Bikes

I've been told there are five bikes for every person in the Netherlands. Bicycles are WAY more prevalent here than in the United States.
I bought a used bike at a shop directly next to the train station that I used to arrive in Maastricht.
It cost 125 euros and I only had two problems, the front wheel was squeeking. I googled it and I found out that means the brake pad is kaput so I took it into a bike repair shop where they said it was basically unfixable, so I fixed it by cutting the cable that went from the handbrake to the wheel. I felt like a Mr. Fix-it!
The second problem was a loose chain because the chain fell off twice.
Once again, google provided the solution, but I didn't have the proper tools- so I used my body weight instead of a pry-bar to pull the bike wheel back while I tightened the bolts. I'm a bike repair extraordinaire and I haven't even really seen a bike for nearly 10 years!

Gabby's bike cost her 250 euros and hers hasn't had any problems yet, but I feel like mine was the better deal. But do you know what deal blows both of ours out of the water? Free bikes. After about the second week, my new friends asked me if I paid for my bike since it was so nice. Confused, I replied "...yeah?" to which they responded "Oh..."
Later, I learned that it's a pretty common cultural idea in Maastricht that if you leave your bicycle unlocked, it's public property. One of my friends went to a party on one side of Maastricht using his bicycle, but he was too drunk to ride his bike back, so he left it there unlocked and used a taxi to get back. On his return he just grabbed up another unlocked bike. It's a pretty cool system, I think. I would only be offended if I locked my bike and came out to find it stolen anyway.