Zeg hallo van Leiden!

First few days here in Leiden have been pleasantly plump. My travel was just about perfect - flights from Raleigh-Durham to Philly (Holla at Scott) to Amsterdam were all on time. I even got both my bags without a hassle. The Dutch are a crafty bunch.

Though I downed two Sam Adams' and two Nyquil before boarding my international flight Monday night, I didn't sleep a wink on the plane. This made for a strange, pseudo-aware flying experience over the dark Atlantic. Watching the sun rise over the clouds at 40,000 feet made it worth the while though. It was lovely watching the black turn to indigo rimmed with orange to violet, pink and blue. Off the coast of the UK we flew over a wind turbine farm, each spaced neatly in little rows. It was nice watching the blades spin from so high up.

I landed at Schipol airport at 10am local time Tuesday morning - the fog was so thick I couldn't even sight the top of the air traffic control tower. After regaining my humanity over a cup of strong Dutch-style koffie, I met up with Sandra, a Leiden law student, who agreed to pick me up at the airport. Together we hauled my luggage on the gray 15-minute train ride to Leiden and then picked up my room key at the university's international housing office.

I have a room all to myself in Kaarsenmakerstraat 7-121 in the City Centere. My room is on the first floor and two of the four tall walls are mainly comprised of three huge windows looking out over a small canal. Ducks and stray cats seem to be frequent guests, despite the thin sheets of ice that appear every morning.

After unloading my my gear, I mosied around my neighborhood, stopping to purchase coat hangers and cheap hunk of Brie cheese (only 0.89€! ), and to lightly converse with some Dutchies. Everyone I've encountered here is wonderfully welcoming, helpful, and more than eager to speak English with you once it's apparent you're a foreigner.

My sleep schedule was a bit whacked out yesterday (props to you Annie, for pwning more time zones than I can dream of) but I think I'm evened out now, after having gone about a whole day today without a problem. Today I went to my appointment at Leiden University's international office to fill out some paper junk and such. Met another Southern gal, Anna from LSU (Baton Rouge, USA), and went out for Dutch Mexican food (horrendous, never do it) and walked around Haarlemmerstraat, one of the main shopping drags in the city.

Went out tonight with Anna and some of the international students (Florida, USA; Reykjavik, Iceland; Boston, USA; Goa, India; Friesland, Netherlands) I met through Sandra. We went to a place called Entrekoos on Steenstraat for dinner and then out to a student-friendly bar called Einstein's, where I downed the four free Heineken's that a gaggle of Greeks facilitated.

I'm off to bed, I have to wake up early for the university's introduction days that begin tomorrow for international exchange students. Sorry no photos - my digital camera just broke this afternoon. It will make its way to the snapshot infirmary tomorrow and will be back soon.

Kisses from lowlands! Doei!