July 18, Thursday

Could be worse, as the Danes say. It was an early morning, but we powered through and hopped on the train to Copenhagen. I got a bit of sleep on the plane and we eventually arrived to Utrecht in the late morning. It was a tough day for everyone getting up so early, so we did not do a whole lot except explore and sleep.

Because this was mostly a travel and sleep day, there are some big cultural observations that I want to talk about that don’t necessarily pertain to a certain day. First off, people do not value tap water here in the slightest. I rarely see a water fountain or people with reusable water bottles. Coming from Oregon where everyone raves of the best tap water in the world and you can’t go to class without seeing at least ten Hydro Flasks on desks, it is a bit of a shock. Water is a really healthy and important thing to drink, but Europeans find their hydration through beer and crazy good juices instead. 

This brings me to my next topic of the insane amount of single use plastic being used through water bottles, grocery items, and lunch bags. Not to say that the United States is not also using way too much plastic, but I continue to notice it more and more and there is no way avoiding it. Plastic is destroying our oceans and it is only going to get worse the more people buy single use items. Our ecosystems are being slaughtered from plastic infiltration and I would like to think many people realize this. However, people are also worried about prices, taste, and health, and when the only food options in grocery stores are held in plastic packaging, there are very few ways out.

Finally, something that relates more to traveling and seeing the sites is the vast amount of the city I can see while biking. Most cities I travel to for a few days, I will walk around the city or take public transportation to different locations. However, on a bike, I see so much more of the city and understand the infrastructure so much better than when I am walking. I saw so much of Copenhagen and Malmö in the short time I was there simply because I was biking everywhere. This makes me want to rent a bike in any city I travel to, regardless of their infrastructure. Obviously that isn’t possible in every city, but it will be the first mode of transportation I look at before I travel to a new place.