Through the eyes of… Karolina Dasenkovaite from Lithuania: Wooden shoes and a greeting from the bus driver

Early morning. You open your eyes and see the world. The world, that is completely new to you, whose walls are freshly painted with the bright new colors you see around yourself. New surroundings, new people, new experiences, new, new, new…

Your day starts at 07:00 am once you hear the bell pounding 7 times. On some days, you might this it is annoying and the other days you just keep counting the times the bell rings. This morning it pounded 7 times, the day starts.

Flying bikes
On your way to the university, you are listening to music when suddenly you hear a scream: “Watch where you are going!”. You turn around and see a person riding a bike, whose bike seems to fly, not to ride. You were walking on the red bike lane. Here, in Leeuwarden, bikes are to be respected as well as their lanes, therefore you make a little note to yourself to remember not to walk on it ever again.

On your way to the bus station, you notice an elderly person walking. Walking so slowly, yet so loudly. Your eyes widen. This person is walking with wooden shoes! These shoes seem to be too heavy for his feet, but he is still moving forward to the nearest grocery store. Crazy people, you think?

The blue bus
Once you reach the bus stop, you wait for the bus number 12 to take you to university. Hmm, it was supposed to arrive at 08:10 am, but your watch says it is already 08:12 am and the bus is no where near, according to dozens of people waiting and freezing their faces off. Now you are one of them.

The buses in Leeuwarden might not always arrive the minute they should, however when they do, you get approached by the nicest bus drivers. You step into the bus and you are ready to give 2 euros to the bus driver for the ticket, he looks at you, smiles and says: “It’s okay, take a seat”. You stand there for a second, taken by surprise, thank the bus driver and take a seat in the very front. The bus announces your stop and you get ready to leave, when you hear all the students shouting, “Bye bye!” to the bus driver. You do too.

In conclusion
Every new day in Leeuwarden brings something new. Every day you learn something new about the nicest people, the bravest pigeons (who are not too scared to fly right on your leg) and the people who wear shoes at home, instead of wearing slippers, like us, Lithuanians. Embrace it, because although there are so many odd details around you now, quickly you will learn to love them just as much as I do.