THEUNSTABLELEMENT
a place for travel, culture and life stories
THE LOBSTER
In the past two weeks I spent as an official resident in Rotterdam, I have come to learn a few things about the beautiful thing that is the dutch population:
They love their bicycles more than a child – they have decorations, different colours, cheerful baskets and everything you could think of. It’s like a portable wardrobe that they like to flaunt around in front of the eyes of angry car riders and sad walkers like myself.
You will fear said bicycles more than actual vehicles when you cross the road – seriously mate, these things are scary. They don’t give a shit about you, the fact that it’s red or the fact that it’s your turn to cross. They will destroy you if you don’t get out their way.
The beer selection is insane – there are so many pubs in this city and each of them has, apart from the global brands, a lot of local and smaller breweries with very interesting tastes and, if you’re a beer lover like me, you will find yourself slowly making your way through most pubs in the city centre in the constant search for the best one.
Construction workers on the street have no restraints in staring way past the comfortable zone – seriously, dude. Stop.
I have been spending my days exploring the city and getting to know my surroundings, from the Markthal to the Cubic Houses to the beautiful Oude Haven, through the Erasmus Bridge and past a thousand more architectural miracles that reside in this beautiful place.
Fast fact: before choosing my current studies, aka Communication, I was determined – for years and years – to study Architecture. Passed my tests, got into the faculty and all that jazz you know? But I decided last minute my call was another, gave up the dream to pursue a different but still incredible one and have not regretted it since. However, seeing all these buildings and creative constructions and art makes me miss so much that lost chance, wondering how that would have worked and I can’t deny that. But that’s another story.
Amongst our many adventures in the past days, we decided to try out an Open Air Cinema at the Museum Park, not far from my flat and with a nice atmosphere in between the trees and the buildings of the city. The movie being screened was the Lobster, which if you haven’t seen yet you should totally check out. It is the story of a man, living in a dystopian society where people are not allowed to be on their own. You either are in a couple or you turn into an animal, one that you can obviously choose because that would just be inconsiderate wouldn’t it. Pretty crazy right? So the movie follows the tale of the main character in its search for his one true love, one that shares his traits and would prevent him from becoming his ultimate choice, a Lobster. I won’t let you know the ending but, if I may, I highly suggest you check it out because it’s weird and interesting and confusing at the same time in a really good way.
All in all, it’s a pretty amazing couple of weeks, during which I met new people, made friends with my flatmates (post to come soon!) and got to know a bit of language which is WAY HARDER than I thought I must say. Dutch people are nice and friendly and thankfully speak English better than Italians, which is a life saver. The weather has been incredibly kind to us and I am now dreading the colder months.
Anyway, that’s all for today I think. I hope you enjoyed the post and will keep reading this blog. Either way, I will see you all again soon!
Elena
Hi! My nickname is Nana. You can call me Nina. The real one is neither of those two.
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