Some General Pictures
The Cauliflower Incident
During one of many excursions around the city of Utrecht, a group of friends and I decided to grab a few pitta chicken dishes and situate ourselves along the edge of one of Utrecht’s many canals. It was a clear day with many boats heading to and fro along the canal, but we weren’t exactly expecting what happened next. Having just finished our meal, a man and women in a kayak pulled up beside us and began shouting to us in Dutch, the man expectantly holding in his hands a fresh stalk of cauliflower. His attire was a bright orange/leopard-print adorned costume, and in front of him was a woman with a no less absurd pink and frilly gown; the kayak itself was tied up with red and white heart-shaped balloons.
Having no Dutch speakers in our group, we tacitly elected one of us to respond with something to the likes of, “I’m sorry, do you speak English?” Instantly the man switched to fluent English, all in jovial spirits whilst explaining the situation. He and the woman with him were to be married in a week’s time, and as cause for celebration, the groomsmen, bridesmaids, friends, and family had orchestrated an elaborate list of activities they were to complete before the coming wedding. On this day, rowing down the canals in a decked out kayak, they were to trade a fresh stalk of cauliflower (to symbolize a bouquet) to someone for another random object. Additionally, the groom-to-be was to collect 5 women’s phone numbers, and the bride-to-be was to collect 5 men’s phone numbers. They explained that this was all tradition for them, all the while laughing and joking. We obliged of course, trading the only thing we could find – a slightly used water bottle – for the cauliflower and giving out our phone numbers. It was an admittedly bad trade, but one they were more than happy to make for the festivities of the moment. With that, the Dutch couple thanked us and continued on their way to whatever their next challenge entailed.
Bikes.
A bicycle (or a fiets, as it is called in Dutch) is what many commonly associate with the Netherlands. And having lived here for almost a month, I can definitively affirm that these associations are grossly understated. Bicycles are used by everyone, and in the city they take the right of way over car, pedestrian, out-of-control biplane, everything. For perspective, the population of Utrecht is around 790,000 inhabitants. The number of bikes is around 880,000. Seriously. Utrecht Centraal, the train station, is currently underway in producing the largest bike garage known to mankind. This bike frenzy is so popular because of the city’s bike-friendly atmosphere coupled with the fact that the Netherlands is completely flat and, by bike, relatively traversal.
Here’s a little more bikey stuff: http://stuffdutchpeoplelike.com/2012/08/15/no-1-bicycles-bikes/
Stolen Pictures to Prove It
Tidbits and One-Liners
-Made it onto my flights without being tackled by security, check.
-Managed to somehow entertain myself for the 9 hour flight from Houston to Amsterdam, check.
-Luggage wasn’t lost, check.
-Semi-faked my way through international customs without having to provide a residence permit, check.
-Finally connected to wifi (and therefore messaging) in Amsterdam after deciphering some Dutch and haphazardly button-mashing my way through a host of foreign internet menus, check.
-Found an ATM and (eventually) remembered my PIN, check.
-Found and purchased a train ticket after wandering aimlessly for a time and asking multiple strangers variations of the same question, check.
-Boarded correct train after again asking various strangers what the heck I was doing, check.
-Mispronounced Dutch words, check.
-Mispronounced English words, check.
-Got off at correct Train exit and met contact, check.
-Somehow arrived at University College Utrecht, borrowed a bike, and did some quick reconnaissance, check.
-Managed to stay up late enough to where I’d be falling asleep at an acceptable time in the Netherlands, check.
—
Some important lessons:
The best way to stave off jet-lag is to just not sleep at all, ever again.
The Netherlands has some pretty cheap waterfront property. This is because the Netherlands is waterfront property.
Swiss Army Knives and airports security terminals don’t mingle very well. Trust me. That 1-inch of sharp-as-a-semi-sharpened-toothpick can be deadly according to airport security.
Am I in Holland or the Netherlands? Well.. it basically amounts to The Netherlands being the country’s official name, and Holland being two of the country’s main provinces where everything is located (North and South Holland, respectively). In the Netherlands, they speak Dutch (along with English, pretty much everyone being bilingual), and they are called Dutch. But those living in North or South Holland are called Hollanders.
They speak Dutch here in the Netherlands, and they are called Dutch because they live in the Netherlands, but those living in North or South Holland are called Hollanders. I could elaborate more, with name changes ranging from The Dutch Republic to the United States of Belgium to The Kingdom of Holland, but I’m just going to leave this handy resource here for your own amusement: http://www.cgpgrey.com/blog/the-difference-between-holland-the-netherlands
Ask Your Refrigerator
In an email from UCU, I was sent information regarding my on-campus room’s complete dependence on wifi. Within this email was the following statement:
“The new thing about [educational buildings] is that these buildings are bristling with eduroam routers, even deep inside your rooms. This means that your wall outlet has been disconnected and closed, the Wi-Fi is the future, ask your refrigerator.”
I must admit that my confusion stems from the requested act of asking my refrigerator why exactly Wi-Fi is the wave of the future. I guess that’s just how it goes in Europe; refrigerators are all-intelligent beings, and I should defer to their judgement regarding such matters as Wi-Fi connection.
The Unexamined Life really Isn’t Worth Dancing To, Is It?
An eponymous first blog post is always the best kind of first blog post, am I right? And just because Socrates didn’t think up a spiffier, 21st century saying doesn’t mean I can’t embellish a tad.
And to add some context to the whole scenario, Socrates’ quote – loosely, “the unexamined life is not worth living for a human being” – comes from Plato’s account in Apology of what Socrates said during his trial after choosing death over exile from Athens – a choice largely contested for answers, but basically coming down to preserving the belief of his own former choices, thoughts, and actions.
Thanks again, Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates
And Wikiquote – http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Socrates
The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Dancing To 