Week #15 - Apeldoorn, Netherlands

            This week we arrived to the flat land of the Netherlands. Apeldoorn was the city we were in for the week (it was a split city so half of the cast was in a small town just 20 min away). It is known for its great use of bicycles and  now when you hear that  about the Netherlands you can believe  it is true. You cannot go anywhere without seeing a bike. There are more bikes than cars and there are even lanes and traffic and everything. I had the  opportunity to use a bike as my transportation for a chunk of the week and it was wonderful. It reminded me of home and being outside. Besides the fact that there were no rolling hills, the Netherlands reminds me of Wisconsin. It is finally becoming spring and the daffodils and dandelions are just beginning to bloom so I thought of Viroqua quite a bit this week. I also thought of my mom a bunch, realizing how she really does have Dutch in her. I really love this country and I am sad we only had one short week to experience the culture.

            Monday was the longest travel day we have had so far. It was a 10-hour bus ride, but felt like 5 because of the great people I was surrounded by and all the great conversations passed the time very quickly. We travelled through 4 countries in one day, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Germany and Netherlands. Europe continues to blow  my mind. My new host family was wonderful. My host mom was an alumna of UWP and she was just so Dutch and I liked to call her a sassafrass! We had twin 13-year-old sisters and a 10-year-old host brother. Our host dad was from Turkey and also a great guy. They all spoke excellent English so we had lots of stories and laughter throughout the week. We also had possibly the most delicious meals I have had yet on the tour – a mix of Turkish food and Dutch traditions! Erin Shippee from Virginia was my roommate this week and we had great pillow talks as we fell asleep.

            Tuesday we had a CI day and I had a chance to get to know some of my cast mates better. It was beautiful and sunny and I got to be outside laughing and helping out a mentally handicapped man so I was content. On Wednesday as usual we had Study Abroad and were given a little free time to explore the beautiful streets of the center of Apeldoorn. Shopping and Ice Cream with the Study Abroad girls topped off the day! Thursday was a very busy and professional feeling day. We had a show for a lot of VIP people including the princess of the Netherlands. The facility was the biggest and nicest facility we have used yet and the day was just as nice. I was a VIP host and met some wonderful people during the fancy dinner I got to attend as a VIP host before the show. I also got to meet first hand the princess and her husband and have a little chat with them. After the show they came backstage as well to take a picture with us all. Friday we had to set up in the other city and I had a good day of working and laughing and talking. I continue building relationships every second of everyday. We also had a very inspiring cast meeting run by Dave Penny, who is here visiting the cast for a few weeks. All week he and Norman were hosted with our host mom’s colleague and neighbors so we spent a lot of time together. Saturday we had another show and it was such good energy! The place was packed with people and lots of alumna so the crowd was crazy!

            For host family day on Sunday we met up with the neighbors and Dave and Norman and went to a beautiful little Dutch city where we walked around, saw typical Dutch things (as my host mom would say), ate some ice cream, stopped by a “Coffee Shop” just to say we had (in the Netherlands a coffee shop is a place where you can get together to smoke marijuana, which is legal). A café is where you drink coffee. We also got the wonderful experience of walking through a small red light district.(definitely an odd thing to see.) We then made our way back and had a delicious two family barbeque with classic Turkish and Dutch food. We told funny stories around the fire and laughed and talked and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Back at home the laughter continued as I came to find out my host dad is so similar to my real dad for certain reasons.

            A short, but great week overall here in the land of the Dutch. Crazy to be leaving so soon to Belgium. Only 3 weeks left before we head to Mexico! Let’s see how the Belgian beer, fries and chocolate treat us these coming weeks! Thank you Netherlands! Hello Belgium!