USA
First of all I want to say that I am not at all surprised that people say they lose about 20lbs. at the castle. The food we are given definitely leaves much to be desired. Our dining hall is open from 8:30-9:30 for breakfast (classes don't start until 10 so in order to get breakfast before class you have to wake up much earlier than you would in Boston), 11:30-12:30 for lunch, and 6-7 for dinner. I have yet to see eggs for breakfast. OH MY GOD I MISS EGGS. I never thought I'd miss eggs! Lunch is very light, today it was tomato soup. I don't mind soup but I'm not a tomato person so I had a salad. We have a tiny salad bar, a necessity with all the vegetarians and vegans at Emerson, that is greatly lacking in salad dressing. There is balsamic vinegar but no olive oil, that mayonnaise the Dutch put on their french fries (but no french fries to be found), and some things I could not identify. Every meal there is plenty of bread available, along with nutella (yum!), some sort of deli meat (I'm not sure if it's ham or turkey), something that looks like salami but isn't, and fruit (bananas, apples, oranges, or CLEMENTINES!). Dinner is everything I just listed plus whatever dish is being served. Last night it was fried pieces of fish, mashed potatoes, and steamed veggies. Writing it all out like this makes it seem like a lot, even to me. But when it's only been 4 days and I'm already tired of the food, I think there's a bit of a problem. Thankfully there is a well stocked grocery store in town called Spar where I purchased these delicious snacks (with no clue what I was buying) earlier.

Left to right: Eierkoeken, Sate Kroepoek, Cassave Kroepoek, and Nibb Its

After a few second of googling, I figured out that the "cassave" crackers (which I'm munching on right now) and the "sate" crackers are a type of Indonesian shrimp or prawn cracker! Wow. Doesn't taste like shrimp at all. Eierkoeken is a Dutch egg cake (I knew they looked good) that is apparently "a nice dessert, or can be eaten in those snacking moments during the day" (http://recipes.wikia.com/wiki/Eierkoeken). And Nibb Its are kind of vegetable flavored sticks that remind me a little of crunchy cheetos. I also got a bottle of some sort of fruity drink. It reminds me of a berry fruit punch. So I will not starve at the castle. At least not this week!

Today the sun actually came out, which was a treat. I walked around the grounds with friends and took some better pictures of the castle. Enjoy!

The baby goats in the village petting zoo.

The first courtyard between the VB and New Wing and inside the first moat.

The castle

The second moat

Second moat again

Fountain, castle, and VB

The back of the castle

More castle

The first moat with fields on the opposite side

Hobbit hole!

The first moat with the town of Well in the distance.

Partially crumbling tower

It's still Emerson!

This weekend we go to Amsterdam. Expect many more pictures!!