I'm back.
Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 12:23 pm
Oh my goodness there are a lot ofr things to do now that I'm back in California. My transcripts cleared while I was in Europe and the Red Cross apparently wants to know if I'm up for going to Florida (I am, I may be shipping right back out in a few days). So there's like a dozen mdschools and such that I need to send info to.
Short version: Europe is awesome, and I could seriously see living in Amsterdam or Berlin, those are great cities. Denmark, not so much - the place is cute, and the socialism is wonderful, but even Copenhaven lacks the big city appeal of the major cities in Holland or the BRD. There are only 6 million Danes, and it really shows that the entire country has less people than the greater San Jose metropolitan area.
Gripes:
OK, progress is completely uneven throughout the world. Things you take for granted in your life are being done a million times better elsewhere, and those same places are in the stone age compared to what you're used to in other things. So despite the fact that Berlin has a mass transit system that would easily make me abandon driving for good, there are still a number of things that will distress a Californian as being backwards while travelling in Europe:
Smoking Inside - holy shit. People smoke inside. Like chimneys, and it's extremely nasty. They do it in bars, they do it nightclubs, they do in restaraunts, it's off the hook disgusting. And it's really bad for people. You'd think that people who have a socialized medical system would understand that they are physically paying for people to get gassed with secondhand smoke and that there's no reason for it - but they just don't see it that way. It's very weird.
Drinking Water - There is seriously like one drinking fountain in all of the Netherlands, and it's in the Vondel Park next to the street. Restaraunts won't give you free water, and when you ask for water they will charge you for it and give you fvcking bubbly water instead of good honest drinkables. Denmark and Germany are no better. There are no drinking fountains in Train Stations, there are no dsrinking fountains in museums, there are none on the street. I don't know how the Europeans survive. But as a traveler, what you will do is to take bottles around and fill them out of the tap in bathrooms. The water is totally clean and drinkable, but the people of Europe won't drink it.
I'm figuring out how to get the pictures online right now, so I'll be able to give you a more complete debriefing later on.
-Username17
Short version: Europe is awesome, and I could seriously see living in Amsterdam or Berlin, those are great cities. Denmark, not so much - the place is cute, and the socialism is wonderful, but even Copenhaven lacks the big city appeal of the major cities in Holland or the BRD. There are only 6 million Danes, and it really shows that the entire country has less people than the greater San Jose metropolitan area.
Gripes:
OK, progress is completely uneven throughout the world. Things you take for granted in your life are being done a million times better elsewhere, and those same places are in the stone age compared to what you're used to in other things. So despite the fact that Berlin has a mass transit system that would easily make me abandon driving for good, there are still a number of things that will distress a Californian as being backwards while travelling in Europe:
Smoking Inside - holy shit. People smoke inside. Like chimneys, and it's extremely nasty. They do it in bars, they do it nightclubs, they do in restaraunts, it's off the hook disgusting. And it's really bad for people. You'd think that people who have a socialized medical system would understand that they are physically paying for people to get gassed with secondhand smoke and that there's no reason for it - but they just don't see it that way. It's very weird.
Drinking Water - There is seriously like one drinking fountain in all of the Netherlands, and it's in the Vondel Park next to the street. Restaraunts won't give you free water, and when you ask for water they will charge you for it and give you fvcking bubbly water instead of good honest drinkables. Denmark and Germany are no better. There are no drinking fountains in Train Stations, there are no dsrinking fountains in museums, there are none on the street. I don't know how the Europeans survive. But as a traveler, what you will do is to take bottles around and fill them out of the tap in bathrooms. The water is totally clean and drinkable, but the people of Europe won't drink it.
I'm figuring out how to get the pictures online right now, so I'll be able to give you a more complete debriefing later on.
-Username17
