Finally Here!

As most of you probably know (via Facebook ;-), I have finally arrived in the Netherlands!

I left the states on Thursday, flying from Philadelphia to London to Amsterdam. That was the easy part...

Once I arrived in Amsterdam, I had to figure out how to navigate the train system, pronto! Luckily, several other American international students and I had previously decided to ride the train together to campus (so that none of us had to learn it on our own!).

So picture this, five American girls (each with two 50lb suitcases + two carry-ons) purchasing train tickets (in euros!!), squeezing in the elevator to the train platform, and helping each other lift all of our luggage up two steps into the train (then another 5 steps into the seating compartment!)...It was humorous to say the least. Not to mention, we all had mega jet-lag, so we were super fatigued. Sounds fun, huh? But it was a good bonding experience, and allowed me to meet several other international students at Tilburg.

Once we got to the Tilburg train station, we were greeted by some very enthusiastic ESN (Erasmus Student Netwowrk) students, who helped us get ourselves and our luggage to campus. On campus, we checked in (handing over my passport for the ump-teenth time!), got our accomodation information, bank information, ESN activity informaiton, bought bicycles, and wrote a quick postcard to the family! Then we were swept away again by the vans to our accomodations.

I spent most of the day yesterday getting acquainted with my room and the common areas in our flat. I got everything unpacked and put away. The room is simple, but a nice size. I think I need to make a trip to IKEA, but that will have to wait a bit, as it looks like it might take awhile to get to the nearest one. Later in the afternoon, I met up with two other international students, Anti (from Greeece) and Jae (from S. Korea), to find someplace to eat lunch/dinner and to visit the supermarket for supplies for the weekend. I will be cooking for myself mostly while at Tilburg, so this trip was very necessary! We had a good time getting to know one another and learn a bit more about each other's cultures as we walked through the snow/ice together, avoiding the bi-cylcyers and attempting to figure out what various signs meant (as most everything is written in Dutch!).

Today I have been exploring campus and plan to attend the ESN welcome drink with other international and Dutch students later in the day. Tomorrow begins Orientation week, which should be an interesting variety of activities. I am looking forward to registering for classes, meeting more international students and learning more about the services and activities Tilburg has to offer.