Days 1-2

Hello! Greetings from Amsterdam!

I arrived safely in the Schiphol Airport on Monday (Maandag), and have had two jam-packed days of orientation activities. There was a torrential downpour on Monday when I came out of the airport, with huge gusts of wind. Nevertheless it was wonderful to finally be in my new home city. The day was dedicated to settling in and relaxing for a bit before meeting the rest of the CIEE American students studying at the UvA (Universiteit van Amsterdam). Everyone was so nice, and it was great to see the two other Oxy students too (Tommy Graham and Ben Chapin)- so refreshing to see two familiar faces! We walked around a bit of the city and admired all of its glory. I also got to purchase my bike (ie "mijn fiets" in Dutch), which is very nifty with saddle bag things on the side to put groceries in! (Will post pictures of it soon). We ended our first day with a canal cruise, with pizza for dinner, which was a nice memory of home. I also met my roommate, whose name is Liza and she is from Silver Lake, CA (close to Oxy!). While she will never compare to my previous and magnificent roomie LT, she shall suffice for the semester.

The three main women that run CIEE- Annabel, Renee, and Hannah- are wonderful. They are such kind women who genuinely are looking out for our safety and best interests. If I thought I was a tall person, Annabel is a SUPER giant Dutch lady! She is at least 6 feet tall and skinny as a rail, but such an adorable woman. I feel so safe and comfortable with these three women.

Today was a more exciting day. Instead of being just with the Americans, I was thrown into the entire International Student Network's (ISN) orientation, consisting of hundreds of students from around the world. I was placed in a group with kids from Germany, Lithuania, Sweden, Portugal, Japan, Singapore, Czech Republic, Korea, China, and Greece! It is such a great mix of students who are all quite sociable and easy to talk to, despite the language barrier. Our orientation "coaches" or leaders as we would say in the U.S, are Evelien (evelyn) and James Paul. Both very funny and interesting Dutch students. James Paul is a mix between McLovin from the movie "Superbad" (looks) and an American college Frat boy (attitude). Evelien is a true savior when it comes to cycling. At only 5'4", she could pull herself AND me on her bike with no problem! (I was sitting on the back of it, like riding a horse side-saddle). She also helped me ride my bike from the University to the bar where we had an ISN party, and also back to Dam Square so I could ride home- mind you this was at 11:30 pm tonight! I rode amongst Dutch citizens with very few falls or accidents. Except my shoe fell off while attempting to cross the street in very busy Dutch traffic. It was laying in the bike lane, with cars and bikes almost running it over, while I pathetically tried to pedal back and lay my bike down to retrieve it, all while I was trying to follow Evelien so I wouldn't get lost! Luckily a nice Dutch woman with her son grabbed it for me. I am amazed by the kindness of the Dutch people. While they have the bad reputation for being cold or even rude, they are kind and willing to help nonetheless.

Overall these past two days have been fantastic. I feel as if I am getting to know lots of international students (even more at the bar- kids from Denmark, India and New Zealand, among other nations) and learning slowly how to make my way around Amsterdam. I have also gotten compliments on my impressive Dutch speaking skills (Thank you, Rosetta Stone!) and I am excited to attempt (and fail, obviously) at speaking Dutch to native speakers. Well, it is past midnight here in Amsterdam now, so I must get ready for another exciting day of orientation. I know that I have forgotten so many great details from the past two days, but I shall write more soon.

Also, I am taking inspiration from Zoe's London blog for this:

I miss: my bed, my dogs

I love: hilarious European students in my orientation group who have helped me feel more at ease in this foreign place, and are just as goofy as me- Maike (MY-kuh)from Germany, Ugne (oog-NAY) from Lithuania, and Kristin from Sweden.

and of course, I love you all!