4th August, 2010

The seal from the Royal Charter

The Royal Seal of the King of England

An archive

Bruge

Writing my last journal for the last day of class, it was fitting that Bruge be the last destination. Bruge is known as probably one of the more beautiful cities of Europe. The first thing we did upon entering the city was visit the city’s archives. I found it very interesting that the city had so many official as well as personal archives. There were archives from as early as the 13^th century. From the archives there was a lot that one could learn. For example, the archives from the 13^th century were written in Latin, while that from the 14th century was in Dutch. The revolt of 1302 made the city more democratic in nature as the archives from the 14^th century were more descriptive than those from the 13^th century. We also learnt that during the revolt it was primarily the Count of Flanders with the working class against the King of France and the upper class. One interesting fact that I learnt about this period was that seals were used as a signature. We were fortunate enough to see a few seals from this period.

After seeing the city’s archives we took a tour of city, and it was fit that Professor Jeroen give us the last tour of the class. He informed us that in 1302 the Flemish cities had won against the King of France. This was the first time in Europe that a royal army was defeated by an irregular army. Moving on, during the tour of the city we visited a church, and then witnessed another attempt by a city to give its 19^th century outlook a more modern outlook. The structure was a terrible idea, and was given the name Governor’s Car Wash. Obviously, the Professor was joking here. The tour continued further wherein we saw the underground remains of an old building below the Crowne Plaza hotel. From there on, we visited the house of Gruuthuize who were very wealthy people. They were so rich that they had their own private entrance into the church right behind their house. I found this to be arbitrary and wrong use of the Church’s power, but such arrangements were very common in those days. Lastly, another interesting fact I learnt about the city was that its inhabitants drank more beer than water, as the water was very polluted.

In the end, we walked back to station and returned to Leuven. After a very long journey, our course finally has come to its end. It has been a very enlightening experience. Now, after the finals on Friday we head home.

3rd August 2010

Ypres

Ypres was the main scene of battle in World War I. It was the city that faced probably the maximum damage as for many years the Germans and the Resistance fought there. The city was very crucial for both sides. There was only one way for the Germans to enter France, which was through Ypres. Therefore, it was very important for the Resistance to hold their position in Ypres. Upon arriving in Ypres we met Wouter Sinaeve who gave us a very insightful lecture on World War I. He spoke at length about the different kinds of weapons and protection that were used by soldiers during the war. It was quite a experience to see the different kinds of helmets, shells, and guns used during the war. Following the lecture was a visit to the Flanders Fields memorial. After our dinner break we went back to the memorial to hear the last post being played. It was a very emotional moment at the memorial. The tour guide had spoken of the experience being very heart moving. In reality, I had tears in my eyes during the Last Post. Seeing old men and women remembering those days and the loved ones they lost to the war brought out the gravity of the situation. There was a lot of pain in the eyes of many. Seeing the names of Indian soldiers on one of the pillars of the museum made the entire experience very personal to me as well. I hope all those who died in the war are in a better place.

2nd August, 2010

105 meters above the ground (On top of the BelFry)

BelFry

Church in Antwerp

Church in Antwerp 2

Outside the Antwerp Church

Antwerp Station

Antwerp

Entering upon our last week of class, we visited Antwerp today. The first thing we visited in the city was the Tower connected to Our Lady’s Cathedral. We got the unique opportunity to enter the tower and get a guided tour the structure. We climbed around 500 steps to reach to the top. While climbing the stairs we stopped at various intervals seeing the different sections of the tower. Upon reaching the top we entered into the level where carillon was situated. Our tour guide explained us the entire functioning of the instrument which I found very interesting. Additionally, he also played a piece for us. It seemed like a lot of hard work to play such a complicated instrument. There were over 20 bells of varying sizes and weight that he would play in one piece. Also, the weight of the bells meant that he needed to be strong enough to play the instrument. It was definitely an experience that I know I would cherish for a long time to come. J

23rd July 2010

Ghent

Leaving most of our luggage in Brussels, we travelled to Ghent to stay for the weekend. Starting off our visit, we had a guided tour with Professor Dr. Prevenier. He called Ghent a typical medieval city, where two rivers from France conjoined and followed out into the sea. The existence of this water route, meant that Ghent was a perfect candidate for trade and transport. First to exploit this were the Romans. They made the first highway that went from Rome passing through Ghent. This further enhanced the logistical importance of the city. Then came the Christian monks spreading their message of Christianity. They had such a huge influence on the city that one can still see numerous churches and cathedrals all over the city. The 3^rd wave of people to come here were traders, craftsmen and businessmen. They made high quality textiles that were sold all over the world. Since it was new city there were 3 ways of imposing authority in the city.

1. Through a political system and administration one could maintain law order. This gave rise to the town halls, and other administrative buildings.

2. The more ideological approach was to call on to the moral side of the people through religion. Hence, one can see many churches in the city. This was also indicative of the wealth of the city, because it required a lot of money to build and maintain a church. On a particular bridge, one could notice 4 churches around them. Thereby it signaled the wealth of the city.

3. The more pragmatic way of securing social peace was through the construction of a solid social security system. There were hospitals, houses for the old, and work for many so that they could earn a decent income. Once, the need for money was taken care of, then it would reduce the reasons for citizens to commit crimes.

Walking around the city I learnt a lot about how the city worked. There were buildings for grain storage, toll collection, and free masons. The storage of grain showed that the city was modern in its planning, as it planned for the unknown future. Additionally, I learnt about separate areas that were used for meat selling and storage due to the fear of infection that many had in those times.

Lastly, one could many architectural styles in the city. There were Gothic, Roman, French, Neo-classical, etc styles of buildings all over the city. Again, it was a good indicator of the wealth of the city.

In conclusion, I found Ghent to be a very well planned city, and rich city. The planning of the city was impeccable, and so was the foresight that people had in storing grain for the future. Lastly, keeping separate areas for the sale and storage of meat showed the health consciousness of the citizens.

22nd July 2010

Magritte Museum

Today we visited the Magritte Museum. For the first time I was introduced surreal art, which I found very interesting. Until now we had been exposed to more classic styles of art. The change in style of art was very refreshing. Something that I really enjoyed about observing these paintings was the abstract nature of these paintings. Additionally, many of them did not have a clear message as to what Magritte wanted the observer to understand from the painting. It was left open to the observer to take their own meaning out of the painting. There were a few pictures that stood out to me. Some of them are:-

1. Black Magic 1945

This was a portrait of a naked girl, and was titled Black Magic. The meaning that I took out of this painting was that worldly desires are supposed to create an illusion. The naked girl represented worldly desires that are supposed to distract us away from our goals. The worldly desires work like black magic, changing the natural order of events. Therefore, one must be aware of getting attracted and lost in the various desires of life.

2. The Flavor Of Tears

In this painting, Rene has painted a bird in green with leaves at the foot of the bird. There is black ink on her chest, and a caterpillar that is climbing on it.

This painting had a very deep and sad message to it. Tears are supposed to make a person very depressive. It makes them think negatively, and it affects the entire body and mind of the person. That is what the black ink on the chest meant to me. The caterpillar climbing on her chest probably represents that life always moves on. We must learn to look at the brighter side of events. In that way, we can avoid the pain of tears and like the caterpillar slowly keep moving on with life.

3. The Search For Truth

In this portrait there is a fish standing on its tail in what looks like a tower with a lake in the background. The message that I got from this painting was that truth is all around us, and that we just refuse to see. Many a time, we tend to search for the truth travelling places, asking people all around us, but forget that all that we need to do is look inside our home. The home of a fish is water, but it is standing in a tower. Thereby, it cannot find the truth because it is looking in all the wrong places, as where it resides is the water and not the tower.

21st July, 2010

The remains of the original city wall

Brussels Day 1

Moving out of Liege, we moved into the capital of Belgium, Brussels. As customary, we had a tour of city, wherein I learnt a great deal about the city. Our tour guide, Professor Jeffrey Tyssens was very unappreciative of city architecture and planning, to which I concur with. Unlike most of the cities we have visited so far, there was a lack of uniformity in architectural pattern of the buildings across the city. The buildings were of different colors with varying facades. While some of them looked magnificent, others looked third-world. Professor Jeffrey blamed the city’s municipal authority for this mess. He explained how there was a period of de-regulation wherein builders could construct any kind of building they wanted. Additionally, he also touched upon the politics behind the mess. According to him, the authorities in charge of the city are appointed based upon on their political power and not their qualifications. Therefore, they had the wrong people doing the wrong job.

Immediately, I drew comparisons between the Netherlands and Belgium using architecture as focal point in analyzing the difference in cultures. As one can clearly see, Belgium had politics influencing activities more than logic and rationale. Also, they aren’t very sentimental as when old buildings were demolished, there was no resistance to it. In contrast, I clearly remember the resistance that authorities faced in Amsterdam after the construction of a new building. They found the building ugly, and immediately halted the planned change of other buildings in the neighborhood. Additionally, I had earlier spoken about a liberal building policy in Brussels which caused many old buildings to go. This policy was very chaotic, and was heavily influenced by politics. The entire system was bureaucratic which resulted in the relatively ugly faces of many buildings in the city. The Netherlands, on the other hand is very liberal but in a very noble sense. Politics do influence the decision making process, but logic prevails over politics. Or that is at least what we see.

27th July 2010

Modern Art in Eupen

Eupen

Continuing with our focus on the politics of Belgium, we went to Eupen today. First we visited the local museum which was very basic in nature and relatively quite young. Something I admired about the museum was its promotion of local artists. Having visited many museums in the past couple of weeks, this one was probably one of the smallest we have visited. Nonetheless, we received a very warm reception from our hosts who had some snacks and drinks ready for us. Something I really liked about our hosts was that there were only 2-3 people in the museum who seemed to manage everything. Our hosts did a great job of multi-tasking. They had their daily responsibilities to fulfill, but still took out time to show us around the museum talking about the various artists, and describing their work. Additionally, the managers/owners of the museum were very aged, while the art on display was modern art. It shows as to how much the community supports each other. Despite the fact that our host was unable to explicitly explain most of the art that was on display, he still kept it in the museum. It was his way supporting local artists. I found this to be very pleasing and an inspiration for other elderly people to accept the art of the current generation.

Moving on, we later went on to meet the Prime Minister of the German speaking community of Belgium. We had a brief 10 minute video introducing us to the community. From it I learnt that the community was very small with only 73,000 inhabitants. However, interestingly they had 23% of their population below 18. This young population signals that the community has a good chance of achieving a lot of success. These children will be entering the work force in the near future, and I was very excited to learn about how the Prime Minister had planned for their introduction into the work force. Finally, on meeting the Prime Minister all of us bombarded him with different questions. Interestingly, he behaved like a typical politician giving us very vague answers, and most of our questions did not yield much information. For instance, when I asked him about his future plan for the young population, he gave me a very vague answer. He spoke about how 50% of the community’s budget was dedicated to education and vocational training. There was even a cell for enterprise-startup setup for young aspiring businessmen. I found this to be more of a general plan. There were no specifics about how the community was trying to reach out to businesses, or undertaking additional efforts to help this upcoming young generation. While I can understand that the community is very small, and that their powers are limited. Nonetheless, I feel that since the community is so small, there is more scope of greater attention to this generation.

In conclusion, I found the German speaking community very interesting. Even though they are relatively a very small community, there is a strong sense of bond here. The manager/owner of the museum is playing his part in supporting local artists. On the other hand, the community’s parliament is trying to do as much as they can for their citizens. I do realize that I have come down a bit harsh on the Prime Minister for his vague answers to my question. His powers are limited. His parliament has primarily only social and cultural jurisdiction. Nonetheless, I don’t think it would be unconstitutional for them to be directly approaching businesses and trying to get something working for their upcoming generation. I hope in the future I hear some great success stories from the young generation of the German speaking community.

29th July, 2010

Peace can sometimes be bought

After the visit to the oldest city of Belgium, Tongeren I had realized that the history of Belgium has been plagued with wars beginning with the Romans in 600 A.D.(cross check with wiki) For Belgians, it has been a very difficult past where they have been unable to defend themselves and been left to mercy of their conqueror. Therefore, the concept of peace naturally has a very important place in their hearts. Keeping this in mind I started my day today. We took our first bus ride in the city to reach ‘Vrije Universiteit Brussel’ (University of Brussels) wherein we met with a Professor of European Law, Tony Joris. He gave us an overwhelming amount of information on the birth and development of the European Union we know today. Along with that, he also touched upon various governing bodies, their hierarchy, powers, regulations, and also few articles of the TFEU (Treaty on function of the European Union). After the Second World War an idea was conceived by France to protect European peace. Along with Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Italy this idea gave fruit to an economic community called ECSC (European Coal & Steel Community). The logic behind this was to control coal and steel which were then not only industrial products, but also war products. Thus, if they controlled these two commodities, they could prevent future wars. In 1951 the treaty was signed and came into force in 1952 as a supra-national organization (It meant that decisions made by the organizations, would be directly binding on the member states). This somehow baffled me, as I found it strange that countries especially amidst fragile world peace (cold war) were agreeing to give up part of their sovereignty. It signaled with brevity that peace was the most important goal. In fact, there was even an attempt to build a defense system (EDC-European Defense Community) like N.A.T.O. that would be controlled by the EPC (European Political Community). This meant that Europe would not only be a monetary union but also a political one that would be have one centralized supra-national governing body. I found this to be a very positive step because then there would have been very little scope left for war between European countries. However, this proposal failed in the French parliament, after which the entire concept was buried away. Nonetheless, the European Community for Atomic Energy was formed to promote Nuclear power as an alternative to oil and gas as a source of energy. Therefore, in 1957 there were two communities active i.e. the EEC and the ECAE (European Economic Community and European Community for Atomic Energy). The objective of the EEC was to work together and have free transport of goods, services, persons, and capital within the community member nations. Moving on, while I could write more about the history and development of the European Union, there was a couple interesting articles (Article no. 101-102) of the TFEU that Professor Joris touched upon. These dealt with the competition policies which prevent companies from colluding to make above-average profits, thus cheating the consumer of a fair price. I found his discussion on this topic very interesting, and the examples of Microsoft and Intel that he brought forward were very explanatory. In fact, while reading a newspaper the other day I saw this article in the newspaper that dealt with a similar topic. (use newspaper article here)

In conclusion, I found the lecture on history and development of the European Union very enlightening and informative. Peace, which forms the entire basis of the development of the Union is a very noble idea. Even though it could be said that the perspective we got today was very academic in nature. I would say just one thing to all the critics, which is that peace whether we like to put it this way or not, was/has been bought. The tough periods of the World Wars and Cold Wars which reflected on both our professors faces reflected a very harsh reality that our generation takes for granted. It is that peace is something that was very rare in those times, and as much as we may critize the European Union for bureachy and faulty policies, it has been able to achieve/buy peace which I believe is the best item on the any menu in the world.

28th July 2010

Tongeren

Continuing with our day trips to the different cities of Belgium, today we visited the oldest city of Belgium, Tongeren. Upon our arrival in the city, I could see the city had a very different feel to it. Firstly, the architecture was a lot more homogenous compared to Brussels, as it had followed the European pattern of primarily red stone facades. Additionally, from observing people walking on the streets it seemed as though the average age of the population was older relative to other cities. Specially, it was a stark contrast to Eupen which had 23% of its population under 18 (use reference). Moving on, our tour started with a visit to the Gallo-Roman Museum wherein we first got a look at a piece of stone that was said to be more than 500,000 years old. I found this very exciting as I have always seen historical artifacts as such on television; but the experience of seeing it at arm’s length is a memory is a completely different feeling altogether. Then, we quickly moved up time to see sculptures, artifacts, videos, etc belonging to the Ice Age, Stone Age, Bronze Age, and so on. While this would intrigue a lot of people who have very little knowledge about the development of life on earth; it made very little sense to me. It was a section we could have skipped considering that it was information already known to us. In fact, we could have spent more time learning for example, facts about the Roman development of the city, their civic systems, culture, etc. Nonetheless, we still learnt a lot about the history and roman development of Tongeren, and the city’s cherished hero, Ambiorix.

Ambiorix was a very interesting character to me for a few reasons. The first thing I liked about him was his prudence. When the Romans first attacked, he was able to fend off the first wave with an army of civilians. These civilians weren’t trained warriors like the Romans, nor were they as equipped in weaponry, clothing and shields. They were citizens engaged in day to day life. Still, Ambiorix was able to raise an army that dealt an embarrassing defeat to the Romans. He paid eburones one gold coin to fight for a year. This was during a time when the concept of wealth was not as refined and important as today. However, he was still able to convince his people to fight for him. This concept of paying citizens to fight as soldiers inspired many other leaders in the regions nearby to enact the same. However, this was short lived as Caesar then came with two legions and completely finished the entire community. Again, Ambiorix displayed his wit as in the Roman historical accounts there was no mention of the capture of Ambiorix. The primary reason why I find this interesting, even though there are more illustrious characters in history than Ambiorix is that he was able to display good sense in such a difficult time that too with a primitive background. In contrast, there are so many of us who probably would not have been able to do so even after the amount of education that we have. Another attention-grabbing fact about Ambiorix that I learnt from the tour was that his origin was unknown. He could have been a nomad who settled in Tongeren for some time, but still the city chose to make him their local hero. I found this fact very funny, and at the same time smart marketing. Making somebody a local hero adds more meaning to the city giving the people something to look up to. Also, it adds to the touristic value of city, which in turn translates to more money. Obviously, I am making a few assumptions here. Nonetheless, they sound like probable reasons for glorification of Ambiorix as a ‘Tongeren hero’.

In conclusion, the tour around Tongeren revealed a few elements about the city. The city mainly consisted of a very elderly population. Also, this is probably the reason why I found the city to be more religious relative to others. The visit to the Basilica of Our Lady proved this. Compared to any other church that we had visited, this one had more people attending the church. Additionally, the large number of “Begihof’s” and the fact that it was still being practiced further buttressed this assumption. Moving on, the story of Ambiorix was something interesting to learn about, and his status of ‘local hero’ sparked a thought in me. It was that just like religion, even Ambiorix was somewhat of a man-made creation. The society could have chosen countless others for fulfilling that role. However, the chose someone that they knew could not be contested due to lack of sufficient information about him. In the crudest sense this is very similar to the concept of God. Nobody knows for sure about the existence of God, except for religious texts: similar to Ambiorix whose character was pulled out of Roman texts. What is true and what is false? It’s more of a question of what somebody wants to believe.

20th July, 2010

Inside Liege University

The long steps we climbed to reach the summit

The Oldest University Of Liege

A former building of the Liege university

Liege Day 2

I was left disappointed yesterday with the city of Liege. I felt the citizens to have a superficial sense of nationalism, and that the city was poorly maintained. Today, we went a little a bit deeper into the history of Liege. Coming back to the topic of the local pride in being different, I understood this concept a bit better due to the lecture by Professor Kris Steyaert. He explained that the history of Liege is different not only from other cities of Belgium, but also the Low Countries. Firstly, the city was not ruled by the Dutch or Spanish. It remained semi-independent under prince arc bishop. This independence instilled a sense of self-pride and independence in the people. Therefore, my earlier assumption of their nationalism being superficial was wrong. I misunderstood their sense of pride for their arrogance. Additionally, my facts were incomplete as the city was not completely under foreign rule. Moving on, Professor Steyaert introduced us to the greatest artist of Liege, Andre Ernest Modeste Gretry. Most of the artists we have been introduced to so far have been either painters or sculptors. However, for the first time in this course we were introduced to the world of music. Gretry was the son of a violinist who attained local fame by being first person to play the violin in St. Martin’s. Gretry, on the other hand played the flute. We were fortunate to hear some of his songs, and I immediately became a big fan of his music. I found his music to be very soothing, and his versatility in playing different scales and notes was impressive. Locals adore his music, and there is a museum, a statue, a street along with many bars and restaurants named after him.

The reason why music was so important to Liege is understood when the city was invaded by the French. Instead of revolting against the French, and expressing feelings of antagonism towards them: they city adored the French. This was because of their close connection to Paris. Paris at that time was very famous for musicians, and the local musicians were very influenced by those in Paris. There was a lot of exchange of music between the two cities. Specially, Liege looked up to Paris in the field of music. This somewhat explains as to why the city welcomed the French during their invasion.

In conclusion, I find it very interesting that the citizens of Liege welcomed the French with open hands. I can understand that they looked up to the Paris for inspiration in music. However, what surprises me is the weak sense of nationalism amongst the people. They probably did not see the French as foreign oppression. Gretry’s will could be used to explain a part of this diffused sense of nationalism. He was buried in Paris amongst many famous celebrities of that time. But, in his will he stated that his heart be buried in Liege. I find it diggest to understand the diffused sense of nationalism that citizens of Liege had, but Gretry proved that no matter what, he would always be Belgian first.

19th July, 2010

Former Palace of Arch Bishop

A view of Liege

Liege Day 1

After spending a jazz-filled weekend in Luxembourg, our trip moved forward into Liege, Belgium. After our check-in we were given a tour of the city by Professor Guy Janssens. From him we learnt that Liege was a very important city in the history of Belgium. In the 19th century, Belgium had been the 2nd most industrialized country in Europe, after England. At the center of this industrialization process was Liege. It was a very prosperous town with a thriving steel industry. Additionally, it was different from other cities: one of these perceived differences was because of the fact that the city didn’t come under foreign rule until 1795, when the French invaded Belgium. Therefore, the citizens of Liege believed themselves to different. I think that this is a very inane way of differentiating oneself, because eventually Liege like every other city did fall. It doesn’t matter who fell first, or how many times. In the end, each citizen of any city of Belgium is still Belgian first. Nonetheless, the competition between cities exists in every country, and I don’t find it very surprising that the locals in Liege find themselves superior to other cities.
Moving on, we visited a few spots in the city. Amongst them was a mall that was built in 1839. Mr. Janssens informed us that malls in the 19th century were built in rich towns: this was another indicator of the success of the city.
The next place we visited was the Liege cathedral. We learnt that the cathedral was destroyed by the people of Liege themselves to please the French. I found this to be very anti-nationalistic, and contradictory to the pride that the city has of never being under foreign rule until 1795. In fact, it goes to prove how cowardly the city actually was under foreign oppression, and that its sense of being superior to other cities was superficial. Not only that, we also learnt that the people sold the stones of the cathedral, which I believed was another questionable act. However, since I do not know if the citizens were under some sort of duress when they took these measures, I will refrain from passing any comment on this act.
In conclusion, I found the city to be interesting, but not overly exciting. It may have had a very great and glorious past, but currently, the city looks shabby, and poorly maintained. It was an unpleasant surprise to see such poor sanitation and hygiene in the the city, especially after coming from the hyper- clean Netherlands, and Luxembourg. I hope tomorrow holds a greater promise!

16th July, 2010

A view of security screen in the Luxembourg Parliament

Inside the Luxembourg Parliament

Luxembourg- Talking big.

Starting our first morning in Luxembourg we took a bus to reach the University of Luxembourg. After losing our way a bit, we finally made it to the University. At the university we were given a very warm welcome by the professors, students, and the Chancellor of the University of Luxembourg, who greeted us at the steps of the entrance into the University! At that very moment, I knew Luxembourg was going to be a different and pleasantly unique experience. The hospitality of our hosts seemed to reflect with the propriety that is usually associated with old money and old world charm. As we learnt from the presentation that followed the reception, Luxembourg is a small country with very rich inhabitants, the per capita GDP of the country is the highest in the world (Luxembourg, 2010). However, 2/3rd of its GDP is generated by non-Luxembourg companies and citizens. This means that Luxembourg is very dependent on foreigners to stimulate its economy, create jobs, spur infrastructure development, etc. In fact, Luxembourg likes to think of itself as the European Capital: the European investment bank and European court of Justice have its residence in the country. Some even like to think of it as a European Capital due to its location: it is widely believed that the country is situated in center of Europe. However, as Dr. Pit Peporte pointed out, this is just a myth. If one looks at the map, Luxembourg is not the center of Europe, and the myth serves as more of a pride-building measure amongst its citizens, and hence is not the truth. Luxembourg has many other myths that make its history very interesting. For instance, there is no clarity on as to who founded the country, and while many theories that have been put forward; none have enough facts to make a strong case. One of the more popular beliefs is that John ‘the blind’ founded the country, and he is hence today regarded as a ‘national hero’. Moving on, Dr. Pit Peporte did a brilliant job of introducing us to the cultural history of Luxembourg. There were primarily three areas that he touched upon: the history, the geography and the language. While I have briefly touched upon the first two, my observations on the language of Luxembourg- Luxembourgish were that it was more a feel-good measure for its 490,000 odd citizens (Peporte, 2010), while French served as the written language of the administration and government, and German was the main language of the media. Luxembourgish is somewhat a combination of the two and is mainly used in personal conversations and not official parlance. Hence, even though it has been declared a language by law, it still wouldn’t qualify as a “national” language as very few people speak it.
After the visit to the University we had a lunch break, following which we visited the Luxembourgish parliament. At the parliament building we were allowed to see various sections of the building, we were even fortunate enough to sit inside the 60 seat parliament where we were given a brief insight into the political system! Also, we discussed a few political issues that the government was facing. The three main issues the government was struggling with were budget cuts, a weak job market and the integration of foreign residents. The issue of the immigrant society reminded me of the same problem the Dutch had to deal with. While I would have liked to speak more on the topic, our time constraints limited us.
In conclusion, our day in Luxembourg was well spent. We had a very informative introduction into the various aspects of the country. It seemed as though there was a lot more the country had to offer than what we learnt. The culture of Luxembourg intrigued me, and was something I was interested in learning more about. From personal observations, the city looked very aged in the sense that most of its citizens were elderly. In my opinion, elderly people are the best to learn from due to the vast experience. However, this is more of an assumption than a fact. From the history about the origins of the city, their choice of ‘national hero’, claim of being ‘the heart of Europe’ and an European capital, and lastly their invention of Luxembourgish all pointed to a nation aiming to instill a sense of nationalism by building a sense of grandeur. I felt the strong sense of nationalism, and the insecurity that its inhabitants felt due to small size of the country. Hence, while I could relate to the emotions running through the people, I also knew that the feelings of nationalism could prove to be misplaced, and perhaps arising from misinformation.

15th July, 2010

Maastricht

Today was our last day in the Netherlands. Before we knew it, our adventures in the most liberal country on Earth were coming to an end! We had learnt a lot about the Dutch: their culture, politics, history, art, architecture, and all of these I have come to appreciate tremendously. There was still a lot more I want to learn about this magnificent country! Nevertheless, the trip had to continue to its next leg in Luxembourg. Prior to entering Luxembourg I found it fitting that we had a planned stop in Maastricht, arguably the oldest city in the Netherlands. It was founded by the Romans who built a walled-in settlement in order to protect the Sint Servaas Bridge over the Maas River. They initially named this settlement ‘Mosae Trajectum’ (crossing place for the Maas), which developed into the name ‘Maastricht’ (Sightseeing walk through the old city, 2009). In our tour of Maastricht we visited a few places, and also learnt a great deal about the city. Something that struck me was the unique Maasland renaissance style of architecture. While we were walking, we could recognize the building style by the inimitable ‘tall saddle roofs, the brick walls, the bluestone framing around doors and windows, and the decorative marl elements in the outer walls’ (Sightseeing walk through the old city, 2009). I found this style extremely unique, and after further research I understood that it was a regional architectural style, and it had catered to the different functions that were performed in the city. (Maasland Renaissance, 2010). For instance, the saddle roofs were present because the city was fortified. Moving on, after a brief lunch we got back on our bus and head to Luxembourg.
Works Cited
Sightseeing walk through the old city. (2009, July). Maastricht step by step . Maastricht, Netherlands: VVV Maastricht.

14th July, 2010

Vermeer Painting

Potrait of Jan Colman

Bell tower in Delft

Delft and Leiden

In order to further explore the history of the Dutch, we made a trip to Delft and Leiden today. Both of these cities were very important during the 16th and 17th century and Delft in particular was very famous for its painters: a number of famous painters including Vermeer were born here. In addition, the city also has a royal heritage as it is the birthplace and place of death for William Orange. It also serves as the burial place for the royal family. Moving on, after a brief tour of city we visited ‘The Prinsenhof’, which was the former palace of the William of Orange and also the ‘Oude Kerk’ (Old church). The paintings at both these places revealed a lot about the Dutch culture and administration, and went on to strengthen my earlier belief that paintings were an effective and somewhat accurate way of learning about history. For instance, one was assured of a superior social status if they had a portrait of themselves painted by a famous painter! Case in point: the portrait of Jan Colman by the famous painter Maarten Van is indicative of the fact that the former was an important person Jan Colman was primarily a jurist and a clergyman. Eventually, he went on to become the spiritual leader of nuns. Also, with his judicial expertise he was able to make money from a rich convent that owned a lot of land. Many, including me, see this as a conflict of interest; however his actions become easy to understand with a better understanding of his circumstances. I was very impressed by his part-payment for the rebuilding of the convent after the city fire of 1536 when the convent was destroyed. Moving on, there was a lot I learn about the history of the Dutch republic through the paintings and the information provided in the ‘Prinsenhof’. One of the elements I found most surprising was how the society was non-egalitarian society during the Dutch Golden Age. The paintings revealed that the power of the city administration had lain in the hands of the ‘regents’ and the rich traders and merchants with whom they were closely connected had amassed a lot of wealth. Even today, most craftsmen, small traders and laborers that are employed in city are dependent on the rich for work: as long as there is work, they can earn an income but there is no stability in how and when the income arrives, and there are times when the people are left starving because of lack of money. Therefore, it showed us the disparity in the standards of living, and that this was not a ‘Golden period’ for all the citizens of the Netherlands.
Moving on, we took a train to reach Leiden where we were given a guided tour of the city by Steef Eman. The first thing I noticed in the city was the existence of windmills! As we know, windmills have played a very important role in Dutch history; however, Leiden was the first Dutch city where I actually got to see an old-fashioned windmill! This immediately added a special charm to the city. More than windmills, Leiden is known as the city where William of Orange started his campaign against the Spanish. In recognition of this fact, the city was offered two choices. One was fewer taxes, the second was the establishment of a university. Interestingly, instead of thinking about the short-term gains from the tax cuts, the city chose to have a university. This was a very smart idea as the tax cuts could have been withdrawn anytime, but the existence of a university meant that the city had something permanent and a brighter future for its coming generations. I realised that making that decision was a very noble idea as the city had been left in a relatively impoverished state after the war, and while the natural instinct would have been to gain as much as possible, as quickly as possible, the people,e of the city denied this instinct, and that made this city special to me.
In conclusion, the tour of both the cities was very enlightening. There was a lot we learnt about the rebellion led by William of Orange, the art during those times, and also about the Dutch republic. The non-egalitarian nature of the Dutch republic left me slightly disappointed, but that feeling was short-lived and my spirits were raised after touring Leiden. We also saw a very typical example of the Dutch housing system- a complex where the entrance and the garden of the complex was public, while, the houses in the complex were private. This reaffirmed my love for the egalitarian nature of the Dutch!

13th July, 2010

The Auschwitz Memorial

The Resistance

Yesterday, we were given an insight into the struggles faced by the immigrant society upon settling in the Netherlands. Today, we focused on struggles that were specific to the Dutch people, i.e. the period of World War II. After a slight change in the program, we first visited the Dutch Resistance Museum, and following a brief introduction by Professor Jeroen we entered the museum. In the museum I was amazed with the amount of information that was on exhibit. It was structured to make the visitor feel like they reliving history as it unfolded. The background information coupled with quotes from war survivors added a unique feeling to the entire experience. The typical individualistic nature of the Dutch and the complexity of the problems faced by them were brought out by the quotes. The individualistic nature of the Dutch was very visible in the rationale that three workers had while working in a German arms factory. One of them worked to meet ends, while another one was concerned about better facilities for the factory which would be paid from a commission they were granted, while the third one was focused on indirectly helping the resistance by slowing down the arms production. As one can see, each of the three workers had their different objectives to fulfil, and had different approaches towards nationalism. Personally, I thought that the third worker had the most practical mindset. It was a known fact that the Dutch were too small for Germany, therefore any armed conflict was out of the question. Thus, the one of the ways to beat them was slowing them down, and wait for the allied forces. It was probably the best he could have done in those circumstances.
“Broken skies, broken freedoms”
After the museum we visited a memorial followed by a visit to a park where there was an exhibit made of broken glass. One could look into the glass and see the sky as though it were broken: thereby, symbolizing the broken fate and houses of countless Dutch people during the holocaust. I remember thinking to myself, ‘What a simple way to remember such a dark period!’ Suddenly, it was then that I really felt the magnitude of the message “broken skies”. The sky plays a very symbolic part in Dutch history. In a low lying country like the Netherlands, the sky is something they have in abundance (relative to other countries that are well above the mean sea level). Calling that broken meant to me that the Dutch had lost everything they had. In reality, this is what had happened. The Netherlands was a country that took very good care of its citizens, gave numerous liberties, and one that did not impose any arbitrary actions on its citizens. However, all of a sudden the citizens had been either were forced into labor or killed, and were faced with the dim prospects of hunger and misery. The sky representing their freedom was abruptly broken and held hostage

12th July, 2010

Visit to the Multi-cultural neighborhood

Two feet and two different boats

Entering upon our 2nd week of classes, I was excited to learn more about the Netherlands. During our first week we had touched upon various aspects of the history, culture, and politics of the Netherlands. We even got a micro view of the education, and political system along with an insight into the tolerant legal policies. Today, we focused on a sensitive issue that had plagued and continues to plague many countries across the world, Immigration. As we had learnt last week, the Dutch colonial empire was huge, and their supremacy was based on exploitation of their colonies. This impoverishment of the natives meant that the Dutch had to make some compensation; one of them was that they would be tolerant and secular in allowing the natives of their former colonies to immigrate to the Netherlands upon becoming independent. For example, Professor Jeroen Dewulf informed us that in 1949 when Indonesia became independent 300,000 people (mainly repatriates) left for the Netherlands. Additionally, in the 1950’s there were many “guest” workers from the relatively poorer southern Europe countries i.e. Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy, etc that came to the Netherlands for work. Most of these workers performed the lower and unwanted functions of the society and in the 70’s, when they were asked to leave, they refused. In the end, they were given citizenship and were allowed to bring their family over as well. I thought this was a difficult decision that the Netherlands was forced to make because of the additional cost involved in social security cover for the immigrants, and also their assimilation into the society. While the additional cost associated with social security cover is a minor issue for such a wealthy nation, the bigger problem was the assimilation program. This clash of different cultures was brought out well in the movie ‘Shouf Shouf Habibi’ that followed the lecture. The movie deals with problems that the immigrant society faces in their daily life in the Netherlands in a comical way- there were many tensions within the immigrant family and many reasons could be attributed to them. Furthermore, from the movie I realized that the core of the problem for the immigrant society lies in the choice of either sailing the boat of their own culture, or that of the Dutch.
When immigrants move to the Netherlands they have a lot of problems in acclimatizing to the culture of the Dutch society. Initially, it’s a culture shock for most, a situation to which they must slowly learn to get accustomed. Also, many of the immigrants who come from conservative backgrounds find themselves in a greater crisis, and this can be attributed to the fact that the Dutch society has a lot of liberal elements that relatively less liberal societies find difficult to accept and adopt. Therefore, the immigrants must feel as someone who is caught in the middle of the sea with two boats to choose from would: one is that of their own culture, while the other is to assimilate into the Dutch culture. If they choose to continue with their way of life, they find themselves either ridiculed or out of place. On the other hand, when they try to assimilate into the Dutch way of life, their own society fails to recognize them. The third more difficult, frustrating, and near impossible option is to have a foot each in both the boats. However, even this does not solve the problem as there is a compromise that the individual has to make. Nonetheless, it’s the more practical option to make. ‘Shouf Shouf Habibi’ did a good job of showing this dilemma faced by the immigrant society. The conservative parents continue with their lifestyle, and try to impose it on their children as well. The parents don’t find it very difficult to maintain their lifestyle as they keep themselves relatively aloof from the Dutch. Conversely, their children find it difficult to live such a life as they are in constant touch with the Dutch society. It makes it very hard for them as they are made to face ridicule by other people outside their own, small society. For instance, the daughter is made fun of by the others, this despite the fact that she wears western clothing, and is very alike the Dutch in her social mannerisms, except for the colour of her skin.
In conclusion, the topic of immigration, and clash of cultures is a very sensitive issue that can be discussed at great length. Immigrant families face a lot of problems upon moving to the Netherlands, and hence it is very important for the Dutch to be more open and tolerant towards the beliefs of these individuals and groups. In the same breath, the immigrant families need to realize that they are no longer in their home country, and the rules, traditions, and laws are very different. They must learn to live with that or accept the Netherlands as their home and start living their lifestyle. Lastly, our visit to the multi-cultural neighborhood showed us that the Dutch have on their part provided the immigrant families with decent housing and surrounding environment to live in. If they have opened their arms as a gesture of acceptance, then it is definitely time for the immigrants to do the same

9th July 2010

The Dutch: Businessmen first, human second.

Since the start of the program we have been looking into different aspects of the Dutch society, getting acquainted with their culture, and identity. We have also had a look into the education, political, and other civil institutions. Today, we looked into the Dutch history primarily focusing on the 17^th century. During this period, the Dutch were at the height of their power with a booming economy, and flourishing trade. As explained by Dr. Frank at the National Institute of Slavic Past, “in the 17^th Century Dutch merchants dominated trade in Africa, Philippines, India, and Caribbean”. He went on further saying that, “the West India. Co in 1620 dominated the Caribbean. It was the architect of profitable wars setup by the government as a private co. to continue war in the Caribbean by piracy and conquest.” Using this policy of pillaging boats the Dutch were also able to break down Spanish communication, and trade. This completely amazed me, as I would have never imagined that one could gain control of the seas just by piracy. However, the Dutch “pirates” did have the government’s complete backing as well. Nonetheless, the creative Dutch policy did work then, and they went on to establish colonies in islands like Aruba, Antilles, etc in the Caribbean to ones in Africa and eastwards uptil Indonesia. Upon learning that the Dutch controlled the Atlantic slave trade, I started to question the validity of the moral and just Dutchmen I have been learning about since coming to the Netherlands. In the tropical museum I found a quote apt to the topic by Bredero in 1615: ‘inhuman usage! Heathen villainy! That people are traded into slavery! There are people in this town that engage in this trade’. Furthermore, after watching a movie at the institute on the Dutch colonial treatment of natives in Africa, I came to the conclusion that the Dutch are businessmen first, and humans later. I do realize such a thesis is very strong, but if one looks at the price others have had to pay for the greed of the Dutch merchants, it is apt to say something like this. The movie, ‘Max Havelaar’ that followed Dr. Frank’s presentation proved the aforementioned point decisively.

From the movie, we learnt a lot about the Dutch treatment of African natives. It is no rumor that natives were terribly exploited in every way possible. Women were forced into sleeping with the Dutch officials, and natives were made to work without suitable payment. In fact, not only was their sweat, and blood taken from them, but also their livestock, house, etc. While, it would be wrong to say that every Dutch official was corrupt, but the movie showed how greed can be such a blinding force. Mr. Max Havelaar understood this fact, and tried to solve it by economizing his life-style for the betterment of the natives. However, there was little that he could do in the end to help the natives as his superiors, and colleagues let him down. In fact, the planned murder of the former assistant general “displayed a picture of corruption which overshadows the worst of what the Oriental peoples are accused of in this respect” (Dewulf, 2010). The desire to make money made the Dutch commit horrible sins, which they could have never thought of committing in the Netherlands. While some played an active part, others played a passive role, and some like Max thought of changing things. This comes as no surprise to me as the Dutch are very individualistic, and each of them did what they had to or wanted to. I might sound like a broken record when I say this, but I was truly shocked by the Dutch loss of morality. Not only that, when Dr. Frank mentioned that during Santa-Claus festivities people paint their faces black even today, I was shocked. I thought the racism, and oppression based on color was a thing of the colonial age. However, to see it in practice even today was rather surprising. Not only that, I learnt that there is a show on TV every December that has racist comments to and fro from the whites to the blacks. While it is one thing to be tolerant and liberal, I feel its totally another thing to be ignorant. And after hearing this, I feel that the Dutch are ignorant of others. Lastly, Dr. Frank’s comment that “kingdom of the Netherlands has never apologized formally to its colonial treatment of slaves, and its participation in the slave trade in the Atlantic” further strengthened my view on this topic.

As customary, we went to another museum in the evening called the Tropical Museum. I found this museum very interesting, and educative. It did a remarkable job in displaying most of the world’s different societies under one roof. Also, it gave a lot insight into the different colonies occupied by the Dutch, their commercial exploitation, and their historical objects such as coins, armory, etc. All in all, it was a great experience. Not forgetting, our celeberation of Teresa’s 21^st birthday in a nearby park after that was the perfect end to the day.

Works Cited

Dewulf, J. (2010). In the jungle of amsterdam. In J. Dewulf, The Amsterdam-Brussels Connection: History art and identity in the heart of europe (p. 219). UC Berkeley.

8th July 2010

The Work-Palace of the Queen

Our entry card into the Foreign Affairs office

Hague

Yesterday in Utrecht we were treated to some amazing architecture, historical monuments, and extraordinary information about the city. However today, we had to change from a micro to macro perspective of the Netherlands. Making an early start to the day, we took the train from central station into the capital of Netherlands, Hague. In Hague, we visited the Dutch House of Representatives, wherein we got a tour of the parliament building. The parliament, the library, and a couple of other rooms were shown to us. An interesting observation about the architecture of the building was the merging of an old 17^th century building into a modern 21^st century building. The way glass was used to make them seem compatible reminded me of the glass walkway that the tour guide cum architect in Utrecht had built inside an old building. The glass allowed for a new structure to be joined to an old existing one thereby preserving the latter in its original form.

Moving on, the next item on the Agenda was our meeting with the top advisor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The advisor discussed the relationship of the Netherlands and U.S.A. From her presentation I realized that the Netherlands and the U.S.A. are very important partners not only economically, but also politically, and militarily. Together they play an important role in maintaining global peace, in supporting the UN, and other such organizations. Moreover, even the current Gulf of Mexico spill had the Dutch lending a helping hand to the U.S.A. Unfortunately, due to complicated legal issues, the Netherlands is unable to fully support America in this catastrophe, but they are still doing the best they can. Another show of Dutch loyalty to the US is the resigning of the ex-government over the Afghanistan war. This shows the importance the Netherlands gives the U.S.A. and I feel that the latter has every right to demand this importance. For if it were not for the allied forces during WWII led by the U.S.A., the freedom of Netherlands would have probably still be under threat. By looking at the relationship between both these countries I realized that the Dutch are also very loyal. I think that it is a very big step for a government to resign because of a conflict of interest. In fact, I found it very odd that the government would resign over the war issue, when a decision could have been made. But, I guess the moral side of the Dutch truly came to the forefront with their decision making.

After our meeting, we quickly changed our focus back to art and made a trip to Mauritshuis, and then visited the world’s oldest surviving panorama painting. After walking up the stairs to the room where the painting was on display, my jaw literally dropped on seeing the painting. The circular nature of the painting got me feeling as though I was present in the scene painted. His depiction of a very realistic warm sunny day by the beach added to it illusionary effect. The coastline was full of activity with the military on their horses accompanied by canon, fishermen drying their nets, traders loading and unloading cargo from their carriages onto ships. The town preceding the coastline can be seen clearly divided into posh, common, and religious areas. The presence of a church nearby, and a couple more in the background show the influence of religion in those days. I felt this picture truly represented the Dutch Golden Age with its flourishing trading, and business activities. Additionally, the prominence of religion and the elite which was an important characteristic is also shown. Lastly, the division of the society into different sections based on religion, and wealth reflected the reality of those days.

After seeing the panorama, we had our last visit of the day scheduled with a Dutch language professor. We were not able to learn much about the Dutch language as most of our conversation revolved around topics that were much different from the Dutch language. However, I was still able to extract some interesting information from the professor. His favorite moral lesson was from a Peter Burger landscape painting have the message that ‘great fishes tend to eat the smaller fish’. I found this quote the truth of life, as history has always proved that the people in power are usually the ones who exploit those that are weak, and the basis for their power. A truth that I learnt about any language from the Professor was that ‘a language is dying when the parents say to their children that it is not important anymore’. I found this a very interesting revelation as it is always the parents who teach a language to the child before they join school. Therefore, it made a lot of sense for the professor to say, because if the parents don’t teach their children, why will they learn?