Week One - Personal

On the plane ready to go!

Eimear, Sarah and I began our adventure on Thursday the 31^st of January. We set of from Belfast and an hour and a half later we were in The Netherlands! First thought… Wow it’ so flat - they have no hills! Second thought was how the heck are we going to find the right train to get to Nijmegen in this place? Thankfully we did very well… Surprisingly! Bar from a few incidents with Sarah on the escalators with her two suitcases we hopped onto the correct train. Again, an hour and half later we were finally in Nijmegen!

No Wifi - Just a cable!

Once driven from the train station, by taxi, to SSHN (just like our Stranmillis halls office) we signed on the dotted line and paid the cash... that was it, our new home for five months was Nijmegen. We were then taken by the two Erasmus buddies to our flat at Vossendijk. We then had to fend for ourselves and track down our correct floor and room, in which when we did there was no one else there at first. Also to my shock there was no wifi which left me feeling like I had lost a limb! Things started to look up though as we then met two Belgium Erasmus students who we were going to be living with – Brian and Deborah, who we instantly got on well with and ever since have had endless laughs and fun!

The next few days consisted off meeting new people and having to slow down our speech – which for us Northern Irish is quite difficult! We met two people who would be important in our stay in Nijmegen – Magda and Ben. Both of them were so friendly and made Eimear, Sarah and I feel at ease and welcome. Through them we met another two important people who would aid the fun in the next few months, as these two people were also Irish. The two girls were called Ciara and Michelle, who study in Dublin – finally we found people who could understand us talking fast haha! They were able to show us around town and the different places that would aid us in our Erasmus adventure.

Welcome!

Classes began on Monday when we found ourselves walking around trying to find the correct building. As Nijmegen is big we did get lost and ended up consequently late for class. Never the less we got there (good thing Dutch people can speak English and point us in the correct direction!) and we sat down and began our first class. Strange as it is, the class was enjoyable as it let us gain insight into other education systems and make comparisons to our own in Northern Ireland. Furthermore, we got to meet even more people through class which was now becoming more and more frequent each day. Only problem being… trying to remember everyone’s name!

Me and my machine of a bike!

Finally on Tuesday we purchased a tool that would be of great assistance in the next few days, weeks and months – our bikes! So many bikes with so many prices! Eventually we all purchased a bike on the Tuesday which was brilliant as we cycled our way home within twenty minutes! The only down side of cycling is the other Dutch cyclists who fly past and I am trying to steady my bike so I do not fall off! However, after a while I am sure I will be the one ‘flying by’.

So over all our first week has been awesome and if the weeks to follow are to be like this, I am guaranteed a brilliant time! 

P.s. top tip for this week - when cycling wrap up warm and wear gloves as your hands will be freezing by the time you get home!

Me and my flatmates!