Wageningen Day 6 Sam

How are you feeling about being away from home?

I am feeling great away from home. I am used to leaving for extended periods of time, so it really is not something out of the ordinary. There are certain conveniences I miss, such as having a cell phone for easy contact, having a car to get places easily rather than relying on public transportation, having fully functioning internet and places being open past 5pm. Yet these are changes that I am adjusting well to and I believe they just take a little getting used to.

How are you feeling about being where you are located now?

I am really enjoying Wageningen so far. It is very different than what I am used to, yet I believe that I will learn so much while living in such a different place for 8 weeks. The people have been beyond great, for instance, Rene welcomed us into his home and his wife, Emmy, cooked us an amazing home cooked meal. We were also able to meet his two daughters and I found them really interesting to talk to. The students in our wing have also been really friendly and it’s been really neat to meet people from all around the world. An Italian boy on our floor cooked us a delicious Italian lasagne tonight. I really enjoy the town we are in, it appears as a very small town at first, yet as we explore further out, it has a lot to offer, such as different types of shops and huge open markets on Wednesdays and Sundays.

What have you had to do to adapt to living/working there? How are you coping with those changes in your day-to-day behavior?

I have had to adapt to many of the changes that I listed in the first question, yet I feel that it has been a smooth transition. I absolutely love that everyone rides bikes here, it is so much more environmentally friendly and it is also so nice to be outdoors. I have also needed to learn an entire new town, we have been glued to our map. Also learning the bus and train systems has been an adventure so far, yet I think we are getting the hang of it. I should have more things I may have to adapt to concerning my work environment in the coming days, since we will officially start tomorrow.

Other Comments:

My internet is currently very limited in function. I am working on getting this problem fixed, they are not sure what is wrong. Basically I can only access my email and cannot even reach this blog site, use google or much else. Therefore, Allison has been very kind to allow me to post from hers.