Today I met some mentors at the train station who took me to the University to register. I went through a couple long lines and met people from all different parts of the world. They gave me a big packet of information and sent me on my way. We got to ride a van to whichever housing we were in and they dropped us off. Once finding my room on the 4th floor, I lugged my 60lb suitcase and my 20lb backpack all the way up the stairs. Now I have had the chance to move all of my things in and set up the internet. The rest of the day is meant for unpacking and getting settled.
I have my own bedroom that has nice big windows that open up to trees and train tracks. Inside my white room, I have a bed with a white pillow and a white comforter. There is a bookshelf (guess what? its white!), a desk, some drawers, a swivel office chair, a couch-like chair, and a night stand. My sink is also in my room as well as a chest that serves as a decent sized closet (it even had hangers!) In the hallway there are 16 bedrooms, 3 toilets, 3 showers, and a kitchen. Inside the kitchen there are cabinets that coordinate with our room number that lock and we can store our groceries. All of this is nothing glamorous but it will do for 4 months. I will get used to the musty smell and the concrete walls in exchange for the experience of a lifetime! It sounds like with a suitcase as giant as mine I would have all that I need. I was thinking I would take a shower but then remembered I did not bring a towel. I hope I can find one tomorrow!
We met at the train station at 11 so I had only had breakfast with my parents about an hour earlier. Once I finally got settled in my room around 4 I realized I had no food. The closest place I knew that would be open on Sundays was the train station so I gathered a few people and we took a bus to the station. We waited for the bus for about 30 minutes and then shopped at the station. Once we were finished we realized we needed to get back to the bus stop we left from. There are so many buses going all over town and all of the places are in Dutch. We could not figure out which one to ride by reading the signs so we had to ask the locals. Finally we found a bus that would take us back and we got back around 6. That turned out to be a confusing 2 hour journey for food. We hope they feed us during orientation to avoid confusion.
Orientation begins tomorrow and goes all week long. They will show us how to buy a bike as well as set up our phones and anything else. Classes will begin soon after that. Hopefully I will have many things to say about the people I meet this week in my next blog post. Until then,
Cheers!
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