Harvey Scholar Travels - Tyler Pritchard in the Netherlands

Reflections from Holland

Before reading this blog post, please closely listen to this.

The story of my time in Holland is one of love and loneliness, exploration and loss, fear and confidence. Surprisingly, Holland -- the land of bikes, dikes, tulips, and rain -- came to manifest a sort of crucible for my character. And, surprisingly, crucibles are not a primary export of this otherwise, shall we say, involved country. Regardless, I was sent home with a new perspective on life and a greater understanding of who I am.

My arrival in Holland, however, hardly suggested a trying time abroad. On my very first day at Utrecht University, I ended up making three friends that would remain for the entirety of my time abroad: Eliza, the original ride-or-die; Jani, the MomAndDad; and Elie, the DadAndMom. After the internationals orientation, our friendship was more or less officiated by a leisurely bike ride to Utrecht Centraal where we enjoyed Amstels and sunshine outside of what would become my favorite cafe in Utrecht.

From that first spark of friendship, Eliza, Jani, Elie and I went on to have weekly #LadiesNights embellished with other adventures through the Netherlands. Three hour bike rides to Gouda, birthday-bowling extravaganzas, day trips in Amsterdam: nothing was out of the question for the four of us. And, on top of that, Eliza and I went on to adventure around Switzerland and South Germany for a week, hitchhike for twelve hours to Hannover, and visit the Kasteel de Haar outside of Utrecht.

But, as you may imagine, not everything was tulips and bike rides. During my time in Utrecht, my bike was stolen, my boyfriend and I broke up, and I had to deal with several health complications. All of this ended up taking quite an emotional toll. I found myself becoming more isolated as I didn’t want to go out, I stopped going to the gym, and my grades, while never failing, began to suffer. I lost sight of who I was, quite honestly, but I discovered that there is no better place to rediscover who you are than a place that you’ve never been before.

So, to cope, I bought myself a 30 year old road bicycle, named him Wilfried, and began biking long distance around the Netherlands in my free time. I rode nearly 200 miles around the Netherlands by myself during the latter half of my study abroad. During these 200 miles, I had a lot of time to think about what I want out of an education, who I am and what I stand for, and how badly Dutch cows can smell. And, during the time between these rides, I began making even more friends. Romy, the Dutchwoman; Louise, the Frenchwoman; and Jody, the Englishwoman, were among just a few people that I began making further connections with. We would have coffee, dumpster dive, go out for drinks, and speak French and Dutch whenever possible.

It was during this second period in my study abroad that I began to rediscover who I am, and I would change no part of the process that got me there. It was only through the loss of my relationship with Jeffrey that I was inspired to explore more of the Netherlands by bike. It was only through the loneliness wrought by my brief reclusiveness that I came to love friends that were there with me through it all. And, it was only through my fear of inadequacy brought on by slipping grades and lost days at the gym that I came to find confidence derived from a solid sense of self, rather than reassurance from the metrics of society.

All I can say is thank you, Holland, for being the place that catalyzed experiences that I will remember for a lifetime.