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[oregon-to-amsterdam]

Odense/Eugene Case Study Reasoning

I choose to look at Odense as a transportation case study for Eugene because when we were there, I really enjoyed it. Seeing somewhere the size of Eugene that has been successful in improving its transportation infrastructure, and knowing that it’s possible, makes me feel hopeful. I know that there is a legitimate interest in Eugene to improve infrastructure, so I want to be able to have a very specific case to be able to point at for inspiration. It’s important that people beyond myself know about what is possible for a city the size of Eugene - such as light rail. I would say the most important thing for policymakers is education about what types of projects are the biggest bang for your buck in terms of kickstarting a change in transportation infrastructure. 

[oregon-to-amsterdam]

Winding Down in Amsterdam

Friday and Saturday were days I spent prepping for our final presentation, so I spent a lot of time down in the hostel cafe, staying as caffeinated as a chai latte can make someone (I just looked it up - 40mg per cup as opposed to 120mg for coffee!). During this study abroad, it was very hard to decide how to make time for coursework, as opposed to getting out and seeing what the location we were at had to offer. I’m a bit of a homebody so I didn’t go out to explore, especially by myself, as much as I should’ve. But, I don’t know if I would’ve honestly enjoyed going out on my own. I don’t know - FOMO is a hard thing to balance with mental health boundaries and coursework. 

Friday I navigated my way to the Anne Frank house for a tour with a few classmates. I have a terrible problem where I can get super close to where I need to be and not be able to find it. Which, is exactly what happened. Thankfully I spotted Robin’s colorful backpack, so I was able to follow her to the meeting spot. The Anne Frank house is well preserved, and it’s important to remember just how recent WW2 really is. Some of the magazine clippings that were pasted up on the wall felt really recent and made it feel so much more real, that you really are in their house. I don’t understand how this world can have so much hate in it. Trying to read, pay attention to the audio, and look around all at the same time during the tour was difficult for me because I have a hard time processing all of those things at once. It also was a bit stressful because many people go at the same allotted time as you, so you feel like you’re getting in other people’s way. I think what was most impactful was seeing her actual journals, with their little edits. This was a young girl, with hopes and dreams, who was killed in inhumane conditions just because of her religion. This was a person. I think it's sometimes too easy for humans to forget just how special each and every single life is. 

After finishing the tour, Claressa and Payton invited me to go to dinner with them, so we cycled together over to a food hall, where both Claressa and I got Vietnamese tofu bowls that were very good. I really appreciate that people involved me in outings, and it really helped make my trip so much better. 

Saturday, after working for a few hours, I went on a group canal tour. Most of my classmates and I, alongside our professor and our guides, all got into a little boat and were maneuvered around through the canals for about two hours. Floris, our guide for the entire study abroad, ended up giving us a personal tour as he grew up in Amsterdam, and so he showed us where he was born, where he played when he was younger, and even where his dad still lived. Floris was an interesting guy. He was 27-28, I’m not sure exactly, with a ph.D (?) in Geothermal energy. He signed up to do this tour with us before COVID hit, and he could’ve backed out when it got canceled, but he kept his word and helped shepherd us around for a month. I had a hard time understanding when he was being genuine or when he was joking around most of the time, but I appreciated his help nonetheless. It’s bizarre getting to know someone and then knowing you’ll never see them again. So, I hope Floris has a good rest of his life somewhere here in the Netherlands. 

Friday and Saturday were days I spent feeling in this weird in-between spot. Somewhere between exhausted and ready to be done, and sad and not ready to say goodbye. It made me think a lot about how connections are formed and subsequently lost, depending on the amount of effort each side puts in. I do know though that everyone I met on this trip will go on to do amazing things - that much I’m sure of after having spent a month with them.

[oregon-to-amsterdam]

PUMA Scavenger Hunt

Thursday was a slow day, thankfully. The morning breakfast spread had bacon available (yay!), so I got to start off the day on the right foot as I haven’t had any in quite a while and it’s always a treat. However, near the end of breakfast, we got the news that another person tested positive. It’s putting a lot of anxiety on a lot of the people here, and I’m starting to get affected by it. I can be very sensitive to others' stress, so I’m having a bit of a hard time. 

Anyways, Abby and I went out to do our PUMA scavenger hunt (Planning Urban Mobility and Accessibility). We decided that we wanted to do the grocery store prompt, which involved going to the entrance of a grocery store and watching the types of transportation at least fifty people took to arrive.

We did one session in front of a Vomar Voordeelmarkt in Watergraafsmeer, and another in front of another Vomar Voordeelmarkt in Dieman. Watergraafsmeer is considered a “prewar” neighborhood, while Dieman is “postwar”. The Vomar Voordeelmarkt we stationed ourselves in front of in Watergraafsmeer was on the corner of a larger building, across from both a large street on one side and a neighborhood of apartments on the other. Our counts were as followed: 

Bicycle: 11

Pedestrian: 36 

Car: 7

Moped: 3 

I was actually quite surprised there were even that many cars, as there wasn’t too much car parking available, and bicycle parking was actually far more accessible on either side of the building, both formal and informal. Something I find impressive is that people park cars badly, but they’re also very capable of parking a bicycle badly, too. I would say though that the other counts made sense given the area where the store was. I’m sure a lot of people from the nearby neighborhood were walking with one or two small bags, while those with bigger purchases seemed to take their bicycles for extra carrying capabilities. 

Abby and I made our way over next to the Vomar Voordeelmarkt in Dieman, which was a very pleasant ride, as a majority of it was routed through Park de Meer, and then on separated cycle tracks. I would say cycling out there, we noted how many greenspace/park areas Watergraafsmeer had on its edge as a barrier against the massive highway system. 

There was even a fairly large bike/ped bridge across the A10 ring road. Looking down at the multiple lanes of highway traffic made my heart hurt for a second, thinking about having to go back to that back home. Across the highways, we entered a compact neighborhood that had a pleasant fietspad. This Vomar Voordeelmarkt was actually a part of an American-styled mall, with plenty of car parking outside.  Both Abby and I definitely felt like we were home with the cars blasting music in the parking lot. Our counts were as follows: 

Bicycle: 18

Pedestrian: 12

Car: 19

Moped: 1 

So, while cars still beat out bicycles, it was a lot closer of a margin than you would see at a grocery store back home. While Dieman might be more car-dependant, it’s nowhere near the car dependency in “Any Town”, USA. The number of pedestrians made sense, due to the amount of high-density housing nearby. 

Overall, I would say my biggest takeaway from this assignment was that even in the cycling capital of the world, there are still places where people would rather take their car over their bicycle for a variety of reasons. Nowhere is perfect, and there are transportation gaps and inequalities everywhere.

[oregon-to-amsterdam]

Trains, Tests, and Trepidation - Amsterdam Day 1 & 2

Tuesday July 12th: 

On Tuesday we made our way from Utrecht to Amsterdam after our discussion and tour with Chris from the Dutch Cycling Embassy. We went on the train from Utrecht Centraal and had one transfer- going between the two major cities took probably about 20 minutes of being on the train itself, give or take. The train/metro system here is so easy and fast to use, it seems so intuitive like everywhere should have systems in place like this. However, it is always stressful when you don’t know a system, super well, and you have a timed schedule, with your luggage. I definitely think that if I used the train system on my own without carrying all of my luggage, I would have a much easier time. One of the biggest things to get used to is when you purchase a ticket, you have to check in, but also check out once you’ve gotten off as well. If you didn’t check in at the beginning, you won’t be let out once you get to your stop. Once all of Floris’ little ducklings had gotten off of the train and out of the station, we shuffled our way to the Generator hostel, located in Oosterpark, about a half mile away from the station.

The hostel itself used to be a part of a university, so it’s in a gorgeous old school building, which reminds me of McMenimans back home. I think we should definitely refit and reuse older buildings, as buildings like this have plenty of charm and interest to them. As I write this, I’m sitting in what used to be an auditorium, in the front row with my laptop balanced on the desk, but now I’m facing a bar instead of a professor. I wonder which one I prefer, truly.

Anyways, after settling in a bit, we walked our way down to the city center to get fitted for our rental bicycles. I (and many others) were grumpy at this time because we were exhausted from having an already busy morning, and it was hot and humid. We got fitted up, and then Nick and I cycled back to the hostel together. He was very smart with his directing, and we went a less populated route back home. Even if it took a bit longer, it was definitely worth it. There was one point where people were trying to get onto a ferry, cycling and walking across the cycle track. It was absolutely amazing to be able to maneuver through the chaos of people moving in all directions without much trouble. There are times when cycling here is very difficult and can be a bit discouraging, and then there are other times when it feels so amazing. I feel like being able to see the clear routes through crowds, with people going all different angles and speeds takes a lot of practice though.

We made our way back, and after rinsing off, I made my way down to the hostel restaurant and bar and hung out with Nick and Brendan for a while. At some point, Tam ended up joining us, and then Anisha and eventually Payton and Claressa. We were enjoying each other's company when we got messaged that someone had tested positive in our class, which then set off a chain reaction. People had to move around from their original rooms, and scramble to find and take tests. Thankfully, Tam let me stay in their room with them, and they even had a spare test I was able to use. Three people ended up testing positive, unfortunately. This is extremely stressful, especially since we’re unsure if we’ll be able to see any of those who tested positive before the end of the trip. The regulations for the Netherlands state that the positive person needs to be in isolation for five days, and this happened on the 12th, with our last day being the 17th. I’m really hoping that those who tested positive pull through without much hassle or feeling too bad, and I hope the rest of us can remain negative. It sounds like we’ll be testing at least once more tomorrow. After all of that stir-up, I slept really hard throughout the night. 

Wednesday July 13th:

On Wednesday, we had to wake up early for our 8 AM breakfast reservation in the basement. Thankfully, this hostel has more variety in its breakfast - with several options for carbs, some yogurt, and hard-boiled eggs. Everyone was still a bit on edge, but we finished up breakfast, got ready, and cycled out to meet with Marjolein.

Tam and I went together and managed the cycle tracks without too much struggle. One of my biggest worries is getting in people’s way, or acting in a way that places a burden on others, so it’s hard to cycle because mistakes feel so much worse when you can see or hear someone’s reaction to it. Thankfully nothing like that happened, but it’s still a pretty big fear of mine. We got a little off track due to my leading, but we eventually made our way to the office. Due to the covid worries, we met Marjolein outside, where she had a map spread out on the ground. She pointed a couple of areas out and discussed how Amsterdam went about creating its network.

I still don’t entirely understand how to start the process of making a cycle network, especially in the US (and I’m thinking more specifically about my hometown, where I would like to return for work). I guess because when I mentally map it out, I see plenty of new roads that would be great places for adding routing, but are fairly new roads, and I don’t see the feasibility of making changes until the roads need some sort of construction. I don’t think the bicycle lanes we have in the US are safe enough to really consider as part of a network yet until we get both drivers and cyclists more comfortable with bicycles’ presence. I tried to look up if there were any official maps from my hometown on the bicycle network and was unsuccessful in finding anything. I would love to know what some of the current plans are in the works, but those also prove a bit difficult to find.

Marjolein took us on a winding tour through Amsterdam, routing us through beautiful natural areas, tight roads without markings, massive roads with cycle tracks, and even the museum tunnel. There is a route through a museum's middle, where you can ride your bicycle! Frankly, it made me a bit emotional, cycling through this beautiful hallway, classical music echoing throughout the space. It was beautiful, and it shows how many things can be done with bicycle routes. After ending our tour, Tam and I grabbed some lunch from a grocery store and hung out in the park until our meeting.

We met with Meredith, a post-doc professional from the University of Amsterdam, who gave us instructions for a scavenger hunt relating to transportation, with three different sections of the city that came with different objectives (and points). We are supposed to finish what we can by tomorrow at 3 PM, so I’ll write more on that later.

In the evening, I got drinks with Tam, Brendan, and Nick, and then Nick and I went out for Ethiopian food - which was my first time ever having it! It was delicious, and I always enjoy having others show me new food. 

[oregon-to-amsterdam]

Cleverly designed street in Utrecht - with background lecture being given by our city planning host Ronald! I was in awe watching this traffic flow.

[oregon-to-amsterdam]

Final Days of Utrecht

July 11th we met with European Cyclist Federation Board President Henk Swarttouw to discuss his work. We met in- let's pause a moment for suspense…a park. Henk was very passionate about his work and inspiring. He said the reason he lobbies for cycling is that the people who are passionate about cycling are never mean or upset in their general nature. That’s definitely true. Afterward, we cycled around with Ronald and he showed us a variety of cycling infrastructure, from fietsplad or shared roads to renovated rail trails. We got ice cream a couple of hours in, and a group of us discussed the US and politics a bit with Ronald, which I feel was insightful for both sides of the conversation. The coolest thing Ronald showed us was a bicycle/pedestrian bridge that actually was on top of an elementary school! The multipurpose use of land in such an unexpected way was super cool to see. At the end of our cycling tour, we stopped at a street in Utrecht that Ronald had been a part of transforming into what it is today. The street was initially just your run-of-the-mill everyday urban street, but it had been transformed into a much more walkable area. The most surprising part was that there was a through street that was not marked, and looked like cars just had to come up onto the plaza. I watched amazed at the movement. Utrecht really made me realize how even though humans seem to crave order, we can survive amazingly well in calculated chaos. 

July 12th we met Chris from the Dutch Cycling Embassy in his office, where he gave us an overview of Dutch cycling history, before taking another tour of downtown Utrecht. He covered a lot of the points that Ronald had covered the day prior. After Chris’s tour, Claressa showed me an amazing Vietnamese place. I am still thinking about the beef and rice bowl I got. We grabbed our bags, and rolled our way back to the train station, where we hopped on to head to our final destination- Amsterdam!

[oregon-to-amsterdam]

A Couple of Days in Utrecht

On July 7th, we made our way from our cabins in Nijmegen to the train station and boarded for our hour-long ride to Utrecht. I’ve been constantly amazed at how quiet the train rides are, in that there is not much outside noise from the movement on the tracks, and the ride itself is quite smooth as well. In Utrecht, we disembarked in the gorgeous Utrecht Centraal, the largest transport hub in the Netherlands. Utrecht Centraal hosts a bus station, train station, and the largest underground bicycle parking station in the world. The station itself is fairly intuitive and easy to navigate, like most other things here in Europe. The tickets are easy to buy, and all directional information is on the first floor, with a set of escalators going to each track. While it’s still a bit intimidating for someone like me who does not use public transportation all that often at home (and when I do, it’s extremely simple in comparison), I feel like I can figure out where I need to end up. There is also an app by the national railway system that also helps a ton as well. We made our way through a massive, futuristic American-styled mall and rolled our miserable little suitcase-laden selves to the hostel. We ended up being six people in a room, without a window looking outside, or any way to get fresh air in, so it felt a bit like a prison, plain concrete flooring and all. But, I can’t say that soured my time in Utrecht at all, I enjoyed the city quite a bit, and I can imagine visiting it again. After we settled in, we took a short walking tour with our local expert, Ronald, who showed us one of the busiest cycling intersections in Utrecht. It was terrifying, and it wasn’t even during rush hour at a time of year when the university is in session. On one side there is a two-way cycle track, on the parallel side, there is a one-way cycle track. People would go from the one way, cut across the center, and enter onto the two-way track. This meant there was movement going at all angles in the intersection. Some trying to cross completely from one side to the other, some changing onto a different track, and some people just trying to turn left. Absolute chaos. I think it really symbolizes how the Dutch view cycling though, especially in comparison to the Danes. 

The Danes are much more calculated, and the tracks are there to be generally followed and moved on appropriately as long as you move with purpose. For the Dutch, the cycle tracks and their directions are more just suggestions. That’s something I find refreshing about both cultures though, there is a general faith in people to act in a way that is responsible. I feel like the training wheels come off sooner (or at all) for the way people generally behave in public in comparison to the US. I do think that another big difference between the two styles of cycling is eye contact. I believe that the Dutch are much more reliant on eye contact for judging people’s movements, while the Danish (while they definitely do also make eye contact), rely more on the societal expectations of movement as well as their judgments of speed/angles/spatial information. 

July 8th we met again with Ronald, who took us on a tour of the suburb of Houten. Houten was an area built up with cycling and walking in mind. The usage of a car is made difficult due to the street routing/structures, so it encourages the use of other modes of transportation. Houten reminded me of the Streets of Tanasbourne and the potential that area has. I think that there could be great, safe, bicycle-focused streets, and the housing styles, brick and all seem to be similar. Houten definitely feels like it is more for upper-middle class residents, especially the houses near the water. I wish we had been able to spend more time there to take it all in. After cycling through Houten, Ronald took us to a swimming spot. I got in, along with a few others, and enjoyed the break. All in all that day, we ended up cycling about 31 miles. At the end of the ride, we went to a pancake house Ronald suggested, and I got an apple, raisin, and cinnamon pancake. While we were waiting, Ronald was making small talk with me, and mentioned a recipe he used to make for his children when they were young- they’d specifically ask him to make it over his wife. It starts as a standard Dutch dish: mashed potatoes and sauerkraut mixed together. Then, you add some bacon pieces, which sounds wonderful. Then, a handful of raisins, some pineapple chunks and juice…and mandarin slices to top it all off. Frankly, my initial reaction was to say that he was lying because it sounded so absolutely bizarre. Ronald stood his ground and even texted one of his daughters to corroborate. It ended up being true, and I even had two Dutch people confirm as well, although both were a bit surprised by the mandarin slices. 

July 9th we had free, and I’m pretty sure I went to the Miffy Museum with Tam. One of my biggest weaknesses is cute things, so I spent way too much money - but I did get most of my souvenirs for people back home. Miffy was created in Utrecht, and you can even see her in crosswalk signals. When I say I have a weakness for cute things, I do absolutely mean it. If Miffy asked me to liquidate my 401k for her or make questionable investment decisions, I would. In the evening we had a small class meeting in a park and then went to a happy hour at a bar afterward. Brendan, Ann, and I split a pizza, and I got a cider. Ann and Giselle got an 8% cider that they split, but it definitely does not take much for Ann to be able to enjoy her evening. I learned a few girl scout songs just by being in proximity. Afterward, Brendan and I went to a pool hall, and I had a great time shooting pool with a Dutch guy and his friend from, amazingly enough, Portland. I’ll definitely remember my time spent in bars and pool halls on this trip fondly. 

July 10th was our professional panel with Robin and Andrew in a (get this, again) park. Both Robin and Andrew had good straightforward advice, including understanding when to express your own individual opinions, versus creating a strong front to support a project that you may not necessarily agree with, but that will get your community closer to your end goal. Another point was to work on tailoring your message to the audience you’re trying to reach, which seems to be a common message from professionals in this field. I worry about potentially coming across as insincere, but I think that I need to just keep a strong belief in the project I’m working on, and deliver key points to different people when appropriate. Later that day, we had the option to either cycle or take a train to attend a former alumnus talk at a transportation hub. I decided to take the train, and I enjoyed a quick and easy ride to the site. On-site, Bradley discussed the basis of his job, how he ended up working in the Netherlands, and more information about the train network and how the transportation hub worked. One critical but small detail is having buses facing the train station so that when people get off of the train, they can easily see where buses are headed. Small details like this help facilitate the usage of public transit. I think an important thing to remember is that humans want to be lazy by nature- they’ll tend to choose whichever option is easiest and most convenient, so if cycling is the easiest option, that will be what people choose, or if riding the train is the easiest, that will be their choice.

[oregon-to-amsterdam]

Nijmegen- Cabins, Good Food and Egg Incubator Boxes

Monday morning we set out after breakfast to make our way from Odense to Nijmegen via vans. This means I can (technically) add another country to my list of places, as we drove through Germany and I did in fact get out of the van twice onto German land. My van was Floris (as our driver), Nick, Ann, Peyton, Lucy, Rachel, Brendan, and I. I was in the back middle, which I don’t have many complaints about. A lot of us slept in small intervals, read, and listened to music. I listened to a podcast about the Fellowship of Friends, a cult in Northern California. It was a smooth ride, with lots of beautiful farmland alongside industrial sections. Near the end, Brendan and I busted out the cribbage board, and everyone else played games about guessing famous people. It got fairly heated at times and was fun to listen to, but I would have lost terribly as I don’t know much about pop culture. We did have to get diverted off our original course though, as Dutch farmers are currently protesting the beginnings of talks regarding reducing CO2 emissions when it comes to farming in the country. Having a tractor can sometimes give you strategic advantages beyond the field. Eventually, we made it to a grocery store, and we split up to grab our food for the next couple of days since we would be quite away out of town. Peyton, Claressa, and I were roommates, so we decided on tofu burrito bowls for dinner and eggs for breakfast. I also got myself some pineapple, which is called “ananas” here. Ananas is the french word for pineapple, so I do wonder where the word for bananas came from. Anyways, we weren’t aware that some places in the Netherlands do not accept VISA credit cards, so some of us struggled a bit. Our lodgings in Nijmegen were beautiful. We stayed in EuroParcs, which is a newly constructed small vacation home community on the water. I even had my own room for the first time on this trip, which I didn’t realize I missed so much until I had it back. That’s been one of the harder things to deal with on this trip- not having a space to call my own. That’s why having my own room, but also a kitchen, really restored me. Cooking is something that I have always turned to for self-care, so it was so nice to be able to make meals for our little cabin. 

Tuesday we had a tour with Sjors van Duren, a former city planner, to discuss some of the projects he worked on throughout and surrounding Nijmegen. Sjors had a very interesting view on needing to tailor how projects are discussed with different stakeholders, and which styles of conversation are needed for the most effective conversation. I guess I knew this innately, but it was interesting to hear from a professional, and it will definitely be something I think about moving into my own career. Another thing he mentioned was to get small buy-ins from certain stakeholders (one city putting in a small percentage for a project), so that you can leverage that buy-in with other stakeholders (“well, X City already promised $, what can you do for us, Y City?”), and then slowly increase the numbers of what each party can contribute until you have the money you need for a project that is a net positive. I thought this was extremely smart and would have great potential in the US. Beyond the helpful lecture, Sjors also showed us some of the projects he had spearheaded in the area that had come to fruition. I think the most impressive one was the bike/ped bridge that connected the area we had been staying into Nijmegen, with a 45-minute bicycle ride that originally would not have been possible whatsoever. He discussed how the bridge had to be a certain distance away from the rail bridge nearby, as the railroad companies have a large amount of power in the Netherlands, and would have demanded huge additions to the project that would have made it absolutely unfeasible. The most disconcerting one was if the project inspected the trail company's bridge, if there were any structural unsound components, the project would have to pay for the repairs. To not do anything would be putting civilians in danger and an act of negligence. After the bridge, we cycled through a lovely forested trail and discussed how certain concessions had to be made in order to get the trail to be feasible with the local land owners. This included having certain sections be yellow instead of red to better blend into the forest terrain and mimic the original rocky trail that had been there before, as well as making certain sections thinner. I feel like with the number of rules and regulations we have in the US, this might be difficult. We cycled for a while through Nijmegen and ended on a major bicycle and pedestrian bridge. Some of us headed back to our cabins and went to a grocery store on the way. That evening we made vegan peanut stew with rice, and I hung out with Nick and Brendan and chatted until it got dark and I headed back to our little cabin. 

Wednesday was a free day, and Claressa mentioned she’d be going into town to try and ship some things home so she wouldn’t have to carry them around for the rest of the trip. I personally brought way too much, because I thought it’d be colder, and because I have anxiety. So, I packed up two paneers, and the front pack as well, and alongside Giselle, we made our way into town through that gorgeous forest trail again. I cannot imagine ending a stressful day at work, and still being stressed by the end of that commute personally. The first place we went to was unsuccessful, but the employee did give us some boxes (I got an egg incubator box), and directions to a place that would be able to ship to the US, so with coordinates in hand, we made our way further into the city. Claressa was amazing and head my cardboard box for me while we cycled and I navigated. Without her, I wouldn’t have been able to have done any of the things I did that day. I do think I am still fairly reliant on others this trip, which is something I want to work on, but I feel even despite that I am becoming more independent and brave. While I still have a hard time asking strangers for help, I can at least navigate cities on another continent with some competency. Anyways, we made our way to the other shipping place, which also doubled as a very small electronics store, and somehow made our way through the process of printing out shipping tags and paying, despite needing addresses and phone numbers from the Netherlands, and having a fairly significant language barrier between us and the shop owner. I ended up spending about 200$ to ship things home, but I think the peace of mind was absolutely worth it. After successfully completing our mission, we both decided we’d like some lunch to celebrate, and went to Fika. We both had an open-face toast with toppings, which were delicious, and I also had a chai that was the best chai I’ve had in Europe so far. We happened to run into Rebecca and Nick, and they stopped to chat for a couple of minutes before heading off. We chatted for a while, and then made our way back to Adam’s house for the bbq he was hosting for us. Everyone showed up, and we had a fun time in his backyard. He was a wonderful head chef and made us a huge selection of burgers, hotdogs, chicken thighs, and even steak. There were options for vegetarians too, including patties and hotdogs which I heard were wonderful. Despite being full from the bbq, I got invited by a group to go around the corner to the only restaurant in the area for pancakes. We went in, and I think both the single indoor table of patrons as well as the servers were a bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of Americans that had just entered the building. We ended up splitting up into smaller groups to split pancakes, and our little group split a stroopwafel one and a strawberry one, both of which were wonderful. We enjoyed our dessert and made our way back to the cabins. It felt like the perfect nostalgic summer night to end our time in Nijmegen. 

In the next post, I’ll discuss our next stop- Utrecht!

[oregon-to-amsterdam]

Odense - Something to Strive For

Getting to Odense on Friday, we cycled on a rail trail for eleven miles and then transferred to a train. The rail-trail was a set of train tracks that were repurposed because it is an excellent site for a trail. This is because train tracks have to be on a relatively flat and straight path to run safely. While we cycled, I learned about how American government entities want to make trails that have to be a certain width to account for the potential of eventual usage increases. This is not intuitive because it sets the bar too high for certain projects to ever come to fruition. Nick mentioned that this requires paths that would not be able to be made to be 14 feet in width (approx), which is wider than most paving machines - meaning it doubles the cost. Also, train tracks usually sit on 10-foot width sections, which would then need to be increased…it seems like we just don’t want to make it feasible to make trails. Another thing about rail-trails that will be difficult in the US is that our rail companies have very strong control and command over their rails, even if they’re decommissioned. That means that if we wanted to create a trail like the one that I rode on, there would be several hoops to jump through. Anyways, it was a very pleasant ride, the weather was perfect, nice and cloudy, and we went at a nice pace to be able to chat about infrastructure. I wrote more about how the train station went in a previous post, so I won’t get into that here and I’ll just skip to Odense itself. 

Odense is the third-largest city in Denmark, with a population size of about 180,000. The fact that a city of comparable size to Eugene (170,000) is one of the largest cities in the entire country is crazy. I wonder if working in Denmark means that you feel like you have a bigger impact with your work, due to the smaller size. Odense is also a university town like Eugene, meaning it has the same fluxes and flows of the population moving in and out of the city depending on the time of year. I think that this is an interesting case study to do since we’re studying transportation infrastructure to take back home. What amazes me is that Odense just opened its first light rail line throughout the city last month. I know light rail is not even on the table for Eugene currently from their feasibility studies. Why not? I asked Andrew about this at one point, and for one reason or another, it’s not on the table for Eugene. I would assume this is because we need to get more work done just on our buses and their usage to even begin to think about light rail. Overall, I really liked the feeling of Odense, maybe because it’s a university town with transportation, I don’t know. I think it’s been one of my favorite locations so far, and I’d probably visit again. A lot of my classmates complained about the city feeling empty or dead, but I didn’t mind all that much. I like the slower pace that summer gave it, just like how Eugene slows down during the summer term. It had beautiful parks, interesting architecture, and a great foundation in transportation infrastructure.

On Friday, after our rail-trail adventures, we arrived and went across the street from the hostel to a cafe where we sat and waited for our rooms to be available. I got a chai and found it to be too sweet, which confirmed my hypothesis that the Danish do not know how to make a good chai, and seem to think it’s a full dessert item. I was really tired by that point, so I almost passed out at the cafe since they had really comfortable pillows. Anisha was nice and let me have half her sandwich since it was going to be too much for her. Eventually, we were able to drop off our stuff real quick and see our rooms, which turned out to look like they were out of the Nickelodeon hotel from the mid-00s; interesting color decisions and all. We’re talking multiple purples and bright blues, and something nearing bowling carpet. After settling in for a few minutes, we all walked over to meet Connie, a transportation planner with the city, and had our tour with her, where she showed us some infrastructure around Odense, including a bike/ped bridge across train tracks, and traffic calming measures in front of an elementary school. There were polka dots on the street, which added to the school's playfulness but also made drivers slow down to process the different visuals. Later that day I went out with a group to Storms, a food hall near the harbor, where there are tons and tons of food options. I ended up getting an Indian chicken bowl, which was fine. It was a very fun place to go, and there was a party vibe with the Tour De France being televised in the entrance area. 

The next day, Saturday, we had a professional panel in the park with Robert and Catherine, as they were leaving our class. The park was gorgeous and had a river running through it, and I really loved how big and natural it all felt, even in the center of a city. Later that night, Brendan, Nick, and I hung out in a park until it got dark after another dinner at Storms, to play some cribbage. I loved that I felt safe enough in Odense, a city that I had never been to, that I could hang out in the park that late without any fear. 

On Sunday, I rode the light rail down to a laundromat with Anisha and Peyton, with my laundry in a big bag. It was simple- I paid with an app, got on, rode three or so stops, and then got off, probably all within ten or fifteen minutes tops, and there were trains running every ten minutes or so. It even had stops at good intervals. Convenient, fast, simple. Afterward, I went out on my own and got extremely good Thai food on my own before meeting up with Brendan and Tam at a pool hall. We played pool for a while and then walked back to the hostel in the rain for our evening meeting. 

Overall, Odense felt like a city that Eugene could strive towards. It has beautiful green spaces, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, and even light rail, all while being comparable. It was a city I felt safe in, and that ebbed and flowed with the time of year. This isn’t all to say that Odense is the perfect town- but that the things that the planners of Odense have accomplished are in fact possible for a city of its size and scale.

[oregon-to-amsterdam]

One Nation, Indivisible...

I’ve been thinking a lot about my Uncle recently. He passed away in November of last year after months of fighting for his life after suffering a stroke in January. I’ve been thinking about how it was unfair- he was only in his mid-50s. Would his life have been different? What would his life have been like if he had been born here in the Netherlands? Would he have had preventative care from a younger age if he had had universal healthcare? What about mental health care? What about the lack of nutritional value in our greatly processed foods in the US? Would he have turned to vices like cigarettes if he had not been under the immense pressure of living in a capitalistic system with extremely low pay? Would he have had his stroke? Would he have ended up in a "rehab center" - that ultimately led to his death - for people deemed less worthy of quality healthcare because they didn't happen to have healthcare? Would he still be alive today?

All of this is a personal reflection on how governments treat their population. I see two governments here in Denmark and the Netherlands that are seemingly working towards improving their population’s health and well-being directly feeding into a stronger, more resilient economy. Why would our government not follow their lead? Why would our government actively struggle so much against, for example, improved infrastructure for its people? 

I want to do something with my life that improves other lives, but I worry red tape and societal divisions will make that impossible. I want to help build things that improve people’s health and happiness. Seeing the infrastructure here does make me feel like that’s possible. We had a tour in Nijmegen with a former city planner, and he told us that much of the infrastructure we were cycling on had not been there just 15 years ago. That makes me feel a spark of hope, however small. He spoke a lot about how you frame projects to different segments of the population- the general public versus the government and so on. I think that this will be critical in the US where everything is so divided. If you frame something one way with one side of the aisle, you’ll have to frame it differently from the other. I wish our politicians and country were not so divided that things like bicycling are tied to political leaning. 

So, while I’m here, a thousand miles away from the place I currently call home, I think about my Uncle and the millions of others who have lost their lives from oppressive systems that work directly against the health and happiness of individuals.

[oregon-to-amsterdam]

Sea, Fields, Trails, and More Fields...

My favorite part about bicycle touring was seeing the countryside and experiencing something new. To be out in nature, pushing myself mentally and physically to my ultimate limits, and then having to keep going was hard, but I could see how it could be liberating. I definitely pushed myself past limits I didn’t mentally feel were possible (hills that are exhausting…only to be followed directly by another hill of the same height). 

At those moments, it really felt like it was all about being exhausted, but in hindsight, I think there’s something to be said for being present in the moment. That is something I really struggle with, but I think on those longer rides, I didn’t have a choice- and that’s great when there are not many times I feel that way. American culture puts a lot of focus on moving forward and focusing on what's next and how you can get there, which I think is toxic and creates a constant cycle of stress. Even when you get to those moments you looked so forward to in the past, you have new things to work towards. What you have is never enough. So, when you’re out cycling, surrounded by big fields of wheat and an empty sky so blue that it hurts, your muscles burning, your body tired, you feel only those sensations, you only think about making it from one moment to the next. While there is some aspect of moving forward to a destination on longer cycling trips, I think it becomes background to the physical feelings. 

Those rides also made me feel strong, because I don’t think I’ve ever done any ride that long (10, 24, 26, 11 miles), let alone that many miles four days in a row. Something in the US that we have completely backward is trying to schedule exercise into our lives when it could be something that just is part of a way of living. Why go to the gym to run on a treadmill for half an hour every day when you could just cycle to work for half an hour? I think our lack of safe infrastructure has helped feed into this capitalistic structure where companies profit off of our inability to get around with physical exercise in a way that feels safe. There are a lot of players in the system with a lot of money that profit off of our citizens not having bicycle infrastructure- gyms are just one small example. I think if we as (future) planners do not acknowledge this fact, that there are active forces that oppose the building of infrastructure that is good for our citizens purely for their bottom lines, we will be better equipped to deal with these forces in a way that is constructive. 

As for the rides themselves, and the infrastructure put in place, it reminds me more of what we have in the US- trails for fun. On the island, the signage was sometimes not 100% clear, but we also may have been going from route to route when other cyclists would just follow one track. I know a few people got lost going down routes that were pointed out as a continuation of the trail they had been on. There were also large sections of gravel road, which sometimes made it slippery, or difficult to keep up important momentum to make it up hills. 

For the other longer ride from Svendborg to Faaborg, we had to follow the directions we had from our phones, not intuitively from signage. There were long sections that were on highway shoulders, where we had a foot or two of space as semi-trucks skimmed by us. I think it’s important to note that places like Denmark and the Netherlands are not perfect- they don’t have a perfect infrastructure set up for bicycles (yet). But, we made it! 

On the third day, we had to option to either go 27 miles or 11 miles and then get on a train to arrive at our destination. I chose to go on the train for two reasons: one was that I was tired, and two was that I wanted to see how the train systems worked outside of the Copenhagen area. The process of getting a ticket for the bicycle was very easy and intuitive, but getting the bicycle to the correct platform was a bit difficult, in that it was either steep stairs or a slow elevator. Once we made it into the train itself, there was not any place to put the bicycles, which is a bit of a problem considering there were five of us. We ended up creating an impressive Tetris of our bicycles and bodies in the entrances. Something small I’ve noticed in both trains and elevators is that people wait directly in front of doors here in Europe, instead of back and to the side like I’ve become accustomed to in the US. So, this can be stressful when manhandling a bicycle out of a door where people are trying to get in and there are four other bicycles struggling to make way. I was surprised there was not more infrastructure put in place in the train that supported cyclists- on MAX trains there are bicycle hooks for cyclists to place their bicycles on to make more room, so I expected something similar. Maybe these types of trains are more for shorter trips, which it could be assumed that someone would just do by bicycle anyways. That’s my best guess though. 

Overall, cycling for recreation is an important part of bicycle infrastructure, but should not be where we start or stop. If we start with only recreational paths and no commuting infrastructure, we will alienate a larger percentage of people who will think cycling is a leisure-only activity. If we don’t have any recreational trails for cycling, that will be an alienation of people who find their love for cycling on those trails.

[oregon-to-amsterdam]

Infrastructure of Denmark

Infrastructure is another background noise for most urban residents, playing an important role in their everyday lives that they may never consider. Infrastructure is what makes cities move, and successfully- everything from the street markings, lighting, sidewalks, and more.

What I noticed in Copenhagen was that the infrastructure was made for human-scaled activities. This makes perfect sense of course because it is a city that was started in the 1100s, and everything someone would need for everyday life would need to be within a reasonable distance. This is something else that I experienced in London when I visited in 2019- I had to get purified water, and I was able to walk to the pharmacy without much effort. In a modern-day context, this feels like a hard thing to accomplish because of the complexities of the lives we lead.

It feels for some even, like a pointless endeavor- why would you care about making anything human-scaled and put a focus on human-powered transportation options like walking or biking when the car exists. With the car, the world is practically our oyster. I feel without this infrastructure design, our innate abilities to form community and meaningful connections are stunted. Instead of interacting with your neighbors or the architecture or infrastructure of your city, you are in a fast-moving box hurdling from point A to point B. In Copenhagen, there were so many times that I saw two people either wave or shout out to people passing by because they just happened to run into each other randomly, and it was such a great thing to see.

Bicycle infrastructure: Bicycle infrastructure is nearly everywhere and feels intuitive for the most part. I would say the hardest thing to learn is the left box turn, as it isn't as intuitive, and there are situations where there was a turn left area painted onto the bicycle lane, so it varied from place to place on what you should do. When we went on a tour with Copenhagenize, we had infrastructure decisions pointed out to us that were not as well done- the point being that even Copenhagen, the bicycling city, messes up too. Some of the examples were from construction sites where the cycle tracks were difficult to navigate, to cycling intersections and lanes that defied any rules or intuitive understanding on the part of the cyclist. There are places where you would need to be a cyclist who regularly went through those areas in order to know what to do. I think it is certainly a notable thing for people to be aware that where they live is not perfect, and being able to point out those problems to outsiders is an impressive thing to be able to do.

Other infrastructure for bicycles included bike/ped bridges, bicycle-specific lights, protected cycle tracks and raised cycle tracks. During a scavenger hunt, a classmate and I posted up next to the bridge Lille Langebro because it was very busy and there was a right-hand turn onto the street that was sharp and we wanted to see how different cyclists negotiated it. All different sorts of people took different approaches to this turn, from just going on the sidewalk and entering further down the street, to being skilled enough to make it. We observed how the slightest of movements helped the more experienced cyclists read other cyclists in order to move most effectively. It was amazing to watch some of the locals ride, as their movement was so fluid and at ease like the bicycle was an extension of their body.

Car infrastructure: I think being constantly surrounded by bicycles has taught car drivers how to be better drivers. The car infrastructure certainly exists in Copenhagen and on a larger scale, Denmark, but it is harder to be a car owner here. There are higher taxes, initial costs, and continuing costs, and gasoline prices are higher here than they are in the US. This is all to say, while it's possible to be a car owner, it's not the best form of daily transport. What we've done in the US is we've made car ownership a peak point of an individual's social status, and supported this with an infrastructure that puts cars first. We had many cities built out when cars already existed- which is a bit of a phenomenon in comparison to Europe and abroad.

[oregon-to-amsterdam]

Copenhagen & Parks/Playgrounds

If you spend more than a few hours in Copenhagen, you'll see that it is a city flush with parks and greenspace. Our hostel is located near Kongens Have or Kings Park, initially built for the King of Denmark's family in 1624, but was eventually opened to the public around 1710. It is a popular spot for locals and the Jazz festival was taking place there. It has green space, rose gardens, and a moat-styled area where you can feed the fish. I stopped into Kongens Have to have my lunch, and I walked past a free puppet show that was being hosted, music and all. It strikes me how much free entertainment there is available in Denmark as opposed to the US. Most pastimes are free and have a very social component: puppetry in the park, swimming in the harbor, walking around in the botanical garden, and so on.

The other day when I cycled around with some of the professionals, we stumbled on a small playground for the nearby apartment complexes that was fascinating. It was metal, had rope tunnels, and was surrounded by trees to give a decent amount of it a feeling of being a secret treehouse for little ones. Susan pointed out the hidden areas, and we briefly discussed American-styled parenting- what I view as being overly protective. I don’t know whether or not this style of playground would be allowed in the US or not, and I’d be interested to hear others' opinions on the subject. I personally would have loved this playground when I was young.

On Thursday, 23.6 we went to Trafiklegepladsen, or "Traffic Garden" which is one of many staffed playgrounds around the city. Meaning, that there are employees there to help assist children and their parents. The Traffic Garden is a realistic street system but scaled down for little ones to learn how to navigate the streets in a safe way. It was originally made for learning the basics of driving cars through the use of go-karts but as Denmark's transportation shifted, the Traffic Garden did as well, shifting to focus on bicycle riding and rules instead. Denmark seems to have a strong focus on children and their needs, which is a very nice thing to experience. The staff member who showed us around, Richard, spoke about the powerful difference between structured learning and learning through play. He said that they originally had classes for kids, but that kids learn just as much if not more through play. They will play in the traffic garden, on their bikes, and learn how to ride.

[oregon-to-amsterdam]

Copenhagen and the Fear of Turning Left

I've had a few hectic days here since the class started!

(20.6) Day One: Bike to the Park

I talked about the first half of this day in my last post, but the second half of the day was when things really began to ramp up and become official. At 3:30, we met on the rooftop terrace to meet each other, go over information briefly, and then we were given our rental bicycle keys for our time here in Copenhagen. We had to find our own bicycles and figure out how to lock and unlock them before setting off only with directions and a teammate to find our way to a park for dinner. The bicycle locks here are so nice, they are a back lock that you put your key into, and it unlocks. You keep your key in the lock while you're cycling around, and once you get to your destination, you press down a latch and it releases the lock back into the wheel and you can remove the key. It's lightweight, attached to the bicycle, and a small contained unit, so you don't have to worry too much about it getting messed up in the elements, or losing it. We self-paired ourselves with classmates and I went with Tam, a Ph.D. student from California.

Starting bicycling in Copenhagen at rush hour is like jumping into a river. It takes your breath away and is terrifying. You're disoriented, and the currents are strong and move around you in ways you didn't even know were possible. The people here move on their bicycles like they are just an extension of their bodies, and always have been. It's fluid, and they have a very strong perception of speed and their own size.

Tam and I found the park on our map, and set out into the flow, unsteady on our bicycles, and uncertain of the roads. I had been in Copenhagen for two days prior, but never on a bicycle, and never as far from the hostel as where we needed to go.

Another adjustment was that bicycles here don't have hand brakes, but instead, they have the backward pedal brakes- meaning that if you pedal backward, then you slow yourself down. This means that you can't easily adjust your pedals into a starting position, and you have to adjust to being able to begin moving from any foot positioning. This is very difficult, especially with the stress of stalling traffic whatsoever. When I travel, I want to respect the people living in those places, and I feel like interrupting their daily routine with my own inept understanding of traffic and bicycling is rude and frustrating. I know I would probably find it annoying!

So, with some trial and error, fear and panic, frustration and desperation, we eventually found ourselves at the park, overwhelmed and tired. I'm glad I had already mostly adjusted myself to the timezone, as I cannot fathom how it must have been for my classmates who had landed that day to try and navigate through the streets running on just fumes. We cycled around the park itself for some time before the pizzas arrived, and we were able to socialize for a good while before bicycling back to the hostel. The pizza itself was good- but there was a tuna option...

On our way to the park, we were supposed to follow a local for a good distance before going to the park itself. Tam and I got turned around enough that we didn't technically follow anyone who was not already headed where we mostly were. In the park, I followed a local for a while, a woman who had a silk scrunchie holding her braids that matched the same light blue of her bicycle. The people here are fashionable, but I truly found that to be next-level.

All in all that first day reminded me of a lesson I have been learning over and over again in life: trying something new is like jumping in freezing water, and just trying to get your head above water.

(21.6) Day Two: Bike Mike

Bicycle Mi-cycle doesn't work as well.

Our day started with trying to find our way to the Isreal Plads, a park near the food hall Tavhallerene, which hosts a basketball court, a skate park, big stairs to watch the world go by on, and a fountain feature as well. I made my way over with my current roommates, Abby and Nina.

On our way, I learned my lesson the hard way about left-hand turns. They are still (even as I write this) a bit of a confusing phenomenon, and vary so much depending on where you are and what the street layout is. I made a lefthand turn as a car would and (don't read this part mom), almost got hit by a van. And when I mean almost, I mean very much almost. Now, whenever I get stressed out about bicycling here, I always remember that the car drivers here have a lot of practice at hitting their brakes real fast and knowing there are plenty of idiot tourists such as myself. I think what hurt the most from that experience wasn't actually almost getting hit, it was the scoff an old lady made when I signaled and began moving to turn. That damaged my ego more than anything else, truly.

Since then I have learned that there are either left-hand turn lanes painted into the cycle tracks OR you have to stop on the lefthand side of your track after signaling, and then cross with the green light. It is a mixed bag and you never know entirely what the situation will be unless you know the street. What is terrifying is that the people here bike FAST, and they use the lefthand part of the track to pass. So, if you want to go to the left when there is traffic, you have to signal enough in advance, while also being aggressive. There are a lot of small intricate details that go into turning left on a bicycle in downtown Copenhagen.

We made our way to the Isreal Plads and wandered over to Torvehallerne, the food hall, while we waited for the class meeting to start for the day. I ended up bumping into Ann, and we got iced tea together. I think I just don't like tea. Once class began, we made our way back into the Plads and discussed the plans for the day, which involved going on a multiple-hour tour with Bike Mike. We made our way over to his office from Isreal Plads, and he began his tour.

Mike is an eccentric danish man who is in his 60s or 70s who has moments of bizarre tirades where he’ll make direct eye contact with just one student, and other moments of depressing monologue either about his father's death or about infant mortality rates. Anyways, Bike Mike took us on a winding tour of downtown Copenhagen, going by the oldest church in the city, some of the biggest museums, a mermaid statue, and the Queen's palace. It was a fun tour, and he dropped our group off at a bridge near Christiania, and then quickly cycled off without a last word. I ended up seeing him later at a food truck area getting a burger, but for me, that man is a bizarre inhuman being that is just weaved into the fabric of Copenhagen.

After his tour, I got a burger with Ann and Tam (I found it underwhelming) and spent the rest of the day recuperating.

(22.6) Day Three: Copenhill

We had a slow morning, I leisurely got ready for the day and got myself a bagel. Abby came and got a bagel after I had been there for a couple minutes, and so we were able to talk and get to know each other a bit. Eventually, Abby and I had to make our way over to Copenhill, the incinerator/ski hill building. On the way, Abby got a flat tire, and we had to be rescued by our local liaison Floris. He quickly came and swapped her bicycle out with his, and we made our way out to Copenhill- only to be passed on the way by who else, but Floris himself. That man is a beast on a bicycle who hardly ever stops smiling. Maybe there's something in the dutch water.

Anyways, we got to Copenhill on time, only to be told that our tour had not actually been put on the books by Copenhill, so we needed to wait around to see if they could get us a guide by 3 PM. We ended up going up the massive staircase all the way to the top of the 85-meter building to the rooftop cafe. Where...they didn't have still water, only sparkling. Europeans love their sparkling water, and I have had several bottles- still can't get behind it. The tour ended up being canceled, but I lingered to talk to one of the professionals, Robert, who works with Metro doing trail connectivity work among other things. Some of the other professionals, Robin and Susan mentioned they were going on a ride to find roundabouts, and Robert decided he wanted to go. Susan invited me to ride along, and I decided to go for it.

We had a fun afternoon getting comfortably lost in the city, wandering around on our bikes. We did find roundabouts and rode around them several times. I think we are probably the most bizarre type of tourist- the ones who freak out about infrastructure, not architecture or other things. We definitely look weird taking pictures of roadways, but it takes all types.

[oregon-to-amsterdam]

Copenhagen and Cafes - First Half of Day Three

Another busy day today! After waking up fairly late and showering Ann and I made it downstairs to check out of our own reserved room, and met Viv and Macy, some of our classmates, for the first time. They are both second-year students at the University of Oregon minoring in PPPM. They said they were going out to a cafe for breakfast, so Ann, Clarissa, Giselle, and I all tagged around. We ended up going to the cafe that Ann, Clarissa, and I had been to yesterday. Since I knew the chai was more of a dessert drink, I ordered an apple and quince tea, and a parfait. The parfait had completely non-flavored yogurt, which was hard to get used to initially. I even prefer greek yogurt which is more bitter than most standard US yogurts, but this was a bit difficult. It had berries, raisins, and a bit of strawberry jam at the bottom. Once it was all mixed together it was better, and I honestly enjoyed the raisins the most. The tea was...okay. I'm still holding out hope I'll be able to find a hot drink that I like here, but we'll see.

We chatted a bit to get to know each other a bit better and then walked to the Round Tower- a tower built in 1642 for use as a planetarium above the city. The Round Tower is a tower without stairs up for the majority- most of it is a ramp that spirals up to the top. It was gorgeous at the top, with a full view of the city from above, stretching out of sight. When I last traveled to Europe in the summer of 2019, I bought ornaments for my tree, so I've been on a mission since then to collect ornaments on my travels. I know they are a bit fragile, but I love decorating for Christmas, so I think it's worth the hassle. I mention this because there is a very small gift shop at the top of the Round Tower, and I was able to get a magnet (I'm also collecting those this trip), and a beautiful circular gold ring of the city skyline of Copenhagen that I can easily make into an ornament.

After admiring the city from above, we spotted the Royal Arboretum in the distance and made our way there. On our way, we found a small square where there was a fountain and a vendor selling fruits and flowers. Our group bought grapes, strawberries, and cherries and shared them as we made our way to the garden. It is a massive, extremely well-kept garden, and we found a spot to sit and chat for a while, while still snacking on our fruits. There is a butterfly sanctuary inside of one of the buildings, but it is closed on Mondays, so we might try to go back sometime this week.

We made our way back to the Kongens Nytorv area and ducked into another cafe as it started to rain. Some people got drinks, some got some snacks, and we chatted until the rain passed and it came time to be able to check in to our more permanent rooms for the study abroad.

I am currently rooming with three other people: Ann, Abby, and Nina. This will be my first time sharing a room for an extended period of time, let alone with this many people, so I'm hoping that I'll do alright with the constant social interaction. It seems we are a fairly quiet group in this room, so I'm hoping the evenings will be quiet.

That was the first half of my day, but the second half was the beginning of class and deserves its own post.

[oregon-to-amsterdam]

Copenhagen - Initial Thoughts Day 1&2

Well, we've officially been in Copenhagen for two days now! Yesterday we took an early morning flight from Keflavik to Copenhagen, which was about two and a half hours, and while we were waiting in line to board the plane, we actually ran into our classmate Clarissa! So since then, we've been spending time together. Once we got to the Copenhagen airport, we had to wait for the longest I've ever waited for my checked-in luggage- and it made me wonder if it was going to be symbolic of the rest of our time in Copenhagen. But, so far it's been fine since then. We somehow managed despite our sleep deprivation to take the M1 metro line to the Kongens Nytorv stop. After wandering for a short while, we made our way to our hostel and checked in.

After some rest time, I took a shower and felt like a new person. The hostel seems decently clean, and in comparison to the Airbnb's shower (which neither of us even tried to use), the condition of the shower is wonderful. We then wandered out to find an evening meal and ended up going to a bagel and salad shop, where I got a salad, and Ann and Clarissa got bagel sandwiches. We took our meals over to Kongens Have park, which is a massive royal park that is popular with locals, and found a nice spot in the sun to sit. People were out in droves, and we were able to start observations in earnest about the people and their lifestyles.

One of our first observations was the sheer amount of young children. In comparison to the US, there were strollers and parents everywhere. Apparently, during the pandemic, Denmark had a baby boom of about 8%. Our group thinks this is because the Danish government is more friendly to parents and children with parental leave, attitudes toward work/life balance, social security nets, and universal healthcare. In comparison, according to the CDC, "The provisional number of births for the United States in 2020 was (...) down 4% from 2019." (CDC, Births Provisional Data for 2020).

Another observation was that people were actually out in the park, utilizing the green space to its fullest. We assume that this is because of the lack of private green space, such as backyards. This is probably a common occurrence in large cities in the states, but not something I personally have seen in Oregon at that volume.

After our meal, we wandered around the park and eventually made it back out into the streets of Copenhagen. We wandered, making mental notes about the streets, infrastructure, and just generally how people live here. We noticed that the Danish seem to love their flowers, especially roses. People would bike past with cut flowers, and many apartment buildings had roses growing on their sides, or small pots of flowers next to their doorstep. We also noticed how many people would sit out at tables on the sidewalks. There was one group of older folks who had brought out their own small table and made an impromptu place to sit and gossip.

Near the end of that evening, we made our way down to the Nyhavn area, which is a bustling port area, filled to the brim with restaurants and outdoor seating. People from all walks of life were there enjoying the summer evening, some eating, some drinking or smoking, some just taking a walk. The atmosphere was filled with a sense of happiness, to be able to spend time with friends and loved ones on a wonderful warm Saturday night.

Today we spent a bit more leisurely. Our morning was slow, and we each grabbed breakfast at the hostel at our own pace. I had a bread roll, with one half having butter and jam, and the other with cheese and ham. I had several cups of water (it feels nearly impossible to stay hydrated while traveling, and like there are never enough sources of water), and a cup of apple juice to top off before heading back upstairs to prepare for the day.

We ended up grouping up and heading out to Christianshavn via the metro, to where Freetown Christiania sits. On our way, we found a crosswalk light for a pedestrian crossing that showed a time amount until the light would turn. I think this is a good design in some ways, and not necessarily in others. Good in that it can help give some impatient people something to quantify their waiting, and bad in that for other people, it might encourage not wanting to wait that amount of time. I guess it comes back to whether or not the phrase "ignorance is bliss" is entirely accurate or not.

Anyways, there is supposedly a very good thrifting scene in this area, so we wandered until we came to the center of the area. Murals and other pieces of art are everywhere, tucked among the beautiful greenery. There is a lake with a forested area that has hiking trails throughout, a co-op refurbishing shop for home improvement supplies, a gardening shop, and we even found a horse stable with several horses. In the forested area, we found a set of wooden stairs that had a ramp for walking a bicycle up or down it. That has been a very common occurrence I've seen on stairs here, such as in Kongens Have. Another thing we saw in Christiania aside from the beautiful art and greenery was a street where cobblestones had been covered with asphalt. I wonder how it is decided when cobblestones need to be covered as opposed to just fixed - at what point is that decision made?

Freetown Christiania is apparently a commune established in 1971 and is run through a collective agreement process. It appears this commune-styled living has been a thorn in the side of the Danish government for some time due to the illegal but open buying and selling of weed, as well as the illegal occupation of the former military land. However, I personally think there are a lot of positive aspects to the concept of communal living, such as the social security nets formed so that people are not able to fall through the cracks, the general sharing of the human experience, the sharing of resources, and the positive atmosphere for self-expression through the arts. Our roommate at the hostel is currently the owner of a home in Sweden where she lives with her husband and several others in a commune-styled setup. It appears this way of living may be a good way to combat the rising cost of living in society and may tie back to our roots as prehistoric humans to live in small tight-knit groups that depend on each other for survival. I personally would not be against this style of living for myself if done correctly.

We wandered away from Freetown Christiania and made our way through the campus of the Royal Danish Academy, which was interesting to see as a current college student. Eventually, we walked back through Nyhavn to the area where our hostel is, and we grabbed some chai and sat outside of a cafe to soak in the Sunday traffic flows. We watched the interactions between pedestrians, bicyclists, and cars. Bicyclists take priority as they are the fastest moving, followed by the right of way of pedestrians, and cars take last place. They must navigate their way slowly through the movement. In the US, this would not currently work. Bicyclists must be very cautious of the movement of cars, as cars have the apparent right of way.

After finishing our drinks we went to Netto in search of cheap food and snacks. Netto is a small bodega-type grocery store chain that is spread throughout Copenhagen. We bought beautiful-looking danish strawberries, small smoothie drinks made entirely of fruits without any additives, and some other misc. items. Eating has been the hardest part of traveling so far for me, as it is something I have enjoyed in my own personal life being in control of. I love to cook, and I'm often in charge of dinners at my house, so I am not used to the uncertainty of not knowing where or what my next meal will be, or what may be in it. This uncertainty has been a struggle for me, and I wish I had access to a small kitchenette. However, I think I have been good at making an honest effort at eating affordable, healthy options when given the choice.

Our small grocery run finished, we went back to our hostel to relax and recharge after a full day of exploration. We stayed in our room for a few hours, and I personally laid in bed and worked on a blog post while listening to music. Once we all started to feel hungry around 4:30, we decided on where we'd go for dinner - which ended up being a marketplace called Torvehallerne. It was a 13-minute walk from our hostel, so we went there.

Around the time we had decided to go to Torvehallerne, Giselle posted in our Slack channel that she had arrived at the hostel. We invited her out to dinner with us and met her there. Torvehallerne is a huge enclosed marketplace with food vendors as well as grocery items such as fresh cheese, bread, meat, and seafood. It was very busy, with many different options, so we broke up and wandered around to find our own dinners of choice. I ended up getting a bibimbap bowl with bulgogi beef, cabbage, greens, brown rice, and (to my extreme disappointment) no kimchi, Ann got a salad, Clarissa a burger, and Giselle a small quiche. We chatted and learned a bit more about each other while we ate, and then wandered leisurely back to the hostel, nerding out about aspects of the urban environment as we moved through it. We discussed the curved pedestrian-only streets, the accessibility features built into the sidewalks for sight-impaired people, and many other things.

It is genuinely fun to be able to talk to people who see the world through a similar lens as yourself about something you are passionate about, and I am looking forward to continuing exploring cities throughout this trip with other equally excited nerds.

[oregon-to-amsterdam]

Iceland - Day Two: Roadtrips and Waterfalls

In the early morning of day two in Iceland, I made the executive decision to road trip down to the southern coast. I have always wanted to see Reynisfjara, the black sand beach, and there were several other attractions along the way, so it seemed like a good way to spend our last day and get the most out of it.

I had the remainder of my fried rice for breakfast, and Ann finished her halves of the rolls from the day prior, and then we were hitting the road, with me tackling the first half of the day's driving.

Our stops were at Seljalandsfoss and Reynisfjara, and we hit Skógafoss on the ride back. The landscape of Iceland in-between areas of interest can feel sometimes like a distant planet, with just seemingly endless lava rock fields covered in moss. The first time I visited Iceland, in 2019, when I took a taxi, the driver told me in a thick accent about how us Americans had our astronauts train here because of the landscape and difficult conditions. Since then, I have always equated Iceland to the Moon, and it carries certain magic with it. Other parts of Iceland feel similar to the Willamette Valley, with vast spreads of farmland, dotted with the occasional farmhouse, and hills painted in the distance.

The drive both ways was about 2.5 hours, at an average speed of 90 kmh or about 60 mph. Our first stop was Seljalandsfoss, a waterfall with a 60-meter drop or about 200 feet that has a cavernous space behind it so it's possible to walk around the back of the falls. We walked all the way back and around, and it was gorgeous. The spray from the falls was intense, and I'm very glad I was wearing a raincoat and boots. Ann wasn't so lucky in that she was wearing tennis shoes, but she was a trooper and made it through. Within walking distance of Seljalandsfoss is its smaller counterpart hidden in a crag, Gljufrabui. If you want the full view, you have to walk through the small creek that runs through the crag to the fall's base. I found Glufrabui to be more mesmerizing due to its enclosure. At Glufrabui there was a small, very vocal dog. He would run around and sniff people, very consistently barking. Back at the shop, a woman asked about him, and the woman behind the counter simply replied "He goes home when he is ready". Now, that's all well and fine, except for the fact that there were no houses that looked like they were in active use. I hope the waterfall dog is doing well.

Next was Reynisfjara, the black sand beach. It was gorgeous, and also extremely windy. I know Iceland is windy, but our trip had been mild so being physically tossed around by the wind was a new feeling. There are several very interesting rock formations, both on the beach itself and nearby in the water. The formations in the ocean reminded me of the area around Cannon Beach. The rocks on the beach itself are basalt stacks, so they are very geometrically shaped, and feel almost manmade. I can also report that the sand is, in fact, black. I was worried that the photos had been doctored enough that it was just gray, but thankfully not. I think it would be lovely to visit in the winter because I have seen photos of ice pieces washed up on the shore and it looks magical, as does the snow on the distant rocks.

Nearby Reynisfjara is a small church that I found very beautiful. A lot of Icelandic churches seem to be white with red features, which is striking in contrast to the green hills.

On the way back to Reykjavík we stopped at Skólgafoss, another massive and beautiful waterfall. Instead of a 360 view, guests at Skóglafoss can instead walk up to the top. As it had been a long day for Ann and me, we went to the base instead, which was also very beautiful. Maybe next time I'll walk to the top.

Once back in Reykjavík, we went to Saffran, a pizza and etc. shop. Ann ordered the honey chicken and I ordered the satay chicken. Each meal came with brown rice and a small side salad, but my chicken had a sauce, and Ann had a large chunk of sweet potato. Because she's not huge on sweet potato, I was able to eat it which made me very happy. The food was fine, but not worth the price in my opinion. I probably would not personally go back if I find myself in Iceland again.

So, overall, Iceland is a gorgeous place, filled with natural and breathtaking landscapes, but is very car-dependent despite its apparent appreciation for its land. Our trip to the south coast would not have been possible without a car, or at the very least a tour bus. We wondered about the feasibility of a train project around the Golden Circle. We both agreed that a train ride would be an absolutely great addition to any trip to Iceland, and would take away from the stress of car rental, as well as the environmental impact. Our guess is likely the harsh weather would potentially impact train rails in a way that roadways are not, but we are still unsure.

If I go to Iceland again, I would look for an Airbnb closer to the city center with good, clean kitchen space to be able to cook our own food. I'm not sure if I would make any of the three spots we visited a priority, but they were definitely worth the drive.