Star Fort Forever

I've been neglecting this blog pretty hard for over a month but now I'd like to update it with what I've been doing. Don't expect too much though, unfortunately, I can only travel for a couple of days at a time unless I skip lecture.

This post is about the first thing I did outside of Groningen, way back on February 24th. I visited Fort Bourtange which is a star fort in the village of Bourtange, a small village about an hour's drive away from Groningen. You can read the wikipedia article here, but all you really need to see to understand is this aerial photograph:

As you can see, the fortification has a very unique shape.

While it may look nice in the picture Star Fort isn't really an amazing place to see in the winter, but I went with my friend Kenton so it was still pretty fun. It turns out it's about a 45 minute walk from the nearest village, which isn't very fun in the cold and wind, but it did let me see what the fields in the Netherlands look like and let me tell you, they are completely flat. Here are some pictures of the walk there:

It's really really flat.

Even in the country you can find some nice architecture.

Walked past a few horses.

It was so windy we even saw a guy flying a kite.

A couple weird art pieces at an antiques shop we passed by.

Finally, entering the village around Star Fort

A map of the surrounding area

Welcoming/information center.

Once we actually got in to Star Fort it was pretty nice, there were a few little shops and cafes in the center along with a lot of grassy areas to sit and relax at. It's definitely a place that I could see being very nice in the summer, but unless you're really interested in the history it's kinda meh to go during the winter.

In the center there was a horse like structure that apparently used to be used for torture. Unfortunately neither my Dutch or my German is good enough to translate what it says.

Star Fort is mostly made up of motes and really steep slopes. This seems to be just fine for the big horn sheep we saw wandering around.

Star Fort even has its own flag!

A windmill and a cannon, two things you can always expect to find at a Dutch fort.

Star Fort is also very close to Germany, we were only about 2km away from the border.

Leaving Star Fort I saw this metal sculpture which I thought had very strange positioning...

One last shot of the windmill and flag on the way out.

 I'll definitely have to go back and visit when the weather is nicer. Now that I know how to get there I should be able to just use the buses and skip the 45 min walk, so it'll be pretty nice.

I've got some home work to do now, but I've decided to catch up on blogging the next few days. Expect more posts about Martini Tower and Amsterdam soon!

Culture Shock (or lack thereof)

It's been 3 weeks and I've been surprised just how much of America I've seen in Europe, American culture that is. The music, the TV shows, the movies, just about everything seems mostly American.

It feels like America is Europe's celebrity. I'm not sure if it's a sort of idolization or simply a fascination. Every person I've talked to has told me that they're favorite television shows are American. I've met a few people who immediately go star struck the second I tell them I'm from New York because they assume I'm from the big apple (honestly, it's getting kind of annoying already that I have to explain that I don't live there). I've also met a lot of Europeans who have told me that really want to visit America or even live there, there are some who have even seen more of America than I have. Many of the people I've met speak English in a way that sounds more American than British to me, I've asked them about this and they claim it's because they watch so much American television. My generation's attachment to the US is undeniable.

Then again this might all just be because America is so darn BIG. With over half the population of the entirety of Europe and over one and a half times the area America is hard to ignore. My view may also be skewed by the fact that I've only spoken to people my age who can speak English. Even so, I've been told that there are many Dutch TV channels that carry American shows with Dutch subtitles and when I went to go see a movie at the movie theater (Flight, a movie made in America), it contained Dutch subtitles. So, the idea that even the non-English speakers are entertained by America may not be far fetched.

It doesn't seem that the entertainment has always been dominated by America though. When I went to the band/karaoke night for the ESN introduction week many of the songs I heard were not ones I recognized. Here's an example of one of the screens of the karaoke selection, personally I recognize none of the songs!

I took a look at the song book too and most of it was older American songs or European exclusives. To be fair this was an older karaoke CD, but it still shows how what was popular in America and Europe wasn't necessarily the same a few years ago. The non-rock cover band also played many songs which I didn't recognize but were very well received by the audience, including some not in English. The rock cover band on the other hand played mostly newer songs I recognized by American artists. I discovered another example of this European but not American culture when I came across the The Moomins apparently this was a very popular children's cartoon from Finland that all the Europeans I was with knew about, but I had never seen it before. All of these examples are from about 10-15 years ago, so I feel like they're more relics of a divided past than anything else. So far I haven't seen any modern music, movie, or tv shows that are popular in Europe but not the United States, or vice-versa, (except for some local songs held near and dear to the residents' hearts) but there's a lot I still have to see.

Not only has America influenced culture through entertainment but also through food. I have seen a fair amount of fast food restaurants here including Burger King, McDonalds, Subway, and Domino's Pizza. Not only have I seen American restaurants but I've seen "American" food in the grocery store as well, this includes hamburger rolls, "cool American" flavored chips, brownies and even french fry sauce, which is exceptionally baffling because Americans don't put any kind of sauce except ketchup on their fries! In fact, most Americans are disgusted at the prospect of putting mayonnaise on their fries, which, yes, they do here, and it is surprisingly good; I'm not sure why it hasn't caught on in America...

So, there you have it, my anecdotal evidence on how America is the culturally dominant country in Europe. This isn't meant to be taken as a fact but more of an opinion. I've only been here for a little bit and I'm sure I will be experiencing much, much more. I would be happy to hear any counter arguments that people may have, but so far what I've seen is that my generation has been raised with America as a main focus in the public eye. I'll post updates on this line of thought when I find more evidence in either direction. Maybe if I wanted a little more culture shock I should have gone to Asia :P

Anyway, I'm having a great time here! I'll keep updating as new things happen, classes start in 3 days for me, so I'll probably post about that next. Stay tuned for more exciting adventures!

Logan Goes to the Market

Some of the most famous parts of Groningen are the Grote Markt and the Vismarkt, which, according to Google, translate to the Great Market and Fish Market. If you know me, you know I LOVE farmer's markets, and the Fish Market is basically a large farmer's market that happens 4 times a week. Today I decided to go for the second time and take some pictures. As you will see they have a little bit of everything, it's pretty great.

Just entering the great market, city hall is on the right...

... and Martini Tower on the left.

Behind city hall is where the fish market, where the good is sold.
That tall building in the background is the  Korenbeurs.

There are lots of fruits and veggies.

They even have fancy teas and jellies

There are swaths of fabric being sold (even more in the grote markt)

Fresh meat

And, of course, fish

There are actually a lot of seagulls that hang around.

They even have my favorite kind of Broccoflower, Romanesca!

Lots of fresh bread

So much cheese, they say the Dutch make some of the best in the world.

Delicious olives.

Pasta and pickled goods

This lady sells different nut/trail mixes,

these kinds of mixes seem pretty popular

Potatoes

Here's some whitefish I got with tartar sauce.

Pretty standard, but notice the little fork that comes with it!

Flowers, the Dutch love their flowers.

I got 4 mangoes for a dollar... unfortunately haven't been the greatest.

Now we enter the Great Market. Here's some jewelry being sold.

Lots of clothes.

So many hand bags

And hats!

The fish market seems to have a lot of fancy food (even some of it prepared and ready to eat), whereas the great market is more about clothing and materials to make clothing (and crafts). Today I got bread, gouda cheese, mangoes, grapes, olives, lychee, and romanesca. So much yummy food!

So that's my trip to the market, I'm sure I'll be going there a lot, especially now that I have a bike. Tomorrow should be interesting, it's the first welcoming day!