Bad night, good night

Trip Start Aug 20, 2009
1
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Trip End Dec 17, 2009


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Flag of Netherlands  , South Holland,
Friday, August 28, 2009

so we knew things were going too perfectly.  I had orientation Thursday and it was fine.  They tried to give us a tour of the city, but it was no help.  After orientation there was a pub crawl.  It started at 9. I looked up directions and we went to the bus stop.  While we were waiting at the bus stop - someone threw an egg at us!  It didn't hit us, but it splattered on us - it was gross and for some reason very disheartening.  Our bus finally came and took us to Central Station.  But when we got to Central Station, we had to transfer buses and we got on the wrong bus!  We toured Leiden on the bus until it put us back at Central station.  Then we tried to walk home.  Bad idea - it was super dark and there were no streetlights - which I found super weird.  We found out Friday that the city had problems with the lights and there are actually plenty of light around.  But in the end, we missed our night out and got egged - it wasn't pleasant.
Orientation
Orientation

Also, at orientation we finally found out when we have finals and it turns out I booked my flight when we have our last final and I had to change my flight.  I got in a huge fight with the Cheaptickets people and was on the phone with them until 2 am.  Finally, they let me have the flight that I wanted (they originally tried to charge me $1200 with a 24-48 hour layover in Chicago - what the hell?), but it took a long time.

Friday was another day.  Our very nice roommate said we could have his bike - but it had a flat tire and needed new brakes - so we took it to a bike shop.  Unfortunately, we got lost, again! I stopped and asked some people in a gym and they told me there was a bike shop around the corner.  We went there, but the man didn't speak a word of English.  Irina told me to use the one Dutch phrase that I learned - "Hoeveel is het?"  How much is it?, not realizing that the man would of course answer us in Dutch!  After much confusion, he pointed us on our way to another shop where the owner spoke English :)  Our bike will be fixed on Monday. 

At night, we went out to a bar for a bit where a man (Francois pictured here) bought us 2 rounds of wine, and was very nice.  He welcomed us to his country and we felt much better than we had the night before. 

Sidenote: The weather was nuts - there was thunder and lightening (see pictures and movie), but Friday definitely was better than Thursday. 

Saturday we got another bike.  By the time our bike gets fixed on Monday we'll have 2 bikes and we'll be very happy.  School starts Tuesday.
Leiden hotels Slideshow

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