Last Day in the Office

Work has officially announced a suggestion that everyone work from home until the end of March.  The office will remain open in case anyone is unable to work from home, or prefers to work in an office environment.

Wish I'd known this yesterday, I would have canceled my train ticket and stayed in Paris.

The Day the World Changed Forever

My March visit to Paris was like any other - full of good food, visits with friends, trips to our favourite shops, and lots of laughs.  We knew COVID-19 was starting to flood Europe, but we couldn't have anticipated just how quickly things were about to change.

In typical fashion, G accompanied me to the train station.  He was coming straight from work, so we met directly at the Thalys lounge at the station.  We popped into Five Guys for a quick dinner, trying to make the most of our last evening together.  Finally it was time to make our way to the train platform.

Per usual, after I dropped my bags at my seat, I stepped back out onto the platform so we could stretch out those last few minutes together.  It would be two more weeks before we'd see each other again.  I was meant to come back to Paris to celebrate his birthday.


I tried to snap a cute selfie but G was goofing off.





Finally grabbed this one, and then it was time for real goodbyes.

One last kiss before the conductor closed the doors.  We waved to each other from opposite sides of the window until the train pulled away and we could no longer see each other.

Little did we know, that was the last time we'd see each other - not for 2 weeks as we'd planned, but thanks to the COVID-19 lockdown about to hit Paris, for an indefinite period of time with no clear end date in sight.

By the time I made it back to Amsterdam that night, the WHO had officially declared a pandemic.

Orientation Week!

Today was the first of three days of orientation.  The first event on the agenda?  "A gentle waking up with bagels and coffee."   Sounds more like a resort than college, lol!

Turns out there are only 5 people in my cohort.  I hope we all get along!!  

Our group consists of a guy from Egypt - Muhamed.  It's his first time traveling outside his country.  He was a bit shy and nervous at first but he's becoming fast friends with the group.  There is a guy from Taiwan who insists we call him 'Tom.'  Also a guy from LA, Jack, who used to be a collegiate pitcher.  Rounding out the bunch is a girl (whoo-hoo!) Monica, from Ghana.  She is on the ball and knows all the details of everything.  She's my new best friend, lol.

They have all the grad students together in one room, so I'm also meeting people from the other programs: International Relations, Psychology (most popular!), and the other business major, MBA.  I immediately bonded with this awesome Armenian girl, Evelyn, a Psych major, and fellow curly girl.  Her curls are AMAZING.  She reminded me very much of the character Cosima on Orphan Black. I think it was the glasses and the 'I don't give a sh*t' attitude, lol.  She gave me all the insider tips for being a student in Leiden.  SUPER helpful!

Icebreakers weren't as painful as I thought they may be. The faculty all seem to be very nice and super helpful.  I'm not sure if it's the small community of the school or the location-based Dutch influence, but everyone is so nice.  It's incredible.

I love the international composition of the whole graduate student body.   There are students from everywhere. Lot's of different languages and lots of different backgrounds.  What I have found very interesting, is every time I ask a fellow student how they found themselves here, every single one of them has a story about not being satisfied with their existing situation and having a desire to find a way to live their dreams.  All very inspiring!

Welcome to My New Home in Leiden!

My building is the one with the yellow trim around the windows.  My unit is in the back though, no canal views.  But everything else about it is pretty darn amazing, and VERY Dutch, just like I wanted :-)

The unit itself looks onto a shared patio for the building.  The neighbors regularly have BBQs out there.  Instant community!  

Despite it being a very rainy and overcast day, the unit was rather bright and light.  The kitchen and dining room are on the ground floor.  Take the winding stairs up to the living room and bathroom.  Take the winding stairs up again and you'll reach the bedroom (not pictured) where there is a private terrace.  Super cute!!  It's not available until September 8th, so it'll be another AirBnB (this one will be in Leiden!) for me until the unit is ready.  I'm so excited about this place, I can't wait to move in :-)

 

The Universe Delivers

When I came here, I had this crazy notion that if I were physically in Leiden, and allowed myself to be drawn through the town, that my apartment would just reveal itself to me.  Don't get me wrong, I was also doing my due diligence by emailing and calling on good housing leads.  I also arranged apartment viewings as well.  But I still had this unshakeable belief that I'd find my new home by walking around the city.

So that's what I've been doing.  And in doing so, last Friday I came upon a Spanish restaurant that smelled amazing.  I ended up chatting with one of the waiters and of course mentioned I was new in town and looking for an apartment.  He said he knew a guy who could help me and offered to send me the info over WhatsApp.  Great!! I love a good lead!  Remember this guy (Roberto), he'll be important later in this post.

Monday I had an apartment viewing.  Very cute property, but a little too far outside the city center and the neighborhood had a very low energy feeling.  I knew I wouldn't be happy there.

Today I had another apartment viewing.  But first I stopped into a few shops as I am on the lookout for a good pair of boots.  In one store, a really good song was playing on the radio.  The singer sounded familiar so I Shazam'd it - turns out it was Elvis Crespo (my favorite Merengue singer) and the song was AWESOME (it's so good at 00:44 into the song). I took this as a good sign for the day.  We'll see!

On to the place I was viewing... It was on Rapenburg, a very good street and close to the city center.  This place had a lot of potential.  Except once I got into the apartment, the property manager informed me that it was being rented as unfurnished.  UGH!  Furnished status of a unit was something I'd been looking at very carefully.  Unfortunately, this place was labeled incorrectly on the housing site.

*sigh*  Another dead end.

After I left that viewing, I had this sense that I needed to walk around the city.  I felt like the apartment that was meant for me was very close to revealing itself.  That song I heard in the shoe store earlier that morning had to have meant something... right?  

So I found myself on Middleweg and decided to walk the whole thing.  Then I decided to go right.  Then left.  And then I saw a sign for a property management company.  Turns out it was the same company Roberto (from the Spanish restaurant) had told me to call.  A sign perhaps??

I popped into their office and said that Roberto sent me.  The guy at the front desk said 'Oh yes, Roberto! Great guy!'  Ok - maybe this is going to work!!

I explained exactly what I was looking for and we flipped through many properties.  No real winners, but some good potentials.  Those were listed with other companies though, so he gave me their info so I could contact them.

He was about to send me on my way when his office mate started chatting with him about potential units.  Turns out, they just received a new property that morning (it wasn't even posted online yet!) and it had many of the key details I was interested in.

He pulled up the property on the computer and it was love at first sight :-D   I'd found my place.  And the price was right within my range, utilities were included, and I could rent it furnished.  SCORE!!

We arranged a time to view it tomorrow (Thursday).  If all goes well, I'll sign the papers by the end of the week!!!

The 23rd Mile

Self doubt has crept in.

Like the 23rd mile in a marathon, I'm starting to feel a little defeated. 

I'm struggling to find a place here, and I just received an update from the property manager for my house. He said the latest prospective tenants want to repaint the place before they'll consider renting it. 

It took me so long to find those colors and get the house painted the way I wanted it. There is also a strong emotional connection with the colors in my house as my late Uncle helped me to pick them out. I think my heart would break if I had to let someone else paint over it

So there's stress coming from home, stress and anxiety coming from Holland. It can be difficult to keep up the sunshine when you're feeling so gloomy.


***UPDATE***

Cue my amazing friends...

Suddenly my phone and computer lit up with pings and messages asking after my well-being, checking in on my progress and offering many kind words of support when they heard I was feeling down.  I don't know how they all knew, but that was exactly the kind of morale booster I needed in the 23rd mile :-)

Observations

In traveling the same route everyday by bus, I've become quite interested in several shops, based solely on what I've observed in the 3 seconds it takes the tram to pass by. Gomsa - seems to be a shop completely filled with giant, decorative metal balls. And the shop 3 doors down, Big Babylon, seems to be in competition with it. These are the only two shops I've seen so far with this type of product. Funny they're on the same block!


I've also discovered there's a Shabu Shabu in the Hague. They have all you can eat sushi at this location. Normally I'd never agree with all you can eat sushi. Some things are too delicate to be offered in that format. But Shabu Shabu? I'd be willing to try that. Plus, I AM a 'starving student.' Unlimited portions at a reasonable price could come in handy.


More observations...




I find myself eagerly awaiting 3pm every day.

When it's 3pm here, it's 6am back home and that means my best friend Frankie is awake and getting ready to leave for work. It means I get an hour or so window where we can chat and catch each other up on everything that's going on in our respective locations.

I wait for 3pm like a kid waits for the ice cream man to appear.

I love 3pm.