Lesson 1: Don't forget your umbrella when you visit the Netherlands.
I learned this lesson fast and hard on my first day in the Netherlands. By midmorning I was soaked. Lost and soaked. By first mission on arriving at Rotterdam Centraal was to find my hostel. I had printed out the directions, and felt pretty confident. However, I was a bit dismayed as soon as I emerged from the station. As soon as I stepped outside, I stepped into a construction zone. They are building a new station, and by the time I had reached the end of the construction, I was disoriented and starting to get wet. I knew that I had to walk straight away from the station, and eventually I would come to Rochussenstraat where my hostel was located. So, I started walking straight away from the station... in the wrong direction. As I got wetter and wetter, and not recognizing the street names(when I could frind them) from my directions I got more and more annoyed. Evntually I returned to the station, and did the smart thing. I took the bus.
Having arrived at the hostel and stowed my gear, I set out to look for the house where I had an apointment to view a room. Located in Blijdorp(litteraly 'Happy village') I again had instructions on how to get there from Centraal station. Blijdorp is north of the station whereas my hostel was south of it. I got lost again. And even more wet. Streets don't seem to work the same as they do in Canada. First
of all, there are no street signs. Instead the names of streets are attached to buildings, on the corner. Often quite high up. Secondly, you can have a street split in two. One half going one way, on one side of a canal and then the other half going the other way, on the other side of the canal. Thirdly, streets can suddenly come to a stop at a building, but then start up again on the other side. Finally, streets can often change their name after an inersection. Overall, it can make finding a place difficult. I finally did find the place, and checked it out.
of all, there are no street signs. Instead the names of streets are attached to buildings, on the corner. Often quite high up. Secondly, you can have a street split in two. One half going one way, on one side of a canal and then the other half going the other way, on the other side of the canal. Thirdly, streets can suddenly come to a stop at a building, but then start up again on the other side. Finally, streets can often change their name after an inersection. Overall, it can make finding a place difficult. I finally did find the place, and checked it out.By the time I made it back to the station, I was completely wet. At that time, I broke down, and bought a cheap umbrella at one of the stores. It then stopped raining.
Eventually I did choose the room in the house I visited. It's a nice room that has it's own small balcony that looks out into a courtyard. I share the area with five roomates(only two at the moment). it's for international students, so everyone speaks english. I now know the way to the train station, and it's a quick 15min walk.
You can see pictures from my trip here:
1 comment:
Oh man I feel your pain about the streetnames! From travelling on the Balkans (a region where streetnames do not seem to be appreciated) I am very familiar with it! In Kosovo streets even have 2 names, it could be one serbian name on an old map, but when you get there the street is called something else (cause they don't want the serbian streetnames anymore...)
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