So I've been in Delft for about 3 weeks now. This place is great; the weather has been amazing, my flatmates are all awesome, I've made a few friends from the induction and the University seems to be a great mix of social, sporty and academic.
First about the weather. It's been sunny and shining every day (except one) that I've been here. This actually makes me a little scared because now I know the next coming months of weather must be especially shit to live up to Netherlands average of bad weather.
I have 3 flatmates; Joost (Joosty-toasty), Ivo (Ivory), and Ubles (Blue balls). All of them are great fun. Meeting Joost and Ivo went just as you'd expect - I met them when I first moved in and they seemed like really social guys. Ubles was different; I first met Ubles as he was half way between a frantic rush to drop off some acoustic equipment and leave with another suitcase. As he waved hi and bye to me he managed to squeeze out that he was in a band that had just performed in Poland and was about to perform in the north of the Netherlands. Later that week I found myself fiddling around with the radio only to hear Ubles voice pop out of the speakers - apparently he's also a radio host for his fraternity in his spare time from being a full time Architecture student and programmer. All 4 of us gather around on Mondays to do a group activity like go to a pub, watch a movie, cook dinner etc. I'm very happy I've found a house with mature people who genuinely care about flatmate integration, this is exactly what I was looking for. Moreover, I think the stereotype that Dutch people are too direct to the point of being rude, false. It's true that they're very direct, but this is a very welcome trait for me, because now I don't need to potter around someones feelings to describe something objective. The Dutch have a saying which translates directly into "I hear what you're saying and I disagree, let's move onto another topic". Amazing :D
The house is also a messy shithole! Yay! There's a small hole in my ceiling, paint is peeling off everywhere, and the staircase is so dangerously steep you have to rock-climb to get to the lounge. There are also a whole bunch of half-assed Engineering projects scattered around the house everywhere, some of these include; the radio power supply connected to the light-switch, a neck tie connected by a pulley system to flip a switch, a half built hot tub in the back and a beer crate that's been filled with soil, plants and herbs (we officially have a beer garden!).
OK, now let's talk about some general things I've observed about Holland. People here are tall, like really tall. I think I'm slightly below average height and now I constantly get the sensation that my view is being obstructed by giant bobbing blonde human heads. I suspect the reason Dutch people are so tall is so that they can remain above sea level if the dykes ever break. Dutch people are also super honest. At some super markets they have scanner guns which customers can pick up to record their own items as they shop. The staff completely trusts them as they go through the self serve checkout in less than 10 seconds.
Oh yeah, the food here is a really good! Not as good as German food, but still pretty mouth watering. Cheese and mustard has become my new favorite snack food. I've cooked dinner a few times for my flatmates and once they incorrectly start questioning my strange cooking styles, I reply "oh, that's just the Australian way of doing it". If anyone asks, under-cooked chicken is an Australian specialty.
Not everything is perfect though. I set up my bank account with ING on the 13th of August and I still haven't received my bank card in the mail. WTF, mate? It takes me less time to send a bicycle to Australia and back again...
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