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“The Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship, Rotterdam officially congratulates Bidemi Bayode on being one of the winners of our all-expense-paid trip to the Netherlands for a Summer School Exchange program involving 15 Nigerian and 15 Dutch students.” This... was where it all started! Okay so, I come-from and grew-up in Nigeria, Africa; a part of the world that mostly draws popular comparisons to 'living in the jungle'. This general perception is not unfounded considering how primitive mindsets and uncultured practices still plague the continent. Now imagine the electric joy I felt when I found that I was finally going to get the opportunity to visit Europe, which is undoubtedly worlds apart from Africa. I began my visa application process and all through my preparations to travel, I never stopped day (and even night) dreaming about my trip. In my many conversations with my Dutch friends, I never stopped quizzing them about life in the Netherlands and what Utrecht city looked like. Of course, you'd expect them to be casual about it, which they unsurprisingly were. But then, even at that, always downplaying their narratives only ended up making me even more anxious and curious. So, I did my own research and got to learn that Utrecht is actually the fourth-largest city in the Netherlands and is host to Utrecht University, the largest university in the country. Due to its central position within the country, it is an important transport hub for both rail and road transport; the busiest train station in the Netherlands is Utrecht Centraal. Utrecht has the second-highest number of cultural events in the Netherlands, after Amsterdam. WHOA! was my exact reaction after learning all these but then, of course, I still had to see for myself... so off I went! From Lagos, Nigeria, aboard the Lufthansa, we had to make a 1-hour stop-over in Frankfurt, Germany (which, by the way, also made it to my list of foreign countries visited *haha*). Less than an hour after taking off from Frankfurt Airport, we landed in Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam and the moment I got off that airplane, breathed-in the cool air, I instantly knew that I was going to have an amazing time there. So fast-forward past the long airport walk, check-out, and train ride, straight to my arrival in Utrecht city. Upon alighting from the train at Utrecht Centraal, I felt extreme déjà vu; of course not from memories of having visited before, but because, as a kid, I watched so many cartoons and kid movies, which made standing right there in the streets of Utrecht - with the cool air sweeping through my dark skin - feel like I was a character in my own fairy tale. The cleanliness, greenery, architecture, ambiance, aura coupled with the several bikes riding on the side of the perfectly paved road - all just sat well right before my eyes. I documented every moment of my bus ride from the train station to the Utrecht University campus where I was met with yet more mouth-gaping discoveries. Tuesday nights at the city students' festivals Heineken bar nights Walks through the canals of Utrecht Canoe rides Grocery shopping Long walks with friends ...and then came the painful and emotional goodbyes at the end of my trip! Utrecht was my very own fairy tale city, and although I may have left too early, too soon, there is always a hero's come-back in every fairy tale. P.S: I'm not even going to bore you with the sad details of my journey back home... I simply did not enjoy it! FAIRY TALE by the Moonlight By; BIDEMI BAYODE. A Lagos, Nigeria.