Rotterdam Reminiscing: Aye, Gezellig.

See what I did there? See? Huh? No? Oh.

The amount of times that I have rewritten this final post is quite ridiculous. Initially, I was aiming to polish this off and get it posted a couple of days after my return. But somehow, here we are, one month on. Time flies.

None of the words I put down on paper seem sufficient enough to sum up exchange. It is not an experience that you can effectively capture and present for others in a neat little package of words. Yet, that's exactly what I've been trying to do over the course of the last year. Honestly, to truly understand, you need to live it. And live it I did.

I have been brought back to my own personal reality for almost a month now and during that time I have been asked countless questions by family and friends. Yet I still have very little figured out to say...

"How was exchange?"
"Amazing."

"How did you like the Netherlands?"
"I love it."

"Did you make many foreign friends?"
"Yes, lots."

"Tell me the gossip. What happened?"
"Um..."

Summing up my entire year in a sentence or two? How can I even begin to answer? For a start, 'amazing' is a terribly inaccurate description of what became my life for the best part of a year. Yes, it was amazing, but that doesn't even begin to scrape the surface of what exchange means to me. You want gossip? But what could I possibly say? Yes, you may read my blog. And perhaps I might have even confided a few more private details. But describing exchange is like asking you to divulge your entire life story. Easier said than done. Or rather, easier done than said. Please recognise than you are getting a fraction of the story. And a distorted fraction at that.

All I can tell you is that exchange is beyond amazing. I loved every minute of it and I grew immensely as a result. Yes I know. This post is beyond cheesy. But really, what did you expect? 

It all began with an abstract idea. Curiosity. I never thought I'd actually do it. Me? Move abroad? No way!

Who would have thought that this shy, awkward, little dumpling would decide to finally dive in at the deep end? Not me, that's for sure.

But, of course, one thing lead to another: quickly snowballing into the greatest 11 months of my life. Rotterdam 13-14, you're going to be a tough act to follow.

To think, I arrived knowing nothing. Afraid to stray any distance from the main road that lead directly to my house. Desperate for a friend, for another lost soul, bewildered and confused in Rotterdam. And I finally found them. On exchange everyone wants to be friends - that's one of the wonderful things about it. Everyone is lost together: forming a wonderfully mismatched group of people.

You are left alone to deal with boring formalities, paperwork and the everyday realities of life. How do I catch a tram? Where is the supermarket? Why does nobody give me my 1 and 2 cents of change? How do I pay rent? Why does my bankcard not work? What do you mean, 'I have to register'? Even the simplest of tasks are quite literally a foreign experience. You're left haphazardly stumbling through a foreign country. The usual distress signal of calling for mum and dad no longer effective. But nothing could have been better for me. I left Rotterdam as a much more rounded human being: one that can actually handle the 'crisis' that used to send me running, and leave me in tears. Don't worry, I've got this. 

When exchange ended I also left my second home. Rotterdam meant everything to me, and so did the people I met. So many people touched my life; each having an effect of their own, small and large. My horizons have been opened, my thoughts have been changed, and my bank account has been drained.

Cheers for that folks, it's been a blast. But now it's time to embrace a new chapter. Onwards and upwards...

Exchange may be temporary, but its effects will never leave me.

Rotterdam forever.

Shame walk.

Things have got pretty quiet around here. Someone was asking if exchange was ending with a bit of a bang and lots of parties. The reality is more of a slow fizzle.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love a bit of quiet Natalie time. Especially when I'm bogged down with coursework and running errands. But when peace and quiet is suddenly forced upon you day after day. It gets old. And quickly. 

To be fair, I saw this coming a mile off. Everyone has been excitedly sharing their travel plans and returning home, whilst I'm sat here preparing for my exam. Turns out that I've got a lot of study time on my hands and very little excuse for procrastination. =P

I have actually had a few really lovely days (post study session). But much of it has either been really simple, kind of abstract, or not blog appropriate... 

*mysterious laughter* ;)

Apologies my little ducklings!

*          *          *          *          *

Over the weekend, Lindsey and I embarked on our final market and park venture before she went gallivanting off on her travels (which sound amazing). I am more than a little bit jealous! 

As we strolled towards the water, she enviously eyed-up the children as they 'selfishly' hogged what she declared to be an amazing swing. What do you mean actual children are playing on the swing? Oh, the outrage! =P 

Then, as I ogled at the pretty 'beach'-like area of the lake, Lindsey looked on horrified. Apparently it doesn't quite match up to Florida's standards. But with Scotland's sand and beaches as my most recent reference point, my expectations may have been set a little lower.

Debate: dirt or sand?

As well as the departure of yet another friend, I suffered a second loss that day. My lifeline. My baby. My bike. We had our final adventure together before she became almost impossible to ride. 

Please excuse me while I go sob uncontrollably. Cheers.

I probably could get her fixed but with just over a week left there seems little point. Just going to have to figure out what to do with my much-loved little darling. Because I don't think I could cope with the idea of leaving her to rust!

A second landmark event this week was the football match. Australia vs Netherlands. And, as I presume anyone who actually cares already knows, we won! 3:2. That was a fun afternoon! Again, I watched on campus - which was awesome. Bumped into a few people who I didn't even realise were still here, and said my goodbyes to a couple more. I spent the first half of the game chatting mainly to Eva - it was her final evening. Since both of us had arrived late we found ourselves standing on the outskirts of the little crowd with a beautiful view of a pillar right in the centre of the screen. Perfect. The second half wasn't much better in terms of actually seeing the screen, but we at least found some more of the gang. I sat with Michael and we looked on slightly bewildered, neither of us fully understanding what was prompting all the excitement (other than the obvious, e.g. goals). Such massive football people... =P

Also heard the news of a possible Glasgow visit. Exciting stuff!

Vijf - Één

The weekend began with a busy Saturday:

• Market venture
• Impromptu interpretative dance performance
• Fancy ice cream: white chocolate and Oreo flavours 
• Girlie picnic in the park
• Common room party

It was a bit of a bizarre day, with a million and one activities crammed into it. But we had a lot of fun and the evening was almost like a big send-off party before the majority people begin to leave.

But, as early as the next afternoon, we were already having to host little farewell gatherings. One by one: Jess, Helena, and Emma all flew the nest this week. And thinking of all the "Farewell Rotterdam" posts that I found myself 'liking' on Facebook, I imagine that there were probably more than a few others that slipped more quietly under the radar! In fact, we even bumped into Jimmy's little crew helping him with his luggage. And there so many more are soon to follow. *sad face*

Gawd guys. Please stop abandoning me and this wonderful city that we now call home...I'm beginning to get a complex here!

Anyway, I'll quit with the emotional ranting (for now, at least).

On Sunday most of the crew said goodbye to Jess with a mini gathering on the terrace. But luckily, I'll be seeing her once again (if only for an hour or two).

We also had our first room inspection this week - a little surreal. Don't remind me that I'm leaving!

As a nice distraction, Emma, Kaia and I found ourselves scouring Primark for bargains once more: treating ourselves to a little (budget) retail therapy. Nothing wrong with that! Might have caught ourselves indulging in a McDonald's for all of our wonderful shopping efforts...oops!

On Thursday, just prior to Emma's leaving dinner, me and Lindsey took ourselves for an afternoon visit to the park. The weather was gorgeous (as it has been all week), so we just sat soaking up some rays. Thankfully for my wee milk bottle legs, the heat was just starting to ebb away slightly, meaning I could finally sit outside without running the risk of returning home various shades of pink. It's hard being Scottish sometimes! ;)

Dinner was lovely: stuffing ourselves with pizza and yet even more ice cream (stroopwafel and cherry mania). Afterwards, I joined Emma and Lindsey for a final cycle around the city. The riverside was stunning as the sun set: a truly beautiful way to conclude Emma's Dutch journey. We might even have spilled a few tears on the final bridge...

Friday has also been eventful. 

Part of my bike fell off as I was cycling. Of course, the heart stopping moment was perfectly timed for me to be weighed down with carrier-bags full of groceries from the supermarket. Nightmare. Had to preform a bit of DIY magic at the side of the road. Thankfully we are both still in one piece! Well...one(ish). Touch wood, she seems to be working okay for now, but I imagine that a trip to the repair shop isn't in the too distant future... Directly following her little injury, my poor wee bike was then 'held hostage' and trapped in her space by another bike. 

Absolute nightmare - so flustered!

Finally made it to campus for another power pump session and a screening of the World Cup football match: Spain versus the Netherlands. Now, everyone who even vaguely knows me will probably be familiar with my complete indifference towards anything football, but it was actually pretty awesome. Lindsey and I arrived relatively unenthusiastic but quickly found ourselves getting swept up in the national spirit. Who knew?! 

5:1 to my adopted country!!! =D 

I heart NL ;)

Chocolate factory.

Damn. So much for sticking to my schedule!

It's been a fairly busy week. Unfortunately the first half was completely dedicated to assignments, but it began to liven up a little after midweek. 

On Wednesday the girls and I took a well earned study break - I had locked myself away for so long that I was beginning to forget what real people look like. ;) And we did the only thing we know how: eat food. Lots of it. We started off in Bagels & Beans before progressing onto the 'Chocolate Factory' (I'm sure the store has a real name but I'm not in the mood for technicalities). I treated myself to a delicious BLT and hot chocolate (complete with chocolate spoon). Bliss. 

Over lunch Emma also endowed us with cute little gifts from the motherland. Mine was a little reflector keyring to 'keep me safe' in that 'dark country' of mine. D'aww. What a sweetie!

The following afternoon Lindsey, Jess and I made our way over to campus for the Smitse Fest: a wee music festival. It was nothing overly exciting, but it was pretty awesome to get out the house for a while and listen to some nice music. It was a pretty cool vibe. Always needing a refresher of some kind!

That night was a late one: desperately editing papers before the Friday deadline.

Then, for some unbeknown reason, I 'treated' myself to another gym visit for completing my papers on time. Freya and I are really starting to get into this Power Pump thing! *flexes muscles* ;)

Bed Time.

I'll need to keep this post short and sweet. Why? Two reasons:

1. After spending the majority of this week working on assignments I don't have a massive amount of fun stuff to write about.
2. And keeping this quick allows me to dedicate more time to completing these assignments. Hopefully in advance...maybe.

Boo...

ESN decided to freak us out for a second time by hosting the Final Bed night (just five days after our Farewell Ball). Gawd...stop doing this to us! What are we possible going to fill the rest of our Tuesday nights with?? Well, to be fair, it's been a while since I decided to grace the place with my presence - but it was still a shock to the system. 

We had a pretty epic last night though! It seemed that everyone and their granny was on the terrace of our building for predrinks - was really cool to have such a large gathering and bump into people that you didn't expect. That, and then the club itself, were both great. And, surprisingly, Bed was not too crowded...or creepy either. Success! =P

The morning that followed was, of course, sobering...but well worth it. Then, in the evening, we finally dragged ourselves away from the safety of our pyjamas and blankets, and into the real world for a pub grub dinner with the girls. Beautiful.

On Thursday evening Lindsey, Emma, Nadia and myself treated ourselves with a cinema trip and obscene amounts of popcorn. A personal reward for diligently working on essay number one (of three...*sigh*). We saw The Grand Budapest Hotel; another bizarre, nonsense, Wes Anderson film (the same guy who did Moonrise Kingdom from the Open Air Cinema Night). Described in one word: Odd. So very odd. 

Today my study break was a gym venture. Me and Freya decided to brave the Power Pump class. We entered somewhat ignorant to its contents and were faced with an intense upper body work out (with weights). Tough when, like me, you have zero arm strength. But it was pretty awesome, and we might even make it a weekly occurrence. Certainly going to feel the pain tomorrow. Even as I type this, I'm beginning to feel a slight strain in my muscles...pathetic! 

Later amigos. You better wish me luck with these damn assignments... *grumbles*

Political Roses.

This week the Dutch weather has taken the idea of summer and ran with it. And for this Scottish lass, with wee white, milk bottle legs, it has been a physical and emotional struggle. I have been flirting with the concept of being able to soak up all that glorious vitamin D, but facing a reality of hiding from the sun's rays and hideous humidity. Humidity is not cool dude. Not cool.

Saturday started with a speedy market grocery run, before embarking on a girlie shopping trip with Lindsey, Eva, Jess, and Helena. We traipsed around the shops and lived up to those typical female stereotypes: eating food, spending money we don't have and taking advantage of every free promotion going (from free coffee to political roses). I also invested in some decent purchases; finding myself a pretty dress, skirt and vest top for just €27 - love a good bargain!

On Sunday evening a small group of us ventured to Locus Publicus, a nearby pub that has about a million and one different variations of beer. I was feeling more a little lost as, one by one, our crew ordered a selection of beers that I had never even heard of and bashfully admitted to the waiter that beer isn't really my drink of choice. Not a problem apparently! I was recommended a beer that tasted like berries, and was pleasantly surprised when my pink beverage was placed down before me. It turned out to be a really lovely evening, pretty uneventful for a blog post, but nice all the same! Finally, Jess and I concluded the evening by devouring a falafel at mine before calling it a night, ready for classes to ensue bright and early the next day.

Monday was certainly my day for unanticipated BOGOF offers. First receiving two Mars Bars out of the vending machine instead of one, then purchasing two Mocha Cookie Crumble's from Starbucks and accidentally confusing the cashier enough to only pay for one...oops! Slightly ashamed to only have those two examples representing my diet for the week, but we all have the occasional chocolate day now and then! ;)

Happy place.

Temperatures appeared to reach a high on Tuesday; drawing me outside for a gentle stroll towards the lake. After lurking in the shadows for some time, and applying copious amounts of sun cream, I emerged to find some friends enjoying a picnic. Gatecrashing, I settled myself down on the blanket to enjoy their company for and hour or so before heading our separate ways once more.

The evening that followed was that of the Open Air Cinema, watching Moonrise Kingdom under the stars. After temperatures managing to reach about 26°C during the day, surely there would be no weather issues, right? Wrong. The moment we arrived, rain began to fall. Warm(ish) rain. But rain all the same. Everyone abandoned the site to and fled for shelter to wait out the short-lived shower. But with humidity in the air, there was another type of weather which was definitely not short-lived; thunder and lightening contributed massively to the atmosphere of our little outdoor gathering. A pretty bizarre setting for a film: sitting on cold, wet concrete with just a plastic bag separating me from the ground, surrounded by a mismatch of students all wrapped up against the cold with blankets and jumpers, whilst the occasional lightening bolt crackled above our heads, lighting up the sky. Beautiful...

...and cold. Very cold.

This week's final landmark event was the ESN Farewell Ball at Club Vie. Yes, that's right. The Farewell Ball. How the hell did that happen? Despite my utter disbelief that the academic year is beginning to wrap itself up, it was a great 'final' party! Of course, it's not going to be the last party of the year, but most likely the last one with everyone together in one place. I'm probably not the biggest fan of Vie, but I'm just so glad that it turned out to be such a good evening with a great atmosphere. It was also really lovely to bump into all those old characters from the beginning of my exchange that I don't happen to spend a lot of time with. Always a pleasant surprise! And we obviously polished the night off in the kebab place, where else? ;)

You Crazy.

I have finally become a fully fledged European after experiencing my first ever Eurovision Song Contest - everyone was outraged to discover that I had never bothered to watch it before! Eva was kind enough to host our little party as we progressed through the four stages of Eurovision emotional development:

1. scepticism 
2. bewilderment, 
3. hilarity, 
4. and ending in fiercely competitive spirits. 

Quite the journey.

It was quite an experience; learning the hard way that only Ireland bothers to humour the United Kingdom with half-decent points, but also revelling in pride and joy as the Netherlands climbed up to second position on the points table! Causally hijacking on the Dutch pride. =D

Eva's "Eurovision Selfie"

The following night Jess and I enjoyed an impromptu Bridget Jones evening: snuggled up on our respective sides of the bed, eating vanilla & chocolate chip muffins, and sipping on hot chocolate. Cosy night of bliss!

On Monday morning I was forced back to the mundane reality of uni work and classes, only to discover this sight at the entrance to university grounds...

Apparently the Dalai Lama has been kicking about the Netherlands this week, and I believe he was speaking at a seminar, presumably on university grounds (but don't quote me on that one)!

The following afternoon one of my old school friends rocked into my favourite city, and home-from-home: Rotterdam. It was slightly surreal; initially I was going through the motions of preparing for Rachel's arrival without fully realising that it was actually happening. But, of course, it did and we had a great couple of days together. That evening we kept things simple: getting her checked in and settled, devouring a yummy dinner at Vapiano then rounding the evening off with a long-overdue gossip session and holiday plans!

It was decided that Wednesday would be Rotterdam day. At first glance the weather appeared to be relatively stable so we rented Rachel a bike then took a cycle down by the river for her to see the iconic Erasmus bridge. Then, all of a sudden, at the point furtherest away from our next destination, the heavens opened. The rain and wind picked up; soaking us within a matter of seconds. Then the thunder and lightening started. It was terrifyingly loud, making the pair of us scream in fright as I pictured us getting swept into the river, bikes and all. It was frighteningly close and we were both hysterical by the end of the journey: laughing and screeching our way to the museum. Great start to the holiday! 

Eventually we calmed down a little and took shelter in the Maritime Museum. It was suitable for a short stint to hide from the rain, but nothing over spectacular. Afterwards we each indulged in a portion of New Deli soup for lunch at Hotel Bazar - one of my favourite locations! Rachel seemed suitably impressed with the menu and outlandish décor too. Following a hearty lunch, the weather had cleared enough for our cycling tour of the city to commence. I took her to see just about every square inch of the city, and by the end our bums and thighs were in absolute agony. It was so much fun, and great exercise - no regrets! =D

Later, after a little bit of retail therapy, we went our separate ways to get ready for Pauliina's birthday celebrations! It was a really fun, girlie evening of pretty cocktails and cupcakes, and the rare opportunity to see most of the girls at once! Lovely.

The next day we were up early to visit Utrecht - a first for us both! It was fun to discover somewhere new together, and nice taking a break from playing tour guide for once! We began our day trip with a guided tour of Dom Tower, climbing the 465 steps to the highest balcony of the beautiful church. Towering over the city, we got a spectacular view of Utrecht, even catching a glimpse of Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the far distance. It was amazing! To top it off we even had the opportunity to listen to and watch some of the bells playing before reaching the very top. It was quite a hike, and the stairs got incredibly narrow (and a little uneven) towards the top. But the stunning views made it completely worthwhile! Honestly, I think the biggest challenge was walking back down without talking a tumble! Was certainly relieved to reach the bottom...phew!

Following a questionable lunch, the remained of the afternoon was spent strolling round the city with little, or no, direction. The weather was beautiful, so we were quite happy to save our euros and simply soak up the atmosphere, finding plenty of picturesque scenes!

Making our way back to Rotterdam relatively early, we treated ourselves to a pizza hut before strolling back to my place. We had the most perfect timing: stumbling across a bewildering event near Blaak. Neither of us had any idea what was going on, but it was absolutely hilarious. Basically, a bunch of crazy Dutch people attempted to cycle along a narrow platform and ring the bell at the end without toppling into the water. Only in the Netherlands...

It was a pretty sweet way to end what had been a bizarre, and exhausting, holiday. After poorly timed fire drills, thunder storms, double bookings and cancelled trains to the airport, I think Rachel may need another wee break just to recover. But we had an absolute blast and she was a fabulous guest!

Finally Friday arrived and I forced myself to visit the gym, doing 4 kilometres on the treadmill and then a further 3.5 on the cross country trainer. A rather successful visit and my first proper gym session in months - need to get back at it! 

Knackered!