Classes Get Under Way

I just finished my first official seminar for my History of Political Culture course. Courses in general are going well. The lecture for the same class, which I had yesterday morning, is giving me a crash-course in Dutch academic jargon. It's not actually too terrible, and the main professor of the course (there are five in total, who will be rotating lectures) assures me that the exam questions will be taken from the readings, not the lectures, since he is the one writing the exam and does not actually attend the other lectures himself. I will continue to go for the sake of personal discipline, for the fact that I have a class immediately after in the same building, so I might as well show up, and finally because it is genuinely good for learning Dutch.

I already have learned a number of words! Heden means "be present," while hebben means "have." Zeggen is "say," and manschap translates loosely to "man" or generally "person," but can mean "troops" (as in military) when used in the plural. Eenheden is a term referring to general political units, and banden is a connection or bond. Persoonlijke banden, for example, is a sort of individual political association. AND I DIDN'T HAVE TO LOOK THESE UP! They're just off the top of my head! Now if I could just learn grammar...

Anyway, the seminar/lecture system in the Netherlands is apparently different than it is in the US. In the US, during "recitations" (=seminars), we typically go over the readings for the lecture, discuss the readings/ themes in a smaller, more intimate setting, etc.

This is not the case here, at least not with this class. This class is apparently a subset of "history of political culture," focusing specifically on party culture. The structure will be similar to my undergraduate history seminar of last semester, centered around the creation of a final essay. The major difference being, this essay will only be 4,000. words. :)

The weather here is ICY. Fortunately it is dry, otherwise there would actually be ice. However, I am hoping it will start to warm up next month. The bike ride home from class at 6pm last night was brutal.

First Day of Classes

Well, for starters I have a bike. At some point I'll actually remember to take a picture of it. It's pretty rickety looking. Learning the new rules of the road has been pretty interesting, too. And wending my way through all the other cyclists on bitty roads has certainly been an experience...

I had my first two classes today. At 9am I had my first Theory of Political Culture lecture....in Dutch. Apparently someone somewhere got confused and thought the whole class was taught in English. Fortunately, I'm in the English language seminar, and I've spoken to two of the professors. They said if I do the readings for the lectures, I will be fine. They called me "courageous" when I said I was still going to show up to all the lectures, with my laptop so I can translate words I can't figure out on the power points. We'll see how this goes. If I don't end up figuring it out this way, I guess I'll just be going in to office hours frequently.

We started today with Democracy in ancient Greece. Next Tuesday we're covering politics in Medieval Europe, and after that we're doing the French Revolution, and finally the 20th century. Have I possibly studied some of these topics before? Possibly.

My International Human Rights Protection looks like it's going to be really interesting, although it looks like I'm going to need to be checking up on human rights-related news daily. It's going to be a project.

Gender Studies doesn't start for two more weeks. Scandinavian Literature from 1900 starts on Friday. Hopefully those will both be fun.

Nothing else to report for now!

Getting Settled

Well the good news is, I've managed to find just about everything okay. I'm starting to have welcome meetings from the various international student mentors. Last night I went to a welcome event for general international students, tonight I have a dormitory meeting (to go over protocol and chores, I can only assume), and tomorrow I am getting drinks with my American international student mentor and several other American students (I have to get used to being able to drink!). I am also going to get a bicycle tomorrow, if all goes well. I have an appointment set up for next Tuesday to get a bank account started, I just received confirmation that I can go pick up my residence permit from the International Student Desk, and I have successfully figured out the route to the grocery store. Things are going well.

So far, though, I have noticed some pretty significant cultural differences. They are seemingly small things, but they make a HUGE difference. First of all, the Dutch are not quite as individualistic as Americans. You could not ask for nicer people, but even beyond that everyone goes out of their way to make sure everyone else is doing okay. Regardless of your age or their age, their gender or yours, if they see you looking confused or carrying heavy luggage, they will ask if you need assistance.

They are also very clearly bread lovers. The grocery store nearest my dorm (JUMBO is its name - in all caps) has a full 100 square feet dedicated to breads and similar baked goods. There are then two whole aisles devoted to biscuits, cookies, and crackers. And the CHEESE! You will not find any sliced cheese here. It is all in huge wedges, and it is DELICIOUS. MMmmmmmmmm!

At our welcome meeting last night, we were also introduced to some fascinating differences in the education system. For example, the relationship between professor and student is less formal than in the United States (though of course in the US the level of formality can vary with the professor). For me the most interesting description of the Dutch university system, and Dutch culture in general, was as "feminine." Where as US culture is very "masculine" - favoring intense academic competition, treating academic accolades as markers of status and as a means of achieving a higher social and economic class - Dutch culture is apparently more "feminine," focused of education as a means of personal fulfillment, on compassion, and frankly on being average. Having many friends is a greater mark of character than having good grades. While they apparently grade more harshly, telling even a good friend that you got a good grade is apparently seen as arrogant, and is frowned upon (I will have to keep this in mind and be very careful!). Failing a class is not seen as a catastrophic event, unlike in the US. It simply means your education will take longer.

 While I have definitely seen aspects of the cultural compassion that makes Dutch culture "feminine," I am curious to see more of it as I begin classes. I am pleased to find a culture apparently founded upon values that are not held as highly in America.

Class schedules are VERY different. Where at UN, I have been used to a fairly regular block schedule, my classes here are a bit...sporadic. I only have class once a week, in most cases. They are all 2 hours long. My Gender Studies class starts a few weeks into the semester. My History of Political Culture class (don't know what it means, but our textbook is on the French Revolution) begins the semester with a lecture, but a couple weeks in adds a seminar, and then a couple more weeks later drops the lecture. It is rather confusing. I'll have to keep a close eye on my schedule. We're also apparently expected to study for about 40 hours a week. Right...

Currently, my schedule is:

Tuesdays:
9-11am - History of Political Culture Lecture
11am-1pm - International Human Rights Protection

Wednesdays:
(Starting the 23rd rather than 16th) 4-6pm - History of Political Culture Seminar

Fridays:
11am-1pm - Scandinavian Literature from 1900

Should be interesting!

Finally, I could NOT help posting more pictures of the boathouses, especially since the weather yesterday was so lovely. Cold, yes, but sunny.

One of the more modern ones. I quite like it.

I am attempting to show that this is a three-story boat house. I am impressed.

This is the fine arts center in the city.

Being a European arts center, it is of course required to have certain oddities. The flag is metal and an architectural feature, not simply decoration.

And THIS is a tour coming through next week. I'm tempted to buy tickets to The National - not even 30 euros! - but I still have to think about it. They're not my FAVORITE favorite band, so we'll see.

Remember the picture of that empty square I showed you on my last post? Yeah, not empty any more. There were markets going on in every square around the city yesterday. This was the clothing market. The square I photographed the other day was full of stalls for fresh fish, produce, and bread - staples of the Dutch diet. Apparently Germans drive in to Groningen every Saturday to partake of their excellent fish markets. I HAVE to be present for this.

The main academic building. Simply more proof that this city was designed for bicycles. The bike parking lot extended farther even than this in both directions.

First Day in the City Center

Groningen is a fascinating city. It seems built upon the principle, "opposites attract." It's really a very pleasant city, but in its own, bizarre way. I got some of the more important things done today, such as GETTING SHEETS! and finding out about my classes. It's probably about time to worry about getting a bike, but for now I will still be walking everywhere.

I finally made it to the grocery store yesterday. It's called JUMBO and its AMAZING! A really good selection of good-quality items for decent prices.  I also had the most DELICIOUS sandwich I have ever tasted for lunch today. I decided to treat myself and went to a funny little shop that several people recommended called Bagel &Beans. They make excellent coffees and bagel sandwiches and it was SOOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOD. I had a tomato bagel (yum!) with really fresh mozzarella, pesto, tomato, fresh basil leaves, some heavenly combination of spices and herbs, and pine nuts. I have never had such a delicious sandwich.

I have also determined I REALLY need to learn Dutch. Thanks to my lunch, and asking the woman who made it how to say "delicious" in Dutch, I now know the words "heerlijk" and "lekker." My new phrases that I am learning are: "Dag" = hi/goodbye; "alstublieft" = please; "dank u wel" = thank you; "Spreekt u Engels?" = Do you speak English?; "Ik spreek geen Nederlands" = I don't speak Dutch. It's a start!

Weather again today was chilly, grey, and very, VERY windy. Please keep that in mind as you observe the following photo journal. Enjoy!

The sunniest it got all day.

The view of one of the building's courtyards, as seen from my window.

As you can see, my building is not terribly attractive. It is, however, HUGE. It houses 330 international students. Just about every non-Dutch student I've met so far lives here with me. I have already become acquainted with students from Belgium, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, and New York (;)).

A...slightly? less ugly view of my building. It is called Winschoterdiep, pronounced vin-Scott-er-deep.

The city was also designed around bicycle transport. Here you see the road to the left as you come out of my building....

...And here you see to the right. This is a bicycle-only road. You will notice wide sidewalks for pedestrians, and a narrower version of a normal street for cyclists. The care you see at the edge is parked as far down the street as cars are allowed to go. There are a number of streets in the city center where the only vehicles allowed are bicycles, scooters, and motorbikes. No cars.

I've made this one a little larger in hopes that you can see some of the little kitschy stuff in the windows of this boat house. The street my building is on is actually split down the middle by one of Groningen's many rivers. On the river, as you can see, are boats. But not just any boats. They are boat houses. I kid you not! They have addresses, mailboxes, trash bins, permanent storage sheds, some have cars, patios, decks, gardens, trellises....the list goes on. There is also a large quantity of lace curtains. Some look kind of...boat-ish like this, and others are really just floating houses. Some look quite modern, others simply like normal homes. There are some quite lovely front doors.

This is part of the many paradoxes found in Groningen. This series of apartments (very modern) sits right next to my building. Across the river from it are some of the buildings you will notice in the photo above. In other parts of the city, you will notice some charmingly old-fashioned residential lots. Very interesting.

This is a boat house. Notice: front gate, number next to the door, trellis, patio. You can't see the mailbox but its there!

The bridge about 300 feet down from the above boat house.

Part of the above bridge. I'm not sure what structural purpose it serves, but it looks cool. This bridge, I might add, is one of many used only by pedestrians and cyclists.

A church spire on the way in to the city center.

One view of the Groningen Museum. Not sure what it's a museum of. History, I think. I'll go there eventually and report back.

Another view of the museum.

Which happens to be right across the street from this building: the central train station. Again, we see contrast. STRONG contrast.

Another segment of the museum. Also note that the museum is built in the middle of another one of the city's rivers. Not on an island. IN the river.

One of the bike-only streets. Again note the wide sidewalks. There are lots of shops down the side streets.

I'm...not really sure what this is. I suspect it's a turnabout of Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal," but I'm not really sure. Spray painted on the side of the building where I ate lunch. Interesting enough I decided it deserved a photo :)

And finally: one of the many squares in Groningen. I suspect that the weather was keeping a lot of people inside today, although perhaps by the time classes start next week the weather won't matter. LOTS of cobblestones in this city. Only pedestrians allowed in the square - you'll notice the road is a slightly redder color off to the left. Not very tall buildings, but definitely a city. About 4 or 5 blocks from the main university.

Finally in Groningen

It is currently about 8:30pm my time (that's 2:30pm for EST). I have finished unpacking in my dorm room. All things considered, my dorm is in a pretty good location. Sadly, getting here was the hardest thing in the world.

My Thursday flight was also canceled, so I did not end up leaving until Friday. Fortunately, on Friday I did finally board a plane to Amsterdam. The plane made great time, the flight took only 6 hours (though we got started a little late), and we landed in Amsterdam at 7:30am this morning. Unfortunately, while attempting to take the train from Amsterdam to Groningen (which I have learned is actually pronounced "chroningen" with the "ch" being the sound at the end of "loch" and the "r" sounding rather similar to that used by the French, pronounced at the back of the throat with a bit of a trill), between construction on the tracks and various delays, what should have only involved taking one train and 2 hours, 30 minutes of travel instead required four trains and almost four hours of travel. After very little sleep, not enough water, and virtually nothing to eat, I finally arrived ready to pass out on my bed.

However, being the frequent traveler that I am, I knew that doing so would be the worst possible way to deal with jet lag. Therefore, in spite of having staving off out-of-body experiences for the entire afternoon, I now find myself still awake, unpacked, and slightly organized. Slightly.

Based on the room description, I had understood the furniture in my room to be somewhat different from what it actually is. When housing said "wardrobe" I did not expect to find two tall lockers screwed together as my closet. Fortunately, there is an Ikea 15 minutes away on foot. I have already made one trip in order to obtain an extra towel, hangers, and sheets, and I may have to go back one more time for a set of fold-up shelves or something. For now, my room is a bit of a mess.

But a spartan mess. In spite of its size, there are essentially only four pieces of furniture in the room. Here are some pics:

 My new pillowcase and duvet cover, courtesy of Ikea. For whatever reason they don't seem to sell a normal set of sheets. I will be attempting to rectify the situation ASAP.

My new "wardrobe" thing. Note: two red lockers next to each other. Also note: I have nowhere to hang my towels. Again, needs work.

All of the belongings that still don't fit into my bitty locker closet.

My bookcase. Mostly covered in toiletries. Something interesting about this dorm: there are men's and women's toilets, but there is one great big bathing room at the end of the hall with a couple of sinks and two rows of shower stalls for everyone on this floor.

I will definitely continue the tradition of wearing flip-flops into the shower.

 My desk. I'm quite disappointed there are no drawers. Drawers make everything better.

My room in general, from the doorway. I do have quite a nice view of the courtyard, and that entire back wall that you see is window. Alas it was night when I was taking pictures, so you won't get to see the courtyard yet. As you can see, minimalism is the theme here.

I also learned a number of very useful things over the course of the day. I conclude my entry with these lessons:

1. Learn your train route very, very well. Better yet, learn every train on every route that will take you to your destination.
2. In case you didn't know, the Netherlands are FLAT. As in REALLY FLAT. I know everyone kind of recognizes they're not very hilly. But seriously. FLAT.
3. Be choosy about what weather conditions you use your umbrella for. The wind will break it.
4. Dutch trains are SO QUIET! And the seats are so comfortable.
5. DO NOT bother brushing your hair. By the end of the day there are only two styles everyone ends up with anyway. You are either sporting the stylish "windswept" look, or the not-so-flattering hat-head.
6. If at all possible, learn some Dutch before going to the Netherlands. Many people will tell you that learning Dutch is totally unnecessary. But if you want any form of independence (read: if you don't want to spend your entire trip dependent on complete strangers), trust me: it will make your life much easier.

Departure Delayed

With less than 48 hours to go before my originally scheduled departure time, a snowstorm is bearing down on Newark Airport, where I was supposed to catch my connecting flight to Amsterdam. This winter has been full of snowstorms. For the first time in my life, I am not a fan.

Fortunately, my mother is awesome and sat on the phone this morning from 5am to 8am with Continental Airlines prior to the airport closing. I leave at noon on Thursday.

SWEATER VS. SUITCASE UPDATE:

4 rounds in, I abandoned my attempts at fitting all my sweaters into my suitcase in favor of adding a duffel bag as carry-on. Sweaters forfeit - suitcase wins.