Groningen – or: Did you know the Netherlands look so Much like England?

Every time it gets colder and autumn turns to winter, people freeze and hurry a bit faster from point A to point B to minimize the time spent outside and the risk of freezing your butt off, I think of Great Britain. Winter and Great Britain are somehow unextricably linked in my brain – maybe because I know people don´t really have central heating there and it feels like the houses are two degrees warmer than outside (max), or maybe because I was once snowed in there.

So you can imagine my delight when I got to spend a weekend in the the busy tiny student town of Groningen (pronounce: Chrej:ningen, for those able to read phonetic spelling: xrɔɲiŋɡɛn) in the Netherlands and upon arrival I thought everything looked exactly like in England, only smaller.

And with canals. And everybody speaks super-cute language with lots of pharyngal “chrs” and eats Stroopwafels and Vla with Hagelslag all day ( a pudding with chocolate or fruit crumble) and goes everywhere by bike. Let me tell you from the beginning:

My old travel-buddy Lori and me wanted to spend the weekend together, our last joint trip was wwoofing in the Italian alps in spring, and that was already back in February, so way too looong. Plus: Filip was still tucked away in Serbia, waiting for his visa to be approved by German authorities. Sit around, twiddle my thumbs and be thinking of how much I miss him? Hmmm. So: Girls weekend here we come!

7,5 hours later after having boarded the bus in Berlin and having picked up Laura in the meantime in Bremen, we arrive in Chröjningen and make our way through the already night-life-busy city center over canals and through little streets called Kreupelstraat and Kapteynslaan (how cute is that?!) to our couchsurfing host Marina who agreed to let us stay at her little terrace house for the next two days.

Early the next morning after cozy breakfast together, we start exploring the city. Walking through the park Norderplaantsoen past early runners and a group of elderly people having put up a small table and their mulled-wine-christmas-celebration on top, we catch up on each other´s lives.

Then we enter the center that is surrounded by a canal and spend the rest of the day standing in the sun on Grote Markt and watching little kids ice-skating, strolling over the Vismarkt, learning that warm Stroopwafels are so much better than the cold half-frozen ones (all soft and yummy, mnomm!), drinking tea in cafés and when dust falls over town we go inside again eating pizza in De uurwerker.

The next day at noon we already sit back in the bus and reflect on our quick but great trip what we learned that weekend:

1. We got reminded again how even a short trip totally pays off: you get your head busy with something else for a while and off your daily routine, learn something new and exciting and give your brain some new cultural and personal input to chew on – because when travelling, you don´t only learn about the other culture but by automatically comparing and contrasting to you, you also learn about yourself.

2. That Dutch people celebrate Christmas totally different! What?!?! They don´t give each other material presents but have a family lottery and the persons´name you pull out of the box you have to write a humourous poem to and give him a little something connected to the poem. Presents are reserved mainly for birthdays.

3. Drug-consumption in the Netherlands embarasses on the way out – while taking weed over the border is totally not advisable. If you ever thought that Amsterdam was a weed-haven, you´re probably right: Legal consumption of cannabis is still custom in the coffee shops all over the Netherlands. But weed-tourists be prepared for serious repercussions if you take souvenirs…on the way out at the border, our whole bus was being searched thoroughly by police dogs, as was the baggage. Which lead to us standing half an hour in the freezing cold and me watching with quiet malice the dog signalling at every second passenger – who were then led away from the group to return shortly thereafter with unknown warnings or whoknowswhat legal consequences in their police register.

4. Dutch people ARE cheese and bike people:

50% of all trips made in Groningen are done by bike! Which results to a far more lively street-life, even outside the center. It´s so nice to see people on the streets doing their daily things.

5. You should really only do Couchsurfing if you are prepared to take up your hosts offers of hospitality. Marina offered to show us around, have dinner with her and her friends and go out partying with them – all of which we declined (because we really just wanted us two doing things that weekend, not with strangers, no matter how friendly and welcoming they are) but felt quite bad in consequence. So for the future: Either pay a hostel or go along with what your Couchsurfing home also entails. Because it most often isn´t just the sleeping, it´s also the hospitality – which is GREAT! …if you want it.

6. I love the Dutch. They speak so cute it makes you like each and every one of them if they only open their mouths.

And now, everyone, a few words on the current situation on this blog:

What is this blog now? When I got married I was thinking: Do I even need it anymore? Will I have the time to travel now my priorities are so significantly changed – is it going to end up having one or two posts a year? Also, I had other stuff on my mind that I wanted to write about: My first experiences as a full-time-employee at sofatutor and what´s different about it than the student life I led before and now lead again. Or about falling in love and embarking for the first time on the journey of a honest, deep-felt relationship that would eventually lead into the haven of marriage – who would have thought? Now I´m a wife, and I´ve never been happier. But all this doesn´t exactly belong on a travel blog. And unlike the other blog, my old blogspot one, I´d like to keep this a travel blog and not an Anne-blog where I´d write miscellaneous stuff about me and my life. I could. Maybe I will. But not for now.

2.  Who are your fellow readers? For whom is this blog? Well, there´s a handful of people on the newsletter list that get updated automatically, including my family and best friends (thanks guys). Apart from that, only if you find a post worth reposting on Facebook or something, the audience might get a bit more diverse. Until then, I´m writing for you: Family and friends. And because it´s fun, so I also write for me :)

3. Where am I now? Enough deep thoughts! I´m in Pre-Christmas-Mood and Christmas songs are playing nonstop! The candles are burning and the smell of christmas cookies, needle trees and love is in the air!

So go and have a wonderful christmas time! :)