The VLM flight to Rotterdam airport was short and nice. The flight was only half full and I had 2 seats to myself. Boarded the plane and was offered sweets, then sandwiches, then drinks, then chocolate, then coffee/tea, then the plane landed. The flight took only 45 minutes and landed 20 minutes ahead of schedule. The immigration queue only had people from my flight and I was 3rd in line. Then came the interesting part.
With my 4 bags and 27kg worth of luggage, I took a bus from the airport to Rotterdam Central. Bought the ez link card equivalent of Rotterdam and took a tram to the stop which supposedly was a mere 8 minute walk away from my hostel accommodation. On the tram, I noticed a lady wearing office wear, but didn't really pay attention to her face. Anyway, she got down on the same stop after me.
Felt a little lost and asked another lady on the street for directions. She told me to take another tram to my destination but it didn't sound quite right because the transport instructions on the website which I searched said to walk to my destination, not take another tram.
So obviously, I walked the wrong way.
I think I walked for about 20 minutes with my 27kg worth of barang barang before I realized that none of the roads which were printed on my trustworthy google map appeared before me. So I went into a petrol kiosk to ask for directions. The lady at the counter didn't help much but one of the customers did. This random guy paid for his stuff and offered to walk with me in the right direction to the main road, which took another 15 minutes. While walking, I found out that his friend and him ran outta of gas and they were buying gas at the station and had to walk all the way back to their car. So I had to thank my lucky stars they ran outta gas. We reached the correct main road and we parted ways.
Finally, I was heading in the right direction of my hostel. After walking for about 30 seconds, this lady sitting at a cafe called out at me. Turns out she was the same lady in the office wear who got out at the same tram stop as me. She recognized me, with all my barang barang I guess. She correctly commented that I must have been walking around for quite some time and asked where I was heading. So I showed her the google map and she discussed with her friend beside her about where I was supposed to walk. I think maybe he didn't really know and he passed it to another friend sitting at the next table. So this guy took out a pen and pointed at the map and told me to walk straight for about 5 minutes. He gave me back the map and pen but I told him that the pen was actually his, to which he said, "You don't want my pen?" Haha... So I took the pen.
Then after walking for about a minute or so, another lady tapped me on the shoulder. Turns out she was the lady whom I asked directions from when I first got down from the tram. She asked me if everything was okie and I told her that it was, that my hostel was just down the road ahead.
Then I reached the right street and rang the wrong bell. The student manager's room was 2a but I remembered it wrongly as 20a. The girl at 20a still came down and even let me into her own flat so that I could use her internet to check my email to see if I got the wrong flat.
Collected my keys from the student manager and saw this other guy who walked pass us. He said some stuff to the student manager, which I didn't really catch, before he disappeared.
My flat mate is this guy from China who did a summer Master's Program, but he's moving out at the end of August. Was taken aback somewhat to see that I was sharing a flat with a guy, but anyway, I have a single room and he's moving out already. He was pretty nice though. He asked if I had any dinner, which I didn't, and gave me instant noddles and even offered some ingredients in the fridge. He also told me what we could walk to the University together tomorrow morning, because I have to report for orientation at 9am.
Decided to go to the laundry room just to see how it was like. Met the girl from 20a who showed me which key to use to open the laundry room door. At the laundry room, I met the guy who walked past me while I was collecting my keys. Turns out, he's quite cute. He's half Belgian, half Lebanese, was living in France for the past 4 months and is now pursuing a 2 year Masters Program at Erasmus. He showed me how to use the washing machine. Haha...
Finally, my room's quite a nice cozy room, really satisfied with it! The kitchen is abit dirty but I plan to clean it this weekend. The toilet is also big enough.
I said many many many "Thank yous" today.
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