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The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of meeting new people, exploring, and making adjustments. I have settled into my apartment and gotten everything I need, gotten a go phone, and rented a bike and ridden it around successfully outside the city center. Through orientation we went on a canal tour, to Utrecht, and to Castle de Haar. Everything I have seen is beautiful and has the feel of both a city and a small town. I am finally used to the time difference and have just found a quiet place to sit, get wifi, and write this post.

 

I am living in a single room at Funenpark, a nice, peaceful residential complex that has beautiful contemporary architecture and is very near Centraal Station, and Brouwerij t’ij, now one of my favorite bars.  The first few days we all used the trams, which are easy, fast, but expensive. My first day by myself, without the orientation group, put me a little on edge. I’m scared of looking lost and becoming a target, but most of all, I was excited and anxious to finally be in a routine. After a five week-long winter break, stir crazy doesn’t quite describe the large amount of restlessness that has built up inside of me. It is strange to finally have so much free time after orientation to think about what is going to happen next.

 

The first morning of classes I rode my bike to Centraal station. The wind was incredible and acted as resistance while I rode alongside fellow residence of Amsterdam. At one point I weakly had to get off my bike to walk a little because my quads were burning and I wasn’t going anywhere. I have confidence I will get used to biking though. Amsterdam is insanely flat compared to Penn State so I will eventually have no problem and become a pro. I have already fallen off my bike and received some pretty nasty bruises on my knee (and taken a trip to the very calm and organized ER) but the accident has not shaken my determination.

 

All of my classes are three hours long, but I have Tuesday and Friday off of class. This gives me plenty of time to do the four, five page essays and one twenty-five page essay due at the end of the semester on top of other assignments, as well as make plans for travelling. The classes themselves are interesting and engaging and all of my professors seem to really want to know what the students’ interests are.

 

As promised, here is a list of packing tips:

1. Vacuum seal bags are your friends, but be willing to leave space to lessen the weight in your bag (and leave space for souvenirs), or be willing to pay extra for baggage.

2. If you love coffee as much as I do, bring a mini French press. You will save money on a daily basis and will be able to keep awake even before leaving your apartment.

3. Make sure you have the right adapters, and CHECK THE VOLTAGE! I fried my alarm clock by using the wrong adapter.

4. Bring a raincoat. The weather in Amsterdam is not just bipolar. The weather can go from rain to snow to hail to sunny and clear, and start all over again within an hour.

Here are other tips once you get to Amsterdam:

1. Museum Kaarts are wonderful, they get you into museums (and their bathrooms) for free and are given to you by IES.

2. You and your study abroad friends should get a Lebara SIM card because it is free texting and calling between Lebara users and is the best deal by far (20 euros gives you 60 euros worth of credit!)

3. Open a Dutch Bank account. It saves you the withdrawal fee at the ATM and most places (like UvA) will only talk Dutch credit/debit cards.

4. Get your bike through the place IES recommends. They give you a really good deal and they are very good bikes. You might think getting one at Waterlooplein is a good idea until you pay as much as you did to buy it, just to fix it a month later.

 

There are some very strange things I have discovered about Amsterdam; their lack of hot water in many public building restrooms, weighing your produce in an area beyond the checkout counter instead of in the produce isle, and the Dutch way of tipping which is much less than Americans usually tip. But some differences just make so much more sense; fries with mayo, bike lanes and lights (so much safer than NYC), only reusable bags at grocery stores, and NO 8AM CLASSES!! My next post will be about demystifying the Red Light District and Coffeeshops. Dag!

Location: Amsterdam, the Netherlands