There is a row of computers here and it is a room filled with people I don´t know. The guy to my left, named Alex, is from Austria and studied in the states in Chicago. The woman to my right helped me a little to understand this keyboard. Everyone else here is of every race you can imagine. And yes, an asian is playing the piano right now in the corner. He´s from Taiwan and doing summer school here in Utrecht.
But I´ll start with the plane ride.
Getting on the plane from LAX was rather painless, except for when mom´s tears started flowing. There was an awkward five to ten minutes of me waiting in security and mom and dad watching me slowly progress to the front. *waves* *shuffles forward* *waves*. I really love you guys. And already kinda miss you. And Jake. Damn.
My seat on the plane from LAX to Heathrow, London, was changed to accommodate a family, so I was changed to an exit row... at the front of coach... with so much leg room my feet couldn´t even touch the wall in front of me. Also, contrary to Dad´s prophecy of a ¨large black woman¨ sitting next to me, a rather petite 50-something was already sitting in the seat next to mine. And across the aisle, a very attractive, tanned British girl. Spent the next three hours talking.
She lives in Edinburgh currently, as a 19-year old university student studying Mathematics. She wore leggings with four inch heels (solely because ¨they would not fit in my bag¨). She was born in Barcelona, and moved to Hong Kong after that. Her family moved to Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and some Polynesian countries before her parents split and she moved to Egypt with her mother. Her father moved to Marina Del Rey, California (hence her flight from LAX to London). During her time in Egypt she was evacuated for a month back to Britain due to the revolution, and shortly after her mother moved to a city just outside of Dubai. Two years later she went to school in Edinburgh and is considering transferring to Stanford. A truly amazing person. So after this amazing two or three hour conversation, we finally introduce ourselves. Her name was Lola Rose Donohoe. Lola Rose is her full first name. I have her email and picture and will stay in touch :)
I slept for probably 5 1/2 hours, so not too bad for a 9 hour flight.
The hour and a half layover in Heathrow was not bad at all, but I didn´t even have enough time to buy a beer. In fact, I still haven´t even bought a beer... what am I doing... oh well. Tired.
The flight from London to Amsterdam went on without a hitch, except for when I arrived at the terminal and my luggage hadn´t. It´s still in Los Angeles, the bastards! Haha, I´ll figure it out. I think I have enough clothes to survive a couple weeks.
I met a woman on the train from Amsterdam to Utrecht who lives a little ways out in the country. She helped me figure out when to get off the train, as half the signs around here are purely in Dutch. She´s originally from South Africa and has lived here in Holland for about 5 years. Her brother lives in Maastricht at the south end of Holland and can offer a place to stay if I visit down there. Her name was Emma and I have her email.
I got off the train in Utrecht, which connects to the Haag Catheriyne, supposedly the largest covered mall in the Netherlands, which compared to some malls in the USA, was smaller than expected. I finally make it to the end of the structure to go to this B&B Hostel when it starts raining. Everyone in the area then waits at the end of the place around me, and 20 minutes later the rain stops and people continue with their evening. I turn my suitcase into a backpack and only get lost twice while finding this place. The door opens, the bearded dutch woman host takes my money, and I get myself settled.
I need food.
I wonder what I´m doing here on the other side of the globe. It´s a very different place from Southern California (duh) and half the people are always speaking some foreign language that I don´t understand- and it´s not always Dutch, either. I really want to meet up with the International program to get a better sense of this place, because right now it´s all a bit much to take in.
Alright, goodnight everyone, time to eat a dinner, take some Melatonin, and PTFO. Hope everyone back home is doing well!
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