Arrival

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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 rain (drizzling) to my building. About 22 minutes later, I got to off at a "Westlandgracht", a stop I would learn to love. My building is a 3 minute walk from the stop so not too bad of a walk with my bags. Arriving at the building, I took care of all the paperwork and went up to my room. It took me awhile to find my room, I would have thought room 141, would either be on the 1st floor or the 14th, well there is no 14th floor and it wasn't on the 1st, finally I found it on the 7th. Who would have thought? After walking in, I met my roommate Ross, a really nice guy from Boston. For all those who are nervous about a roommate, be nervous, but have faith. The rest of the day consisted on meeting other people, unpacking and exploring the area.

That night, I went for dinner to an Italian restaurant just off the Leidseplein with Julia, Tamara (both from Montreal), Ross and Allison. We had a great dinner. The Leidseplein is one of the square's that has everything: ice cream, restaurants, bars, clubs, and one of the oldest/original coffee shops in Amsterdam.

After dinner it started to rain so we ventured back to our building and went to the pub downstairs. On the main floor of my building is a pub called the X-Pub. It is run by students living in the building and is a great little place to hang out when everyone is around. The drinking started with wine at dinner and continued with Heineken at the bar. (It’s cheaper than water in some places) I met a ton of people, this time people who had been here on exchange for six months already or were doing internships. I'll give a special mention to Pepito from Ecuador, Stephan from Holland, Stephany from the UK, Margaret, Niko and Aileen from Germany, Darwin and Manuel from Spain and Alberto from Italy. There were many others but for a first night, I'd say I remembered quite a few names. The party was rocking but come the early morning, I called it a night.

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Photos

The View
The view of the canal behind my building from the bridge.

My Building
My building, thanks to google maps.

Tram Stop
Ross, Julia, Tamara, Seth. Us waiting for the tram to head into town for dinner.

Walking n' Posing
Ross, Tamara, Seth, Allison. Posing on the street. In the background on the left you can see a tram.

Dinner
The waiter, Seth, Julia, Tamara, Ross, Allison. Eating dinner. Hmmmm, good!

Pepito behind the bar
Pepito. Pepito working hard behind the bar.