Dutch Life

Okay here are some intersting things that I have become accostomed to:
*The Dutch are very blunt and direct
*Dutch Students go home about every weekend
*Shopping for food is common on a daly basis
*Cooking dinner together is normal
*Open food market three times a week (I love this for the best fresh bread!)
*Must bring own bag at the supermarket or pay for one
*Paying rent online and using a hand-held ATM like machine to verify transactions
*Small shops...no large malls (no Albertson's)
*Using a magnetic bracelet to get into the swimming pool and its lockers
*Bicycling EVERYWHERE!!!! (babies learn to hold on in the back at a toddler age)
*"I'll give you a lift" literally means "run and jump on the back of my bike as I cycle away"
*Constant overcast (the few days of sunshine...people ditch school and work to flood the city)
*Spring actually has a smell!
*The gym is crowded at all hours of the day...people really execise!
*The Dutch students buy new clothes on a regualr basis and would never go to class in P.J.'s
*International school has me really learning the meaning of "group work" I never thought I would be actually assigned to be a group with two other people and be expected to do internal investigation of a Restaurant and give sugguestions to solve their customer quota problems....I have really gotten a crash course in people and managing skills