I had a vision for my time at the Regina Coeli Language Institute (a.k.a Dutch Princess School), and that vision involved biking to and from school, in order to give myself a physical break after a long, mentally challenging day. I admit that almost an Eat Pray Love-style cliche, but I don’t care. I’ll own that’s it’s something almost exactly like this European fantasy.
I searched the Google maps nearby towns looking for a B&B, and mapped out my route using Google street view. It looked like the total commute time by bike would be 30 minutes, 45 tops. After my freakout about how it would work and my test drive in Delft, I found out that the Netherlands really makes biking easy, no matter where you are.
Video of my daily ride after the jump.
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Tags:bicycles·Netherlands·Regina Coeli Language Institute
The night before my first day at Regina Coeli (a.k.a. Dutch Princess School), I lay awake, and not just because it was the World Cup final, and rowdy Dutchies were still filling the streets.
What the hell am I doing? Who studies Dutch…for fun?
And did I also mention it cost thousands of dollars?
I had plotted out the route to the school the night before, winding my way through a series of wrong turns and construction zones until I found a reasonable path and knew that it would take me roughly thirty minutes to get there.
But the bigger question remained: Why wasn’t I on a beach somewhere, rather than heading to a classroom at 8 in the morning?
The night before, lying in bed, I thought: Maybe I’ve hit my novelty wall. Maybe going to a town you’ve never been to, to speak a language in the most intensive immersion environment possible, is actually beyond the pale. Maybe it was actually a bad idea.
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Tags:Holland·languages·Regina Coeli Language Institute·school
For my upcoming trip to Dutch Princess School–and the week beforehand, where I’ll be touring far-flung parts of the Netherlands–I pulled a list of a few locations I’ll be visiting.
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Tags:awesomeness·guidebooks
Hooray for the weekend! I have big plans. They include a three-day getaway to the Oregon Coast (whose virtues we’ve already discussed) and not wasting two hours at Sex and the City (which Betty and I expressed doubt and concern about, just based on the trailer). I’ll be trip planning for my upcoming adventure at [...]
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Tags:Holland·national parks·Van Gogh
Hooray! My tax refund came yesterday, which means I’ll be booking my time at Dutch Princess School soon!
It’s probably worth explaining why on earth I’m going to spend thousands of dollars to get to fluency in Dutch. And most importantly–why Dutch? Literally every time I mention that I’m trying to learn Dutch, the person I’m [...]
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Tags:Amsterdam·cultural exchange·Dutch·languages·Netherlands·Regina Coeli Language Institute·travel writing
Like a lot of travelers, I want to learn a second language. I want to be fluent in a second language, which is why I’m planning on attending a language school (a.k.a. Dutch Princess School) this summer.
In the meanwhile, I’m studying my heart out here at home using websites and software programs to bolster [...]
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Tags:cultural exchange·Dutch·educated traveler·languages
If everything works out as planned, right around by July 1, 2010, I’ll be attending Dutch Princess School.
Its real name is Talen Instituut Regina Coeli, but really, who can remember all that?
Let me recap the situation.
Originally, I started learning Dutch for my job at a the Guidebook Company That Shall Not Be Named. Even though [...]
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Tags:Dutch·Holland·Netherlands·Regina Coeli Language Institute
