A Smorgasbord of Thoughts

Well, week 1 is officially over. So far, my travels have brought me to London and Amsterdam. My biggest three takeaways from London were the kindness people showcased, the cleanliness, and the city’s dedication to sustainability. Every request was answered with an “of course” or “no problem”. Every train station did not have one piece of trash. And every disposable utensil was make of wood. My hypothesis is that these three things are connected and they are due to the respect and pride the locals feel for the city and the respect that the city has for their locals. Of course with Brexit taking over the news, this seems to be contradictory, but I think that as a whole, the English (apparently they do not call themselves British) hold themselves and their city in high regard, as every city should.

Amsterdam is a little different. I have never seen so many bikes or so much smoke (both from marijuana and cigarettes) in my life. It seems conflicting that people that bike everywhere would be filling their lungs with smoke, but to each their own I suppose. My favorite activity of this trip so far was taking a bike tour through the city and one of their biggest parks, Vondelpark (which is shown in the above picture). The sheer amount of dogs made me never want to leave. Obviously, one large part of this liberal city is the fact that prostitution is legal. On my way to dinner last night, my group was walking through the red light district and walked past many windows that were “showcasing” the women. My tour guide went a little into the culture and life of these sex workers. She talked about how these women have a much better relationship with the police than in other countries. However, she did say that this does not mean that the occupation is not taboo. Apparently, the families of these women do not know what they do and they do not make known what they do to others. I was brought back to debates I had on the topic of prostitution in one of my classes and I do not know if my thoughts have changed on the subject. On one hand, I believe that the safety of these workers is of the upmost importance. On the other hand, having women displayed in windows like objects seems to reinforce the idea that women are for a man’s pleasure and not much else. The tour guide stated that there are many unfortunate circumstances that lead women to this line of work, which begs the question of if this is really the women’s choice. Just because she is able to report an abusive man to the police, does that really mean she is consenting if society is FORCING her into that room? Can society rape women? Is this kind of force more or less detrimental to a women that a man forcing himself? Obviously I am not going to come up with the answer in this post, but these were some of my thoughts walking through this city.

One thing that surprised me about both cities was the food. I was preparing myself for bland food from London and questionable food from Amsterdam. However, my experience is a lesson on stereotypes and on assuming that cities and people are just one thing. I did not know that curry was invented in London by an Indian immigrant or that Amsterdam had a Chinatown that was created in revolt because the Chinese were being paid a fraction of their Western counterparts. Both cities had every kind of restaurant imaginable. I know that we call America the melting pot, but I guess I forgot that due to the ease of travel, other countries were melding ethnicities and cultures as well. However, just because this is true, does not mean that people are culturally well-versed either. I have two light-skinned black friends and they have talked about the stares they are receiving by people everywhere in these two cities. When I inquired about it, they stated that it was because they were light-skinned. Most people that are black in Europe are dark skinned because they came directly from Africa. So, maybe colorism is the right term for what they are experiencing. Either way, their skin color is making their experience less than mine due to something out of their control, which shows that our world still has ways to go.

Overall, this week has been a worldwind, with a lot of packing and unpacking. Although I love exploring new cities, I am excited to be settled in one place for a few weeks starting next Sunday with my host family (that has a dog!!). The next week will include exploring Paris and Barcelona before I settle into Barcelona for 6 weeks to immerse myself in the Spanish language.