I know, I know, long time no see…..well ‘read’ I should say ;p.
The reason for this? The last weeks of school were very busy. After that I couldn’t get an internet connection with my laptop for a couple of weeks. And for the two weeks that I’ve been home now…well….let’s just say I was a bit lazy ;p.
So what’s happened to me in the past 2 months? Well in short: I spend 6 more weeks in Nebraska since my last story on this weblog. Then I went to New York state to visit relatives there for about 2 weeks. And the past 2 weeks I spent at home, recovering from my trip and starting preparations for the WYD 2008 in Sydney.
I’ve decided to split my report of this period in two. The first will be about my last weeks in Nebraska. The second will be about my stay in New York State and my trip home.
The last time I wrote a story here it was week 15. So I’ll start this report in:
Week 16: On the Thursday of this week I went to a lecture of a famous genetics, biology, psychology, etc (the list of what she’s done in her life is too long for me to repeat here) professor. She gave a very interesting talk about the influence of genetics on society. How, for example, we are able to tell the sex of a child and whether it has any specific diseases before it is even born. And what the influence of the latter is on society. That evening we had a dance in Stout Hall called a Trafic Light Party. The idea of this is the following: when you have a boy- or girlfriend you wear red, when you’re not sure you wear yellow, and when you are single and open to a relationship you wear green. The party was a huge success and we had a lot of fun. You’ll also find pictures of this event on this page.
Week 17&18: Nothing really interesting happened these weeks. I basically spent my time studying for a couple of tests and hanging out with my friends.
Week 19: Finals week! Meaning I had a big exam for all of my courses. The Sunday before this week started there was a banquet for all the honors students. During this banquet the freshmen receive a pin for ‘surviving their first year’. The seniors receive their medals for the graduation ceremony. Furthermore all students receive a certificate. I also got lucky and received a certificate for my achievements at UNK during the semester I was there. That evening there was a pancake-feed for all the honors students. Basically to get your mind of the exams and get a nice dinner with your friends. My exams all went really well. During the evening on Monday and Tuesday everyone could come to the Student Union for a free breakfast. On Tuesday this meant we had to cross a severe thunderstorm (which was actually a lot of fun), but it was definitely worth it. I have to say, thunderstorms in Nebraska are a lot different than in the Netherlands. The air turns a specific shade of green, there was lightning everywhere and a lot of rain. On Thursday evening I gave a little goodbye party for all my friends. I had ordered some Dutch goodies (stroopwafels, speculaas, etc) to teach them some Dutch culture :p. I had a lot of fun and I must say: I miss my friends every day. Pictures of this event can also be found on this weblog. Then on Friday I had to move of campus, because the semester was over.
Week 20: My first week at Amanda’s (my roommate) house, where I was invited to stay until I would leave for New York State. On Wednesday dr. Davis took me to the Arch. This is a museum that crosses the interstate. In this museum, the story of the different routes going West (the Mormon trail, etc) was told. How people left everything behind to find their fortune in the west of the USA. All these routes came together in Kearney where there was a big fortress to protect the travelers if needed. It definitely is an amazing place to visit! The next day dr. Davis took me on a trip through Nebraska. He had been planning this trip for quite a while, but during the semester we were both just too busy. We left at 9 in the morning and didn’t come back until 20.00. It was a very nice trip. He showed me the Sandhills (which is basically a huge area of sand dunes with now sign of life except for the hundreds of cows you see). Furthermore we visited the national forest (completely manmade) and some of the lakes in the area.
Week 21: My last week in Nebraska. I basically spent my time arranging the last few things. I met with dr. Davis for a couple of times, went to the museum of modern art in Kearney with Amanda, saw a movie at the drive-in, had lunch with some friends, and saw the premiere of the new Indiana Jones movie. Then on Friday I had to say goodbye to everyone. It was really hard on me. Saying goodbye to the wonderful time I spent there. And even worse: saying goodbye to all the friends I made….
