Since I last wrote so much has been going on here in
Holland. Classes have started to settle down and they aren’t moving and changing as much as they had been in the past.  We have made a trip to
Dublin, Ireland which was gorgeous and so much fun.  We have gone to Gouda famous for its cheese and
Rotterdam, these day trips out into the country are so fun and easy.  Ashley and I bought a discount pass for the internal train system which gives us 40 % off train tickets inside The Netherlands.  Our day trips to Rotterdam and
Gouda only cost us around five euros each way. 

This past weekend Ashley and I, along with another exchange student from Arkansas went to
London.  We had so much fun! Instead of taking the train we decided to take the ferry which traveled for nine hours overnight and got you to
London in the morning.  The ferry was cheaper than the train or a plane ticket so we decided to go with that.   The ferry was so nice; it was almost like a cruise ship.  It had ten decks with two restaurants and a movie theater and shopping. We spent four full days in
London and got to see everything we wanted.  We stayed in a Holiday Inn which was a luxurious change from our previous hostel experiences.  We went to
Buckingham
Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben,
London
Bridge,
Tower of
London,

This week is mid-terms so there are no classes.  I only have one test which is not until Friday so I have had time to relax from our trip and study for my test.  As soon as the week is over our fall break begins.  I am so excited because we are going to Rome and
Greece for the week!  It’s going to be another crazy busy time, but it will be beautiful.  We are flying Ryanair and got fairly cheap plane tickets.  Some other U of L students have a euro-rail pass and will be meeting us in
Rome when they arrive. 

Overall we are having a wonderful time, last week we had a meeting where all the exchange students got together to give the school feedback about what we liked and did not like about how things were going.  It’s nice how the school creates opportunities for all of the exchange students to get together and meet each other.  I feel like I am meeting people I will stay friends with for a long time.

Thanks for reading,

Amanda