Blogs from Netherlands, Europe - page 330

The last couple of days have consisted of exploring and partying. I went out exploring with Ross and Allison. We made a couple of purchases, discovered our area and the famous Vondel Park. The biggest purchase was our grill! Ross and I would like to formally welcome it to our apartment. Cooking with a stovetop wouldn't have cut it for 6 months, so we went to Blokker and bought a 3 in 1 grill for 25 euro. We felt it was worth the investment. It had a sandwich maker (WOOHOO for grill cheese), a grill (YAY for chicken and saumon), and a waffle grill (we haven’t used yet). The biggest discovery was how awesome Vondel park is. Even in the middle of winter, it's a beautiful park with multiple canals flowing through it. Families are out ... read more

Excitement/Guilt The excitement I had to go to New Zealand had faded a little today, because I realized that I was leaving again, because of me. ME. That might sound strange, but try to see it from my perspective. We had just moved back to the Netherlands the 13th of July. I had to say goodbye to all my friends, teachers and staff in Jakarta. I had lived in Indonesia for the previous 5 years, and although it took me a while, I had gotten very happy there. It felt like home, or at least more than the Netherlands. So for a long time I had been angry with my parents for moving to Indonesia, because I was unhappy there. I thought that I never ever wanted to move again, and that I wouldn't d that ... read more

I arrived in Amsterdam the day after a horrific wind storm was the cause of a few deaths and millions of dollars in damage. On the flight I knew nothing of this, however it would explain a lot about the landing. It was like a roller coaster, my stomach leaving the seat when my butt was perfectly stuck to it. In the end we landed safely and the adventure to my new place of residence began. I took the train from Schipol airport to Amsterdam's central station, with my two bags this became an adventure! After getting off at central station I lugged my two bags through the station and onto the number 2 tram. I stood with my bags nervously on the tram, not wanting to miss my stop and have to walk in the ... read more

It's the end of our fourth day in Amsterdam, but it feels like we've been here a week at least. The city is a maze of curving streets, narrow alleyways, and canals, and we're just now starting to figure out where our hotel is in comparison to everything else. A few days ago we picked out a very tall tower which was under construction to use as a landmark... there was a metal rod sticking out at an angle on one side, so we looked at the direction it was pointing and planned to use it to find our hotel from then on. We went out that evening, walked around for a few hours, then used our tower to guide us home... only to realize, after walking for a while, that the metal rod was in ... read more

Daar gaan we dan, over 41 uur zitten we al in het vliegtuig op weg naar Heathrow om daar na enig wachten en wat eten over te stappen op de lange vlucht naar HK. Eenmaal daar aangekomen is het al tegen de avond en zullen we eerst wel naar ons hotel gaan. Ik denk dat we een mooie tijd zullen beleven. Hopelijk kan ik jullie vanuit het hotel op de hoogte houden. groeten Bient! Hotels waar we slapen zijn: L'hotel Causeway Bay Harbour View Hong Kong Golden Dragon Hotel - Macau en wie weet als het goed gaat slapen we in de suites van: Wynn Macau of Venetian Macau ... read more