mad meandering

I have been compiling this list of strange things I have learned since I have arrived in Europe, and I have been here for a whole ten days. So, obviously, you can expect it to be totally comprehensive and perfect.

• Heathrow Airport (in London) is the strangest place. It is not an airport. It is a mall. And I don’t particularly like malls.
• The first thing I saw of the Netherlands was a plethora of wind turbines about 5 miles off shore, which was the most perfect “welcome sign” I could have seen.
• Airports are also strange here because you actually get off of the plane outside like in movies and such (not sure if this is universal, just my experience!).
• The Dutch are not too crazy about traffic lights, and they LOVE their rotaries (traffic circles for you New Hampshire people).
• SUVs are very close to non-existent here.
• Emergency vehicle sirens sound just like movies and are very different from American sirens.
• Edward Sharpe is the best soundtrack for a train ride through the country of the Netherlands.
• Buildings are very modern looking in the Netherlands, and they are lower to the ground than most American urban buildings.
• There are very few free-standing houses here, most are all attached in rows.
• Two words: Albert. Heijn.
• For those of you that don’t know: Albert Heijn is a European grocery store chain that is extremely well-loved by the Dutch people.
• The countryside of Germany looks exactly like how it is depicted in the film Inglorious Basterds, it is absolutely beautiful with sweet farmhouses and fields.
• Skies are very open in this part of Europe, much like the center of the US, because it is SO FLAT here!
• Many, many, many German roofs have solar panels on them, even the farmhouses I just mentioned (you can imagine my happiness at this).
• That being said, there’s a weird amount of smokestacks everywhere…I am not totally sure what they are used for but it isn’t very appealing looking!
• There are an absurd amount of power lines strung through farmlands.
• STUDENT. DISCOUNTS. EVERYWHERE.
• I wasn’t expecting even the food labels in grocery stores would be in Dutch. I don’t know what exactly I was expecting the foods and signs to be written in, but they are definitley NOT in English.
• Berlin smells. So badly. Apparently it was built on a swamp.
• Sometimes you will be checking out at a restaurant and the big, German, male cashier will start singing “Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls” in a thick German accent.
• Berliners love graffiti, and it is beautiful.
• They also love posters, as you might be able to tell from the main picture of this post.
• 10 hour bus rides are not that bad when you have beautiful scenery brand new to your eyes, a good book, and clever riddles from your new, fun friends.