Fiets: check!

I think I already bothered everyone I talked to in person during the past couple of weeks with this fact but: The dutch language is sometimes onomatopoetic in a simply adorable way and this shows especially in the words for bike and motorbike:
A bike is fiets in Dutch. And a motorbike is a bromfiets!
(You might have to read this one out loud..)

So, one of the basic clichés about the Netherlands is not only a cliché: Really everyone here is going everywhere by bike in probably every kind of weather and I was told some people even move house by bike. And, having left my faithful old bike back in Karlsruhe, I needed one, too!

Fortunately one of the activities during the Introduction Week hosted by the university was the Expedition Hashtag, a sort of scavenger hunt through Amsterdam. On three different locations, we were given several hints according to which we had to find small cards with a hashtag sign. The first 5 people for each location to find one of these cards won a customized university bike, as easy as that.

My subconscious seems to have been quite eager to win something, as it presented me the night before the Expedition with a classic nightmare that ended with me missing the expedition since I was late and didn't have the shirt we had to wear. Yay.

I was quite relieved when in reality everything went well for me: I was on time at the meeting point behind the main station, did not drown when we took the ferry and managed to find one of the first cards at our first location in Amsterdam Noord. Hello new bike!
The other locations where we had to hunt were Jordaan and the beautiful Vondelpark - both were not so pretty in the cold, cold rain. Once we were done (apparently we were the fastest group they had had, probably due to the rain) we went to a belgian pub, to warm ourselves from the inside with a beer or two.


 

Today I could pick up my new means of transportation and was provided with the best possible weather to take my little beauty for a first ride! Since we had to collect the bikes at the VU campus down south in Uilenstede, my way home took me along the Amstel river, past Amstel park, and through some rural areas with sheep, cattle, ponies and lots of flowers. And I saw my first windmill!

On a side note: as it might be possible to glimpse from the photos, the bike, as most bikes around here, does not have any gears and no hand brake. I'll definitely have to get used to that.

Arrival in a new home...

View from our temporary apartment
(was able to catch a stretch of good weather)

So, on Monday evening we finally arrived in our new home city - later than we had planned, thanks to the Deutsche Bahn which as usual did its best to present us with a variety of excuses why we had accumulated yet another hour of delay.

These first days have been quite busy and it is only today, with the rain pouring down since the early morning, that I manage to find some quiet time to write down some first impressions.
Ah, the rain, I guess I'll have to get used to it: with more than 200 rainy days per year in Amsterdam we decided that our strategy should be to be happy every time the sun is shining instead of complaining about the weather. Buying a rain-cape is on our list as well. The last days have been rather Irish, with fast changes between sun, clouds and rain...while today it's just rain and thunderstorm and I don't feel compelled at all to leave the apartment (not even to check out the cake store around the corner someone on Twitter recommended!).

On Tuesday I went to see my university for the first time (yes, I applied to VU without having ever been to the campus!), and got enrolled at the International Students' Office Arrival Days. Finalizing my enrollment, a short chat with a faculty advisor about choosing my classes and signing up for the ESN was all I could do there unfortunately: In the dutch system, a lot of official things (creating a bank account, mobile phone contracts, ...) require you to have a burgerservicenummer (BSN), which is obtained during the registration at the municipality (Gemeentelijke Basisadministratie Persoonsgegevens/GBA). This registration is only possible with a valid adress and a rental contract - since we haven't found an apartment yet, I'll have to sort out the bank account and some insurances myself, and couldn't profit from having all the companies and the municipality officer there at the Arrival Days. But the important thing is: I'm enrolled and now officially a student again!

Wednesday passed quickly as well: Introduction day at the university, with several welcome presentations by university faculty and alumni, a campus tour (of course) and a short dutch language class. Among the international students, Brazilians, Germans and Italians seem to present the majority, but that might be just my personal impression. I was able to find several of my classmates for the MSc CS, from what I was told we will be about 80 students all in all, distributed over several specialization topics. And I was told that (although I'll only believe this once I see it myself) there will be around 40% girls in the Computer Science Master, ha!

Iamsterdam logo in front of the Rijksmuseum

Travel tips for geeks: A real-life version of Milliway's in Paris

Well, not completely: Other than Douglas Adams' original restaurant from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, the end of the world is somewhat missing from this bar in Paris. Fortunately this makes having a drink at Le Dernier Bar Avant la Fin du Monde considerably easier, what with timetravel not being invented yet and all.

I came across this place a while ago in a friend's Facebook posting, so when we finally started planning our Paris trip last september, Le Dernier Bar went straight onto my Must-See-List - and I was not disappointed!



Situated in a rather central location, a couple minutes' walk from the Métro stations Hôtel-de-Ville or Châtelet, it's easy to find with large friendly letters and an adorable Cthulhu above the door and a small outside area thats probably already filled with fellow nerds when you arrive.



The ground floor is designed as a Neovictorian/Steampunk/Museum/Library, with large comfortable leather chairs, a ceiling decorated with Gallifreyan symbols and a large Maya calendar on the wall (end of the world, you get it?). The shelves are filled with old books, pseudo-antique knick-knack and a large selection of board games that are available for trying out.




The other two floors are situated underground (after all, every respectable geek boasts an affinity for the basement): Floor -1 transports you into a futuristic spaceship area, with blinking lights and sliding doors, where the toilets are marked with Firefly characters, while Floor -2 is a sort of post-apocalyptic zombie defense bunker - which was quite crowded when I was there, so I didn't get much of a good look.


On the menu, the visiting Geek is overwhelmed by a plethora of nerdy drinks to choose from - from the Pan-Galactic Gargleblaster to Cpt. Picard's Earl Grey, Lebowsky-style White Russian and as far as I remember even True Blood, nearly every relevant drink in Pop-Culture and several more can be ordered. Beer (Grolsch, Guinness, Duff Beer...) is available too, but since the prices are typically Parisian (~9€ for large beer) you might as well treat yourself to a cocktail:
That's exactly what I did, and ordered a Bad Wolf:


They're also offering some snacks: Cupcakes and Dark Side Cookies are what I remember, a quick look on their current menu tells me that salads and some other salty snacks are available as well - including vegetarian and vegan options!

Theme nights are a regular thing, with themes like Pirate Night, Villains and Superheroes, Vampire Hunters or Doctor Who, and staff and guests dressing up. Apparently there are also special events with bands (Cécile Corbel for example) and some weeks ago even the lovely Felicia Day paid a visit to Le Dernier Bar.



All in all this is about the most awesome bar I've ever been to - heaven for everyone who's into Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Gaming or other imagined worlds and I spent most of the night pointing out new details and geekeries to my not-so-nerdy boyfriend. Unfortunately we didn't have the time to go back there when we were in Paris this May, but on my next trip I really need to return to Le Dernier Bar - after all, I didn't even try the Pangalactic Gargle Blaster and there are so many more details to discover!
My only point of criticism: The music. Call Me Maybe, seriously?!

Oh, and there was already a 9gag post about it, with some more pictures:
http://9gag.com/gag/5813432



Le Dernier Bar Avant La Fin Du Monde

19, avenue Victoria 75001 Paris
Chatelet Metro (exit Théâtre du Châtelet)
https://www.facebook.com/DernierBar
www.dernierbar.com/

Der Anfang...

...ist schwierig bei so einem neuen Blog.
Dass ich wieder bloggen will weiß ich schon seit längerem: Ich habe gemerkt dass mir schlicht und ergreifend ein (virtueller) Ort fehlt um meine Nähprojekte, Reiseeindrücke und anderen KrimsKrams gebührend festhalten zu können - in erster Linie auch für mich selbst. Der anstehende Umzug wird mir zudem noch mehr Stoff liefern, und das gleich auf zweierlei Weise. Einerseits natürlich im übertragenen Sinn, viele neue Eindrücke, Lieblingsorte und Ausflüge die dokumentiert werden wollen, andererseits zieht es mich ja nun ins Land der Stoffmärkte (no pun intended), wo mir hoffentlich auch viel Inspiration unter die Nähmaschine kommt. Außerdem ist ein Blog ein guter Weg um meinem armen zurückgelassenen Freundeskreis einen kleinen Eindruck zu vermitteln was ich so treibe, wie sich damals in Singapur schon unter Beweis gestellt hat (wobei damals das soziale Netzwerk mit dem blauen Design noch nicht in Deutschland angekommen war..).

Ob ich auch weiterhin auf Deutsch schreiben werde weiß ich gerade noch nicht. Zumindest beim locker-flockigen Bloggen geht mir Deutsch momentan doch wesentlich flüssiger von der Hand, wenn aber mein Englisch demnächst wieder aus seinem eingerosteten Zustand befreit wird, werde ich wohl auf Englisch wechseln, auch um einfach ein breiteres Publikum ansprechen zu können (insofern das hier tatsächlich überhaupt jemand lesen möchte :))

Thematisch wird sich das hier irgendwo zwischen Reisen, Kultur, Subkultur, Schneiderei, Kostümgeschichte und (fremdem und eigenem) Essen bewegen - was es jedenfalls nicht geben wird, sind alberne Produktbewertungen, Nagellackfotos und Outfit-Fotos (Ich habe keinerlei Aspirationen zum Fäschn- oder Bjuhtie-Blogger). Was es ebenfalls nicht geben wird sind IT-/Informatikthemen. Sollte ich während meinem Studium das Bedürfnis entwickeln meine Arbeit in der Richtung zu dokumentieren wird das in einem separaten Blog passieren, weil: Die Anzahl der Menschen auf diesem Planeten die sich gleichzeitig für die Mode des 18. Jahrhunderts und für Javaprogrammierung interessieren ist denkbar klein.