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.
