The bookworm side of me has been plenty on display by now but the city side is long overdue a telling.
Hear me tell.
The city I call home is Rotterdam, which gets its name from the dam that was built in the river Rotte back in 1270. Sometimes it really is that simple.
The area had been lived in for a couple of hundred years already but people got tired of getting their clogs stuck in the mud, and the dam was the first start of regulating water levels.
Water regulation is still happening today because 90% of the city is lying below sea level and it requires a lot of dams, sluices, dikes and tanks to make sure we all stay dry.
The city is something entirely different from other cities in the country: no pretty leafy canals lined with gabled houses in the city center here. No cobblestoned squares and no picturesque drawbridges either. Rotterdam used to have all that as well, but most of it got destroyed during WWII.
This meant there was a lot of rebuilding to be done and it was done in an efficient, modern way.
But, you can get all that from a guidebook or a wikipage.
What really makes this city, is that the vibe is no-nonsense with a can-do attitude: we push up our sleeves, dig in and get things done.
Rotterdammers tell it like it is, and don’t have patience for blowing smoke or bullsh*t.
Anybody can be anything here, but please, don’t be cocky about it and just be.
If you’re waiting for a door to open that’s not an automatic, you won’t be told to “push”, but to “push, princess”. If you can’t laugh about that, this city isn’t for you.
(It’s not done to be rude, hurtful or offending: it’s done to remind you that you shouldn’t expect things to happen if you don’t put in the effort.)
Showing off is not appreciated and expensively designed buildings, streets and art get mocked with alternative names.
Years ago, there was a lot to do about the expensive purchase of the Santa Claus statue. It was promptly hidden away in a museum courtyard where it was ridiculed and renamed Kabouter (gnome) Buttplug.
It gave the statue cult status and after a while it was decided that it deserved a more visible, prominent spot. It’s now standing proud in the city center where it’s become a true landmark and hardly anybody remembers its original name.
I’ve lived in different parts of this city and enjoyed them all, especially the city center. While living there was amazing, I could only afford to do so with roommates and tired of that concept, I eventually found a spot in the more affordable southern part of town.
The south is the most no-nonsense part of a no-nonsense city and being a no-nonsense kind of gal, that suits me perfectly.
Other parts of town are only a short walk, bike ride or metro ride away anyway, because distance here is all relative.
Like any big city, this one has its air share of problems (criminal activity, housing crisis and pollution just to name a few), but I’ve never felt unsafe, threatened or scared: I can travel alone on public transport or bike home on my own, at any time of day or night.
To be able to bike home after a night out is something I took for granted until living abroad for a while. Now, it’s something I cherish deeply.

Librarians attending the IFLA WLIC conference this summer, will get a chance to discover the city, and some of the amazing libraries in the area (and beyond). If you’re one of them and want a guided tour by a fellow librarian/reader/nerd, feel free to reach out.