Arrival & Bowling

I made it!

It's my 4th day on Dutch soil and it is very, very cold (but I think it's the warmest day so far). It was actually snowing yesterday, just a couple of snowflakes. The lakes are frozen so you can skate on the ice, like I've seen many people do or you can play ice hockey.

Due to the extreme weather, trains were chaotic during the weekend. Apparently everything freezes and all hell breaks loose. We (a group o ESN students, another exchange student, me and my dad) took a longer route to get to Enschede and after 4 hours (instead of the usual 2). But we did make it! It was really interesting to hear something announced on the intercom at the train station while waiting for the next delayed train in our route and suddenly everyone on the platform would start running. This was because at the last minute they would change the number of the platform. I'll tell you, it is not an easy thing to do when you have 2 heavy bags to move and a couple of other little things.

I've met loads of people - I think I wont be able to remember all the names. There are a handful of Portuguese students and many biomedical engineering students. Apparently they all like to come here. We've done some group things and last night there was bowling. I hadn't played in a real long time, especially the real one (Wii does not count!). Started off with a strike but it was all downhill from there...

The sun sets really early which makes it cold very early in the afternoon. If you don't have gloves, scarf, and something similar to ear muffs you'll freeze your face off.

I am also the proud owner of a bicycle :) It rides really well and reminds me of the bike I rode for 10 days last year in Leuven, Belgium. It's got to be a good prognosis...

I've been taking care of lots of paperwork during lunch times, go there, do this, sign this, pay that...Ah! I can't even sit down to have a proper lunch. On the plus side, I'm settling into the Clinical Neurophysiology research group which is nice. The people are all really friendly and I get free coffee!!! It's not like Portuguese coffee but it'll do.

I'm all settled in at my new room. It's small but it's good for the time I'll be spending there.  Everytime some asks me where I live, I either say 'the pyramids' or 'the place that starts with a 'W'. It's Witbreuksweg (I wrote it down correctly without checking if I was spelling it right!!!). I have my own bathroom and I share the room & kitchen with 8 other people. It's nice, we're all international students and 4 of us are new arrivals. I'm having a blast cooking my own food :)