First couple days in Amsterdam

Well Caitlin insists that I tell everyone she says hello. We are sitting in the computer lab at the Universiteit van Amsterdam building where we have our classes.

I wanted to talk for a minute about my first couple days in Amsterdam. We got here from Paris a week ago and went to the UvA building to get our room assignments and such. There are two areas where the people on my program live. One is right next to our class building, and one is about 5 minutes away in an apartment building. I live in the one that's 5 minutes away. Caitlin and I are the only girls that live over there. Most of the people there live on the 4th floor in one wing. Somehow Chad and I got assigned to the ground floor in the wing next to everyone else. So we are the only two Indiana people who live on our floor. The rest are UvA students who have all been here for a year already. Most of them are in grad school working on their Masters or something like that. There are 2 guys who are from the U.S., and the others are from France and Germany and maybe some other places. I have my own room which is really nice! It has a large desk, a twin size bed, a sink, a cabinet sort of thing with an area to hang clothes, a shelf on top and smaller shelves lining one side. I also have another set of shelves that's pretty tall. I have one light over the sink, a floor lamp and a desk lamp. My windows overlook a courtyard between apartment buildings and there are flowers right on the other side of the glass. I can't complain at all! The whole floor shares a washer and dryer unit, two showers, two toilets and a kitchen. We each have space in the refrigerators and shelves so I can put groceries in there. Sometimes I cook and sometimes I eat out...whichever I have time for or is most convenient.

More to come later but I have class in 5 minutes. Doei (This is the Dutch word for "bye-bye!" and you say it in a sing-song voice. It's great...pronounced doo-wee) !!!