Il mio Overseas a Sydney, Australia (Gen-Lug 2007)... e il mio periodo di Tesi all'Estero a Rotterdam/Utrecht, Olanda (Ott 2007-Mar 2008)!

New Year’s in the Dam

For the last day of the year we want once again to Amsterdam.

We left Rotterdam in the afternoon because we knew that it would have been a very long day! Walking through the streets in Amsterdam made the time flying away. Here the square was still quite empty… but it was still more than 7 hours from the midnight, as you can see from the screens.

After a couple of hours we were back to the Dam. More people were there and it seemed we were about to celebrate the New Year despite actually we had to wait more than five hours.

Quite soon it was time to have dinner at an Italian Restaurant. No matter it was “Italian”, but Dino’s was absolutely better! While my friends, the two girls from Pesaro and the other two Italian boys, decided to take a pizza, I tried something different: Lasagne (served at roughly 200°C). Not the best decision, but my friends had not to celebrate more than me!

After leaving the restaurant (where we tried to stay as long as possible because it was raining outside) we spent one more hour in the area and at “elevenish” pm we were back in The Dam. The area was really overcrowded in any direction: you could just turn and see that hundreds (I would even say thousands) of people were filling any place.

Then something strange happened. They started a show on the stage and when it was 2 minutes to midnight we started to prepare our champagne with calm. I think that more than 2 minutes passed –and in fact, to be honest, many fireworks started to paint and brighten the sky from the surrounding areas. But only after three more minutes (so five in total) the countdown started on the screens. Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, … a big 2008 came out!

And then, before a massive quantity of fireworks started from behind the stage, the wishes to everyone, written in Dutch. The same I am wishing all of you… happy new year! Or, better… GELUKKIG NIEUW JAAR!!!

Our celebrations ended in a private party quite near where we danced, drank, chatted and so on... at least for one day (plus one night) I didn't think about my bad exam and bad health... I am sure it will be enough for you that we were back in Rotterdam the following morning at 8! :-)

Postato da: DexterH46 a 00:12 | link | commenti (5)
holiday, amsterdam, party, netherlands

A Great Dinner at Dino’s

One day before the last of the year, we remained in Rotterdam. I was still fighting with my cold, so tidied the room a bit, studied something for the exam, and joined the others in the late afternoon after their visit to Rotterdam. We listened to the Vuelle’s match on the radio and then we went out for dinner. The area seemed desert (it was Sunday evening), but we finally found a place called Dino’s, with an interesting “steakhouse” writing outside the restaurant.

Great choice!

I put here two pictures… even if they hurt me: every time I look at them I feel hungry and I want to go back there!!!Yummmmmmm!

Postato da: DexterH46 a 22:57 | link | commenti
holiday, rotterdam, netherlands

Amsterdam – Day # 1

On the 28^th we had to rearrange our plans and we stayed in Rotterdam. Actually I was sick so I remained at home (waiting for the two latecomers) while the others strolled out around Rotterdam. I studied a bit for my last exam since when we arrived on the 27^th I got the news that I hadn’t passed it and that I had to retake it in January (which means one more flight back Italy and then to The Netherlands).

So nothing exciting (at least for me) on the 28^th, but luckily the day after I felt better so I could join the others in the trip to Amsterdam. The team was complete, and this is a picture (taken by me, the new Oliviero Toscani) with all of them in front of an upcoming train (just to remember the reason why I am in The Netherlands!).

The first thing we wanted to see was the Heineken museum and plant. We walked for roughly 20 minutes (which became 1 hour with all the stops in the shops) and then we finally saw the building! We got closer and closer until we reached the entrance and... damn!!! It was closed because they were renewing the place and we had to wait until April!!!

After this delusion we headed to something that couldn’t have been closed without advice: the Van Gogh Museum. We had some food before entering (there was a nice girl selling them just in front of the museum) and then we got into the building.

We could appreciate the entire story of Van Gogh, the popular Dutch painter, through some of his masterpieces (unfortunately at least two of them were on loan, one in New York and the other in Korea). In the museum there were even some works of other painters, as my favourite Monet.

Then we headed to the Anna Frank’s House, but on the way we stopped at the Amsterdam Hard Rock Cafè. Here we waited something like 15 minutes to be served. Actually we would have waited even more, so we decided that we had no time to lose and went away. But in the meantime we had already taken some pictures, and in this one you can see me pointing my finger to Radiohead, with Oasis behind me (of course both bands are in pictures!).

We finally got to the Anna Frank’s House when it was already dark at night, time was something around 6pm. We visited the whole building carefully in the remaining hours before the closing time. It was chilling to see how Jewish were considered and treated during World War II. It was even much sadder to see the life they had to live and the way it finished for many of them. A place where everyone should go with the hope that similar stories will never happen again. We also saw the secret passage mentioned in Anne’s memories and everything is described in her diary. Unfortunately it was not possible to take pictures, so to have a true idea of it... you must go there.

As soon as we went out we headed to the Dam, where two girls from Pesaro, Elena and Cinzia, were waiting for us to go out for dinner together. We met them and had our meal together. Jack risked to go to the hospital for a burning throat (maybe his food was too much spicy!), but then everything solved well, we spent the night in a pub in the Dam after having visited a couple of them in the central area of Amsterdam. At 1.40 we took our train (yes, NS provides one train every hour at night as well!) back to Rotterdam.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 20:37 | link | commenti
holiday, amsterdam, netherlands

Pesaro-Rotterdam – with friends!

After having spent Christmas in Italy (and attempted – unsuccessfully- an exam) I went back to The Netherlands to go on with my master thesis. But this time I was not alone since I would have had some guests from my group of friends in Pesaro. Namely Matteo, Cristiano, Filippo (in the picture at the train station in Pesaro – 5 AM!), Giacomo (taking the picture) and Luca (who was flying from Milan the same morning) would have been my guests.

Everyone was smiling despite we had to wake up so early, and after six hours on four different trains we were at Pisa Airport. We had some food and then we queued for the check-in. And at this point the incredible happened! Two of my friends had their ID card expired!!! They were sure they could use the driving licence as well, but unfortunately rules are different and they had to stay in Pisa, make a new ID, and take another flight the following day after paying some extra money. Here you can see them when they understood they couldn’t fly with us.

But the trip went on for the others. By coincidence the two who had valid documents (further than my half-destroyed passport) had flown two times in their life (actually one never flew, while the others took the plane forth and back from Tunisia).

I suffered a lot during the flight for some problems at my right ear, maybe because I had a cold, but we arrived safely in Eindhoven, and from there we took a train to Rotterdam together with three Italians I met in Delft in November.

Once in Rotterdam we joined Luca who was there from the early morning. Then we went home and had some food before going to bed.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 22:21 | link | commenti
holiday, journey/flight, netherlands

The Rotterdam routine

So now if I have to go somewhere in Rotterdam... first choice is always the bicycle (even if it left me alone the second time I was using it... but then –as I’ve said- I’ve learnt how to use it!).

A couple of weeks before Christmas, exactly on the 5^th/6^th of December, it was Sinterklaas. If Christmas is –sadly- becoming often a commercial event to make presents, Sinterklaas is only a commercial event to make presents, with no meaning behind it.

We got from the NS a Dutch cake, which is very common on this day, when all young (and less young) people usually get presents from their parents... or from Sinterklaas (Santa Klaus) if you prefer!

A couple of days later, just to be able to “get something back from the expensive Sinterklaas period” (as Niels wrote in the invitation mail), a number of PhD students of the Erasmus University Rotterdam gathered to play Texas Hold’em. I am not a PhD student there, but since I am sharing the office with them, having lunch with them, and so on, I was invited as well. I have had calculated all the money I needed before going back Italy...without taking into account this invitation! And since we were playing 10€ each to make it more serious, I was really risking not to have enough money for my travel back to Italy! Anyway I got the third prize, exactly 10€, without making any gain or loss, and it was enough for me to have fun one night and enough money to get back to Pesaro one week later.

After our playing night we all went home at around 2pm (they accused me of slow playing... just excuses!) and on the way back I stopped and took a picture at a roundabout close to my house.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 22:09 | link | commenti (2)
sport, rotterdam, netherlands