I arrived in Amsterdam at 930 or so Wednesday morning. This time, I was armed with the knowledge that virtually everyone in this country speaks English. That tidbit made everything go much smoother. No timidity when asking for a taxi or a train ticket. Clearly the Dutch realize that no one knows their language. All went well as I traveled from the Airport to the city by train, and got all setup with my apt. When I first arrived at the apartment I was skeptical. The place seemed like a hole at first, with flooring that appears to be particle board with a dense hard seal on it. Upon further review, I think it's just some sort of cheap ass laminate.
The most troubling bit was the bathroom. It has no real shower stall or tub. It's just a shower head with a floor drain below it next to the toilet. It seems a bit sketchy, but what can one expect for a relatively cheap apartment in an expensive city.
Below you will find photos of the place, after I got somewhat moved in.
And there it is.
I spent most of Wednesday running around getting things to live and trying to catch up on this time change business. I'm still trying to figure that one out.
Friday was the international student orientation at the University. I think they tried to break our spirit that day. They claimed it began at 10am, but didn't get anything going until 10:30 at the earliest when they started signing people in and giving us some documents. I then picked up some books whilst waiting on the introduction from the head of the UvA Faculty of Law. I had assumed they budgeted in a time for lunch in the schedule, but clearly I was wrong. I only ate a bowl of cereal that day, which I was forced to make last until 5pm. At that time the feed us, not food, but booze. Which made for an interesting group of people easily affected by alcohol.
All in all, it was a good day. I met a few folk, and it was a rare day of sunshine in Holland.
On Saturday, I slept most the day and cleaned up this place, as I kind of just threw everything around and not really unpacked. Come 5pm it was time for some LSU football.
As that game was getting out of hand, as I suspected, I had already made plans to go see some friends up in the Hague. Good times were had by all.
Classes begin this week, with my first on Tuesday, which should be all kinds of exciting. Tomorrow I have to pick up my books and some loan money from the lazy asses at UvA who only stay open for two hours a day in that office.
As tradition dictates, I leave you with a series of photos. Look for more updates.
This is the church near UvA. This city is crawling with old beautiful churches. I'll get some more photos of them
I had no idea that they got out of the west coast, but the subway was crawling with their stickers, so I guess they made it out here and the Dutch love them.
I'm reasonably certain I'm not crazy, but this building looks slanty. Can anyone else confirm this?
And clearly you got to be hard to live on the mean streets of the Amsterdam City Centre (found on the UvA campus).
More to come.
Matt
