‘We’re going to the polders. Bring your boots along.’ This was the very first message to appear on my TU Delft blackboard upon arrival last year. Several excursions would follow as we learned the language of the polders – boezem, veengrond, sluizen, gemaal, wetering – and focused on the developments of the Randstad, Groene Hart and Deltametropolis.
I must admit that the make-ability of the Dutch (their land, networks, and even a metropolis out of villages) was amazing to discover. However, as a girl from a 14 million plus city who came here to study international urban design, I was beginning to wonder where I had ended up. More and more I started feeling like Jim Carrey in ‘The Truman Show’, stuck on the Island of Seahaven. “Don’t go further than the unfinished bridge! And the wild sea is too dangerous to cross.” But one day I was naughty and crossed the Moerdijkbrug. Like Alice in Wonderland, discovering a place where one may find heuvels, zandgrond, bos and heide. Maybe even more striking than the difference of surroundings was the attitude of the people that I encountered there. They seemed to have a little more time for a chat, and this gezelligheid seemed more important to them. And believe it or not, there are modern towns, up to date offices and high tech companies . much more than one would expect in The Province or The Countryside. Why is it that so many people over here hardly seem to talk or even know about this Other Netherlands, which is so close? My parents live two hours drive from the city centre, but their place is still called Istanbul. This thinking in terms of The West and The Rest, is it so deeply rooted in the history of ever-competing dukes and counts? To me it sounds rather outdated in times of growing internationalization and globalization. And still there is this question: what perspective on The Netherlands would I have now if I had ended up at TU Eindhoven for my study?
‘We’re going to the polders. Bring your boots along.’ This was the very first message to appear on my TU Delft blackboard upon arrival last year. Several excursions would follow as we learned the language of the polders – boezem, veengrond, sluizen, gemaal, wetering – and focused on the developments of the Randstad, Groene Hart and Deltametropolis. I must admit that the make-ability of the Dutch (their land, networks, and even a metropolis out of villages) was amazing to discover. However, as a girl from a 14 million plus city who came here to study international urban design, I was beginning to wonder where I had ended up. More and more I started feeling like Jim Carrey in ‘The Truman Show’, stuck on the Island of Seahaven. “Don’t go further than the unfinished bridge! And the wild sea is too dangerous to cross.” But one day I was naughty and crossed the Moerdijkbrug. Like Alice in Wonderland, discovering a place where one may find heuvels, zandgrond, bos and heide. Maybe even more striking than the difference of surroundings was the attitude of the people that I encountered there. They seemed to have a little more time for a chat, and this gezelligheid seemed more important to them. And believe it or not, there are modern towns, up to date offices and high tech companies . much more than one would expect in The Province or The Countryside. Why is it that so many people over here hardly seem to talk or even know about this Other Netherlands, which is so close? My parents live two hours drive from the city centre, but their place is still called Istanbul. This thinking in terms of The West and The Rest, is it so deeply rooted in the history of ever-competing dukes and counts? To me it sounds rather outdated in times of growing internationalization and globalization. And still there is this question: what perspective on The Netherlands would I have now if I had ended up at TU Eindhoven for my study?
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