Welcome to Uilenstede

Today I thought I'd show you what I walk through every day on the way to/from...anywhere, really. So, close your eyes and imagine that you are about to enter a 1960's-era housing complex lying directly under a flight path to Schipol in a suburb south of Amsterdam. Ok, now open your eyes because you will need them to see the pictures.

We are walking down the sidewalk on the way back from the VU. The path on the left is for people walking, and the reddish path on the right is for bikers, both those on bicycles and on mopeds/scooters. Yeah, watch out for scooters.



















The tram stop is up there on the right, but we don't need to go there now. At the signposts, take a left.



















Good job. Now you can see the austere buildings of Uilenstede rising majestically from behind the trees. That little bridge will be taking us to the magical land where birds sing and students live.



















Before we cross the bridge, you can see the tree-lined path that runs along the non-Uilenstede side of the canal. Spring will do wonderful things to these trees.



















Now we are on the bridge over the canal. The ice finally melted in the canal last week Friday and revealed all sorts of interesting sights and smells -- like dead fish. HUGE fish that look like goldfish or koi, and that smelled like the bad end of a geyser in Yellowstone. I can only imagine how they got into a canal, how long they were stuck in the ice, and a thousand other things, but I try not to think about it. Look closely along the left bank of the canal, and you can see the dead fish, too!



















Once across the bridge, we follow this path to my area of the Uilenstede campus. It's quite a nice path, especially since they added fresh dirt along the edges last week. Then I saw a small child on a big wheels-type bicycle add that track on the left.



















Since we are on the topic of stuff found in canals, here's a computer monitor that has been in this canal for a while.



















We're getting close now to my home base. I live in the "green building" up there. A lot of the buildings in Uilenstede look exactly the same except for the colored railings on the balconies. For example, in the foreground you see the "yellow building."



















Look to your right and see some of the rest of the Uilenstede campus, like the "red building" and the "purple building" in the background.



















Oh, look! A plane! Hearing planes go overhead is a common occurrence at Uilenstede, an occurrence made more fun by trying to see what airline the plane is from. I didn't have such luck with this one.


























Right, onward to the green building. Home sweet home!


























Welcome to the green building! Thank you for sticking with me for the entire (5 minute) journey that I typically make several times a day. Coming up tomorrow: class at the VU!