Back on Campus – Introweek 2.0

After a short trip to Bussum to the home of one of my unitmates, I arrived back on campus and it was time to start preparing for introweek. This time however I got to experience it from a completely different angle – I was chosen to be a Mum which meant I got 10 of my own children (along with Sebastiaan and Fleur – my co-parents/spouses). I don’t think any of us realised quite how exhausting it was going to be, but for every tiny bit of stress and all the exhaustion it was so worth it. One of the most fun weeks I have had since getting here. This introweek was a lot smaller than the fall one as it was only halfies and exchange students. Halfies are students who start in January as opposed to August. I think this made it a much tighter knit group and was just really gezellig. To do a play-by-play account of the week would be too much, but I had something scheduled for almost every hour of the day, which included campus games (our family came second), capture the flag, ice-skating, a city tour at night, formal dinner, and parties almost every night.

My kids are great – 3 degree students and the rest exchanges – and a really international group. We had 2 Canadians, 2 Americans (one half Italian, one half Vietnamese), a Dutch-Australian girl, an Israeli girl, a romanian girl, someone from China but on exchange from Singapore, a girl from Mexico, and someone from Indonesia but an exchange from Hong Kong – plus 2 Dutch parents and one British one. My accent was mocked mercilessly during the week with an entire night spent with everyone trying to talk in their best British accents which were all shocking attempts.

I think one of my favourite activities was ice skating, I’m pretty awful, especially by Dutch standards – but it’s so much fun. Although there was one girl (not part of our huge group) who must have been about 9 who was such an incredible figure skater – needless to say we all disliked her for making us look bad. The rink was also a speed-skating rink and watching them skate in their lycra suits was absolutely hilarious, quite potentially my new favourite sport (to watch, not partake in). Surprisingly ice skating was actually warmer than our day trip to Amsterdam on the Friday.

Amsterdam was definitely the coldest day I have experienced since being here. I ended up wearing 2 pairs of gloves and still not being able to feel my fingers. This just meant constantly finding warm places to sit, have tea or eat. However due to the fact that all museums here have an admission fee, we decided to not go into any and just walk around in the cold all day which is certainly bracing if nothing else. I do miss how London museums are free though – makesgoing to them so much more appealing and accessible. If you are not sure you would be interested in a museum, why would you pay an entry fee especially €15 which seems around average for Amsterdam? Whereas free museums really allow you to just try things out and you don’t have to commit to the entire museum if it’s not to your taste. I also tried my first kapsalon whilst in Amsterdam (well a bite of someone else’s), whilst I can see the appeal of them I really am not a convert, it’s just a bit of an odd concept – Doner meat, fries, salad and cheese. No thanks, think I am more of a kroketten girl if we are discussing Dutch drunk food.

If I am being honest, I think I preferred this introweek to the one I had in August – maybe it’s just because I feel more settled now or maybe the activities suited me more. UCU definitely feels like home, and I know how to do things, I can do my shopping, sort out all the trains, I just feel far more confident than I did when I started knowing no one in August. It’s very odd to think I do have to leave here in 4/5 months – I think going back to Leeds will quite the culture-shock, but hopefully it will improve my English which has become absolutely shocking since moving here. The other day I genuinely used the phrase “what you did say” this is what comes from living in a super international enviroment, I think there are around 54 nationalities on campus and only around 600 students, it’s definitely unique and I feel very lucky to be here.

Bikes and beer – a roundup of my first 4 days

This week has been so packed, fun but also very intense – I am now absolutely exhausted. It’s intro-week so sort of an equivalent of the UK freshers week, but there really aren’t that many similarities. I’ve been so surprised by just how different UCU and Leeds are. Here there is a lot of emphasis on what you do during the day with constant activities arranged, whereas in Leeds it was almost solely about going out in the evening so far less opportunities to meet people outside of your accommodation. There still are parties every night, each with themes, so far we’ve had cowboy and a white party and tonight it is disco themed. I really didn’t have much space to bring fancy dress items so I have improvised a bit. Fortunately the Dutch do not drink anywhere near as much as British students which is great for me because I have largely avoided having too bad of a hangover (touch wood). I definitely couldn’t have kept up with the weeks activities if I was properly hungover. 

We had sports day yesterday, which as you can imagine with my strong dislike for sweating I was highly unenthusiastic for. It was actually better than I expected though, the only actual sports were volleyball, basketball and ultimate frisbee (there was also some lacrosse and dodgeball but neither of them really include running). It was largely inflatables and obstacle courses and games and the weather was beautiful so that was fantastic. Our family, who are all absolutely lovely, were either very clumsy or just too into the sport as I think about half of us sustained injuries, including me – I stood on a wasp and now my foot is all swollen. 

I saw the city of Utrecht for the first time yesterday evening and it is absolutely beautiful – really, really pretty. I also had my first experience of riding on the back of a bike. It was initially scary, but by the end I felt very Dutch – it’s much more painful than you would imagine. 

The Dom

We had our formal dinner on Tuesday which has probably been my favourite evening so far – everyone suited up and looked so nice! It was a 3 course meal and each table was given 3 bottles of wine for about 12 people – by the end of the night our table had finished 10 bottles most of which were stolen from other tables when they were getting their next course. Plus the food was good, I’ve actually been surprised by how nice the food is, like it’s not homecooked food but for the amount of people they cater for it’s good, expensive though.

Suited up

 

Moved in!

I am officially now a student of University College Utrecht and have moved into my (very big and very empty) room – currently struggling to get an internet connection since I forgot an Ethernet cable. Most of my housemates that I have met so far are Dutch; I think there might be one or two that I haven’t met yet since there are 6 bedrooms in the flat (in fact just whilst writing this I met another). I am surrounded by people chattering away in Dutch and absolutely no idea what they are saying – however I hope that when their parents leave they will start to speak a bit more English.

My room

I arrived by plane to Amsterdam Schiphol yesterday, which was really a bit of a disaster as one of my suitcases was put onto the wrong baggage belt, so mild panic ensued. Fortunately we walked past the correct belt on the way. The train to Utrecht was largely uneventful, but both Abi and I were looking forward to getting to our hotel and to sleep. However, instead of getting to the hotel quickly (which was ‘300m’ from the train station), we took the wrong exit and spent the next hour traipsing round Utrecht in the dark with 4 heavy suitcases and a rucksack. Safe to say my arms ache today, but it’s all part of the adventure!

Today we had lunch with our ‘real’ parents (as opposed to intro-week parents), obviously me and most of the exchange students didn’t have ours with us, but it was nice nonetheless. I feel a lot less anxious about the dining hall and being catered now because there was stuff I ate. Pinched some fruit and plastic cups as well since I really have nothing practical in my room – next I intend to aim for cutlery.

Next we get to meet our intro-week ‘family’ – this whole family business (especially being called ‘kiddo’) seems like a very American concept to me as well as the frat parties we have later this week. We’ll see.