And So It Ends...

Well folks, my semester in Amsterdam has drawn to a close. I am now back in the US, having flown home on the 5th of June. I'm not completely done, as I still have some work to turn in via email, but I am back home in NJ. (Besides, I'm sure those of you reading are really not all that interested in my ramblings on immigration and homonationalism). As such, this is going to be my last real post on this blog - hope you all enjoyed reading it! (I will post once more with pictures from my last trip to the pancake bakery once I find my camera cable).

I feel like I should be writing something incredibly witty and insightful here about my experiences, but for that I am drawing a bit of a blank. While I did enjoy living in a foreign country for a semester, I believe that any revelations that I had were more to do with my personal development and independence than with any expanding of my view of the world. I suppose that makes sense - I lived in England as a kid, and my dad is currently living in London again, so living in Europe was not something entirely new to me.

Still, I have already noticed some things that I will miss/am missing about the Netherlands. First and formost? Strong coffee. Before I went over in January I used to enjoy the Dunkin Donuts beans my mom used to use at home. Now that just tastes watery and weak to me. This is going to be a problem, as I tend to drink a good deal of coffee.

Another thing I'll miss is the variety of sweet dairy products. I have already posted about my love of vla and kwark so I will not repeat myself, but I will be seriously trying to find a recipe for vla at the very least...one can hope, right?

I have definitely appreciated the Dutch's tendency to be very blunt, especially after living in Los Angeles for the last few years. I always talk about missing the NYC attitude...but the Dutch are even more direct. It is usually awesome, though I will admit I was less than pleased with how some topics in my classes were handled without any sensitivity. (Showing Geert Wilders' political film "FITNA" which includes slow motion footage of 9/11 requires at least a warning before showing it to a bunch of American students, especially when the group contains students from the area, who knew people who didn't survive. No, I am not referring to only me). The flip side of this experience is that I have become more blunt myself, and less tolerant of evasive answers. It should be interesting to see how that works out for me back in Los Angeles.

Other things I will miss
Stroopwafles

Pancake Bakery/Dutch Pancakes
Kilimanjaro (Ethiopian restaurant that was AWESOME)
Good public transit
Smog-free air
Green space that is readily accessible
Hoegaarden Rose (The first beer I have ever liked)
Real whipped cream being served everywhere with hot chocolate
Being able to walk pretty much everywhere easily

Being able to walk home at night and feel safe

Hearing at least 2-3 languages spoken everyday, and not finding it unusual

Fries served with mayo, usually in a paper cone (especially from Burger Bar)

Going to artsy movies with Jantien

Gay bars that make killer cocktails

The feeling of superiority of being able to laugh at the tourists who don't know to not walk in the bike path

The concept of gezellig

So long Amsterdam, and thanks for the fish.

(Actually, not really. I never did try the herring, nor did I have any desire to do so. Maybe someday when I visit again).

Because I Haven't Talked About Food in a While..

...I found a new flavor of vla I am in love with! It must have been brought out as a summer sweet - apple and pear. It seems to be blanke vla with apple and pear pieces in it...which suits me just fine, because I'm not a huge fan of the artificial taste of some of the flavored vla.

I seriously am going to have to figure out how to make vla when I go home...which is in six days. Ah! More on that to come at a later time, right now I need to go back to writing papers :(

(I will include a picture of said vla later when I need a study break)

Dutch Desserts

Alright, so by now you must have realized that my life revolves around food. This should probably be attributed to my Italian heritage, and going to my Grandmother's house for giant Italian buffets. (Interestingly, she wasn't actually Italian - that was my grandfather, who passed a decade before I was born. Still, she knew how to cook all the Italian staples...her sauce recipe is famous in our family). Since the Dutch eat to live, not live to eat, this becomes a bit of a problem - hutspot (mashed carrot and potato) just is not that exciting to me.

While their standard diet might be a bit bland compared to what I'm used to, the Dutch have some AWESOME sweet food, which almost makes up for all the mashed potatoes. I have already talked plenty about Dutch pancakes, but here are some other awesome examples.

1. StroopWafels

These are the quintessential dutch cookie/candy/snack. Consisting of two thin waffle/crackerlike discs with caramel syrup pressed in between, these were basically the first "Dutch" food I had. Rachel, the other girl here from Oxy, always has a bag of them with her - wonderful since I steal them all the time. (To be fair, its an even trade - she makes sure I eat during the day, I make sure she doesn't walk into traffic and get run over by a bike).

2. Kwark

The best way to describe Kwark is a cross between yogurt, and cheesecake. It is basically a thick, sweet, creamy yogurt. You can get it in many flavors - so far I've tried apple/cinnamon, lemon, and vanilla bean. (Vanilla bean was by far my favorite, it tasted rather decadent). The picture below is my favorite brand so far, but my albert hijn doesn't carry it - I have to walk down the street to the Spar to get it. Not a huge deal, but I just have to remember to do so, since I can't be bothered usually to go to two grocery stores in one trip.

3. Vla

My favorite of all the Dutch sweet food I've tried. A light custard, its comes in a juice/milk carton, and you have to pour/shake it out (a lot of yogurt products come this way here). Again, it comes in many flavors, but I vastly just prefer plain (blanke) vla. A dutch friend first introduced me to vla by giving me blanke vla, and handing me a shaker of cinnamon to mix in with it. Yum! I am definitely addicted to it, to the point of me wanting to figure out how to make it so I can still have it when I go back to the States - it can't be that hard, right? Right!!?!