A Netherlanding: Arrival in Amdam.doc

This marks the 50th blog post. How fitting for this new chapter of Amsterdam experiences. Thanks for following along thus far!

I realized I left readers on a cliffhanger last post - on the verge of a ferry trip to my new home in the Netherlands. Then nothing for six whole days. You must have reloaded daily looking for the first report from the new world. Since touching down in the Netherlands, I've been overloaded with things to do and, of course, was completely occupied with my first houseguests only two days after arriving. Sadly, the guests have left, but this means that I can catch up with all of you.

Bec and I took a coach bus from London to Harwich (another silence W) where we caught the ferry from the coast of England to the Hook of Holland. I couldn't imagine a better way to travel. Bec raised the ferry suggestion in order to avoid strict luggage restrictions on planes. When we arrived at Harwich, we got a glimpse of the ship - it was massive! The boat took off at quarter to midnight and arrived at 8:00am in the Netherlands. Onboard was duty free, a cinema, casino facilities, and two restaurants. The major perk of the journey was getting a cabin to sleep in while traveling. We celebrated the mobility move with a bottle of champagne and some scones I had picked up in Wales that morning. We went to bed around 1:00am and woke up docked in the country we are to call home for the next six months.

From the Hook of Holland, we eventually found our way to Amsterdam after connecting with two trains. It was definitely a bit of a challenge to make out the schedules in Dutch, and having to lug our bags around from platform to platform was cumbersome, but we had a relatively successful trip into the city. The scenery from the train was beautiful - the Netherlands is quite flat so you can see out over vast stretches of land. Once at the central station we had two hours to kill before we could go pick up our keys from the Housing Office. We ordered a couple of coffees in the station and read through our city guide books. Since we had plenty of time, we decided to walk to the office (a good 25 minute hike) rather than figure out the bus and tram schedules. Amsterdam is having one of the coldest winters in the last decade (a doable -5 is the lowest it has been) so it was a chilly walk. The saving grace was the gorgeous sun than shone down and framed our first look at the beautiful system of canals that stretch throughout the city. I was glad we walked - it was a challenge with all of our bags, but we were able to start exploring the city.

We arrived at the Housing Office, feeling like we had climbed a mountain, and waited in line to sign our leases and get further instructions. It just so happened that I met another Canadian at the office (the passport is always a dead giveaway) who is studying an MA in Devs. She is from Vancouver and staying in Bec's building so we made one new friend within the first three hours of arriving. After signing away first and last month's rent, we were given our keys and a welcome package. From there, Bec and I split ways (we're not in the same residence building) and made the final leg of the journey to our pads. Thankfully, mine was only a ten minute walk from the housing office and easy to find.

To say that arrival was a disaster would be an understatement. I finally made my way to the modern trendy building (it was built in 2002) and loaded my three heavy bags into the elevator. I got out on the second floor, turned my key into the lock, and burst into my new place. It was furnished...with someone else's stuff...everywhere. There was a laptop on the desk and fresh food on the counters. I must have wandered into the wrong room, I thought. I checked the three documents that listed my room details and they all indicated this was the right place (or it should have been). The anger and frustration started to set in. I was wearing two coats, I was luggage laden, and I just wanted to drop my things and settle in. After unsuccessfully trying six different ways to interpret Dutch phone numbers and get in touch with the Residence Assistants, I gave up and waited for another student to enter the building. The first one I encountered, twenty minutes later, was able to point me to the R.A. rooms.

Thank god for the R.A.s. Tom and Myra, the first two dutch people I met, proved to be most helpful. They offered me tea while they telephoned the head office to see what had happened. Apparently, the office thought the tenant in the room they had assigned me would be leaving on January 4, even though his contract goes until the 26. No one got around to checking if this was so before handing me the keys (extremely efficient). By that time, the office was closing in half an hour so it wasn't worth heading back. Tom and Myra set me up in the vacant room of a girl who had just left for good. The first two hours after they left I was steaming mad at the housing office, really unhappy, and generally very homesick. It only took a quick shower, a jaunt to the grocery store downstairs, and a look out at the skyline from the big picture window before I mellowed out and realized I had arrived to live in Amsterdam. I was able to shake off the initial frustrations and appreciate the potential of the city outside my window.

The housing corporation has been less than impressive with giving me a final decision. What I asked for is to stay in the room Tom and Myra gave me, since I'm nice and comfortable here, with a cleaning of the room sometime in the coming week. They agreed that this was possible, and started to put the wheels in motion towards making it final (a deal with the tenant who is suppose to occupy this room on Jan 26). Aside from how uncertain this sounds, I've been here for five nights now with no interruption so I'm pretty happy. The worst case scenario would be that I move into the room I was originally suppose to have in two weeks time (this would be a few short elevator rides downstairs and the rooms are the exact same). No big deal. Aside from the room issues, the building is fantastic. It is in the city centre, is a twenty-five minute walk to the train station, has a supermarket and wine shop downstairs on the main level, and feels like a trendy little loft of my own. I feel really comfortable here.

On the morning that Emily and Steve arrived, only a day and a half after I had gotten here, the three of us here early (Bec, Courtney, and I) went to the International Centre at Uva for an orientation meeting. Note: when you are reading this post out loud to friends in the room it is pronounced 'ouva' instead of 'U.V.A'. I received my forth school email address and got to work setting up a Dutch bank account (it's my second off-shore account). We also received a tour of the theatre facilities which are housed in a really cool building near the centre of the city. There was actually renovation being done?! Where does a theatre department get money for renovations?! On right, Europe. We also met the department secretary Henrietta (the Uva version of Lee, Lou, and Lindzey). The university has been more than thorough in guiding us through the bureaucratic hoops and I am now well on my way to getting totally settled. That afternoon...I jubilantly greeted Emily and Steve at the Amsterdam Central Station for the final leg of the holiday journeys - the subject of tomorrow's post.

Doc's Prescription of the Day: A Dutch phrase book. Not only has it been essential for interpreting signs, but they packed so much information into one small pocketbook. Most interesting words so far:

dank u: thank you (an interesting mix of German and English)
broodrooster: toaster (bread roaster?)
stroopwafels: syrup waffles (a glorious cookie treat we ate all week)
alstublieft: please (...can I have a stroopwafel?)
pot jan drie dubbeltjes (I've been told...a polite dutch swear word on par with darn or crap)