Time flies!

 

Steff went back to South Africa more than a month ago. Now I am sitting in my room, looking at the pictures. How excited I was, waiting for Steff at Schiphol Airport. After her arrival, we had lunch at home. She was amazed that Dutch people put ‘hagelslag’ (chocolate sprinkles) on their sandwiches. After lunch we cycled to the Rijnlands Lyceum and the village of Wassenaar. It was beautiful sunny weather and we were both just very happy. At the end of the first day we walked on the beach and ate ‘poffertjes’ and warm ‘stroopwafels’.

Arrival at Schiphol Airport

During the first week we went to school together every day, because her study program did not start yet. It was very nice that she joined me to the classes. Everything was different here from South Africa for her. She loved the freedom, that we could wake up around 7 o’clock and after breakfast we could just cycle without parents to school. She loved that she did not have to wear uniform, she could use nail polish and the girls and the boys have classes together. She was happy to discover Bagel Alley. This became the standard meeting point of the exchange students.

Bagel Alley

After the first week, I went Rome for a week and all exchange students went to Berlin. This was great for Steff and she made some new friendships. Our fall break was fantastic. We visited Waterloo and Brussels together. The panorama painting of the Waterloo battlefield was very impressive. The Atomium was a really amazing structure and it was funny to move from one sphere to another one. During our walk in Mini-Europe we ate warm Belgian “wafels” with chocolate. This became one of Steff’s favourite foods. In the centre of Brussels we made lots of  jokes in the souvenir shop about the symbol of Brussels.

Atomium

We also visited the biggest amusement park of The Netherlands: the Efteling. It was a little bit rainy day, but this was our biggest luck. The park was almost empty so we could go in all attractions and rollercoasters without any waiting lines. We could even go into the ‘Vogelrok’, the rollercoaster in the dark, 15 times in a row without having to leave our seats. The last couple of days of the holiday we had a great time in Budapest. The trip was a wonderful combination of visiting several historical places, cultural events and doing funny things. The boat trip on the Danube was beautiful. One side shows the hilly Buda with its castle, citadel and Mathias church and the on other side the flat Pest with all the impressive buildings. The musical of Mozart in the Operetta theatre was a fantastic experience. On the last day we went to the little historical village Szentendre, where we went to see the marzipan museum, and we were even allowed to taste it! Steff loved the great hospitality of my family in Hungary and she enjoyed the extensive Hungarian meals.

Budapest

We have visited so many wonderful and interesting places here in The Netherlands. We went to Utrecht by train, where we had lunch in the centre and we enjoyed shopping afterwards. In Rotterdam we loved the fantastic panorama of a 360 degree view of the city and the largest port of Europe seen from the top of the Euromast. We went even higher with the rotating elevator to a hight of 185 meter. It was simply amazing! Then we went to Maasland to see the Maeslant storm surge barrier, the last part of the Dutch Delta Works and it is the world’s largest moveable barrier. It looks like the Eiffel Tower on its side. This massive construction cannot be described in words, it can only be experienced. Amsterdam has impressive architecture, lovely canals and lots of interesting places. We laughed a lot about going to the coffee shop to drink a cappuccino. We visited the oldhistoric student city Leiden quite often. The beauty of the city center of Delft is indescribable. The architecture, the canals, the buildings, it is all just so wonderful! We definitely loved going out to The Hague the most. The Plein and Grote Markt squares abound with great restaurants, eateries and coffee houses were our favorite places. I was happy that we could celebrate Sinterklaas together and Steff liked to make a ‘surprise’ and eat lots of ‘pepernoten’, so you can guess what I’m going to bring to South Africa for her. ;)

Sinterklaas

In the last week we went to see the musical “Soldaat van Oranje”, just the two of us together. It was the most impressive and unique theater experience ever, one which we will never forget. On the 7th of December Steff was picked up by her parents. We had a lovely dinner with them on Sunday. To say goodbye to my Steffi was a very emotional moment actually, because I knew that I was going to see her in a month and a half, but she had become so involved in our lives, that it felt like my sister went away. Marcel, my brother, also became really upset when she left. I would never ever have expected that I could get such a good friendship with my exhange sister. I am so excited to see her in South Africa again, and only a few days left!!!

See you in South Africa