For those who weren't aware, or who didn't realize I had left already, I'm participating in a 7 month internship with Ernst, & Young, a global accounting firm who has an office in The Hague, Netherlands. Actually, they have many offices here...but I was sent to Den Haag.Packing for my 7 month trip to Holland was a little more intense than I thought. My grandma got me some of those space bags that you suck the air out of and it flattens your clothes down to paper-thin packing size....okay, not that small, but close. My mom and I put two huge petty coats in one and it was amazing how small they became. We did this to most of my clothes and thought we had room for more, so I pulled out more clothes from my closet that I wanted to bring and put them in the mix of things to pack. Well, that probably wasn't the smartest thing to do...but oh well. I also took a ton of electronic stuff, but put them in my carry-on so they wouldn't get thrown around in transfer. The airline's limit on luggage was 70 pounds per bag and that included a $25 charge for anything over 50 pounds. When I got on the scale with both pieces, they were so close to 70lbs, that I sorta freaked out a little. We did a little repacking and weighed them again. My dadd got in on the action and thought I was crazy for owning enough to cause my luggage to weigh that much. haha...
I arrived in Holland October 13th, 2006 after a couple days of crazy traveling. Flights were delayed going into Chicago and I ended up flying through London instead of connecting through Dublin. I also ended up being about 4 hours late to the airport in Amsterdam, but luckily Kevin Zaugg, my teammate at EY (Ernst & Young), was still there at Schipol airport waiting for me. Then, to top it all off, my luggage wasn't on the same plane I was--which I think I expected all along, but did some wishful thinking the whole time. The first really exciting thing that happened after my horrible series of flight mishaps was that someone at EY had booked me a hotel
room in The Hague for the next week. It's called The Golden Tulip Bel Air and my first real Dutch meal was roomservice Friday night. It was a kipburger and fries. The kipburger is, to me, chicken (kip) mashed up with a bunch of small pieces of vegetables (like corn and green beans) and then fried a bit to keep it together. It was alright tasting, but the fries were great. Yes, they did serve them with fritessauce (mayonnaise).
I just got back from my first adventure out of the hotel--a long walk in a very random outfit (remember that I don't have my luggage yet--which contains all my clothes and toiletries) in a place I've never seen before. I exited the hotel and just began to walk. I picked a couple random streets and ventured down them in hopes of finding somewhere to buy some deoderant at least. About 10 minutes later, I saw a busier street and there was a small grocery store on the corner. I went in and immediately asked one of the workers if I could use my ATM card there (b/c I didn't have any Euros yet) or what I could use. The worker didn't speak or understand much English, so I waited for her to get someone else that did speak English and she told me where the ATM was and how to get Euros out of it. I felt pretty silly, but I guess that is all I could do, really.
So, I picked up a few things--like cereal, bread, lunchmeat, cheese, bananas, apples, coke (diet, of course), and m&m's. : ) Oh yeah...and I got some deoderant!!! That was the point of my adventure and also very important to the welfare of anyone I encountered after my luggage disappeared. They don't give you the option of paper or plastic and once I noticed that, I was kinda in a bind and had to ask again where I could get a bag that everyone was carrying around. He sold me two and I headed back to the hotel...and here I am.
Tomorrow, I plan on making my first trip using the train to Eindoven so that I can borrow some clothes from Charla if my luggage doesn't arrive. She said she has some shoes that are too small for her--which would be perfect for me--and also some shirts and a pair of pants that can tide me over until I get my luggage or find a shopping area to buy some. I sure could use some jeans and a jacket soon. But most importantly, I need work clothes for Monday.
The webcam that Kyle got me works great! I talked to my parents this afternoon and then my grandparents brought Brianna and Brittany to my parents' house to chat with me on the webcam, also. The picture is great and there's only a small delay. I have yet to talk to Kyle using it, but then again, its not even noon in California, so he might not be awake yet. haha...
The weather here is pretty gloomy...I'd say it was about 52degrees...okay, I looked on the weather online, but that's exactly what it felt like. There really wasn't any wind, so it was fairly decent... Tomorrow and Monday look sunny, but I guess that could change.
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