Paula Goes to Holland : Rotary Scholar Adventures: Studying in Napoleon's Palace

Spring gets into your bones and does not let go. I love this weather. I wish Dutch weather was like this all year! Today I biked home the entire way (23 minutes) with no hands! (minus stopping and sharp turns…) It was a good day overall. Lately, my days are dedicated to my thesis. Oh, the thesis! I have two months to produce something worthy of my Dutch masters degree. Ready. Set. Write! For the most part I enjoy the reading and the writing, though I do get momentary sunshine envy when I see peers strolling outside or sleeping in the grass! If I was not able to bike to and from the library each day (getting both exercise and sun) I might go loco. However, soon the thesis will be packed away in my little suitcase and summer will be here.

In the meantime, I look for good study spots. I spend my days in various locations with a book across my lap, or my laptop propped on my knees. Unlike some people who have A Special Corner in The Library where they study, I study wherever. Yesterday you could have found me lying in the grass beside a canal, half-way hidden behind a tree’s shadow. Today, it was a park bench in the center city.

You can tell I am working on my thesis because certain things in my day have changed—such as the cessation of most social activity, irregular meal and sleep times, and bike bags that will not snap shut they are so stuffed with reading material.

I have been pretty pleased with the libraries in Holland. The library in Utrecht’s city center used to be one of Napoleon’s homes. It has elegantly painted tiles on some of the walls, gesturing towards its former glory days. It is presently undergoing renovations, and therefore crowded, but Note: One can usually find a free room up the back staircase.

The other library I use on the new university campus is like a big, black, shiny box. From the inside, this “library box” is transparent. There are images of bamboo etched all over the walls and when light comes through, bamboo shadows streak the floors. Another neat feature is that all the walls are actually revolving windows that are temperature-sensitive and automatically open, depending on the weather.

Another favorite library is the Amsterdam Public Library, though I have only visited twice. That library has a piano anyone can play. It also has amazing light fixtures, rotating art being exhibited and Mac computers with chrome mouse, keyboard and screens that look so new they could have been made in 2016. Perhaps the only thing the Amsterdam Library lacks are....sheep. (The new Utrecht library has lambs grazing beside it.)
So now, off to the library, for another productive morning in which I research food, identity and slavery, and the intersection between the three.

The cool Amsterdam Public Library