Pancake Land

I'm here! I'm here! My plane took off just in time to avoid Hurricane Irene. Many people from my school got stranded in the States, so I got pretty lucky.

And then on the plane, there was more luck! Free food!

Dear readers, due to a complex family situation, I have done a lot of flying for a 20-year-old. By my count, I have been on 80 airplanes. Give or take 10.

After all these flights, my faith in airlines in slim. I expect nothing more than a seat and transportation from Point A to Point B. No quick travel. No polite airline employees. Not even a comfortable seat.

I'm pleasantly suprised when I receive peanuts or pretzels.

According to my ticket, I wasn't supposed to get dinner on this trip. I bought Subway before boarding.

Imagine my joy when a lovely flight attendant gave me tortellini!
Readers, I LOVE tortellini!
(Delicious vegetarian options are the key to my heart.)

We arrived on time (another surprise), exchanged dollars for euros (the exchange rate was a not-so-pleasant-surprise), and went in search of train tickets.

Readers, take note: Visa cards do not work in the Netherlands.
Oh, I'm sure they do somewhere.
But not anywhere I've been so far.
I feel like someone could have mentioned this.
My cash is dwindling.
And Bank of America actively desires to screw over anyone who dares to travel outside of, you know, America, when it comes to ATMs.

I digress. The trip to Groningen was mostly uneventful. The green views and free internet on the train made it worth staying awake for.
Oh, and just so you know: Dutch trains have "silent" cars. If you're in one, you're expected to be verrryyy quiet.

I found this out the hard way. I was in Europe for all of 45 minutes before I became a loud American.

Museumwinkels

So, my residence permit photo is printed.
My paperwork is mailed.
A second suitcase acquired.

At this point, I would like to discuss something important.

HUGELY IMPORTANT.

Dear readers, I do not speak Dutch.
Not even a little.

Okay, I know a few words.
"Stamppot" is a mashed potatoes/veggies/meat dish.
"Hagelslag" means sprinkles- the kind I would put on ice cream. In the Netherlands, apparently they go on buttered bread.
"Museumwinkel" is a museum gift shop.
"Straat" means street.

I've been told that everyone in the Netherlands speaks English. Hopefully this is true. Because I tried to find a free Dutch learning website. I'm pretty sure this does not exist. If you know about one, let me know.

And remember that time the Groningen University website told me I could take a Social Dutch class when I got there? An 8 hour crash course in that language I don't speak?

Well, it doesn't exist. Not this coming semester, anyway. So where does that leave me, you might ask?

Well, it leaves me planning on taking a trip to the bookstore to buy a Dutch-English dictionary.