Becoming a Leidener

Hoi! It has now been a week since I moved into my new place, and I'm loving it! I just about finished putting my room together, just a few finishing touches tomorrow and it will be done! Don't worry, I'll put up lots of pictures of my room... and my house... and the windmill on my street. Yes, I have a windmill on my street.

So I had been in an awkward waiting period because you can't really do much without money, but my chipkaart (a Dutch debit card that is pretty much the only thing accepted besides cash) finally came in on Wednesday! First thing I did? Grocery store. I literally ate nothing but fruit and toast for 4 days, and my pants were getting a little too loose. Not to worry! I quickly loaded up on all my favorite Dutch foods again. Yes, I already went through a liter of Fristi  (a yoghurt drink), yes, I'm halfway through my liter of Chocomel (the best chocolate milk in the world), and yes I have a sandwich with Jong Belegen (young Gouda cheese) almost every day. Oh, and I already had a piping hot Stroopwafel from the street. So food is no longer an issue!

Actually, I'm getting quite spoiled over here. In Fredericksburg, I would rarely cook, because honestly? I'm lazy. I'd come back from the gym or class.... and pop in a lean cuisine, or a make a wrap. My favorite trick was to literally make an entire box of quinoa, make a salad out of it, put it in one of those huge bowls, and ate that for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 10 days... or until whenever it went bad (Quinoa tastes fizzy when it goes bad... weird). But here, all my roommates are quite avid cooks! And we've already had some delicious family meals together!

Pannekoeken met zalm en avocado
(Dutch pancake with raw salmon and avocado)

Kabeljauw bedekt met ui en rijstwafels, en een sla van rucola
(Cod encrusted in onion and rice cakes and arugula salad)

I am a bit of a fruit freak, so I was little dismayed to see that there was kind of a limited produce selection at my local Digros (the nearest grocery store). But I heard/already saw that Wednesdays and Saturdays there's a huge market (markt) on the Botermarkt, near the Stadhuis (Town Hall).

So I went, and yay! Cheap fresh fruit! I bought 5 apples for 1,50 and 5 clementines for 1E. Two cucumbers (komkommers) for 50 euro cents, and a bunch of bananas for 1,75. I was a happy camper :) There were lots of strawberries, but that's what I ate last week for 4 days straight, so I wasn't too inclined to get more. But next time I'll get some wild strawberries. Now THOSE are delicious! And you can't get them in America, but they're even sweeter... and more expensive... than strawberries. A real delicacy, highly recommended if anyone is visiting in the area!

Miss you all! Kusjes!