Zeddam, Netherlands

So I only have 2 weeks left here in Holland! I can't believe how fast time flies! It seems like just barely when I was planning and counting down the days until I came, and now I'm almost done! But it has been fun and I'm ready to come home. So last weekend, I went to Zeddam, Netherlands with my project group for school. We are doing a project on the law firm of Tim's (guy in my group) dad and we had to go there this weekend to interview the staff. We stayed at Tim's house and it was awesome. It was huge and so nice and in a cute little Dutch village in the south of Holland. We went for a walk in the center of the town and we walked around this big castle and it was really nice.
Tim's house in Zeddam, Netherlands.
This is the pool. I've never seen someone who has a pool in Holland! Tim's backyard with a huge yard and garden and fountain. This is the castle that we went to. We walked all around and it was really beautiful.

Pictures of the quaint little Dutch village.That is the oldest windmill in Holland (apparantly...)

More cute pictures, these are really typically Dutch houses and gardens and everything.

The grass is always green in Holland.

This is an old church next to a cemetery.

Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! (Happy New Year)

The holidays have been really nice. I had 2 weeks off of school and even though I don't go to school that much to being with, it was still nice to have a break...haha. But Christmas was really nice even though I was far away from home. The day after Christmas, me and Chris and Meredith drove to Paris for 4 days. New Year's was insane here in Groningen. They do billions of fireworks here and all of them would be illegal in Utah! It was madness everywhere with fireworks all over the place! I was actually a little afraid for my life. But it was fun. Here are some pics from the past few weeks.Me making cookies!Me and Meredith on Christmas Eve at Chris's house with his family and the missionaries.De Zendelingen! The missionaries. Elder Peterson on the left (from Vernal), and Elder Stiles from Orem.This is me playing the Dutch game "Shulen" I don't know how to spell it but it's really fun and I was concentrating. This is on New Year's Eve. I just lit some sparklers because everyone else is so crazy about the fireworks, and they like to light them, so I was happy with my sparkler just watching the madness.
Right after midnight we all toasted and then everyone gives each other 3 kisses on each cheek and says, "Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!"


Some of the fireworks. This isn't even an idea of how crazy it was.Jenny lighting some fireworks. She was so nuts about them, she loved them!

Me and Chris went to Amsterdam (again) because I had been a lot, but I hadn't been to any museums, so we saw the Van Gogh museum, the Rijksmuseum (Dutch national museum with a lot of Dutch history and works by Rembrandt), and last but not least, the Sex Museum!
It's Amsterdam, what do you expect? We had to go and it was really funny.
Pictures from the Sex Museum.
Me in the Red Light District...not really, this was just inside the Sex Museum, but we did go to the Red Light district later that night and it was pretty interesting...The only picture I got to take inside the Van Gogh museum. It was definitely my favorite musuem.
This is Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" and I got to see it at the Van Gogh museum! It was a really cool picture and I got a copy of it for myself.

This is the Rijksmuseum. Me in front of the Rijksmuseum.
A cute little statue of Cupid inside the Rijksmuseum.

Paris at Christmas (well almost...)

The day after Christmas we went on a roadtrip to Paris and it was a lot of fun. Paris is a beautiful city and I really loved it. I was pleasantly surprised with the Parisians. Before going, we had heard so many awful things about the French people and especially people in Paris. They are very proud and refuse to speak English and basically just really rude. Although we did encounter some rude people (when asked if he spoke English, the first man we talked to said in English, "I speak French"!), we also talked to some really nice people. We also met some crazy French guys that Meredith knew so they took us all around Paris and entertained us for 2 days. It was really fun to have French tour guides! Me behind the wheel of our tiny little Euro car! We drove and parked outside the city then rode the metros around the city. It worked out really well.
This was the view from our hostel window! That is the Sacre Coeur, a beautiful cathedral in Paris.
Here is Meredith and I at the Moulin Rouge.
Parisians are the CRAZIEST drivers ever. This is the view from on top of the Arc de Triomphe at the round-about. We drove with our French friends down there!
The Champs Elysees from on top of the Arc de Triomphe.The stairs up to the top of the Arc de Triopmhe! For some reason, we decided to run up, but later regretted it...
Us after running all the way up the steps.

Meredith and I with the Arc de Triopmhe in the background.
The musuem of modern art. We didn't go inside but the outside itself was pretty awesome! There were escalators on the outside of the building!

More of the museum of modern art.
I really don't know what this building is, we just came across while walking around and it was really pretty. I think it might be for the government or something, but that's just a guess!
Me with the Seine River in the background.
The Cathedral of Notre Dame.
The Eifel Tower! Yay! Every hour for 10 minutes, it lights up and sparkles and it's really awesome.
Meredith and I on top of the Eifel Tower!
Chris, me, Clemont, Meredith and Paul on top of the Eifel Tower. It was really fun and beautiful, even though it was freezing!
Some views from the top of the Eifel Tower.

This is in line for the Eifel Tower (don't tell anyone but we cut in line because it was really long and really cold! The French guys led the way, so we just went along! Whoops...)
Me and Chris!
Here is Meredith trying "es cargo" or snails for the first time with the help of Clemont. I really liked them actually They were really good and I was surprised!
This is an idea of the driving and parking in Paris. The black car was the one we were in and our French friend parallel parked like this in one try without even blinking! Amazing.The Louvre! We spent about 4 hours inside and I was blown away with how incredibly HUGE it is.
One of the apartments of Napoleon inside the Louvre.
The sculpture of Aphrodite.
A cool "lip couch" in Napoloeon's apartments.







The Arc de Triomphe at the end of the Champs Elysees.
This is the other side of the Champs Elsyees with a Ferris Wheel at the end.
Meredith and I at dinner.
Our French friends-Paul and Clemont! They were great!
The area near the Sacre Coeur. It was really beautiful with the church and blue lights everywhere and guys doing drawings.

The Sacre Coeur up close.