Day 2 started with a trip to the law fac of UvA where we registered for the orientation program. It just got colder over here in Amsterdam, with the morning starting at -3 degrees. Apparently 4 layers was the bare minimum to keep me warm. We took a tram, which is just like MRT on the roads.
The orientation was very much a 'get-to-know more people and party away' kind of orientation. No muddy or tekan games, everything's very OTOT. My group is quite nice, everyone's from such a different background and its another step up from just knowing people of similiar cultures, like during NTU FOC.
We had a quick lunch where everyone just mingled, and we were brought to this threatre which was previously a church. Once again, the typical english architecture simply added much more impression on what was otherwise a normal talk. During the whole talk, we were welcomed by the director of UvA, given some idea of what living in Amsterdam was like, and things like policies on drugs and alcohol, which brings me to this funny picture.
Yea, so in Amsterdam the general policy is tolerating and not so much about deterring. According to the talk by the professionals, Amsterdam isn't the world or Europe's largest consumer of drugs, but the transparency and the policy of tolerating drug usage has made it the city where people can take drugs more conveniently than anywhere else!
After the talk we had another workshop where we got to know yet more exchange students. Dinner followed and they served some weird tasting nasi goreng, and supposedly chicken satay, but it was like a really big piece of meat on a stick. And many of the other peeps who have never eaten the satay sauce all went 'oh this is very good peanut butter!' hahahahahahaha.
Well at night it was a welcome party for all exchange students. Well it should be 2 parties since we went to 2 clubs! I think any party animals must come to Amsterdam cos its like just parties everyday! Drinks here are cheaper, 1 jug of Heineken is like S$10. Affordable! I'm starting to believe I can drink well already! The thing about not getting drunk here is most likely due to the fact that if you are feeling drunk, just go out into the cold night and come back in 3 minutes. You'll be ready for a few more rounds real soon!
Bev and meiyee trying to take a picture of us taking a picture of them. haha.
The girl on the left, Kim comes from Canada. The other 2 are Jolijn and Esther, the coaches (or the orientation group leader equivalent over here). The dutch are like really really really friendly. Or at least they are!
Some of my group members. In this picture we have people from New Zealand, Australia, Czech Republic, Germany, France, Romania, Canada, Holland, Denmark, Serbia, and of course Singapore!
Here's a picture of the club, Odeon, which is a nice club that's quite popular around here.
The royal palace in the Dam Square, which is like how Amsterdam all started. I'll leave the history lesson till another time but this is really a nice palace set in the heart of such a vibrant city! Nothing short of majestic, even if its just for show and nobody really stays in there. I'll wait till Queens Day to see how the city will actually come into full glory!
No comments:
Post a Comment