Week one

Spencer’s first day of school/work. I came from a family that took “first day of...” pictures, so naturally he got one. Spence is doing an internship with a Dutch company called Schouten. They do professional coaching and Spencer has been working with their marketing team. I wasn’t really sure what to expect of his internship experience, but it’s been really exciting to see and hear about the work he’s gotten to do for them and all that he is learning. I knew Spencer was a hard worker and it is evident that his boss and the company noticed pretty quickly as well. They’ve given him some neat projects to spearhead and personally gotten to know him and provided professional mentorship.

I got strep throat (streptococcal pharyngitis--after taking microbiology last semester I know a little more about what that is) our first week here. I didn’t eat hardly anything for days and was worried I just didn’t like the food--that would have made for a loooong summer. One day I was craving pizza and walked into a mall hoping I would come across a Pizza Hut (they have McDonalds, Subway, KFC, etc.). I saw a couple high school-aged looking Chinese girls and asked if they spoke English. They said “a little.” I said, “pizza.” They got out their phones and started translating their Chinese directions into English but I wasn’t understanding. Finally they typed in, “We will show you?” They took me to a Chinese restaurant on the other side of the mall and then sat down and ate with me. They even paid at the end!! (I wonder how helpless I looked to have taken me AND paid for my meal or if they were really just being nice).