I made it half way! I am now three months into my half year exchange in the Netherlands and I am still loving every moment of it. Although skyping home and seeing my whole family together without me there made me slightly homesick and I am cherishing every moment with my new family here. The days, weeks and months are flashing by before me, I cannot believe how quickly the time flies.

My Dutch has been getting a lot better and I feel much more confident talking to people now at restaurants, school, family get-togethers and just in general. Since the spring holiday I have been able to get to know friends at school a lot better, develop my Dutch writing skills through also doing the normal assignments in class, keeping up with homework, doing exams and writing up reports and debating. A group of friends and myself went to Amsterdam one afternoon after school to go shopping and for them to show me around the most famous city of the Netherlands for the first time. Although certain smells were unfamiliar and uninviting hearing so many different languages being spoken all around me felt refreshing and eye opening. Amsterdam is truly a beautiful place to be and the cultural diversity of tourists in the area was an irreplaceable experience.

As a gift to a family friend’s young daughter we went to a castle, Kasteel De Haar, which was absolutely beautiful. The tour around the castle was especially made for kids and so it was done really creatively and playfully. The little girl we took wore her princess Elsa dress (from Frozen of course) and walked around the castle like she belonged there. It was interesting to hear all the history and stories behind castles and understand why certain places were built and designed the way they were. Something so old, historic and unique is totally different to anything you’d see in Australia.

Then of course there was Easter. As a child in South Africa Easter weekend consisted of seeing either of my grandparents and doing a small Easter egg hunt with my cousins. As I got older in Australia it consisted of a weekend or a week at the beach with a friend and my family. However, Easter in Holland has been totally different to both these experiences. We went to go see both of the grandparents, I lost the first annual Easter egg hunt by far (everyone obviously knew all the hiding places from experience) and the second I somehow managed to win (probably just needed to warm up a little). Dutch people like to decorate the house or a table with a little tree with Easter decorations on top of it, or they place decoration in their windows so anyone who drives or bikes past can be wished a Happy Easter. I admire the way Dutch people celebrate everything to the fullest with decorations and parties.

The true difference in my Easter in the Netherlands however has been Paaspop (Easter-pop). It is the first annual music festival of the year, so it starts of the crazy music festival season in Holland. I got to experience walking around in loads mud from a rainy week and listened to many new Dutch artists I have never heard of, although some songs I was proud to know because of the radio. I got to dance along to Jett Rebel, jump up and down with Typhoon, sing along to Selah Sue and dance to Joris Voorn with my host family for a weekend. Even though our last night ended having to push the Jeep out of deep slobbery mud, getting absolutely covered by it in the process it was most definitely an experience I will remember for the rest of my life.

After Easter I could start to feel the temperature changing, I could feel the sun on my skin more frequently and people started to become happier (vrolijk). Finally the temperature was reaching above 10 degrees and it wasn’t raining all the time. Although I had to write exams for a week the sun made it bearable knowing that spring was fast approaching I went to Leiden for a day with my family and as always was gobsmacked by how much history there lies within this country. I saw buildings built between 800 – 1150AC and walked along roads and past houses that have been standing for hundreds of years. Although to all Dutch people it is quite normal; seeing a building with any dates below the 1700’s written on it is unique to me. Australia wasn’t even discovered before then! The weather also allowed for a visit to the flower farms on the way home. Just driving past some with the windows opened brought a perfume-like smell into the car. It was like a rainbow painted along the fields with all the different colours, something that only belongs to the beautiful Holland.

The first three months have been wonderful and eye opening, I cannot wait to see how the rest unfolds, especially finally feeling the heat again and hopefully advancing in my Dutch skills.