Travel Day & Arrival

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Finally executing plans that have been many long, uncertain months in the making really schools one in the realities of consciousness---every moment comes from the one before. Remembering this point helps to resolve my discomfort with the fact that despite the fruition of long-sought plans, life continues as usual. And it was business as usual at LAX at 4.00am. Our timing was good because we missed rush-hour traffic and all airport crowds. Furthermore, the experience of travel to a foreign environment was not confused by the banalities of home-life. It felt more like we were sneaking out of LA than just leaving. Well the flight to Dulles (D.C.) was packed with EAP and other UC students, but not entirely in a good way. In the row immediately in front of us sat two young guys from Berkeley (we guessed sophomores) and an older girl from UC-Irvine. How does one make small talk for 4.5 hours?!? Obviously I couldn't care less if they chatted, had their voices not been so piercing and persistent. They just kept on keeping on with the chat. It made it difficult to sleep though maybe for the best.

Our lack of sleep early on made us even the more tired for our Dulles to Amsterdam leg, on which we hoped to mostly sleep through. But first we had our layover, which at about 4 hours, was somehow totally acceptable. It helped that we found Tawny, a Berkeley student also studying in the Netherlands, with whom we chatted and got to know during the time. And what do ya' know but Tawny happens to be our roommate for the Dutch Language & Culture orientation program (hereafter 'DLC') here in Utrecht. But after the three week program she will be studying in Maastricht, which is shoved at the southern tip of the Netherlands near both the Belgian and German borders. She's a great contact to make because Maastricht is apparently a wonderful city and also hosts the Dutch 'Carneval'. We'll need to stay with someone there if we were to visit the festival because commercial lodging vacancies simply does not in Maastricht around that time.

Anyways, we proceeded to board the Dulles-Amsterdam flight after the gate filled up with tall blond men and women with mullet-type hair-cuts (i.e. Dutch people).

The aircraft was 100% full and showed it but fortunately we were able to trade my middle-section aisle for the window seat next to Brittany's window-section aisle. Once next to one another we set to sleeping for as long as we could and did so rather well. All things considered, I'd say we made a pretty good 'night' of what our body thought was the afternoon. As of the 'next morning' we touched down into a still dark Amsterdam...we snuck right in there too, just as we had left LA.

The airport was wonderfully clean and quiet, and really serves as an integrated transport hub for the nation. Second only to Utrecht itself as a rail and bus center, the airport opened out into a spacious mall/rail station that was really enjoyable. It helped that it wasn't overly crowded as I'm sure it must become. Had there been long lines and gaggles of people, we wouldn't have been able to: (1) use the wrong machine to buy train tickets, (2) gather around ticket counters with tons of luggage, and (3) find room for our luggage on the train. But let me clarify that, at this point, when I say 'we' I mean the five or six other EAP students who were on our flight and with whom we met up once we de-boarded. But most importantly, an EAP student named Casey from UCSD had befriended a native Dutch girl who studies in Utrecht (though not at our University) who helped the useless lot of us get to Utrecht. Her help was priceless! She showed us how to get train tickets, got us on the correct platform and train and even posted us into taxis once we reached the Utrecht-Centraal station! Bravo to Anna (there are helpful Anna's all over the world)!

Brittany and I were able to fit all of our stuff in a cab while the other EAP students piled into another. The driver raced through beautiful and hip Utrecht (I'll get some pictures up in the coming days), driving on streets which we thought to be sidewalks and nearly kissing the tires of cyclists.

It was only a short ride to the University College of Utrecht; a ride that amounted to about 11 Euro...Of course, I proceeded to misread the fare (which was digitally posted on a screen mounted on the ceiling, leaving it at a funny angle for me) as 17 Euro and gave the driver 20 and told him to keep the change! Wow...I really had to swallow that one and move on. Brittany turned my mood with the well-placed cliche in bold-print at the top of this entry.

So...then we were there, standing in front of a gate surrounded by huge bags. Quickly the other taxi showed up and we found a campus map.

The EAP Study Center wasn't far and we took a laborious tour of campus as we lugged our luggage (good etymology there) to the Voltaire building. There we were finally able to put down our bags and enjoyed some Dutch cookies with coffee. We talked with the EAP Study Center Director there for a while and were then taken to our DLC housing...which is where it gets crazy Our DLC housing is amazing! It's a literally brand-new short-stay type building that it completely furnished like an IKEA showroom. Not to mention a beautiful view of Dutch countryside. Check the pictures...The only downside is that we still don't have running water---it would be nice to take a shower soon. After unpacking a bit Brittany and I met up with Daniel, a UCSC student who is staying down the hallway, for a quick walk. We just knew that we couldn't take a nap or there would be no turning back from horrible jetlag! The outing was very enjoyable and we have just returned for a short rest before our 5pm dinner. Now it's time to get on the bus and get going back to the UCU campus for our dinner-date.

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Dinner was very simple, if not sparse, but we really weren't hungry. I feel like I've eaten 6 times in the last day while never having a proper meal. We just got back and we still lack running water (toilet, shower, etc.). We'll see how that goes. Bedtime.