5 Best Things About The Dutch Town of Well Having Been Here Less Than A Week

So my current location is awfully beautiful, and I'm really excited for the 89 days here. Classes start Monday so we'll see how those effect things, but here's five thinsg I've picked up on in the first day that I happen to think is awesome.


1. Stroopwafels
Described to me as the most Dutch of all pastries, the stroopwafel is like a waffle-cracker full of caramel. I could probably make millions bastardizing them in America, like we've done to Mexican food, Chinese food, sushi, and hummus. Then make a million more on Stroopwafel minis, Stroopwafel lites, Peanut Butter Stroopwafels, double stuffed stroopwafels. Also, the pronunciation is something like "Strope-wavel", but that'll change when they're an American delight.

2. Good Beer
So yes, I went to the Pub on my first night, where the drinking age is 16.(Which would have made extravagant American Sweet 16 parties much more bearable, and, you know, purposeful) Normally I don't like beer, and I was expecting European Beer to taste even more disgusting, because American beers are mostly water. To the contrary, whatever I had last night (I know it was a mix of a light and dark) was pretty delicious. I think when I come back to America, I'll be such a beer snob that I'm never seen drinking any beers not handed to me by a smiley Dutch man.

3. Bi-lingualism
I love it when people play the World War 2 card about things by saying "If it weren't for (something they think is important) you'd be speaking German!". Because it implies that Americans would ever be open to learning another language.

The point is, everyone in Well speaks English. And the one person I've seen who doesn't I've been able to practice my only Dutch phrase I really have down, "Ik spreek geen Nederlands", which of course means I don't speak Dutch. But I've learned about 15 words in a week, so I should be fluent by April, right?

4. There's a sheep and chicken farm down the street
At some point someone decided in order to have livestock in America you have to be white trash. No, having livestock is resourceful and adds local culture. Unless you live in a city you should own some damn animals.

5. Did I mention there's a castle? That I LIVE IN?
Oh yeah.

So yeah, The Netherlands is awesome. Thats all I have to say.