Catastrophic Entrances
Hey all. I have been in the Netherlands for about 5 days so here is my update about getting here, orientation weekend, and first day of classes.
Arriving at the Netherlands
This day was lnog and a catastrophe. first we took a bus from Cork to Shannon, because that is where we were flying out of. Then my bags were overweight by 16 kilos and i had to pay 128 euros, which sucked. my roommate jen had to pay 80. then our flight was late. then when we finally get to the weeze airport in Germany, we got the worst cabbie ever. He could only speak german and english, so he could not read anything dutch or make a phone call to the netherlands. thus, he could not find the hostel in well. he could not find any of the bed and breakfasts. (and we gave him addresses plus he had a gps in his taxi). we went to about 6 hotels, all were full. Eventually me and Jen gave up and decided we would jsut show up to the castle early and hope someone was there. the cab ride ended 3 hours later having us pay 175 euros cz he was an asshole and ripped us off. Then at the castle, it didn't get much better. we rang a door bell but no one heard us. So we ended up jsut sleeping on the ground. we took out our sheets and our towels. I put on my winter coat and pout on gloves and a hat. It was freezing! We waited 7 hours before someone got to the castle and let us in. We were scared they're yell at us and call us irresponsible (because we completely fucked up, haha) but they gave us tea and let us into our room early. then we slept all day and waited for all the other kids to show up. their plane from boston ended up being about 3 hours late, so we didnt get dinner until about 7:30.
Orientation
I have had a lot of fun this weekend. I have been going to the two local bars every night with everyone from school. It's funny because we all already know all of the bartenders and wait staff's names and the faculty make fun of us for only being here one weekend and knowing that. My roommate and I usually hang out with this other girl Beth, who I took a class with back in the day. She lives on our floor in a single. To balance out our usual group, we also hang out with Dean, (who is SOOOO much like Bubba) and two roommates, Meredith and Mallory. We see Meredith a lot more though. We also hang out with Jon and Charlie, the most adorable gay couple ever. And I have to admit...the sophmores aren't as annoying as I thought. I really like most of the people I'm meeting. My room is also right next to the class rooms and is surrounded by two guys triples, so it's a prime spot, haha. i don't have to wake up early and there are tons of boys always walking around. Some of the rooms here are absolutely beautiful. some of them have actual castle keys for locking their doors. During orientation we had a ton of boring meetings about policies, meeting staff, getting settled in our rooms, safe travel etc. But we also had a boat cruise last night which was different than typical emerson boat cruises. There was no dance party music but everyone was given tickets to get 2 drinks. They even serve us alcohol in the main castle because it's legal in the netherlands. too bad drugs are still illegal near the school, but at least they still let us drink.
Well, to sum it up I jsut want to warn any travelers not to underestimate a small village. it's always a good idea to make reservations. it's an even better idea to know the language of the country you're living in. But mostly...don't just not make reservations because you are living in a small village. It takes 2 seconds to book a hotel or hostel online and it's really worth the effort. haha
Arriving at the Netherlands
This day was lnog and a catastrophe. first we took a bus from Cork to Shannon, because that is where we were flying out of. Then my bags were overweight by 16 kilos and i had to pay 128 euros, which sucked. my roommate jen had to pay 80. then our flight was late. then when we finally get to the weeze airport in Germany, we got the worst cabbie ever. He could only speak german and english, so he could not read anything dutch or make a phone call to the netherlands. thus, he could not find the hostel in well. he could not find any of the bed and breakfasts. (and we gave him addresses plus he had a gps in his taxi). we went to about 6 hotels, all were full. Eventually me and Jen gave up and decided we would jsut show up to the castle early and hope someone was there. the cab ride ended 3 hours later having us pay 175 euros cz he was an asshole and ripped us off. Then at the castle, it didn't get much better. we rang a door bell but no one heard us. So we ended up jsut sleeping on the ground. we took out our sheets and our towels. I put on my winter coat and pout on gloves and a hat. It was freezing! We waited 7 hours before someone got to the castle and let us in. We were scared they're yell at us and call us irresponsible (because we completely fucked up, haha) but they gave us tea and let us into our room early. then we slept all day and waited for all the other kids to show up. their plane from boston ended up being about 3 hours late, so we didnt get dinner until about 7:30.
Orientation
I have had a lot of fun this weekend. I have been going to the two local bars every night with everyone from school. It's funny because we all already know all of the bartenders and wait staff's names and the faculty make fun of us for only being here one weekend and knowing that. My roommate and I usually hang out with this other girl Beth, who I took a class with back in the day. She lives on our floor in a single. To balance out our usual group, we also hang out with Dean, (who is SOOOO much like Bubba) and two roommates, Meredith and Mallory. We see Meredith a lot more though. We also hang out with Jon and Charlie, the most adorable gay couple ever. And I have to admit...the sophmores aren't as annoying as I thought. I really like most of the people I'm meeting. My room is also right next to the class rooms and is surrounded by two guys triples, so it's a prime spot, haha. i don't have to wake up early and there are tons of boys always walking around. Some of the rooms here are absolutely beautiful. some of them have actual castle keys for locking their doors. During orientation we had a ton of boring meetings about policies, meeting staff, getting settled in our rooms, safe travel etc. But we also had a boat cruise last night which was different than typical emerson boat cruises. There was no dance party music but everyone was given tickets to get 2 drinks. They even serve us alcohol in the main castle because it's legal in the netherlands. too bad drugs are still illegal near the school, but at least they still let us drink.
Well, to sum it up I jsut want to warn any travelers not to underestimate a small village. it's always a good idea to make reservations. it's an even better idea to know the language of the country you're living in. But mostly...don't just not make reservations because you are living in a small village. It takes 2 seconds to book a hotel or hostel online and it's really worth the effort. haha