The Amsterdam Adjustment Period

Hallo from Amsterdam! A month has passed since our arrival in the Nederlands, and I have some reflections for you--if it’s in quotations, it’s directly from my journal. 

“Yes, it feels exactly like freshman year. But in AMSTERDAM!”

I think you can guess what this is referring to…our very early days of orientation! IES Abroad gave us two weeks to situate in the city before classes started---my blessing in disguise. The abundance of leisure time was more than enough to explore freely, before adding in my course load. It also made reaching out to people beyond those superficial (but necessary) introductions a natural next step. I am beyond grateful for those first couple of weeks---I became acquainted with my new home, people in and out of IES Abroad, and a new routine. Here’s to new beginnings.

“I. LOVE. BIKING. EVERYWHERE.”

It’s like I’m fifteen and biking to my friends house…except the amount of infrastructure makes biking a viable method of transportation to go pretty much anywhere. I am beyond grateful I know how to ride a bike---it made the learn-how-to-ride-in-Amsterdam curve that much easier! I am always up for an adventure, and biking through Amsterdam’s parks + streets is always guaranteed to bring me one. I find biking has familiarized me with the city, which is helpful when Apple Maps has no clue where I am going (I know, I REALLY need to switch to Google Maps). Biking with no destination, and without navigation, has been one of my favorite ways to learn my way around the canals---maybe one of these days, they won’t all look the same. 

Putting the Study in Study Abroad

I am finally beginning to feel settled into my classes. My first week at Universiteit van Amsterdam was quite unlike FWOC back at Davidson. Before UvA, my biggest classes were about 35 people, so you can imagine my unfamiliarity with the lecture hall of 150 students. I felt isolated, and even more so as my peers effortlessly socialized in fluent Dutch. I had to remind myself: it is EVERYONE’S first week of class, not just my own. I began to feel out the norms of the Dutch classroom, and am still gauging what is expected of me academically. This became a lot less intimidating as I began to make friends in the classroom, exchange and domestic students alike. Also, all of my professors are very friendly and have engaging classes, which facilitates peer-to-peer conversations as well. In addition to settling into classes, I am also involving myself in the city in other ways---I will be taking a dance class (something new for me!) starting late September, and have been attending other group fitness events such as yoga. In addition, I am on the lookout for an organization to volunteer at---more to come on that in a future blog post. 

Well Spent Weekends!

Over the summer, I studied abroad in Italy for a month---and my biggest regret was not taking advantage of my weekends to explore what the country has to offer. I want to be intentional with my weekends here, and so far have been balancing between staying in the Nederlands, and exploring new countries. One of my favorite excursions in the Nederlands was a bike ride to Bloemendaal, where a beach awaited me and my friend after the hour and a half trek. Along the way, we made some fun stops in Haarlem and the National Park Zuid-Kennemerland!

Outside of NL, I have ventured to Copenhagen and Paris with friends old and new---and have loved what each new place has to offer. From swimming in the canals in Copenhagen to exploring the Louvre in Paris, I can say confidently that I have had an enriching time in my new Amsterdam home and elsewhere. 

As I am writing this, I acknowledge that almost a quarter of my time abroad has already flown by. I hope to keep both this fact and these reflections in mind as I continue to explore, learn, and experience my new home---my time is precious, and how incredible it is that I get to spend it here!