The crazy Dutch guys arrive

Well, I must admit that we don't look all that crazy at this point... sedated would be a more accurate description. Still, everyone's eager to get his/her stuff, find a room, dump it all, and check out this wonderland called MSU. Then again, at this point many of us would have settled for a nap.

Home Sweet Home

After a week spent in Owen Hall on the MSU campus, we managed to find our own little dream place. A little expensive, but it had the works! We grew quite attached to this house during the six weeks we stayed there, almost to the point that we were sad when we had to start the traveling part of our trip.

Our House 2

Like I said, we rather liked our new home. So here's a picture taken from the back! Our drive only contained our standard rented Dodge Neon at this point, but that was soon to change... hehehe. By the way, does anyone else think it's ridiculous that you get fined if you let the grass grow a few inches too high?

The 'old' and the 'new'

Let me introduce you to another good friend of ours... It's blue, it's cool, it's ready for its second lease of life (just 174000 miles so far!) and its name is Chevy Astro van! Talk about travelling in style! It took us from Michigan to New York to California (and a few other places) and earned us appreciative looks from some lovely American girls along the way!

 Spartan Stadium

Let me start off by saying that the largest stadium in the Netherlands seats about 50000 people. Thus, the notion of finding a 70000+ seat stadium on a college campus seemed a little... well... odd(!) to us. It's a shame that we didn't get to see the Spartans in action, but even empty the whole thing looked very impressive.

The Sheriffs

Meet Esme, Sander, Luuk and Peter, a.k.a. team 3 or 'The Sheriffs'. Although their house was a rather wimpish blue, their porch made up for a lot and was the site of many midnight beerfests. Luuk's stories remain classics to this day, and the 'Silver Bullet' is an automotive legend! I haven't even mentioned the things that went on in their basement... 'A nightmare on Elm Street' is a lot more realistic than most people think...

Field trip to Meijer's distribution centre

Once we'd settled in, our MBA classes started. Our course in 'Food Marketing Management', taught by the enthusiastic but slightly repetitive Dr. Allen, enabled us all to visit the Meijer's distribution centre. We got to see everything from super-cooled bananas to super-charged can-crushers. I think we all agreed that it was a truly excellent learning experience... there's no better way to see how everything is kept so incredibly fresh!

This is how we party!

A few weeks late we finally got around to giving our housewarming party... and judging by the numbers of empty beer cans the next morning, everyone had a good time. On the left you can see Jim, our exuberant guide to the good life at MSU. Next to him, Luuk and Sander are busy explaining the significance of modern German architecture and its relation to possible problems with the introduction of a single European currency.

Peter shows off his best side (?)

I have yet to decide whether this mishap is due to extremely uncooperative behaviour on Peter's part or a slight lack of photography skill. It's probably the second of those. Still, you can catch a slight glimpse of our esteemed course instructor, drs. Gerhard Havranek, on the right.

Time to pack and go

Ramon and Floris, promising young actors that they are, do a terribly good job of making this mattress look heavy. We spent seven weeks in East Lansing, which we all thought was way too short. Later on during the trip we came back to Lansing to spend a few more days with our friends before finally heading west.