Saturday, January 23, 2010

What Time Zone Am I in Now?

Well, it is 5:44am in Amsterdam, and I've managed to sleep maybe 3 hours tonight. Of course, this is largely my own fault - upon getting to the hotel this morning around 9am, I promptly crashed and slept until 5:30pm. This is what happens when I don't sleep very much two nights in a row, fly a red eye on which I can't sleep, and spend time in three cities in just as many days. (Los Angeles/Kinnelon/Amsterdam) Still, jet lag is never a fun thing.

But to backtrack: for those of you who don't already know, I am studying abroad in Amsterdam this semester. My orientation starts at noon on Monday, but my parents insisted on flying out with me a few days early to "get me settled." Considering that I don't even get to move into my dorm until Wednesday, I'm not really sure how this works, but I'm not going to question it.

Since I slept pretty much all of yesterday, I don't have many exciting revelations yet...except that apparently taxis here can drive in the tram lane if they have a special license. Consider it a sort of super car pool lane. It was a little unsettling, I have to admit, if only because my Mother was sitting next to me worried that we were going to get run over by a tram.

As I have nothing else fun to impart, here are my (current) goals for my semester;

1) Try to use dutch as much as possible (as I learn it), and don't simply speak English. (Entirely possible since a large portion of the population speaks English). This could be amusing, since I can't even begin to try to pronounce my dorm address.

2) Rent/buy a bike, and actually use it to get around. While I have an aversion to bikes (and am terrified of the idea of biking in traffic), it will save me a lot of money not having to use public transportation. Also, it really is one of the most practical options.

3) Stay dry/warm.

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