Who wears short shorts??

Hopefully YOU do, especially if you ever go mudwalking in the Netherlands! I can assure you that your burly mudwalking guide will certainly be wearing them (and yes, even though he is a big hairy man you will be jealous of his amazingly toned and muscled legs) and you won’t want to feel left out. You won’t want to walk all the way back in jeans wet all the way up to your you-know-what either. Pair those shorts with an extremely sturdy pair of HIGH TOP shoes and you’re pretty much golden for a pretty kick-ass adventure. We all did it as kids, so of course it’s fun to go squelching around in thick warm gushy clay mud and be able to write it off as an educational experience. I mean, who knew you could eat those funny looking weedy plants growing in the mud? You also get the added benefit of one hell of a work out. Bottom line is that YES, DEFINITELY, you should do this.

After the mudwalking tour you go to nearby Pieterburen, which is probably one of the most adorable quaint little towns EVER. Bonus: you get to see CUTE chubby rollie-pollie SEALS at their seal rehabilitation center! And when I say cute, I mean cute like you can’t even stand it and want to hit yourself in the face or something. You certainly want to hit someone after you learn about the horrible things that pollution (think bald eagles and how pollution in the environment gets bioconcentrated as animals are consumed along the food chain so those at the top get huge doses of toxic chemicals and wind up with immunosuppression and reproductive failure, which is BAD) and hazards like floating trashed fishing nets do to the poor seals. Basically, the seal rehab center is awesome because they have a whole network set up for people to help rescue stranded/sick/injured seals (complete with a seal ambulance) so they can be brought to the center (quarantined right away, so no worries there) and treated until they’re well enough to be released back into the wild. We’re talking over a 90% recovery rate so obviously these people know what they’re doing. Even better, they’re teaching other people in other places how to do it too. They also do TONS of research so seriously, you should check them out.
http://www.zeehondencreche.nl/home/home_e.htm

All in all, not a bad way to end one’s first week abroad! Next stop: Amsterdam!