Say Cheese!

I've had this written for about a week but I haven't found enough time or wifi strength to post it until now. The issues with traveling!

We've now arrived at the final week of the program. Four weeks have gone by so fast, and now there's only one left! I've had an amazing time, and I'v been truly lucky to be able to have this opportunity. It's rare that someone is able to spend five weeks living in a foreign country. It gives you time to truly embrace a different culture. However I still haven't learned any Dutch at all beyond "hallo" and "dank u wel".

Before we end though, we still have one final week! This something crazy happened: the sun was out almost the entire time. This was the nicest weather of the entire trip. It was in the 70's with almost full sunshine. Also this week we spent a lot of time working on our final design project.

The week started on Monday (8/3/15) with a full day of class and lectures. Monday was a much more relaxed day that previous days. I didn't even take a single photo all day! In class we learned about public transit and transit oriented development. After all the traveling of the previous weekend I didn't mind staying still all day. In the evening we grabbed some drinks on the bar barge. It's a bar that's located on a barge in the canal! It was really pretty.

Tuesday (8/4/15) started off with our final design project being assigned. My group was assigned to redesign a portion of Dorchester Avenue in South Boston to make it more friendly to bikes and pedestrians. We needed to use designs that we learned about here in the Netherlands and incorporate them into the Boston streets. We spent most of the day working on our design. Our group decided to make protected cycle tracks along Dorchester Avenue to protect the cyclists from the cars. Thrilling stuff!

In the afternoon my group and I stopped to go get gelato. Delft has this really good gelato place that I've probably been going to way too much. But it's ok because it's only 1.25 euro per scoop! After that I took a walk around Delft. I found a park near a canal and took a nap for a short period of time. It was a relaxing time.

Garrett and his gelato.

Beautiful day in Delft.

This is the park where I took a nap.

Another view of the Oostpoort, the old gate from the med-evil ages.

Typical Delft street with flags and everything.

Wednesday (8/5/15) was another beautiful day. My project group decided to take advantage of that and go stand-up paddle boarding in a canal!! Only 10 euro for an hour rental of paddle boarding. It was really fun! I had never gone paddle boarding before. Luckily the wind was very mild, so the water was very calm. I was able to balance without falling off once! Now I can say I've been stand-up paddle boarding in a canal!

Me at the beginning. The water was so still!

 And now I've moved on to standing up!

In the afternoon my group returned to working on the project. In the evening I got take out wok for dinner and then went back to the bar barge for a drink again. Were trying to take full advantage of Delft while we can! Even better is that after drinks we found a gelato place giving out free gelato! Nothing better than a scoop of free gelato!

Thursday (8/6/15) was the day that I had been looking forward to for months. It was the day of the Gouda cheese market!!!!! About half the program spent the morning in the town of Gouda walking around the cheese market. It was all that I had dreamed it would be. Giant wheels of cheese! Vendors selling cheese to everyone! So many great photo opportunities!

The market was pretty fun. It was a little more touristy than I was expecting, but it made it fun. People would buy and sell the cheese, and they made it out into a show for the audience. There was a man with a microhpone who kept walking around. People could take rides on a horse and carriage called the "Gouda Express". Good times!

I ended up buying three wheels of cheese. I split one on the spot with Chase and Garrett. We ended up buying four loaves of garlic bread for 1 euro to go with it. What a deal!!

Town Center of Gouda

Market day!

Me Garrett and Chase splitting a wheel.

All of the goods.

Here I am!!

Me and the Gouda Cheese Girls. Even though they looked very unimpressed with their lives, I couldn't resist the opportunity.

More Cheese!

150 kg wheel!!!!!

A traditional Cheese seller. Note the wooden shoes!

 Traditional selling and buying of cheese. The man in white is a buyer and the other is a seller. Every an offer or counter-offer is made, they slap hands. This is the traditional way the market had sold cheese for centuries. 

Unfortunately, the party could not last all day. We had to go back to Delft and finish up our projects. We worked on the projects for most of the afternoon and evening. I only took a break to get unlimited pancakes one last time. It was worth it. Joel talked our table into getting the beer tower.

Only 2.5 Liters of beer! Don't worry, there are 4 other people at the table with me.

Thursday night I wrapped up my part of the project and got ready for the next day. Only one day left to go!!!