Europe 2001: A Travelogue
Adam's First Impressions of the Netherlands
Eurodiary, 4 September 2001, 18:08 (6:08 p.m.)
Thoughts on the land:
Ah, Europe. I forgot how agrarian this area of the world is despite the land crunch. On the way in to Rotterdam from Amsterdam, we saw many cows and sheep grazing amidst idyllic little pastures with canals dotting the landscape.
It rains a lot in the Netherlands, and our first few days have been no exception. Appropriately, the welcoming gift for the exchange students was a Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) umbrella. Mostly, the rain is light and the locals seem to ignore it, cycling and walking through the rain without umbrellas or much in the way of raingear. A few people have smiled at my umbrella as I am sometimes the only one on a street with it up (and the only one not wet).
Thoughts on the people:
Everyone we have met seems pleasant if a little officious, which was my impression of the Dutch in the past as well. Knowing a little Dutch seems to help here, even if it's only to say, "Excuse me, do you speak English please?"
The folks at the RSM are wonderfully helpful and friendly. It is the most international group of which I have ever been a part. No one country in my first Monday night class had more than six or seven representatives, with the U.S. actually being the largest one represented (maybe it was the topic, international advertising).
Thoughts on the food:
The Dutch can't cook. We have had some good meals, but the cuisine here may be a major drawback of the trip. The country learned more from Germany than from France, I'm sorry to say, so there are a lot of sausage and beef products. I'm looking forward to Indonesian Rijstoffel (sp?), the "rice table" which is a collection of yummy delicacies common around here given the large Indonesian-Dutch population.
Thoughts on the architecture:
Despite complaints about the 1950s-style ugliness of Rotterdam, the place does have some charm. There are gabled houses left over from the war juxtaposed with some cool architecture such as the amazing Erasmus bridge, a marvel of a suspension bridge (picture to come).
Thought of the moment:
The smell of pot is really pervasive and common. I was on the tram today sitting next to a guy who smelled like pot, and now I smell a little like pot.
(Note from Monica: much more common than pot is regular smoke, and the occasional cigar. But when someone is smoking marijuana, boy, does the smoke permeate the air!)