1) Before Utrecht and the first couple days getting settled

So my first entry will be a bit of a mess and summarization of my first week here in Europe.   I hope it makes some sense!
My dad and I got on the plane on Friday January 27th and that was the beginning of a very busy week.
It always happens on those flights when you are looking forward to sleeping that everything will work against you so you cannot sleep.I sit down and I cannot really sit down without squishing myself uncomfortably to the farthest corner of my seat because the man sitting beside me has decided he will take half of my seat. He smelt bad so that didn't help...at all. Then once I am sort of settled I look in front of me and there are guess what?.... THREE BABIES! O great. Survived the flight thanks to my dad (who was in the row behind me) switching seats with me and the great selection of films. Just made the transfer at Heathrow to Amsterdam!
Once we arrived to Amsterdam I was a little worried about customs because I have no visa yet, here you apply for visas once you are living but it was no hassle at all! The border agent looked at me, smiled, looked at my passport and stamped it. Alright well the Dutch still do like Canadians I guess! Now I was more concerned if my luggage had arrived... it did! lucky.
Took a taxi into Amsterdam city centre and became best friends with the Taxi driver who gave us a Dutch lesson. Once settled into the hotel we went on an adventure! Had to go to the Hard Rock Cafe to keep dads collection up. That was a long and cold walk, but we had fun observing the bikes so see what type I should get.
The next day(Now Sunday the 29th)  was a busy day of finding me a mobile phone, visiting Anne Franks house, eating Dutch food and napping!Jet-lag... We were luck that everything was open on Sundays in Amsterdam because  Monday nothing opened until noon! One of the comforts of North America is knowing everything is open, but here you really need to plan out your shopping schedule.
Monday we went for a walk in freezing cold and then got to the Amsterdam Central Station. Had a 4 hour train journey to Bremen where we were greeted by Barbara and we went back to the Mildners new home.
On Tuesday morning my dad was introduced to real German breakfast! and it was "Sarah be dads tour guide of Bremen Day"... and it was bloody cold out! So since I am familiar with Bremen I took my dad around to all the sites. Had currrywurst, bratswurst, milka chocolate, beer, beer, beer. Had a great time visiting with the Mildners that evening.
Then on Wednesday the journey to Utrecht began. To be honest I do not remember much of this day, no not for the amount of alchohol consumption because I had no heineken (darn) but because so much happened! We arrived at the Utrecht central station and were greeted, thrown on a bus, thrown off a bus, thrown into a room, signed some papers, thrown keys, thrown into a van, thrown out of a van and arrived at Ina Boudier-Bakkerlaan. The building I live in is tall. I guess around 20 floors. I am on the 16th floor and thankfully there is an elevator. They gave me 6 keys... one main entrance door, one into my flat, one into my room. Still haven't figured out what the other 3 keys are for...
That night it my dad and I went on a mission to the grocery store( I really need to learn some dutch if I want to eat) and IKEA! I think I have a bit of an obsession with Ikea, but I mean it is Swedish after all haha.  We had dinner there because we just had to and then got me some bedding stuff for my room so I could sleep that night.
I needed that sleep because the next day was the first part of our orientation. It was on the De Uithof (main campus) and they told us internationals a whole bunch of things. One thing I clearly remember was they told us dutch people are very nosey and it can come across as rude but they are just very honest upfront people and it isn't rude here, this is good to know! I wonder if they have had problems with international students going and crying to counsellors because they told us this many times!  We got a bunch of free stuff, had warm stroopwaffles which are the most amazing thing (look them up). After the orientation went on a bike mission with my dad. I got one bike and 2 locks. It really is the easiest way to get around here since the public transit cannot go into most of the city centre and all my classes are in the city centre.
Friday was the faculty orientation so I was downtown in the Humanities buildings and it was also the day that it decided to snow a lot.  We had walking tours of the city centre but could not see anything because the snow was falling so heavily! and brrrr it was very cold. Had to say bye for now to my dad as he was taking a train  into Amsterdam that evening. Turns out because of the snow most trains were cancelled. Dad was okay though he got to Amsterdam, just a bit later than he wanted.
 Saturday was our social orientation and met lots of neat people, had to politely educate a lot of people who had no idea Vancouver is mild, someone was in absolute shock when I told them I was cold... " brrrr it is really chilly eh?" "yes it is but you are from Canada!" "so?" "So, isn't this warm for you? I mean it is always so cold there!" "Nope... " and that person as well as a few more now know the different climates of Canada. We also had a boat canal tour which was basically a boat skate tour... the canal was so frozen I was worried it was going to live a canal version of the titanic! we survived. That day they kept feeding us beer and stroopwaffles. I am not complaining because it was all so good, I am just glad they also made us walk everywhere to burn it off.   Saturday night was the first "introducution party" at a club in the city centre. We had to bike there because here people do not go out until 23hr or evening later so when you leave it is too late for the busses to be running. We got there okay, but getting back was an adventure. Got a little lost, found that it was have dropped 5 degrees(now making it around -15, -20 with windchill) from when we had ridden there and when I got back to my building the elevator was broken! I had a good workout.
I look forward to the days when there is no snow and ice on the bike paths because I think riding a bike through the beautiful cobblestone windy streets will be something I enjoy very much.
Summary?
WEEK ONE> What I learned...
-my dad is amazing and I really appreciated his help in getting me settled and also setting up my internet so can be connected with the world.
- stroopwaffles= love
- beer is cheaper than water
- Koffie(Coffee) is stronger here but comes in too small of a cup
- Dutch is a mixture of three languages I attempt to study( German, english, swedish)
- people know nothing or very little about Canadians ( no I do not enjoy -15 degree weather and it is not warm for me)
- These next few months is definitely going to be a big adventure!
Doei!
Xoxo