Hell of a Trip
Literally. My trip was composed of two flights, one from Syracuse to Newark, then one from Newark to Amsterdam. My parents dropped me off at the airport and after a lot of hugging and saying 'good bye' I made my way on my solo journey. I got though security fine, I was waiting a few minutes and then I hear an announcement that my flight will be delayed. Great. So, after waiting a couple hours I board the plane. Finally getting somewhere, right? Wrong. We wait about another half hour on the tarmac because who doesn't love waiting around? Anyway, we finally get in the air and it's a really short flight to Newark, about 2 hours. It's okay though, I make it just barely on time, good thing I told the pilot to wait up. No, seriously, I called him.
The pilot was one of my relatives. We had planned this since I had reserved the flight. This was one of his frequently flown routes and he put in effort to make sure he was flying this specific flight. I met up with him right after I got off the plane to Newark. Once I boarded he showed me around the cockpit and introduced me to some of the steward/stewardesses. Because of how late I was by the time I got on everyone else was seated already. Unfortunately I didn't get bumped up to first class, but I did get a sundae!
Here I am flying the plane:
My face when I land the plane perfectly my first try. Just kidding!
To his credit, the boots I was wearing added an inch or two.
The flight went well, it was very long though, about 8 hours. I had another wait on the tarmac for about half an hour, but this time it was because we were too early. Apparently there's a noise restriction in Amserdam until 7 AM, so planes can't land until after that time. There were these touch screens built in to the back of the headrests that you could watch movies and shows on. They offered movies that were actually new and had a pretty good selection, I ended up watching one that I had never heard of before called "Robot & Frank". It wasn't movie of the year material, but I liked it. In the headrest screen you could also view the info about the flight like how fast you were going and your ETA. Here's the map as we were flying over England:
Cheerio!
Once I actually arrived in Amsterdam's Schophol airport I had to start the confusing journey of traveling alone in a place that used a language I did not understand. If any of you have ever done this before you know how confusing it can be. I managed to get a ticket to Groningen Noord (the closest station to where I'll be living) via Groningen (where I'm meeting a friend). Actually getting on the train proved more difficult than I thought though...
Every hour, 3 minutes past the hour, a train straight to Groningen from Schiphol departs, 'Great!' I thought to myself, exactly what I need. So, I go down to the proper platform and begin to wait. Up on the screen for the trains I see Groningen, 9:03, perfect. So, I wait, which takes the better part of an hour, and I see all the trains showing up, most of which seem to be going to Amsterdam Centraal, the time comes along and no Groningen. I keep waiting for another 10 minutes or so in case it's late, and I even ask a couple conductors if their train is going to Groningen. Eventually I figure that it was cancelled. I take a look back up at the screen and realize that the places I saw the name was where they listed the canceled trains. Not a huge deal, they come every hour. So, I facebook message my friend who I am to meet and let him know I'm going to be late.
I wait around for the next train, this time it's actually on the list for trains arriving soon. I wait for it, but all I see at the time is another "Amsterdam Centraal" train. It comes off the expected trains list once the time passes and I figure that the train I thought was going to Amsterdam was just mislabeled on the screen and I missed my Groningen train. Damn, well, here we go again. Lucky try number three!
After about 45 minutes Groningen pops up as one of the trains that isn't going to make it. What the heck! I finally decide to look in to the matter at the information booth. Turns out the Groningen train was canceled all day due to weather. -_- It sure would have been useful if the ticket lady I bought the ticket from told me that. I ask about an alternate route and I'm told to go to Amersfoort. After the better part of 4 hours of trying to get on the Groningen train I finally get on to a train headed to Amersfoort. Once I get there I have a short wait for another train then I'm finally on my way to Groningen!
Spending Time with the Locals
At Groningen I met up with this guy named Robin. My Dad set us up to meet through someone he knew, so I'd never met him face to face before. It turns out he's a really cool guy. He surfs and longboards and he's been all around the world. Once we got to Groningen Noord (that's North, in case you couldn't figure it out) Robin helped me get to my building using his iPhone. After I met the student manager and set all my things down we went back to Groningen and he showed me around. The first thing I got was a SIM card for my cell phone so I could makes calls without a ridiculously expensive roaming fee. He showed me some places where I'd be able to get what I need, like food and clothes. We hung out for a bit, then I headed back to my place.
By the time I got back and the student manager showed me around the building it was just past 8. I asked my student manager where I could eat that night and, unfortunately, the local grocery store AH (it stands for Albert Heijn but the sign just says AH) closes at 8. There weren't any restaurants open within walking distance, but I could order something, Dominoes he suggested. So, once I got my internet set up (which required borrowing an ethernet cord from a friendly hall mate) I ordered some pizza. And thus concludes my first day. I ended up sleeping 14 hours after that, to be fair one of my alarms was broken and the other one was set to mute.
I won't be making a day 2 post because all I really did was sleep and go grocery shopping. Hamburgers for dinner! Yes, so far I have eaten only pizza, hamburgers, and snacks, you can't call me un-American :P. I will be making a blog post about grocery shopping at some point though, once I figure out what the heck the products actually are (I am quickly realizing I need to learn more Dutch). There are a lot of little differences, which are giving me a healthy dose of culture shock, but I'll address that some time later too.
It's almost 2:30 here so I'm going to sleep. I haven't edited this post yet, I'll do that tomorrow, or when I find some time; I'm too sleepy now.
TL;DR - Almost missed my International flight, but being related to the pilot helps. Waited 4 hours for a train that never showed up. Hung out with a surfer bro. Ate Pizza. Slept 14 hours.
P.S. I'm 6 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.
Yes, I just now realized you have a blog. Anyway, did you notice any cool/different/weird pizza toppings when you ordered? The only one that really struck me in the UK was sweet corn. Which is actually weirdly good.
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