Living international

I have been in Tilburg for almost a week and this has been one of the busiest weeks of my life. My new home is in a student housing complex just a two minute bike ride to campus. The official name is Professor Verbernelaan but us "locals" call it 'verbs'. I live on a floor with 16 other exchange students, and, get this - share only 2 toilets, 3 showers and 1 kitchen!!!!! So basically you get to know each other really fast and really well. In front of the Textile Museum

There is exchange students living on every floor below us and above us. So far, I have run into students from Australia, America, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, France, Finland, Italy, Spain, China, Mexico, Germany, the UK, Ireland, Lithuania, Scotland, Turkey, Hungary and counting. One of the craziest coincidences was meeting another Canadian girl on my floor, from Waterloo, and her name is also Cheryl! Clockwise from me: Mitzi (Mexico), Arthur (Italy), Paulo (Italy), Alberto (Brazil), Daniella/Danni (Australia), Cheryl (Canada)

Sometimes it's been pretty funny when two students try to intoduce themselves. On average, I have to ask about 3 times for them to repeat their name. My Canadian tongue has to get used to all these different accents and sounds. I felt really bad the first time I was introduced to one of the Italian guys. He said his name literally 8 times before I finally realized he was saying 'Arthur'. The crazy rolling of the r's made me think his name was something totally different.

One of the really nice things Tilburg has is a chapter of the Erasmus Student Network (ESN). This committee is a bunch of Dutch students who act as mentors for the exchange students. They plan socials, get-to-know yous, and divide us into mentor groups of 11 exchange students and 3 menors. Every Tuesday there is mentor dinners where two groups get together and have a dinner that two exchange students cooked. You have dinner with a different group each time until you meet everyone. I have to cook a dinner with a German/Russian girl. We have to make traditional dishes from our countries. Not quite sure what would count as a "traditional" Canadian meal - perhaps some people back home can just send me some maple syrup. my group (right)

It has been a lot of fun so far. Really cool to compare how each coutry lives. This weekend we are all going to a camp about a half hour outside of Tilburg where we will al spend more time getting to know everyone.