Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Old Soul

I think I am going to start at the end of my day.

It is just after midnight here. And I just walked away from a brewing party. Well it was more like a gathering. I love a good gathering, a sit around and drink wine well talking about whatever happens to come up. What I don't love is that the gatherings here seem to start around midnight, followed by going out around 2-3 until about 5 or 6. Maybe I'm just getting old but this sounds exhausting and ridiculous. Also, because my room is beside one of the kitchens and the main entrance it is where a lot of people hang out at night. Sitting, drinking, getting progressively louder. I also have been informed that I am living in "The Spanish Corridor" also known as the hallway with all the loud Spanish guys.

I don't want to sound like an old lady but this kind of makes me sad. Its not that I don't want to go out, and it isn't like I even mind staying up late, but I hate that it isn't my option if I sleep or not. If I want to sleep I want my room to be quiet, dark, and I would even prefer if I wasn't woken up at least once a night with drunk people coming home from the bar. You know, I like to do those things every so often but it sounds like that is just how things are around here on a nightly basis. I keep going back and forth about moving to another building but as far as I can tell, all the buildings are essentially the same. Young students in a foreign country have come to party. I am just surprised by the number of law students here who go out all the time. We'll see what happens, but at this point I am going to try to go to bed.

So, now to go back to the beginning, this morning I woke up at a reasonable hour but then I realized that I didn't really have anything to do today so I went back to bed and didn't get up until around 11:30. This wasn't that awful, I can't seem to break the habit of getting up late but I never have anything in the morning so maybe I should just embrace it.

My goal today was to buy a bike and pay rent. Both things I was supposed to do yesterday - oops! I had been told that the best bet for buying a bike legally (as many bikes are stolen and resold by homeless and junkies in the city centre) was to go to the bike centre at the Groningen Central train station. They rent bikes, store bikes, resell bikes, fix bikes, general how-to kinda thing. It was actually a really great experience. Going in I knew little about bikes, what to look for, how much to spend, what I need on it, etc. The man there helped me out a lot, I test drove a few bikes - all cruiser style with peddle brakes. Cruiser bikes are so different in every way, especially how they steer. They don't respond near as quickly as the mountain bikes I'm used to.

After I picked out a nice bike for €95, then the guy fixed the squeaky breaks, gave me a new bell, showed me how the lights worked and threw in a lock for less than the regular cost. All together it was €105 or about $140. This seems like a lot but this way I don't have to worry about it breaking or falling apart and I will use it everyday I'm here. I'm hoping I can sell it back at the end.

After I picked up the bike I nervously biked into the city centre to find the large ING branch to pay my rent. From here I biked around the city centre for what seemed like hours. I was trying to find the building that I need to get to tomorrow morning but I never did. I didn't have a map or an address but every street looks the same. Either way it was a good experience, I got the feel for my bike, got more comfortable biking around, and I feel like I am more familiar with the set up of the city centre. To anyone who says Calgary streets are confusing I say you are crazy anyways, but after being here, those people are extra crazy! Here streets don't go straight, every intersection turns the street into a different name, and there is no clear direction for anything, no go up 5 blocks, over 3. It is such a jumble here. I'm sure it won't take long to get more used to it. It was also quite cold with the wind blowing in your face, I don't look forward to biking in cold rain.

When I gave up in the city centre I biked back past where my house is in order to find a rather large, rather inexpensive grocery store. It was quite nice and quite large. By the time I got home I was damp because the humidity is actually 100% here all the time so even if it isn't raining the air feels like it is. I changed and crawled into bed to warm up. The cold just steals your energy!

I made dinner, then did laundry. How exciting right. It was ok though because I sat out in one of the common rooms and chatted with a bunch of people. It is odd how few new residents I have met, most of them are the ones staying a full year. Funny thing about my laundry is upon putting them in the dryer and checking in on them they were literally steaming. I took them out and decided to hang them up but because it is so humid I am skeptical that they will even dry, especially a fleece jacket I have because the washing machine didn't do a good job spinning it and it was drenched when I took it out. eeps!

I spent the rest of my evening hanging out with a couple new students in a common room. I did my best to avoid the "are you going out tonight" questions. Clearly no one appreciates a quiet night in as much as I do. heh.

Oh, I named my bike Joaquin because it is a Pheonix bike. It only seemed right.

4 comments:

  1. Yes, cruiser bikes are much different. I am still getting used to peddle brakes.

    No shame in staying in T! Haha, your res experience sounds a lot like mine - minus the Spanish Corridor! Well, it wasn't too noisy in my room, but was not into the partying.

    Not an old soul, T. Just old. Bahaha, just kidding :) Will it be easy to switch buildings if you decide to?

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  2. Getting comfy in the new place sounds like it will take a day or two. Enjoy them all. Hey, I've got a cruiser bike too :)

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  3. Great blogs so far. Would read again.

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  4. I honestly feel like I can't really settle here. I like the people, the area, and the rooms are fine and all but this obsession with going out every night until the break of dawn is too much for me. I am woken up every night, and not just at 1 or 2, it is more like 4 or 5. And people are so pushy about going out, like I'm some kind of pathetic alien. That said I think most people are younger than me, but I'm not even that old. I just like to do things that old people do! Ha.

    I've applied to switch residence but I don't know if any will be any better. It sounds like they are generally all party houses. Basically they do it first come first served, and switches can happen on the 1st of the month. I've asked to be put into a smaller res or an independent apartment. It might be more difficult to meet people but maybe that way I will meet more similar minded people and less party crazy people.? I don't really know. Sounds like it is kind of a waiting game.

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