Well is Swell!

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I'm here! It took me a couple of days to get internet access. But now I'm up and running.

The flight actually wasn't bad at all. I was really nervous but I took some valium (washed it down with a milkshake and some fries from McDonalds for an added American touch) and I was pretty chill through the whole flight. I was even able to get up and go to the bathroom. That's a huge step for me. Usually I'm too terrified to even look around on the plane.

We got in around 8am on Saturday. Jet lag is rough. It felt like I was awake for a week. On the ride in, on the bus, I kept falling asleep and waking up to find I had drooled on myself. I loved watching the landscape as we drove in. We passed so many farms and green fields.

Driving through the village of Well was so neat. Seeing the little shops, the neighborhoods, and people riding their bikes on the side of the road. I wanted to be awake for the approach to the Castle. And it was magical. (You can see pictures in my Gallery.)

My room is in the outer castle. The proper term is the Voorburcht but like Emerson students most kids have abreviated it to "The VB." I refuse to do that. If I'm going to live in another country, I'm going to use their terms. We aren't in Boston anymore.

Anyway, the outer castle is where the servants must have lived. We have narrow wooden stairs and exposed wooden beams in our room. It looks like a tree house. At first I was a little disappointed that I wasn't in the "royal" part of the castle but this room has so much more character than any of those rooms.

Our first night we went out to An Der Linden- the local bar that loves Castle students. We also went there last night and partied with some Dutch people. Every girl (and probably most of the guys) are going after the bartender. You can tell because they sit at the bar all night paying attention to him. I watched one girl sit there for hours. She was one of the first people there. I think if there was a ranking of who he's going to hook up with, she's #1. But that takes some serious dedication.

Okay, I'm not sharing the relevant information of what it's like here. Just silly college student gossip.

Basically, Well has the friendliest people. Everyone makes eye contact and says "Hi" when they pass you on the street. The Dutch don't look away. And they love Americans. The country is beautiful and I'm looking forward to exploring it on the bike that I rented. Apparently Germany is only 7 minutes away on bike. Field trip!

Class is going well so far. I've only had one and that was Ethics. I'll post more once I've had all of them.

This weekend we're planning a trip to Amsterdam. You know, get to know the country before we visit others. I've had so many Dutch people ask me if I speak German after they find out my last name is Mueller. I wish I did and I'm thinking of changing it back to the spelling with the umlaut. I also found out I've been pronouncing my last name wrong all my life. It's more of an 'oo' than an 'ew.' Good to know.

I still can't believe I'm here. So much has happened to me over the past couple of days. I don't feel like the same person anymore. I feel... better. Improved.

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