The Bar, Benelux and Snow

Fabio is now over the Atlantic on his way to take the Bar. We have now officially boycotted Air France, FYI. They totally messed up Fabio's flight plans and they were so "French" about it; rude and unaccommodating. I know I'm being steriotypical, but I'm still upset that Fabio is getting into Seattle 9 hours later than he should have when it would have been totally possible for him to get there on time.

Fabio will spend the week in Seattle. He's going to get some last minute study review in, see my parents, see some friends and FINALLY take the Bar. I say finally only because our life has revolved around his study schedule, and he will be so relieved when this is all over. He only graduated in December, so really, it's not like he's been waiting forever to take it. But it's a biggie, and it will be a huge weight off our (mostly his) shoulders. Unfortunately, we won't know the results until May.

Coincidentally, this week is our school "Ski Week." I will be leaving for "Benelux" on Sunday. I know that most of you are wondering, "Where is Benelux?" That's what I thought too before about a week ago. Benelux is the region including the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. I will fly into Amsterdam on Sunday and be there until Monday afternoon. Then I will take the train to Brugge, Belgium where my cousin and his wife and four girls live. I'll stay with them until Friday and then come back home. I'll be touring alone. I plan on seeing Ghent and possibly Brussels while I'm there, but I'm also open to other ideas.

I have to say I'm super stoked about Amsterdam. I already have tickets to the VanGogh museum and I can't wait to see the Anne Frank house. I hope it's not too cold because I'm looking forward to walking the tree lined canals and visiting some of the parks. I'd like to also take a canal tour, but it could be a little pricey...

I have mixed feelings about traveling alone. I've never done it. I'm trying to be optimistic. I will have my nice new camera I can experiment with and I can spend all the time I want in the museums and not worry that someone else is getting bored. I LOVE museums, and could quite possibly spend hours upon hours in them in Amsterdam. The city is famous for its abundance of museums, and I don't plan on skimping there.

On a different note, it snowed all day yesterday, all night and this morning. I've really had about enough of the snow, but I can't complain when it is just so stunning! Yesterday our class visited a Swiss school in the mountains, and the kids went sledding together in the afternoon. They had a blast. I'll include some pictures of that, along with some photos of the view from my school today. I couldn't stop looking out the window.







This was the view this morning while it was still snowing:


This was the view this afternoon after the clouds cleared: