Enschede

As soon as I had arrived in Enschede, I let go a sigh of relief. I had finally crossed the German border and entered the Netherlands. I don"t have anything against Germany, but after biking through it for almost a week, I was ready for a change in scenery, culturally speaking. There were some immediate changes, some took a little while longer to notice. First of all, the bike ways in the Netherlands are even better than the bike ways in Germany, which i didn't think was possible. They are much wider and are separated from the main roads by concrete curbs which makes biking around the cities and countrysides a joy - no more worrying about aggressive drivers or semi-trucks. Also, as a result of the wonderful infrastructure, there are a lot more bikes, from families, to people going out to drink together, to delivery persons. There's something very pleasant about biking culture(both here and in the states). It just seems to put people in a good mood for whatever reason. I feel theres also a sense of camaraderie amongst cyclists which is wonderful as well. There have been several times where I've stopped to look at maps and had local cyclists stop and want to help.

Another city, another couch surfer. I had contacted Jeroen through couchsurfing and he said that I could stay in his apartment in the University. It took only a short while to find his place, and he was immediately welcoming upon my arrival. The apartment itself is wonderful. He lives without about fifteen other people. The building itself centers around a huge open air staircase, with each room on the edges of the central stairwell area which goes up 3 stories. It"s kind of like a subcultural techie frat house, and it kind of reminds me of living in the wedge - both the good and the bad (scroll to the bottom of the post for a technical description of the systems they've set up here, some really neat stuff). Shortly after I first arrived in Enschede, Jeroen and I went downtown and shared a few beers over dinner. He filled me in on Dutch beer etiquette (first you chill the glass with a cold water fountain, then fill the beer to the edge of the glass with the appropriate label, scoop off the remaining head, dip the glass into cold water to remove spilled beer from the edges, dry, place the beer in front of the person with the logo facing you, etc) and then we went and saw some free music at a venue in the city center, After that, we walked around for a while and he filled me in on the local history(including the great fireworks disaster of 2000), and then we had a few more beers before biking back to the apartment and watching a movie with his house mates. In short, it's been fun to stay here and relax a little bit before i head on the road again.

Speaking of cycling, I feel that I've finally settled into the rhythm of bicycle touring and my muscles don't get sore anymore or anything of that sort. It's been incredibly enjoyable just cruising along the bike lanes and thinking about things each day along on the road. I've also got into the bad habit of whistling songs while i ride, which has resulted in some odd stares from people in the towns. I hope I'm able to maintain this cycling shape when I return to the states but I kind of doubt it. Maybe I"ll join a cycling club in the bay area like the one my dad"s a part of to keep up the habit when I return. I"ll be in Amsterdam in two days now which I"m looking forward to, and then will head off to Paris, bicycling along the coast most of the way.

It"s still raining but I"m used to it now I suppose and it hasn't been too cold which has certainly helped. I packed for warm weather, so I've had to improvise a few things to deal with the rain which has accompanied me so far. Maybe in France it'll be better? Please? Singing off for now,
-i



(sorry in advance for talking about all of the tech stuff)
The apartment is incredibly networked, with a main terminal in the living room which accesses the entire campus network. The guys here have even coded their own gui for navigating the file systems (i think it's their own custom linux distro), and you can even watch regular television stations through the terminal. It has a random episode selector, so for example you can just select the Simpsons and it will start playing a random episode, and the server automatically downloads all new episodes from all of the main series when they are released(Lost, 24, family guy, etc). Theres a touch screen on one of the walls where you click your name if you take a beer to keep track of supplies. The computer itself in the main room is also uses an old beer box as a case, which adds to the aesthetic of the house. It even emulates. I was thoroughly impressed by the whole thing. Apparently this campus is kind of infamous for its warez scene, and has been the target of several raids over the past years. Sorry for letting the technology dork inside of me express itself in the blog, it won't happen again :-).