There is so much that has happened and so much I have noticed that I will try to remember it all.
School
The Arnhem School of Business is actually a really nice place. When walking to school I get to walk across a river and through a nice little park with a pond in the middle which leads me right out to HAN University. From my residence at Honigkamp it takes me about 10 minutes or less to get to school. The nice thing about my residence is I am a 5 minute walk across the street from the shopping center which has groceries, clothes and pretty much all your needs, and from there it is about another 5 minute walk to get to school which will be nice when the weather gets cooler.
Something I found cool about the inside of the school was THEY HAVE ESCALATORS, its a school that has about 3 floors, and they have escalators. I thought that was very funny especially since you always hear about dutch people being active since they all live on bikes.
I didn't see to much within the school yet we only got a quick tour so that update will come later, but the rooms seem nice, fairly large, and everything around the school is kept clean.
Another cool thing I noticed about the school was the fact that their buildings connected through an indoor bridge. So getting from the business building to the engineering building for example you don't have to go outside which is very nice considering how much rain they actually do get.
As for the actual school information that will have to come at a later date as I get my class schedule tomorrow. I am hoping for Fridays or Mondays or even both off but we shall see how that goes. As well the issue that I am dealing with when it comes to classes is their semester timing. Unfortunately their semester does not end until Jan 23 which is when the Odette semester has already begun and I need to be back for that. Apparently Arnhem says they cannot do anything about it, but I have heard previously that students were able to come back in time somehow. As of right now my options are talking to the professors and seeing if they will let me write my exams early, or picking all classes that don't have exams.
Oh and last but not least about school.......YOU ONLY NEED FOUR CLASSES TO TRANSFER BACK TO WINDSOR AS FIVE!!!! YAY!!
I have to say though the weirdest thing about this whole experience at this moment is feeling like you are in first year all over again. I don't know anybody, I'm in a foreign place and adapting is quite interesting.
-More update on school to come next week when I actually start
Introduction Week
So for the past week all the exchange students have been together with a group of dutch students who are in the event management class and they have been putting on events for the exchange students to get to know the school and the city. In my honest opinion even though I have had fun, the organization of these events were kind of weak.
Tuesday- School Orientation; we got some information about the school, and a tour of the school. The School orientation was all the information that we already knew reading the package if you did which most did. It was somewhat good for learning about other things such as how to get a gym membership or the fact that our student cards are delayed but in general there was not much information to actually help me on my first day. The good thing about the orientation was defiantly getting to know who some of the faculty was because as exchange students we are going to be dealing with them on a daily basis with classes, and transfers and questions so that was a better part.
As for the school tour, they really did not show us that much or explain how to get to the places. The nice thing about the Arnhem School of Business is it looks to be all around the same area, but tomorrow (Friday) I am defiantly going to have to get my schedule and give myself my own tour to find my classrooms.
On our tour, we did see the other HAN students and their introductions which was actually kind of funny... all the faculties at some point dance in the middle of the school...
Wednesday-This was a long long busy day but probably the best of them all..Our schedule was a tour of the city center, dinner, and than pub crawl.
In Arnhem they have their main city center which would be like their downtown area. Its AWESOME. In this area its like a big shopping mall outdoors. Its a lot of old buildings, so many shopping stores (so far I have been good and not gone clothes shopping...well see how long I can last)
The City was very nice lots of old buildings and pretty much all your shopping needs. They have everything from H&M, Guess, Adidas to more shoe stores than you can ever imagine.
After the tour of the city we went to an Italian place to eat...I had spaghetti and meat sauce and man was it good compared to the rest of the food I have been seeing in Arnhem.
We than had about 4 hours of time to ourselves where people went back to their rooms to get ready for the night.
Now throughout this week there has been no formal introduction from one student to another saying their names and where they are from which I thought would have been a nice ice breaker at the beginning....but by that night after the tour of the city and going to the bars together that is when everybody got to know one another.
We went to three bars, the cavern which was in a basement, bloopers which was half outside, and Aspen Valley which was more like a nightclub. This was when everyone loosened up and you started to meet more people on the exchange. It was a very fun night but a very long day..
Thursday- This was very poor planning on the introduction groups fault. The plan of today was to all meet at 10:30 to take a tour of their soccer field or sports dome.... Being out the night before late many students did not make it to this tour....whoops
After the tour all exchange students were set up with a dutch buddy. This is where you get a student who goes to the school but lives in Holland to be your guide for the rest of the semester. They are there to answer questions, take you out, and help you with you everyday needs. My buddy's name is Ricky and he lives in Nijmegen, Netherlands which is about half an hour outside of Arnhem.
The downfalls of the week and the organization was their instructions. If they told us to meet at a place for a specific time they did not explain it clearly. So when we had to get a bus station we were not told what bus or anything like that and that fact that everything is in dutch did not help. All in all it was a good week, some lack or organization and I think they should have done a better job of introduction of the exchange students but eventually it all worked out and we had fun.
Friends
It took a little bit and the process is still going but I am started to make friends slowly. The first friend I made ironically is from Canada. Her name is Sonya and she is from Edmonton Alberta... I have also met people from England, Austria, Ireland, Spain, The United States, Finland, Sweden, and the Czech Republic... There are many more and slowly I will meet them all as well as become actual friends with more people.
The hardest thing making friends at the moment, is a lot of people on exchange come with other people from their school and like like all of our human nature its more comforting to be with something familiar than looking for something new. So right now I find a lot of those people are sticking together but I think as time passes and classes start it will become easier.
Mickeys Adventures
So for those of you who don't know me very well my sense or direction is HORRIBLE! And this is where my adventures begin. On the first day or Orientation we were supposed to meet at the school....well of course I got lost :)
So as I said earlier the actual walk from my house to my school is about 10 minutes, but of course on this day it took me about half an hour. I walked passed the street I was supposed to turn on and realized this when I saw lots of horse and had never seen them before on my first tour of the streets. I than turned around and attempted to walk in the right direction. Now I am a person who when I need help I have no problem asking but man is this hard in a foreign country. All the signs are in dutch and when you try to ask a person for help many don't speak English and understand what you are asking....eventually I did find an older woman who understood small English and figured out HAN University and pointed me in the right direction but if I was lost in the city or something more unfamiliar it is going to be interesting to try and get home. Than when I finally made it to the school I got lost in the school. Of course I start on the same day as every other dutch student and thus there was so many people I got lost. Oh Well, something for me to write about on this blog. Eventually after walking into every building and hanging around strangers someone directed me to the Arnhem school of Business where I found my fellow exchange students.
Arnhem/Netherlands
Okay so things I have noticed and found interesting while being in Arnhem for a week
-Their water taps go opposite ways, the cold turns one way and the hot turns another :s why?
-***This is what I have heard**** Netherlands is half the size of Vancouver Island and has 16 million people
- That being said, for having 16 million people you would never know this. The streets are not filled with people all the time. There are a lot more cards than I expected but I guess that comes with the size of the population, and as the rumors are true there are SO MANY BIKES....EVERYWHERE.
-The Netherlands has a tax rate of 50%!!! WOW... We complain in Canada that our taxes are to high but man is that a high tax rate. It sucks as well because all the euro prices look comparable to Canada for example a movie is 19.99 euro, but when you do the conversion its actually more expensive because the dollar is so high. It will be nice to travel to other countries where items will be cheaper (than I can really shop)
As well I have to say, for having taxes of 50% and a population of 16 Million the city is so clean. There is no litter, rivers and ponds everywhere, lots of trees nice old buildings just a well kept city all in all.
- In Canada we drink coffee like its nothing. Most people on average drink a medium or large and think nothing of it. Here they have 2 sizes, small and large, and they ALL drink small. ( and they are very small ) so when I got a large hot chocolate the dutch ladies in the school were staring at me and saying look at that large coffee (from what I picked up they were speaking)
-They don't really eat breakfast here, when you try to look for eggs or a muffin they really are not that easy to come by.
-Grocery stores here are pretty normal and decently priced. They have fresh bakeries everywhere and regular food as well as dutch food. Its a little harder to shop in because I cant read what some of the stuff is and what is in it and I am a picky eater.
Food
So far I have learned the two foods dutch people LOVE. One would be french fries topped with mayonnaise. They LOVE this and it is everywhere.
As well there is an item called the Kronket... Still not exactly sure what this is but its some sort of mushy beef breaded and deep fried...I haven't tried yet but eventually will and let you know how it is.
Eating out here is hard because as I said I am a picky eater and I cannot understand any of the menus. It is going to take a lot of getting used to but at the same time, I will probably eat out less and not want to spend money so I wont gain weight :)
Last but not least Tips
These are some things I have so far learned and should inform you about if coming to the Netherlands
IT ALWAYS RAINS-----ALWAYS REMEMBER YOUR UMBRELLA
Bring a smaller suitcase, carrying large ones around are annoying
Sorry for the length of this Blog. I have been keeping notes on things I wanted to mention and it started to pile up!
Enjoy :)
Mickey
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| City Center |
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| Lots and Lots of Bikes |
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| River in the City, leads all the way to Switzerland |
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| Oldest Church in Arnhem |
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| Church Again |
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| Apparently no matter where you go there will always be an Apple Store |
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| First European Beer |
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| Arnhem School of Business |
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| New Friends :) |
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| Spain, Canada, Austria and Brazil |
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| Sonya and I |
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