Hey guys,

So I have gotten a couple of emails asking me about what’s it like living over here? What is your set up like etc.? I share an apartment with three others, two Turkish, and one Chinese students. The place is a little small but I don’t need much. However, there are many things that are very different than the states. Smoking is “not allowed” which really means open the window when you smoke (one of my roommates smokes quite often). The showers here are unbelievably small it is like a 2.5 foot square where you cant move at, the bed is a giant piece of hard foam. Pillows come in large squares which are awkward to sleep on. The things I really miss about America is BBQ, Jazz, and old school rap those are really the only three things I have trouble finding over here (got peanut butter today after along trek after I heard a rumor that a small store sold it)

The food here is much better than in America. Apples taste like what an apple should taste like. They are so crisp and sweet I was amazed when I had my first one I went right back to the store and bought six more and I ate them all in one day. The cheese and milk is also so much better. The milk tastes more like cream however, is still 1.5% fat. I know EU banned many hormones, chemicals, and preservatives that America uses on foods and there food is cheaper still than ours. I am amazed by how cheap the food is. All eggs are organic by law and those are a little more expensive than in the states but not by much. So I don’t buy the fact that making better quality food is that much more expensive etc. Travis as a future farmer give me your thoughts. Going in the produce section is like going in a candy store because EVERYTHING tastes a million times better.

Classes also are much different here. The number one difference is that students talk in class, not just whisper every once in a while but for the whole class is in constant murmur. The murmur continues to grow until the professor stops because he feels disrespected that it has gotten to loud (which I laugh behind the logic that it has gotten to loud). I don’t really like it. If this was to happen at UNF I am almost positive the professor would just walk out. After talking to a couple of American students we agreed that the reason why they talk in class is that they really only pay 200 Euros per semester. However, the students are great. They seem to have taken this American under their wing. They invite me to go to something almost everyday, whether watching a soccer game at their house, to go see a movie, etc. They have been more than welcoming. One of my classes is called “Management Project” and that’s exactly what it is. We were assigned into groups of five and are given information on a campsite in the Netherlands. The campsite is through tough financial times because of poor management and planning. The campsite exists and we can visit if we would like. We have access to all of their accounting information, history of tax information, past idea that have failed etc.. It is our job to fix their problems find new ways to create revenue and cut needless expenses. The campsite I believe will pick the best project and work on those ideas. We don’t have a class to go to class, but we have experts we can talk to etc. There is less hand holding here which I really enjoy. I think the applied use of knowledge really prepares you for the real world.

I love the culture as you know from the previous blog entries. But each day I honestly meet another five new people each day that are unbelievably welcoming. It changes the way you look at the world. Where a stranger isn’t really a stranger but someone you haven’t met before. You are bound to have at least one thing in common and you grow a bond on that one thing. I have learned to find beauty everywhere and honestly it is around every corner and under every rock here. Just life is great and it is our jobs as humans to find that beauty in life even when things look bleak. Enjoy life, love all, and be kind to each other in the process because life can be tough enough some times and a helping hand goes a long way. I know I sound like a hippy or some really cliché t-shirt or some poster that a freshman girl would hang up on their dorm wall (For example, Live. Laugh. Love) but I have learned to love this new outlook on life, of never letting a moment pass with out recognition because a moment waste is a travesty because never again will that moment come back. Time is our only non-renewable resource.

I have started thinking of new solutions to dilemma of not really being able to travel while I am here. I am buying a bike with a friend German friend Mara. I think she wants to bike parts of German including the Rhine river with me so I look forward to those adventures. I honestly feel unbelievably rich here. I bought a bottle of 10 year old French wine (it was like 5 Euros!) that I take with me when I go on short hikes. I sit in the middle of the woods pour myself a CUP think “Ah life is good”. What else have I been up to. I don’t really have that much free time class eats up a lot of time. I try to explore when I can. Today I was walking through a little village and a really nice bike passed me and “I thought man what a nice bike”. Ten minutes later I saw that bike again only it was crushed by a BMW and there was a white sheet over the man. I thought what a shame, but it makes you realized nothing is guaranteed. While you can make plans for the future and have expectations for it, what is around the corner is unknown it could be good or bad. So what I take from the sad event today is to the tell the ones you love them each time you get an opportunity. So on that happy note let me say goodbye, that I love you all and be safe out there because it’s a wild world.

Until next time seize the day!

Nathan