My semester in pictures

So I've really been meaning to post on my blog for some time now.  Many weeks actually.  And I just never seem to have/make the time.  So I'm thinking I'll just narrate in pictures instead.

My friend (& housemate) Erin and I were Orientation Assistants together!

Group 24 = awesome!

First day of school!

Me, Erin, Clare

I cannot believe this was 2 months ago!

Erin wanted to ride the carousel but we were too old, so we each posed in front of it instead :-)

This was on Community Day, which is an annual event in Holland.  The carousel is on Windmill Island.

Erin and I in front of the small decorative windmill.  I say small because the real windmill is way way bigger! See below.

This is the windmill.  It is the only Dutch windmill in the country (I think).  They only agreed to ship it here if it would be operational or something.  I'm not a very good tourist :-) But I did take a tour - we went inside and climbed the stairs and looked out!

This is me and my friend Sarah, who has been my friend since 4th grade.

She goes to Calvin College in Grand Rapids and I went up for her birthday party on September 11.

My friend Lydia went to Devon Street in Chicago over the summer and bought stuff to do Henna, so she drew some pretty flowers on my foot.  It was awesome! I am all about tatoos that won't last.

One day I discovered a squirrel sitting on my bike seat chewing on a nut.  And then I realized why I had found sticky crumbs on there before.  The squirrels here are bold and mischievous.  

This is the Farmer's Market in downtown Holland, which I have been going to frequently in order to purchase apples!  

One day I saw brussel sprout stalks and I got really excited because I didn't even know they grew on stalks and I love brussel sprouts, so I bought one and my housemates thought I was crazy.

You should all be familiar with Laura because she was in Peru last year with me.  It is so beautiful having a friend here who shared my experiences in Peru!

These are the girls I live with:

Erin, Clare, Colleen, moi, Krista

(not pictured is my wonderful roommate Amy)

We had a wine and cheese party with a bunch of our friends because none of us know anything about wine and we wanted to try a bunch of different kinds!  That was a fun night!  Lots of cheese and wine and dancing! :-)

This was on Colleen's birthday.  We ate funfetti cake which was delicious considering I don't usually like cake.  

Pictured: Clare, Colleen, Krista, Me, Jeff (Colleen's boyfriend)

Basically I fill my time with classes, homework, tennis, friends, small group, field placement for my ed classes (I'm in a high school economics class), research with my prof about a local Spanish immersion program at Zeeland Christian, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, and sleeping.  I am having a great semester but it is flying by waaaaaay too fast.  Midterms were already two weeks ago.  Hopefully I will post again soon with more details of things that I've been thinking about what I'm learning this semester :-)