Bikes and beer – a roundup of my first 4 days

This week has been so packed, fun but also very intense – I am now absolutely exhausted. It’s intro-week so sort of an equivalent of the UK freshers week, but there really aren’t that many similarities. I’ve been so surprised by just how different UCU and Leeds are. Here there is a lot of emphasis on what you do during the day with constant activities arranged, whereas in Leeds it was almost solely about going out in the evening so far less opportunities to meet people outside of your accommodation. There still are parties every night, each with themes, so far we’ve had cowboy and a white party and tonight it is disco themed. I really didn’t have much space to bring fancy dress items so I have improvised a bit. Fortunately the Dutch do not drink anywhere near as much as British students which is great for me because I have largely avoided having too bad of a hangover (touch wood). I definitely couldn’t have kept up with the weeks activities if I was properly hungover. 

We had sports day yesterday, which as you can imagine with my strong dislike for sweating I was highly unenthusiastic for. It was actually better than I expected though, the only actual sports were volleyball, basketball and ultimate frisbee (there was also some lacrosse and dodgeball but neither of them really include running). It was largely inflatables and obstacle courses and games and the weather was beautiful so that was fantastic. Our family, who are all absolutely lovely, were either very clumsy or just too into the sport as I think about half of us sustained injuries, including me – I stood on a wasp and now my foot is all swollen. 

I saw the city of Utrecht for the first time yesterday evening and it is absolutely beautiful – really, really pretty. I also had my first experience of riding on the back of a bike. It was initially scary, but by the end I felt very Dutch – it’s much more painful than you would imagine. 

The Dom

We had our formal dinner on Tuesday which has probably been my favourite evening so far – everyone suited up and looked so nice! It was a 3 course meal and each table was given 3 bottles of wine for about 12 people – by the end of the night our table had finished 10 bottles most of which were stolen from other tables when they were getting their next course. Plus the food was good, I’ve actually been surprised by how nice the food is, like it’s not homecooked food but for the amount of people they cater for it’s good, expensive though.

Suited up

 

Moved in!

I am officially now a student of University College Utrecht and have moved into my (very big and very empty) room – currently struggling to get an internet connection since I forgot an Ethernet cable. Most of my housemates that I have met so far are Dutch; I think there might be one or two that I haven’t met yet since there are 6 bedrooms in the flat (in fact just whilst writing this I met another). I am surrounded by people chattering away in Dutch and absolutely no idea what they are saying – however I hope that when their parents leave they will start to speak a bit more English.

My room

I arrived by plane to Amsterdam Schiphol yesterday, which was really a bit of a disaster as one of my suitcases was put onto the wrong baggage belt, so mild panic ensued. Fortunately we walked past the correct belt on the way. The train to Utrecht was largely uneventful, but both Abi and I were looking forward to getting to our hotel and to sleep. However, instead of getting to the hotel quickly (which was ‘300m’ from the train station), we took the wrong exit and spent the next hour traipsing round Utrecht in the dark with 4 heavy suitcases and a rucksack. Safe to say my arms ache today, but it’s all part of the adventure!

Today we had lunch with our ‘real’ parents (as opposed to intro-week parents), obviously me and most of the exchange students didn’t have ours with us, but it was nice nonetheless. I feel a lot less anxious about the dining hall and being catered now because there was stuff I ate. Pinched some fruit and plastic cups as well since I really have nothing practical in my room – next I intend to aim for cutlery.

Next we get to meet our intro-week ‘family’ – this whole family business (especially being called ‘kiddo’) seems like a very American concept to me as well as the frat parties we have later this week. We’ll see.

My life packed up in 37kg

I’m almost packed. I was packed, but I’d actually packed all my clothes, including the ones I intended to wear for the next 3 days. Fortunately though everything ended up under the weight limit of 40kg, which is surprising since I’m certainly not one to travel light, for instance I have 2 bags filled with make up and a ridiculous amount of leggings and crop tops. No one will ever need to wear as many leggings and crop tops as I have packed, but you know I just want to be prepared for every eventuality. This preparation included packing my Beyonce calender and ‘Feminist killjoy’ banner. Home comforts and all.  

I’ve attempted to cultivate a minimalist, stylish monochrome wardrobe, so I can just throw anything on and look good – what actually happened is I just kept shopping and now have a ridiculous amount of black clothes (which isn’t really a bad thing), but no real outfits. My attitude whilst preparing for this adventure is akin to someone planning a trip to the Sahara desert – I seem to have ignored the fact that Utrecht is a pretty big city half an hour from Amsterdam. There is going to be no lack of shops and they will have almost all the same stuff we have here – there was no real need to buy a whole new wardrobe before going, but any excuse to shop.

I know that this is going to be such a good experience and really once in a lifetime, I’m so privileged to have this opportunity, but right now I am just terrified. I think it’s really just fear of the unknown and going to uni for the first time is scary (I know I was scared for my first year at Leeds) and this is in such a different environment and culture than I am used to. There are just so many “what ifs” but as soon as my flight touches down on the very long Amsterdam Schipol runway my nerves will slowly start to disappear. I’m just going to go with it and seize every opportunity available. 

See you on Sunday Utrecht!