So, it’s your first week, you’ve just arrived. No lessons yet. But it doesn’t mean you have nothing to do. First week is as chaotic as this post. Lot’s of everything, things are not connected with each other. You don’t know where you are, where is food (as for water, you can drink tap water in the Netherlands), how should you pay for the tram or train, etc. It’s like learning to walk again. New country — new everything. So you start to explore. Google maps are your best friend, buying a local SIM card with unlimited internet is a task №1. There have two types of contracts in Holland — prepaid and something like an annual contract with a fixed price. You need a dutch bank account and a residence permit for the second one, so I went for the first type.

International students usually need a month or two to get all their papers in order, but you can’t live without a phone all this time, right? Next important thing is getting your student card. That is quite simple, if you know where your school is. Done!

Then you gu to buy printer and scanner. It’s a must, if you want to work quickly and efficiently. They have some at school, but there will always be a queue. The biggest headache is finding a place to live. I was very lucky, I got my room from a previous year’s student. I have my own shower and share a kitchen with another girl, Diana, who is a former t]m student. My landlady, Totie, is absolutely wonderful, she has been renting rooms for t]m students for many years already. Anyway, this is my room. It faces the garden, so I can see flowers and grass every day. For someone, coming from a large city like Moscow, this is definitely an experience.

After you have where to live, what to eat, a cell and a student card you should start going out. There are so many things happening in The Hague. Park with deer, funfair, fish festival, Dutch herring, some other festival, beach, absolutely lovely dutch streets, etc.

Anyway, we have the first day at school tomorrow. Hope next week my post will be about letters)