In Brugge

A lot of churchy stuff went down in this place. The Beguins started here (if you’re into Middle Ages women’s lit), Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child is here, one cathedral claims that a vial of Jesus’ blood is here…

For me, though, Brugge will also mean a bunch of Europeans singing “Born in the U.S.A.” at the top of their lungs and heckling my friend for wearing a Turkey scarf after Portugal beat Turkey…. and Oma, with a single tooth sticking out of her mouth like a half-smoked cigarette.

Go Oranje!!!

Holland dominated Italia tonight! When I played soccer on my school team, my dad had this huge plastic orange trumpet that he brought to play-offs and tournaments. My adolescent self almost died with embarrassment, but now I see that he was far more football-savvy than the other parents. Tonight, my friend Kellie and I watched the game in town, and it was packed. The bar got crazier and crazier with air horns and singing. Fire codes were broken. Glass bottles were banned. We even sang “We Are the Champions” (American fetish? Can anyone explain this?). And then out on the street, there was a big party… with lots and lots of plastic orange trumpets. I can’t wait for Friday!

Myspace or Facebook?

Some of you may already know all about Part 2 of my reason for being in the Netherlands, but for those of you who don’t, I am reading up on the online practices of migrant youth, analyzing social network sites used by Mexican-American (sketchy term?) youth, and then comparing my analysis to that produced by two Dutch students on Dutch-Moroccan teen sites (to put it all into a nutshell).  Maybe later, I’ll get really nerdy and post the social implications for my research.  But probably not.

I found something along the way, however, that I think any user of Myspace or Facebook would find interesting. danah boyd (whose name is legally lowercase) is one of the most published researchers of Myspace, Facebook, and other social networking sites.  In a blog entry, she describes the class division she has found among teenage users of Myspace and Facebook from her research of three years.  It seems that Facebook is preferred by the middle-upper class college bound, while Myspace is used by the ‘working classes’, the marginalized, and the alternative to the mainstream… in addition to all the bands, musicians, and promoters, of course.

Urban kayaking

I never turn down a chance to go paddling, so when I first saw a kayak floating down a canal in the Dutch countryside, I knew I’d find a way to do the same. I talked it up to some friends on a sunny day, but instead of taking on some North Carolina rapids, I found myself taking on the overpasses, motorboats, and pigeons of downtown Utrecht, a city older than your American great-great-grandma. Urban kayaking is not for the faint of heart. You may think that class 5 takes technical skill, but so does appropriately responding to people shouting at you in other languages, avoiding children throwing sticks, and maneuvering around tipsy boaters. And yes, a few Dutchmen asked if they could hitch a ride.

It was all rather unsanitary, but beautiful. On this lowest level of the city, stained glass windows, tiny doorways, and countless sculptures depicting famous Greek myths hide behind trashcans and birds’ nests.

Why?

 

Dutch retro manprops

Pretty fantabulous.

Visit your local alp…

I was walking down the cobblestone streets of Utrecht, past the diners, bicyclists, and buses, when I came upon this:

a temporary alp.  Of course I climbed it.

Unfortunately, it was no true alp, but rather, an art exhibit about isolation and the need to slow down. Each small white house contained an awkward surprise.  My favorite involved a spontaneous three course meal that was silently handed, one plate at a time, to my friends and I through a tiny square cut in the wall. (“Can we eat it? Is someone going to come out from behind the wall? Did she just say something in Dutch?”) Festival aan de Werf (which is something along the lines of “festival to the yard”) is taking place all over Utrecht. Later that night, I also saw beings in Cold War era space suits walking around and a man standing in thin air ten feet above the sidewalk. Just the kind of chaos I had hoped for!

View from the alp:

An American in Paristerdashvegas

My recent trips to Amsterdam and Keukenhof gardens reveal a simple rule: tourism transcends all boundaries. The gardens were breathtaking; Amsterdam was beautiful. However, most Dutch students I have met never visit the “world-famous” Keukonhof! Why is this?

Keukonhof makes an attempt to display the “Dutch” identity (see the picture above with the two patient Dutch women, complete with jovial organ music in the background). However, my Dutch classmates do not necessarily include these aspects of Dutch culture in their own social identities. Looking at Kuekonhof’s clientele, I would guess that the gardens do not educate foreigners about the Netherlands as much as they reflect the foreigner’s already held perception of reality. For example, there is a miniature replica of the Statue of Liberty in the gardens with U.S. flags around the base. This is not part of the Dutch identity, but the American tourist likes to believe that everyone loves the U.S., right? Walking down the aisles of plastic “wooden” shoes and collectible windmills made me feel like I was at home on 2nd Ave. in Nashville. I am a novice when it comes to travel, but I have quickly learned that you could travel the whole world and never have your perception of reality challenged, thus rendering those experiences useless.

The biking culture here is like none other.  Beside every street, there is a two-lane orange road for bicyclists to commute in their business suits, jeans, or party dresses.  Couples bike together holding hands; students bike while holding umbrellas in the rain; children bike in their sports uniforms to field hockey games, carrying their sticks on their handlebars.  Entire parking garages are for bikes only.  I’m looking for my own secondhand bike so I can join the community!  The other picture is from a night in downtown Utrecht.   A group of us went to a bar, only to find it was closed, and so opted for a picnic instead.

“Recapturing” Rotterdam

The group embarked on a “sociological” tour of Rotterdam today. The artworks above have been placed in what was once a troubled neighborhood, now a community. Each work contains a story related to the community itself. The mural of the horse, for instance, is symbolic of the children of the community; the horse’s body is a map of the world, intimating that one day the children of this neighborhood must go out into the world. The picture of the woman is across from a building that once housed prostitutes. The series of black and whites against the wall are of the hats and shoes of specific leaders in the community, some which have now passed away.