It's Tuesday evening, and a lot has happened from the time I left England on Friday. When we landed in Amsterdam, it was snowing like crazy. Apparently, we're having an extremely cold winter in Europe. Snow doesn't usually stick for a week like it is right now. Anyway, our bus driver battled the snow in a terrifying but successful way, managing not to hit the crazy cyclists but getting about a foot away from them and then slamming the brakes.
Snow!!
Mom and I spent a day in Amsterdam. I loved the city! The canals are beautiful, and frozen right now, and the building are gorgeous. We went to see Anne Frank's attic and had some good Dutch food. The stairs are tiny and steep over here. I had major problems getting Big Blue up those hotel stairs.
Hotel Agora steep stairs
Amsterdam in the snow is beautiful. Here's some pics from our afternoon in Amsterdam.
half frozen canal
view from the hotel room
I should have just stolen one of these and I'd already have a bike
Isn't she pretty?!
What a skinny house!
Pretty bridges
Snow covered ice-canal
A famous tower/church near the Anne Frank house.
You can climb the steps in the summer time.
CHEESE!
Another canal
Local Amsterdam beer, matching glass of course
I am proud to say that my mother and I never took a taxi, but took a bus, train, and tram to get from the airport to Amsterdam and to Delft. Mom, you're a trooper. Anyway, we got to Delft by train on Saturday and lugged my excessive luggage in 5 incorrect directions until we figured out where to cross the railroad tracks to get to our hotel. Becca was grumpy. But, Delft's beauty and a quaint hotel, with a white lab named Timber to greet us, quickly cheered me up. Delft is so tiny that we walked "off the map" without realizing it two times. I finally got oriented with "new church" as the center of town and the railroad to the west.
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Map of Delft's city center.
It takes about 10 minutes to walk across East-West.
The University is south of campus, below that bottom canal.
Where are we?!
(sweet hiking boots, Becca)
The tall tower is "new church" - the center of town
(and by new, we're talking 1700's or so)
Delft is a mini Amsterdam with tinier canals
Kids being pulled on wooden sleds in a square
We got to walk around campus a little bit. There are enormous buildings, and you know it's engineering when they look like spacestations or prisons. Just kidding, they're not that bad!
Me at my building, which is about 20 x the size of CPE!
Those are bike stands, which are 100% full during the day.
This is usually a moat looking thing around the building.
Now it's frozen so people iceskate on it.
I was told by Offshore Engineering students that this ship has a special design
engineered at Delft to stop the ship from bouncing up and down on the waves
as much so it's more fuel efficient. Dad, I dedicate that tid-bit to you.
A "floppy tower" and kids ice skating around it.
Engineer that!
HUGE tower
I think it's an electrical engineering building...?
Those are two bike lanes, not a car lane.
This is the main drag of campus, buildings on either side.
Don't walk in the bike lane!! You WILL get hit.
Ice melting in the canal by campus
I've been to one class so far. Thankfully all my classes are in English, though most with heavy Dutch accents. Half the students are Dutch and half are international (that's my estimate anyway), but Dutch seems to be spoken everywhere. It's a bit intimidating when you have no idea what's going on. It's also intimidating when the grocery store doesn't accept your visa, and the two atm's you tried didn't let you get cash out! Uh oh... a task for tomorrow. (Don't worry M&D I have enough to get by until it's sorted).
I tried going to water polo practice tonight, but nobody turned up. Apparently optional Tuesdays are VERY optional. Mondays and Fridays are a definite, so I'll be sure to check it out Friday. Until then, walking is my work out for sure. It takes me over 30 minutes to walk to my classes from my apartment. Hence why everyone rides bikes here! I am on a bike hunt tomorrow, and man, I am on a mission. As soon as I get one I'll post a picture.
Bike parking by a train station,
bikes line the railing of a bridge and underneath the bridge.
I met all the other exchange students in my department on Monday at our welcome lunch. Davis and I are the only ones from America, everyone else is European or Asian. It's a great group, and I think we'll do some traveling together this semester. Most of us had no idea what's going on on Monday, which was hilarious. By the end of the day we had pretty much figured out our classes and got our keys to our apartments. I live a mile and a bit away west of campus until April in my own apartment, when I move into a new apartment with 4 others just north of campus, but south of the town - which is an awesome location. My temporary apartment is like a dorm, but a bit bigger with an extra sink, refrigerator, and own toilet. We have community showers (woohooo Moore-Hill style) and a community kitchen, which has stoves and ovens but no microwave. I microwave frequently...so this could be an issue.
One thing that I love about the Dutch culture is that family and friends eat dinner together, every night, around the table, for about an hour. I stayed with a Dutch friend on Sunday night at her house, which as 16 people! They are all a part of the same fraternity (they're all co-ed here). It's set up like an apartment with 16 bedrooms, 2 toilets, 2 showers, 1 kitchen and 1 living room, and a bar that they built :) Let me tell you, it's not chaos like you think. They all sign up to cook dinner, set the table, or clean up each night. Pretty cool!
Well, I miss everyone a lot. Find me on skype - becca.lewis1 - and I'd love to see your pretty faces! xx
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