expectation

i have been told many things about the netherlands and its people. i have been told that the food is terrible (the worst in europe) and the weather is always rainy and overcast. it never is really winter but it never is really any season. i've heard that the dutch are very serious people and, from another source, i've heard that they have a great sense of humor. somebody told me dutch is the ugliest sounding language there is. i am prepared for the food being awful but am looking forward to eating indonesian food. people told me that dutch women are quite ugly and other people told me that dutch women are "very nice." i've heard that the dutch are a very well-educated, friendly people and i've also heard rants debating how good a country could possibly be if they built it on a swamp that is below sea-level. basically i've heard lots of conflicting opinions and mostly negative ones.

i don't like it when entire peoples and countries are distilled to single adjectives ("italians are friendly," "the english have bad teeth"). i am not a fan of large generalizations in general, but i am particularly annoyed with this situation because it causes stereotypes and preconceptions of future experience. if i believed everything that people said, i'd be really depressed that i am going to country with terrible food and no sunshine that could be drowned by the ocean at any moment.

but, when thinking about it, i know very little about the netherlands and the dutch. i've never been there, save for two layovers in schipol. i know very little dutch, and what little i know from rosetta stone is currently useless. i know only briefly the history of the country and its current situation. i know a bit more about great architecture that comes from there, but i don't why it is a country that has bred such talent. i don't know tourist locations or where cool stuff is or even what exists to do there beyond the main axis between amsterdam and rotterdam (i do plan to make a pilgrimage to the heineken factory in amsterdam though). i guess that is what a "lonely planet" guide is for.

to be honest, i am not prepared at all to live there. i have not even been that visibly excited about my circumstances; it has always been a low-key object in the distance but now i am forced to assign it reality because i will be there in 5 days. am i excited? yes, i am looking forward to exploring and living in a new culture that is more progressive in a lot of ways than where i am now. so: right now i am making a decision to banish all expectations i could acquire in the next 5 days and arrive with a tabula rasa mind condition. i will take deep breaths and try to see/learn/absorb as much possible, both at TU-Delft and, probably more importantly, in real life.

in the end, i just hope to get a bike to ride everywhere (even to the IKEA at the edge of town) and not starve to death. where can you buy veggie burgers in holland?

PS: i hope to use this blog to record non-stereotypical study abroad experience. i will try to steer away from more typical dutch tourist experiences like "i used the wrong fork!" or "i bought wooden shoes" or "OMG, i love beer/weed!" ideally i'll provide intellectually probing, fascinating ruminations revealing contemporary dutch culture as seen by an outsider (travel narratives are inescapably about "otherness") but it will probably degrade into highlighting my day-to-day experiences, brainstorms, architecture reviews, funny stories, weird dreams, photo documentation, and solitary adventures throughout the next 5 months, showcasing the porridge that passes for my mental environment.