Utrecht

After my day in Brussels, I hopped on a train to Utrecht for Carolien's party. Her boyfriend, Pieter, met me at the station (we had met previously in Mendoza) and we walked straight to Carolien's fraternity house.

Fraternities are a little different in Europe - first off, guys and girls are all together. The house wasn't really a house, but more of a building they used for functions and not living. We went up to the second floor of this building that had obviously seen better days. It had two bars, which was nice, totally run by students. Carolien said that the Nazis had occupied part of the building as an office during WWII.

She had rented out the bar for the party, and her parents brought some light snacks to munch on. I was one of the first few guests, but people started to filter in after a while. Some of her aunts, uncles and cousins that I met during Carnaval also joined us. I got to meet a lot of her college friends, and they were all pretty cool. (They all encouraged me to visit Holland more than Belgium, of course). The highlight of the night was when everyone from the fraternity sang a bunch of their songs, but they changed the words to roast Carolien. A lot of it centered around her past boyfriends, which was a bit awkward with her current boyfriend and parents there. Her friend Evy belted out an Aretha Franklin song, which I thought was American Idol worthy... or Holland Idol maybe? We stayed until about 3 am and then crashed back at Carolien's apartment.

Despite the cold weather, Carolien's hangover and my nagging cough/cold, we walked around Utrecht on Sunday. It was a really nice city with brick paved streets and all kinds of cafes lining the canals that wound through downtown. Everyone was on bicycles, of course, ignoring the drizzle and harsh wind.


The Dom Tower is the most striking feature of the city. We took a guided tour to the top of the tower and got some good views. It was completed in 1382 and the church collapsed a few times because of poor construction. The tower survived and now the cathedral and tower aren't connected. It would've been a lot nicer to be at the top with better weather, so we didn't stay long.

There wasn't a whole lot else to see... we went to a cafe to warm up for a while. Then we went to the supermarket to make some dinner. They had a very cool section which I think they should bring to The States. An entire refrigerated case was devoted to one brand. You choose 4 items, one from each row, throw them all together and cook. #1 is pasta, rice, potatoes. #2 is beef, chicken, fish. #3 is assorted vegetables of different kinds. #4 is sauce (teriaki, alfredo, etc.). They had suggestions that were coded with colors - so Red 1-4 might be chicken, rice, Asian vegi's and teriaki. Blue 1-4 might be noodles, shrimp, broccoli and alfredo. You could mix and match the colors depending on what you wanted, but those were the suggestions. I'll try to find more details and a better explanation, but it's a really good idea for cooking a good meal without having to think too much or use a recipe.

Yet again I found myself saying goodbye to Carolien. I am hoping to go to Amersterdam for a weekend soon, so maybe she will able to join me there? All in all, I think I enjoy my time in Holland more than Belgium. Maybe it's the friends I've made there, maybe it's the general attitude of the people, I'm not sure. For anyone traveling to The Netherlands, I suggest you get a Lonely Planet Guide or at least research the culture.