I arrived in Rotterdam on the overcast and cool morning of August 29th. I started my journey the previous day early in the morning too and after you calculate all the traveling time it’s a good 22 hrs with all the time changes. I had a hard time at first with everything, I was informed that I won’t need to learn Dutch because everyone here speaks English, yeah right. Everyone does speak some English but everything is written and spoken in Dutch primarily, so, I got lost in the air port in Amsterdam twice and missed my first train to Rotterdam because I was on the wrong platform. I eventually figured it all out and arrived in Rotterdam, which is about an hour south of Amsterdam, around 7:50am.
The first day wasn’t too bad; I was really in a daze most of the day because of the sleep deprivation one seems to get when flying to Europe with unlimited free movies to watch and video games to play on their flight.
I got lost again in Rotterdam; I couldn’t find the hostel I was trying to stay at. It was the cheapest I could find, only 10 Euro. It turned out to be down this small side street that looked more like a dead end and parking lot than a road to a hostel. The name of the place is called "Mafkees" which is run by a local non-profit organization called "Use-It". The hostel is closed from 11:30-5pm everyday but is open any other time; there is no curfew which is nice. The Use-It organization is such a cool little operation, the staff is incredibly friendly and provides massive amounts of (FREE) information, maps, and local events and parties that are going on around town. They have their own outings around town and they give a free guided pub tour of the city every Friday night which is really cool.
I joined them on Friday and went for the tour; I decided that I would be social and met people while I stayed at the hostel. It was really a great experience. I met these two British fellows who are just a kick in the pants, and I met their friend Ishmail who is from Iraq. I met a really and nice girl named Emily from France, I met a girl from Spain and another girl from Moscow, Russia. And the most peculiar thing ever is I met a guy from Vancouver, WA. Small world no? I must say I absolutely love Europeans, they are the funniest crowd I’ve hung around with and not to mention they are very happen and open to talking about American politics and I can’t tell you how many times I was told to vote for Obama and Eff Bush, he Effed up the country. It was just classic.
On Saturday I went to this little piano shop where there are at least 100 pianos or so, and you can go in a play for a while. So the Russian girl, who I met the night before, and I went out to this piano shop and played piano together. It was one of the most amazing things ever. First you have hundreds of Grand pianos, and then you have me playing the Comptine D'Un Autre: L'Apres Midi from Amelie. Well this Russian girl let me tell you a little about her. She has obtained her masters in performing arts for piano or something grand like that, and now she is going to attend Cordarts which is a huge performing arts academy. Well I’m playing the Comptine and she starts playing it as well but improvising. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard! She started doing long chord progressions while I played the basic melody and then we started a round with the fast and slow parts of the song. It was so good customers in the store walked over and watched us playing. It was like a scene from a movie I kid you not, the morning light was pouring in the big room litting it up with warmth while an American and a Russian played French music and got to understand each other a little better. It was really a priceless experience. It sounds like she practices mad hours like, 6 hours a day. I know I could never be that dedicated to piano but good for her, I’m sure she'll become famous in Europe or something.
The weather here has just been amazing, about 80-90 ever day. The city is just full of people and things to do. It reminds me of Seattle being a port city, but it’s the biggest port in the whole of Europe! They have parks and canals, shopping areas like none I’ve ever seen, local bakeries and sandwich shops. Now I must say that one thing we don’t have enough of, local shops that are good. In Spokane you have 3rd street down town where there is one fast food corporation after another but here; you have a local pub, a sandwich shop, a coffee shop, a cafe, a dessert shop and several other of each of those. It’s just an amazing spectacle that you don’t see much in Spokane.
My friend Martha from Gonzaga arrived yesterday in Rotterdam, she was traveling France and Germany with her mom for 2 weeks before school started. It was so relieving to be able to talk to someone for a change. There is a very lonely feeling that I get when I’m somewhere and I don’t speak the native tongue and I cant make sense of simple advertisements or signs. Everyone turns to you and speaks Dutch and you have to ask them, "Spreekt u Engels?" "Do you speak English?" This can get lonely fast especially when you’re traveling alone and not at school yet in a social environment, so it was nice to have a friend over here to hang out with.
We pretty much walked around all day, which is nice because then you really get a feel for the city. It’s not too big of a place; you can easily be entertained for a day or two around the center. They have some of the most amazing parks here and I love all the canals that flow through the city. I walked to where my apartment is yesterday just to scout it out and make sure I knew where I’d be going today and there are the most beautiful canals all around where my place is. It’s insane, my place is located just north of the Centraal Station and the neighborhood is so quiet! Everything is very hustle and bustle south of the station in the center but it’s amazing just across the tracks and its quiet. There is a local pizza, hamburger and coffee shop right by the canals and a least a million bikes. Everyone bikes here, everyone! They even have their own riding lane bikers do. It’s so biker friendly and there are so many bike racks around I really think I’m going to invest in a bike while I’m here.
Last night I must saw was probably the most fun night so far. My British friends, Jon and Lee, and their Kurdish friend Ishmail invited Martha and I out for a goodbye drink. But before we went out Martha and I met a guy from WA! His name is Steven and he is Anthropology major at Western. It was so interesting talking with yet another American and it must be a traveler’s mindset or something but most everyone over here has the same ideas and is very open, the Americans included. Its definitely a small world after all. There are 4 people from Washington State staying in the same hostel in Rotterdam, Netherlands of all places and all on the same nights... very interesting.
Anyways, the night was pretty interesting. We met a group of Greeks at one of the pubs we went to and they were fun interesting people too. Of course ever person you meet from a new country tells you that you have to go to their country before you leave but Greece definitely sounds pretty amazing. I her they have some of the best night life in Europe! I've decided that it’s going to be my job to meet at least one person from every member state of the EU while I’m here. So far I’ve meet the English, Dutch, French, Austrians, Chez Republic, Spain, and Greeks, which is only 7 out of 27 countries, so I have a while still but that only my first 3 days. I have met people from Russia and Iraq too which aren’t in the EU but still are interesting in themselves.
I must say though, Iraqis are crazy... not like mentally, just crazy funny. Ishmail can’t hold his alcohol I don’t think and he ran down the canal mooning everyone only after maybe 2 drinks if that! It was hilarious! I would never have expected that from a Kurd. He is the funniest character ever, If you've seen Borat, you've seen Ishmail!
Well today is the first day of classes I believe and it’s when everything starts picking up schooling wise. I’m excited to start my classes and there are several that I’m really interested in taking like Middle Eastern Conflict and Politics class. The professor is actually one that Gonzaga professors cite and use his work so it’s incredible that we actually get to be taught by him directly. Its 7:36 am right now and I’ve been up since 5. My sleeping pattern has been off my whole time here, I slept from 5pm-1am the other day. Well that’s all for now I think I’m going t garb some breakfast. Ill post later!
PS. The Euro just went down .002, Yay! I’m gaining money!
Awakening
12 years ago