Amsterdam/The Hague/Scheveningen, Netherlands

It is Saturday morning, July 30, as I write. Much has happened since last time, and I am quite sure you will enjoy some of the tales that I have to tell.

Thursday morning, July 28, Tim and I awoke and began preparing for our longest excursion of my stay here. We began as always, a breakfast of bagels, coffee, and one sweet. Today we were to journey to Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, as well as the largest city. The train ride was a short, simple thirty minutes. Our tickets however were not checked, which I questioned. Tim told me though that there is a certain trust among the Dutch people when it comes to travelling on their trains. (Our tickets would only be checked once, during our return trip to Bunnik yesterday.)

We arrived at the biggest train station in Holland, and set off for our first activity. On the way I saw another huge bike garage. We boarded a long, skinny boat, which was only capable of navigating through Amsterdam's narrow canals. The city itself was very beautiful, with housing and stores lining the canals, only separated by a street for passing cars and bikes. However, the canals were quite dirty, with trash floating around and the water being slightly green in color. But as we went deeper into Amsterdam, they became a little cleaner, suited for living on the water. Living on the water? Why yes, people here will make a home out of a fairly large ship, and just dock it by the street on the edge of the canal. The living space looked quite good, and for a while I even imagined myself doing such a thing.

Canal-side, boat-turned house

The bike garage

The tour was a short hour in length, but I really got an idea of living just by this tour. Housing tends to be four to five stories high (for the wealthy) but only about fifteen feet across. Therefore, it is much easier for people to live side by side. It may seem close, but it is actually a very smart use of space. We departed the boat and began touring the rest of Amsterdam by foot. The actual city center holds only about 200,000 people. The rest of the population is counted in surrounding, tinier towns, which are still considered Amsterdam (gemeente Amsterdam-all parts of Amsterdam), and that total comes to 783,364. These are much like suburbs of a major city in the US.

A slab might be two of the white windows across, but four stories high

We walked to the very famous Anne Frank House. It was in this house that Anne Frank hid from Nazi persecution, along with four others who hid in different rooms in the back. I've read and learned so much about Anne Frank, I've read her diary as well, and for a while I just couldn't believe I was standing in front of it. People from all over the world were there to witness it, Russians behind me, French in front of me, and an American person (myself) between them. It's amazing how we can all come together for such a historic monument. Unfortunately, the line was backed very far, so we were unable to go inside, but the fact that I was there to see it, to see exactly where Anne Frank had bravely hid, was just as special to me.

Anne Frank House with line of people

From there we walked to a very famous square in Amsterdam. During the 60's, Dutch hippies would come here and demonstrate. Today, it is immortalized with a statue in the center, surrounded by shops and the famous Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky. We walked into a mall, a famous chain in Holland called De Bijenkorf (literally The Beehive). You found the nicest luxuries in here, which could only be accompanied by extremely high prices. Never could I imagine buying a small handbag for 800 Euros (well over 1000 dollars).

I made this picture larger so you could see everthing. The square with the hotel in the background.

After departing this store, I decided to enter a coffeeshop out of curiousity. I did this on purpose, because a coffeeshop in Amsterdam is code for a store that sells mushrooms and marijuana, and all the accessories associated with it. I did not smoke anything in these stores, to the dismay of one of the shopkeepers. He insisted that mushrooms and marijuana were the "greatest experiences ever" and that I "should try them right now and see what I thought". That told me a lot about the shopkeeper, as well as the others "shopping" in there. Only in Amsterdam, I thought...

Entrance to a "coffeeshop"

From there we were to meet one of Tim's friends at a Mexican restaraunt further into the city. His name is Leen (pronounced Lane), and he also brought his girlfriend Tessa. To get there, Tim and I walked through the notorious "Red Light District." It is not much during the day, but Tim says it can be rather dangerous at night. We met the two at the restaraunt, and together we enjoyed an all you could eat Tapas meal for €17,50. We talked about our ideas of each others' countries. With each opinion, the other answered a fact, and I believe the four of us learned a lot during our time. Unfortunately, it was during this dinner that my camera died. As I looked to Tim to suggest using his, he sadly told me that his had died as well. With that, we had no way of capturing anymore images. So for the remainder of our time away from Bunnik, I paid special attention to everything I saw, as to try and keep these memories in my mind forever.

We departed the restaraunt and proceeded to another one of Tim's friends, Pepijn. (Everyone I met here already knew each other. Tim had met all of them during his schooling, so they are all a big circle of friends). Pepijn's father, very wealthy as I learned and observed, owned an entire four story slab next to the canal.  These slabs, although very tall and quite skinny, as I described above, are considered very expensive and luxurious in Holland. Pepijn's father also had a boat, and so the five of us cruised down the canals for almost two hours. I saw much more here than I did on the first boat ride. I could really smell the "scents" of Amsterdam here. In wide open parts of the canal, I smelled the salt and fish from near the coast. When in a more narrow canal in the middle, I smelled a combination of cigarette smoke and marijuana. But as night began to fall, those smells went away, and instead I began to witness a vibrant nightlife in the city. The many lights of Amsterdam came on, and I saw a much different city, including the red lights of the "Red Light District". With a few close calls when turning the boat (such as violently getting up to try and push our boat away from others right before we almost hit them), we managed to park it in its spot next to Pepijn' father's house. From here Leen and Tessa had to return to their student housing. We would be spending the night there later. But Tim, Pepijn and I ventured out in the cool night to experience the nightlife. We entered several bars and had a few drinks, talking (yelling) over the loud music. Most students are away during this time of the year, so we saw only high schoolers and younger adults. There are certain clubs in Amsterdam that only admit Dutch university students, and the way they enforced this can be compared to enforcing the 21 year old drinking age in the US. In other words, quite difficult to get around.

It was late, almost three in the morning, when we arrived back at the student housing (Leen, Tessa and Pepijn lived together). I immediately went to sleep, waking up several times to two, three-month old kittens, brother and sister, nibbling at my toes at each movement. It's funny because I had shut my door once I was ready for sleep......but oh well. When I woke up, I played with these kittens for a while, and then got up to take a shower. Afterwards I went downstairs to meet Tim and the others, but unfortunately they were upstairs and not downstairs. I had shut a door behind me that I shouldn't have, and I for about twenty minutes I was locked down there in a dark hallway, knocking until Leen heard me.

After a game of Fifa 11 on Playstation 3, Tim and I said our goodbyes to Leen and Tessa, and we set out for The Hague (Dutch: Den Haag). It is considered the political center of the Netherlands. We rode the train for about an hour and arrived at the central station. (All train stations have a central station, centraal in Dutch, with several other stations in the same city.) Here we met Fabian who had travelled from Bunnik. We did a very short tour of the city. I saw where the president lived, and then where the Queen lived. But touring The Hague was not our main aim. We were on the way to the beach, and a famous beach for that matter. It was a short, fifteen minute tram ride to Scheveningen, a popular coastline, filled with shops, entertainment, and an amazing pier, unlike any pier in the US. We got off the tram and walked around a corner, and ascended a slightly sloped sidewalk. We turned a corner, and I saw for the first time the Atlantic Ocean from the European side. I took a moment to take this in, and then we headed for a drink at McDonald's. After using the bathroom for fifty euro cents, we walked the pier, where we bought some souvenirs, and then headed out to the sand. The air was quite cool, so we did not go swimming (although the water was much warmer than I had previously thought or expected). Instead, we decided to make use of the Paddleball that Fabian had brought. We made a court in the sand, established some rules, and that gave us quite the entertainment for about an hour and a half. I was able to beat Tim and Fabian once, but other than that, the sport for me was a lost cause. Afterwards we threw the frisbee for about twenty minutes, but at that point, it was getting late, and we figured it was time to start heading back to Bunnik.

The pier from the coastline

The coastline from the pier

We boarded the tram and got off at Den Haag Centraal, and then arrived back at Tim's home about an hour later. The smell in the house seemed rather familiar, and I soon learned why. Burgers were placed on the table in front of us, followed by broccoli and Dutch fries. We consumed everything on the table, let's say. After so much travelling, walking, and observing, I was exhausted. I went to sleep early and had a pleasant night's rest.

Like I said, it is now Saturday morning. Tim departed for work, where he will be until 17:00 (5 PM). Fabian and I will likely play tennis or soccer nearby. But for now, I am glad to be resting in one place for just a little bit. My time in the Netherlands is coming to a rapid close, but I have witnessed much more than I ever could have imagined in this beautiful country.  Until next time, take care, and much happiness and luck to the USA from the Netherlands!

-for more pictures, visit my profile on facebook-

Downtown Utrecht, Netherlands

Following our movie last night, I fell asleep and woke up this morning well rested for another day of touring Holland. For breakfast I enjoyed another bagel with cheese, followed by coffee and another sweet. Today we were to accomplish two goals, to play tennis, and to venture to nearby Utrecht, a fourty minute ride by bike. It is the capital of its province, which is under the same name, and it also has the highest population in this municipality. You can think of Utrecht as slightly bigger than Greensboro.

But before I get into that, we go first to the tennis matches. Tim was to play a friend from Indonesia at his club, while Fabian and I were to play at his club twenty minutes away by bike. Court reservations are made digitally upon arrival. First the person scans their member card, and then chooses a thirty minute reservation on the court of his or her liking. This would also be my first time playing on a red clay (different from the real red clay, according to Fabian) We warmed up on a specially made "mini tennis" court, which is basically a very tiny version of a tennis court. Most people in the US will warm up this same way, but never have I seen a miniature court constructed just for this purpose. Like usual, my warmup went very well, but then, as we started playing, disaster struck. I lost the first set 0-6, unable to keep up with Fabian's consistency. Our court time had run out after this, so we sat down for a drink and waited to make another reservation. Once our time came, we played another two sets. I played better this time, although I still lost 1-6, 3-6. It is beginning to look like I may never defeat a member of the Meijs family, but I guess that is just a title that they can happily proclaim...

Fabian would join us for our excursion to Utrecht. The trip there was a hefty task in and of itself, but the most interesting part was that even though it is a fairly long distance, it is bike and pedestrian friendly the entire way. In fact, most of Holland is like this. For instance, if you cross a bridge on foot or bike in the US, you would likely feel out of place, as there is no path given for you to walk or ride on. In Holland, almost every street has its own paths on the side just for bikers and walkers. At every stoplight, there also exists a smaller traffic signal just for bikers and walkers. I will try and take a picture of this later. Theoretically, if I wanted to, I could bike the entire length of Holland just by using bike paths, although it might take several days. I'm sure my stepmom would love this, and even do it for that matter...

After a scenic thirty minutes or so, the countryside began turning into a downtown city, lined with shops, restaraunts, and other forms of entertainment. There were canals, with store openings there only accessible by boat. Hundreds of bikes were linked to all the railings, and we saw a vibrant little city. People having dinner outside, crowded walkways with people holding their newly bought possessions, bikers weaving in and out of these walkers, and all the noise associated with such activities. Take cars out of the equation and that's what it was like, because there were indeed no cars. We biked through this for about ten minutes and finally reached our destination. You might wonder, where would we park our bikes for such an excursion in the city? The answer is rather interesting, but not surprising either, given the already explained friendly-ness to bikers and pedestrians. Yes, bike parking garages do exist. Think of a car parking garage shrunk to about the size of a school gym, add bike posts instead of parking spots, and that's where our bikes would stay for the duration of our stay. Pretty impressive I would say.

Fabian, Paul, and Tim against a railing in front of a canal



Bike against the railing along a canal


Our plan was to meet with one of my German friends, Rieke, whom I met my junior year in high school. She arrived as planned, and we happily caught up, as it has been four or so years since I last saw her. She had travelled with her Dutch boyfriend, also a fluent English speaker (which is not uncommon for most people here). The five of us sat down and had some drinks while we waited for our tour of the highest dome in the Netherlands. It stands 368 feet above the ground, at almost the exact center of the city. We were to climb 465 steps to reach the top. Although very tiring, the result was quite nice, a panoramic view of the city. Far in the distance we picked out Tim's hometown of Bunnik, and we also admired the European forms of architecture that sat below us. It was quite beautiful.

Fabian, Paul, and Tim in front of the Dome Tower

View from the Dome Tower

The tour was given in Dutch, followed by English. Tim happily made fun of me at this point for having no knowledge of the Dutch language, but all was well. Rieke and I both listened after each Dutch explanation, since the other three spoke both languages. We even spoke German at times to help me practice. The tour was very interesting, and it was amazing how such small passageways for steps and people could have been made. The largest bell in this tower is famous for having the second loudest ring in Western Europe, second to Cologne, Germany's. This fact led to a very funny, interesting thing that the tour guide said. When she noted that Germany held the loudest, she ended with, "those darn Germans..." Rieke, being a native German, was a little taken back by this phrase, but she laughed at the joke moments later. Back when at UNCG, Tim always told me that there is a rivalry between the Dutch and Germans. I used to think he was exaggerating, but this moment during the tour really showed me the truth behind his beliefs. Interesting point, I thought.

Paul under the second loudest ringing bell in Western Europe

During the tour, Tim saw a friend of his, who also had brought one of her friends along. Through discussion at the end of the tour, I found at that she was also going to Mannheim to study this coming semester. She will also be taking the same summer language course in August. What a small-world coincidence this was! We will be keeping in touch up until our arrivals in Germany. Afterwards, we bid farewell to Rieke and her boyfriend, but the other two joined me, Tim, and Fabian for dinner at a weirdly named Mexican restaraunt. It was just as delicious as any Mexican restaraunts in the US. We payed our Euros and headed back to our bikes, bidding farewell to the two girls in the process.

We rode back to Bunnik in the setting sun, passing more cows and fields along the way. The low temperature and occasional raindrops felt wonderful. We arrived back in Bunnik fourty-five minutes later and are now preparing to watch another movie. Another great day has indeed presented itself in this beautiful country. Tomorrow Tim and I will venture to Amsterdam, the largest city in the Netherlands. With all the commotion, I will likely be unable to post my experiences tomorrow, as we will have a late night...but I will try my best to convey the experiences to you when I am able. With that, have a good rest of your day and evening, and much love to the USA from the Netherlands!

Ik spreek geen Nederlands
I do not speak Dutch

-the blurred images were taken from my ipod touch, i will use my camera next time-

-for more pictures, visit my profile on facebook-

Rotterdam/Kinderdijk, Netherlands

You might be asking why a post would be necessary today since I posted one yesterday, especially since I told most of you that it would be nearly two weeks in between posts. Being in the Netherlands is different, because every day something special is planned while I am here, as opposed to Mannheim, which might have two exciting days out of the week worthy to post about. I want my experiences fresh in my mind so that I can include all the details. Therefore, it will be beneficial to not only me, but also to those who are curious about what I'm doing over here...

As sleep deprivation began to take it's toll on me, I crashed around 9 PM last night. Up until that point, Tim, his brother Fabian, and I had been watching a movie in Tim's room. Interestingly, my suggestion of a movie to them was accepted rather excitedly, and this is because it is quite normal for both of them to watch a movie with their parents on most nights. This is a foreign concept to me, as I very rarely watch a movie with my Mom, sister, or even myself. I slept soundly as the cool air seeped through the open windows in Tim's house. It is very uncommon to find a house with air conditioning in Holland, and I found out the reason today. Most days here are overcast and cool, with a slight breeze and occasional rain showers. The rain is not like a downpour we often see in the US, but more like a misty rain, or "spit rain" as I used to call it. The short, "hit and miss" nature of these misty rains are quite common. It was interesting to have to transition from wearing loose clothes in 90+ degree heat to wearing jeans and a sweatshirt in cool, 60 degree weather.

Because of today's cool, overcast weather, we postponed our beach trip and instead ventured out via an hour and fifteen minute train ride to Rotterdam, the second largest city in the Netherlands behind Amsterdam. The city is located on the Maas River (Dutch: de Maas), a major river in Europe, beginning in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea. Our purpose in Rotterdam, to board a boat and ride 15 kilometers to the east to a tiny village called Kinderdijk. This tiny village belongs to the municipality in the Netherlands called Nieuw-Lekkerland. But before all this, we had a typical Dutch breakfast, a bagel-ish type bread with cheese in the middle, followed by coffee and pie of some sort.

I saw the most interesting architecture in this city. Buildings often jut out in random places, or make random shapes in general.

Yes, that is a building behind me, not mountains



As we waited for our boat, we walked to the Erasmus Bridge (Dutch: Erasmusbrug). It is the biggest and heaviest cable-held bridge in western Europe. It is very interesting in architectural build as well, with the cables only coming from one side.

The boat ride was another hour in length, but we were able to see different parts of the city while riding down the river. Our boat stayed very close to the right hand shore, and this is because boat traffic is often treated like car traffic in the US. To my knowledge, the river flows into other European countries as well, proven by our sighting of ships from Switzerland, Belgium, France, and England. Tim has said that he's seen boats from as far as China going through the river as well.

A view of Rotterdam from the back of the boat

Kinderdijk is home to 19 windmills, spread out in various parts of the village. They were built around 1740 to try and drain the water from the low-lying land at the meeting point of the Lek and Noord rivers. We only saw one in motion, but the windmills are still home to certain families today. Back when in use, the windmills had four different shapes that they could take to convey certain feelings. For instance, if the windmill made an "X' in shape via the tower it was sitting on, then it meant a neutral or resting feeling. If one of the windmill blades were slightly to the right, off center at the top, then it conveyed a feeling of celebration. If it were off center to the left, then it conveyed mourning, or a death in the family. If it formed a perfect cross, in other words, the top and bottom blades of the windmill were directly in line with the tower it was sitting on, then it meant the family was hard at work.

The windmills were often grouped together in lines, such as this, down the canal. Notice the first "celebratory" windmill and the "resting" others.



In Kinderdijk I also saw wooden shoes, characteristic of Dutch culture as I later learned. I tried a pair on and was immediately in discomfort. I was glad at that point to have soles in my shoes.

With our given hour in Kinderdijk gone, we journeyed back to our boat for our return trip to Rotterdam. A cold breeze was evident as we rode against the wind, further giving me thanks for bringing a sweatshirt along. Although the views on the right side were not as good this time, I was able to see another interesting thing. On almost all ships, the flag from which it came is displayed on the back edge (this is how we knew where ships were coming from, explained above). It really showed me how proud the Dutch are to be Dutch. The flags waved violently yet valiantly from behind each ship.

We began our journey back to Bunnik, running into a few traffic headaches along the way, however it was still a pleasant trip. With much observation, I was able to catch a glimpse of the train that I will be taking to Mannheim next Monday, the ICE DB (Deutsche Bahn).

Walking into the house in Bunnik, I picked up the scent of fish, which is exactly what we had for dinner, accompanied with chips (commonly referred to as french fries back in the US), apple sauce, tomatoes mixed with red peppers, and an ice cold heineken fresh from the brewery here in the Netherlands :) Tomorrow we will probably tour some of Utrecht, a quick 4 minutes by train from Bunnik, however we will probably bike there. Joining us will be one of my friends Rieke, a native German studying in Gronigen. I met her during my junior year in high school during which year she was an exchange student. Tim will play tennis in the morning with a friend from Indonesia, while Tim's brother, Fabian, and I will duke it out on clay elsewhere (it is not looking good for me). Those sad results will come tomorrow, but until then however, have a pleasant rest of your day and night, and all the best from the Netherlands!

"Here live the best brands of the Netherlands"



-For more pictures, visit my profile on Facebook-

Initial Arrival Into Europe

Today I write for the purpose of informing those whom I can't directly contact of my arrival into Europe. I landed at Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport around 1:15 PM Amsterdam time, 7:15 AM back at home. The most interesting part of my trip, I would say, was the nearly barren landscape I witnessed as I landed at Reykjavik/Keflavik, Iceland. This connection was fairly short, as my previous flight from Boston had been delayed quite a bit, but nevertheless I enjoyed the cool 50 degree weather as I stepped into the Icelandic air.

Upon arrival in Amsterdam, I retrieved my bags with ease and saw my friend Tim staring through the clear glass barrier separating customs from the arrival hall. I will be staying with him this week at his home in Bunnik to help me ease into European culture. This, so I've already seen, was a great decision. For instance, I basically walked through Dutch customs without anyone looking at my passport, my bags, or in my direction in general. After Tim reminded me that Iceland is a part of the European Union, I began to realize how great being in Europe really is. Having gone through security again upon my arrival in Iceland, it prevented me from having to go through customs in Amsterdam (although not having a Dutch stamp in my passport concerns me, given that it is required for all people in the country to have their passports on their person at all times in the case of being asked to present it). This conveyed to me the ease of travelling through different countries in the European Union, which I hope to do while I am here.

Jetlag has been nearly nonexistent thus far, since I had a rare success of resting on the way over. I've already ridden by bike to see where Tim will be studying at Medical School. We also experienced our first difficulty of the trip. We tried plugging in my Xbox 360 via the adapter and it fried the fuse. We thought it was just a bad one and tried it again downstairs, and blew another one. With the electrical expertise of Tim's father Jos, he was able to fix it, however I will not know for some time whether or not my 360 survived it, or whether or not it will work in Germany. The voltage here in Europe is much different than in the US. Hopefully it did survive, more to come on that later, you would understand if you played videogames like I do.

Our week is jam packed, with a possible beach trip tomorrow to The Hague to begin the festivities. We will visit some of his friends from around the country, and even revisit some of my old German friends whom I met in high school. The week has only begun, and I'm looking forward to sharing all the experiences with you. Until next time in the Netherlands!