eurozone

Being back in the Netherlands has something reassuring to it. The friendliness of people in the shops or on the street is striking from the first moment. It's so comfortable to pull out your EC card and to utter the magic words pinnen alsubelieft even for amounts lower than two Euros. As no Italian bank would give me a bank account for a mere five months, during my time in Milan I was constantly hoping that nobody would rob me on the metro and take the cash that we Germans love to carry around.

And then, being back to Maastricht also means breathing healthily again. In Milan, some roads are so heavily polluted that you cannot walk there for a long time. In Maastricht they clear the bike paths from snow before they clear the streets.

The only thing that comes in a little annoying is the fact that everything has become small again. You don't order a beer but a biertje and you don't give a kiss but a kusje. I have never understood how such a tolerant, educated and progressive society (yes, despite Wilders) can have so childlike forms of expression.