Today, well yesterday January 10th, marked the start of my journey for The Netherlands. It started off bright and early at 6:00 am with a warm shower then a quick trip to Omaha for a 10:58 am departure from Omaha Eppley Airfield to Houston George Bush Intercon. I then caught a connecting flight to Amsterdam Schiphol where I arrived at 7:45 am on January 11th.
It was a bitter sweet beginning, saying goodbye to the ones I love and hello to the butterflies in my stomach, but once I landed and saw the Netherlands out my train window it was all worth it. Of course I kind of skipped over some details that may have some of you interested. Like my last meal in the U.S. was a HUGE swiss and mushroom cheeseburger! I couldn't help myself! It tasted so good too! I did not sleep more than two hours on the 9 hour flight, even though I had two seats all to myself. I met one of the girls after we got to Leiden and we travelled together by train, this helped get rid of the feeling I was going to get lost and taken! Caryn and I could get lost together rather than separate. I have heard that it is always better to travel in packs.
I learned that taxi drivers are the craziest drivers in the world and they take advantage of some travelers. To back this statement up I should tell you about me experience as a passenger. In the taxi we almost killed a lady right after leaving where he picked us up as well as almost took out two bike riders, and two of the other girls from the group had to pay 25 Euro for a 12.50 Euro trip and they were even dropped off at the wrong spot. I didn't meet anyone of real interest on the plan as I had a seat to myself and the people around me were sleeping the entire time. Caryn and I did however run into four other girls when we got off the train and another when we got to Central's office. Most of us ended up on the same floor in the International house on Hugo De Grootstraat street otherwise known and Huge de Croissant. The rest of the day was spent unpacking, a trip to Hema for necessities and getting to know people until we had dinner! Of course I was starving by 7 pm, because I didn't eat all day, after my wonderful croissant I had on the plane at 7 am due to the fact that Dennis said dinner was going to be very filling and huge. I didn't think that it would be this big because it was pancakes. I mean who would have thought that a pancake could be this big (please reference the 1st picture below). Jessica, a girl from Texas, and I split two of these pannenkoeken. One had cheese and mushrooms while the other had apples, cinnamon, sugar and raisins. You would think that I ate all of my pannenkoeken, but I just couldn't. These suckers really fill you up and I highly recommend them. The place we went to (reference the second picture) is called a pannenkoekenhuis literally translating to Pancake house. Don't ask me to say that yet because I don't think I can! Hopefully by next week this time when Dutch 1 starts I can pronounce it for you, but that was basically my day in a nutshell. The real adventures begin tomorrow. With a tour of Leiden led by Steef.
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| This the mushroom and cheese pancake! YUM!!! |
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| The outside of the pancake house! |
