my first few days in the netherlands

so surreal... what is going on??

hey it's amelia and i guess this is my first diary entry. i arrived in the netherlands a few days ago on august 13th. to be honest, i have no idea what to write or what i have been feeling over the last few day; i haven't had a whole lot of time to process what is happening. i will give a rundown of what has happened the last two days

august 13th and 14th

on august 13th, i landed at around 7ish am netherlands time and met with the netherlands rotary club at 7:30ish. i was the first inbound to come which is cool and all the rotarians and rotex were very excited and nice which is crazy cuz it was like 7 am. i drove home with my first host mom Marjolein, or Mar, and then she gave me a house tour. i'm pretty sure we drank tea outside and talked for a bit but i can't really remember cuz i was really tired that day and all the memories from that day just swirl together. after, i went to my room and unpacked my clothes. then, Mar and i biked to my high school, scala college, and then around the center of alphen which is such a cute area. there is a fruit market every saturday, and we bought some strawberries. i don't really like strawberries, but i really like the strawberries in the netherlands. they aren't swollen from a bunch of chemical injections like the strawberries in the US, so they taste naturally sweeter. we also went to a bunch of different stores including the new library and an ice cream shop. i was kinda dozing off every once in a while cuz i was really tired. we biked back home and then read our library books and drank tea in the backyard, but i fell asleep, so Mar basically sent me to my room to sleep.

the next day, i woke up and ate breakfast with Mar. she toasted bread buns and laid out all the toppings. there is this dish called "Dutch Hagelslag" where people eat buttered bread with chocolate sprinkles on top for breakfast. and it's like a common thing. so there was that, goat cheese, another young aged cheese, turkey, chicken, and lots of different jams including an apple jam and this jam her mom makes herself. i ate a goat cheese one and an apple jam one. then, we picked up her grandson Danny and took him to a bird park called Avifauna. i gave him Buccee's taffy and he gave me some of his cotton candy. later on, he dropped the cotton candy on the ground and picked it back up and kept eating it which is a little concerning, but whatever. we went back to the house and played monopoly except the places were all real streets in the netherlands which was cool. i also learned numbers in dutch playing it so yay. then, we dropped Danny off and walked Mar's dog Joey at a lake nearby. He swam around and then we did the loop and talked. We went home, made dinner together which was meatballs, rice, and stir fry vegetables, and then ate dinner outside. While talking to Mar, i learned that i am very similar to her. we are both super artsy, free thinking, introverted, and thoughtful. i honestly feel like she is who i'm going to be like when i am older. i feel like i am living my cottage core, grandma-y life but in the best way.

anyway, that's basically it. thanks for reading.

- amelia <3