Sunday, May 19, 2013
Biking Around Delft
One of my favorite things about Delft is being able to ride my bike everywhere. I bought a used bike about two weeks after I got here, and it completely changed my experience of the town. Delft is set up perfectly for bikes - it's mostly flat and there are bike lanes and bike paths that will take you pretty much anywhere you want to go. There are even bike crossings at the street intersections, with traffic lights for the bikes. During the week, I ride my bike to UNESCO-IHE, walk downstairs into the underground bike parking lot, rolling my bike down the ramp beside the stairs, and lock up my bike along with the dozens of bikes of the other students. In the evening, I ride home, perhaps stopping at a grocery store along the way. On the weekends, I try to get out and explore. There are so many canals here with bike paths along them. You could really ride as far or as long as you'd like. Today the weather was warm and sunny and I rode my bike to a nature area just northeast of Delft. The landscape was green and lush, with yarrow, buttercups, and bluebells growing along the canals. I really enjoy seeing people's gardens as well. Indigo lupines, multi-colored tulips, and yellow daffodils are typical. It was a wonderful morning, and now I'm ready to tackle my flood risk assessment assignment, using ArcGIS, MIKE MOUSE, MIKE21, data from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and my Flood Risk and Social Justice textbook.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Leaving Dresden
On the last day of February my classmates and I bid farewell to Dresden. The last days there are a blur - we had our last exam, in hydrology, on a Tuesday. We spent Wednesday and Thursday going through our things - throwing or giving away what we no longer needed and packing what we wanted to take with us - shopping for some things we didn't think we'd be able to get in Delft (or that we anticipated would be more expensive here), deregistering from the municipality, unblocking our debit cards so we could use them outside Germany, getting enough cash to get us through the next weeks, etc. etc.
One of my friends and I wanted boxes to pack our household goods in, as we knew we'd have studio apartments in Delft and would need our kitchen supplies, among other things. We had an unexpectedly hard time finding some (Germans recycle everything) but finally were able to purchase some new boxes at a large, inexpensive household store called POCO near Bahnhof Mitte.
After I was done packing on Thursday afternoon I had to clean my room. I was thorough but not thorough enough for my hausmeister - he left me his ladder so I could clean the top of my wardrobe and my overhead light. He'd requested my French suitemate who'd left a few days earlier to do the same thing, so this wasn't a surprise. After he came back and approved the job I'd done, we signed off on the inventory list. He then took my key, but mercifully allowed me to stay in my room. It was only 5 pm then and I wouldn't leave Dresden until 10 pm, so I was very grateful for this.
A friend in the same dormitory who'd checked out of his room earlier but had not been allowed to stay in it brought his luggage to my room and we rested there for awhile, completely exhausted. Propping the door open with one of our boxes we then crossed the hallway to my shared kitchen, where we had some last cups of tea and finished eating a few of the things I had left in the fridge and cupboard.
We needed to go to the center to take care of a few last-minute things, so we left our luggage in the care of one of my suitemates (in a manner of speaking...) and left, catching the tram one last time from Gret-Palucca Str to Hauptbahnhof Nord. I regret to inform you that our last meals in Dresden consisted of McDonald's for my friend and Chinese food for me. I had wanted to go to a good German restaurant called Zum Schiesshaus, but there was no time. After finishing eating we walked to the main station's taxi stand and tried to arrange for a minivan taxi to pick us and our luggage up from our dormitory some short time later. We were unable to communicate with the taxi drivers as they didn't speak English, but luckily a young German student who was passing by interpreted for us and helped us call the taxi company.
After this we returned to the dormitory and began moving our luggage down five flights of stairs to the main entrance. I had two suitcases, my backpack, a small carry-on, and two large boxes. My friend had even more, and some in plastic bags. Fortunately he did most of the heavy lifting. Another classmate of ours living in the same building added his luggage to the pile - the three of us would go to the station together.
At the prearranged time, a cab arrived at our dormitory, but it was too small for the amount of stuff we had, so we sent for another, larger one. As we were waiting we started to worry that we wouldn't make it to the main station in time. My classmates had hired a 44-seat bus to take 18 of us to Delft (for a cost of approximately 100 euro per person), and it was set to leave the main station at 10 pm. Luckily, our mini-van cab did show up and we got ourselves and our luggage to the main station just before the bus arrived.
Once we had piled our luggage into the luggage compartment under the bus, I was overcome by relief and elation. Many of our Hydro-Science and Engineering classmates had come to the station to bid us farewell. I hugged everyone I could before I got onto the bus and found a good seat. Since we'd hired such a large bus there was plenty of space. I sat in the back near some of my closest friends.
Our bus made 2 more stops before we were on our way. I felt sentimental as we passed over the Elbe River for the last time, the lights of the beautiful old buildings reflecting off the water. Totally exhausted but full of joy, I settled into my seat, alternately dozing off, chatting, and singing. My Colombian friend had his guitar out and was singing and playing songs that my Albanian and Irish friends were singing along to.
Around midnight the bus stopped at a gas station that brought back memories of larger truck stops in the U.S. - only that the prices were double to triple what you'd find in the States and you had to pay 50 cents and go through a turnstile to use the bathrooms. I think most of us fell asleep soon after that stop, though the bus was very cold. When the bus stopped again at another gas station, around 4 or 5 am, we were already in the Netherlands. For several of my friends, who'd had a challenging time in Germany, it was like a great weight had been lifted from their shoulders.
We arrived at UNESCO-IHE in Delft right on schedule at 8 am on March 1.
One of my friends and I wanted boxes to pack our household goods in, as we knew we'd have studio apartments in Delft and would need our kitchen supplies, among other things. We had an unexpectedly hard time finding some (Germans recycle everything) but finally were able to purchase some new boxes at a large, inexpensive household store called POCO near Bahnhof Mitte.
After I was done packing on Thursday afternoon I had to clean my room. I was thorough but not thorough enough for my hausmeister - he left me his ladder so I could clean the top of my wardrobe and my overhead light. He'd requested my French suitemate who'd left a few days earlier to do the same thing, so this wasn't a surprise. After he came back and approved the job I'd done, we signed off on the inventory list. He then took my key, but mercifully allowed me to stay in my room. It was only 5 pm then and I wouldn't leave Dresden until 10 pm, so I was very grateful for this.
A friend in the same dormitory who'd checked out of his room earlier but had not been allowed to stay in it brought his luggage to my room and we rested there for awhile, completely exhausted. Propping the door open with one of our boxes we then crossed the hallway to my shared kitchen, where we had some last cups of tea and finished eating a few of the things I had left in the fridge and cupboard.
We needed to go to the center to take care of a few last-minute things, so we left our luggage in the care of one of my suitemates (in a manner of speaking...) and left, catching the tram one last time from Gret-Palucca Str to Hauptbahnhof Nord. I regret to inform you that our last meals in Dresden consisted of McDonald's for my friend and Chinese food for me. I had wanted to go to a good German restaurant called Zum Schiesshaus, but there was no time. After finishing eating we walked to the main station's taxi stand and tried to arrange for a minivan taxi to pick us and our luggage up from our dormitory some short time later. We were unable to communicate with the taxi drivers as they didn't speak English, but luckily a young German student who was passing by interpreted for us and helped us call the taxi company.
After this we returned to the dormitory and began moving our luggage down five flights of stairs to the main entrance. I had two suitcases, my backpack, a small carry-on, and two large boxes. My friend had even more, and some in plastic bags. Fortunately he did most of the heavy lifting. Another classmate of ours living in the same building added his luggage to the pile - the three of us would go to the station together.
At the prearranged time, a cab arrived at our dormitory, but it was too small for the amount of stuff we had, so we sent for another, larger one. As we were waiting we started to worry that we wouldn't make it to the main station in time. My classmates had hired a 44-seat bus to take 18 of us to Delft (for a cost of approximately 100 euro per person), and it was set to leave the main station at 10 pm. Luckily, our mini-van cab did show up and we got ourselves and our luggage to the main station just before the bus arrived.
Once we had piled our luggage into the luggage compartment under the bus, I was overcome by relief and elation. Many of our Hydro-Science and Engineering classmates had come to the station to bid us farewell. I hugged everyone I could before I got onto the bus and found a good seat. Since we'd hired such a large bus there was plenty of space. I sat in the back near some of my closest friends.
Our bus made 2 more stops before we were on our way. I felt sentimental as we passed over the Elbe River for the last time, the lights of the beautiful old buildings reflecting off the water. Totally exhausted but full of joy, I settled into my seat, alternately dozing off, chatting, and singing. My Colombian friend had his guitar out and was singing and playing songs that my Albanian and Irish friends were singing along to.
Around midnight the bus stopped at a gas station that brought back memories of larger truck stops in the U.S. - only that the prices were double to triple what you'd find in the States and you had to pay 50 cents and go through a turnstile to use the bathrooms. I think most of us fell asleep soon after that stop, though the bus was very cold. When the bus stopped again at another gas station, around 4 or 5 am, we were already in the Netherlands. For several of my friends, who'd had a challenging time in Germany, it was like a great weight had been lifted from their shoulders.
We arrived at UNESCO-IHE in Delft right on schedule at 8 am on March 1.
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