Shifting Continents

Before you get your hopes up in reading this article, no this blog entitled “shifting continents” is not based around the topic of Pangea, nor does it have to do with continental drift. In actuality, this edition of the blog is going to take a look at the enormous shift I’ve had in the previous year, moving from North America to Europe. In the future, I don’t plan to inflate my ego by just talking about myself! But when you haven't written a blog post in a year or so, dusting off the mantle with a life update doesn’t hurt.

To start from the beginning, I spent the first 17 years of my life growing up in Ottawa, the city where everyone's family member works in the government. I then moved to Toronto, where I obtained my bachelor's degree in jazz performance. From there I made the life choice to upheave all of my friendships, progression in the music scene, and the essence of familiarity to move to Amsterdam, where I am obtaining my master's degree at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.

There is this North American notion that Europe is weird. I remember stories from my relatives telling cautionary tales of the obscure nature of the arts, a general acceptance of nudity, and a drinking culture that has red flags all over it. I even had a lesson with a renowned American musician in the past (who shall not be named), who referred to the music being made in Europe as just weird and that America has what's going on musically.

These are some of the biases about Europe I had before moving. I like to think of myself as a pretty open-minded person, so these seemingly odd observations of Europe didn’t startle me too much. With that being said I lived in Canada for my entire life and I didn’t even travel to Europe since I was a child, so my perception of the continent was a mere fantasy.

In terms of the culture shock I did receive when moving here, it was firstly dulled by the fact that I was moving from a rich western nation to another. My first dose of culture shock was served to me by the multitude of cultures and the strong Dutch culture that caught me off guard.

In Canada, my family is composed of European immigrants as my maternal grandparents are from Greece and my Paternal Grandparents are from the Netherlands. So many of the friends that I had in Canada had similar roots that were mainly from Europe and Asia. To me, it felt like the meaning of being Canadian was finding value in the cultural roots present in your family, whilst being a part of this general liberal Canadian vision. When I went to school in Toronto, this vision expanded as I was not just meeting new people from Ottawa, but new people from the entire country of Canada. Finding and befriending these people allowed me to see the colour of what it meant to be Canadian in different shades. However when I moved to Europe, it wasn’t just different shades of the same Canadian colour I was seeing, it was a full spectrum of colours. This may seem obvious, but when you come from spending four years in university with 95% of people just being “Canadian”, it’s kind of amazing. You get to befriend people from Italy, Spain, Denmark, and France whilst getting a peer into their specific cultures and seeing different shades of colour from two people from the same country.

I can have this perspective as I am living in Amsterdam, which is a highly diverse city, and from the fact that I am studying at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where you will hear more people speaking Spanish than Dutch. From my time touring some different Dutch cities like Delft, Utrecht, and Haarlem, it is apparent that there is also a very strong and united Dutch culture.

As a Canadian, Dutch social culture is quite intimidating to me. As a Canadian, there is a genuine politeness we carry ourselves within social situations. For example, we avoid using certain slang terms that are seemingly offensive, we avoid confrontation, we sugarcoat everything with sorry and it's normal to ask the barista how their day is going…. from my experience anyways. If you’re Canadian and you’re reading this, I think you should take a seat for this next part.

In the Netherlands I have heard multiple people being called a “cancer whore” in Dutch, the conversation always tends to be quite dry with direct confrontation being preferred, and don’t even think about asking the barista how they are doing you weirdo.

Ok, perhaps I am being a bit harsh on the dutch. Although their cuisine consists of fried food, cheese on bread, salt candies, and there is virtually no forest, and … okay let me try again. These things I'm saying about both cultures are of course very general statements. The point I am trying to get across is that perhaps Canadians and the Dutch are not so well suited together. But! I have found that the Dutch have a lot to offer in other areas than their social prowess. Such as their cheese, fresh produce, beautiful architecture, and their great flatness which is amazing for biking.

But I am perhaps missing the biggest question you may be asking. Are the words of caution from my family and famous anonymous American musicians true? Yes, but only partially. Have I found the arts to be uber-liberal and shocking? No. It’s the type of aesthetic I am attracted to. Was the notion of nudity in Europe shocking? Yes and No. In North America, there is a large taboo placed on nudity and I was shocked to see how normal it was for people to go to a nudist beach, saunas which are primarily nude, and have less of a care when being nude in semi-private situations. Although some of these things may be different for North Americans, it is only a minute part of society that you probably don’t need to deal with every day.

What is more interesting to me are the features of living in Europe/Amsterdam that you can’t digest as a tourist. This idea of interconnectedness throughout Europe that includes travel and the spreading of ideas/cultures helps me distinguish the privilege it is to leave here when I identify Canada as a cultural bubble of sorts.

Although the spectrum of colors that represent European cultures is bountiful, at times I feel like a lonely shade of red, that misses the comfort of only seeing the scarlet, ruby, and amaranth hue that surround me. But I am happy to know that my little spot of red can co-exist with so many other vibrant colors.