Sore legs.

Welcome pack

Thankfully, this weeks post isn't going to be about my decent into homelessness because I figured out how to pay my rent. Woo. Honestly, you have no idea how relieved I was when my card was accepted! I also managed to (almost) fully register at City Hall on Thursday. Got a few loose ends to tie up with that but I feel like I have had a very productive week. Go team Nat!

This week has been amazing.

We had the ESN Introdays, which kept me busy for the first half of the week.

Sunday got off to a slow start, with registration for the activities taking a while. But I suppose it gave us the chance to start introducing ourselves and getting to know each other, over a platter of sandwiches. After all the administrative nonsense was over it was onwards to Rotterdam Zoo - Diergaarde Blijdorp (apparently). I've not been to a zoo in years so that was pretty cool. Me and a few friends spent ages walking round it, taking a ridiculous amount of pictures (which is probably going to be a running theme throughout the year). My favourite animals to visit were the butterflies, rhinos and (of course) the elephants. Upon leaving the zoo, our little group of three decided to walk to Rotterdam Centraal. From there I cycled by myself to the Italian restaurant - amazingly I managed to find it without getting seriously lost (only mild, unplanned, detours were encountered en route). And I was ridiculously over excited about my margherita pizza, but for someone that doesn't own an oven, pizza is glorious. Not had any since I got here! The final activity of the day was going to a really cool lounge bar which overlooked the water. It was stunning. Then it was just a short bike ride home and in my bed for around midnight, as I had an early start the next day.

Monday started with successfully paying my rent *happy dance* then off to have brunch with the other international students. The next activity was a visit to the Euromast. Amazing. If I am not mistaken, it is 185 meters tall, giving beautiful views of Rotterdam. We went right up to the top of the tower, in some kind of ride that gave 360 degree views as it slowly spun around. It was a great day for it as well - the weather was perfect. After that we travelled onwards to Miniworld Rotterdam which was a bit of a waste of time. For me, it was the only boring part about the introdays. Me and a handful of others quickly left - giving us time to go home and freshen up before dinner and the pub crawl. Dinner was a buffet, which was nice, but the lack of labels led to a few surprises. My onion rings, for example, turned out to be calamari - bit of a surprise, but I actually really enjoyed it! Then a big group of us went to find ice cream for desert. What a great decision. I picked white chocolate. Delicious. 

Onwards to the pub crawl. We went 4 pubs then a club at the end. It was a good night, with some great music - and I was quite happy to dance the night away. =) We got a free drink at every pub, sadly it was only for beer and wine, and after clarifying that I do indeed hate both, it was onto the water for me! Not that I minded - I'm not much of a drinker anyway. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the final club of the night I was completely knackered. But, after reluctantly accepting a bike ride to go back and collect my abandoned bike, I was soon home and snuggled up in my bed. 

Tuesday started slowly with information activities at Erasmus University Rotterdam taking up most of the morning. Then we went on the Spido boat trip, which took us on a tour of Rotterdam's port. It wasn't exactly the most scenic tour, but it was cool to see all the container ships. Couldn't get my head around how big the port was! Initially, I hadn't been overly enthusiastic about the boat, but it was definitely worth while attending. Probably could have picked a better outfit though - the wind wasn't exactly the warmest once we were out on the river. And I had my wee milk-bottle-white legs out on display. So many goosebumps haha. 

Wrist band

Then it was the opening night of the ESN Social Drink at Bed. Was pretty cool. Everyone who was taking part in the introdays first got dinner then once people started to arrive the night properly kicked off. It was great to hang out with all the international students and it was so easy to get talking to people. In the end, I spent most of my night with people I hadn't met before or barely knew. Was a lovely evening.

Although, the journey home didn't go quite as smoothly. I ended up being a passenger on the back of my own bike. There was a few falls/crashes, balancing precariously and the pain of going over bumps. By the time I got home (at 3.30) the back of my legs were bright red. Not ideal. The disastrous bike ride combined with three days of walking made for a very sore start on Wednesday. My legs were like jelly. And so many bruises. Ouch.

After spending much of Wednesday recovering from the first half of the week I decided that I would have a go at volley ball on Thursday. That was pretty fun. I felt a bit daft being the one who couldn't speak Dutch and not knowing how to play, but it could have been worse. They were all very welcoming and I met someone who was nearly as clueless as me - which was lovely! Think I'll go back for the next open training! 

Friday was another lazy day. Just had a campus tour in the morning then listening to the boyfriend tell me about his Berlin ventures on skype.

In other news: We got a microwave. Yay! (My poor room-mate had to carry it home). But that also means that the kettle has now been demoted to the floor if we want to boil water. Boo!

Lesson of the week: Only accept lifts off Dutch people. No one else can cycle.

Sorry for being a day late with this post. I'm loaded with the cold though - need sympathy and virtual cuddles. Cheers.