THE WAY THINGS ARE OR NOT

As I see a little bit of Europe (I've also been in London and Greece), I find that each part is very different from the other even though they are so close. The French are totally different from the Dutch.

How much are we really influenced by our surroundings?

Parisians and Amsterdamians. The Parisians are very well dressed, sophisticated and many might say pompous. The French language is like that too, so elegant, sounds so beautiful, so refined, they drink champagne and fine cheeses. How can they not be like that? If every day that you go to work you walk around a living museum, surrounded by palaces that are both extravagant and beautiful, where even the light posts have been well thought about so things look good. Even the modern buildings that are right beside one 18 C one is well thought out so it doesn't disrupt the flow. I really can't imagine Parisians walking around town in sandals with socks, with a backward baseball cap, and baggy shorts (OK, nobody should dress like that anywhere, hahaha).

Amsterdamians, the canals give the city a very friendly, cozy, relaxed feeling, so maybe they would look ridiculous dressing like the French, it's just not the feel of the city. Their language is -as they say- crude and it sounds strong, melodic though, kind of cute, very mixed with english and everyone rides a bike, I've seen very, very old people in bikes and people on the cell phone while riding and no-one wears a helmet! that would look ridiculous. I found cannabis lolly pops, maybe I'll buy one tomorrow, and they eat french fries with mayonnaise, so yeah, not like the French at all.

So, I have been thinking a lot about this like what comes first: the language or the architecture? Does the language affect the way we build our surroundings or the surroundings affect the language? What happens in big countries like ours? Is there really a Canadian style. In Mexico, you'll find colourful houses everywhere in the country, some poor some not, some made of cheap bricks, and some mansion but the use of colour is consistent in all the towns, the colonial style, the cobble stones, in this countries there is a certain style of architecture that is visible in many areas. So, well, who knows. I'm babbling, I think I'm really tired.

And another interesting thing, with the people that I've talked there seems to be this debate: Some feel European and some feel just Dutch or German or whatever and they really don't think of themselves as European, weird no? Maybe I'll write more about this one day when I'm awake.
For now, sleep well.