Cultural Differences Thursday: A Trip to the Gym

The longer I'm here, the more I lose my 'eye' for what is different in the Netherlands but every so often I have a day where I'm reminded that we aren't in Kansas anymore. For instance, a trip to the gym. The sports center kind of like a big YMCA with unfancy locker rooms and a big gymnasium. On a recent visit, the following occurred:
- picked up a pamphlet for a 'pole fitness' class,
(http://www.services-facilities.leiden.edu/sport/sports/pole-fitness.html)
- walked by the university tanning booth,
- ran on the treadmill while no less than 4 different girls hopped on the treadmil next to me for about eight strenuous minutes, most of them wearing black reebok sneaks that do not look much like running shoes. This means that I am by far the sweatiest person in the gym,
- did not wait in line for the stationary bicycles, of which there are about 40, (how can the dutch need MORE bike riding?)
- thought about grabbing a beer at the gym's bar,
- nearly ran into a wily rooster, wandering about right outside the doors,
- got a nose full of the pot as I rode by a coffee shop on the way home.

Also, the recently installed an art exhibit in the halls of the law school. Theme: female nudes.

My bike