As many of you may have noticed, I have been a little busy over the past four days! Actually, busy is an understatement. I honestly don't know how I have managed to survive, stay out so late, and get by on such a small amount of sleep. I'll give you all a short run-down of the events of the last few days. I'll try to keep it on the Reader's Digest side of things. However, I am writing this blog for my own benefit as well, so some posts might get lengthy. Hopefully, I can get into a routine where I can blog at least every other day, although once school starts there will probably be much less excitement!
So after arriving on Wednesday, I planned to get settled, clean my room, and sleep. I left Chicago at 6:15 pm and arrived at 9:15 am, sleeping only a few hours on the plane. I was expecting a big dose of jet lag. I soon learned that jet lag or not, I was not going to be sitting in my room on the first night here! With a couple girls on my floor and Mark (the French Canadian), I went out to explore, eat, and go downtown. I have learned that Mark is going to be a very valuable asset and am thankful to have met him first. He is a quiet type, but when we're out, his personality comes to life. He is always the one to straighten out the cab drivers, figure out where we're going, and find cool activities such as riding an IKEA cart home (that's another story). So after so little sleep, I turned in about 1:30 am Tuesday.
Thursday was the first day of orientation. We went to our school, set up Dutch bank accounts, got our schedule for the weekend, and then went downtown. During orientation, you are paired up with a Dutch guide. I have no idea who my guide was supposed to be, but we met Manon and Alana, two guides, and they are amazing!! They have helped us find our way around and basically told us everything cool to do! We have figured out the Metro system (sort of) and bought re-loadable passes that can be used on all types of public transportation. We are very quickly learning our way around the public transportation system. We are thinking of investing in monthly unlimited passes, for 80 Euro, but are waiting to see how much we use the transport after school starts. Our school is located in the ghetto! It is a town filled with tall blondes, yet somehow I didn't even see a blonde person until the second day. I live in the part of town where an American sticks out like a sore thumb! Downtown, it is impossible to tell where anyone is from because there are so many tourists. Carly and Marli-you are going to love it here! Everyone is so tall-you will really fit in! I am a dwarf compared to the Dutch! Manon actually looks like Marli a bit! I also met Rikki on the Metro, a Dutch girl obsessed with the States! She wants to hang out with us next weekend and I invited her to go stay in my room while I'm here-hope you don't mind mom!
Thursday night was a party at a bar followed by a club and staying out until 4 am. Friday, we had to be downtown at noon and we barely made it-but we got there. We stayed downtown all day, shopping and buying supplies for the party that night-a black light party. Somehow, we ran out of time to nap and managed to go out again until 3 am without sleeping and after walking all day. I don't know if it's the jet lag or schedule, but I get very tired in the afternoon but find myself with tons of energy around 3 am. Many people have agreed with me!
Because the glow party reminded me, I'll mention some of my friends. Julia, Kathy, Cassia and Stef are from Canada, but seem so American that I often forget. Being from Canada is basically like being from another state, it's so similar. I am trying to develop a Canadian accent so that I sound smarter. All the Canadians say I have the worst accent of all the Americans-shocker! Parker is from Minnesota, but goes to school down south and dresses the part. Julie, David, Kevin, and Chad are all from California and they look like Californians-they are always under-clothed. I am constantly over-clothed thanks to all the new sweaters my mom bought me-but it's so cold here. I am already heading out to shop for a new hat and more comfortable, warm boots. My feet hurt so badly!! I'm pretty sure I have already lost weight-last night my belt kept falling off because it was too loose. Finally, Matilda is from France and is so sweet! She shops at H&M and complimented my Bare Minerals make-up. Suddenly the world seems so small.
Moving on, Saturday was another full day. I accomplished a lot yesterday with Julia and Cassia. We went to see the gym affiliated with our school. We can buy really cheap memberships there and they have a lot of classes. However, to get there, you have to walk to the metro (10-15 minutes), ride the metro (10-20 minutes), walk to the bus (5 minutes),wait for a bus (5-10 minutes), ride the bus (15 minutes), get off the bus and walk to the gym (15 minutes), all in the 30 degree weather. Needless to say, I will probably just count all the walking as my work outs. Later in the day, we went to IKEA and the grocery store. Then we continued working out by carrying this all back to our rooms. Julia and Cassia each had full-length mirrors, among other things. I had TONS of groceries, including potatoes and a liter of wine (3 euro), plus a pillow and things from IKEA. I got a great arm workout during that part of the day! Grocery shopping is a challenge because everything is written in Dutch. I am already learning some Dutch words and I might sign up for a language class, just to learn a few phrases. I have to shop with Julia because all the directions are written in Dutch and French and she can speak French. She tells me how to prepare everything! Food and alcohol here is extremely cheap!! Really good, fresh cheese is 1 or 2 Euro, milk is less than 1, beer and wine are sold individually for 30-40 cents. Everything is much better quality and there's hardly any processed food. I will devote a whole post to food soon. I think often of Sam and Jess because there is so much cheese here-people eat cheese sandwiches!! You two would just love it here and I have a concrete floor with your name on it!
So now you all know what I have been doing and why you haven't heard from me. I will skype soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment