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.
Make sure to obnoxiously advertise new entries on facebook. I wanna read but will never remember to check without being reminded.
ReplyDeleteSounds really awesome but also unsettling. I hope you figure things out soon. I was pretty pampered in Paris, but I can imagine how crazy it would have been if I hadn't been.
Good luck, dude!
2.5 Miles is a short bike ride - it's a little shorter than what I did to north campus daily when it was warmer. Public transit must be pretty good too... at last resort you can always take a cab when you... need to :).
ReplyDeletesounds intense, but it's the same with going to any new city. besides the language thing, i was along the same lines when i got to AA and look how i turned out...oh wait....bad example....fuck.
ReplyDeletebest of luck.
If you get into a jam with some criminals just tell them that you know Bill Rothwell of WCBN-fm Ann Arbor, and they might let you go on the promise of an extremely valuable autograph.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I won't give you the autograph for free, but if it's to save your rear you might get a discount. Maybe.