A few resolutions summed up by the final one - watch&learn

Saturday, September 13, 2008

(6) Comments

Another wet day in Utrecht... How naive of me was to think I left the rain behind as the plane Dublin-Amsterdam took off a few weeks ago... My brand new screamingly yellow poncho is looking forward to be worn again while I'm pondering how long will it take for the bike to get all rusty if the weather stays like this.

The lack of posting is due to the fact that the past week has become a roller coaster of experiences and various thoughts that seemed to flicker through my head without any particular order - some of them resulting in an overwhelming joy of being right here at this particular moment, others making me reassess the past and the future. The following thoughts in a way are influenced by a few glasses of outrageously inexpensive and incredibly decent red from Buzet (4 Euro a bottle - this will make my vino friends in Dublin cry) which was purchased as a consolation after riding the bike in the pouring rain to the majestic Utrecth University library. It is majestic indeed even though I haven't made it to the top floor yet.

The Neverlands continue to dazzle me and one can only wonder how long this euphoria will last. Even though I'm trying to not overmythologise the place and the people I must say that everything has lived up to my expectations so far - the town, the amount of Belgian beers available, the people, my biking experiences, the university, the students, you name it. Some blogger described this as a country where nobody is ever angry. I must say it seems to be true. Even when I nearly bumped into another of those unthinkably tall cycling Dutchmans today. All he said was something along the lines of an enthusiastic ooaaop! And off he went.

On the other hand after meeting quite a few people from other countries during the past two weeks I can't help but feel an indescribable temptation to compare myself with others who have found themselves in the Neverlands. I guess it is part of our nature. Or is it just my nature stemming from the unknown suburbia of Europe roaming the Neverlands? Even though comparisons do not necessarily do us good, recent chats, coffee breaks and biertjes made me come to a few conclusions:

* I must definitely learn another Western European language (besides the Dutch) as my ancient lingua spoken by about 3 mln people is quite useless. Watching Belgians chatting away in French, then switching to German, then Dutch and back to English is simply incredible (and useful - do I even have to mention that?).

* I should read more and I must say that organising the time independently is quite a different experience. Waiting for a batch from UK's Amazon (thanks to the weak pound it seems to be one of the cheapest places to purchase books): this and this and a few more. Books in the Neverlands are unbelievably expensive!

* I should cut down on the amount of sarcastic jokes I'm using and should watch out what I'm saying in general more (a resolution at which majority of my friends would probably laugh - I wouldn't be me otherwise).

* Finally, I suppose I should stop comparing myself to the other residents of the Neverlands, perhaps quietly watch them instead and simply enjoy life regardless of my nature and theirs. I can't escape my own shadow I guess.
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6 Responses to "A few resolutions summed up by the final one - watch&learn"

Unknown said :
September 13, 2008 at 10:51 AM
I agree about the languages! I am in the same boat :-) I really would love to learn some German. Eventually. Since I don't want to become more interested in German and not focus enough on Dutch. Then perhaps some French. I set the bar really high, maybe, but it's always good to have goals. Keeps us going! And I tip my hat to you for your interest in also doing so ;-)

Isabella
Decora said :
September 13, 2008 at 12:39 PM
You can get lost in having so much to do here. The language is not overwelmingly used as much I thought it would be. Great that your soaking up the scene, I like your observations, hope you dont mind if I add you to my blog roll.

-Decora :)
Lina said :
September 14, 2008 at 1:44 PM
Thanks for the comments! Decora, don't mind that at all, I've just done the same.
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