We're in Groningen! (For those of you who like to know how to pronounce things, it's sort of hrow-ni-hen, but the h's are sort of gutteral...)

We have an apartment! It is a studio, but it has its own bathroom and kitchen area. It's really small, but we're two pretty small people who don't mind being close to each other. We also have a little balcony, on which we plan to relax, drink wine, and play cribbage. Josh taught me how to play cribbage and is enjoying beating me the majority of the time! The one bad thing is that our apartment will not be "finished" until Wednesday, and we cannot start sleeping there until Sunday night. So we feel a bit like vagrants right now.

Groningen is very nice. I keep saying that the people remind me of my dutch step-family. They are friendly, efficient, and very helpful. There are a lot of shops to get "doner kebaps" which are cheap sandwiches made with chicken that has been slow-roasted on a skewer (like in a Greek restaurant). We have been eating lots of "kebaps."

The one negative thing we have found is that Groningen and Europe in general are very expensive. The numeric values are generally the same in the US, but the dollar is pretty weak against the Euro right now. This means that when something says "5 euros" it actually means 5 euros times 1.38 in dollars. After spending all summer in countries where the local currency was worth a lot less than a dollar, this change has been a little difficult to adjust to!

Hope all is well with you! I promise we will post pictures as soon as we get moved into our apartment. We have wireless internet access there!

Love,
Elizabeth