angelinapacosa

At this time last year, I was heavily considering conducting my study abroad experience in Amsterdam. The city has always fascinated me, especially because it is a landmark in terms of art and culture. At the end of the day, I felt I had more of a connection to Ireland, but that decision has never diminished my desire to visit Amsterdam.

Fortunately for me, I had the opportunity to finally cross it off my bucket list last weekend. My friend and I flew out of Cork Airport on a 6 AM flight and landed in Amsterdam just after 10. The transportation system was extremely easy to navigate- we hopped on a train to the city centre and were there in about 10 minutes. From there, we set off to find our hotel so that we could drop our bags off before starting our exploration of the city. “Hotel” is a generous term. We stayed on a boat, which was docked in one of Amsterdam’s numerous canals. While it wasn’t the greatest accommodation, I think it made the experience a little more authentic. It was definitely an adventure within itself.

I will admit our first stop was a bit of a tourist attraction, but it was a very cool experience. We visited one of Amsterdam’s Strooperies, where the famous Stroopwaffles are made right in front of you. If you’ve ever had one of the packaged ones before, nothing compares to the real thing.

We had booked tickets for the Van Gogh museum prior to leaving for Amsterdam, so we explored the city for a while before heading over to the museum district. It was a surreal experience to see such famous works of art up close and in person, when I had only ever seen them in pictures, on screens. I couldn’t believe I was looking at such pivotal moments in art history. It’s difficult for me to articulate the feeling accurately. You learn about these works of art, you see them and study them, but it’s easy to forget that they’re out there in the world, accessible to you. It’s easy to take for granted the experience of seeing them in person, when we can conjure their images with a quick Google search. The museum had an extensive collection of Van Gogh’s work on display, including small features from other pivotal artists of the time. It was such an incredible experience, and ended up being one of my favorite parts of our trip.

The next day we took a tour of Amsterdam’s modern art museum, which featured works from several popular contemporary artists like Andy Warhol. We also searched the city for a chance to try its famous “Holland Fries,” which are regular French fries, but served with a sauce of your choice. Because Amsterdam is a tourist city, there aren’t a lot of traditional Dutch cuisine options, so it was important for us to find at least something that was important to Dutch culture food-wise.

We also went on a canal cruise, which was such a fun experience. It was amazing to see the city from a different perspective. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and gave us a few history lessons about some of the famous bridges and landmarks, and of Amsterdam itself. It was really meaningful to me to come away from the experience having learned a lot about the city, its culture, and the people who live there.

We unfortunately did not have time to tour the Anne Frank House, but we made it a point to at least stop by. It looks like an ordinary house upon passing glance, but I could almost feel the gravity of it the longer I looked. I wish we could have spent more than a short weekend in Amsterdam in order to see it properly, but I was glad that I could at least lay eyes on it.

I haven’t been to many places- domestically or abroad- but Amsterdam was definitely near the top of my list. The city was so beautiful- its canals and architecture definitely being the highlights, and I also loved learning about its history and culture in both the past and present. Two days isn’t enough to see how much the city has to offer, but I’m so grateful that I had the opportunity to even spend that amount of time in such a lovely place.

Yesterday was honestly the day I have been dreading for nearly a month. As a US passport holder and in consideration with the length of time I’ll be staying in Ireland, I wasn’t required to apply for a visa. Which is both a blessing and a curse, I guess, because I had to make an appointment with immigration for a residence permit instead. This wouldn’t have been something to dread if the immigration office in Cork City was still able to register residence permits, but due to some recent policy changes, only the Dublin office is able to issue them. Dublin is 2 hours and 45 minutes away by train, over 3 hours if you take the bus. And my appointment was made for 10 AM (times were not exactly negotiable).

So I woke up around 5 AM, headed to the train station by cab, and got on a direct train to Dublin at 6:15. I had everything I needed (or thought I did), including documents like recent bank statements to prove I have the funds to sustain myself while abroad, a letter of health insurance to prove I will be covered should there be need for medical treatment, my passport, etc. To see an immigration officer/representative, you have to enter your confirmation number into a kiosk, which will give you a ticket. On a whim, I decided to double check that confirmation email and my heart absolutely dropped. Even though I had read through the email about three times, I had missed the portion that directed me to print it out to gain entry to the building. And I had not printed it out. Immediately, I was looking up print shops in Dublin, but my train was arriving at 8:30- too early for stores to be open. I figured that if I walked to the print shop, it might be 9 by the time I get there, which was the opening time for a lot of the places I was looking at.

I got off the train around 8:45 (I’m not sure why we got there 15 minutes late, especially since there were no stops), and booked it to the nearest print shop which was about a 15-20 minute walk. But the place was closed. Even though Google Maps had said it opened at 9, the store’s hours said 10. After a lot of deliberation, I decided to head over to the immigration office, hoping I’d have a better chance of figuring things out if I could talk to someone who worked there. Luckily, I was right. The immigration officer directed me to a print shop (that was, in fact, open) about a 10 minute walk from the office. He assured me that even if I got back after 10, they would still see me (which was a huge point of concern for me).

I raced to the print shop, met another girl there who was in the same situation as me (I guess this happens all the time, which made me feel marginally better), and rushed back with all the necessary documents. The office itself wasn’t busy- even though it was closer to 10:30 by the time I finally checked in, there were only two people ahead of me waiting to be seen. When my number was finally called, I handed the immigration officer all my documents and my passport, but apparently, I was also missing a letter of registration from my university. After a long, anxiety-ridden 20 minutes (I’ll spare you the uninteresting details), I was able to get the letter of registration and show it to the officer. (Apparently, this was something that students needed to request, but once I did request the document, it was emailed to me within two minutes). I was finally able to pay for my residence permit, and my passport was stamped.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to spend any time in Dublin, but I am looking to go back to spend a weekend there soon. I had already bought a train ticket for 12 PM ahead of time, figuring I’d be in and out of immigration, based on what I had heard from my friends’ experiences. As that was not the case for me, and I didn’t want to waste the money I had paid for the ticket, I headed back to the station and got on the 12:00 train. I had been up for so long at this point- as I hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before- that I slept on the train for about an hour. I had exhausted myself by adding unnecessary stress to the whole experience. And it totally was my fault. I thought I was prepared and had everything in order, I checked and double checked, but some very important things still got overlooked. Instead of worrying about my appointment being cancelled, or any other horrible outcome (and believe me, all of those were running through my mind), I could have enjoyed experiencing a new city. I could have gone through a simple, painless process, but instead I complicated it. It’s important to acknowledge that: I got humbled.

Moral of the story: read the confirmation email twenty times and bring even the documents that you think might be insignificant, just in case. Ask your friends who have gone to their appointments already to see what the immigration officers asked for. Don’t overlook the tiny details in a very important process. I’m lucky that the immigration officers wanted to help me, rather than turn me away. Hopefully this is a learning experience, because it’s never too late in life to have a truly humbling moment like I did.

Author: angelinapacosa

Amsterdam

My Immigration Appointment