Day 15: Last post from Europe

It has been a fun couple of weeks in Europe but it is getting to the point where I am ready to go back to the states.  A lot of fun things have happened over here and it has been a once in a lifetime experience.  I have met new friends, seen a lot of cool places, and learned about many new historical facts and figures. I also have many new souvenirs to add to  my luggage tonight.  It will be a long day tomorrow, but I will always remember the last 15 or so days, the places we have been and the memories that have been made.  The memories I have been lucky enough to capture some in pictures and others in this blog, but some will be kept in my memory as a lasting legacy of this trip to the Czech Republic, Germany, and the Netherlands.  Thank you for reading this blog and I will see you when I get back to Galena!!! (For students reading this I will either see you at 8th grade promotion on Friday or at the pool during the summer or when football practice starts in August!)
Thanks Again

Brandon Behlke (Mr. Behlke)

Day 14: Amsterdam compared to Prague

It has been interesting to note the differences between Prague and Amsterdam as we are reaching the beginning of the end of this trip.  One thing to note is something that I have referred to a lot and that is the spheres of influence that impact the two cultures.  In Prague many of the older people are still influenced by their Russian and Eastern European past, however the younger generation seems to be more aligned with the Americans and Western Europe (as noted by the Star Wars Lego sets in toy stores which shows that people want their children to be Westernized) which has caused a generational gap in the Czech Republic.  In the Netherlands it is clear that it is a Westernized nation as they have very modern infrastructure and many of their customs align more with the Western culture that we are used to seeing in America (It is not completely American though).  Also it is important to note that in the Czech Republic English wasn't commonly spoken  or known except for those who work in the tourism or retail jobs that come in to contact with visitors.  In the Netherlands when you ask somebody if they speak English you get a resounding "of course I do" which is a little more reassuring to foreign visitors and those who aren't too familiar with their language.  I am glad the trip has been arranged as it has been as we have been able to see two different Europes and the differences in the cultures.  Below are some pictures of Amsterdam and the Netherlands.

Day 12/13: Small Town Europe

Yesterday we were able to visit the village of Franneker in the Northern part of the Netherlands.  This was our only visit to an European small village on this trip and it was remarkable.  The village was very similar to many of the small towns in the US, like those back at home, but much older.  We were able to visit a church in our free time that was built in 1421, seventy one years before Columbus sailed the ocean blue!  The village also contained the oldest still-working planetarium in the world, which was built in a living room of a house.  We also visited the city hall which was built in 1650 and is a very ornate building. This city is one of the best we have visited on the trip and one of the places that I would like to return to!

Amsterdam

We made it to Amsterdam and I will try to post more pictures and posts in the next couple days. Our wifi at the hotel isn't the best, so once I have time I will post daily again. Look for a post tomorrow!

Day 9: Home Stretch/Final Note on Leiden

Well yesterday marked the half-way point on the trip and boy has time flied!  Today we are spending our final of three days in Leiden which is a much different city than any of the cities that we have stayed at or will stay at during this trip as it is quieter and more peaceful than Prague or what I expect in Amsterdam.  It has been a nice way to relax and just soak everything in.  One thing I have noticed is that there are a lot of bikes in the Netherlands, yesterday we ventured to Utrecht to visit an observatory and even there bikes dominated the city.  It is easy to walk in Leiden, however the only danger is an oncoming bicycle with their only warning is a small ring of a bicycle bell.  I have been almost run over by a couple of bicycles so far on this trip.  Below I have posted pictures of myself at the observatory (I believe the first photo of me on this blog!) and pictures of the bicycle culture here in the Netherlands.  Another thing that you will notice in the pictures are the canals.  In nearly every city near the coast in the Netherlands canals are an important geographical feature that people built to keep the homes and villages dry.  1/3 of the Netherlands is below sea level so these canals help to funnel the water through the cities and helps them avoid the issues that water can cause to cities that lie below sea level.  Tomorrow we are heading to Amsterdam, the capital and largest city in the Netherlands and quite a change from cozy Leiden which we have called home the last three days.  Amsterdam is the last stop on the trip and it is hard to believe that in only a week I will be back in the United States.

Day 7/8: Made it to the Netherlands

This won't be a long post as I am exhausted after another long day.  Today we arrived in the Netherlands after a 14 hour overnight train ride where we could barely sleep and an alarm on the train went off at 5am to make it even more difficult to sleep.  After the 14hr train ride we took another train to Leiden which is a smaller town in the Netherlands that is absolutely beautiful.  We were in Dresden for most of the day yesterday and it was interesting to see the difference a couple of miles and a border makes as Dresden seemed more Westernized.  Much of this is due to the firebombing of Dresden in 1945 by the US as most of the buildings and most of the town has been rebuilt.  The Netherlands is another country that seems more Westernized than the Czech Republic as it is very clean and has much more green space than Prague.  It has also been interesting to see that the closer we go to England and the West the more fluent people speak English.  In the Czech Republic very few spoke English and those weren't very fluent.  However, in the Netherlands people seem to speak excellent English and at times better than I even do!  It is hard to explain what that means, but the people are very proper with their English pronunciation and word usage.  It is very nice knowing that people here can speak English and speak an understandable English.  The Czech Republic was a great time and a great experience, so I don't want people to think that I didn't enjoy it but it is interesting to see how much we take fluent English speakers for granted in the US and how people in the group felt safer and more comfortable when they realized that people here could speak English and speak it well. I probably won't have a post tomorrow as we are at an observatory in Utrecht and won't be back to the room until midnight. I thought I would sign off of this post with some pictures of Dresden, Germany (where we were yesterday) and of Leiden.

One Final Note on the Czech Republic

One thing I have noticed about the Czech Republic is that they are more obsessed with Native Americans than people in the United States.  I have no pictures to show, however there was a cigar store statue of a Native American in front of an "Indian" restaurant near our Hotel.  Also we saw a couple posters advertising for the 30th anniversary of Czech Woodstock which had the title "Geronimo presents" and two pictures of Native Americans.  When talking to a local college student one thing that one noted was that he likes Americans but doesn't know why they come here as they should learn more about their own country.  I completely agree with that part of the statement and couldn't have said it any better, however he continued by saying that they should learn about "Indians" (which I also agree with).  We originally thought he meant India's Indians but he meant Native Americans  which was interesting that a person from Czech knew about Native Americans and would bring them up before anything else, but I couldn't agree more with his statement.  This statement made more sense after I saw the posters, however the obsession of the Czech with Native Americans baffles me.  It is important to note though that some of the Cowboy and Indian authors of the early 20th Century actually were Germans, so that may have something to do with it, but even then that is still very strange.