There’s nothing quite like small moments of triumph in
international student life. Whether it’s finding out where to post a letter to
home, buying the proper groceries for the meal you actually intended to cook
(as opposed to the Master Chef-like challenge of cooking with some mystery
ingredient from Albert Heijn), or successfully navigating yourself via bike to a
street with a name like Amsterdamsestraatweg, little achievements feel like big
successes.
My small success this week (although a harder task than you
might think) was finding a true-to-home, classic and delicious Irish breakfast at local pub Mick O'Connells.
Real Irish sausages, bacon, two eggs, baked beans, hash browns and a bit of
toast: my ticket home. Consider it a piece of something familiar for a fraction
of the cost of a plane ticket out of Schiphol. With the stress of studying for
exams and the occasional baffling challenges of being an international student
in a country where you don’t speak the first language, sometimes it’s good to find
something truly familiar. Utrecht is a multi-cultural city, especially in terms
of cuisine, so you don’t have to go too far to find your favourites.
Of course, that’s only half the fun. The other half is being
thrown into a culture that isn’t quite what you’re used to. Beyond tulips,
clogs, windmills and the Red Light District, the Netherlands is a land full of
(very tall) people with their own idiosyncrasies. After you’ve packed your bags
and explained to family and friends that you aren’t moving to Amsterdam (no,
it’s not a country) or even to Holland (you may want to show them this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE_IUPInEuc),
you will soon discover what really makes the Dutch people stand out.
Those baffling moments I mentioned earlier are (luckily) few
and far between. It may not be the first language, but English is spoken by
almost everyone in this city. It only takes one expression of complete
confusion when someone unknowingly asks you a question in Dutch before they
will happily switch to English to accommodate you. The good news is that this
makes international student life fairly easy. The bad news for people like me
(Dutch-speaking wannabes) is that practicing Dutch means asking people to bear
with you while you answer a simple question like ‘Hoe wil je betalen?’ (How do
you want to pay?).
If you’re particularly brave, you might want to learn to
understand ‘Dunglish’, a mixture of Dutch and English that comes from the
direct translation of phrases. Beware: these translations rarely make sense. My
personal favourite is ‘Helaas, pinda kaas’ (Unfortunately, peanut butter), but
you can find countless more on the aptly-named Facebook page ‘Make that the cat
wise’ if you need a good distraction from studying.
Coming into the wintery months, it is essential to wrap up
warm (gloves are a must-have for riding my bright orange bike all winter long), keep an umbrella nearby at all times,
and enjoy the seasonal Dutch dishes such as Boerenkoolstamppot (a delicious
combination of potatoes and kale with sausage) or hearty pea soup. My study snack of choice this week is ‘Oliebollen’, or deep fried dough covered in powdered
sugar. Okay, so they are traditionally eaten at New Year’s and they certainly
can’t be good for you, but what can I say? It’s exam week.
Over the past week, I submitted my first research paper and sat my
first law exam. Even though the grading system is daunting to say the least
(with the mentality that '10 is for God, 9 is for the professor'), I will be
happy to be out of my current no-grade limbo and officially have some of this
Master’s under way. As things move quickly ahead, I jumped on board an
opportunity to do a research internship with the university. The Clinic Program
on ‘Conflict, Human Rights and International Justice’ will count as one of my
classes (7.5 ECTS) and I will be starting the six-month position in just a few weeks.
The end of block one is in sight and it’s time for non-stop
reading, punctuated by voluntarily-attended seminars and newly-discovered Irish breakfasts. Such is the
life of the international student and it’s not bad at all.
Until the next time/Tot de volgende keer!
Erin
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