Zackberridge’s Weblog

`i’m currently in utrecht, netherlands on my 4th of 8 city trip, and needless to say i have some catching up to do with my blog.   first of all, the keyboards in europe are configured differently than in the u.s so typing has been quite a challenge for me. (the top row isn’t ‘qwerty’, its slightly different as well as the position of the y, m, z, a, s, colon, semi colon……pretty much the whole damn thing is out of wack from what i’m used to.  `paris is definitely the romatic city that ive read about and heard about, too bad is wasnt there on my honeymoon=)   `my host in paris also hosted two friends from munich germany, and while the host was at work the three of us toured the city.  it was very helpful having them with me for they spoke french really well and were suprised to learn that i spoke NO other languages than english.   its different to be on the other side of ‘if you come to our country you should learn our language’ , because it can certainly be a challenge, but the lingual savior was english is generally spoken anywhere you go in europe, but when you ask someone if they speak it, they automatically look at you funny because you dont know their tongue. (well not all of them, i was helped a lot by many locals who were very happy to provide assistance.)  i also heard that the french hate americans, but i learned was the french way of life is a very fluid way of living and they all seem to have their routines down to the details and when they’re going somewhere they’re on a mission, but if anyone, whether american or not, interfers with their flow they get very frustrated.  i can understand it to an extent because paris was set up to be a tourist city and there are so many people there all the time, so the locals have to deal with ‘damn tourist foreigners’ everday, and if you’re trying to buy a bus ticket to get somwhere on time and there are americans at the ticket counter that cant speak french, i’m sure we would all feel the same way if in there shoes.   `i pretty much saw everything in the city, minus entrance into the museums, and i completely understand the public transportation system after loading and unloading over 50 times within a day and half.  so next time im out there i will feel more comfortable with the innercity travel, and i will take things slower and try to experience more the calmness the city provides by hanging out at a park with some wine and cheese, or taking a stroll without anywhere i have to be.  definitely a city i will return to in the future.  well, i must go for now, but i will post my experiences in brussels belgium the next time i have a chance.  until then,  ‘broosten!’    (cheers in dutch…..i think =)