My Town

I arrived in the Netherlands on August 16, 2010. So I've been here for over 5 months now. During my year here I'll be living with 3 different host families. They all live in the same general area, but are actually in 3 different towns. I'm already living with my second host family in IJmuiden. My first family was in Velsen-Zuid and my last family is in Velserbroek. IJmuiden is the largest of the three. It's in the province of North Holland. IJmuiden is a fishing and sailing town and is located next to the North Sea. Unlike most towns in the USA, there are no big stores like Wal-Mart, where you can get everything at once, but there are smaller stores that are specialized in what they sell, like vegetables or meat. There are regular grocery stores too. The most popular one here is called Albert Heijn. One of the largest clothing stores here is H&M. That's just a little bit for now. I will tell more about it later.

The Netherlands

The Netherlands is a small country located in North-west Europe. It's bordered by Germany, Belgium, and the North Sea. My state of Pennsylvania in the United States is more than twice as big as the Netherlands. The main language is Dutch. The government is a constitutional monarchy and as of now they are governed by Queen Beatrix. The capital is Amsterdam. Other big cities are Utrecht, Rotterdam, and The Hague. Most people associate windmills, cheese, tulips, and clogs to the country. Then when it comes to Amsterdam most people I know only think of the sex and drugs in the city, but there really is more.

Starting Over

So I tryed to make a blog before, but I didn't stick with it for the last five months that I've been on my exchange. Now I'm starting over with a brand new blog to keep everyone updated. I'll try my best to keep it as up to date as I can.