Oh No.....

I’m in the process of getting sick, and fighting it. I hope I curb this with my planned mass amounts of hot tea drinking and Emergen-C consumption. I will be miserable if I don’t. I also know why this all started….

I had planned to go visit Erik on Friday. I hadn’t heard from him for a few days and was a bit worried about our plans. He ended up emailing and he told me he would be in Delft till about 10:30 pm so I should just go hang out with his family until then. I love his family and I didn’t see anything wrong with that suggestion but it was just so late! My parents hardly stay up past 8! I call their house and get the youngest daughter on the phone and she tells me to come around 8 or 8:15 pm. I still think its super late to be showing up but she assured me it’s Dutch and I shouldn’t worry. I say OK! Erik had emailed me instructions on how to get to his parents house from the train station. This thought was overwhelming but I figured I’d give it a shot!

I took the bus for the first time in Haarlem to the bus station. It was raining and I had a big bag with me. Lazy won out. But the bright side, I figured out how to use the bus in Haarlem!! Not so difficult, but still, the ice has been broken! So I jump on the train down to Delft and sit back and enjoy the 40 minutes that I have. I thought I had synced my Ipod so I could watch my show, but it didn’t work so I read my book instead. I have started reading “The Blind Side.” While I’m not generally one for football books, I really like it. I get lost in the football talk but I like the characters and the story behind it.

Anyways, I get off in Delft and follow the signs to the new bus station and jump on the bus that Erik says. I look at the bus driver a little lost, I tell him where I need to go, he confirms that stop is on his route and I pay the €1.30 and sit down. A few stops later, I get off the bus. I was a bit worried about how I was going to find my way from the bus stop to their house, but Gina (Mark and Erik’s mom) was waiting for me. I was so HAPPY to see her!! I was so proud of myself for getting there totally Dutch style too. Full use of the public transportation system! She led me back to their house where I settled in for a few hours to wait for Erik. It was so nice to spend time talking with their family (and their American exchange student). She performed Lady GaGa at the school’s talent show and they had filmed it. I was super impressed!! She is really good! And it took a lot of guts to get up there and perform. I never would have! Americans are quite competitive so my first question was “Did you win?” I was informed it wasn’t a competition; it was just for fun for the students. What is funny, when Mark called later that was his first question as well. Apparently America is rubbing off on him also!

Ton, the father and husband of the family, is really good at finding cheap air fare. Kelly and I have a few trips up our sleeves and I started talking to him about them and he started looking online. I had ran into an issue when I was looking because I couldn’t book them on a budget European site because I don’t have a European billing address for my credit card. This is just another issue that I have with the Dutch monetary system. I ended up not booking anything yet because I have to verify my holidays but I do think I’m going to try and open a bank account today after work. Maybe tomorrow, we’ll see how the weather is. It snowed again last night so we are back to white.

Another issue with this credit card/chip card thing is the OV chip card. This OV card is for use on subways, busses, trams, and all other public transportation systems in Holland. Basically, you scan your card when you get on public transit vehicle and then it charges you €4. You scan it again when you get off at your destination and it credits you back the difference of your travels. Pretty handy, right? Now I’ve seen signs for this card but have no idea how to get one. I even asked the train station lady and she didn’t really know either. I asked Erik, he knew! So that was his mission, to help me get an OV Chip card. The downfall, I can refill it unless I have a bank chip card. Another reason I need a local bank account, the stupid chip card!

So anyways, at about 11 pm Erik and I headed off towards Rotterdam. His parents were perfectly fine staying up so late. I guess it really is Dutch style. Ton took us to the train station where we intercepted the train and took the 20 minutes (or somewhere around there) down to Rotterdam. Erik’s fraternity house is only about 10 minutes from the train station but it was kind of drizzling and ruining my cute “party hair.” It was my first Dutch party; I had to have cute hair! We arrive at his fraternity where they are having a bit of social hour and I get to meet a few of the other members. I found the cute, tall Dutch guys!!! They are still in college…and not living in Haarlem! Dang. But at least I know they’re out there.

After I drop my stuff off in his room, and he promises me the mice won’t get it, we head out for the evening. You will have to tune in tomorrow to find out how it went!