Greetings from the Netherlands! Its Friday afternoon and I've been here since Tuesday morning. I'm having a hard time getting used to the time difference. Ok, this is what has happened so far.
I left Miami Monday morning. Flew from Miami to Atlanta and then Atlanta to Amsterdam. Both flights were slightly delayed due to weather. Arrived in Amst at about 8 am on Tuesday morning. Chris and I miraculously found each other in the airport then took the train to Central Station. From there we took a cab to the De Key (Short Stay Facilities) office where we had to sign some contracts, pay first month rent, and pick up our keys. Then we took a cab to our apartment which is in the northwest area of town (Houthaven) - the apartment is called Stavangerweg and is pretty much "water front." Outside my window is a cruise ship!!
View from my window:
The outside of the shipping containers:
The apartments are made out of shipping containers. They are 250 sq ft furnished studio apartments with a kitchen and bathroom, no roommates. The standard furnishings are a bed, a desk and floor lamp, bookcase, a wardrobe, table with two chairs, and a comfy little lounge chair. The "kitchen" has a few cabinets, drawers, counter, microwave, sink, small refridgerator, and two burners. Luckily my room has all kinds of kitchen supplies - pots, pans, silverware, dishes, glasses, also laundry supplies and storage items left for me by the previous resident. Pretty sweet. I've been rearranging the furniture all week but I think I'm happy how it is now.
On Tuesday we settled in to the apartment a little bit and then checked out the bar/restaurant that's next to our apartment. It has cheap beer and food, pool tables, and outdoors there is a firepit with a view of the water. After we went for a long walk around the neighborhood. Then we came home and took naps, exhausted from dragging all of the luggage around. We woke up around 1 am and went out for dinner. Not much in our neighborhood was open but we eventually found a little bakery/sandwich place and got some pizza/foccacia type thing for dinner.
Wednesday was the beginning of the International Student Network orientation. We woke up late and missed the opening ceremony - and after walking forever and being lost all morning we eventually found our "coach group" around 4 - just in time for a little intercultural exchange workshop. We did a little meeting and greeting and then broke into small groups to talk about different aspects of our culture. I was in a group with some Germans, an Indian, Romanian, and a kid from Finland. Interesting conversation. After this we headed over to Club Odeon for a borrel - which basically means open bar.
It was reeeeeally crowded because there are apparently a ton of international students here. Then we got pizza nearby with our group. At dinner I met a cool chick named Sara from New York, and another girl from Malawi! After dinner about half of the coach group went over to a whiskey bar to hang out and talk and then to a coffee shop. Around 1 or 2 it was time to go home and of course Chris and I got lost for a little while - but we eventually made it.
On Thursday we met up with the coach group in the morning at the national monument in front of the palace of the royal family - and then headed over to a cute spot for a dutch pancake breakfast. I'm not a big fan of pancakes generally but these were actually pretty delish. After pancakes we went on a canal tour with other coach groups. It was so beautiful to see the city from the water!
Afterwards Chris and I ditched the group and bought a few groceries at a shop close to the apartment and then came home to take naps. We ended up sleeping pretty much the whole evening, and then staying up all night. Hopefully when school starts we'll begin to adjust to the time difference - because right now its impossible!
Another thing that's kind of hard to get used to is walking everywhere! And far distances! I strained the muscles in one of my feet and now I'm limping around my apartment pathetically. Haha. Well tomorrow we are attending a "Pimp my Bike" workshop where we will get hooked up with a bike, some locks, and lights. Thank god - its absolutely essential to have a bicycle here! Bicycles dominate over both cars and pedestrians!
I'm sure I have more to write that I just can't think of at the moment. I'm gonna go walk around the city and get a snack now but tonight I'll post photos.
