she’s amazing.
- sing
- smile at strangers
- keep learning
- notice kindness
- eat ice cream
- hope
- count your blessings
- laugh
- love
- love some more.
Computer crashed today, had to restore to the way it was when I got it. Which means I lost EVERYTHING considering I didn’t back up anything because i’m an idiot, including all my music, documents, pictures from Greece that I never uploaded and all that important stuff =( …and all the pictures I just took in the past few days, and planned to post now.
To top it all off, I downloaded iTunes today and thought it would be in English, but somehow, everything is in Dutch. Translation, I can’t figure out how the hell to do anything. WTF bad luck.
On the bright side, I now have friends =) Who I will write about later, because now I am way too frustrated. Plus, Jeffrey Esquillo just spent the past half hour trying to convince me to come home, which is never good news when I’m in a bad mood considering I miss everyone so much</3
http://www.usatoday.com/news/mapxmlfiles/earthquake.htm
When we think of an American soldier lost in combat, it is so easy for us to feel sympathy not just for the hero himself, but also for his comrades, his family and friends, the life he left behind. It’s scary to think that we can just as easily detach ourselves from the same feelings when we see numbers - thousands dead in an earthquake, millions killed in genocide. I don’t mean to say that there isn’t compassion for those who are suffering around the world; the movement to provide aid to Haiti in the aftermath of such devastation proves that there are, in fact, a tremendous number of people who care, despite the many cynics who have decided there isn’t much good left in the world (even though it can take a tragedy to make us to put down our Blackberrys, stop taking pictures of ourselves for Facebook, and show it).
Back when I wanted to be a writer, I had the privilege of doing an article on the presentation of a Holocaust survivor as she recollected her experiences to a group of students. She asked us to think about the Holocaust differently than we were taught about it, pleading that we remember each individual lost as having his or her own life destroyed instead of focusing on just how many people were killed. Which makes me question, what do you feel when you see a map of the 100+ places in the world that have lost thousands of people since the twentieth century? Or when you read about the over 200,000 people killed in a tsunami? Did your heart sink to your stomach when you thought about how many lives were destroyed?
In other words, why does it take pictures and videos of dying and crying people to remind us to think of them as people?
I am not at all trying to say that my moral compass is always pointing north (I can think of a few people - and blog posts - that would say otherwise)…just inspired by a friend who showed me just how tough it is to answer questions about human dignity, and say a prayer for those in Haiti. Maybe thinking about this can strike a chord in you too.
It’s already been a week since I left NJ, but I’m already starting to feel a little more at home. There was a ton of snow here during this alleged coldest winter in decades, which seemed to delay just about everything that was supposed to start for me this week - luckily, the snow gave me an opportunity to spend more time getting settled into my room and to get used to life here. I’ve become familiar with the main area of the city, which is nice…now I can (finally) find my way to get groceries - and I found a windmill, yay Holland!
Canals run all throughout Leiden, and stream through the area where I live. Because of the snow and cold, they’ve frozen over, and people are actually able to ice skate on them (that’s right Mariah, ice skating on REAL ice! haha). It’s not just the kids either - people of all ages are skating, sledding, and playing hockey on the canals. It was great to watch, so I took a few pictures:
While I was taking the second picture, an elderly woman (who was originally sitting in that chair) came over to me and started speaking to me in Dutch. I haven’t learned any Dutch yet, so I just smiled and apologized, feeling bad that she walked up to me from the ice to find that I couldn’t even understand her. That didn’t matter though, because she ended up taking my arm and bringing me down to the ice with her. Her daughter (in the pink hat) told me that she saw me watching for a half hour and didn’t want me to miss out on the opportunity to be on the ice, since it is rare for the canals to actually freeze over that much. She wasn’t wearing skates, so I guess I didn’t need to either =) and now I can say that I did it! Maybe I’ll get some skates so I can actually give it a try, I’ll add that to my list of awesome things I should definitely buy here, along with that bike.
The strangers I’ve encountered so far here have all seemed to be wonderful people. Maybe I’ve just got my head in the clouds since I’m new to this place, or maybe I’ve been walking around in subzero temperatures a bit too much, but regardless, I’ve noticed a lot of people stop to appreciate the little things here. Back home we seem to get annoyed when a child accidentally runs into us in the street, thinking about how irresponsible the parents are being by letting their kid run wild. Here, I’ve seen so many people just laugh, and even take a moment to smile and watch something simple like a child dragging his sled down the street. The only person I’ve seen do that at home is my mom, who is pretty much the best person with kids, ever… but I hope that’s something I can take back with me from Leiden and embody wherever I end up.
Leiden is ridiculously Green, legit the most environmentally friendly place I’ve ever been. The electricity in my room turns off when I lock the door from the outside, and I have to put my key in a switch while I’m in the room to turn it back on. Pretty intense, and it’s not just in my buildling, this place is eco-conscious everywhere. I found a coffee shop here that is kind of a mix between Dunkin and Starbucks, in that it sells bagels and coffee and they don’t care if you sit there for a while…it’s called Bagels and Beans, pretty straight forward. I think that’s going to be where I end up spending a lot of time reading. Even the napkins in Bagels and Beans have an eco-friendly message:
eb:
Yes, I know I took a picture of a napkin. Get over it, I think its awesome =) Apparantly the Dutch got a slightly different message from the Native Americans than we did. Pretty sweet that a chain coffee shop sends this reminder.
It’s actually been pretty lonely one the home front though… since my program is independent, I moved in a lot earlier than everyone else (the rest of the international students are coming on the 16th). I saw my first sign of human life in my building on night 3, and met three girls from Canada, Singapore, and Taiwan. They studied here last semester, and two are leaving already… the only one who will still be here next semester is the Canadian, but she’s gone already on a vacation to Barcelona. She got her ticket for 2 euro. That’s right, not 200 euro, 2 euro. RIDICULOUS! Which means I’m pretty much flying solo for another week. Surprisingly I am completely okay with it. This year taught me that time to myself is hard to come by, so a little alone time is welcome. I do wish there were a few people around though so I had more than a computer screen to talk to when I’m home… oh well, at least that means more time for my books =)
Miss you <3
Oh yeah, one last thing. I learned something new today. Nail polish is flammable…so don’t get impatient when you’re lighting candles and your nails are still wet….seriously.
Today was definitely an adventure.
Kudos to anyone who can read a map and successfully navigate with it. Really, you’ve got skills. I’ve tried and given up, but I’m kind of happy about this personal failure; one of my favorite parts of going to a new city is the feeling of finally getting home after a confusing afternoon of being lost. Exploring is more fun when you don’t know where you’re going - that’s how you find things you weren’t expecting to see. Besides, with all of the technology you can buy to tell you where to go, what other opportunities do you have to find your own way than getting caught up in a city you’ve never seen before?
I’m finally out of the hotel, which means I moved into where I’ll be staying for the rest of the semester! It’s an absolutely beautiful building, the whole area is full of architecture like this. Apparently this used to be an old laboratory/museum, now it’s renovated for international students. Here it is:
The inside is great too… turns out there are about 4-6 people sharing a bathroom and a kitchen with a dorm-like set up (hallways of single rooms) and a lounge (kind of like Harry Potter =P). My room has really tall ceilings with a window that extends all the way to the top, and my bed is on the lofted level; my pictures definitely don’t do it justice. Regardless, the room is lovely:
I spent a while walking around Leiden today, the first time I really got to wander. Around here there’s a strip called Haarlemmerstraat that acts as the city center, where you go for pretty much everything. I found it after walking wherever my heart desired for about a half hour, and immediately knew when I was there. Leiden has been pretty quiet so far even though it’s a city, similar to Boston on a random afternoon on a weekday (aka, unlike NYC, it sleeps), but at Haarlemmerstraat there were a ton of people walking and on bikes. EVERYONE has a bike here, I guess because just about everything in the city is considered within walking distance, even when it’s not. Thinking about buying a bike, I’m not sure if I’m tough enough to handle it. I haven’t checked out the public transportation system yet, but I’ll need that to start my research so I’ll probably get lost on that soon.
I was told I actually got to see this city a way most visitors don’t get to: covered in snow. I heard it snowed at home today too! If only New Brunswick was this beautiful in winter. I wish Carl could be here to take pictures that actually captured how amazing this place is, but hopefully my less than professional photography skills can show you some of its character. There are waterways and bridges throughout the city, which are now frozen over and sparkling in the sun during day. If it’s this gorgeous in winter, I can’t imagine how great it will be in the spring.
I’m going to keep posting pictures of beautiful Leiden in hopes that I can convince some people to come visit during the semester. Go to Amsterdam, and visit me in Leiden while you’re there! I’m only 20 minutes tops by train…at least think about it =)
I am completely new to this blogging thing, so it’ll be pretty simple until I figure it out. This is my attempt at finding a way to keep people updated on life while I’m gone. I hate the idea of mass e-mailing/facebook-inboxing to tell people what’s going on, so instead I usually turn the the polar opposite and do nothing - and end up with everyone mad at me for falling out of the communication world for a month or two. Since it’s 5 months that I’ll be gone this time, I figured I should avoid that path and… you know, not lose all of my friends by the time I get home. The awesome URL is courtesy of my amazing nerd pokemaster boyfriend…I’ll probably change it when I think of some English major worthy title. Time to join internet civilization and give this a try =)
So here I am, finally, in Leiden. I had a pretty hectic/exciting/scary/stupid arrival. For anyone who doesn’t know my style of traveling (i.e. anyone who didn’t go to China or Greece with me)… I don’t plan. I buy my ticket, read no travel guides, know nothing of the country’s language, and just go and hope that I’ll figure it out. Since I started traveling, I have been warned so many times against doing this… even this past summer, while everyone was practicing their “Yasas! Hello” and studying ancient Greek geography for our first quiz, I was thinking about when and where I was going to find a cliff to jump off of (in a totally not suicidal way - a sisterhood of the traveling pants 2 way. mission accomplished, btw). So far this strategy has worked pretty well for me… until now. Which means this is the start of my horror story.
There has been a ton of snow in London and across Europe, which means my original flight to London had to stay in the sky an extra hour and a half… which meant I had to literally sprint to my connecting flight to Amsterdam; I must have looked like a total idiot. Anyway, I got into Amsterdam and went to read the signs for the train (which I was supposed to take to the university in Leiden) and they were completely and totally in Dutch. florgan schmorgan, aka I had no idea what to do…. sooooo I ended up taking a taxi which was super expensive but luckily safe. Except for the part when he dropped me off in the wrong place and I had not a clue where I was. Super Jill senses kicked in when I remembered that the Visitor’s Center was supposed to be next to the train station, and so decided to problem solve and follow the sounds of the trains (like a stupid, lost American) and eventually, somehow, ended up in the right place. By the time I got to the Visitor’s center, which was about 3:00pm here (9:00am our time, and no sleep) the housing people had gone home. Apparently they have really limited hours? Who knew? Great. So I found a hotel that was close and not too expensive, right around the corner allegedly a 5 minute walk…that took me 20 minutes, since I stopped walking every 30 seconds to get there since no food + no sleep + luggage = extremely tired and zombie Jill. Again, stupid American. So much for my “I’ll figure it out when I get there” attitude.
Best part is, the phone that I just bought, for the sole reason that it’s supposed to work abroad, didn’t work. Verizon customer service was great in helping me make it work…on the hotel phone for an hour and a half, aka a $200Euro phone bill.
The trip sounds great so far right? Actually, it’s pretty awesome to be here, even with my disaster of an entrance. At least I made one =)
I met with housing today and got my apartment assignment, and can’t wait to move in to it tomorrow. Everything will definitely calm down once I’m no longer in the hotel (this is night number 2) so I can finally unpack, settle, and contact everybody I love. Luckily I got to talk to a few of you already, which is keeping me from feeling lonely despite the fact that I am, in actuality, completely alone in a hotel room thousands of miles away from all of you!
For my big sister Maya’s sake, I’m hoping that I remember to mention something new I did in each post. I did try something new today… even though it was by accident. Ever tried walking across a bike lane thinking it was a cross walk? Bad news. Don’t try it.
That’s all I can think of for today… Unfortunately I don’t have a camera (I know, I know), but I tried taking a picture of me in my hotel room on my webcam anyway. Usually I hate pictures, but (for Carl’s sake) it’s a start. For those of you who have been to the Zultanky residence, note the striped walls in the background (sorry Tanks, couldnt get the curtains in too, ethernet cable has me stuck where I am without the ability to turn my computer toward the window)… and the alligator =) I’ll try to get a camera as soon as I can!
Stay warm,
-Jill
