New chapter of my life - Amsterdam

New chapter of my life - Amsterdam

So new chapter of my life started. Unfortunately, it does not seem same as I was picturing it. I know that moving to a new city is not easy and it takes some time to settle down but…

First day

My first day was a horror story. I came to Amsterdam one hour late because of a traffic jam. We already agreed with my friend Romca (roommate) that I did not have to pick up my key and I could just put all my suitcases to our new room and I would pick up the key later. It was a good plan but since we arrived late to Amsterdam, it was impossible. I had only few minutes before the introduction day started and I had four suitcases, I was exhausted after thirteen hours in the bus and the location was quite far from the Central Station. I did not know what to do. I did not want Romca to be late because of me and I could not go there with all of my stuff. Then, I was saved! David suggested that I could go for my introduction day to be there on time and in the meantime he will take care of my bags. I felt bad that I could not help him but I also felt grateful. Later, we contacted our friend and he helped him. I was so thankful for it and I went to the introduction day.

Since beginning, it seemed to me that the University of Amsterdam organized everything in a bad way. Firstly, they accepted me for another program and then they just sent me an email saying they made a mistake and I was accepted for my first option – Real Estate Finance. They also sent us same email more than once. I had to write them a lot of questions because I did not understand how it worked and then I was waiting for a long time for their answer. Regarding introduction day, they just said that there is one mandatory introduction day on Thursday and there is one extra introduction day for 40 euros on Tuesday. I already knew that introductions days are the best ones so I did not hesitate to buy a ticket for extra introduction day. At that time I did not know it was not worth it at all.

We were running to the theatre where we should all meet. The day started in a nice way. We were listening the speech of different people and it was quite nice to hear someone wishing us a lot of luck and saying that this year will be probably one of our best years in our life. I felt touched and special. It was the most interesting part of the day because afterwards we were “forced” to learn some dutch phrases for one hour and half and people on the stage were randomly changing the topic with no order. Actually, I also liked two guys who were our guides and they told us a lot of practical information about school application, bikes, transportation, accommodation, student help and so on. They did not even forget to mention that if we are desperately alone we should download Tinder. During the break we had a coffee for free and some lucky people also had a biscuit (unfortunately not me).

Later on, our program included canal cruise. I was craving for it since my first time in Amsterdam. I always wanted to do a canal cruise! On Tuesday I finally experienced this. Unfortunately, it was the worst part of the day because we were in a boat with glass fronted upper part and the sun was shining like crazy. I dont even have a picture of it because I was suffering whole time. It was around 1 pm and there was no place to hide. It was so uncomfortable that I was not even able to watch the buildings. We all just wanted to go out. We were there together with my Czech girls in the last row. As a lunch, we got a banana, a muffin and two bulls with cheese and mini wrap. In the boat, I realized that their expenses for each person were not more than 20 euros and we paid 40 euros. I was kind of angry. Instead of trying to help us and organize something to make first days easier for us, they just made a lot of money. Seriously, I did not meet anybody new at that introduction day!

When you go studying abroad for the second time, the worst thing what you can do is to compare. I know that I should not do it but of course I do. In France, we had a whole week of introduction days devoted only for International people. It was all for free and the program was full of amazing activities since morning to evening. We were participating in many things and I met there already most of my friends. I did not feel happy when I realized how it was here. Nevertheless, I felt normal because I was here with my friends I already know them a lot from Prague.

Next surprise was accommodation. I knew that after long conversations we decided for the cheapest option and therefore, we should not expect much from our room but I was not happy when I saw it. After all, even though we have one of the cheapest options in Amsterdam, it is still super expensive (almost three times more than in the Czech Republic) and in addition we paid a lot of fees! Therefore, I expected to have my room at least clean which did not happen. Unfortunately. The walls in the room were quite dirty from former tenants and the bathroom was crazy. I don’t like when there is a shower with no borders in the bathroom and everything is wet when you use the shower. It was exactly like this but the worse thing was that everything was dirty. It seemed to us that nobody was living here for ages. To make it clear, the accommodation was not a disaster. It was just my first impression. On the other side, the distribution of room is quite clever. Even though we were supposed to share the room with my Czech friend Romca – we have almost separated rooms.

When you enter the apartment, there is a small hall, one room as a kitchen and one room as a bathroom. On the left side, you can climb the small stairs and you will be in Romca´s room. I liked the room much when I saw it. If you continue straight you would go to my room. I even have my own door but we can talk together and Romca can see me from her upper room. It is quite nice and cheap option if you come with your friend. When I checked everything in detail, I was shocked. All kitchen and my room was empty. Yes, I had a table, an arm chair, a wardrobe and a bed but it was all. I remember that when my friends came to Amsterdam last year they had their kitchen fully- equipped – with all plates, cutlery, coat hangers and everything. We had nothing. I was annoyed when I realized I would have to buy everything. We were lucky that Romca took a pan and cooking pot and many other things with her. In fact, I don’t even know if I could have taken more stuff since I was travelling by bus. At least I put covers and bed sheet on my bed (it changed everything). I was exhausted but we decided to go for a beer my first night.

We went to the pub close by with my friends and with few guys we met at our accommodation – most of them were from Sweden. I don’t remember the name of the pub but the place was nice – we were sitting outside drinking expensive beers. I was happy we finally met someone new and we had a lot of fun together. The big advantage of my new accommodation is that we are just 10 minutes walking from the Central Station which is amazing. We can even walk to school and if we just use a bike it is so close! Therefore, it was quite convenient to go home from that pub because it was close. I feel asleep really fast.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, after getting up, we spent a lot of time by cleaning the kitchen. It was terrible! Instead of enjoying the city and exploring new areas and meeting new people we were cleaning. It took us a lot of time because it looked that nobody cleaned there for a long time. We even tried to contact people from the accommodation because it was crazy. In addition, we went to HEMA to buy basic stuff. I could finally eat from the plate with fork and knife! We went also running with my friend but there is not park really close by. The weather was surprisingly nice! I already downloaded a special application to detect when it is going to be raining.

We also had a first appointment at the university. It was nothing important but the buildings and school looked really great! There is even river among buildings. This day was quite unsuccessful. We were walking to the bank to open our bank account and when we came there, some random black guy in a suit told us to go to another room with him. He already knew we wanted to open a bank account but he said nothing. When we were in the room and we told him we were students, he said we needed a special appointment. I was wondering: “Can we agree on appointment with him? ” Of course no. He said we had to go to the university again and arrange a new appointment to open a bank account. I could not believe it. Why was it so complicated? I mean I can understand that there are many students coming and they are busy. On the other side, he spent with us at least 10 minutes and I guess that if he had opened the account instead of making jokes and talking, it would have been done!

Later, he said: “All right. If you give me some money, I can make an exception for you and I will open the bank account for you right now. ” I saw his serious face and I did not know what to do. It was crazy. It took him at least 10 seconds before he said it was only a joke. We were not so sure but we just laughed. I did not like the guy much. He was making these weird jokes whole time and then he sent us home.

Another plan for that day was buying a bike for us because it is really convenient in Amsterdam. That is one of the best things in Amsterdam. I really like biking. Since Amsterdam is all flat, it is perfect place for using a bike! In Prague, it is harder to get from one place to another one. Moreover, they say that Amsterdam is the smallest big city. Therefore, it is quite easy to get from one place to another one and it does not take a lot of time on bike. When we told someone we still did not have a bike on Wednesday, they were shocked. Almost everybody has it in Amsterdam. The important thing is also having a lock because there are many people who steal the bikes since you can find them everywhere. We were walking to the shop but they had really small selection and the lowest price of the bike was more than 100 euro. It meant that we did not arrange anything that day. We just spent a lot of time by walking. At least we managed to buy a new sim card. It is really beneficial to buy it because you can pay around 10 euro for monthly internet and that´s it – if you don’t need to have prepaid calls and messages. It was a perfect tariff for me because I am okay with internet. The bad thing is that my mobile phone works only with one sim card. In France, mobile internet was the way more expensive so I decided not to buy it. I also wanted to take an advantage of not having internet everywhere and I think I stopped being addicted to the internet. Now, my obsession is unfortunately back…

This day we were having a party finally – the first one for our buildings. I was surprised that there were many people. We were quite late because when we came there everybody was already tipsy and they knew each other. We just came there and the first guys I met were from our program! It was such a nice coincidence that the first ones I met are going to study Real Estate Finance also. We were making fun of it that we are only four people but seriously since that time I did not meet anybody else from this program. I guess that we will see each other quite often. These two boys are from Germany and it was nice to meet them. I just felt weird when they told me they had been already working in a company in Real Estate Finance field because I realized that I did nothing like this and I am not even sure if I will really like what we are going to study because I did not have much experience with it so far. I should catch up with them! We were talking about this topic a lot. During my bachelor studies, we had only general classes. Of course we had many opportunities to have extra classes but it was not well-organized. If we wanted to take classes of our interest we needed to have it extra because the main classes were already chosen. It was almost impossible to have time for something else! I already had 30 credits more than I needed but I still had feeling that I did not have chance to study as many areas as it was possible to decide which area would be the best one for me. Moreover, we spent most of our time on mathematics and statistics and econometric classes, which was definitely good but not balanced with another classes. Therefore, I just chose Real Estate Finance program only based on its description and I believe I will like it a lot.

The party was great. We were sitting in front of our building and there were many people. This evening, I was supposed to meet my dutch buddy but he felt sick and we did not meet. After having pre-drinks, we all wanted to go to the club called Coco´s. As students, the entrance was free. When I got there, I already knew it was not a good choice. The waiting line was so long and the club looked overcrowded. Therefore, when I found girls, we went to another bar with some people. It was great to talk with everybody and we also met Jacopo from Italy who became our friend and he is also from the same accommodation. Since we did not have bikes, it took us some time to get there. We did not like another bar much so we decided to go back to Coco´s. We just showed the email about enrolment at the entrance and we went inside. I am not a big fun of these parties. I like when I am in a smaller group and when we all go dancing. This club was so crowded and of course you could not talk there. When I saw it, I left the bar after few seconds. It was not a good place for meeting new people and it was difficult to find someone from our university there. Around 2 pm we decided to go home.

On Thursday, we had the second introduction day– mandatory for all students. We went to school earlier to agree on our appointment in the bank. The introduction day started around 2 pm and I have to say that this day was much better. We were divided into small groups. Before, we went to the small bistro called Bagels and Beans in front of our university. After few seconds I fell in love with this place! They were serving mainly bagels which we don’t have in the Czech Republic. I admire when the food is nicely decorated! When we saw few meals personally, it was difficult to resist! It looked amazing. We promised each other that we would go there as a reward after some classes. We bought a coffee and when we entered the room, we found out there was coffee for free. We got some bottle of water, plan of building and then we had presentations.

This day it was quite great. They introduced us our MSC Finance program and also student organization SEFA. Moreover, I liked that we were not a big group in the room. I always prefer having a smaller group of students over classes in 200 people. Finance program is divided into four tracks – Asset Management, Corporate Finance, Real Estate Finance and Banking. Therefore, we will be even smaller group in our track. The good thing is that we don’t have to choose our classes because they are predetermined. The bad thing is that they tried to scare us. And it worked. In the beginning, I was convinced to enjoy my year in Amsterdam as much as it is possible but when I saw what everything we are going to study, I am worried I will have to devote my time mostly into studying. It was even worse when we came home and checked the websites of each class. We had some chapters to read for Monday and books to buy. Then we had a presentation about SEFA. Maybe we will join them. They have a four big pillars – International, Master Career and so on. There are many opportunities for everybody.

We again met our German friends from Real Estate Finance. We had a quick walk through the university but of course I forgot everything what they told us. Everybody got two tickets for free drinks in the end. It was so funny because Romca left her group with her two tickets and then my mentor wanted to give her two more because he thought she belonged to our group. When she refused, we met her real mentor and the girl tried to give Romca again two free drinks and when she refused again, she found two of them on the floor. So many funny coincidence. The place where we were having drinks was really nice. There was a nice view and we could also try cheese stickers and meat balls.

For me, it was quite weird. Since I was there with Romca, I did not really need to come to some new people and start conversation but we felt obliged to do it. It was completely different than in France. I remember that we were also having some drinks in the beginning of semester and we were in a big room. I just wanted to sit for a while and answer for some message but it was impossible because random new people were coming to me to ask about my name, nationality and opinion about Lille. I could even say that it was hard not to meet anybody. People were changing and I already met a lot of amazing friends there. Everybody looked happy and friendly and willing to talk. At that moment, I thought it was normal situation. Everything was easy.

On Thursday, we were just standing in the room, eating, drinking and watching another people. With no joke, nobody came to us to say hello! Of course, we could take initiative and be the first ones who started conversation but I did not feel like doing it. Then, when we saw our friends, we came to their group to meet some new people and I don’t know if it was only my impression but people did not look so into meeting new people. We just asked about names, study program, accommodation and that was basically all. I am really sorry for comparing and complaining but it is exactly how I feel. I am already here one week and I am not so excited. Maybe, real friendships will come later and maybe I will have time for studying… I just did not expect it to be so difficult. Honestly, I can´t imagine living here for a whole year. In the evening, we went to the boat Nemo which is really close to our place. We were talking a lot and we met a new guy from Costa Rica. We went sleep early.

On Friday we finally bought our bikes! They warned us that we should buy them properly in the shop with some registration but we did not listen. We went to the market and we just chose our bikes. We needed to buy four of them. We could choose if we wanted to buy the bikes with guarantee or without. I am really happy with my bike because it is quite comfortable and it has even its own holder for bag. I also bought a pink bell and lock. I will be really careful about it because it all cost 100 euro. It was such a relief to bike and not to walk all the time!

Afterwards, we wanted to go to IKEA with girls to buy unnecessary things into our flat. We wanted to go by car but then we just decided to use metro. I love IKEA! I could spend there a whole day. Choosing the furniture or things for my flat is my favourite activity. The prices were reasonable! Therefore, I bought a new basket for dirty clothes, flower basket for umbrellas, candle, black box, cleaner for coats, stand for pencils and many other things. It was quite hard to take everything with us by metro but we made it. Everybody was staring at us. When we entered our room I was so happy to put everything on the right place. I already started to like my new room! At the moment, I am almost satisfied. I think everything needs some time.

At night, there was a special party. We already knew we could register for the final party of bachelor introduction week. The price of the ticket was 17 euro. When we found out that the party would be in three clubs at the same time we decided not to go there because we were sure the clubs would be crowded and it would be difficult to find our friends. We decided to go to some pre-drinking party before this party at Carolinum. Later on, we checked the location and since it was 4 kilometres from our place we decided to go to another party. It was a nice place! There were many people and a lot of space. I don’t know why but I was not really in a good mood to meet new people. Therefore, we were just talking there with girls and since we were drinking a lot, we were just randomly laughing whole time. Around 2 pm we arrived home and we went sleep.

Saturday

It was last weekend before the school started so we needed to enjoy it. In the morning we all agreed on going to the Amstel which is a “beach” place near river. Of course it was not any beach. It was just place for sitting near river. We took our bikes and we were enjoying Amsterdam. My feelings are changing every day! Despite my unhappy thoughts about the weather and new people, I feel quite all right because I love changes in life and challenges. Everything is definitely totally different than before. I feel so great to bike everywhere. It is better than using public transportation. Moreover, my bike is amazing and I enjoy every ride. On the other side, the weather is terrible. When I got up it was sunny and then it was changing every minute – rain and sun – which is crazy for me and I don’t like it. I really think that I could not live here for a longer period than one year. I will have to move to sunny place after this!

We were just chilling next to the river and boys even went to swim. I was sure I was not going. Later, we went to the main square to have a coffee and soup but I still don’t remember the way how to get from that place home. In fact, I am still totally lost with direction. Maybe, I could find my university but it is all. In the afternoon, I went running. It was madness. I have to say that I did not like it at all. The closest park from my place is 4 kilometres away. I decided to do it but the biggest problem was that I went through the city centre. I was unbearable! There were so many people and when I smelled the weed so many times that I could not even breathe (exaggerated). When I finally went to the park, I was already tired and I was running back. I think that I will have to take my bike to the park and then run or I will have to choose another way. Moreover, I am considering buying a membership in sport centre because they offer quite good prices for students and there are many group exercises and fitness. And also in few months it will be impossible to go jogging in cold weather. They also offer that you can try to go there three times for free which is convenient for me.

Tomorrow, there is my first day at school! I am excited a little bit but I also know that I will have to be there for 4 hours which is definitely too much for me. When I checked the requirements for courses yesterday I was shocked. We already have some chapters to read and books to buy. I can´t believe that I will have to study again a lot. Am I prepared for it?

I enjoyed my last day off a lot. Firstly, we went to buy a special coffee because we have a new moca kettle with my roommate. Then I was still moving furniture to my room and it looks the way better than before. I already feel here great. I had some time for me to write everything in this blog and I finally called with my mother and another people. It seems to me like months and I am here only for less than one week! The good thing is that we already checked the plane tickets and we are planning to go to Prague in one month. I miss so many people…

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