August in Oegstgeest

I arrived safely in Leiden on the morning of August 22 and after a few days of adjustment, I think it’s safe to say that I’m really going to like it here.

I live in student housing in a city just north of Leiden called Oegstgeest (pronounced like oh-st-heist, more or less). There are twenty or so international students here. I have my own little bedroom and there is a shared kitchen, common room, and laundry facilities on the first floor. There is one (small!) washer and one dryer for the entire building. So far today, I did one washing which took a little over an hour, and have gone through 3 one-hour dryer cycles and am hoping that my clothes will finally be dry when I check in about 10 minutes. But it is free and in-house, so that’s nice.

Last night, we hosted a gathering at our house to get to know each other which was fun. People are still moving in and out, but with classes starting next week, it should settle down after Monday or Tuesday. I now have a pretty good idea of which people live here now and which people are frequent visitors. It’s nice to live with so many people because there’s usually someone to go with to University events, activities for international students, grocery shopping, or to a club activity like rowing (I joined the club today!).

Since I live outside of Leiden, where my classes are, I bought a bike which shaves about 10 – 15 minutes off my commute in and out of the city each day. It’s a city of about 70,000 but feels much smaller than that. However, I was corrected when I called it a town – the people are very proud of their city.

After a week, I finally feel like I kind of know my way around. I haven’t gotten out of Leiden much other than spending two hours in the Hague – just a 20 minute train ride away – and 6 hours in Haarlem yesterday at Ikea with my housemates. My room is much more organized now and I have a lovely Guzmania plant.

Tonight's plan is to see Mamma Mia! in the cinema - I've seen it a few times and love it. Several of my housemates are coming including Thanos, whose hometown in Greece was used as the setting of the film. I'm off to get ready. I'll try to update this blog at least weekly. Please keep me posted on your lives too!