I have been here for a little over a month now so I thought I would post something to keep you all updated on my study abroad adventures.(If you don’t know me and are reading this you should know that I have a weird sense of humor and am pretty weird but back to blogging) I am totally in love with my new home. Before I left I was feeling a mixture of excitement and nervousness, but now I realize I was worried for no reason. The Netherlands and the Hague are both amazing. I have completely adapted to the biking city lifestyle. It’s really different here because the bikes have the priority on the road over pedestrians and cars, I’m not sure if that is really the law but everyone seems to abide by that. The city is amazing, it is quite a bit larger than Louisville but the atmosphere is really neat. Everyone was enjoying the nice weather during August and there are quite a few places to eat and socialize outside. Even though it has cooled down quite a bit people still eat and socialize outside, they have warming lights under the tents and umbrellas so it is still comfortable. On our first day here Ashton and I took the tram to the beach; apparently our tram cards did not scan properly and we got yelled at but we have overcame that and can work them properly now haha. It has definitely been a learning experience so far and will continue to be but I look forward to it. I do miss some things about America like free refills, ice in drinks and Jimmy Johns (sorry Steph you didn’t make top 3 this time) but overall I am adapting well. Planning trips and weekend adventures has taken up a lot of my spare time but I am so excited, so far we have trips planned to Budapest, Paris, Italy, Prague and Germany planned. Last weekend we went to Ireland and explored Dublin, Galway, the Cliffs and Cork. We actually had really great weather (I forgot to mention it rains quite a bit here) to hike the cliffs so that was great. We got some really great pictures (check out my IG @h_loughran you won’t be disappointed ahahaha) and ate some great Irish food. It was a trip I was looking forward to because my family heritage is Irish so it was really neat to explore my “homeland” and I wish we had more time there because there is so much to do. School here is very different, we don’t have a lot of homework and only one or 2 exams in most of my classes so it will be interesting to see how that fares but I’m keeping a positive attitude and trying to balance my studies and fun as much as I can. I cannot believe that one month has already passed and that just showed me how valuable my time is here, it is going to fly by and I am trying to relish in each moment because this amazing opportunity does not come very often.
Xoxo
Gossip Girl jk its Haley