[Inner archway]
[Courtyard view from the Main Castle]
The castle is more wonderful than I could have ever imagined. It is like something out of a fairytale, complete with moats, towers, bridges, and a princess room! After an uneventful overnight flight, we touched down at Amsterdam’s Schipohl Airport at around 7:45 am. We were greeted by Renee and Johnny, two members of the Student Affairs Staff, and they helped us load our luggage on to the buses that would take us to the castle. All the talks of being inconspicuous while we were in the airport seemed silly now because there is no way a group of 85 students with tons of luggage can maneuver through baggage and customs without seeming obvious. [Picture of the doors at Schipohl Airport]
I got my first taste of Dutch life as we drove past the irrigation canals running through the massive spans of fields. Apparently the Dutch have lots of sheep which dotted the landscape! As we kept driving, we started to see more and more beautiful brick houses with large windows. I saw my first windmill after we exited the highway about ten miles from Well. As we pulled up to the castle you could hear everyone on the bus gasp. Kasteel Well is more beautiful than I could have imagined. The pictures don’t do the old world beauty justice. We unloaded our luggage and crossed the bridge and went under the arch into the courtyard for the first time. We left our luggage in the courtyard and headed into the dining hall for our first castle meal. The dining hall is cute with white washed walls, arched ceilings, and one bright lime green wall. There are little café tables with fresh tulips. The dining hall is run by a husband and wife who own a restaurant in town.
[Left view of the inner moat]
[Bridge leading into the castle]After some confusion, Huber led us to our room in the main castle and it turns out that we have the “Princess Room”! We’re on the third floor of the main castle and have to climb stairs that are hundreds of years old to get to our floor. It’s a huge room with high ceilings and antique wallpaper. It’s called the princess room because we have a huge gilded mirror hanging above our (non-working) fireplace. Our beds are lofted with desks and a closet/wardrobe underneath. We have two huge widows that open all the way and look out over the moat and the castle gardens. There is also a closet that has an antique wood door. In one corner we have a “sink closet” that has shelves and hooks for our towels. Our bathroom is a few feet down the hall though the situation is interesting. We have one toilet for the floor and one shower. We also have a huge bathtub? The problem is that there is no shower curtain, only a frosted glass door so you have to lock the entire bathroom in order to take a shower. The interesting part of the bathroom is that the three of us girls (Me, Cailin, and Louisa) have to share the bathroom with six guys. Thank god the staff cleans it everyday for us! One of our neighbors is thinking of coming up with a shower schedule. A fun thing about our hall is that there is a painting that is almost identical to my favorite Renoir hanging right outside our door! Needless to say that made me very excited!
After we got settled in, the residents of the main castle met in the courtyard for a tour of the town. The town of Well is adorable! Rob Duckers, one of my art history professors, took a group of us on a tour of the “modern” part of the town. We walked about ten minutes to reach the center of the town. The streets are lined with quaint little brick houses that look like they are from a fairytale. Rob presented us with our first official Stroopwaffels outside of the local bakery. Stroopwaffels are an absolutely delicious Dutch specialty that are two thin cinnamon waffles with a caramel-type deliciousness between them. Rob also pointed out where the ATMs, doctors office, and the “everything under one roof” store is. As we walked through town we ran into more sheep and of course had to stop and take pictures. After we walked back to the castle grounds we were taken on a tour of some of the important places on campus (the phone booth closet, laundry room, itty bitty library) and the main castle. We also learned abotu the most important security feature-the pole. There is a pole that blocks the entrance to the first archway of the castle that has to be manually raised and lowered. It is there to block tourists from coming in because apparently without it they see the castle and wander in!
The rest of the day was filled with exploring different parts of the Voorburt (the other building) and the grounds. I can’t wait to see it all in the spring because as beautiful as it is now, it will be even more so! I had my first taste of Dutch coffee in the form of a “weinermelange”-we’re not quite sure what’s in it but it was free and delicious! Dinner was nothing special and afterwards we hung out in Sophie’s lounge while my friends Jared and Sam played piano and bass. Jared taught me how to play part of Brown Eyed Girl on the piano! None of us wanted to go to sleep so early so we decided to check out the local bar down the street. The Linden is a small bar that plays host to American Night every Wednesday. About thirty of us met there and relaxed as we learned more about the town from Jan the bartender. While we were there we met the Princes of Carnival who were wearing these crazy feather hats and suits with a million medals on them. They told us that we should stay in Well for Carnival and come to the Linden dressed in “your best orange party clothes.” Apparently orange is the color of Well. We had our first taste of Dutch beer. It was “Brand” beer and we had the Linden special-a half and half mixture of light and dark beer. It was delicious! We stayed until about ten and then walked back to hang out at the castle. After reading for a little, I crashed and went to sleep on my surprising comfortable mattress.
My first day at the castle was incredible. It was so surreal to realize that I was actually here, in the Netherlands, and a resident of this gorgeous, historical castle. Hopefully the rest of the semester will live up to this incredible day!
[View from the inner bridge. The red building is an old stable that is the computer lab. The other building with the arch is the Voorburt]I'll post more pictures later today when I get to load them onto my laptop!
