Tropic Museum and Tropic Animals

In a strange combination of activities, we decided to go to the Tropenmuseum which is essentially the Dutch attempt in recognizing and apologizing for all of its, not so wonderful, imperialism that conquered and enslaved much of Africa and the East Indies, as well as the Artis Royal Zoo. Funny enough, it also housed things appropriated from other continents and held against their will.

All joking aside, the Tropenmuseum which simply translates to tropics museum was pretty interesting. It housed quite a bit of relics that showed their formerly vast, incredibly abuse empire including weapons from the period as well as stolen treasures from the people they enslaved. In fact, the whole museum, with the exception of a small exhibit that showed the brutality of Japanese occupation in Indonesia during WWII, just seemed to beg for an apology for what it had done in the past. As a student of history, I appreciated the painful admission of guilt they had displayed so proudly, yet I could not seem to fully enjoy the exhibits. I do not know why, but I feel that the strange combination of repentance while still grinningly displaying your former power over helpless indigenous peoples is just off-putting in a broad way.  

In the more cheery part of the day, the Artis Royal Zoo was incredibly beautiful. Every inch of the park was replete with close, engaging animal enclosures, fountains, and well manicured parks. Of course, many of the animals they housed our own Pittsburgh Zoo had as well, but somehow, in a quarter of the space they were able to fit twice as many animals. Penguins, elephants, and giraffes were displayed alongside more exotic animals I had never seen before in person including tapirs, red pandas, and anteaters. It was simply a delight and I am a little embarrassed to admit that I took exactly 280 pictures at that zoo. In fact, I saw a penguin yawn and I stood there for over ten minutes waiting for it to yawn again to take a photo. In case you wonder later, that is why there is about five pictures of the same penguin due to me missing his yawn and trying again. One other fun anecdote from the zoo, the second enclosure we saw after the water buffalo was a group of tapirs, anteaters, capybaras, and patagonian maras. You will see in my pictures how close a tapir got to me and I was enjoying how close and friendly the animals appeared to be, and I was impressed with how close the visitors were to the animals. Well, maybe I should not have been too glad about that part owing to the fact that, again, second group of animals in, my new tapir buddy turned around and aggressively shot out a liquid (that I pray is urine) out of its backside and, despite a quick sidestep, ended up all over my right pant leg. So yea, I got literally pissed on by an exotic animal. Is that a Hallmark moment? In any case, it definitely made the trip more memorable. I took pictures of most of the animals I saw, like a total tourist I should add, so my pictures will paint quite the picture of my experience. Also, I just wanted to add this little tidbit, guess what the most popular exhibit looked to be, of all things, more people hung around the enclosure of North American animals than any other. Dozens of people stood in awe of the rodents we try to kill or shoo from our backyards including our fantastic little bandit, the racoon and our, never welcome, skunk. Funny that there most popular part of the zoo is two little pests that most people in Pennsylvania can see in their backyards or as roadkill. Hey, I guess American animals are interesting to people that have never been to America, makes you wonder if people from Africa become bored of big cats. The Artis Royal Zoo was very enjoyable and I am very grateful that I strayed enough to enjoy something I probably would have otherwise missed and I am also grateful that every single aspect of that zoo strived to be beautiful, just wait until you see the entrance, even that was a work of art.

First, here are the few photos I took at the Dutch "We're sorry we were awful and killed hundreds of thousands of your people museum" - which they euphemize as the Tropenmuseum.

Statue outside of Tropenmuseum

Jewish Synagogues and Jewish History

Yesterday we went to one of my highest priority attractions in Amsterdam. This location, which was very dear to my heart, was the Jewish Historical Center.The museum included information about when the Jews first starting migrating to Amsterdam, their activities and the synagogues they built here, the role in society and the trades they practiced here, their struggles during the Nazi occupation, all the way to the Jew's weary return to Amsterdam post-WWII. The information was extremely well organized and almost every turn included yet another piece of the accompanying audio guide that greatly expanded on the artifacts they had and the history behind each paining, each document, and each siddur they possessed. In fact, I took so many photos of the place, i.e. I do not think there is a singular corner of the museum that I was not able to capture (with the exception of this smaller Amy Winehouse exhibit, in which I was forbidden to take photos). I will include most of them, I was going to caption them, but there is just so many. In fact, if you want to know what anything is specifically that does not have the information about it in the next picture, just contact me or leave a comment. Well, here they are.

Holy Places and Holy Things

Recently, I went to the Museum Ons'Lieve Heer Op Solder, (which in a more pleasant, pronounceable name is called the Lord of Our Attic Museum). The Lord of Our Attic Museum was initially very interesting and only got more interesting as you explored the 17th century canal house that had hidden a fantastic Catholic Church in its attic. Outside of purely religious objects and the church itself, the museum offered a glimpse into the everyday life of the 17th century Dutch. The house had in fact been three houses that were all purchased and combined by one wealthy man who sought to create a place of worship in the predominantly protestant Dutch Republic. From its grand entrance, to its winding staircases, to the surprisingly ornate altar, the house was full of fascinating religious objects that seemed out of place with what was otherwise a simple, yet large canal house. In short, the Lord of Our Attic Museum showcased the tolerance of the Dutch Republic even in the 1600s. The church was known about, and yet it was allowed to exist. The only caveat to any practicing religion in the Netherlands was that if they were adherents to any faith but Protestantism, they only had to be subtle enough to keep their places of worship from appearing as places of worship from the street. Tolerance was therefore granted to those who were willing to follow that simple, singular rule.

(photos from the Our Lord of the Attic)

A model of the three canal houses that were combined to make the
 church in the attic, as seen from the street

The Back of the same model 

Missing Baggage and Missing Customer Service

Opposed to last time where the project was undertaken only by me, this time I stated my journey with a friend who would be completing his own research project in the Netherlands. The very first day of the beginning of our travels started off with a fun caveat. In order to get to our final location of Amsterdam, we had to take a flight to Philadelphia first. Well, day one, that did not happen. We arrived at the airport just before noon to ensure that we would be there well ahead of our 3:45pm departure. After sitting at the gate that was seemingly devoid of all other people for about three hours, we were alerted to our plane being cancelled by the word "cancelled" just appearing beneath our gate's departure information. As soon as we found out that the flight had been cancelled, we quickly went over to talk to the American Airlines personnel to ask about what we were supposed to do being that our flight had been suddenly cancelled. My friend was the first to call the number we were handed to talk to AA's customer service, he was essentially told an unconvincing "sorry" and that our flight had been cancelled due to maintenance. A story that neither of us believed being that our plane was already sitting at the gate, the same gate that was empty without the two of us. Therefore, our little hypothesis is that the flight was cancelled due to low occupancy, i.e. that would have been a private flight for two coach passengers. In any case, we were told there were no other flights to Philadelphia, and that we would have to come back tomorrow. Incredibly annoyed, we both called our parents to get picked up, unfortunately to start the obnoxious series of airport events anew tomorrow. Before we left however, we did do two things. Most importantly, we asked about our checked bags and were told not to worry about them, they will meet us in Amsterdam despite our growing distrust of American Airlines, and since we were waiting there anyways for our rides, I called American Airline's customer service myself to complain. My complaining got us promises of American Airlines vouchers for both of us, which after a second call to make sure they were coming on Tuesday morning, have still not been received.

Me in Dam Square

Life After Magellan

Being Home and Being Reflective

   Throughout my entire trip, I kept remembering a particular piece of advice President Tori Haring-Smith gave us during our departing Magellan meeting. It was simply to not to forget that you will be in a new place, by yourself, and the Magellan project is just as much about finding your own way, solving the inevitable problems that will appear throughout the project, and growing as a person, as it is about conducting the research you set out to examine. That advice stuck with me as I made my first trip overseas, the very first member of my family to go to a foreign country. While some might view the lack of my family’s experience abroad as a detriment, since they were unable to give me any advice about airports or foreign countries in general, whereas I saw it as a great opportunity to explore a world my parents knew nothing of and bring them back glimpses of life outside the ever consuming bubble of the United States.

            The last flight I went on was a two hour affair from Pittsburgh to Orlando when I was nine

About Me.

I apologize, this probably should have been one of the first entries, not the second to last. Without any more delay, my name is Jake Harrison a full-time student at Washington & Jefferson College, possible accounting and history double major (still a little unsure whether or not to still pursue my passion for history), and a very lucky and grateful recipient of the Magellan Project. Until this trip I, nor any member of my family has ever left the United States, and because of that I felt especially proud, and a little nervous, knowing that I had ventured further than any member of my family had, and that I would gain a perspective into life outside the US my family could only wonder. Unfortunately, the unknown causes my parents significant anxiety so my compromise was to take the minimum amount of time for my Magellan Project which is three weeks. Even still, in those three weeks I feel as if I have grown immeasurably as a person aware of the world outside our borders, and the confidence I have attained by doing all of this alone from the travel plans and tickets, to the gates of the airport to the first taxi to my hostel, to learning my way around Sliema and Valletta, has created a person who is no longer fearful of leaving the US, no longer fearful of getting lost home or abroad, and finally a person who is no longer fearful of traveling and exploring his passions.