Come Travel With Me

Random Facts about Tilburg:

• The toilets are much higher haha I guess because people in Holland are so tall?
• Mail is delivered by bicycle
• No water fountains
•  Very flat ground which is why biking is so popular, bike paths are everywhere and there is even an underground biking garage in the city center!
• No bagels or English muffins
• Dutch movies (with Dutch language) have both Dutch and English music
• The university has no school spirit. There is no mascot and no one wears the university clothing (except me haha)
• On average, people are much skinnier (which I have no idea why as they do not seem to eat that healthy…)
• A lot of people smoke quite regularly
• Seems that there is much less phone usage, people don’t really text at restaurants or on public transport
• Lifestyle is way more laid back, barley any shops are open on Sunday and have limited hours throughout the week
• Get paid to be on board associations for the university (like school committees)
• NO ONE wears yoga or sweat pants to class (this was a very difficult change to get used to, I only wore sweat pants once but couldn’t give up wearing my lulus)
• When applying for jobs, employers look at extra-curricular involvement first and then marks (different then typically what employers do in Canada)
• Holland has the most country pride I have ever seen. You can get Holland apparel at any time in so many stores and for holidays people (of all ages) get so into it
• They have sales at the grocery store of literally 2-3 cents off haha
• At Albert Heijn (grocery store) you get a bonus card but when you use it you are only receiving the bonus aka sale price and not any additional bonus (aka you pay full price for all things on sale if you don’t use your bonus card)
• Lots of themes at Albert Heijn where they will give something if you purchase so much (points/stickers that go towards something else - example: Hamster week, Muppet week, collectible week)
• Pay for water at basically every restaurant
• You can pay extra to put an illegal 5^th person in a cab
• Dutch boys where an excessive amount of hair gel - literally I feel like if I put ran my hand through their hair it would be so sticky after (Yuck)
• Holland has 16.5 million people and 18 million bikes  

Things I miss about Tilburg:

• #1 by far = the people
• Biking!! (especially biking home from the bar, best experience ever)
• Saturday markets
• New countries every weekend
• Albert Heijn
• Hearing Dutch all the time (Alstublieft, Tot Ziens!, Dankjewel!)
• Poffertjes, Stroop Waffels and Euro Shopper
• Verbs life 

Tot Ziens! :) 

Hello Friends!

     Well I am home now and have failed at following up/closing off my European adventure haha but anyways, better late than never I suppose? Anyways I ended my last entry with talking about the possibility of writing this next entry in dutch since I still had to do my Dutch exam however unfortunately that is not possible. To add a bit of Holland flair maybe I will randomly add Dutch words haha on a positive note though I did pass my Dutch course! And actually all courses :) So exciting!

     Alright so rewinding until before my exam (will do my best to remember accurately) – During my last two weeks in Tilburg I did some studying but found time to visit Amsterdam for the third time (funny thing, when I went the first time I told myself I wouldn’t be back again since I had already seen it…apparently that wasn’t the case) anyways so I went back to Amsterdam and met up with Brad, my friend from home who I grew up with! He was on a trip through Europe so we decided to spend the day together and go to the Heineken Experience. I would definitely recommend it, it was so much fun! Fast Fact about Heineken: it’s made with 95% water, hops, barley and A yeast! We also got to be “brewed” it was a video simulation thing, it was so cool haha

     I also went to Kandinskys, a beer place in Tilburg (yes I drink beer now, one of the many accomplishments of exchange) and it has over 300 types of beer! It was so wonderful; I had peach and cherry beer. #soyum Other than that, I did a lot of things just around Tilburg, did a lot of shopping, which I justified by telling myself that since I didn’t have time to visit a 10^th country I could then use all the travel money haha and that is exactly what I did…so much so that when I went to the airport my luggage weighed too much – the attendants solution was to put the extra weight into my carry on. I don’t get it, either way it’s going on the plane, why does it matter what suitcase it’s in? haha

     Also during my last couple weeks we had multiple picnics outside of all the exchange buildings which was so nice since it was so sunny and not rainy for once! I also had one last market day of fresh stroop waffles, sampling all the dips with fresh bread and buying lots of delicious fruits and veggies! We also had one last party at Verbs 70 which was so sad but a lot of fun. The girls and I ended my last night with a slumber party and then after a poffertjes breakfast then next morning I left for Amsterdam.

     Luckily I have now learnt how the train station works in Holland so I was able to get there with no problem and even had a friend from Tilburg Uni also flying back on my flight! After an enjoyable 7 hour flight with KLM (unreal food and great entertainment, they never disappoint) I arrived in Canada! Expecting to leave the gate to just find my parents and Jordan but instead my parents, grandparents, Jordan and his parents as well as my Aunt were all there to welcome me home! With a giant pink sign and flowers :) They also got a limo and once I returned home they had a lovely welcome home display! Karrie and her boyfriend Phil were over and they got me an ice cream cake with a picture of a dutch girl on it haha it was so cute and delicious!

     The following day I hung out with my best friends, so nice to be reunited again! The following day I started my internship at RIM in Corporate Philanthropy! I will be there for 11 months (instead of going back for 4^th year) and love it so far. The people are great and the job is fabulous, I have already learnt so much!

     But anyways, that about wraps up my European adventure, I am so sad it is over but feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to go on exchange. I travelled to a total of 9 countries and approximately 25 cities. I saw and experienced things that I never would have had the chance to had I studied strictly within national borders. I strongly encourage studying abroad and would say it is the best university experience I have had so far. The people, the places, the experience was amazing.

Carpe Diem Everyone, until next time.

Cheers from Canada! (seems weird saying Canada…)

PS. I will revisit and continue this blog during my next adventure…which I am hoping will be soon as I have caught the travel bug haha…Asia next?

Previously I listed the order of my favourite cities - I have done a bit more travelling now so here is an updated version :)

1) Florence, Italy
2) London, England
3) Paris, France
4) Rome, Italy
5) Prague, Czech Republic
6) Budapest, Hungary
7) Siena, Italy
8) Amsterdam, Netherlands
9) Berlin, Germany
10) Vatican City (really a country but it is as small as a city…)
11) Antwerp, Belgium
12) Brussels, Belgium
13) Pisa, Italy
14) Volendam, Netherlands 
15) Utrecht, Netherlands

I have also been to Lisse, Venlo, Eindhoven and s’Hertogenbosh in Holland as well as Oranienburg in Germany but did not see enough of those cities to make a fair judgement :) And of course, Tilburg is my favourite city of all – but I may be a little bit biased ;)