the psychedelic mural inside the Markthal I spent my first day in the Netherlands on the verge of tears. Part of it was lack of sleep—I’d gotten only three hours the night before because my flight took off at six-thirty in the morning. But a good part of it was also culture shock. I’d spent eight days in Norway, a sparsely-populated land of quiet people, calm cities, and beautiful nature. Rotterdam was chaotic, filled with graffiti, weird statues, loud traffic, and people who

Yesterday I went to The Hague, which is only fifteen miles from Rotterdam. I started off so well, despite waking up at eight instead of...