I just got to chat with Em for a bit while she was making breakfast and I was about to start work. She didn’t know where I was staying, so I realized I should probably give you all a quick update. Not my usual lovingly-crafted blog post, but I just wanted to let everyone know that things are starting to turn out and I’m not sleeping on the streets.
I am really, really grateful to have all of your support during this crazy situation for which I signed myself up.
Here’s the place at which I stayed For the first three nights in Delft, with a nice Italian couple who just got married last spring.
Currently, I’m housed in The Hague in this compact studio apartment, which is about a 30-40 minute trip (involving some combination of buses, trams, and trains) from Delft. The hosts are a very warm and funny family from Zimbabwe.
I’ve got a few leads for housing. Some are very much off-campus college situations, which are not my first choice, but there are a couple of more grown-up options was well. There are a couple that I would be able to rent for the remainder of the time that I need housing, which would really, really put me at ease. I visited two places today, and I have another appointment tomorrow and one TBD but most likely an appointment in the next couple of days. Some of said housing leads are in Delft, and some are in The Hague. I’d prefer to be in Delft – it’s much more walkable and charming. The Hague seems to be surprisingly built around the automobile with separated bike lanes grafted on to major roads. There are a bunch of museums and the beach in The Hague though (neither of which, I’ve been to), so there’s that.
Here’s a random photo dump.
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- Empty room at TU Delft in which I’m currently working. I think that’s Isaac Newton staring back at me on the closest set of doors
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- Awning of the library at TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)
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- Bike parking bubble
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- This folding bike is the king of the world.
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- Main bike parking area at the Delft train station
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- Two-story bike racks!
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- This one’s for you, Kepler
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- At the studio in The Hague, all the streets in the neighborhood are named after composers!
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- This one’s for you, Smidrant.
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- Waterfowl are everywhere.
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- People are really into putting animal stickers on the garbage cans in The Hague.
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- This one’s for you, Seth
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- They call these “mommy bikes”
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- “Mommy bike” in action.
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- The first flat I stayed at in Delft had these half-length stairs, which is a really clever way to save space, but they’re a bit intimidating at first!
<3
Mike – It looks like you’re really learning about the Dutch lifestyle, including the bureaucracy.
Love the mommy bikes, a friend of mine rides his daughters around Beaufort with the boat prow part on his bike. It is great because they can see where they are going and he can see them.