Ice-skating

Sunday the weather was nice... Nice enough to bike around campus. 

However, one must never trust the weather too much because here, in the Netherlands, it can change very fast. The picture above has the best description of how quick the sun can shine and the rain fall.

On Monday the research group where I am working on my thesis had its monthly 'get together'. It was dinner followed by ice-skating. For a first timer, I didn't do so bad... I fell only once :) I had some difficulties at first in maintaining my balance but my supervisor helped me out by crossing arms with me. In the end, I even went one time around the big rink. I had loads of fun even though every muscle in my body was contracted while I was on the skates... 

I really want to repeat the experience in a near future but I think I'd like to have someone who is experienced very close by. Still, I have a video to remind me of my fast evolution on ice-skates :)

Elfstedentocht

It's been so cold the past few weeks that the Dutch saw an opportunity to hold the Elfstedentocht (in English it is referred to as the Eleven Cities Tour). It was supposed to be yesterday but because the ice didn't stay at least 15cm thick throughout the 200km of the tour. The last time the ice was thick enough to hold about 12000 amateur skaters was in 1997. This year they were all excited but apparently it was for a short time. 

However, this does not mean there is no opportunity to have fun on the ice. 

This is what I saw yesterday afternoon :)

The research group I'm working with is divided between the Experimental Centre for Technical Medicine on campus and the Medisch Spectrum Twente in Enschede.

Today, I visited the latter. I saw a lot of the rooms where they conduct EEG, EMG and other sorts of neurophysiological tests. The hospital has two buildings and because the Dutch are extremely clever, there is a 'bridge' connecting the two. Since it's such a long distance, guess what they have?

Oh yeah! Bikes!

Totally awesome by the way :) I've always wanted to ride a bike in a building. There are lots of mirrors to help you out because the turns are kind of abrupt and you need to be careful not to run anyone over...

Temperatures are slowly rising. They are expecting snow on Sunday and rain on Monday but I'm not sure that will happen. 

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 :)