Eating Like the Dutch

I went to a 'traditional Dutch dinner buffet' last night, as part of the exchange student activities (like the fortification tour). Wasn't sure what to expect! It ended up being two different stews, as you can see in the picture. The darker brown of the two was my favorite. Was a beef that tasted like it had been soaked in cloves. Was almost addicting! I would definitely eat that again!! The other more muddy brown stew was okay. Had a strong veggie taste and less of a meat-y taste, but was still good. The salad - well, their salad tastes like our salad, ha. And they LOVE fries here - so it wasn't too big of a surprise to see them at the buffet. I had a Pepsi with my meal - as it came with it - and included a pic of how little the bottles are! AND you can't just order a water here to avoid having to pay for a beverage, water comes in similar bottles and costs money. All in all, was a very filling dinner! I sat with two Scottish girls, a Canadian, and the one male U of M-er at Maastricht. We had a good chat throughout dinner.

Classes started today! But I lucked out and don't have class on Mon - which is GREAT for traveling! I do have class on Tues, Wed and Fri with Thurs also being an off day. Thurs will probably end up being my study day.

Paris is a go! I'll be traveling with Carolyn (MN) and Theresia (Sweden), and possibly others that manage to book in our same hostel. The hostel is officially booked for us three and we have our big sights somewhat planned out. We're heading out early Sat, like I mentioned (because I have class until six on Fri, boo) so that Sat can be used as an all-day sightseeing day. Will be staying until late-morning on Mon. The 'big' sights we want to see are the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre, Arc de Triompe, the Catacombs and Versailles. We're still planning out what days to hit which sights, but are thinking Sunday will be mostly Versailles. Monday will be more of a laid back morning to people watch and then meander home. I plan on taking LOTS of pictures!! Can't WAIT!

Hope everyone that wanted to, has been able to access the Shutterfly picture site. Feel free to add your comments to pictures! Haven't done a Fun Facts list in a while, and I have three new ones:

1) Sunny days are pretty rare. There's only been sun for a few hours this whole week - otherwise it's overcast, raining, or snowing.

2) If you thought fries were an American thing, you thought wrong! They LOVE fries here!! But, they eat them a little bit differently. The traditional way to eat them is drenched in mayonnaise, drizzled in a spicy ketchup and sprinkled with onions. I haven't yet tried this concoction, but will have to soon.

3) European's idea of dancing is NOT American's idea of dancing. It's not uncommon to see people out on the dance floor, right after they arrive in the pub. They just move to the music, and dance all by themselves. This would NEVER happen in a bar in the States. You can tell who the Americans are because we all just stare at these people dancing, look around awkwardly, and just kind of stand there, haha