I'm really not used to blogging but it's been on my mind every day to write something. So persistent is this nagging that it has become
The Blog. In the beginning (how biblical) when I committed to doing this I told myself I would be very technical about it. I'd write in such a way as to provide a strict accounting of life here. I'd provide a blow-by-blow depicting the transition of from there to here.
I'd do the financing part in an .xls.
That has proven to be too much work. A typical way of setting the bar too high, so that I would never "get around to it". In order to get this thing actually moving I am going to have to do it the way I do anything else - just do it. Stream-of-consciousness is how I operate so there it is.
School started this week. You'd be proud. I've done well in the classes and by that I mean: show up on time. Bring my notes. Pay attention. Do not draw too much attention to myself. Contribute by sticking to the course material. *Try* to not talk *too* much.
But it turns out that talking a bit more than I am comfortable with myself doing has been a good thing, as in fairly well received. The things I am compelled to air have generated discussion by others who, prior to my gentle outbursts, sat silently attending to the instructor's long talks.
It also turns out that this university, as my classmate who did her undergrad here, positions itself as one that embraces debate. Wonderful. I have chosen well.
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I took a break from reading and went outside in the courtyard to sit for a bit (ok, to smoke). It was midnight. The music from the Lounge (a room where residents can hang out, I've never been) was really loud. It's midnight, shouldn't the volume be turned down, I thought. I've read some comments on the campus (campus housing, there are 900 residents here and a stipulation of the rental agreement is that one is enrolled in a university) facebook page mentioning the lounge activity going past hours, or the music volume. Generally the hours are observed; once in a while they are not. I noticed that no one hung out their window and shouted for the music to be turned down. This would never happen in New York, I thought. OK I've never lived in New York, but it's normal to me that if the music is too loud in a residential area, someone will say something. Here I'll say that "Americans are confrontational". I wondered about that. I think it is in the national heritage of "our rights": hey, I have a right to say such-and-such.
There are no guns.
Here, I dont worry about being shot. Not that the fear of being shot has ever kept my mouth shut. I just figure I'll get shot, but I'm going to get my word in. I wondered if people here have guns. How many guns are in the Netherlands? I think it is not the presence, or non, of guns that makes this society so cooperative but the way crime is handled. There is so little crime that more resources are devoted to individual cases. That's my guess. It's not like, oh - another shooting. It's like, whoa, step aside, we got a big case here. In any case, I reflected on how generally well people get along here, on a wide level. One local told me: we are a small country, we have to get along.
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I took the metro to school today. At my new income the metro is a luxury. I've been riding my Dutchie bike everywhere. Which brings up a new conundrum about logging my miles rode. Since 2009 I have logged every mile I ride. Here, however, my Dutchie bike has no odometer on it. I have a spare I could hook up but it would feel weird. Basic bikes here are just that and most have some rust. Bike theft is huge, so most bikes are real low-key. Putting even a $25 Cat Eye on a Dutchie get-around bike would be like putting a spoiler on a Ford Escort. My trips to the meetings in the Centrum are about 9 miles round trip, maybe 10. Trips to the store, meh, depends on which one. But these little trips are not really worth checking google maps to see how many miles they were.
Of all the things I have had to let go of in this transition, dedicated mile-logging is one of the hardest, and only because I never saw it coming.
A week ago I bit the bullet and sprang €7.50 for an OVChipkaart (transit pass). I loaded €20 onto it. To put everything in what I call real dollars, which is just so I can make sense of it in my current way of valuing my purchases, I multiply everything by 1.18 which was the EUR:USD exchange rate last time I looked. The OV card is good for trams, subways and busses. It prices a fare like so: €1 base then I think .19 per km. So my trip to school today was about €1.87. At $4 roundtrip, the metro is a splurge. But it was pouring rain and this first week of classes I just want to get somewhere on time. My focus is on making sure I have all my crap with me, my clothes are clean, and I've showered. I can easily think I have all the routes down when really I've only rode a route twice. Two absences and you're dropped from the course and the Sociological Perspectives prof is very clear about being on time. I hear thats a Dutch thing- timeliness. I love it. I always felt like such a PTSD freak with my being half an hour early for everything (except meetings. To me thats the one place I can get there when I get there, I can relax a bit. I'm deducted only in social approval points which never really meant shit to me anyway).
I have two courses the first six weeks, then one drops off and another one jumps in. I'm still taking it day by day, in some cases week by week. So I have two classes on Tues, one on Thurs, one on Fri. I've already signed up for a Symposium, a lecture and a Library Research Seminar.
I've not got to money, as promised in the title. I think thats a whole other blog. To give an idea:
I have what I need. I have food and rent and I keep my receipts and log everything I spend. More on the psychology of the change from worker to student later.
