Rotterdam

Last Saturday was the trip to Rotterdam organised by ISN. We wen to Rotterdam Centraal by train, and there ISN Rotterdam were waiting for us. They were the responsibles for the tour around the city.

At a first view is really different from Leiden. Rotterdam has very new and high buildings, whereas in Leiden this kind of buildings are hardly seen.

The walking to the town hall let us to see some buildings with very artistic facades, such as the one with faces painted on it or the other whose facade reminds to waves. Then we arrived at the town hall, which is one of the few buildings that wasn't new.

The guide told us that behind it was an empty huge square due to that place was destroyed by bombs in WW2 and it was never rebuild. The city was almost completely destroyed during the war, this is the reason why there are so many new edifices, some of them are skyscrapers.

After that we went to a covered market. It is very impressive because of its enormous wall made of glass. Inside the market there are a lot of stores and restaurants, so I guess you can go there and no cook for at least one week without repeating restaurant.

Besides, the variety of them is quite wide, from asian food (chinese, japanese...) to Spanish food. In the Spanish food stands there are churros, tapas and other things that I didn't expect to find in Holland.

The roof of this market is painted showing flower theme pictures, so if you aren't interested in buy or eat something you should visit it at least for see the paintings, It's something uncommon.

Just outside this market there is a stand market called Blaak Markt, where it can be found everything, from fruit or fish to cow skulls and of course, warm stroopwaffles.

From there we went to a square where there are some famous houses, but, unfortunely, we didn't have time to visit them. Here is a pic:

Finally we were to a boat trip, in the trip pancakes were served but in my case I felt seasick and only can eat one (the offer was unlimited pancakes!!). From the boat we could see the city and the canals. Canals in rotterdam are immense. The weather was extremely rainy so we couldn't enjoy the views as much as we wanted but we enjoy them in the walk to the boat.

Finally, I'd like to recommend you to visit Rotterdam. It is different from the other cities in Holland, the architecture is amazing and if the weather is not bad the views are wonderful.

Dinner with ISN

Last Wednesday I join to the International Exchange Student Network (ISN). They organised dinner for international students in Buddha's bar. There were a lot of people from all over the world. At first it was a little bit strange, my classmate and I were with unkown people in an unkown place, but once we started talking with the others everything was easier. After some briefs chats with some of the people in the bar we sat at the table with our new friends. At the same table we were sat, there were, as well, two of the hosts. Everyone told us what they were studying there, their hobbies, etc, and because of almost all of them have been in Leiden for several months they said to us how the weather and the city are. 

The dinner was excellent but spicy, which is something I am not used to. It was served chicken with rice and a mix of vegetables such as broccoli and pepper, all seasoned with a spicy and hot sauce. The dessert was mango ice cream with fruit dice and cream.

That day was a very international day, because just before the dinner we were hanging out with other exchange students, this time only from the Hogeschool Leiden. This semester we are only eight of us! We talked and play table football so it was a nice time.

After the dinner we went to Einstein's bar, where ISN celebrated Saint Valentine's Day trhowing a party. We went there with our ISN friends and joined with the Hogeschool ones. Every Wednesday ISN members have party at that bar. In this special occasion apart from the party there was a game. They put on you a stick with a name (e.g. Brad Pitt) and you had to find your partner (e.g. Angelina Jolie). If you achieved it both of you gain a free consumption, so some people were looking for their partner.

Because of the great time it can be had I recommend you to contact to your local exchange students, if you are one of them it is a good way to meet people in your same situation and know other cultures (not only the one from the country you are living in) and if not, you can also meet new people and maybe make easier the stay of them, making the step of living in another country less hard while you have a nice time.

Arrival to Leiden

I arrived on Sunday. It was a sunny day.

Leiden it's fairly near from Amsterdam, it takes about 15-20 minutes to arrive by train and it isn't necessary to leave the airport to go to the train. I was impressed by such a picturesque and lovely canals and buildings. There's a great contrast between some modern designed buildings and the more traditional houses.

Everyone moves by bicycle and they are very friendly. All of them try to understand you to be able to help you. 

These days are quite windy, to the point that it can move you when walking. It also rains a little, basically it is a drizzle rain. 

The UAS University Leiden is absolutely amazing. It have a lot of place for hanging out with your friends or play to something with them. There are pools, table football, pianos... 

Classroom are quite small, which it's good for having an almost personalized lecture. In my case we are only 18 students. The only drawback it's the location of classrooms. They follow a system quite chaotic and it is almost impossible to find where you have to go if you don't have any help, at least in a first sight, maybe as long as you stay there you get used to it.