Most of us foreigners have had the following experience and probably will again, whether we’ve been here for weeks or years. You pedal to Delft train station on your old, beat-up Dutch bike, park and lock your bike, and take a train to somewhere..
. an appointment or job, party or bar in another Dutch city or town. And then when you return to Delft, whether drunk or sober, you exit Delft station and suddenly stop and think: ‘Where the hell did I park my bike?!’ Before you is rack upon rack of bicycles, all looking much the same. And then the hunt begins: Black bike, black saddle, silver handlebars… good luck! This proverbial needle in the haystack you’re looking for is the same color as the hay! So, a word of advice especially to TU Delft’s foreign student newcomers: tie a yellow ribbon or anything colorful around the back of your bike seat. You’ll be very happy to see it some day when your ‘fiets’ is lost in that Dutch sea of bikes.
(Photo/caption: Pavel Prokopchik, BSc, Russia)
Most of us foreigners have had the following experience and probably will again, whether we’ve been here for weeks or years. You pedal to Delft train station on your old, beat-up Dutch bike, park and lock your bike, and take a train to somewhere… an appointment or job, party or bar in another Dutch city or town. And then when you return to Delft, whether drunk or sober, you exit Delft station and suddenly stop and think: ‘Where the hell did I park my bike?!’ Before you is rack upon rack of bicycles, all looking much the same. And then the hunt begins: Black bike, black saddle, silver handlebars… good luck! This proverbial needle in the haystack you’re looking for is the same color as the hay! So, a word of advice especially to TU Delft’s foreign student newcomers: tie a yellow ribbon or anything colorful around the back of your bike seat. You’ll be very happy to see it some day when your ‘fiets’ is lost in that Dutch sea of bikes.
(Photo/caption: Pavel Prokopchik, BSc, Russia)
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