Without a Traceroute

Don’t get me wrong, the Netherlands is awesome, but it’s cold, grey, rainy and depressing here. I’m really looking forward to going someplace with sun. Furthermore, I feel like I’ve been here too long. I’ve gotten to know Utrecht well enough that I can find my way around without a map (at least in the center), and I’ve met quite a few cool people, but I’m starting to feel too comfortable. Everyone here speaks English, I know where the grocery store is, it’s too easy. I’m not challenging myself and I’m not getting outside my comfort zone. It’s time to leave.

I have a flight to Budapest on Monday to attend a conference about the EU Data Retention Act. I’m excited and I’ve heard really good things about Budapest. It is kind of weird though, because once I know when I’m leaving, I get into this “get out of Dodge” mentality where I’ve been running around trying to do and see as many things as possible. Tomorrow is the Utrecht Uitfeest, and all of the museums, art galleries and theaters in Utrecht will be open for free with special events. Utrecht has kind of a ridiculous number of museums for a city of its size (it’s about 300,000 people, and there’s probably a dozen museums). I especially want to see the Spoorwegmuseum (train museum) tomorrow, because it’s supposed to be cool, but it’s normally quite expensive. Tomorrow night, there’s also a “float-in movie theater,” where they show movies on the canal and people watch from boats. It sounds like a lot of fun, but I heard you have to get there quite early if you want to get a spot on a boat.