Hi everyone,
Unlike the usual monotonous Mondays, today
is an exciting day in Master’s land. Today is the third Netherlands game in the
World Cup (and the third day of football-induced madness) topped off with the
first of a series of final thesis deadlines.
Students in our LLM, depending on who is
your assigned supervisor, are doing small jumps for joy and happy dances as
they submit the final draft copy of their thesis to be graded. Submitting the
thesis (otherwise known as the small *fingers
crossed* masterpiece you have been working on for weeks) today means you
can get it back with corrections, receive a provisional grade and have the
opportunity to edit it one last time to go up a maximum of one grade point. For
those who are highly organized, avoid procrastination and are immune to the
many distractions of summer, it is a good opportunity to receive feedback. For
me, I will be steadily plodding along to the final deadline of July 14th,
working out the nooks and crannies of my arguments on the insanity defense at
the ICC and hoping in vain that my footnotes will magically edit themselves
during the night.
Among the many distractions of summer, it
is hard to ignore the thrills of the World Cup, even for those who only find
themselves drawn to football once every four years. The Netherlands is truly a
football-crazed nation, and the World Cup is certainly no exception. Walk
through the streets on a World Cup match day and you will find outdoor TV
screens, decorations that rival the national holiday and (of course) people
dressed head-to-toe in bright orange.
The excitement grows with every game as the
Netherlands claimed victory against both Spain and Australia and are marching
on to the next round, with the remaining game against Chile to be played out
tonight. It is hard to escape the infectious cheers of HUP HOLLAND! that spread
across the city after every goal. If there was ever a moment to see the party
spirit of the Dutch, it had to be the celebrations following the Netherlands
5-1 win over Spain, a sweet revenge against the team that took the finals four
years ago.
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| Fans cheering as the Dutch team scores a goal in the World Cup |
For those who don’t like football, there is
still plenty of distraction. Many of my classmates have managed to sneak in a
quick holiday (or two) over the past few weeks, sharing pictures of sun-soaked
places while I enviously work away at my thesis. My consolation is that my flights
for summer holidays are booked and I will soon have a few weeks back in Canada
after being away for an entire year. It’s just enough time to get a taste of
all my home favourites before returning to the Netherlands - my new home away
from home.
The joys of getting to the end of the
programme and handing in the thesis are also met with the reality that most of
the people in our programme come from far away and it’s just about time to
return home. Some people have already gone home early (because you can write
your thesis from anywhere) and most are planning to leave this week. The class
is set to have a final dinner on Wednesday, a final hoora to a year well spent
and good friends made along the way. There will certainly be many promises of
reunions with those good friends we wish would find a job in the Netherlands
and stay well past this year.
While others jet off to start new jobs,
travel, or spend the summer celebrating before continuing with law school back
home, I will be happily continuing my student assistant work at the university
and looking forward to staying in the fairytale city of Utrecht long past the
end of the programme. Aside from very studious ICC-related reading, I am
reading the many adventures of Foeksia de Miniheks (Foeskia the mini witch), a popular
Dutch children’s book. Learning language and culture is a continuous process
here and there is always something new and unusual.
This week, I thought the sight of a
schoolbag hanging from a flagpole outside a house was the result of
beer-fuelled World Cup antics, only to be informed a school bag is placed on
the flagpole of the house to signify that someone has just successfully
graduated high school. It’s just another long-held tradition that you bump into
along your way as an international student.
As the Dutch say “Doe maar normal, dan doe
je al gek genough” – Just act normal,
then that’s already crazy enough!
Tot de volgende keer/Until next time,
Erin
