I have pretty much nothing to say today, so this would be a good blog post to skip if you’re just here for interesting experiences. All I did was travel from Arlon, Belgium to Frankfurt, Germany to visit my cousins! It was about 6 hours on the train, which actually went much faster than you’d think. Long trips aren’t so bad when you aren’t driving, have plenty of room to spread out, can use the restroom, and buy food. Who’d’a thought!
I had a good evening hanging out with my cousin Isaac. He’s teaching me how to play Ark Nova, a board game where you build a zoo.
Things I love about Europe
I wanted to take a minute to record just a few of the things that I absolutely love about Europe. I thought that might give a little more substance to this post. I’d also just like to get some of the mountain of thoughts/experiences written down. Even though I post every day, it barely scratches the surface.
It’s not a comprehensive list, but here are some things I love about Europe:
- The people are great. There is always someone willing to help and everyone so far has been patient and understanding. They definitely aren’t very social (America stands out in our love of small talk) but they sure have that Kansas sense of community that I love so much. I was very shocked to learn that about the people here, to be honest. Just today, a woman behind me on the metro collapsed in pain. Lots of people rushed to help her and the engineer held up the train for 25 minutes while they helped her. I didn’t hear any complaining at all, even from people that had no idea why the train was stopped.
- Let’s talk about household commonalities for a bit. The showerheads are awesome. They’re almost always designed with a ceiling-high rain spout overhead and a handheld shower wand. The faucets are two-sided: the right side controls the temperature (often with labels) and the left side is what controls the rain-wand-off functionality. Super easy to find your favorite temperature and super easy to adjust between your water needs.
- The towel racks in the bathrooms are almost always heated. It’s wonderful.
- Electrical outlets are very safe and have much better power supply. You have to be actively trying to get shocked if that happens. It’s nice that they don’t have multiple types of outlets like the US does (all appliances use the same power here) and they made some things much faster. For example, heating water in an electric kettle takes about one minute and warming up your electric skillets is extremely fast. I also learned to love how the UK has the breakers built right into each electrical point. It was nice to have an on/off switch for everything in the room and I’m sure it’s nice when you’re trying to do DIY electrical work. No going back and forth to the breaker box.
- Something about the door handles/hinges is really nice. I have yet to find a handle that wasn’t sturdy, well-fitted, and an actual handle rather than a knob.
- Public restroom stalls only have 3 inches of space at the bottom and the doors overlap with the stall walls, so there’s no way to see inside. Almost like people like their privacy.
- The weather is great. I love that the windows are the air conditioner. Except on rare occasion, it doesn’t get above 75 degrees very often.
- Everyone is so accommodating for handicapped people. They take action. A lot of the buildings and infrastructure around here wasn’t built to those standards, but people always help those with trouble getting around.
- Public transportation is awesome. It’s clean, it’s quick, and it’s consistent. I have had almost zero trouble getting around. Everywhere I want to go has some kind of way to get there via bus or train.
- Things are closed on Sundays. Like, a lot of things. It’s frustrating for a tourist, but I appreciate that it’s an expectation here. It’s often difficult to avoid work and chores on Sundays back home.
- It’s so green everywhere. I love Kansas and the Great Plains but it sure is nice to not have dirt blowing in my face every few days.
- Local stores and shops are very popular. There are chains, for sure. Yet, it seems reasonable to make a living on a small shop in a downtown. I’m certain that’s dependent on how big your town is though. But…
- It’s so easy to walk everywhere. Everything you need is usually within a 30 minute walk. That probably seems like a lot, but how many people in the US have to make a conscious effort to go exercise/walk for 30 minutes a day? It’s great that you can just do that naturally here.
- Also, bike lanes. I LOVE riding my bike at home. Our town is absolutely not designed for it though. It’s cool that there are bike lanes and trails everywhere in Europe. Bikes are built with transportation in mind, not just exercise or recreation. That means that they have lots of great features and there and plenty of places to get them serviced. This point in particular makes me really jealous.
Things I miss about home
- My cats. 🙁
- My parents and Grandma Classen.
- My church.
- The beauty of the landscapes everywhere. Europe is gorgeous but there’s very little real nature. There are towns every 5-10 miles almost everywhere you go. Very cute, but the wild of our country is amazing.
- Kansas sunsets.
- Ice! I do love having cold drinks, especially water.
- Fried chicken. It’s just not the same here. Biscuits and gravy too.
That’s good enough for tonight. I’m tired! Tomorrow, we’re going to visit Heidelberg castle. That should make for a more interesting post.