Thursday was full and long ...

Thursday was a full day and that's why I'm a little late getting this posted.  We started with a visit to Liesbeth's site where I made some friends with some students.  In the cafeteria I introduced myself to some military students (like ROTC).  Two of them spoke English very well and they were very happy to talk to me, in fact very excited.  Lots of young people learn their English while gaming online.  Those that do are very good and speak well; maybe our ESL teachers should start a section of gaming ... ESL-G???  (that's G for Gaming, a bad joke for my ESL teacher friends)


Then Liesbeth had set up a meeting with Lily who coordinates an entrepreneur program.  Matt, one of the other Americans joined us also.  Lily explained that her program draws students from other disciplines for an extra nine months of study.  They aren't necessarily planning to go into business, but the program teaches them valuable skills such as communication and networking.  Later that evening we attended a "crowd funding" event at the university where one of Lily's students was presenting.  It was a very trendy event with lots of music and glitz.  Six students made pitches about their products or business idea.  The audience could donate money or offer help to them.  It was a real nice event and impressive to see some of the ideas that these top students.



Lily and her husband Hans invited us to dinner at their house.  Hans prepared cheese fondu and had a very special Belgian beer me.  We had a great time talking about our families, sharing about our jobs, and laughing a little.  It was "heel gezellig!"  (you need to look that one up)



Oh, I forgot to mention that after lunch, we all took a city tour of the old city center of Groningen. We started at the Tower of St. Martin (they call it Martini Tour), which is the tallest building in the city center.  If you get lost, just look up and walk back to the tower.  The guide showed us some of the interesting things about the city, small nooks and crannies that the average person might not see or know about.  We also got a good look at the university.


And ... have I mentioned the bikes?  Every time I think I seen it all I see something more.  On our walk to the tour we passed through the train station.  Underneath the station, in an underground parking structure, is parking for over 5000 bikes.  It was like nothing I've ever seen before.  You might just have to see it for yourself to understand what I mean.


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