Day 8 - Productivity Yields Satisfaction

Today, after the low of last night, was a very good day. I came to the conclusion this evening that boredom, or a lack of something to do, is the opportunity homesickness gets to set in, so I really have to try to keep myself occupied. Going into Leiden to handle some business was a good idea.

I first went to the Common Room to sign up for a couple ISN-I events. I signed up for the dinner + pubcrawl that goes down this Wednesday, and I'm looking forward to seeing more cool places to go to. I also signed up for the Introduction Weekend, which is a trip with a large group of international students to a small Dutch village to relax, hang out, and bond, which should be great. ISN-I and ISN-R events really promise to be a good time, and a good way to fill my time.

Afterward I explore Haarlemakerstraat, the main shopping avenue in Leiden. There are a lot of clothing stores, including 3 H&Ms, a couple American stores, and some cheap places to eat. I ended up exploring Hema, which is kind of like IKEA light, without the furniture. I got a cheap omelet sandwich and a Coke to tide me over before going grocery shopping (in a minute!), and then got a cheap phone for my prepaid simcard (the minutes for which have yet to arrive in an email... convenient that the customer service number is a ,35 eurocent charge!) so it'll be good to have a basic phone for a little while. I bumped into a new buddy, Max, on my way out of HStraat, who happened to mention that there's a kid in the KStraat housing building who cooks dinner every night. So jealous.

The grocery store I went to today was awesome. It was a massive step up from the Aldi I went to earlier, and while a tad more expensive, was way better. I got fixings for roast beef sandwiches and PB&J, along with some snack foods, and a couple pre-prepared meals. I was and still am very happy with how that went. Getting out, accomplishing some goals, and being in the fresh air I think went a long way towards making today a better day.

When I got home I once again talked with friends back home, as I'm prone to, and started thinking about May/June as travel times. I'm interested in going to a music festival, but I'm also intrigued by Adrian's proposal of a Eurasia Russia/China adventure. I doubt it happens, but it was fun to think about.

I submitted a housing switch waiting list form today, so we'll see what happens with that, but I'm predicting I stay in the Rijnfront. Speaking of which, I got a new (currently snoring) apartment-mate from China, a masters student in something sciencey. He was the first non-North American who knew where Michigan/Detroit/Ann Arbor were, so that was exciting. I also hung out with Adam, my upstairs neighbor, and that was nice. It's going to be important living in the Rijnfront to have some go-to friends to hang out with.

I had a really great talk with my mom late last night when I couldn't fall asleep about how down I was feeling, and she was really patient and understanding and helpful, and it was just really great to have her there for me. I can't imagine doing this without being able to be in contact with home or friends basically whenever I want. It may hold me back from fully immersing myself, but I think there's room for both. My dad also sent me a really nice email today echoing her points about how this'll be a tough but rewarding process and I just kind of have to put myself out there and make a point of seizing this opportunity for all that it offers, which was great. I'm so fortunate to have amazing parents who really support each and every thing I do. I love you guys.

Some more goals on the agenda for tomorrow, so hopefully I wake up in time and am able to do them! See you later!

Day 7 - Lazy Sunday

Another lazy day, but my sleep schedule is back to a bit more normal of a rhythm. Watched Arsenal beat Huddersfield Town in dramatic fashion, and watched the very entertaining NHL All Star game as well. Followed along as Michigan handily beat Iowa at Crisler and Darius Morris picked up the 3rd triple-double in Michigan history. Once again had a nice relaxing day talking to friends - both new and old.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. I've run down quite the list of things to accomplish, and hopefully I can get to most of them. Amongst the items on the agenda: getting a cheap phone, setting up a bank account, figuring out more about housing and course registration, signing up for some International Student Network events, and doing some grocery shopping. I really can't wait to get to the grocery store, as I've been dying for some snack foods - ham and cheese sandwiches and apples will only last me so long! Hopefully I have a nice, long, interesting update for tomorrow.

A bit of blog scheduling. I'm surely not going to bother you with daily posts from here until the end of my stay, but I'll try to post most days when something interesting happens. The past two days, for instance, probably won't get blogged as they've been quite boring for anybody reading this elsewhere. I figured I'd get the first week here all blogged and then go from there. I still expect to write her quite frequently, as it's therapeutic. I'm still battling the urge to count down the days to going home, which I'm well aware is quite stupid, but it's getting easier to look forward to my time here as I shore up more friendships and have events to look forward to on the horizon. The start of classes on Thursday will also be a help. Until tomorrow!

Day 6 - Sleep

So I didn't make it to bed until around 6:30 AM this morning. Naturally, I woke up at 6:30 PM and literally slept the day away.

I spent most of the day talking to friends back home. While I've been meeting new people, and there's a lot of promise there, I still (and feel like always will) miss my friends back home dearly. It's a real joy to talk to them and stay involved in their lives, and I hope they're happy to talk with me too. Cory is now in Belfast for his study abroad, so it's nice to have one of the Ann Arbor buddies in Europe at the same time as me to kind of share in my experiences and be a little closer to me in terms of the time difference. I can't wait to see him (and Rachael, who's in Copenhagen, and Matt, who will soon be in Prague).

I watched the NHL All Star Skills competition tonight, which was nice but a bit boring overall. Team Lidstrom got beaten handily, but I suspect they'll win the game tomorrow evening. I also listened to the third period of the Michigan-Michigan State hockey game at the Joe, which Michigan lost 2-1. Ugh.

I finally got around to trying to figure out how to finalize my course registrations, which just about nobody has had an easy time of doing. I think I've emailed the right people, but of course one of the faculty advisors is out on leave due to injury - so what now? I guess I'll find out on Monday when someone gets around to emailing me back. The Dutch education system is a nightmare in terms of ease of use, this much is for sure. It's incredibly bureaucratized and you get sent through a thousand loops trying to figure this stuff out. It's very, very frustrating. It's the kind of thing where I can envision myself having thought everything was all sorted out, and then finding out in May that something had gone wrong - I'll have to make sure this doesn't happen.

I also need to start thinking about what I'm going to do with the rest of my summer in terms of internships or jobs. Add it to the list.

See you tomorrow. Maybe things will be a bit more interesting for you.

Day 5 Pt. 2 - Leiden After Dark

In case you missed part one, click here.

This'll be short, but the gist: tonight was a load of fun, and gives me renewed confidence in the group of friends I seem to be carving out/integrating myself into.

Went to the apartment of two American girls with my mentors, Dani and Karen, and a couple other mentees. Carried on some good conversations with people before heading out to InCasa, the only true "disco" in Leiden for an international student welcome party. This was first experience actually going to a club, and I was a bit skeptical at first. Once I get settled in I ended up having a great time (despite the bizarre mix spun together by the DJs), and I can tell already that friendships being built with my mentors, their friends, and other new international students are going to go a long way towards making this an awesome time. I talked to a few people tonight who had nothing but great things to say about Leiden, and all of the people I've met thus far seem to be great.

Now for catching up on American TV, sleep, and getting a bit organized over the weekend.

Day 5 Pt. 1 - Leiden Exploration

I'm posting now because tonight is a big welcome party for international students at the disco here in Leiden and I don't expect to feel like typing out a big long blog posting when I get home.

Today was great, even with another 5 am battle with homesickness and oversleeping. Turns out I had my power adapter on the 'low' setting, which caused the time on my digital alarm clock to move more slowly than time itself (I counted, 75 seconds equaled a minute on the clock) so my alarm clock was an hour behind my watch, which was powerless to wake me up. I finally made it to the Plexus student center around 11 for an international student organization fair, which wasn't overly useful but I did throw my name down on a bunch of things so I expect to get a barrage of emails soon. The highlight was definitely a very kind Italian fellow engaging me in a conversation about the NBA in broken English - turns out he's a big fan but doesn't watch any games because of the time difference, so everything he knows he reads online. Dedication. After some mingling with people I knew we ate a big lunch of generic Asian stir fry ("Thai" it was not) and then headed over to a local music club to watch a student group rehearse a play. I'm not sure anyone came away from that experience with even the slightest clue as to what the hell the play was supposed to be about, and I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for the non-native English speakers to decipher what was going on through the heavy accents of the performers. Thankfully, it only lasted twenty minutes, and afterward we headed out in smaller groups for a tour of Leiden.

The tour was really tremendous. It was bitterly cold (they're expecting a freeze tonight) but Leiden is such a beautiful city that nobody seemed to mind. We caught a lot of historical landmarks, and saw good places to shop and eat. It's very striking just how well maintained each of these 400+ year old buildings is - every single one appears to have been renovated within the past decade. On a whole, it's quite the impressive sight. The Dutch aren't well known for their food specialties, but there seem to be plenty of interesting international cuisine restaurants around. The famous "coffeeshops" were pointed out as we went along, but compared to Amsterdam there are relatively few. We stopped halfway through our tour at a very nice pub to warm up, and I had some of the best hot chocolate I've ever had. The tour was also great because I met two more cool people, Americans (I know, I know), but very nice and interesting nonetheless. One of them, Michelle, marked the first student I've met from a Big Ten school (Minnesota - "The U" she said, to which I scoffed), so that was nice. After our tour concluded we went to a Dutch pancake house - Pannekoeken - and I got a massive ham and cheese pancake, which was delicious and wholly filling. They're a bit eggier than an American pancake, and less sweet, but the Dutch add syrup and powdered sugar to do the trick. Afterward we departed for home to regroup for the international student welcome party at Incasa.

Gate into Leiden.

Rembrandt monument.

Pannekoeken - ham and cheese pancake.

An imposing facade.

View from atop the citadel.

I've still got a lot to do - buy a phone, set up a bank account, ensure I'm officially registered for classes (exactly ZERO people understand this amazingly convoluted Dutch system), and talk to the people in housing about getting on the room switch waiting list (though today I made my return trip home in the freezing cold in a speedy 15 minutes without any issues... I'm telling you ladies and gentlemen, look out for these calves come September). I'm looking forward to taking tomorrow easy, figuring out some of this stuff, and watching the NHL SuperSkills competition live at 2 AM Sunday morning. Sunday should be similarly low-key, though I think I'm going to go to the British pub in town and watch the Arsenal match like a pro before retiring back to Oegstgeest, perhaps unpacking (there's a thought!) and then watching the NHL All Star Game Monday morning.

I'll post again either later tonight or tomorrow morning with how this party goes - I've been invited to a pre-party get-together with my mentors, who have been nothing but wonderful so far. I've been told by them that the place we're going - Incasa - is generally terrible, but everyone from ISN will be there so it should be a decent enough time. At the very least I can keep expanding my friendship base.

Yep. T.I. outside a Leiden salon.

For all of my photos, visit My Flickr.

EDIT: Somehow I forgot to mention how awesome it was to stay up and watch Michigan beat Michigan State at the Breslin Center. Nice to have something go right for Michigan.

Also, special acknowledgement goes to Liz, who is nice and has been helpful with my whiny transition to friendlessness from across the pond. Thank you.

Day 4 - New People

Today was the start of Introduction Days - an orientation-type program - that I was hoping would be a good way to get more familiar with the school and meet some people. Things got off to an inauspicious start when someone four alarms failed to rouse me from my slumber, and I woke up 2 hours after the program began. I furiously pedaled to the building in which I thought my group would be and thankfully found them. I missed the presentation from my faculty, but found my faculty peer mentor in time for a bit of lunch before we headed off to an academic building for some presentations. My group arrived late, and then filed into an overflow room to watch a series of boring, basically useless lectures about our time in Leiden.

The building itself was very cool.

It has a botanical garden - the oldest in the Netherlands - behind it.

Clusius brought the tulip to Holland, I think. He's a big deal.

There are maybe 100 total new international students this semester. I resolved upon seeing a large number of Americans group up together that I would not associate with them, and I was quite frustrated with the apparent summer camp mentality of a lot of the people there. The strong personalities stand out, attract lots of friends right off the bat, and everyone else is left wishing they had friends but disdaining how uncool the popular kids are. Frustrated, it took until later when we all gathered at the student center to socialize with a couple people I previously knew and get the ball rolling. I got introduced to a group of Americans, and as luck would have it, discovered three Yankees and a guy from Switzerland who are also staying in the Rijnfront housing. This was a positive development in and of itself, and the guys I ended up chatting with were all pretty cool and look to be good potential resources for coping with the housing situation.

After snacking out on various Dutch finger foods, all of which proved delicious if not strangely textured, we made our way to another student building for a dinner of a less than appetizing pasta dish and a celery-heavy salad. Dinner was fine enough, and I was just happy to have found some people to talk to - living in Rijnfront was a major development. After dinner three of the guys I met and I all biked home together - it was nice not having to ride the 20+ minutes home alone. The ride also reminded me to never leave home without my gloves. Ever. It's deceptively cold here, even if it's much warmer than back home in Michigan.

I still really miss home and friends, obviously. It's just very hard for me to adjust to life without them, and all I can think about when I'm laying in bed at night trying to fall asleep is wanting to go home to see them. I know things are going to get better as time goes on, and I'm going to take things a day at a time instead of thinking about this as such a long time apart from the people I love, but it's still hard. I guess I never thought about this before I came here.

This is a pretty place.

Tomorrow: more Introduction Days and an International Student Network party at some club that I've been told by everyone is awful every night that there isn't an ISN event there, so we'll see.

Day 3 - Sleep and Going Out

I went to bed at around 1:30 am last night. I woke up around 5:30 pm. A solid 15 hours of sleep, without interruption. This was unprecedented sleep length, and messed up my plans to explore Oegstgeest today, but that can wait. I spent my first few hours awake doing nothing, and then it was time for a little apartment meeting to discuss some expectations and everything, but that was very normal. It was good to finally meet Martin, and spend some time with him and Kamille (I'll figure out the spelling eventually). Martin is 24, Bulgarian, and studying computer science. It made me think of missing Jordan. He was friendly and nice, which was good, but I also got the impression he doesn't go out a whole lot. The impression I get from both roommates is that they spend most nights in, which is fine and totally normal for me too, but it probably means a few more nights alone in my room than I anticipated.

I had sent an email before bed to the Housing office, asking if it would be possible to switch housing out of the Rijnfront. They gave no indication of the probability of this, but did give me form to turn in to be added to a housing waiting list. I don't know how to print things yet, but as soon as I figure that out I'll turn that form in and see what happens. The biking at the very least will be useful for the legs. I'm still quite sore right now.

After the apartment meeting, emboldened by an email from one of my mentors, I decided to make the trip to Einstein's, a pub on one of the canals that has an International Student Night every Wednesday. I arrived, quite nervous, and waited around inside like a dumb friendless American for a few minutes until I spotted Dani. She's German, and this is her second semester in Leiden, and she's one of my two mentors. Dani was really nice and friendly and made sure to introduce me to a lot of people, including my other mentor, Karen. Karen is Dani's flatmate, she's Irish, and similarly quite friendly. It was just really great to be in a crowded social situation and have some people I knew. I can tell that knowing Dani and Karen will be a big asset, and it's nice to know a couple people headed into the Introduction Days programming tomorrow and Friday. Also of note: my first legal beer. Heineken tastes better in Holland. The pub itself was OK - pretty crowded, but apparently this was a special night. They played your average American party mix, with the strange exception of Sex on Fire, which drew a signalong and an eye-roll from your intrepid world traveler. The big observation was that Dutch people are super tall... I feel very average height with them around. I suppose it helps with the long track speed skating! After a while there I decided it was time to peddle the 20 minutes home - it will certainly prove annoying, and it's the main reason I want to move out of the Rijnfront, but the bike ride might be good for burning off those calories!

All in all a good day. It's very nice to know that Dani and Karen will have my back, and it gave me a lot of hope about how good the International Student Network will be for making friends and having fun. Tomorrow: Introduction Days. I trust it will be quite helpful. Until then!

EDIT: This felt dumb without pictures. Here are a few from yesterday.

Classic Nederlands.

Town halls are a bit more elaborate here.

Street on which I bought my bike.

Day 2 - Settling In

Today was interesting, and while I'm still nowhere near comfortable, I'm a bit less anxious. The need for Orientation (Thursday and Friday) to come and to make friends is dire.

Basically what everything looks like.

The day started out as an adventure. Severely jet-lagged, I slept all evening yesterday, and then woke up at 4 to blog. I wasn't able to fall asleep again until much later, which resulted in waking up at 9:10 - a bit off of the schedule I had proposed in my head. Because I didn't have a bike yet I had to make the 45-ish minute (according to Google Maps) trek to the International Office, where my registration appointment was scheduled to be held at 10. Of course I wasn't out the door until 9:30 and was reserved to being a bit late and pleading for understanding. Little did I know how horribly confusing the Leiden streets are. They're all very picturesque, but also very twisty and curvy and without signage in some cases. While Leiden certainly appears to be dense, the layout is pretty atrocious in terms of ease of navigation. This all made for adding at the very least an extra half hour onto my trip, and I finally arrived at the International Office a solid 30 minutes late.

The International Office

It was refreshing to hear English at the IO. Most people I've encountered speak English just fine, but everyone speaks Dutch as their first language, and combined with all of the Dutch signage it's a bit bewildering. There were a few South Korean girls, three or four Canadians, a girl from the Bahamas, and a handful of American students there while I was there. It was good to know there are other students from the States who are just as bewildered as I am exist, and a couple of them are living in the same housing complex as I am (more on that later). The girl from the Bahamas called it "the concentration camp," for reference. After I got registered I had to go get a Dutch passport photo, which lead to an interesting walk through some more of Leiden, and an amusing exchange with an older Dutch photographer who exhorted me to do things in Dutch when I clearly had no idea what he was saying. After I turned in my photo I was free for the day, with two main objectives in mind: purchasing a bike, and buying some groceries. First, though, I was ready to die of hunger, so naturally... I went to McDonald's.

The alleys are streets and they're charming.

Dutch McDonald's is actually a bit more upscale than the McDonald's back in the States. The seating was very chic, the dining room spacious, and if they delivered your food to your table. I was feeling really nervous, and it was good to down a Coke, and I took a nice long time, taking advantage of the free WiFi to check/send emails and put myself at ease. The first sign of America since I arrived in Leiden, besides the McDonald's itself, was Chris Brown's "Forever," of Doublemint Gum commercial fame. Katy Perry came next. Followed by Ashford and Simpson's "Solid." Needless to say, it was a bizarre radio station.

After McDonald's I set off to buy a bike. The first place I went was far too expensive, so I took to stumbling around more looking for a spot, and just so happened to recognize the Dutch word for bike ("fiet") on a small handwritten sign pointing down an alley. The man inside was nice and spoke good English, and I finally decided on a bike and got two locks - apparently bike theft is very common and also somehow tied to the drug trade? New bike in hand I set about riding around a bit and familiarizing myself with riding a bike in Leiden. Bikes, as far as I can tell, have the right-of-way in every situation, and take precedence over cars, buses, and pedestrians. I peddled over to what was described to me as the cheapest grocery store in town (Aldi!) and picked up a few things to prepare meals at home with. Eating at restaurants is quite expensive in Leiden, whereas the grocery store food was pretty cheap, so I imagine I'll be preparing my fair share of meals at home. After finishing shopping I made the 15-20 minute bike ride back to the Rijnfront, unpacked, and took a nap.

Oh hai bike.

Where I'm living.

That's basically where everything stands right now. I had a Skype conversation with the family, which was nice, and I've been going through some more technical matters regarding my stay. I'm planning on going straight to bed after this, so my clock may be slowly but surely aligning with the timezone. Tomorrow's agenda is pretty clear, so I think I'll bike into Oegstegeest, which is actually the town I'm living in, and try to get a little better idea of what that looks like. There's a apartment meeting scheduled at 9 pm tomorrow to meet the rest of my roommates and talk about some stuff, which I'm looking forward to, and if I can find anybody to go with me I think I might be checking out the international student night at a well-known Leiden pub. I'm not sure if that'll happen, but if any of my roommates are going I'll surely tag along. Thursday and Friday are my orientation days, and I hope to use that as a springboard into making some friends. My schedule looks like it's going to have classes on Thursdays and Fridays only - which is nice on the one hand, obviously, but I'm also unsure how easily I'll be able to occupy myself those other days of the week. We'll see.

Bullets? Bullets.

• One thing that's very obvious is that I need to come to respect the value of the Euro coins. They have 1 and 2 euro coins that I'm accumulating quite the collection of.
• The only Dutch peculiarity I've picked up is that they eat mayonnaise with their french fries.
• The weather was weird today. I'd been told that it was rainy a lot, and the day started out with rain, but by early afternoon it had cleared up into a chilly but sunny day.
• I was wearing a Tigers hat today, and already I've encountered some negative reactions to Detroit. I'll have to fix that.
• I'm really sore from my miles of walking and bike riding today. Maybe I'll get in shape?
• I'm still a bit concerned about making friends, especially because most students appear to have already been here since September, but my roommate Martin wrote a nice letter of welcome arranging the meeting. It was also good to find out there are other new arrivals in this housing complex. I also got hooked up with a pair of mentors for my stay, and both of them emailed today, so hopefully they're an asset. I'd like to get involved in the International Student organization as soon as possible.
• By far the hardest part so far has been being without my friends. I miss them/you all so much already. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to try to ignore them to help the adjustment process or what, but I'd give anything to have them all here with me right now. I just really really miss everyone. Special acknowledgement goes out to Mallika, who became the first person to Skype me from the States.

More tomorrow.

Day 1 - Arrival

It's 3:51 AM local time here right now, so bear with me.

My flight left Detroit at 6:30 PM EST. Between the little kid punching the back of my seat and his crying baby sister in the row next to him, it was an inauspicious beginning. Things settled down, and while I wasn't able to get more than an hour of sleep, I watched The American (bleh) and The Other Guys (meh) for my first in-flight movie experiences. We landed in London on time at 7:30 AM GMT, with the five hour time difference. Heathrow was nice but uneventful, and after a short flight on KLM, plus a one hour time change, I landed in Amsterdam around 12:30 PM local time. The Amsterdam airport was very nice, and it was easy to find the train ticketing booth to get a ticket to Leiden. I grabbed some Burger King at the airport because this was no time for being adventurous, and then hopped on the train to Leiden. It was a really short, maybe 20 minute ride, and then I was in Leiden.

I made my way to visitor's center, got some information, and then signed my housing contract. Here's where things take a turn for the making-me-anxious. The taxi ride out to my apartment was long. I'm living in a student housing complex, so I'm surrounded by other students, but it seems very far away from everything. It's a short bike ride away from where most of my classes are (on the agenda for today: get a bike - they are EVERYWHERE), but it's 2.5 miles from the city center, which is troubling. I expect to spend most of my time in Leiden in University buildings and in the city center, but I worry about being so far away from it all. I guess I'll find out in the coming days what other students do, but right now I'm filled with angst about it. I'm technically in another city altogether - Oegstegeest - and apparently it has a lot of the shops and things I'll be using.

The room itself is fine - a bit messy as I went to bed almost as soon as I arrived. I have three roommates, but I've only met Kamille (spelling?), a nice guy from Poland. He gave me a bit of an introductory chat, but I suspect I'll be relying on him heavily for help. All three (the others are from Romania and India) have been here at least since September, which gives me a bit of pause in terms of making friends with them, but we'll see. I'm much more concerned with the distance away from the city center, specifically the distance from nightlife given the rampant warnings about theft and safety.

It's all just very overwhelming. I've been dropped into a foreign country - my first time out of North America - without knowing anyone, and been told, essentially, to figure it out. It's going to be a major project in self-sufficiency and maturity to make this work. Right now I just want to crawl back into bed.

On the agenda for today: Getting a passport photo taken for my residence permit, heading to my registration appointment, getting a bike, doing some exploring, and getting some groceries. I'll probably be posting again sometime tonight.