Amsterdam Blog.This year I’m keeping my promises. So far it’s got me into more trouble than I would wish and has changed my life considerably. I quit my job, left home and am now living in another country far from the ones I love and yet closer to another I consider my third arm. My Erasmus exchange this year I consider to be a triple whammy promise. It’s a resolution that I made to myself in first year, a friendly agreement made to a korfball playing German and an accord with an ex-boyfriend who made me believe I couldn’t do it, (hence the ex). It’s important to me in so many ways that I’m determined to enjoy it.I’ll be studying with the Universitaat Van Amsterdam for approximately ten months following a course list full of deadly subjects including my favourite Shakespeare. J The city itself is gorgeous and full of character. There’s such a tolerance in Amsterdam that I think I’ll find unique to any other part of the globe. The university itself looks welcoming and old and I can’t wait to hit the coffee shops. I am nervous about making friends and arrangements for registration but once I’ve finished my first day there I think I’ll relax.There is so much that I am looking forward to. I’ve been teaching myself Dutch for a while now and I can’t wait to be understood. I reckon it will be my proudest moment, lol. Being able to cycle to lectures will be a joy. A bike ride from East Craigs to George Square in Edinburgh is a death wish so it will be liberating to use the cycle paths and trams in Amsterdam. In a geeky sense, I’m interested in wandering around the Spuisstraat library. I want to know what it looks like inside, how things are arranged and if I’ll have to be canny with taking out books. Homesickness and the three hour lectures are the only things so far that are praying on my mind though they can be combated. The first I’m getting used to already and I’ll buy a Dictaphone for the later J Tasty sandwiches will see me through.Most of all, I’m anticipating that feeling of belonging somewhere that I didn’t before. I keep thinking about where I’ll be staying, who with and whether or not we’ll get on. I hope to God I’m not in a tower block, though that said, packing up my life only takes two lift loads, my bike included. No matter what I think it will be like, I don’t think anything will be able to prepare us for what we’ll actually experience. I will expect hitches and misunderstandings. If everything went smoothly then there’d be no stories to tell. I’m really lucky that my best friend of sixteen years will be moving to Brussels as I move to Amsterdam. We’ve already planned to spend weekends together and travel back and forth on the railways to see how each other are getting on. So far I don’t know anyone else who is going to the UVA so that kind of home connection will prove crucial. I hope that living in Amsterdam will make me a more confident and capable person should I ever wish to live abroad permanently. It’s a scary thought but with the right support and a tougher skin it’s possible.
Kirsty Mk
