Good Love Is On The Way

 On Friday we met up with some of Eline's friends and they were very nice to us. We had some drinks at a bar and then went to a club called Noxx. The music was great and we had such an amazing time. I was rocking out to some Lil' Wayne songs on the second level, only to later find out that Lil' Wayne was performing these songs on the first level. Woops. Didn't even know he was there. =) Sometimes I amaze myself.

WE MADE IT THROUGH DUTCH LESSONS! It was frustrating, but we got through it and we even learned a few things. We will continue to have this class throughout the semester but only for two hours every two weeks.

We start our actual classes tomorrow! I am excited/nervous. Though I won't be in an actual classroom as often as I am used to, it is looking like I am going to be doing way more work than I am accustomed to. My weekly schedule looks like this:

Monday:
8:45-10:25: Body Expression class (only lasts 7 weeks instead of 14.) [3 credits]
10:40-12:20: International Course on Socio-Educational Care Work [3 credits]

Tuesday:
12-3pm: Staff meeting at my internship

Friday:
2-4:45pm: Field Practicum (every other week where we write case studies and papers about our internship and check in with our supervisor). [this class + internship = 3 credits]

On top of that, I will be working 22+ hours at my [unpaid] internship. And on top of that, I am taking two courses online [6 credits together, grand total of 15]. Right now, it is seeming a bit odd to me that the internship that I'm working 22 hours for plus the field practicum and papers, etc. is going to transfer as 3 credits.I am very happy for the opportunity and the experience, but that is a lot of hours to be putting in on top of writing papers and work for other classes for only 3 credits. I hope it doesn't become too much! I'm a little worried, but trying to stay optimistic.

Last week I met with my supervisor at my internship. His name is Jelle and in 2006 he studied abroad at the University of Maine. He showed me around the facility and explained a little bit of what I'll be doing. I was slightly surprised to hear that I will be working 11-hour shifts, but excited to be spending that much time with the children. Basically, children of any age get reccommended to live at this facility. They may be having troubles at home, with the law, etc. It is our job to figure out why they are there. We (social educators, interns, psychologists, etc) talk to them and get to the bottom of what is going on in their lives. At the end of their 2-3 month stay we make a reccommendation that they either go home or go elsewhere and whatever other reccommendations need to be made. There are about 12 children there at a time. I'm keeping this description a bit vague, because I don't want to get anything completely wrong. My first day is on Tuesday so I'll know a bit more then and will be able to articulate my actual responsibilities at that time. So excited to meet the kids, but a little nervous to communicate with the younger ones who don't speak English!

Good Love is on the way to Belgium in the form of Karin Baard and Tanna Jellison! Karin will be here on Wednesday and Tanna will be here on Friday. We are currently making plans to visit Amsterdam with Emilee and Amparo! Sooooo excited. I can't even describe how happy I am to reunite with these two ladies. Eagle Love.

I hope to have A LOT to blog about after this next week. Looking forward to so much! =)