Venice of the North

This past weekend I went to Amsterdam with Roehampton's Student Union. The journey began at about 11:30 PM. We boarded the coaches and drove off to Dover where we would catch our ferry to Calais, France. By the time we arrived in Calais it was nearly 5AM and was as foggy as a typical day in Hamilton, New Zealand. I fell asleep and woke up nearly five hours later as to what I believed was Belgium. Belgian number plates, as well as several Dutch ones, filled the car park and I was convinced I was in Belgium, though the language on the signs was neither French nor German, but Dutch. Not knowing any Dutch, I wondered how I'd manage to order my breakfast. Lucky for me, my friend Ginny leant me her Dutch dictionary and I was good to go. The coach stopped at a rest stop of sorts, one like you'd find on the Ohio Turnpike, just about an hour or two outside of Amsterdam. To confirm my location I turned on my phone, which sent me a text welcoming me to the Netherlands. My phone always does this when I enter a different country, except for the United States. It doesn't seem to like America very much. Vodafone notified me that for £2 they will give me 5MB of data so I can continue to use my BlackBerry, but then they decided that 5MB wasn't enough so they would give me an additional 20MB for the same price. The £2 were deducted from my (prepaid) account, so no credit or debit card was required. I thought that was very thoughtful of them. Because of this, I was able to stay in touch with my friends back home. Considering what Verizon charges you for roaming ($1.29 per minute, $65 for data and then some roaming charges-just ask my mother), I felt that Vodafone was quite generous and would recommend their services to all.

After breakfast in the middle-of-nowhere Holland, I dozed off and woke up in Amsterdam. Our rooms weren't ready and so I put my belongings into the storage room. My friends and I set off into the city after we purchased our Iamsterdam Cards, which I highly recommend. The price depends upon how many days you'll be staying in the city. Since we had 48 hours, we opted for the 48 hour card. It was €49 for the card and with it came a travel card, vouchers, and a guide as to where the card can be used (plus great maps). With it, we got entrance into all museums (with the exception of Anne Frank's house) and a canal cruise. Some of the vouchers included were 25% various restaurants and shops across Amsterdam as well as free gifts from places like Heineken. If travelling to Amsterdam, I highly recommend this card.

Some sites that were visited include Anne Frank's house, Rijksmuseum, and the Van Gogh Museum. Anne Frank's house has quite a queue to get in, no matter the time of day or the weather. We were told the wait would be an hour and twenty minutes, but we were queuing for no more than 40, at most. The wait is well-worth it, trust me. The outside doesn't look like her house at all, but what is behind this modern structure is the secret annex where Anne Frank and her family hid for two years whilst the Netherlands were occupied by the Nazis. Below is an image of the outside of the Anne Frank house:

This is the diary of Anne Frank:

Photography was not permitted, so I had to be sneaky about this image. I pretended like I was texting with camera, because you know, that's how people communicate these days. If had really forgotten my camera like what I had thought when I first came to the UK, I would've purchased a fancy Canon one that would have been obvious (Sorry, mom, but that was what I was going to get until I found my camera). What I noticed about Anne Frank's house was that she had some proper steep stairs to climb. I do just fine with climbing stairs (especially those in cathedrals from the Renaissance and before) these were a bit chilling. I couldn't imagine people go up and down these stairs every single day and not getting hurt. Like I mentioned before, photography was forbidden and so I found an image on Google of the stairs:

The museum is quite emotional, so do be prepared for that.

One of the best meals I have ever had was in Amsterdam. It was at a restaurant on Spuistraat (not Spui) called Haesje Claes and was recommended by a shopkeeper. 

You can find traditional Dutch meals at reasonable prices. My meal was roughly €20 and consisted of a glass of white wine, beef with mashed potatoes and red cabbage, and 'Grandma's style semolina pudding with red berry sauce.' The atmosphere and staff were great and this is something that everyone needs to experience. 

Amsterdam is nicknamed 'Venice of the North' and I can see why with all of its canals. There is much more I would like to learn about Dutch culture, but with the short amount of time spent in the Netherlands, that will have to wait.  Though the trip to Amsterdam was brief, it was still very much worth it and hopefully I will have the opportunity to return there in the future. 

On our journey back we drove through Belgium and France where we took a ferry back to England. Here are some of the photos of the final leg in our journey:

The sun obviously disappeared when we arrived back in England.

Don't let it get away

It's a beautiful day. I decided to take some photos across campus. Here are a few of them:

All of the photos above are from Froebel College here at Roehampton University. Out of the all the colleges that make up Roehampton, this one is my favourite because of its landscape. My college, Digby Stuart, is basically a car park with some grass, if I'm honest. It's not hideous or anything, but Froebel has the most foliage. After my walk it was becoming close to dinner time and so I thought I'd make some cornish pasty for dinner. Well, that didn't happen thanks to the kitchen having the entire nation of not the UK in it. See, we've been having some issues with a certain group of students from another country (No, not America) and well, there was no way I'd be able to make myself some dinner within the next two hours because of them. Enraged and quite hungry, I figured I could head out to Richmond and find something and I did: Pizza Express. 

Pizza Express is not some takeaway pizza joint that smells of tomato sauce and dough. Its name is a bit deceiving, but the atmosphere is semi-posh meets modern gone middling. The prices are very reasonable and the staff are very friendly. In fact, they remind me a bit of Jimmy John's back in America. Below is what I had for dinner:

Perhaps I should thank these students for their obnoxious behaviour, as it gave me the opportunity to have a delicious meal. 

The Land of the Free

Living in an American dorm is just like living in a prison. I thought about it and realised just how similar the two are. You have an RA, which is like a warden. The RA, like a warden, tells you what you can and cannot do and is overall the supervisor of the dorm (or prison). There are visitation hours and unless you're the same gender as your guest, those hours are limited. There are quiet hours when you can't blare your favourite music or even have your TV up too loud. Since I have only attended one American university, I can't really speak for others, though I have heard through friends that they are all similar in that aspect. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy living on campus in the dorms, but having experienced Roehampton's dorms, I'm beginning to feel differently.

Here at Roehampton you have a 'flat rep' which is like an RA, but friendly and willing to get to know you. Some of my best friends back at Otterbein are RAs and I know that they are brilliant with their residents, but for some reason mine haven't. Out of all my RAs, none of them have tried to get to know me; however, my flat rep has. She's a really lovely person and has been very approachable. While Otterbein's dorms are nicer than some hotel rooms, there is a bit more structure. The custodians are always hard at work ensuring that the students have a clean place to live. Here, they're here for an hour or so and leave. One even asked me to take out the trash for her (?).  They do a fine job, don't get me wrong, but Otterbein's are cleaning at least nine hours a day. Perhaps American students are slobs and British ones aren't? Maybe so-I haven't really noticed. Roehampton gives its students far more freedom than Otterbein ever would dare consider. This is good and bad. Otterbein knows that if the students have too much freedom it will be like Woodstock. I remember seeing freshmen during New Student Weekend (NSW) thinking that they were really something special and that now that they weren't at home, they could do whatever they wanted. I live with freshmen at Roehampton and they're really mature (I think) for their age. They know how to cook for themselves and do their own laundry. I'll admit that I am a terrible cook and I try avoiding it at all costs, so I opt for anything that can be microwaved or dine out. I miss Otterbein's meal plan and honestly, the food in the CC isn't bad. When I came to Otterbein I didn't know how to do my own laundry and my dad had to drive down from Cleveland and show me (as well as give me quarters). It was very easy and I actually enjoy doing laundry.

The one thing I really like about Otterbein's dorms are quiet hours. When I came to Roehampton I didn't understand how they could get away with playing their music past 10 PM. When the clock strikes 10 at Otterbein and there is music playing, those RAs are knocking on doors and demanding it be turned down. Once I almost got a 'noise violation' because my roommate and I were laughing too loud at 10:30 at night. My flatmates play music a lot and I don't mind it because most of it is stuff I already have in my iTunes library or it's a genre I like. There is one thing that I abhor about these dorms, however.

Roehampton has a no smoking policy in all of its facilities. Sounds fair, right? I think so, but some students don't fancy it. I won't name the nationality of the students who have issues with this, but they're neither British nor American. I'm next to the kitchen, which seems to be the gathering place for these non-Anglophone students. Walking down the corridor at any hour of the day you'll feel a chill and the faint smell of cigarettes. Open the kitchen door and you'll see girls with their bodies hanging out the window, smoking a cigarette, and acting like it's no big deal. When the fire alarms are set off because of them, it's a bit irritating. One girl in my flat has mentioned to them to stop it, but they don't seem to care. Otterbein's smoke alarms would be going off before they could get their cigarette lit. I won't miss these students, but I will miss the British ones in my flat.

Maybe it is good that Otterbein dorms are a bit like prisons. At least your clothes won't smell like cigarettes, nor will you get a chill walking down the corridor because someone decided to smoke in the kitchen.