6 months....

6 months... 182 days...15,724,800 seconds... yeah you get the point, a long time. but i have less time left here than i have already been here.
But to sum up the holidays...i wrote an article for my rotary club and you all can read it here...
http://www.rotary.nl/yep/nieuws/Samantha_over_Kerstmis.pdf
of course it is in dutch, but welcome to the world wide web and google translate :) you will get the basic idea.
I have also discovered ice skating. outside over the canals. Pretty much the coolest thing ever! I will be the next World Ice Skating Champion! I mean i might not be able to stop on my ice skates yet but...i can go fast. that is how you win right?
In other news. All the new exchangees have arrived in Holland, there is 11 of them from the southern hemisphere. I have one super awesome brazilian in my town, Maria. It is quite sad to see their year beginning and mine coming to an end. BUT! i still have 5 months. LOTS can happen in those 5 months!
I am going skiing at the end of this month with my host family in Austria. I am super excited. hopefully i won't die.

yup! i can ice skate :)

4 months and counting.

Hello world,
Its been about 3 months or so since i last posted and I sincerely apologize for that. But i will sum up what has occured within the last few months.
Well, I went to the French Ardennes with school for 4 days, camping, hiking, dropping, mountain biking, you get the picture. super outdoorsy stuff. It was really fun, but I am definitely not a camper. just saying.
I have now been to two Eredivisie soccer games. They are really cool. i also got to meet Jozy Altidore, who, if you don't know already, which you should, is an american soccer player, played forward for our U.S. national team and now is playing in holland. So that was really awesome. He is really nice, might marry him. He is only 22....
I also went to an amusement park for Halloween. At night, there was all these zombies and haunted houses and such. It was extremely fun. Especially with my third host brother, Kasper.
Then we get into the Holiday season. Now of course, Holland does not celebrate Thanksgiving. But my wonderful host family and I had a "small turkey" and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. a minature version. it was really fun.
Now, the real holiday for dutch people, is Sinterklaas, which is celebrated on December 5th. Well, what happens is that Sinterklaas comes with his Zwarte Pieten on a boat from Spain to bring all the kids gifts in their shoes. Of course, you must sing first or he won't come. Every culture has something with singing. for real. But since my host family consists all of older people, we just gave gifts and wrote rhymes. in dutch, i might add. not very easy but thank goodness for google. I got lots and lots of candy and some awesome stripped socks, and a wonderful cold book.....and a pony....okay a chocolate pony but still. a PONY.
and that brings me to 4 months here in holland, which also means switching host families. I have three this year. My first family, Daan, Lauri, John, Marleen, and Jolle were absolutely amazing and awesome and I am glad they don't live too far away. But now i live with Esther and Ron and their 3 kids, my new host siblings, Sarah, Ronald, and Anna. I am sure they will be just as great.
Updates with everything else.
Language: uhhh. yeah. it's coming. the grammar is a toughy.
School: school is always school but has become a lot more fun.
friends: got lots and lots of those and love everyone of them.
soccer: we are still doing good. i don't know how we stand anymore but it doesn't matter//
That is my last few months quickly summed up. i cannot believe it has already been 4 months, it has gone so fast, and i know by the end of this year, i will not want to go home.
I am excited for the rest.
I will keep you better updated from now on! SORRY!

One Month...or so.

Hi Everybody,
So I apologize for not posting...in forever. It has been a busy month.
I started soccer or voetbal in dutch. We train twice a week. and we have now played three games. Lost the first one... 6-1...tied the second 3-3....and we just won the last game on sunday, 9-1. Hopefully we can keep winning from now on.
I also started school, a week late, I didnt start until September 12th, extra long summer for me, I am not complaining. It is quite the way to start my senior year off. The school i go to is called Martinus College and they had asbestos problems, which is why we started out late, it is chaotic there. But the great thing about having half the school closed for asbestos is that our schedule doesnt start until 12:50 every day. I get to sleep in for the next month. I love it. I have been in school for a week now. So far, so good. Of course it takes about 100000x more effort to pay attention and to my work for school then it ever has since everything is in dutch. Sadly even my english class is more dutch than english but i can do the work :) I feel like i have a lot of classes. my classes are, Dutch, english, spanish, french, (learning a language in a different language is extremely hard but i like it) math, history, geography, drama, gym, society class, and another class about colleges and such. But I am a nerd, so i enjoy school and i enjoy having to put extra effort into learning. Of course, I am only a week into it, so my opinion may change.
Dutch. one hard language. that is all i have to say about it. i dislike it with a passion. (see? i am being nice, i didnt say hate...yet)
I think that within a little more than a month in Holland, I have seen more here than i have of Pennsylvania. Yes i know Pennsylvania is bigger but still. i have gotten to travel so much and i love it.
I have been to two Rotary meetings so far and made two speeches. It is strange to think back to only a year ago when i was scared to death to speak in front of people and now when it doesn't truly phase me. I did an entire speech in dutch. I am proud. Just so you know...it was only 2 minutes...maybe. BUT STILL! The Rotary meetings are really nice too, good food, and wonderful people. Eventually i will remember everyones names.
I have done too many things to talk about but if any of you reading ever want to know anything or having any questions... email me. sammyj9301@gmail.com
SO FAR. I LOVE IT HERE.
and hopefully will continue to :)
till next time.
DOEI

Holland

Alright, I made it.
I have been in Holland for almost two weeks now and it is amazing.
Everyone is nice, the food is amazing, and the scenery is beautiful.
The first week was exhausting sitting and listening to dutch. You just sit there and think twice as hard to try and translate what everyone is talking about.. I had many headaches after those days.
This week was the Dutch Orientation Camp for all of the inbounds here. So we could learn some dutch or something...We stayed with local families of the rotary clubs, and i got to stay with my canadian. Michelle :)
But anyways there was 21 of us and they are all amazing people. I love everyone of them.
We had dutch classes every day monday- friday 9-3:30. I did learn a lot but i still dislike school. Especially when people are directing another language at you. But i learned the important things..like how to hit on guys. So i am totally set for the year.
The camp was in Leiden which has the oldest university in Holland, the town is beautiful and there are canals every where, so it reminds me of my dreams of going to venice, italy. i think i am satisfied for now with this beauty. Ill show you what i mean when i finally upload pictures. But we went on a boat tour of leiden on sunday, learned about some of the buildings, I was more entertained by being on a boat.
Monday evening, we went to a local rotary meeting, lots of dutch, lots of drinking, lots of talking. But thankfully our host mom for the week saved us from listening to the presentation and we got to go to a birthday party and hang out with children. They make you feel better about your dutch cause you can actually understand them. yay for children. Which just means i have the speaking level of a 2 year old but..oh well.
Tuesday, Four of us inbounds went to the beach, the north sea, it was really cold but gorgeous. Beaches are always amazing. Especially in Europe. Cause its just cool to say, i was at a  beach in europe. Then we all went to De Hagg, which is where all the parliament, queen, ect, are. Really pretty tall buildings. I have decided I am going to join the royal family. I just need a plan to do it. Also, all the embassies are there and the American embassy is the only one with a ridiculous amount of security. so go america. we are scared of everyone. wooohoo.
Wednesday, all of us inbounds went to a museum...which was...fun?. Then we got to go to the town hall and see everything, we got an article about us written in the paper. we are so famous. Then a group of us all went to hang out in Leiden for the night, I love the inbounds.
Thursday, 4 of us heading off to Amsterdam, it is a beautiful city. Especially at night with all the bridges lit up. But we had our own personal tour guide showing us the history of Amsterdam and I cant wait to go back, It is definitely not a city you can see all in one day. We did have some amazing Indonesian food that night though. yum. And of course we saw some of the red light district...i kinda want a red light for my window now. but just to psych everyone out. ha!
Friday, last day of school. yay. and a bunch of us hung out again after school in leiden. always fun. Then we had a BBQ with everyone, including some inbounds from January. That was really fun and sad, knowing we all became good friends this week and we are separating again. But no worries, Holland is small. it only takes 3 hours from north to south. About the same half way across Pennsylvania. Three hours from State College to Pittsburg. So i will most definitely be hanging out with all of you throughout the year plus the other orienations and fun stuff we will do.
But the last two weeks have been a lot of learning. I can say some stuff in dutch which is awesome. And i just learned that soccer (voetbal) starts this week. So i am excited for that. I still have a few weeks before school starts. And i will try and keep you posted on everything that happens. maybe.
Thanks for reading my rambling.
Love you all.
Tot Ziens.

ONE WEEK

so today marks one week until i leave. where did the time go? it seems like just yesterday i was starting this whole process. i am so excited but so nervous all at the same time.
i have started to pack....this is one of the hardest things EVER! i mean seriously...packing for an entire year. in two suitcases? are you kidding me? I think the hardest thing so far has been my shoes. They are my favorite thing in the world and also take up the most space...also I am playing soccer in Holland...so i have those shoes as well. Can't all my stuff magically appear in my room there? that would be fantastic :) but not going to happen. So as of now. i have clothes thrown all over my room and i keep trying things on to make sure 100% that i love it and will wear it. This is so hard! ha.
I am almost positive that i have everything i need. So hopefully I can spend this last week hanging out with friends and packing. So friends reading this. You should text me or email me to hang out :)
I also get to spend my 17th birthday here. One last fun thing here in America before i adventure out. Anybody know of the best restaurants that give out free desserts for birthdays? that is all i am looking for . what else are birthdays good for ...except FREE things?
I will definitely post next week when I am Holland. So keep posted. Follow my blog :) I should keep it updated on everything. Also i will start adding photos as soon as i charge my camera. ohhh electronics.
TOT ZIENS :)

Hee!

Hallo everyone.
Well. Here goes nothing.
Next year....2011-2012, I am spending in Venhuizen, Holland as a Rotary Youth Exchange Student...Venhuizen is a small village....about....60 km north of Amsterdam. or 40 miles for you Americans.
I just booked my flight for August 8th at 5:10pm. It feels like time could not stop flying by. I only have a little over a month in glorious State College, Pennsylvania and so much to get done. I cannot even begin to fathom packing for entire year. OH MY. I know most of my fellow exchange students have told me to pack light but when you think about a year, all you want to do is pack your entire room up. But unfortunately that won't fit in a suitcase. For now, I will just spend my time not thinking about that. If that is possible.
I am extremely excited to get this show on the road. I should probably work on my dutch..... I have learned some insults...and how to say yes and no. I think that should get me through...for awhile.
I will have three different host families. I have been in contact with my first. I have my host dad, John, and my host mom, Marleen. Then two older brothers, Daan who is 20 and Jolle who is 18 but he is going to Canada next year. which is cool but not as cool as living with me. just kidding. You have fun Jolle.
I will be attending school while I am there....Martinus College. I get to bike there. 15 minute bike ride to school. I hope i have a horn. or some pom poms.
I've got a lot to get done before i leave. But it will all be worth it.
Thanks for reading....or not. Whichever.
Hope you will enjoy the stories i have to come.
Peace out Boy Scouts.