Living Here

As of Wednesday I have been in Amsterdam for two whole weeks, and it’s already starting to feel like home. I’ve started classes (which I’m really excited about), I’ve done homework (less exciting), and I haven’t been dragged around on an orientation activity for nearly ten days! This makes me happier than I can explain.

So what is it like living abroad? Well, this is the building where I live with all the other IES students.

Funen!

It has a roof-top terrace, magenta hallways, and big rooms.

My room!

The building is part of a complex of apartments called Funenpark, and it’s actually located in a quieter residential area of the city. Our building is the only one with students living in it, and the rest of the apartments are owned by families. This means it’s not really the best place for the loud, crazy parties college students are inclined to throw, but it also means we get treated to pets and cute Dutch children running around in the courtyard.

The courtyard. Note the small child on the left.

This is the room that I share with my roommate, Conny:

My room (and Conny)!

The setup is pretty basic: closet, bathroom, desks, chairs, and our beds with their weird cage-canopies. We had the option of bringing our own bed linens, or paying 30 Euros to get some when we arrived. I was planning on buying linens, but everybody who got them before I did said they weren’t that great, and only included one sheet and a thin blanket. I was told I might have better luck at HEMA, a Dutch department store equivalent to Target. I did find a large section of bedding at HEMA the first full day I was here, but all of the labels were in Dutch. When I opened up what I thought was the pack of sheets I’d purchased, I discovered that they were, in fact, a duvet cover. Sans duvet. So the first couple nights I roughed it on my bare mattress, swaddled in my duvet cover and a large pashmina scarf. It wasn’t until three or four days later that I managed to get back to HEMA and buy real bedding, but now my bed is made and comfy and not unstylish either.

Our room also has a small kitchen in it, and Conny and I try to save money by cooking most of our own meals. However, we only have a small refrigerator and a four-burner stove, so our cooking adventures have been limited to whatever we can throw together in a pot or pan. Apparently ovens are a rarity across the city, though, (it’s not just our cheap student housing). For reasons of space and a predilection for buying things already made, the Dutch don’t have a lot of ovens. Perhaps this is what necessitated the invention of the "Dutch Oven?"

What they do have a lot of is bicycles. More bicycles than people, in fact. Funenpark is all the way on the east side of the city, which means it’s a fair walk to most places in the city center, and quite a bit longer to some places more on the fringe. Having my bike is crucial, because it makes all my commutes about two-thirds less time consuming than they would be if I walked (it’s only a 10-15 minute ride to most places in the city center). The traffic in the city can be pretty intense sometimes, but for the most part the bike lanes are so well defined that the biggest hazard you face is other bikers (and bicycle road rage definitely exists). After growing up in a place where you couldn’t get anywhere without a car, it is incredibly liberating to be able to bike, walk, or take public transportation pretty much anywhere I want to go. I hope my rusty old bike makes it through the semester, because it’s quickly becoming indispensable to me.

After my two weeks here, I’m feeling at home enough to venture out a little on my own. Tune in next week for tales from my first weekend excursion: Maastricht.