Professional Inc.

My dear readers, welcome!

This past weekend was a hearty blaze of excitement, as I made my way from Utrecht to Maastricht, a city right at the border of Belgium, The Netherlands, and Germany. I think at one point in the weekend the people holding the meeting told us it would take around 5-6 minutes to bike to Belgium from Maastricht. Yeah, well, I could...bike...to the end of my road in Chardon in 5-6 minutes! So there!

The proximity of other countries in Europe - where they speak a different language, have a different culture, and way of doing things, government, history, policies, etc. - still blows my mind.

Maastricht, being at the hub of these three countries, is very international. We spent most of Friday in the very beautiful building where they signed the agreement that brought the EU into being. There were comfy chairs. I felt like a powerful ambassador, about to go, like, change history. Kind of.

Mary looking appropriately serious, because she is about to discuss matters of state. Or not. Actually, I just asked her to look serious. Really we were all quite giggly.

The greatest photo of Mary, I, and Bethany (another Fulbrighter), looking beautiful and diplomatic.

The thing is, to get to this beautiful building, we had to walk. So here's what my day looked like:

• "Oh, good HEAVENS. It is about -5 degrees Fahrenheit - I'm taking the bus to meet Mary at the train station."
• Bus-bum-dum-dee-dum-dum
• Mary! Train station!
• Train
• Two hours later....
• Train mix-up. Take bus to another train station. Take quick train. Get to Maastricht, finally.
• "Oh, good HEAVENS. It is about -5 degrees - part II! We're taking a cab to the hostel."
• Cab. Dutch - not the man's first language. Communicate directions. Good to go.
• Arrive at hostel.
• "Oh, good HEAVENS. It is about -5 in this room! Let's go back downstairs."
• Downstairs, meet Fulbright people
• "Alright, so, let's all go outside and walk 15 minutes to the government building!"
• My face:

This is a meme, folks, and it is quite funny. For instance, the picture below:

In any case, we went outside, and walked to the government building.

This bridge...was windy. Windy plus -5 = lots and lots of pain.

Look at us! How bundled, how brave...

Mary is actually quite beautiful. Unfortunately, here she slightly resembles a long marshmallow.

Brisk.

Pretty, but brisk.

That little tower and adjoining wall are part of the old city wall that used to go all the way around Maastricht - in the 1200's. How cool is that!?

Well, as aforementioned, we made it to the government building without any significant mishaps. And then we got to sit in those nifty chairs, and learn about the Treaty of Maastricht, which was signed to establish the EU, and we got to talk a bit about Limburg's politics (Wilders, the Dutch politician who is adamantly anti-immigration/anti-Islam, is most powerful in Limburg, for instance). We also had a lovely lunch, after which we got on a bus and were taken to an American Cemetery (from WWII). It was really, really wonderful to be able to go and see this cemetery. It was very moving, to learn about the men (and women) who were buried there. But more than anything, it was so touching to learn that each of the more than 6,000 graves were taken care of by a Dutch person or family. The graves were all "sponsored," for lack of a better word, and the waiting list to be able to take care of a grave, has more than a three year-long wait! The grounds keeper told us about how the Dutch families all plant flowers over the graves, and come spring, it's just a breath-taking landscape.

We took a really nice, rock-star tour-type bus to the cemetery.

A reflecting pool. A woman stands under the tower, with a tree growing next to her (rebirth after war), holding a branch with three doves (peace), but the woman herself is crying.

Found a Diederich. Enlisted in Michigan.

I appreciated the Jewish stars.

We were given flowers to put at a grave of our choice, so I gave mine to a Munn, for my friend Rachel.

So, the trip to the cemetery was sobering, yet beautiful, even though it was still freezing. We went back to the hostel, prayed that our room would get warmer, had a drink, and walked to dinner in the city. The dinner was wonderful - fresh salad with pesto olive oil and grilled chicken, roasted fish, vegetables, and a creme brulee for dessert. Mmm. Came back to the hostel, and, sadly, our room was still freezing. However, we managed to survive, and woke up the next day, and went and had a long discussion about our progress over the last five months, which was really interesting, to hear what people had to say. I loved learning about all the different research projects the Fulbright people had going on. All of them were interesting. Even if they aren't all practical...the study of art and music is still fascinating, and interesting to listen to. And necessary! For a well-balanced, healthy society, right? Right.

Then, on Saturday, it started snowing. And I almost, almost, got stuck in the south of Holland. When it snows around here...It gets messy. The whole train system/public transport system shuts down. As it was, I managed to squeeze my way north by the skin of my teeth, and ended up spending Saturday night with Siri and her family, going out to eat dinner (Schnitzel!) and then sleeping over at Siri's. The next morning, the trains were on schedule, and I was eternally grateful to have a nice warm bed at Siri's house, where I could wait out the public transport nightmare.

Here is the train ride home. Everything was covered in snow and a thick layer of ice - the trees looked like coral - white, glistening coral. Very beautiful in a slightly bizarre way. I'm just glad I managed to get back to Utrecht. Now I'm all safe and warm at home, and kind of contemplating finding somewhere to go ice skating...