The Beating Heart of Holland

When we talk about heart,it could be love,passion or something in the middle? Am I right? or maybe I'm weird for using that kind of metaphor...

Okay let's get back to the topic,so this time the place is Utrecht, okay to pronounce this city correctly,I give you the phonetics transcription for you guys to say it like a pro

Utrecht ( [ˈytrɛxt] ). HAHA tricky aight. Okay so I made my way from Tilburg and I actually found a couchsurfer who was willing to let me crash for a night.Thanks to Raaf for hosting me there,in Maarsen.I left her place around 0800-0930 in the morning coz I kinda wanted to play some FIFA18.The funny thing is,it was all free!

Draw 2-2. RMA VS FCB

Thanks to this bro,he skipped his work to play the FIFA haha

Okay,so why Utrecht? Well again one of my friends who volunteered with Aiesec in Jordan,lives here. Charlotte

Throwback : Charlotte in Wadi Rum,wait, I think she pretended to cry hahaha

So yeah when I got to Utrecht Centraal,and bip bip,Charlotte texted me asking me where I am now. Apparently she got some free time on that day therefore we could meet right away! I met her outside the station after she told me "Hoog Catharijne" several times haha. I asked the guy who been playing FIFA with me and he was like "dude Idk where that is" HAHA gott sei dank I have Google though.

I tried walk quickly as I know damn the Dutch people are always on time.As I walked down and turning around and around and BAM! I found her! Warm hug and smile from her already made my trip in Utrecht gonna be cool! Then we headed for drinks but afterwards I gotta check-in in the hostel.

I asked her if I can put my bass guitar at her place and she gladly said yes.It was pretty awesome because the place where I stayed was actually close to her place as well.

TRIVIA: Marco van Basten and Wesley Sneijder originally from Utrecht.

The next day I went for the free tour around.It was super nice because I had the chance to know other travellers as well.

Domtoren in Utrecht,the tallest church tower in the Netherlands.Domkerk also next to it

Another side of the tower

I consider myself is lucky since I love walking and this place is perfect for me to tour around and no shit,this place actually got some parks where we can chill. I went to Griftpark and Lepelenburg,damnnn both are super nice! I really think this is kinda big playground haha. Don't get me wrong I imagined that we can actually play football here though..

The view from my room

The next day,we met up for lunch.The place is called Yoghurt Barn. Holy shit have you guys ever imagined that we actually can get full and feel happy with the foods mixed with yoghurt? As a person who grew up in one of the Asian Countries,our main food mostly from rice or anything related to it.So yoghurt likely gonna be "mehhh or naaaa or pffft".

But this one is exceptional.I wish that I took the picture but it never happened as once I got the food I ate it straightaway coz it was super lekker! Damn I think Charlotte eat this everyday haha.Oh yeah btw when I got there,she actually waited for me there with her friends. I think mostly our conversation based on food though HAHA.

But then we headed for drinks under the sunlight which I consider as a thing to do in The NLs. You know when you have most of the day with rain but then when The Sun is actually there people just gonna enjoy it.

*IN JORDAN ALL SUNNY! HAHA

This pic was for Nariman,how to break Nariman's heart with a good time! haha jk

Okay so this time we talked more about university life and I was like,damn I gotta do more as these people actually care about the knowledge and their surrounding.As my friend,Charlotte is studying something related to numbers(not random MATH) which is statistic.I found that wheuw this probably gonna be hard.Yep she confirmed that thing.It is super hard even though when she explained to me with the easiest term,I still find it hard to "brain" the info. But I know this kind(math,science,medical) really need full determination which I believe they do have it.

Everyone was happy,yep was a good day! A good sunny day!

Oh yeah one more thing about Utrecht is,we have Oudegracht or Old canal that run through it.I thought it might be cool if I take a picture here. I was wondering the picture of the canal itself wouldn't be enough so..

Oh yeah pardon me for the picture with the ice cream,just look the canal behind the ice cream haha

Okay next time if I go there I'll take better pic but this time you guys can google it first haha. But then again we gotta move as I gotta go somewhere and she got a project that needs to be done.

As I walk down the city,accompanying with Julian le Play's songTausend Bunte Träume,I took a picture of the street with the brown leaves which I thought so beautiful for me

This view is rare for me as I don't have this in Malaysia or in Jordan(hardly with this colour)

It might be common for certain people but I just wanna say that I really like trees (im not weird haha) and anything with tree that means we have life there.A tree can be shelter for birds,mark the seasons,cool the streets and the city and most important,TREES HEAL. wooow am I a philosopher ? haha naah

I also got chance to go to FC Utrecht's stadium,Galgenwaard . Yeah just a night before they got thrashed by the PSV by a large margin 7-1. Kinda sad but the good thing is the fans stayed until the referee blew the final whistle.

The stadium was also the host of 2 World Cup finals.Oh yeah Messi also played here in 2005 against Nigeria where he struck two goals. Argentina won the game 2-1.

The view from inside

Inside the Fan Shop

Got these

Zakaria Labyad also plays for this club since Jan 2017.

Pic Credit : FcUtrecht.nl

Move on,the next day before I left Utrecht,I told Charlotte that I'm going to get haircut.Well yeah she was surprised when I said so but long story short, I survived the whole session HAHA. I took a long walk to have some memories with my long hair,which has stayed with me for a year and wtf I'm doing talking like this hahaha.

At the salon,last smile with long hair haha

Yeah it took me for a while to realise that now I have shorter hair and fresh look. Tbh I felt great and better after the haircut and really,big thanks to Charlotte for spending her time with me here hahaha.But the main point is she gonna cook dinner for us so that was the real deal.Fresh look+delicious food. What else could I ask for?

After the dinner and with my short hair and no beard haha

So that night she made us,chicken curry mmmmmm and it was sooo cool and she even got full storage with foods(heaven). I couldn't ask for more as I really really enjoyed the meals and oh god it felt like the real thing you know.RICE+CHICKEN CURRY !

The chicken with bit twist was in making!

The dinner was super awesome and we talked little bit more and one of her flatmates were kinda surprised with my new look.I think it was a good impression then haha.Just after the dinner was done.She handed me yoghurt! A yoghurt with ̶s̶̶̶t̶̶̶r̶̶̶a̶̶̶c̶̶̶t̶̶̶e̶̶̶l̶̶̶a̶̶̶ ̶̶̶s̶̶̶t̶̶̶e̶r̶̶̶a̶̶̶c̶̶̶t̶̶̶e̶̶̶l̶̶̶a̶̶̶ ̶̶̶s̶̶̶t̶̶̶r̶̶̶a̶̶̶c̶̶̶i̶̶̶a̶̶̶t̶̶̶l̶̶̶a̶̶̶ okay WTF wait let me check the spelling. It's Stracciatella yoghurt.Holy shit that was hell hahah

HAHA thank you Charlotte for getting me this one!

Thanks to Tarom,Lufthansa,Austrian Air and Aegean for the good service!

All in all,my whole trip in The NLs was super awesome! And Big thanks to Charlotte who was willing to allocate her time for me and I really really appreciate that and hopefully I can come to Utrecht again.Maybe watch the live football here lol.

Again thanks for the foods,I really enjoyed the foods and being here.As for your uni I wish you all the best and strive for the excellence.Warm virtual hug from kinda chill Amman! All the best and I see you and everyone again ! Doei!

P/S : you can find yoghurt barn here : https://yoghurtbarn.nl/

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#Travel #Trip