Lilac Colored Glasses

So I’m registered in a series of lectures offered through Gent Univeristy called “Low Countries Studies” which offers a 90 minute talk every Thursday evening on different aspects of the “low countries” which are Flanders and the Netherlands. There are 12 lectures and if you attend at least 6 of them you get a nifty little certificate. We figured this was a good idea for me to do, a. because it forces me to get my reclusive ass out of the house at least once a week and b. a certificate stating that I completed a university affiliated course about Flanders definitely can’t hurt when I have to take my legally required integration classes.

I missed the first lecture because I forgot to look up when it started and I opted out of the second one cause it was cold and rainy and I’m a whining baby when it comes to cold and rainy. The third one took place this evening and was titled ” The Urban Roots of Medieval Europe”. This one definitely sounded like it was worth attending. I’m a huge fan of Medieval history so I figured this one would be right up my alley.

Here are the two things that I learned today during the lecture. I am passing this wisdom on to all of you:

1. The most annoying words to type into a text message are words with the “igh” combination ( i.e. might, light, sight). I hate waiting for the little cursor to stop blinking so that I can move on to the next letter. I don’t think Dutch has that letter combination…I should start texting CB in Dutch.
2. For anyone who ever chooses to visit a foreign country, keep this in mind; I highly doubt that my lack of smell will ever make anyone gag or give anyone a headache. I don’t wear scented deodorant (in fact I just discovered Nivea deodorant and I’m in love) and I use 2 spritzes of perfume in the morning so when I say lack of smell, I really mean it. To the people out there who opt not to wear something as simple as deodorant…no, who opt to not event pat some baking powder under their arms, I would like to tell you that your pungent pits can and will make some of us gag. And when there are 50 of you in a room of 100 it is enough to drive someone to distraction. Please, and I’m not trying to be ethnocentric here but, please for the love of all that is good and kind in this world, if you travel to a country where the common standard of hygiene is to NOT smell of unwashed sweaty armpit, do us all a favor and buy a stick of deo, or at least a box of Arm n Hammer.
   

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