Groningen, Netherlands

Last weekend I went to the very north of the Netherlands to visit a friend. Last year at NAU i met a exchange student who was from Groningen. Netherlands is a very small country, it only took me 3 1/2 hours by train to go from the south to the north of the country. The north is very different, there is a lot of farm land - there were cows, sheep and a lot of open area.
I stayed with my friend, Albert. Albert showed me around the city of Groningen and his hometown which is about a 20 min drive. We went to the North Sea (the picture) and if you look really close you can see Germany. It was really interesting and fun to meet a dutch family and to see the difference. His dad was walking around the house in traditional wooden clogs.
On Saturday night we decided to go out on the town. When i asked what the plans were for the evening he informed me that people do not go out till 1am! So we did not go out till one and stayed out till sixish and the bars/clubs were still packed when we were leaving, its quite a different night life to say the least, but very fun! :)

Class Trip to Amsterdam

The school I'm attending here is the International Hotel Management school. For one of my classes I'm taking imagineering (Disney uses it). For that class I'am in a group and our goal is to recreate something out of the box in a real hotel that would be beneficial to the hotel. So we had to go visit our hotel in Amsterdam. Our hotel is called Hotel V- very funky! After the interview with the hotel manager, i went with my group to explore.
We decided to go see Anne Frank's House. Words cannot explain how i felt being in Anne's actual hide out house, knowing all that she went through there, especially when i went behind the bookshelf under a little door entrance. It made me realize how far our world has come in such a short amount of time. On the walls there were quotes from her diary that matched the place in the house. We got to see her actual diary that was in dutch. It was astonishing how many people were touring her house.
After walking around Amersterdam all day we were quite tired, so we headed for the train. On our way to the train we stopped by a bakery. I cannot explain how great Amersterdams pasteries are. Everything is homemade and made with really quality products. Of course i had to by one for the train trip! :) It was the best dessert i have ever had - a cream puff that can chocolate bars on the bottom. Overall a great day at school in the Netherlands!

Oktoberfest

200th Anniversary of Oktoberfest

Even though it is called Oktoberfest it is in the end of September. Myself two other Americans and two Canadians set out on Friday to attend, officially biggest party in the world. We rented a car, however there were only two of us that knew how to drive standard. It was intertesting because the key to the car was a card, there was no actual key. We set out on our journey to Munich, Germeny thinking that it would take 7 1/2 hours (goggle map told us). However it ended up taking 11 1/2 hours. On our drive we got to drive on the auto bond. We were driving about 115mph and cars were flying by us like we were going only 60. After only five hours asleep we ahead to open ceremonies. We had to take a train there and the entire way, there were people dressed in traditional german clothing (one of my favorite parts) Oktoberfest is a huge adult carnival, there were tons of bright colorful rides, lots of food, and of course beer. During the day we walked around Oktoberfest, went to the city of Munich and rode on the a marry-go-round that served beer. At night we all attempted to get into a tent. People book spots in the tents a year in advance. The first few we were denied and then a friend and i finally got into one. It was AMAZING! there were about two thousand people dancing on tables with pints of beer in their hand. There were 18 year old to 60 year old enjoying the festivities. In the middle of the room there was a live band that was singing songs like YMCA and We are the champions. After being at oktoberfest from 8am we made it back to our place at 2am= successful day. The following day we left back to Breda, it was a fast trip, but well worth it!

Redhead Day in Breda

People from all over the world travel to Breda the first weekend of September to celebrate their red hair. Every year the number of people that attend the event increases, this year there were thousands of people. Everyone dresses all in white with their flaming red hair. There are several activities that take place in the city- artistic group photoshoots, individual photoshoots, a fashion show, lectures about red hair, and much more! I even saw people that did not have red hair spray painting their hair to fit in with the crowd. It was quite the experience being surrounded by carrottops.

Brussels

Weekend in Brussel, Belgium

I took the train to Brussels which was about an hour and half away from Breda. I was with a group of ten international students. Brussels was an amazing city- exceeded my expectations! It is the heart of Europe- the capital of the EU. During our stay we feasted on Belgium waffles, and chocolate.On Saturday night we went to a bar that had 2004 beers available! We saw many of the main sights in Brussels which were kind of strange symbols for a city- the pissing boy. Throughout the weekend there were several random parades going on and no one around us knew why. On left there is a picture of fireworks that we got to see.

Amsterdam

My Day Trip to Amsterdam

We took a train from Breda to Amsterdam that was only an hour and half train ride. One we arrived in the city we went to the center of town and walked around. Amsterdam was a funky but beautiful city. I plan on going back soon because there is so much more to explore.

My Street

The view from my apartment building balcony
All of the bikes for the summer festival

My Apartment

Typical dutch stairs