I've been living in the Netherlands for nearly 3 weeks now. It feels like I've been here for months. Not that it's been bad or anything, I'm just feeling so settled (and restless to get out and travel) that I can't believe I was in Vancouver 23 days ago. Insanity.
I'm living in a student housing complex called Uilenstede, in a building colloquially referred to as "the guesthouse" but which would be perhaps more properly termed "prison" or "temporary refugee housing" or something along those lines. No, I kid, it's really not too terrible, I'm just not happy sharing a kitchen or bathroom with an entire floor of people at the best of times.
This is my room:
It's decent, and I'm very happy for the sink. I was a little confused/frustrated when I moved in as there was only a very skinny closet and nothing else in terms of a place to store clothes or any other belongings. I invested in some wicker baskets that are doing the trick, but it still seemed like a bit of an oversight. Also, on moving in there was a tv on the desk in the corner of my room, which Josh informed me came with free Dutch cable. I thought this was a pretty cool little perk, but when I turned the tv on I realized the cable was plugged into nothing. I looked around the wall by the tv and there was no cable jack, it took me a few minutes to realize it was located by the door, completely on the other side of the room. There was absolutely no way the cable could reach the tv, and the desk the tv was resting on is nailed to the wall, so I had to move the tv to a chair across from my bed where it now lives. Another issue is whenever I plug the cable in (or my internet cable, which is essentially plugged in all the time), it blocks the door to the wardrobe so that I can't open it. Anyway. A few structural deficiencies but it's clean and is really all I need for the next couple of months.
This is where Uilenstede is located:
It's not in Amsterdam. In fact, it's quite far from Amsterdam, about 40 minutes by tram into the city centre. It's slightly quicker my metro, but you have to pay for the metro, and as I'm still on my Chipkaart boycott that doesn't really work out for me so well.
The fastest way to the city, and indeed anywhere is by bike. Those of you who know me well know that I don't ride bikes. I never learned to ride a bike. And I thought the days of that being an issue (i.e. - girl guide biking trips) were over for me. Sadly, not so. EVERYONE here rides a bike, it's basically a requirement to live in the city. For the first few days I thought I could get by without one but as more and more of my friends from the Guesthouse started buying them and the group of us who actually took the tram to school or into town dwindled, I realized it was something I should probably invest in. So this is my bike:
I bought it off a sketchy man downtown, who could clearly tell I knew nothing about bikes and was in fact terrified of them, so I think he sold me a bit of a lemon. The handlebars can be twisted around with minimal effort (as I realized after a minor incident involving me and a parked car) and the gears slip all the time when I'm riding. But, apart from that, I'm actually starting to love my bike and enjoy riding it.
This wasn't the case for the first few days. Learning to ride a bike at age 24 is embarrassing. Learning to ride a bike at age 24 in a country where people have been riding bikes since they were conceived is far, far worse. I think riding a bike is like walking to these people, as I saw a baby riding a bike the other day. A literal baby. Like if that kid could say more than a couple of words I would be extremely surprised, but he still zoomed past me on his bike, following his handsome Dutch father who apparently saw no problem with his tiny baby riding a bicycle.
Needless to say, the Dutch aren't used to seeing an adult woman travelling at a low speed along a paved bike path suddenly swerve and crash, screaming, into a pile of bushes. I've had a lot of very concerned "is everything all right??" inquiries from cyclists/pedestrians thinking I've just had some sort of seizure. It's not fun. But I am slowly getting the hang of it, and while I haven't and may never attempt a trip into Amterdam I have successfully ridden to school and to the grocery store, both of which are big wins for me. I really enjoy riding, actually, I just prefer to do it on deserted country paths rather than anywhere where others can see me, cause me to panic and crash into things. I realize I have no survival instinct in terms of feeding off adrenaline or handling crises well. My natural instinct when I feel myself getting into any kind of dangerous situation is to cover my eyes and give up any control I may have had over my own destiny. This was my approach to driving, as well, which is likely why I failed my road test in under 10 minutes and haven't gotten behind a wheel since.
School is extremely slack and not worth mentioning. I've met some very nice people here, mostly through living in the Guesthouse, so that alone is enough to make it worthwhile.
I've started a Flickr photostream for any pictures I've taken and will take in my time in Amsterdam/Amstelveen, you can check it out here. A lot of my time has also been spent planning trips for the next couple months, and so far it's looking like I'll manage to hit Munich (Oktoberfest this weekend!!), Cinque Terre, Prague, Berlin, Hamburg, Valencia, Madrid, Lisbon, Budapest and Krakow. That's still about 1/8 of what I'd actually like to see while I'm here, but my debt and limited time are becoming serious issues. Plus I might become the first person to fail exchange.
Next post when I'm back from Munich! If I survive the 8-hour ride in a rental car on the Autobahn. Happy thoughts, people.
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