 |
| europeword.com |
So, I haven’t actually made this into a travel log. I’ll start by simply copying and pasting my first mass email from the Netherlands:
I packed up my entire apartment and drove with my dad and brother in 2 cars back to Chicago, having barely missed the big snow storm on the 22nd of December. I spent about a week and a half staying with my brother in Chicago. He lives in the Loop, which is pretty much void of any character at all, in my opinion. Had a great new year’s eve in Wicker Park.
I flew to the Netherlands on the 2nd, arrived on the 3rd, and checked into this really nice hotel, where I am sitting, writing this email. It’s called the Golden Tulip, but I move out on Friday morning. I am forcing Ben to help me move out, but it’s a good trade off since he’s staying with me for the next week before he leaves for Spain.
My friend Flavius from Polytechnique drove to Leiden from Cologne (I live in Leiden, 30 min away from Amsterdam by train) on the 4th and stayed for the weekend, so that made me feel so much better about the new place. Ben (a friend from Minnesota) and his brother arrived in Amsterdam on the 5th, and I have been visiting them every other day up there. I didn’t like Amsterdam at first, but finally came around yesterday when we saw a cool area called the Pijp. Oh, I had my first experience in a coffeeshop here. Yeah, it’s so cliché.
My job is nice so far, but my desk hasn’t arrived! I share with Kathrin, a German girl who is a couple years older than me. We have been riding the train together to Alphen (where the office is), and she is giving me her old apartment. I bought a yellow-and-orange bike yesterday, to get from the train station to the office. There is a large bike culture here. My boss is really great – he rolls his own cigarettes! He seriously carries around a pouch of tobacco and papers where ever he goes. We spent lunch together so that we could “get to know each other”, and he spent about 15 minutes talking about his band that he plays drums in and listening to pieces of the albums they’ve put out. He is a Ph.D. in microbiology.
I haven’t taken many pictures yet, but give me a month. I’ll take pics of my new loft – the people in my building are pretty young and alternative, which are good qualities to have. I’m still jet-lagged and haven’t settled into a rhythm, but I am more positive about being here than before. I’m still listening to MPR (Minnesota Public Radio), plan on ordering Metropolis coffee from Chicago, and I am already learning Dutch – it’s so ridiculously close to German. Actually, Kathrin and I have been reading the Dutch paper every morning on the train.