Due to my chronic procrastination I have been unable to muster the energy to write full blogs on my very eventful journeys around the Netherlands.
Within the past few weeks I have been to three Dutch cities - one per weekend. Due to the ease of transportation, I just hop on a train with some friends on a Saturday morning, travel to my destination within the hour, and come back at a reasonable time in the evening to Rotterdam. So far I've had the pleasure of visiting Amsterdam, Utrecht, and the Hague.
Of these, my favourite was probably Utrecht - which is the least well-known of the three. Upon my arrival in this historic Dutch city, I felt a very heavy air of culture. The canals in the city centre seemed more aesthetically pleasing than those of Amsterdam, and the streets have a very unique, historical flavour, as if they were stuck in some sort of 16th Century time-warp.
Amsterdam was very eventful. A simple blog entry probably wouldn't do it justice. And I know I will probably be back again sometime soon so I guess I will write about it then...
My next destination is Paris. I will depart from Rotterdam tomorrow morning. I cannot begin to describe in words my excitement for this trip. I will then head to Brussels on Monday, and return to Rotterdam later that night.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
The Netherlands: The First Weekend
There's about a week's worth of lag on the date of these blogs due to my habitual procrastination.
I settled into the hostel on Wednesday evening, having lost track of time.
Thursday morning, I woke up bright and early to participate in Orientation activities with other exchange students here at Rotterdam School of Management. We all met in the "T" building and listened to the regular pep-talk by the exchange coordinator, after which we assembled in the gym for introductory activities. We had two acrobats coming to teach us exercises and we also had a "conflict management" guy trying to make us play games such as "Place yourself on the Map".
Thursday night was spent in Dordrect, at a hostel about half an hour away from Rotterdam by bus. There was an "international cabaret" on that night where representatives from each country put up a show of some sort for entertainment. The Nordic countries gave a pop quiz to start off the night, Germany talked about everything they'd invented, and the United States demonstrated a game of beer pong. As part of the Canadian group we sang O Canada, recited some facts about Canada, and taught people some Quebec French.
Being in a place of relative isolation, we decided to hike on Friday afternoon because we were located in a Dutch national park of some sort. Apparently some beavers inhabited the area and were building dams. How Canadian. It was disappointing that we didn't actually see any beavers. Only wood carvings and museum displays. That night I got the first taste of Dutch nightlife. We went out to a bar after dinner at a Mexican restaurant, drank Tequila shots and copious amounts of beer, and danced the night away.
We went exploring Rotterdam on the weekend. The city has quite its unique charm. Many of its landmark buildings were destroyed during World War II and modern skyscrapers appeared on our path at random intervals. With its criss-crossing trams, bicycles, small European cars, and confusing street layout, navigating the city was not an easy task. We visited such landmarks as the EuroMast tower and went around the Central area for drinks.
I settled into the hostel on Wednesday evening, having lost track of time.
Thursday morning, I woke up bright and early to participate in Orientation activities with other exchange students here at Rotterdam School of Management. We all met in the "T" building and listened to the regular pep-talk by the exchange coordinator, after which we assembled in the gym for introductory activities. We had two acrobats coming to teach us exercises and we also had a "conflict management" guy trying to make us play games such as "Place yourself on the Map".
Thursday night was spent in Dordrect, at a hostel about half an hour away from Rotterdam by bus. There was an "international cabaret" on that night where representatives from each country put up a show of some sort for entertainment. The Nordic countries gave a pop quiz to start off the night, Germany talked about everything they'd invented, and the United States demonstrated a game of beer pong. As part of the Canadian group we sang O Canada, recited some facts about Canada, and taught people some Quebec French.
Being in a place of relative isolation, we decided to hike on Friday afternoon because we were located in a Dutch national park of some sort. Apparently some beavers inhabited the area and were building dams. How Canadian. It was disappointing that we didn't actually see any beavers. Only wood carvings and museum displays. That night I got the first taste of Dutch nightlife. We went out to a bar after dinner at a Mexican restaurant, drank Tequila shots and copious amounts of beer, and danced the night away.
We went exploring Rotterdam on the weekend. The city has quite its unique charm. Many of its landmark buildings were destroyed during World War II and modern skyscrapers appeared on our path at random intervals. With its criss-crossing trams, bicycles, small European cars, and confusing street layout, navigating the city was not an easy task. We visited such landmarks as the EuroMast tower and went around the Central area for drinks.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
The Netherlands: Arrival
I've neglected to do this for much too long. Holland has consumed me for over a week and only now can I sit down and write a blog.
I departed Saskatoon on August 25. Flying through Toronto and then Reykjavik, Iceland, on Icelandair, I arrived in Amsterdam just past noon on August 26 local time. The entire process took me around 14 hours. Arriving early in the day after having not slept is very detrimental to your biological clock.
Arriving at the airport in Amsterdam, I realized that all the signs were in English. Going through customs with my two extremely large bags, I was asked only a few superficial questions before being allowed to pass through.
My first purchase of goods using Euro was a Burger King meal at the airport. Sleep-deprived and alone, I hauled my luggage to the railway platform for the incoming train to Rotterdam. I was told to not take the luggage carts onto the train platform. Of course, I asked for directions no less than three times just to make sure I was going the right way.
As the train sped off from the underground station at the airport, the scenery on a beautiful afternoon in Holland gradually began enveloping me. This is the part of the trip where your mind is not quite sure where you are. So this is Europe? After all, I had just spent the last four months on the Canadian prairies.
I started to notice all the differences. Some not so obvious, but some jumped out at me. First it was the small vehicles, with their shiny yellow Euro license plates. Here, there are no SUVs, no big trucks. The European brands began screaming at me as the train zoomed past city streets and suburban buildings. And then, once in a while, a windmill would pass right by. My eyes would instinctively follow these medieval-looking structures - seemingly out of place in the modern urban cityscape. Then I realize - this is the Netherlands.
The train ride to Rotterdam, the country's second-largest city, only took about 45 minutes, passing through two other Dutch cities - The Hague and Leiden. It takes longer for a Torontonian to go to work than for me to zoom through four large Dutch cities.
I stepped out of the train station from a underground tunnel into a beehive of activity. Construction on a nearby building was just in the groundbreaking stages. All kinds of people crisscrossed the businesses outside of the station, some headed in a particular direction, some just loitering around. Street graffiti was also visible in random places. Signs were in Dutch. I came out of Central Station in Rotterdam completely blind, looking like a dumb tourist constantly turning my head. With a hostel address I hastily pulled from my laptop and a local information booth nearby, I tried asking people directions so I can plan my path from point A to B. It turns out the hostel had moved locations in the last few months. Looking around, I spotted a booth selling SIM cards for cell phones. The guy tells me that its 2 SIMs for 5 Euro. Deal. Bought it, slid it in my phone, and then called the hostel directly to get directions.
After some more struggling with luggage and arranging for a taxi a few streets over, I show the driver the directions on a ripped piece of paper with the address of the hostel. He didn't speak too much English; he took me in circles on the confusing city streets and then informed me that the address was not accessible by road. We went a total distance of less than 1 kilometer. 8 Euros later it was more luggage pulling and randomly inquiring passersby where the hell I was going, and if they knew of a hostel. I was getting little luck with the directions.
Luckily for me, the hostel was situated right in the Cube Houses of Rotterdam - apparently a tourist attraction. Basically there were these cubes tilted diagonally and somehow standing upright in the midst of a busy city intersection underneath. After about half an hour of dragging around luggage, I duly navigated several sets of stairs to finally discover my hostel - orange in colour and populated by students like myself.
It was time for some rest. Local time: just past 4.30 PM.
I departed Saskatoon on August 25. Flying through Toronto and then Reykjavik, Iceland, on Icelandair, I arrived in Amsterdam just past noon on August 26 local time. The entire process took me around 14 hours. Arriving early in the day after having not slept is very detrimental to your biological clock.
Arriving at the airport in Amsterdam, I realized that all the signs were in English. Going through customs with my two extremely large bags, I was asked only a few superficial questions before being allowed to pass through.
My first purchase of goods using Euro was a Burger King meal at the airport. Sleep-deprived and alone, I hauled my luggage to the railway platform for the incoming train to Rotterdam. I was told to not take the luggage carts onto the train platform. Of course, I asked for directions no less than three times just to make sure I was going the right way.
As the train sped off from the underground station at the airport, the scenery on a beautiful afternoon in Holland gradually began enveloping me. This is the part of the trip where your mind is not quite sure where you are. So this is Europe? After all, I had just spent the last four months on the Canadian prairies.
I started to notice all the differences. Some not so obvious, but some jumped out at me. First it was the small vehicles, with their shiny yellow Euro license plates. Here, there are no SUVs, no big trucks. The European brands began screaming at me as the train zoomed past city streets and suburban buildings. And then, once in a while, a windmill would pass right by. My eyes would instinctively follow these medieval-looking structures - seemingly out of place in the modern urban cityscape. Then I realize - this is the Netherlands.
The train ride to Rotterdam, the country's second-largest city, only took about 45 minutes, passing through two other Dutch cities - The Hague and Leiden. It takes longer for a Torontonian to go to work than for me to zoom through four large Dutch cities.
I stepped out of the train station from a underground tunnel into a beehive of activity. Construction on a nearby building was just in the groundbreaking stages. All kinds of people crisscrossed the businesses outside of the station, some headed in a particular direction, some just loitering around. Street graffiti was also visible in random places. Signs were in Dutch. I came out of Central Station in Rotterdam completely blind, looking like a dumb tourist constantly turning my head. With a hostel address I hastily pulled from my laptop and a local information booth nearby, I tried asking people directions so I can plan my path from point A to B. It turns out the hostel had moved locations in the last few months. Looking around, I spotted a booth selling SIM cards for cell phones. The guy tells me that its 2 SIMs for 5 Euro. Deal. Bought it, slid it in my phone, and then called the hostel directly to get directions.
After some more struggling with luggage and arranging for a taxi a few streets over, I show the driver the directions on a ripped piece of paper with the address of the hostel. He didn't speak too much English; he took me in circles on the confusing city streets and then informed me that the address was not accessible by road. We went a total distance of less than 1 kilometer. 8 Euros later it was more luggage pulling and randomly inquiring passersby where the hell I was going, and if they knew of a hostel. I was getting little luck with the directions.
Luckily for me, the hostel was situated right in the Cube Houses of Rotterdam - apparently a tourist attraction. Basically there were these cubes tilted diagonally and somehow standing upright in the midst of a busy city intersection underneath. After about half an hour of dragging around luggage, I duly navigated several sets of stairs to finally discover my hostel - orange in colour and populated by students like myself.
It was time for some rest. Local time: just past 4.30 PM.
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