Welcome to Europe

Hello!

I thought a two-month trip to Europe would be a great time to try making a blog. I thought this would be the best way for me to catalog my own thoughts so I don't forget everything about the summer. I'm going to try and update it regularly (2-3 times a week) to stay on top of everything. Here goes nothing!

The Beginning:

The trip began by flying out of Logan at 9:30pm on Friday, July 3rd. No better way to celebrate America's independence by boarding the first flight out of the country! It was interesting though because we could see fireworks in the distance as we were taking off. It was interesting to see the fireworks from the sky, as we flew above the fireworks and I don't think many people get a birds-eye view of fireworks display.

I was only able to sleep about 2 hours on the flight, but I guess some sleep is better than no sleep. We flew Icelandair, so we had a layover in Reykjavik. I now have an Iceland stamp in my passport, so I guess I can officially say I've been to Iceland now! The second flight to Amsterdam took about three hours and we landed a little after 1pm local time (which is 6 hours ahead of Boston). The Netherlands was in the middle of a heat advisory when we landed, so I was expecting some extreme heat. However, it was only in the 80's. A little humid, but nothing worse than New England in the summer. If this is extreme heat, I wonder what the rest of the weather will be like.

After landing at the airport, our group of 27 students met up with Professor Furth, our professor and coordinator for the next 5 weeks. We boarded the bus he had waiting for us and drove the hour to Delft. My first impression of The Netherlands from the highway is that every single square inch of the country seems to be utilized. Housing developments border straight up against farmland, with little buffer in between. I guess in the world's densest country they've learned how to efficiently utilize space.

Once in Delft we settled into the dorms. My dorm room doesn't look bad, and it's pretty spacious for a single. It also comes with a small kitchenette with a hot plate and a private bathroom.

Exterior of my dorm. My room is on the fourth floor.

Interior of my home for the next 5 weeks

Our next stop was to retrieve what will become our best friends for the next month: our bikes, My bike is different than any one I've ridden as a adult in the US. It only has one speed and the way to stop is to back-pedal. The first couple rides I kept trying to stop by grabbing the handlebars just to realize that the brakes are not located there. This will take a little adjusting.

That evening I explored the center of Delft a little. I saw just enough to see how charming the city is, and how much I think I'm going to like it here. Eventually the two-hours of sleep caught up to me and I was in bed before too long.

Center square in Delft

Canal located directly behind a row of buildings

Bikes parked in front of Delft City Hall

Canal at sunset

Den Haag:

The next day (Sunday, July 5th) a group of us decided to take a bike ride into The Hague (Den Haag in Dutch). The Hague is the third largest city in The Netherlands, and is located only about 11 kilometers from our dorms in Delft. To get there, our TA Joel led us via a scenic route beside a canal. It was really pretty. People were swimming in the canal, which you would never see in America. We stopped and rested at one point and then stopped again closer to The Hague at a grocery store. I bought a 1.5 Liter of water for 42 cents! Things are much cheaper in Europe that I thought they would be, especially food. But more on that later.

Ride along the canal to The Hague

Kyle and I at the canal

Once we got to The Hague, we parked our bikes and went to find food and walk around. I really liked The Hague. I thought it would be much more stuffy and pretentious being the home of the International Court of Justice, but it was really quaint and charming.

Plaza in The Hague

Fountain in front of Dutch Parliament Building

For lunch, we got fish from a fish stand. I got the raw herring in a sandwich (which was actually really good), but one member of our group got the raw herring straight. The way to eat it straight is to put your head back and bite the fish as you hold it from the tail. Definitely an interesting way to eat fish. Now that I've watched someone do it, next time I'll have to get the herring straight and eat it the Dutch way!

Fish stand for lunch

Me eating my herring sandwich

Kurt's order of raw herring

Kurt demonstrating how to eat herring

After lunch we continued walking around and I saw more of The Hague.

Plaza near the Dutch Parliament Building

Street in The Hague

All afternoon the weather had said there was a chance of rain showers, but I had mainly ignored this. The sky had been so clear! However, the rain did eventually catch up to us after lunch when I was walking around. A group of us decided the best course of action would be to go grab a drink and wait for the rain to pass. After about an hour, it had momentarily stopped raining. We got back to the bikes and started to head back to Delft hoping to make it home before it started raining again. However, we did not luck out. Once we got on the main route to Delft and off the different city streets, it started to rain. Hard. For about 10 minutes, we were caught in one of those intense downpours. We all got soaked, but it was actually pretty fun. One thing I noticed were that there were several other Dutch bikers who got caught in the rain, but they did not seemed phased at all. I guess if you bike a lot, this is something you just deal with. It was a wet an interesting ride back to Delft. I don’t want to do it again, but it’s not the worst thing that happened.

After drying off, I headed into the center of Delft later in the evening to explore some more. I found more quaint canals and charming streets. I got some gelato right off the main square. Only 2.50 euro, which is much cheaper than back in America. I ended the night with a couple drinks in the outdoor square with some of my fellow students. It doesn't get dark until about 10:30 at night, which I'm beginning to rally enjoy.