I am ready for Christmas again. Lately I have become very aware of the fact that I 'missed' Christmas and that I now need to wait 11 more months before the excitement comes again. This all stemmed from listening to the Straight No Chasers Christmas album.

But it's a new year, and for most people that sometimes means turning a new page over, creating resolutions, and making life changes. Yet for me, the new year indicates that I am half way there, half way to getting back to my comfortable, normal life, halfway to having friends once again.

The last week I've worked in the bar at mennorode. At first I was told that it was so that I would have a change of scenery and not working everyday in housekeeping, but after seeing the schedule for the next month I've realized that it was only a one time thing. However working in the bar has been quite the interesting experience. My first shift was simple and straight forward, but the second was much busier and I understood why Mennorode told us it was essential for us to understand dutch before working there. Thankfully, working in the bar has also made me realize that I understand much more dutch than I give myself credit for. Maybe one day I'll even write my blog in dutch to give people something to do.

Since Mennorode isn't very busy this month, the hotel is actually completely closed a few days again, I've started studying Geography again. Alex found online lectures for me which are a great review of the atmospheric and earth science classes I took last year, but also an expansion into the chemistry and physics of meteorology. It's been great being able to challenge my mind intellectually again, other than attempting to learn and understand dutch.

Along with my studying I've also been trying to keep up with travel plans. After travelling through parts of the Netherlands and Belgium with Alex, I haven't been able to keep down my excitement about travelling when my family visits. Although the time is going to fly by, I'm really looking forward to going through France, Spain, and Germany. I cannot wait to pack my bag with only the essentials, strap it onto my back and start walking.