IJ-Hallen

I think the best part about being an international student is that there are tons of other kids who, like me, are completely lost as we’ve all been plopped into a foreign country. Since arriving I’ve discovered that the first week of the semester feels a lot like freshman year of college, where everyone is new and overly willing to make friends.

Having a new group of friends has been great, since everyone arrived with different suggestions on where to go, what to do, and what to see. Sunday morning, at the request of one of my new friends, we hopped on the ferry to IJ-Hallen, the biggest flea market in Europe.

This. Place. Is. Huge.

It’s housed in two massive warehouses that were once used for ship building. You actually have to pay 5 euros to get in, which may seem strange but trust me, once you get inside it’s worth the entry fee considering how ridiculously cheap things are. I bought a coat for 10 euros, a striped shirt for 5 euros brand-new Zara sweater for ONE EURO.

If you’re just browsing and need a snack, there are several food trucks selling hot food like poffertjes and fries. We waited 15 minutes just to get fries from a truck and it was totally worth it.

This is my roommate and she is AWESOME. Notice our matching hats and near-matching outfits?

If you’re looking for a way to kill a few hours on a weekend, the flea market at IJ-Hallen is worth it.

In addition to sharing a few pics from our market trip, I wanted to share a few more pictures of my neighborhood and the views that I am lucky enough to see every single day.