2009年8月21日 星期五

A long journey to new life

Aug 18~19
From Kaohsiung City, Taiwan
To Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Aug 18
19:35 Say goodbye to my family, journey begins
20:30~21:15 Kaohsiung to Taipei
23:05 Leave Taipei
Aug 19
1:40(Bangkok time) Arrive at Bangkok
2:55~9:32 Bangkok to Schiphol (Amsterdam)
10:06 Enter the Netherlands
10:43~11:30 Schiphol (Amstrdam) too Rotterdam Centraal Statin (by Train)
18:30 Arive at African Inn, my dorm

From home to my dorm, I took nearly 36hours. This long journey brought me into a new life.

After saying goodbye to my family, I stepped forward to the custom, then to the gate. I felt a little bit nervous. The feeling that I didn't want to leave my family was strong until the plane took off.
My emotion was calm when I was in Taoyuan airport.

I a lucky to have an isle eat. TThe plane to Bangkok was with many vacancies. Two seats next to me were empty that I could put my legs straight. Next to the isle was a Taiwanese travel group. You could tell that they were excited anticipating the trip. The movie played was Star Trek XI, which made me happier. After having a meal and no longer after the movie ended, I arrived at Bangkok. It was midnight at Bangkok. There were still several flights at that time. Two of them were heading for Dubai. You could see many passengers are Arabians.

After nearly one hour stay, I continued my trip to Amsterdam. From Bangkok to Amsterdam, the plane was full. About half of passengers were Taiwanese, others are Europeans and Thais. There was a woman with her children sitting next to me. After a short sleep, a meal was served again that I was awoke by the noise. Afte the dinner, I tried to sleep again but failed. When I gave up, it was about half of the 12hr flight. The only thought in my mind was: I want to get off the plane!
In the rest 6 hours, I fell asleep for less than a hour. I read, wrote, watched a weird movie, and had a breakfast and another meal. Finally, the plane landed.

Outside the gate, the passport and the visa were checked. I was asked about my destination, purpose, how long to stay, when would my program start. Then passing through the custom, I had my first step on the Netherlands. After picking up my luggage, the officer checked it. It was my second time to be checked when using this large suitcase.

Train plarforms and ticket booth were easily found. On the platfrm,, an Indonesia women helped me bring my luggage onto the train and found a sit for me. She got off at first stop, Leiden. She said goodbye and wished goodluck to me. I appreciated her help. Outside the window, I saw many needle-leave trees, grasslands with cows on them, and watercourses flow through the lands with boats on them. It's a beatiful country picture.

I arrive Rotterdam Central Station after 55 minutes. It didn't have elevators or escalators. I tried hard to bring my luggage downstairs. Someone helped me. I think it was because he could not bear I abused my suitcase. All public telephones were out of order. I went to tourist infomation center to borrow a phone to phone Jasmine, who should pick me up. However, I couldn't reach her because it was said that the number was no longer used. For a while, I sat in the center, thinking of my next step. From mail I found that the number was correct. I decided to put one of my luggages in a locker and picked up my key by myself. But I didn't know how to use the locker. So I dragged my luggage and wanted to take a taxi. At this moment, Jasmine found me. I was lucky at last.

I bought strippenkart, and then we took tram #21 to Avenue Corcodia, where the agency and I-house located. I met other 2 Taiwanese students, Joy and Lucy there. Joy cooked noodles for us to be lunch. After taking a rest, I picked up my key at Stadswonen then headed for my dorm. I changed tram at Beurs, where you can see as downtown. Crossed Erasmusburg into south Rotterdam. I got off at Vuurplaat. It took me sometime to find my dorm. I was so tired at that time. Finally, I found it. My 36 hour journey from my home in Kaohisung to my dorm in Rotterdam came to an end.

The first impression of my room was a little bit old. But the view was not bad and it equipped many stuffs. The internet didn't work, which depress me a lot. I wanted to talk to Henry so much.

Quickly I went to Albert Heijn to buy a brocolli and juice. I cooked instant noodles to be my first meal here. But I had no appetite at all. The sunset was at 9pm. Then I went to sleep around 11pm.

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