One thing that has surprised me about this trip is how much these cities live up to their stereotypes. Now, don´t get me wrong, I have been surprised throughout this trip by certain aspects of Europe, but for the most part, they are what they are supposed to be. French people are actually rude, Venice actually has a ton of gigantic canals and gondolas, and Amsterdam actually is full of drugs and prostitutes. Given that all of the cities I have seen depend on tourism, the cynical part of me thinks that these cities have no cultural freedom, but rather have to be what we want them to be. Thoughts?
On a lighter note, I really did like Amsterdam. It was quirky and very open. It was refreshing to see drug policy and sex worker policy enacted in a way that didn´t fill prisons with people who have almost no negative impact on society. Maybe the people that insist that arresting working women every other night while the johns go gree is a good idea should check out Amsterdam, where the women are healthy and earning a living wage, and society hasn´t collapsed around them.
Our hostel was right at the entrance of the red light district, so we really didn´t see much beyond that. We did take a walking tour that included the Old Church, Anne Franks house, etc. Other than that, I ate a lot of Chinese food and falafal and spent a lot of time wandering around, marveling at the reality of Amsterdam. Oh, and there were kittys everywhere!! There are a lot of mice in Amsterdam, so every hostel, business, and even restaurants have at least one resident cat. The one in our hostel was named Micky, was pure white and liked to sleep on the stairs.
I am now in Frankfurt, spending a bit more time with Andrew before leaving for four months. Given that I chose this and want this, I almost feel like I´m not allowed to be sad. But I am. So deal. We haven´t really seen much of Frankfurt, we´ve mostly been relaxing, eating, and watching movies. Nice after such a long trip.
I got my schedule for Nairobi! For those of you who don´t know, I will be taking two classes at the United States International University, which is an African university, taught by Africans, with African classmates. For those two classes I will be taking Politics in Africa and International Organizazions. Two times a week, for an hour and forty minutes each time, on Tuesday and Thursday. Very excited! For my other two classes I will be taking intensive Swahili and The Politics of Culture in Kenya with other AU students. My last three credits will be an internship with a non profit based in Nairobi.
Geez this is long, but the internet was cheap so I must take advantage!
7 years ago
4 comments:
Your classes sound awesome...
I think you should be more specific... It is true that you can make a very good arguement that pot does not have a significant negitive impact on society but I would argue that harder drugs deffinantely do. You also have to consider collateral damage (gang violence, mob culture and violence) that often centers around drugs.
It sounds like so much fun... I am very jelous!
Interesting question about which way the causation works: behavior creates the stereotype, or stereotype creates the behavior? I'm leaning more toward the former, but no doubt the residents of these various cities are aware of the need to maintain the same "intrigue" factor that has attracted tourists in the past, so who knows? Not me.
I think we agree on the "victimless crime" issue.
And you met the Great Cat of Amsterdam! I know it's the "great" cat because of its Disneyesque name. :-)
It's good to actually relax during a trip. In this respect, the Europeans have it right: month-long vacations, with plenty of time to sight-see but also just laze around.
Nairobi will be great - have fun!
We were talking about the idea of living up to the stereotype thing in my ecotourism class. Part of ecotourism is local culture, but like people sometimes get here and are annoyed that the aboriginals have a satellite dish. But are the aboriginals not allowed to modernize because we don't think their lifestyle is "authentic" enough? Its their life we are paying to stare at.
anyway i hope you are having fun!
I totally agree Justin, I think harder drugs are really bad news for society as a whole. In Amsterdam shrooms are legal and it was a little sketchy seeing tripped out people on the streets. Interestingly enough, the reason Amsterdam "decriminalized" (not legalized) these softer drugs is so that they could devote more resources to fighting real druggies. They were spending all of their resources putting harmless stoners in jail. After pot was decriminalized, junkies were taken off the streets much quicker. Interesting, huh?
Post a Comment