First reactions to Amsterdam

So for those who don't know I have decided to complete a Master's Degree in International Performance Research as part of Erasmus Mundas Program. It's a pretty neat program. I receive not one but TWO MA degrees in the span of a year and a half. How can this be possible you might ask? Well I begin by spending one semester in the great city of Canals, Drugs and Sex (in that order?)...Amsterdam. Afterwards I move over as one of the 'Frozen Chozen' (as the other in my program have so aptly put it) to the University of Helsinki in Finland for a semester of freezing fun with some study thrown in. Afterwards I return next September to Amsterdam to write my MA thesis finishing it all up in December 2010 woo hoo.

Now what is performance studies you might ask... errr well .... ummm I actually have no clue. However this explanation was at the beginning of one of my readings and I quite like it (note performance 'art' is a bit difference than 'performance' and is merely one facet of this anomaly of a concept/linguistic challenge/ontological lens ect.).

“Excuse me can you define performance art?”
Answers:
“A bunch of weirdos who love to get naked and scream about leftist politics.” (Yuppie in a bar”
"Performance artists are…bad actors." (a good actor)
"You mean, those decadent and elitist liberals who hide behind the art thing to beg for government money?" (Politician)
"It’s…just…very, very cool stuff. Makes you…think, and shit" (my nephew)
"Performance is both the antithesis of and the antidote to high culture" (performance artist)
“I’ll answer you with a joke: What do you get when you mix a comedian with a performance artist?...A joke that no one understands” (a friend)

Not bad answers. As for my own.... well ask me in a year and a half.

So as far as the city of Amsterdam itself, my sister asked me two very good questions:

What are 5 things you love!?
What are 5 things that bother you?

Now i'll indulge in my answers:

Five favorite things (thus far):

1. everyone says hello to you on the street
2. The diversity--within 5 sq meters you can hear at least 10 languages. Apparently (according to Amsterdam Uni) The city is the most diverse in the world with regards to population :: ethnicity ratio. Walking through the streets the various types of restaurants and shops pay homage to this fact. One can wonder down the frustrating U shapes (the streets are all horse shoe shaped which makes finding your way nearly impossible!) and see an 'Egyptian' Sex shop, next to a South Indian Cafe, besides an Aboriginal Instrument Store, across from an Argentinean steak shop, where out front a man is selling falafel and behind him you can sign up for cheap hula lessons.
3. Everyone stares at you. There is no shame. Every one is different and the difference is celebrated by the characteristic curiosity 'stare'. "Hey I'm looking at you and you know what it's cool because you're looking at me too".
4. The smooshed buildings and small windy streets. Everything is so...cozy. The whole city is filled with little coffee shops, cafes, stores etc. There is barely any room for cars to drive down the streets. When walking through the city I feel as if I am constantly in an 'embrace' from the buildings; hugged and loved by the mere close quarters.
5. The size of the city. It is not too small, and not too big (I feel like i'm part of the three bears describing a public space porridge). It's Juuuussstttt right--landing somewhere in between the space of boston and NYC. I feel like Amsterdam is one of those never ending 'places'. Places where even when you think you've mastered the rhyme and rhythm of the street's beats... a new rap comes along and throws your mental map

Five things I dont love:

1. The U-shaped streets. I cant find my way anywhere. I miss the nice grid system of NYC-like modernism--I can not tell you how many times i've ended up exactly where i've started after following a slowly slanting road for an hour.
2. The prices--everything food, coffee etc is the same price as in boston BUT IN EUROS. Going out to eat in a small cafe (not even a restaurant) cost me 12 Euros --about the same as say Panera Bread...but that's really 18$ ...Dayh-UM!
3. My living quaters. I live in a room out of a hallway. Its hard to meet people because where i'm living resembles an industrial style freshman year american dorm. The buildings are lovely known as the 'containers'.
4. The dutch language. This is in part due to my cultural/linguistic inadequacy of being a native English speaker. Although many do speak English I think many people are embarrassed/afraid to speak improper english to a native speaker and thus avoid doing so. And Dutch is like the German language but appropriately stoned and on Mushrooms. The words are chalk full of vowels and too many consanents making it impossible to even guess how something should be pronounced. And i had trouble with spanish... so dutch is a whole other ball game.

5. Having an American Accent and being immediately (or at least feeling) immediately judged by the strong stereotype of Americans by europeans (an English class mate refers to 'us' as 'from the colonies' haha)

Otherwise being in a new place is always an exciting an adventure and thus there will most likely be many reflections about my experiences to come!

~*erika