Introduction week

I join a student union, go sailing in a Skûtsje and take a quick dip in the Amstel river.
As you know I had planned to meet some new people this Wednesday and start making some friends here in Amsterdam. It didn't turn out exactly as planned and I ended up having three great nights instead of one...
To start from the beginning, I have been talking to my colleagues about how to meet new people and get friends in Amsterdam. I've listened to various suggestions and also made some meager attempts, like going out and talking to strangers at bars, but without much success. However, joining an organization has always been my backup plan, as I find it easy to connect with people with whom you share a purpose, like sports. It therefore seemed like a natural step for me to join an organization now that I have spent 2 weeks here without making any friends outside of work. When I talked to a colleague about it, she went online and found Orionis, a student sailing organization for me. I had not imagined such a thing would exist, but I was immediately attracted to the concept. After visiting their website I was sure this was the place for me.

This is a slogan of theirs, I like it :)

So I went to their everyone-is-welcome bar, which they arrange every Wednesday evening and use to recruit new members. It seems to be working quite well, as they currently have around 450 members. As expected I was warmly welcomed by the Orionis recruiters, who gladly answered a lot of questions I had about the organization. What I didn't expect was how easy it was to get in contact with everyone else. You could say I had already grown accustomed to the solitude of exploring Amsterdam on my own, but in fact I am just shy around so many strangers, who all speak a language that I don't understand very well (yet). But here it was no problem that I was a little shy, because people would just come up to me and talk, when I was standing by myself. This helped me a lot and I ended up talking with a lot of nice people that night. I also chose to formally join the organization, as I had known I would since seeing their website the first time.
The next two days I had dinner with Orionis on a huge houseboat. Here Orionis serves the hungry students from the university of Amsterdam, who are celebrating their introduction week. They also give students an opportunity to go sailing in either a Valk or the Skûtsje on the Amstel river (I did both).

The Valk is similar to an Yngling, but without a spinnakker

The Skûtsje is not like most boats

Friday night we stayed late and had a great time on the houseboat, which is a bar on the inside. It was a warm evening, the weather has been great all week, so at one point we decided to go for a swim. Luckily, I bring my swimwear and a towel with me at all times (I'm not kidding), so I could enjoy it without worrying about wet clothes afterwards. If you don't understand why I would carry such things with me, you should read The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, and even if you do understand, I recommend reading it anyway; It's hilarious.

Projects & Progress

I develop my dutch language skills, complete my first task for a client and look forward to tomorrow...
Today I have been in Amsterdam for exactly two weeks and I feel like that is a good occasion to stop and take a look at how everything is progressing for me. Before I came, I had a lot of expectations, even though I was not aware of all of them. Let's take a look, shall we?
It will take some time to get settled: It didn't. I expected that I would need to go through a lot of cumbersome bureaucracy, such as getting a social security number, setting up a bank account, getting a dutch mobile telephone subscription and a lot of other unanticipated things. It turned out to be extremely easy and I fixed everything on the first day. I bought a prepaid sim-card and an OV-card, which allows me to travel easily with public transport and that was it. I won't need any other registration, because it is a short stay and my wage is so low I can get it as an allowance instead of a wage.
I will be travelling mainly by bike: You know I do. Turned out just like I expected it, only I didn't expect there would be different 'rules' for how to drive your bike (see last post). The Netherlands is the second-safest country in the world to drive a bike in after all... Right after Denmark that is.
I will do great at work: Work in progress. So far I have been given mainly easy tasks and a lot of learning tasks and meetings. But today I did my first real piece of work! That is, I wrote a draft topic guide for an online community, which was sent for approval by the client. It might be a small task, but it is an important part of a big project, so I feel really glad to have contributed. Also, it seems like it was noticed that I did a good job with it.
I will not have time to learn the language: Wrong. I have plenty of time, because I don't really have a life outside of work yet. I am spending about an hour and a half every day reading, or practicing dutch. I am making progress fast with the reading, but my confidence in speech is horrible. In three months, I will be speaking dutch at basic conversation level.
I will feel good in a multicultural metropolis: True. However, it is quite frustrating that I have not yet learned any stereotypes. This is not to be understood as shallowness of interest in other's personalities on my part, but I need tools to process the information that appearance gives. The result is, that I am not always able to recognize native dutch people and separate them from tourists. It is horribly inconvenient when asking for directions!
I will have to be active to get friends outside of work: True. This turned out to be a greater challenge than expected. I have no friends outside Winkle yet, but don't worry I will get there too. I have plans for tomorrow...

The cycling game

The complicated rules of cycling in Amsterdam
In my previous post I left the question of why all bikes move slowly in Amsterdam for later. Now I will try to answer it, by explaining how to ride a bike in Amsterdam, as it was a game.

The cycling game rulebook
Before you start
To begin the game you must acquire a bike.

This is an 'orange bike', which means it is from the most famous rental agency. It drives like most bikes in Amsterdam, so if you get one of these you are well prepared for the game.

Goal
To win the game you must get safely from A to B. For additional style points you must look good while completing the main goal.

As an example I will show you my route to work.

It starts in Banne Buiksloot in the North and ends by Keizersgracht in the center. The estimated duration of the game is 40 minutes.

How to play

The game starts by you unlocking both locks on the bike. Then you get on top of it and start the engine by moving your feet in a circular motion on the pedals. If you have start-problems (common for people on rental bikes), use your legs more forcefully. Continue the motion to maintain speed and stop the motion to brake.

Where you can ride

You are allowed to cycle on sidewalks, in bike lanes and on roads.

You may travel in any direction on sidewalks, but take care to avoid pedestrians.

Bike lanes are usually made with a line in the middle indicating that it is a bi-directional bike lane, but the indication is superfluous as all bike lanes are in fact bi-directional.

Travelling in the left side of roads is not recommended, so if you find yourself in such a position it is usually better to cross the street. 

This is an example of a bike lane. It is separated from the street by a sidewalk, to minimize the risk of bikes crossing the street at inconvenient times.

When you meet other players

Other players fall into three categories: No threat, Moderate threat and Severe threat

No threat: Scooters, cars and busses are in this category, because they will always stop for you. They all have good acceleration and good brakes, so they don't mind stopping much. If you meet while you are crossing a red light, most of them will indicate their disapproval though.

Moderate threat: Trams, Taxis and bikes are in this category, because they will only sometimes stop for you. When they travel at high speeds, they do not like to stop, as it will take time to accelerate back up to that speed again.

Severe threat: Racing bicycles are in this category. These are the fastest players in the game and they do not brake unless seriously threatened.

Watch out!: Pedestrians are out of category, because they are even more dangerous than severe threat. Pedestrians will expect you to stop for them in any situation. They will not orient themselves before crossing streets and they can change direction and speed very quickly. The most dangerous type of pedestrian is the tourist, which can usually be recognized by their constant impressed facial expression.

Style points

If all players safely get to their destinations, the winner is determined through accumulation of the collected style points on the trip.

Getting style points

You get style points by looking cool, while you ride. Here are some examples of how to gain style points:

- Think ahead and overtake others by being taking a faster route, extra points if the others notice that you took a shortcut.

- Stopping for pedestrians, who are waiting to cross the street (natives of Amsterdam score many points on this one)

- If you are a boy: Look effortless, when driving uphill (will only happen near canal bridges)

- If you are a girl: Drive a Pink Vespa wearing dark sunglasses

Losing style points

Here are some examples of how to lose style points:

- If you obey a red light, when there are no players crossing from the other direction. Lights are only supposed to be respected by cars, busses, trams and tourists

- Failing to start your bike (see solution to this problem in the 'how to play' section)

- Blocking the path for other players, without having a valid reason

- Being overtaken by old ladies (Always happens to me)

- Panting and sweating

Good luck

This is my take on travelling by bicycle in Amsterdam. As you may have noticed, the main goal is safety and it is therefore advisable to cycle slowly. This will give you a better chance of avoiding danger and it will come naturally to you, when you notice how heavy your bike is.

Drive safely!

Bikeride

I buy a bike, cross the Ij river on a ferry and ride around in my neighborhood.
Up until today I have been a frequent user of public transport in Amsterdam. It is very effective in the sense that you never have to wait more than ten minutes for the bus or three minutes for the tram. Payment is also simple, as a card system similar to the danish 'rejsekort' will always get you prices between 1 and 2 euro for your travels within Amsterdam. Almost all bus routes go to the central station, so it's very easy to find your way home from anywhere.
But why did I buy a bike then? If the public transport is so convenient? I don't think it's going to save me any money. I paid a hundred euros for the bike, and for the same price I could have enough bus tickets for the rest of my stay. It's not going to get me any faster to work, or anywhere else, than public transport is. It's not even for the exercise, as I expect to always ride slowly here (more on that later). So, why?
It's the feeling of liberty. When travelling by bike, I will never have to make plans and leave somewhere at the right time. There will be no track, no route for me to follow, and I can take as many detours as I like. As long as I know the direction of home, I can go home when I want to.
Therefore, I never really considered public transport an alternative, but a temporary arrangement until I figured out how to buy a bike. And that task turned out to be more difficult than I had first thought. My colleagues told me last week, that if you went walking around central station it wouldn't take long before some shady type offered you a cheap bike. And I believe them. But of course that was never a legitimate option for me, as I wanted a legal, second-hand bike. To get that, I visited a place where they 'recycle' bikes, whatever that means, which I had been recommended. Yesterday they had no bikes available when I arrived, but today there were several options. I ended up choosing a bike with no gear, no front wheel brake and barely visible lights. The handling is poor, it is heavy and the seat is uncomfortable, but I absolutely LOVE IT! It's redeeming qualities are, that it has a kickstand, a sturdy luggage rack and a solid triangular frame. I also had to buy two different locks, to be just as difficult to steal as all other bikes in Amsterdam. All-in-all, this is the perfect package for a cheap bike, and I am confident that it will get me to where I have to be as well as to some places I didn't need to go to.
To celebrate, I rode the bike to central station, from where I took the free ferry across the Ij river. It was insanely crowded, and even though the other ferry was arriving just after the first one left the pier it got instantly filled to the maximum 240 passengers. Or actually it took quite a while to get those 240 passengers aboard, as many tourists (a category that I am no longer part of) seemed to have trouble understanding the principle of letting everyone leave before trying to board yourself.

On the other side, I knew the way home a little too well, so I decided to go on a detour. This led me across a narrow bridge to a little harbor on the north side of Ij. I took a walk on the bridges and noticed a warning sign next to me.

It looked somewhat like this, but the man in the picture looked as if we was desperately drowning. I laughed on the inside at that, while I considered the harbor. My first impression was, that it was completely dead, but then I noticed the harbor master sitting inside something that must have once been the bridge of a small freight ship. It baffled me to see him watching over the harbor, almost as a lifeguard would over the beach, when there were so few guests! My estimate is that he had between ten and fifteen visiting boats in the harbor and most of them were there on long term stays. Well, I can't say that it disappoints me, but I had secretly hoped it would be an active harbor filled with racing yachts or dinghies. Instead, I found houseboats, old dutch sloops and a very aware harbor master.
After my visit to the harbor I followed the bike lanes through a beautiful park and some narrow streets and ended up behind my apartment block thereby concluding another good day in the city of Amsterdam.

I'll pick this up in no time

I enjoy my first week at Winkle, get shown around in the city by a colleague and start learning dutch.
Wednesday morning I was filled with excitement as I rang the doorbell of Winkle for the first time. The office building is located right next to Keizersgracht, the second of the three canals that circle the city center. The staircase led me to the fourth floor were I walked into the office of Happen and greeted the first person I met. He welcomed me and quickly led me to the Winkle side of the office, which is where I will be working for the next three months. It is a spacious room with around 15 wide office tables, carpet floor and large windows facing east and west. This is where most of the work of Winkle is being done, although the company also has sales offices/departments in London, Toronto, New York and Sydney.
The first day here was one of many introductions. I met a lot of employees, got introduced to the company's organization and their operations. In return I told them of my background and expectations of my stay. That could be done quite rapidly, as I had only just arrived the day before and I had no clue what to expect. What I could tell them, though, is that Aarhus University does not expect much of me, and I am therefore free to work on anything that they find relevant. I think that puts me in a good position, where I can say yes to any task they propose, without fear of getting off-topic in relation to some assignment of my own.
At lunchtime, we all sat down together and had a meal family-style. I rather enjoyed this and I was able to copy some dutch lunch-eating habits, such as eating chocolate flakes on white bread. Essentially it becomes a cookie, so I don't think it will become a part of my usual meal, even though it is fun and tasty.
After work Thursday I participated in a monthly social event, which was supposed to be grill in the park, but ended up as tapas at the office due to the weather. Almost everyone participated and they each brought a dish for the meal. After dinner, we went to the rooftop terrace, which has a spectacular view over the south-western part of Amsterdam. It ended up getting late, but I still made it home with the regular bus routes and didn't have to wait for a nighttime bus.
Friday the office was almost empty, but the four of us, who were there had fun after hours playing Wii in the conference room. I must say, that I was very surprised with this, and I am not sure if it was in honor of me having nothing to do on a Friday night or to say goodbye to Fieke, who was leaving on vacation the next day. Regardless why, we sure had fun and became the end of my introductions week at Winkle. On a side note, Fieke is going to Ebeltoft, Denmark, so I hope my country presents itself well to her.
Saturday I was shown around by Martijn, who knows all the cool places in Amsterdam. We walked through Red Light District, which I had not expected to be so lively at 10 a.m., on to Nieuwmarkt. From there, we walked on to China Town, where we visited a temple, before walking south to Rembrandtplein, where we had a cold drink. We both needed that, as Amsterdam was bathed in sun and the wind would only come in short gusts. It was perfect weather for walking, so we strolled past the Flower market through the Vondelpark and found a nice place for lunch on Museumsplein. We then decided to visit the modern art museum nicknamed 'the bathtub'. The first floor was full of paintings by great artists, like Monèt, Picasso, Rembrandt and Kadinsky. On the second floor we found sculptures and installations and below ground was a large video-exposition. I liked the visit a lot, and I would definitely recommend the museum to anyone interested in art. I think Aros with a good special exhibition compares nicely to it though, as both museums boast nice architecture, good explanatory texts and great art. Later that day we went to a sushi restaurant, which served great food at very fair price. To round off the tour, Martijn showed me a bar he used to work in. It is a very particular bar, which only plays music from the era right after WWII. Some of it is jazz and I don't really know what the other genres were, but it is happy music that makes you want to dance. The bar had a very diverse clientele ranging from young party-goers, to people in their forties who also liked the atmosphere. I think that is definitely I place that I will visit again during my stay here.
Throughout all of these experiences I have heard and seen a lot of dutch words and come to a new conclusion regarding learning the language. Before coming to Amsterdam, I had decided that three months was too short to learn the language, but now, I think I will pick it up in no time. The structure of the language almost identical to that of Danish, and most words resemble ones from either Danish, German, English or French. I'm starting out with some free online courses, and then we'll see how I feel about it in a couple of weeks.

The honeymoon phase

I start my journey from Denmark, travel by bus to Amsterdam, get a room, go sightseeing and have my first day on the job.

Just four days ago, I was locking the tower on Tornby beach. The was low in the sky above the rough sea and the waves would reflect the light so brightly that the scenery could only be enjoyed from behind sunglasses. Not that I minded, though. This summer I had worn my sunglasses so much that I would feel like something was amiss in the evenings when I had taken them off. Through those sunglasses I said goodbye to Tornby beach, which had been a hospitable host for the past two weeks.

This goodbye was special and I spent a minute savoring the moment. It was a goodbye to the lifeguarding season of cause and that always fills me with an odd, empty sensation. It is the end of a good time for me, but it also marks the beginning of something new, and usually the return to something familiar. But not this year. This year I would not slip slowly back into my daily routines, I would embark on an adventure instead. As I said goodbye to the sea this evening, I was already heading far away. As I left the sea behind, my thoughts quickly turned to the trip and left my mind feeling numb with the impossible task of predicting what everything would be like.

The next day I boarded the bus on a direct travel to Amsterdam. The travel was uneventful and I was grateful that my mother had given me The Hotel New Hampshire along to pass the time. As we neared the destination I could feel the excitement and anxiety bubbling inside me. The fact that I have never liked to prepare was weighing on me and I was sure that I had forgot to bring something important - like some invaluable information. Nevertheless, everything was working out great so far, when I started seeing a lot of tall buildings with company logos. I thought to myself, "Wow, Amsterdam has a skyline - who would've known?" But I was wrong. It was six in the morning and I was tired from getting only five hours of uncomfortable sleep in my seat. If I had been less tired I might have noticed that we were in fact in Utrecht, not Amsterdam! Luckily, the woman in front of me discovered this fact and showed her surprise so obviously, that I could smoothly slump back into my seat and sleep another hour before waking up at the right destination.

A taxi brought me to the address of my host, whom I had only had contact with through e-mail. I hopefully called the apartment using the speaker system at the door and was let in without a word. After climbing the stairs to the third floor, I was greeted by a tiny woman called Delilah. Mildly surprised (up until that point in time I had believed my host would be a man) I stepped into the small apartment and was shown my room. It has a nice double bed, so after a short presentation of the rest of the rooms I quickly fell asleep.

When I woke up, my anxiety had vanished and I felt ready to take on Amsterdam. Okay, perhaps I was not feeling that cocky. My first walk took me only so far as to the nearest supermarket where I picked up groceries at a frustratingly slow pace. Back in the apartment I changed into something better suited for walking and took the bus to the city center. Here I bought a map and went exploring on foot. I went by Madame Tussaud's and dumbly thought "I didn't know Madame Tussaud's was in Amsterdam". It turns out it wasn't the Madame Tussaud's, but the line to the Amsterdam version of the famous museum was more than 200 meters long anyway. When I later walked into a café and rain started pouring down, I thought of those people from the queue. They would probably only be halfway inside the museum by the time I ordered a nice warm sandwich and listened to the heavy raindrops on the window.

Later that day, when the sun was back out, I walked by the front door of Winkle, where I would be working the next day. I took a look at Anne Frank's house/hiding place from the outside and visited a free museum for film. I also accidentally walked through some streets with red lamps and self-exposing ladies in the windows, but I don't think it was the actual Red Light District, as that name is somewhere else on the map. All in all, I had a great impression of Amsterdam on this first day of sightseeing. I especially liked the canals, which I will refrain from comparing to the River of Aarhus so my city can still keep a little dignity.

Today, was my first day working for Winkle and all of the impressions still fill me up. Instead of trying to make sense of it all, I will just tell you that I have been warmly welcomed by my colleagues at Winkle and I look forward to getting to know them better. There will be plenty of opportunity for that in the following days, as the entire company eats lunch together every day and tomorrow there is also a social event after hours.

Welcome

An introduction of myself and a message to my friends and family.

Dear reader

This blog is my travel log from a three months internship in Amsterdam. It will contain my personal view on Amsterdam, the people I meet and the experiences I have. You are welcome to follow these posts regardless of whether you know me or not, but my motivation for writing these posts is to stay in contact with those at home.

To those who do not know me, I am a 23 year old marketing student from Denmark. My hair is blond and my eyes are blue, but you will not see any pictures of me on this blog as I don't have a smartphone and I don't care much for taking pictures anyway. I like to take challenges as they come, which is my euphemism for being a horrible planner, that tends to make it through on a combination of luck, quick thinking and compromise.

To my friends and family, I apologize for writing the blog in English, but that's how it first came out and I decided to leave it that way. I hope you will enjoy reading about my trip as much as I enjoy writing about it.

Yours,

Jakob