6 Days

I feel SO incredibly weird. In one week I will just be arriving at the castle and settling into my room. I spent all last night packing and stressing out over what to bring and what not to bring. I still have a little left to finish packing today but the bulk of it is done. In a few hours I will be leaving Suffern, NY and not coming back for 4 months. My family and I are driving up to the Cape later today to go visit my aunt for a few days, and then I fly out of Boston on Thursday. It’s so weird and I don't know how to feel. Part of me is ridiculously excited to go away and have this incredible semester, but the other part of me is overwhelmed and nervous. But there is no turning back now so we will just have to wait and see how everything goes. Next time I update this I will probably be in The Netherlands, so wish me luck!

17 Days

In a little more than 2 weeks and I will be on a plane flying to my future home of 4 months. After a pretty long shopping day yesterday and last week, I think I am almost set on everything that I need to bring with me. Just a few more little things I need to pick up here and there, but all the major things I need I have bought by now. Now it is basically just a waiting game. I am done with work for the summer and have two weeks ahead of me where I do not know what to really do with myself. The more free time I have, the more I start thinking about exactly what is to come over the next semester and I start to freak out a little. This is completely out of my comfort zone and unlike anything I have ever done before, but it is also something I have to do. And when it is over I know I will look back and be glad I did it. But for the meanwhile, I just can’t stop thinking about everything that I am going to have to deal with.

As much as I hate Suffern NY, I have never been away from it for this long in my life. Even in Boston, I was able to hop on a bus and come home in 4 hours if I wanted to. But there is no bus I can just hop onto from the Netherlands. There is also the whole issue of living somewhere where I do not understand what people are saying. For the most part, yes I will be in the castle where everyone speaks English, but going into the town of Well or going to other countries where I am completely lost when it comes to what they are saying, sort of freaks me out. Finally the last issue I have is money. Yes I worked all summer and refused to do anything that required money, I still am $1000-$2000 short of what they recommend you bring with you. I know I can be pretty frugal and get along with little to no money, but a lot of this trip is going to depend on what other people want to do. If everyone I am with wants to go to a nice restaurant, I can't just leave them and get a loaf of bread and some cheese by myself. Or if they all want to stay in a hotel, I am not going to go stay in a hostel alone, because lets face it, I don't want to die.

I think what it all comes down to is that I am just having natural trepidations about my voyage that hopefully will amount to nothing significant. I feel kind of like how most people feel when they are getting ready to leave for their freshman year of college. Of course I didn't really have any of those trepidations last year because I was just so excited to leave and get away that I wasn't even thinking about things that could go wrong. So I kind of think that those natural nerves of freshman year have carried over to my nerves of going abroad during my sophomore year.

And even still, every single apprehension that I have, is balanced out with, or overridden by complete excitement. I get to live in a castle with some really really awesome people, travel around to lots of countries and cities in Europe, while still getting 4 classes out of the way. It’s a pretty awesome deal.

Welcome

Welcome everybody. I don't know how many people will actually read this or not, but I thought this would be a good way to keep in touch with everyone back home and in Boston, as well as keep a record of my (hopefully) exciting semester abroad in the Netherlands. I know I always start things like these and never really follow through and keep it up to date, but we will see how it goes. To start off I think I should answer the questions that I have been getting lately...

Question #1: Why the Netherlands?

Answer: Emerson College owns a castle there. It is a legit castle from the 12th century complete with towers, gardens, and two moats (Yes that's correct...I said TWO moats). If you want to read more about it you can go to the Emerson website (http://www.emerson.edu/external_programs/castle/index.cfm).

Question #2: But why the Netherlands?

Answer: Did you not hear about the two moats??? In all seriousness, this program is absolutely incredible. The classes go from Monday-Thursday, which allows us to have 3-day weekends every week to go traveling around to various countries in Europe. I think it will be a great way to be able to see Europe while still remaining in my comfort zone of Emerson students and English speaking.

Question #3: Why are you going abroad so early? Don't most people wait until Junior or Senior year to study abroad?

Answer: Yes most people do. However, certain majors (Mostly musical theatre majors-Which no...I am not one of them) can only go their first semester of sophomore year in order to keep up with their program. Considering a lot of my friends are MTs, I decided to go first semester of sophomore year so I can be with a lot of my friends.

Question #4: How long will you be gone?

Answer: I am going to be away for about 3.5 months (Do you like how I am starting to be European and using decimals instead of fractions?). We fly out of Boston as a group on September 6th and we come back to Boston on December 14th. Yes it will probably be weird not being home for Thanksgiving or any other times in between September and December, but I will be home for Christmas and winter break.

Question #5: Where exactly is Amsterdam?

Answer: First of all I will not be staying in Amsterdam. The Netherlands is the same thing as Holland, where they speak Dutch (Confusing I know...) but Amsterdam is just a city in The Netherlands/Holland. It’s like equating New York City with all of the United States. I will be staying in the village of Well. The Netherlands is located on the North Sea, to the west of Germany and the north of Belgium. The village of Well (As described on the Emerson website) is "located midway between the Dutch cities of Nijmegen and Venlo, close to the border of Germany. Well is a small, quaint village of about 2,800 people, dotted with brick homes, lace curtains, flowers, cafés and shops and friendly people, most of whom speak English."

Question #5: Can I mail you anything (Ok this is basically just Tory who has asked this so far...)

Answer: Yes you can. As far as I know it costs a lot of money to ship packages, but letters could be a fun way of communicating. My address will be...

Scott Sinclair
Kasteel Well
Kasteellaan 20
5855 AE Well (L)
The Netherlands

If for some reason you do want to send me a package, let me know and I will give you the address to send those.

Question #6: Do you speak Dutch?

Answer: No. I do not. Nor do I speak any other language besides English. However, from what I have heard, everyone in the Netherlands speaks English. They have given us a list of basic Dutch phrases to know just for courtesy, but anything besides "Hello" "Goodbye" etc, we should be able to communicate in English with the people in the village of Well. As for other countries...I should be WONDERFUL in London...It should be interesting everywhere else. I am sure we will be able to manage and get around, but I know for sure there will be some difficulties and funny lost in translation stories to tell once we get there.

There are a lot more questions that people keep asking me, but these are the ones that came to mind first. If I think of anymore, I will post them. Hopefully I did not bore you too much and that you will enjoy reading my adventures over the next 4 months.