Today was the day that we had our presentations! Since it was going to be a pretty intense day of listening to a lot people talking and absorbing a lot of information, we were all allowed to sleep in. We haven’t exactly been getting up too early, at least in my opinion, but I prefer to sleep in until around nine or nine thirty, and we had not being doing that up to this day.

  It was a little crazy trying to figure out where to go. We got there in time to participate in yo...

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On Tuesday, November 28, we started off our day at 9am beginning with the usual bit of housekeeping to ensure we were all on the same page. Today, the groups hit the paper and presentations hard. At times the work was intense and a bit stressful but all of the groups got a surprising amount of work done.

After the on campus part of the day was done, some students went to Alkmaar to shop and decompress from the long hard day of work. Shayna and I got a little lost and had a h...

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      On Monday we started our day having breakfast in our bungalow. We left the bungalow at 9:30 to get to the college at 10. The college was beautiful! There were live plants going up poles near the stairs and live pants that cover the walls. We first met some professors and a few students in the lobby. We were able to recognize some students from the video chats and introduced ourselves. Followed, all the students and professors met in the cafeteria. We mixed and mingled, ...

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I say this every year and have since 2002, but the time between visits with the CB faculty and students goes by so quickly. It is hard to believe since that first time Amber and I headed to Rosswein Germany I have literally brought more than 100 students to either Germany or Holland to share in this wonderful experience/class. I love now watching Facebook and seeing how past friendships continue and new are built.

As this year's class comes together it will be fun to read their papers and to w...
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For the last 3 days, we have been all around the town getting to know the area of Alkmaar and towns nearby. I love the houses and buildings here because they look so little and so close to each other compared to the United States. The designs of the houses are alike but different types of form and material. They look amazing! Also, they have some kind of grass on the roof that helps for insulation. It feels like I am living in a fairytale movie. Everything is so different. Th...

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Today was the first day that I am officially in Europe, or at least the first day I was fully awake. First we started our day going to the Zaanse schans. This was a unique experience for me the Museum was like taken out of a movie. I did so many things that I never thought I would do. One of them was playing with stilts (see picture) and it was harder than it looks I could barely balance but I managed to take at least one step. In the museum I also got to see how they make th...

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Hello everyone, so hard to believe I am once again in the Netherlands with a new group of students. Each year is like I've never been here before watching the reactions of my students as we exit the airport. I get to see this place through their eyes, each experience is once again new and exciting. Our week is full with exploring and classes working on the research papers and presenting our findings to one another. It is always wonderful spending time with my European colleagues, dissecting t...
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