First stop: Bus ride to the University of Amsterdam
With a university staff member (ironically, Casey (?) was originally from the U.S.) leading the way, our group of students caught Tram 14 to the University of Amsterdam. I found out that when using your buss pass, you must tap the card on the reader both when getting on and off the bus or else you will be charged a full bus fare (how much you pay to ride the bus depends on how long/far of a bus ride you need to take).
Second stop: Orientation for our trip
For the first time so far, we met with Professors Herbert & Beckett as well as our study abroad program director from the University of Amsterdam. Here at the orientation, we discussed general questions regarding living in Amsterdam. After everyone's questions were answered, our program director, Miriam, led us to the cafeteria for lunch.
Third stop: Group lunch at the University of Amsterdam
When having lunch at the university, we have a 7 euro voucher to spend. I chose to eat a BLT-like sandwich, a banana, and a Sprite. The BLT was dry and not too good but luckily, I was not too hungry.
Fourth stop: Amsterdam Museum
We had a guided tour at a fairly big Amsterdam museum. Our group was split into two. I was a little disappointed as our tour guide took my group to a few random maps and paintings to talk about them with no underlying theme or reasoning. To my group's surprise, the other group described their tour to be the same. I am curious if this is the Dutch way to display their history. I would have preferred to look around on my own and believe we would have all gotten more out of the experience that way.
Fifth stop: The shops of Amsterdam
I went with a group of other students to look for phones after our museum "tour". Going to multiple phone stores, our group was first told that Holland does not sell international pre-paid phones and that if we wanted one, we would have to go to Germany. Then when trying to buy a phone card and prepaid phone to use within Amsterdam, we were told that all were sold out. This all seemed a little bizarre. We decided to give up but I may choose to go look for a phone at Tmobile another time.
Sixth stop: Funenpark dorms
We chose to go back to the dorms to rest before having to leave at 6pm for dinner.
Seventh stop: Dinner at Humphrey's
We were met by our professors and a University of Amsterdam staff member at Humphrey's for a welcome dinner. We each got served a 3-course meal with two drinks, bread & butter, and water. I chose to have an Asparagus salad, ravioli in goat cheese, cheesecake, and Coca-cola to drink. I wasn't too fond of the asparagus salad but on the other hand, the ravioli was amazing. The cheesecake was very different tasting than cheesecake I am used to, but still delicious all the same. Dinner was long, a norm here obviously (about 3 hours for dinner). I was tired but still enjoyed myself. I sat next to some students and Professor Herbert and Beckett's two children, ages 11 and 13. Both of the kids are extremely smart, the 13-year old boy quizzing Lilly on jazz and the 11-year old girl quizzing Emily and I on our knowledge of Harry Potter. She remembers the most minor details with her photographic memory and it blew us away. I was stumped by an 11-year old not once, not twice, but many times.
Eighth stop: Funenpark dorms...eventually
A small group of us chose to walk back to the dorms instead of taking a bus after dinner. We had wanted to go to the store and it was still bright out around 9:30 or 10:00pm. After walking to two stores, we found that they were closed by 10pm and it was already past that time. Though it was a lot of walking, it was good to get some fresh air and talk about our plans for our extra time here in Europe. We would like to go to Brussels this upcoming weekend and stay one night in a hostel (with atleast 12 of us so we have a room to ourselves without having to share a room with strangers). I hope we can make this happen!
Back at the dorms, I got to FaceTime with my mom, Chance, Tia, and Tamya, as well as Vincent. That made me feel less closed off and not so far from my family and everyday life back home.
(Unfortunately, Kayla and I still don't have hot water but we were able to use Carolina and Lisa's HOT shower :))
PICTURES TAKEN 6.25.12
No comments:
Post a Comment