The Beginning of the End

Today was our final Symposium, an event in which we presented what we have learned in the last 3 months of our life. 

It was a beautiful day. 

There is something very satisfying to say "We have survived Oxford!"

 And not only that, but to say that we have grown to love every moment, even the awful this-paper-is-due-in-three-hours moments. This is what it means to be an Oxford student. 

What a wonderful way to end three months of hard work. 

And tomorrow begins the parting of the ways. Some people will be in the States by tomorrow night; others, like me, have a bit of traveling left to enjoy(:

But before I can do that, another short update on the Netherlands!

The second day of my trip was an...well, I guess an adventure, though I feel there needs to be a stronger word than just that! 

I set out that morning intending to find the house that my grandpa Vanderkamp had spent some of his childhood years. I have so many memories of my wonderful grandfather, and I though it would be even more special to find this one house. The house was in Dugerdam, a small cluster of houses just outside of Amsterdam. 

Let me briefly pause. As I had mentioned in an earlier post, apparently I had picked the absolute worst week to come for a visit. There was snow, there was a windchill, it was COLD...

Ok, back to the story. 

I had been told to rent a bike to go find this village, which is what we'll call it. Well, I decided that I would be Dutch and not spend money on the bike. Instead I would walk! There might also have been a bit of fear about completely wiping out on a bike in the snow, but let's keep that on quiet...

Also, having been a cross-country runner, I think of miles in terms of minutes instead of half-hours.

Combine all this together, plus the fact that Durgerdam was many miles away and you get 4 hours of walking in the bitter wind on the coastline trying to find this one house in this one village you think is down this way. 

4 hours. In the cold. bitter. negative degrees. wind. Yeah. 

Well, miracle of miracles, I made it(: And I still have all my fingers and all my toes. By the time I reached the house, I could barely move my fingers to take a picture, but how could I come all this way and not document this moment!! So here they are:

 Beginning the walk, not knowing the adventure that lay ahead...

Nope, not Dugerdam. But very cute(:

At least the sun was out. 

 Ha, one of the only pictures of me(: I couldn't really feel my face at this moment, thus the squinty eyes. 

 And finally... Dugerdam!!! This was the sloot behind the house where my grandpa learned to iceskate.

 You can imagine my relief...

 The house! The second from the end. 

 The ijselmeer in front of the houses.

  I fall in love with water every time I walk past it. This was a great place to live!

 More of Dugerdam. Right on the water. 

The church, perhaps?

Lots of boats!

And one last picture from the back. 

What can I say? An adventure.