So about the Netherlands.
Before you get too excited, I’m not in Amsterdam. I’m staying on the campus of a scientifically-oriented college on the outskirts of the country. Cow pastures make up a substantial proportion of the grounds. There was also a week-long torrential downpour when I first arrived, which limited my adventuring significantly.
Anyway, about the Netherlands.
They eat chocolate sprinkles on their bread at breakfast. Brilliant.
They also eat ham and cheese. Lots of ham and cheese. Seriously, if you ever secretly fantasized about eating ham and cheese three meals a day, then man have I got a country for you.
They have really nice bike paths. The bike paths crisscross the whole country, and have their own traffic lights. More people ride bikes than drive cars. Everywhere you look you see 80-year-olds bicycling around.
They have intermission for movies. They literally stop playing the movie right in the middle and make you sit around for fifteen minutes. This is supposed to force you to buy more popcorn and soda. This can get pretty tedious, especially at a movie like X-Men 3 where you were already pretty bored.
Marijuana is sold legally here in Head Shops. Despite this, the students I talked to had trouble thinking of anyone who smokes it (which would not be the case among college students in the U.S.). It’s the same thing with alcohol. I think the drinking age here is like 16 for beer, and even that is barely enforced. The result is that alcohol just isn’t that exciting. Students here are aghast at stories I tell about going to college in America. They’re like, “You mean people drink and vomit, and then keep drinking and vomit again, and then pass out and have to be taken to the hospital to have their stomachs pumped?” That’s basically unheard of here. And I say, “Well, only on weekends. Mostly.”
The students wanted to know what Americans think of the Netherlands, and I had to break it to them that the answer is “They don’t,” and that 90% of Americans would no doubt accept this statement at face value: “I’m Dutch. That means I’m from Denmark. It’s a small country in Eastern Europe nestled between other small nations such as Holland, the Netherlands, and Scandanavia.” Despite stuff like this, the students told me, “People will think it’s cool that you’re American. They’ll think you’re rich.” To which I responded, “Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.” Well, actually I didn’t. But I thought about it.
Oh yeah, and they also call a Quarter Pounder a “Royale with cheese.” But you probably knew that.
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