Highlights from Holland

Well, I would first like to apologize for how long it has been since my last post.  I got so used to having my mother and auntie write my blog for me that I have completely neglected it for several weeks.  Anyway, I had an incredible time on my 3 week study break.  I feel so fortunate to have been able to travel around Europe and experience as much as I have.  I really loved being able to spend time with family during the second week of break.  It did make me a bit anxious to come home at Christmas time to see everyone though.  However, for this blog entry I will tell you a little bit about what I experienced at the beginning of my travels in Holland!!!

Groningen

We left Copenhagen very early the first morning to travel 11 hours by bus and ferry.  Our first destination was a city in Holland called Groningen (sounds like groaning).  Groningen is a small, but pretty college town where we spent most of our time doing academic visits to special needs schools and facilities.  It was a very nice little historic town though, and I enjoyed it's cozy atmosphere.

Holland is very much like Denmark with the fact that it is greatly influenced by water and coastlines.  Groningen and Amsterdam had lots of pretty canals and cute little footbridges.

One day our class took a trip to the Martini Tower which is the highest church tower in Groningen.  We were able to walk to the very top which had a beautiful view of the city.  The climb was a bit challenging because it was just a narrow little spiral staircase.  We were out of breath by the time we reached the top, but the view was worth it.

For some reason when we were in Groningen I was on a bit of a Disney kick.  I amused myself by singing Disney songs (rather loudly) wherever I went.  Occasionally I was able to encourage others to join in on my fun, but mostly I got funny looks.  In the picture above I was channelling Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  I was so excited that the bells actually rang when I pulled the rope!

The Hague

We spent a day in The Hague, another city in Holland.  We visited a museum during the day and a play at night.  The Mauritshuis Museum was a relatively small building with paintings from the Dutch Golden Age.  The most famous painting that we were able to view was "The Girl With The Pearl Earring."  The play we say was Virginia Woolf's, The Waves.  It was a VERY odd play that I did not quite understand or enjoy.  It was a series of monologues from 6 different characters and their journey from children to adults.  The part I did find fascinating was that in between reading their parts the actors used a range of props and instruments to create the sound effects of the story.  

The picture above is me enjoying a wonderful cup of cocoa before the play.  I enjoyed this particular cup of hot chocolate a lot because I sort of made it.  When the waiter served it to me he gave me just a cup of steaming milk and a stick with a chunk of chocolate on the end of it.  I had to stir the chocolate into the milk to make my cocoa!!!  Well... I was entertained by it anyway.

Amsterdam

For our last few days in Holland we stayed in Amsterdam!  It was a very fun city to be in and I got to experience a lot of culture.  Some of our activities included a canal tour at night, a visit to the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House.  

The Van Gogh Museum was really impressive.  I am really not much of an art person.  I told my friends upon entering that I really didn't get a lot of art with the random splotches of color and unrealistic interpretations of life.  However, my appreciation for art grew slightly as a result of this trip.  I was very impressed by his works and my friends helped me to understand some of the "meaning" for various techniques.

The Anne Frank House was a bit surreal.  We were able to walk through the actual hallways and rooms where the Frank family lived and see documents that she had actually written.  I wish I could share with you the images of her bedroom and living spaces, but we were not allowed to take cameras into the house.

Well, thats all for now.  Tune in for next time when Kelly goes on a Czech Trek!!!