After my trip to Sweden, it was only a short while until we were free for the holidays! As I've mentioned, the Dutch don't take a lot of time off (students here get 5 weeks off a year versus the 5 months Germans get). That plus the fact that Christmas isn't a big deal here made it tough for us to convince our teachers that we really wanted a decent break. They wanted to have class on December 23rd, which would have left many of us worldwide internationals getting home on Christmas day! We finally prevailed and class ended on the 22nd (small victory, yes). So I grabbed a plane ticket and headed off!
Being home was awesome. The Netherlands and I are not a good match in several respects, so I was really ready to get away for a while, and seeing my family and friends was amazing. I missed everyone so much! But being home was perfect. I arrived late the 23rd and so was around for last minute shopping on the 24th, Christmas day, and plenty of (slightly after) Christmas baking and candymaking. I also got to watch bowl games, eat at my favorite restaurants, and spend time with the boyfriend that I am now back to dating. I even got to play in the snow! I've gotten plenty of snow in the Netherlands so was in no desperate need, but it was cool to be home for the first snow on Christmas in 130 years. I also got to drive a car again, call people whenever I wanted without worrying about the time zone, and get all the things I've discovered Europe doesn't have. It really was a great break. No rest at all, with running between everyone I wanted to see and spend time with, but I wouldn't have done it any differently given a chance! But if someone wants to give me a chance, I'll take another 10 days at home... It went so quickly, I can hardly believe I'm already back in the Netherlands.
Only for a month though! February 5th I move to south France! I am so very excited about that. I think France, French language (which I know) and culture, and a Mediterranean climate will suit me much better.
And I think I will find myself leaving before I know it! This month is going to go quickly. We have a winter school in a few weeks, where most of the students from my program who spent their first semester in Sweden are coming to visit us for a week of a bit of school and a lot of hanging out. Then there will be packing, enjoying a last meal in my favorite places here, and off I go!
We've already had a nice big group dinner since we got back. Russian orthodox Christmas is January 7th, so my two RO classmates had a Christmas Eve dinner on Thursday where we ate typical Ukrainian and Serbian food, which was delicious. For dessert, everyone brought something sweet from home. That meant a lot of candy and several liqueurs. We were all unbelievably full and sugared-up by the time we left early the next morning :)
I also tried a Balkan restaurant Friday (RO Christmas) night, with two Serbians and a Macedonian as my guides. It was amazing. We got two excellent types of salad, a Serbian chardonnay, an enormous plate of several types of meat, fried potatoes, and something the name of which I do not remember but was minced meat and rice wrapped in a sour cabbage leaf (apparently the winter version of stuffed grape leaves). It was a really excellent meal! And even with five hungry people, we have several meals worth of leftover meat. Mmm. I think we'll be heading there again before leaving town!
Even the weather is being a bit more friendly--it was 50 degrees here today, vaguely sunny, and only rained part of the day! I think I am warm climate ruined and may forever be destined to live at low latitudes... I have certainly learned that I need a higher proportion of sunny days than the Netherlands can provide! We'll see. I am learning more and more about what I like and don't like. I hope to have a good idea by the time I'm done with this program!
Haha! That's funny about the weather. You'll still have to visit in Colorado if that's where we end up. Got your card, thanks so much! Loved it. Have a fast end of classes.
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