We Arrived in Wageningen!
Published: 2021-08-21 19:08:23

When arriving in the Netherlands we were really worried about the logistics of getting from the airport to being settled in our room. Of course we were extremely lucky and thankful to even have a room, but the simplest things were mountains to us foreigners. ​Our mission on the first day was to find our way to our new town, find our room key, and find a way to our room; all with 4 bags and a Morris.
![Morris is ready to fly!](https://i.imgur.com/az1tjzn.jpg)

We landed in Amsterdam at 9am local time, each of us having caught only about a half hours worth of sleep on the plane. Honestly we both expected to be exhausted and terrified when we landed, but to our surprise we were excited and energized for our adventure. Completely unguided we ran through the airport looking for our scheduled taxi driver, wondering if the online booking was even legit. Then to our surprise the airport was more of an extravagant shopping mall than an airport...
![Kim in front of a tulip store in the airport!](https://i.imgur.com/TkIeL5z.jpg)

After wandering around for what must have been a half an hour, we couldn't seem to find our taxi driver. For a moment we felt defeated. Suddenly we realized we were in a foreign country and we were exhausted and terrified. We needed to take a breath. As we did Kim found a clue, some Dutch word that sounded similar to "drivers". We ran over and found our taxi driver! He then rushed us to the car, trying his best to be helpful. Now we could breathe and enjoy the sights. We didn’t take any pictures during the drive, but this picture from the plane should provide an idea of what we saw.
![About to land!](https://i.imgur.com/oYkYImE.jpg)

Our approach to Wageningen was beautiful, tall trees, massive farms, but another problem arose. Our taxi driver was booked all day and would not be able to take us from the leasing office to our room. With so many bags and it being quite a hike, there was some panic. Then to our surprise the housing company had a van running students from the leasing office to their buildings! This was such a blessing, especially since Ian was ready to lug our butts across town on foot... We waited our turn for the van.
![It's been a long day](https://i.imgur.com/s7wYvSI.jpg)

It was probably about 2pm that we made it to our building. The whole building seems to be a converted office building. Good thing for us! We have a massive bedroom and private bathroom, only downside is a shared kitchen. While running up and down the stairs to get all our things we met a few of our “building-mates”. Right away they said “Oh you’re the Americans”! We all laughed pretty hard and got along well right away. They gave us a few tips, such as “get a bicycle asap”, as well as a temporary wifi password. After getting all our things upstairs to our room, over the course of 3 trips, we took some time to rest.
![We need some sleep](https://i.imgur.com/zmzn8ve.jpg)

We intentionally set our alarms for about 2 hours of sleep, knowing that jet lag would catch up to us quickly if we went to bed that early, and that we needed to find something to eat before the stores closed. We overslept. When we finally woke up it was around 7pm local time and the sun was shining like it was noon, we were all sorts of turned around. Apparently the nearest grocery store was only a 10 minute walk, so we put Morris on a leash and --- holy cow this town is gorgeous. There’s a lake along our walk to the grocery store!
![Happy boy, pretty lake](https://i.imgur.com/Pr4b7SZ.jpg)

At the end of the day, we were fed, settled, and happy. Our first impressions of the Netherlands were formed in small moments, but they were significant. There are flowers in every store. Every piece of empty land is actually a farm. Health labels on almost every package of food. While shopping for dinner Ian saw a brother taking his little sister to the supermarket, the brother was maybe 4 years old and his sister about 2, and they were safe running about at night. It’s different here, but of course it’s different here, that’s the point.
![Our first sunset here](https://i.imgur.com/Q4qCaxD.jpg)

All images from our first day can be seen here: https://imgur.com/a/clt7xgx