Winsum Windmill...

Today Sébastien and I went to see a windmill. The weather was dreary as ever (a grey sky questionably prepared to leak on us), but it was a lovely trip. We went to Winsum, which is about a fifteen minute (or less than) drive from my house.

The town was very small, and nice. There were more children riding ponies and horses than there were bikes which instilled quite a different atmosphere.

Here are pictures of the adventure...

(Look Dad: someone loved their daughter enough to get her a pony! haha, no worries...they smell funny)

(A secluded church)

(The first windmill of the day...in some lady's backyard. yikes!)

(Looking out from atop the windmill)

(Looking out from the other side)

2 Posts: 1 Day

Here are some pictures of the living room and kitchen...

prepare yourself...

:P

(What it looks like to sit on the couch and watch TV/stare into the kitchen)

(Inside the kitchen)

(uh...the kitchen again...)

(An overview of the living room- there are three couches, I just couldn't fit the other one in this picture)

(What it looks like to be standing in the kitchen and staring into the living room)

(More of the living room...)

All of the things on the wall are from the girl's sorority parties though the years. Also, each time one of the goes away on vacation, they have to bring back something for the house, hence all the other random things on the wall...

Other random updates: I spent 3 hours today working on answering ONE question for a class... you know you are over your head when? haha

Okay. Enough posts for one day.

I love you all, and I miss everyone soooooo much. I can't wait for Grandy's birthday bash!

(yes, I am already looking forward to it, even though it is 5 months away)

:)

Taylor in the News...

(My second or third day here in the child's department of a store)

Hey!

I found three articles about me studying abroad:

Article One

Another recipient of the Gilman scholarship and second-year international business, economics and entrepreneurship student Taylor Odom will be representing USC this semester in the Netherlands at the University of Groningen. Having never traveled overseas before, Odom said she chose Groningen because it is was not the average choice.“I didn’t want to go somewhere common, or anywhere touristy. I really wanted an authentic, un-American adventure,” Odom said. Fortunately, Odom has already made friends with a Groningen student who will show her the sites of the Netherlands from a native’s perspective.To receive the scholarship, applicants were required to invent their own post-study abroad project in order to inform others about the scholarship. Odom said it is best to do something that will make you stand out.“I am creating a cookbook with random facts about the Netherlands with information about the Gilman Scholarship as well,” she said.

http://www.dailygamecock.com/news/gilman-award-recipients-look-forward-to-their-travels-1.1008368

Article Two

Four Moore School Students Earn Gilman International Scholarships

Four Darla Moore School undergraduates have been awarded Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships to study abroad. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the scholarship program aims to diversify the kinds of students who study abroad and the countries and regions in which they travel.The business students were among 13 University of South Carolina students receiving Gilman awards worth a total of $45,000 for Spring 2010, more than any other university in the Southeast. A total of 1,700 scholarships are awarded each year in the U.S.Applicants are required to submit an essay and include plans for a post-study abroad project to inform others about the scholarship. Creative projects are encouraged.Sophomore Taylor Odom, who will attend the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, plans to compile recipes during her trip abroad and incorporate those into a small cookbook that will also include anecdotes from her travels, while informing readers about the Gilman Scholarship.“I want to have a true study abroad experience and completely immerse myself in the culture,” Odom said. Odom, who will major in business economics and management and minor in Chinese while at Carolina
http://mooreschool.sc.edu/news.aspx?article_id=132

Article Three

Four business students wininternational scholarshipsFour Darla Moore School of Business undergraduates havebeen awarded Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarshipsto study abroad.The business students are among 13 University studentsreceiving Gilman Awards for the spring semester, more thanany other university in the Southeast. A total of 1,700 scholarshipsare awarded each year in the United States through theU.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and CulturalAffairs.The Moore School students and their planned study abroaddestinations are:
Taylor Odom, a sophomore majoring in business economicsand management with a minor in Chinese studies, who will attend the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
http://sc.edu/usctimes/PDFs/2010/Feb_4_2010.pdf

The End.
On another note: I am spending the weekend studying (wow...what a party animal)...but I am going to take my bike (with a deflated tire) and attempt to get it fixed and also bike around a park that is close to my house today. If anything is pretty, I will be sure to take a picture for you all!

Yes, tomorrow I may go see a windmill...who knows. Depends on the weather and how far away it is...

Okay! That is all for now! Perhaps another update later today with pictures?

It Only Took Two Weeks!

A map of the city- there are two black circles, the smaller one is where I live (south of the city center) and the larger one is where I have classes (north of the city center)

HOI!

Guess who has internet?!!!

YAY!

I will divide this post into three parts: classes, social stuff, and pictures!

First, the most boring,

CLASSES

AHHH!!!!!!!!!!! I am doomed! I have three classes:

1. Statistics for International Business and Management:
This class assumes that I have already taken a statistics course. It will also be dealing with SPSS (Statistics Package for the Social Sciences) which is taught in America in more advanced statistics level courses. *I will begin freaking out now* so basically, I spent this last week with my head in the book teaching myself to get caught up. I think it will all be okay...

2. Managing International Business Organizations:
This class will be a breeze. It is 14 weeks long, and I am the only native English speaker in the class. Although, nearing the end of the semester I have to write an essay involving a theoretical strategy to better improve a particular industry...and guess what industry the professor chose for us to write about? The Beer Industry...uugh. I am the only person in the class writing about an industry that I am not legal to be involved in within my own country. haha, wonderful. Yet, no worries. The professor assigned us to read four articles which he called "high browed" and said we would have difficulties understanding them, and they were quite easy (yay English as a first language!)...yup!

3. Business Supply Chain Marketing:
Oh my gosh. I am in for a difficult time. During the first class I learned that the prerequisites to this course involve an economics course, statistics course, and management course that I have not taken...Everything is over my head. The professor is using regression analyses I have never seen, and equations requiring knowledge in economics and statistics that I completely lack. Not only that, but I learned that it is also co-listed as a Master's course...what did I get myself into? Oh well...I will work hard, and everything will be okay.

Yes, those are my courses for the first portion of the semester...I will update you all if things change, but I think it will all be consistently this: Statistics- eh... MIBO-easy-peezy...BSCM- AH!

SOCIAL STUFF

Well...I have made some American friends (and some Chinese ones), but I never see them because we all have classes in different parts of the city and they live in the international dorms while I live on the other side of the city. It is difficult to meet friends because all the internationals stick with other people of the same nationality, and they all speak in their native languages. It is hard, but it is also okay. I am in love with the buildings and wandering around, so I have enough things to distract me.

I have a very good Dutch friend, Sebastien, the boy who picked me up from the airport. He is being so helpful. He found friends who had already taken the courses that I am in, and got my books for me (thank goodness!). I ate with his family for lunch the other day and it was quite fun.

Today I went with one of my roommates to the city center to shop (she needs shoes for a class) and that was fun. She is quite eccentric and lively, so talking to her is very entertaining! And it is also nice, because when I am in the house, the girls mostly speak Dutch, so I feel slightly confused! arg...I need to figure out this language!

I spent an hour in a grocery store yesterday because I could not figure out what things were...I mean, you would think that it would be obvious because you can see what the item is...little do you know! aaah! I ended up buying random things and brought them home to try...eck. It was this strange yogurt-cheese spread thing. woopsies. But I asked one of the girls if she would like to have it, because I did not like it, and she went "OH! I LOVE THAT!"...oh dear. I am not close to being Dutch...

Hmmm...mishaps that have occurred: I jammed my finger while being a loser, and it was blue, purple and swollen for a few days. It is getting better, so no worries there...

My back tire on my bike is flat, and I have to find a bike pump that fits the air hole (the one my roommates have does not fit) so until that gets fixed, my feet will be transporting me, which is fine...I like looking around instead of focusing on not hitting the bike in front of me…

PICTURES

This is a view of the Grote Markt, which is the main part of the city center

More of the Grote Markt...I took the picture from the top of a bakery!

This is the entrance to the building where my Statistics class is...wow...

This is the door that leads into the living room of my house...I will upload pictures of the actual living room once I take pictures of it...

The bathroom...Yes...there are many pictures of naked men...


This is me, looking down and taking a picture of the stairs...They are very compact and tiny and go STRAIGHT UP...talk about 'conservation of space'!








This is the view from my room...

This is my room...

My room again...









A random house in Groningen...

More random houses...

More pictures will come...it has been rainy or snowy ever since I got here (I have seen the sun once for about five minutes)...so...once it is pretty, more pictures will appear...and I will also get pictures of the girls that I am living with and of the rest of the house...

Tot ziens!

Still no internet...

Hello family!

I am currently sitting in my Economics and Business building on the main campus, Zernike. I just had my first class of the semester- statistics. Apparently I was supposed to have taken a statistics class before this one, because in the first lecture the professor went through the first 200 pages of the book calling it a "review".

yikes.

So, I have quite a bit of studying to do for that class by the next lecture (although I have no book, and can find no place to purchace a book either- but fear not! I will figure something out.)

Other than that...

I live in a house with five girls, the house is quite crowded with posters of the girls' sorrority parties, pictures, etc. The girls are nice and very helpful with any silly questions that I have, so that is good.

Biking around the city is very very nerve-wracking! Oh my goodness. I am convinced I am going to run into another biker, or that a bus is going to hit me. Oh deary me, it is super frightening. I think I have decided to take a bus to my classes, which involves walking 10 minutes to the train station, waiting for a few minutes, and then taking the bus 10 minutes to the campus. This is quite different than leaving my dorm room 5 minutes before class...

hmm...the food is okay, a little different. The Dutch eat A LOT of bread. haha, it is interesting. The grocery stores are filled with different spreads to put on the bread and other random bread-accompanying things. Yes, their breakfast consists of bread with some sort of spread on it, and then lunch is the same thing...then dinner is some random meat with potatoes and a salad. Nothing too different to home except the unreasonable amount of carbs (then again, if you bike everywhere, I guess you would need them)


So far, my schedule is quite lovely. For the first portion of the semester (the semester is divided into two sections, part a and part b with part a ending in April, and part b starting in April and ending in June) I have lectures only on Monday and Tuesday, with 'tutorial groups' on Mondays and Wednesdays. This means that I have a 4 day weekend! Although there is still a lot of work to do for each lecture, plus I have to teach myself Chinese on my own...but with a 4 day weekend, I can travel around without missing my lessons.

Okay, I must now go and figure out what to do about not having a statistics book...and hope and pray for internet at home...

I love you all!

UUUgh...

Hello! This will be quite short!

Just wanted to let you peeps know I am alive and chillin' in the N'lands. Okie dokie.

I have no internet now, and probably will not for a week or so...

wait for frightening pictures to appear...

yikes.

okay!

I LOVE YOU GRANDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


bye bye.