Hello there – or as the Dutch would say, hallo! Greetings from Utrecht. It’s quite strange being back in this city. For those of you who don’t know, I spent 5 months here back in 2007 as an exchange semester with my studies. Not a lot has changed…a few new shops have opened up, a few have gone and my house no longer exists. In many ways, stepping out of the train at Utrecht Centraal felt like stepping back in time four years. I almost expected to bump into some of my fellow international students here, but of course, they are all long gone and back in their respective countries or wherever else they’ve ended up. It’s been great to catch up with some of the people here that I haven’t seen since 2007.
So I kind of reversed my original travel plans and flew to Amsterdam rather than Eindhoven last Thursday, with a shiny new emergency passport in hand (which is still completely blank, by the way!). I had planned to stay in the Dam for maybe a few days, then move on to Utrecht, but upon landing at Schipol airport, I discovered that my last chance for crashing at a friends’ place had fallen through and I had no accommodation in the city…during peak season when a bed in a hostel dorm will cost you 40 euros! So thanks to my time in Barcelona, I had Dieuwke’s number and I apologetically asked if I could stay with her in Utrecht that night (it’s about a 30min train ride away). Turns out she wasn’t in Utrecht, but at her parent’s house near the airport, but she kindly invited me to go stay with her there. Also turns out it was her Dad’s birthday and they were having a family get together to celebrate. Slight gate crashing on my behalf, but I had few other options! Took the train to the next station across where Dieuwke came and picked me up and took me to her parents house, where I was graciously and warmly welcomed. It was so nice to be in a house and a particularly cute and cosy one at that. The temperature was a good 12 degrees cooler than in Spain, so it was nice to sit and drink tea in a nice warm house, wearing non-summer attire and meeting all of Dieuwke’s aunties and uncles!
So for the past week I have been staying in Utrecht at Dieuwke’s house (my lifesaver!) and she said I am welcome to stay as long as I like, but I am sleeping on her bedroom floor and am very aware of being in her personal space, so I may share the love around, so to speak. I visited my “old” church on Sunday which was cool and I’ve caught up with most of the people I met here when I first came…Daniel, Tim, Marijn & Roald…plus met some new faces. The more the merrier! One of my good friends here, Anneleen has since moved to Groningen in the north, so at some point I will go visit her for a bit, then I guess make my way to Nijmegen to stay with Ralf, before heading over to Germany to visit the Wolf-dog. Or you can call him Wolfgang. He answers to both.
This is not Wolfgang. This is Daniel. In the park.
It feels weird being somewhere familiar that is now different. Does that make any sense? Not that the city itself has changed all that much, but I guess the people have. Myself included. People keep asking what I’m doing in the Netherlands, then I have to give them a long-winded answer that can basically be summed up in the three words “I don’t know”. I’m trying to shut up the part of my brain that wants to find deeper meaning in everything and have my entire future planned and sorted out. Just enjoy the ride. Breeeeeeeeeeeeeeeathe. Ahhhh.
So yeah. No exciting news really, just me trawling about town, visiting places that I used to like to visit and eating things I used to like to eat – minus Manneke pis fries and Swirls (think Wendy's bitz for those who can think that far back). I don’t intend on returning to Oz with 10kg of “extra baggage” this time! Utrecht is a very beautiful little city and there’s certainly a nice charm about the place. The weather is rather horrific for this time of year, but really I shouldn’t have expected sunshine, lollypops and rainbows. Well, two out of three ain’t bad, hey? Speaking of rainbows, youtube search “double rainbow” and have a good laugh.
Okay well I think my (possibly) quasi-interesting ramblings are coming to a neat end, so I will leave it there and bid you all farewell until the next time I put my fingers to keys. Unless I find a piano beforehand.
Doei!
Lou :)
No comments:
Post a Comment