Settling In & The Bike Disaster

Bought a bike. Lost a bike. Found a bike. Ate cheese. Drank wine. Set up house. Went to class. Slept.

Brace yourselves for a giant post.

 This is my apartment block. It’s made up of old shipping containers with a slop of white paint and some rainbow perspex windows. We back directly onto the industrial harbour (spy the boat masts in the background?)

On Tuesday I went to IKEA and got totally sucked into the IKEA cult. What was supposed to be a short trip for desperately need essentials turned into a four hour escapade that skidded from stylishly extravagant to utterly disastrous. Basically I bought way, way more that I could physically carry and then had to negotiate the metro/bus system across Amsterdam during a snow storm. Thankfully some lovely locals helped me with my bags, but by the time I arrived home I was ready to IKILL myself.

I have some sweet bruises. Behold the fruits of my labours:

That bedside table didn’t build itself.

 Living room, complete with carpet I brought with me from Germany...I feel it’s fabulousness justifies the fact that I lugged it internationally in lieu of say, a pillow, a towel, a plate or something I might actually have needed. 

Friends (the ultimate decoration) from Paris. Maddy and Billy graced me with their presence last weekend. Pretty sure they knew more about Amsterdam than I did at that point.

My beautiful, black Oma-fiet/Granny-bike complete with Whirly Windmill. I bought him with Billy from Waterlooplein Flee Markets. This sneaky snap was taken on the way to my Cyber-Punk Literature class (yea- you heard me).

The following night, I went out with a bunch of my new UvA friends and like the true Amsterdammers that we are, we rode our bike to the club. In a series of hilarious and unfortunate events I misplaced my vehicle, ended up cabbing home and had to go and scour the city the next day to find my brand new baby...

...this was how I found him. In the middle of the road, cars literally swerving around it. By some pure miracle he was in perfect condition, windmill and all. I bought a block of Gouda cheese to celebrate my excellent life skills and sheer, dumb luck.