Culture Shock: "Spring break escape to Amsterdam"
Victoria Desalvo
Issue date: 3/17/10 Section: Culture Shock
"Sorry for the inconvenience but we are landing the plane in the nearest airport," were the first words I heard the flight attendant mutter as I was slowly regaining consciousness from my early flight. I pried open my tired eyes and peered out the window, I saw nothing but an opaque sheet of clouds that gently cushioned the plane. It was as clear as swimming through a pool of milk.
As we descended and eventually touched down, I stepped off the plane and my skin was greeted by a mist of frozen rain and frigid winds. I had landed in Weeze, Germany, barren, extremely foreign, with cold air that penetrated through your clothes to your bones and not to mention, it was the wrong destination. After a two hour taxi ride with a cab driver that didn't speak any English, whose name was Ziggy, I safely arrived in Amsterdam all before the clock struck 11:30 am.
While most people enjoy tropical, warm getaways for their spring break, I decided to head off to the Netherlands. Luckily Amsterdam wasn't as brisk as my brief visit to Weeze was but by no means could you walk around in a bathing suit and flip flops.
I had braced myself for the cold and prepared myself for the elements of nature. I also traveled there having a preconceived conception of the culture, people and city itself. After getting locked out of my hostel for about two hours, I finally got to analyze the city through my own eyes.
The first thing I noticed was the language. Signs pointing in every direction looked like gibberish with harsh sounding letters oddly meshed together to form words. The Dutch language sounded like a mixture of German, French and English with some words that paralleled the English language but were said with a slightly different pronunciation. Everyone there spoke English effortlessly which was amazing to hear how fast they could transition from one language to another.
The people were friendly and always willing and able to help. Since getting lost is a constant habit of mine, I found that people were always happy to lead you in the right direction.
As we descended and eventually touched down, I stepped off the plane and my skin was greeted by a mist of frozen rain and frigid winds. I had landed in Weeze, Germany, barren, extremely foreign, with cold air that penetrated through your clothes to your bones and not to mention, it was the wrong destination. After a two hour taxi ride with a cab driver that didn't speak any English, whose name was Ziggy, I safely arrived in Amsterdam all before the clock struck 11:30 am.
While most people enjoy tropical, warm getaways for their spring break, I decided to head off to the Netherlands. Luckily Amsterdam wasn't as brisk as my brief visit to Weeze was but by no means could you walk around in a bathing suit and flip flops.
I had braced myself for the cold and prepared myself for the elements of nature. I also traveled there having a preconceived conception of the culture, people and city itself. After getting locked out of my hostel for about two hours, I finally got to analyze the city through my own eyes.
The first thing I noticed was the language. Signs pointing in every direction looked like gibberish with harsh sounding letters oddly meshed together to form words. The Dutch language sounded like a mixture of German, French and English with some words that paralleled the English language but were said with a slightly different pronunciation. Everyone there spoke English effortlessly which was amazing to hear how fast they could transition from one language to another.
The people were friendly and always willing and able to help. Since getting lost is a constant habit of mine, I found that people were always happy to lead you in the right direction.
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