A Year in Utrecht

This might end up being a pretty introspective post so you've been warned. Last night I went to a free jazz performance, something I've never experienced before. For those of you who don't know, free jazz is that kind of jazz where everyone basically just plays what they want in any key, at any tempo, and any volume, creating sound that falls into the category of music in theory, if not in reality.  I only went because Constantina asked if I'd be interested in tagging along. To be honest when she first asked, my instinct was to decline, citing a distaste for this kind of activity as my reason. However, I then proceeded to spend the whole day working on homework and by the end of that, I needed to go do something. I also realized that I've never actually made any attempt to experience alternative music genres, and if there is anything I've learned over the past half-year or so, its that I (almost) never regret saying yes to things.  Lean Left (image taken from Ti...

 My thesis topic guys... jeez what did you think I was gonna say?  Today I presented my thesis proposal to my research methodology class, so of course all the fans are obliged to know what all this has been for as well. As most of you are probably aware, bike infrastructure is my jam when it comes to city planning, so my thesis will be focused on bike infrastructure as a means of facilitating mobility justice in the urban environment.  I won't bore you too much with the details, but basically I will be analysing mobility policy and infrastructure in terms of how it increases access to opportunities for lower-income and physically disabled communities.  Me Presenting my Proposal I had originally thought I would like to create a methodology for bikifying American cities, but that ended up being too broad. Instead I will be coming up with what exactly about bike infrastructure increases the freedom of movement and access to opportunity. It is clear just from riding arou...

Before I left Portland I said to my pals and family, "I won't be settled until I have my three Bs. A bike, bank account, and a beer (Maybe a bestie or two as well)". The bike and beer were very easy to come by, (besties as well lucky for me), but the bank account proved to be more of a nightmare than I was expecting. One of the things that the university tells you before you come is that you will need to set up a Dutch bank account so that you can recieve any student loans you may have. Fine. It doesn't really make sense to me why my American student loans can't go to my American bank account, but then again what do I know, I'm just little old me.  In addition to the loans, having a Dutch bank account comes in handy when making purchases around town. Although it is a mostly cashless society, the Netherlands has a pretty limited variety of cards they accept, and the one that is most widely accepted is the maestrocard (not to be confused with a mastercard of cou...