Sign In
Blogs from Utrecht, Province of Utrecht, Netherlands, Europe
Advertisement
August 1st 2012
I went to visit Utrecht with my friend Evina. This is where her boyfriend works. Since he knows Iran well and I will be visiting soon, I asked him a lot of questions. Utrecht has canals, like Leiden, but it is also a much larger city. Best of both worlds! Houses by the canal often have a basement that stretches down to the lower level of the canal, meant, in the old times, for offloading merchandise for storage in the basement. These lower stories have now been converted, it seems, for living. I've noticed many shops and restaurants, and habitations. Utrecht has a very large cathedral and, nearby, an impressively tall tower. It is also the home of the 'Old Catholics', who are a subdivion of christianity that has branched off catholicism a few centuries ago, ... read more
Kaas, Domtoren, and Canals
Published: March 20th 2012Europe » Netherlands » Province of Utrecht » Utrecht
March 20th 2012
I'm pretty sure I have a cold, so I slept in this morning and took the train to Utrecht this afternoon. Utrecht is the 4th most populous city in the Netherlands, and definitely my favorite place to explore so far. A lot of the city center (centruum) dates back to the early Middle Ages, and the main focal point within the city is Domtoren (one of Sarah's friends was actually saying that there's a law within the city that nothing can be taller than Domtoren). Domtoren is the tallest church tower in the Netherlands, and is in the center of the city at Dom Square. Since Domtoren is so large, it's pretty easy to find and walk towards....so I was feeling pretty confident about not getting lost. I walked through Dom Cathedral first because I couldn't ... read more
February 13th 2012
Whoa! Introduction Week has come to an end, and I needed to sleep allll weekend in order to recover. Best. Week. Ever. So in Europe they have an organization called the Erasmus Student Network, and the whole goal of this organization is to make international students feel more at home. I feel like we could do something similar at U of L, but we don't have enough exchange students. And honestly, it's pretty similar to all the awesome things that Recruitment and Student Life arranges for new students, like Jump the Line and NSO and then Fresh Fest, organized by the ULSU. It's all those things. Together. Now you know how awesome this is, right? So you can buy an ESN card for 2 Euros and it's good for your whole stay. You get discounted food ... read more
February 12th 2012
Just landed in Amsterdam about an hour ago! So far: it's cold, but the architecture is very interesting. People are so far very nice, their accents are fun to listen to. Everybody seems to speak English, and even a lot of the signs are mainly in English with Dutch sub titles. I already missed my connecting tram to Nijmegen, but (luckily) there's another in about 10 minutes. Also, apparently this transit system works mostly off of cash (and the honor system, as there's nobody checking for tickets at anytime). Everything costs pretty much the same if you think of it in USD, except I realized if I'm paying 4Euro for something that's really about... 6USD? Already broke my camera too, but will buy another and start posting the pictures I already got. I miss everybody! Tim ... read more
February 8th 2012
So last Friday, I decided that I would try to find the Ikea. The bedding they're selling here was 52 Euros, and I figured I could find cheaper at Ikea, and then having my own sheets would make me feel a little more at home. I used Google maps to figure out how to take the bus down to Ikea, and it couldn't have been easier - get on bus 71 at the University, take it all the way to Stadscentrum, and Ikea is a little walk from there, but should be visible. I should mention that last Friday was a snowpocalypse in Utrecht. I would estimate that maybe 5cm of snow fell over the course of the entire day. In Canada, this is a normal amount of snow, and in February, we'd probably be thrilled ... read more
Advertisement
February 5th 2012
So February 1 finally rolled around, and I was finally able to get the keys to my apartment! It was a super hectic day, but it all got worked out in the end, thank goodness, meaning I have my own super beautiful place! The morning of the first, I had to move out of the hostel and take my luggage with me to school, because I couldn't get my keys until 2pm. So I'm rushed, panicking (just a little...) and trying to corral all my things and get out and get to class for 9am. So this is fine, except when I lug all my worldly possessions on this side of the world to the bus stop, we have a problem. In Utrecht, 1/3 citizens is a student. That's right. In this enormous city of 300,000 ... read more
January 30th 2012
It has to be said - I am not a hostel person. Anyone who knows me knows that I do not sleep anywhere except my own bed, and a very select few other places, including my parents' house, my boyfriend's parents' house and that's really about it. It's actually one of the big reasons that I don't like drinking. I hate not being able to get home and being forced to sleep somewhere weird. And by weird, I just mean anywhere that is not the three places listed above. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for travelling. And if I was backpacking around Europe, then hostels would be amazing. I would know that I should expect this, and as such I would be mentally prepared. However, in Utrecht, I am paying very good money for my ... read more
January 27th 2012
So I left Calgary at 3.35pm Mountain Standard Time. My parents dropped me off - both of them, since they couldn't decided between them who would drop me off (cute, right?). My mom cried at the security check and watched me until she couldn't see me anymore... she's so sweet. :) We arrived in Amsterdam at 8am their time (midnight Calgary time). We all filed off the plane and headed to customs/passport control/baggage check. Can I tell you how efficient Amsterdam Schipol is?! The part that took the longest was waiting for my suitcase. Everything else was a breeze! After I grabbed my bags, I headed to the far end of the airport where the train station is located. Okay, that's a lie. It wasn't really that far. It was pretty much right outside the arrival ... read more
December 31st 2011
After sleeping in this morning, we went out to do a little grocery shopping to get ready for New Year's Eve. Sander and Mike bought Oliebollen (basically very big Timbits) and Appelflappen (basically apple turnovers) from a few local markets. Those are both traditional New Years Eve foods in the Netherlands - they are also both deep fried and artery blocking (but, hey, who are we to break with tradition?!?). Annelie and Elysia went for a short bike ride to the Vuurwerk (pronounced Vvvuur-verk) shop to buy Vuurwerks. What are vuurwerks, you ask? Fireworks of course! On the way to the firework shop, Annelie ran into a bit of trouble with a fellow country-woman... Suffice to say that she sorted it out with a few sharp comments! Later in the day, we walked through downtown Utrecht, ... read more
