May 30th - City Hall

Today the main event was our visit to the city hall here at Utrecht. My first impression of the place was actually quite interesting. We arrived at the place from the back side of the building, so we only saw the stairs the lead down to a club. All of us were confused and thinking there is no way that this is their city hall. As we walked around the building more, we finally saw the group and the entrance to one of my favorite buildings thus far.
The first part of our visit was a talk with Bouchra Dibi, a city counsel member who was kind enough to come in to speak with us even on her day off. She was very humble and kept saying her English was not good, but was actually very well spoken and barely had an accent. The discussion was very informative and interesting. We talked about topics ranging from politics, to religion, and also gained some insight about the political system here. Some the main issues the Bouchra's party deals with is helping the poor, sex workers, refugees and senior citizens. She also mentioned that "health is a right" in Utrecht. Every person can get health care no matter his or her status. We also did some camparisons between the U.S. system and the system here. BOuchra is very proud of the current system and was critical of the American way.

After hearing Bouscha speak, we went on a tour of the building with Ankie Fischer, who is a volunteer guide. We walked around the main areas as Ankie explained some historical background and pointed out some of the aesthetic points of the architecture. We were a pretty big group so it was a bit difficult to follow and focus at times, but even just looking at the building itself was fascinating. It was renovated in an extremely innovative way by a Spanish Architect. He emphasized opening up the space and letting natural light in, as well as creating a feeling that the people of Utrecht are all around. There are many windows and the juxtaposition of modern and traditional styles was very dominant.
After the tour, Ankie talked to us a bit more about her own personal background. She used to be a GP and then decided to do volunteer work which she found through a program called Gilda. Gilda helps people find employment opportunities and volunteer work. I also thought it was very interesting when Ankie spoke about the idea of tolerance. I really appreciated the way she approached it. She said that although she knows the importance of it, she still finds it hard to be completely tolerant. Because of her background and experience with the war, she struggles with overcoming her impression of Germans. She says she is still working on being more tolerant now.
After the tour, we all had lunch at a wonderful restaurant calledWInkel SInkel. The decor was very stylish, with disco balls, firy colors along the walls and a colorful ceiling. As we ate, we discussed potential topics for individual projects. Everyone's topics are really interesting and I look forward to hearing more about everyone's findings.