Entries for 'Redactie'

You must be thinking “that’s not possible”, as a student you cannot create opportunities in academia. But let me tell you how you (yes you, not your supervisor) can integrate several opportunities into your education. Looking back, I remember what it was like to be a girl scout. The camps’ main focus was instilling in us ...

I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road, I’m gonna ride ‘til I can’t no more. Well, instead of a horse, I had a big car that was so fully-packed that I had to create a small cave for myself to sit in, surrounded by all the stuff that I now doubt whether I'll ever need. And instead of an old town road, I got to cr...

I love meat, but it’s obvious that I will have to reduce my meat consumption. Given the excessive amount of nitrogen produced in the Netherlands, we have to decide whether to build less or to reduce the amount of livestock. Since the number of households is expected to increase by almost one million in the next three decades, and we don&rsquo...

Nowadays, it seems like we have to do so many things. We need to have a healthy lifestyle, good grades, enough internships, perfect skin, tons of friends, go out regularly, visit at least a few dozen countries, update our Instagram stories, read enough books and so on and so on… Time never stops and we feel like not a single minute should...

I’ve never been a fan of Kafka’s work. It always seemed too dark, too negative and too whiney. Now, I won’t claim that I’ve grown to like Kafka - I have not and will not attempt to reread his stories any time soon. But I have grown to understand one of his muses - the suffocating Lady Bureaucracy. I had the unlucky privil...

I never believed in the idea of love presented in movies, songs, and by strangers around me. The idea of “perfect” love is all about exaggerating good parts, minimalizing or even being blind to the bad qualities your loved ones have, and demanding they return the favour. Although ego soothing, that kind of love is deceiving and, simply ...

A long, ocean-blue canal in the middle of a gold-plated shopping centre. Hop on a gondola and enjoy your journey past Dior, Chanel, Prada and anything else your heart desires. Though you don't need to enter to know what is being sold: posters at least ten meters high already show you what it means to be in vogue in Winter 2019. After your da...

With the current weather, it’s hard to believe that temperatures in Maastricht rose to an unprecedented 41 degrees in July. Perhaps the fact that temperatures were high during the summer break is for the better. At least for the performance of students, researchers, and Maastricht University staff. That is what you would think right: hot weat...

My dearest UCM Curriculum Planners, Forgive me, for I have wronged you. For two years, I have failed to acknowledge your love for my academic career and your insufferable effort to allow me to take the courses I desire. At times, I have even cursed you, screaming ‘Why UCM? Why have you given me two 8:30’s - one of which on a Monda...

They hatched! A hundred hawksbill turtles hatched and crawled their way into the sea at Sentosa’s Tanjong Beach one week ago! I’d like to think that I contributed the most modest of shares to this miracle - after all, once upon a time I joined a beach clean-up only 25 kilometers further along the beach (which in Singaporean terms is ...

Obsessive Numerology Disorder (OND) is spreading through university management. OND is the magic thinking that maintains a mystical connection between a number and some real world event. I suggest we add this to the ever-growing list of disorders included in the authoritative Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The DSM, now...

I've always prided myself on knowing my languages. Until I went to Penang, Malaysia. While enjoying my delicious banana pancakes one warm morning, Sandra, the (Indian) woman in charge of the restaurant area of the little hotel I was staying at came over and we started chatting casually. The conversation quickly turned to the different ethnic...

Last week, I paid a pair of plumbers €140 for a job that took less than an hour and I found myself wondering: Why didn’t I become a plumber? Perhaps it was because in my early years, I mistakenly believed that I wouldn’t amount to anything, if I didn’t graduate from the right university or if I didn’t secure a job of...

Bob is still in… Singapore? I thought this was going to be a blog about your exchange to Freiburg, Germany? Also, who is Bob? Bob is a lizard - you’ll get to know him later on. And regarding the first question: universities in Germany only start mid-October. Mid-October? Isn’t that our first exam week? Yes, I w...

Don’t get me wrong, I love watching superhero movies. Their morality is wonderfully uncomplicated. Good vanquishes evil. Protagonists act selflessly to save kittens or the universe. They always do the right thing, even if it comes at a high personal cost. It’s fun to watch heroic deeds and visual effects defeat the enemy against all odd...

Five million for YUFE University alliance YUFE (Young Universities for the Future of Europe), which is led by UM Executive President Martin Paul, is to receive five million euro from the European Commission to set up a ‘European University’. The first YUFE students will start in September 2020. YUFE is one of the seventeen univers...

We, academics, like to finish our grant proposals by stating how we will communicate our findings to practitioners, and how, thanks to social media (Twitter), this is so easy to do. But, in most cases, that is a lie. Academics don't believe practitioners’ opinions (not supported with a doi number – an ID of material published online...

When I was an internal medicine resident, a delirious patient kicked me in the gut from his hospital bed. Later in training, I just missed being on shift when a man entered the emergency room with a handgun, taking hostages in an exam room, facing off with police and even firing a few warning shots into the ceiling; he later gave himself up and let...

My dad left when I was four and he has been absent from my life ever since. So growing up and dreaming of one day becoming a father myself, I always imagined that – unlike my father – I would be a loving, caring dad. A dad who was present. But my partner is now 33 weeks pregnant and I find myself struggling to be present as a father (an...

This is my last article about eating in Maastricht this academic year. To celebrate, I’m taking my favourite dining companion to our favourite restaurant. Mrs. Eichholtz and I are having dinner at Rozemarijn (Havenstraat). Rozemarijn is an ideal place for a quick and tasty lunch with a guest lecturer, for example. You’re guaranteed to i...

Many of the democratic candidates lining up to face Trump in 2020 are campaigning with a populist slogan, like For the People. Populism by the democratic left often targets big corporations, but also higher education. Being a much more privatized system, university ends up being much more expensive than it is here in Europe. Not everyone can afford...

You may be surprised by what I am about to say, but here goes: humans are not good problem solvers. Now, if there were a film, this would be the point at which the brakes are slammed and the care screeches to a holt, but hear me out. The reason that humans are not good problem solvers is because we have become hardwired to ignore the fact that most...

I started studying Health Sciences in Maastricht five years ago, full of enthusiasm and positive thoughts. Today, I’m still a bachelor’s student. Unforeseen circumstances have caused quite a delay in my studies. This all started a few years ago, when my mind stopped working the way it should because of some mental illness. I couldn&rsqu...

Academic staff involved in a cross-faculty educational programme have been invited to an afternoon workshop at Gaia Zoo in Kerkrade in May in order to improve their leadership and mentoring skills by observing zoo animals. The learning goals include those specified in the next paragraph. Rumour has it that following the successful staff worksho...

You’ve got to feel a bit bad for Dutch universities. There is a cycle in the public debate on language policy in Dutch higher education that goes like this. First, somebody high-profile laments in a national newspaper that English-language study programmes are a scourge to society. The lecturers' English is worse than Louis van Gaal&rs...

There is a serious problem with the future policy-makers. They’re too homogenous. I know because I am - in this very moment - surrounded by them, as I already was in Maastricht. Most of them are at least middle-class. Many of their parents work in related fields – in politics, diplomacy or international business. They may already have l...

What’s student life without pizza? During exam week or after a long day of tutorials, one craves an affordable, healthy and convenient meal. From there, it’s not much of a leap to Italy’s most popular comfort food. Unfortunately, most of the pizzerias in Maastricht are simply bad. Fake Italian staff, thick crusts, dry edges, way t...

It was the fifth time that my application was rejected. I was high-spirited that morning, cycling to school, imagining myself volunteering at a hospice in Maastricht. My hope was torn apart when I received an email rejecting my application, purely because I could not speak Dutch. I mean, there are tons of things that I can help in the hospice other...

Recently, many people, even my eminent colleagues, jumped from their sofas, grabbed their phones, and started a storm of comments about the documentary “Leaving Neverland”. This is my contribution to the pile of digital signatures of Thriller lovers turned into (alleged) victim-attackers and prosecutors. In my colleagues’ paper, t...

Once a year, the Indonesian Students Association of Maastricht presents the Maastricht Cup, a badminton and table tennis tournament. On Sunday 14 April the 15th edition takes place. Students and other interested people from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany are competing in Sporthal De Heeg. There will also be food stalls as well as with some In...

What does it mean to be a physician? Providing patient care has long been considered the most noble, intellectual and altruistic aspect of being a doctor. While a nostalgic notion, such a traditional mindset can be divisive. It oversimplifies the complexity of medical practice and the variety of expertise needed to promote and support health. Al...

Whenever I see sustainability initiatives around our university, it makes me wonder: Is this actually doing something? We replaced garbage bins with recycling stations. We got rid of plastic cups from our coffee machines. We implemented Warm Sweater Days by lowering the temperature of our buildings by 1°C. I see these measures and think, well s...

In almost any coffee shop you set foot into, you see someone crammed behind a laptop or stack of papers getting some work done. Why are people choosing to work in cafés these days? Is it just the hip thing to do? Fact is that technology has made the current working generation a lot more mobile. As most jobs don't require much more than a plu...

The cornerstone of the Friday market in Maastricht is the fish market. It’s a Catholic tradition to eat in moderation on the day of the week on which Jesus was crucified. In practice, this meant people ate fish on Fridays instead of meat – if they could afford to do so, that is. As a result, the demand for fish in the Catholic south of ...

Recently there has been a quiet revolution growing, and no, I am not talking about the women’s marches in the US, or the Brexit protests in the UK, or even the rallies against climate change across Europe. No. What I am referring to is the revolution against clutter: the Marie Kondo effect (I did tell you it was a quiet revolution). For those...

It’s quiet when I slowly wake up and carefully open my eyes. The big road that runs behind my house is still peaceful. Thoughts about life, things to do and so much more are racing through my mind. Is it late? Or is it so late that it’s already early again? It takes me a moment or two to completely orient myself. I can’t sleep. My...

I’ve lived in the Netherlands for almost 20 years, and still struggle with some aspects of Dutch culture. When do you shake hands? The moment of introduction is clear – both parties extend their right hands and shake, with a more or less firm and sweaty palm. But what about your colleagues? Should you shake their hands every time you se...

We’re about halfway through the Carnival season, which means beer consumption is increasing by the week. And is there anything better after drinking beer than having a generous serving of chips with a delicious topping? In other words, this is the perfect time for a chips test. It’s a Dutch cliché to eat chips with Belgians, but I&rs...

It’s a fun fact that the acronym for the ‘Fuckup Nights’ is FUN. But what are the Fuckup Nights, you ask? An event series where entrepreneurs share their stories of professional failure. A global movement akin to the ‘CV of Failures’ published by one Princeton professor: a list of jobs he didn’t get, papers turne...

Why does my employer care about my hobbies?, was my reaction after doing a CV workshop offered by the university. Apparently, it’s quite common in the Netherlands. In fact, it might be negative if you don’t. Because, as I was explained, employers want to know that you are someone, that you have your edges, a profile, that you are an act...

This was my second New Year in the Netherlands. Last year was a shock, followed by the terror and misbelief that World War III had started. I thought that this time I would be better prepared for the unreasonable, unpredictable, and-- simply put-- ignorant, Dutch celebration. But this year Dutchies brought it to the next level. Paradoxically, as a ...

If the United Kingdom leaves the European Union without a deal, British students studying in the Netherlands need not worry. They can continue their studies under the same conditions. Chances of a ‘hard’ Brexit have increased, after a big majority of the British parliament voted against prime minister Theresa May’s proposal on ...

Science Fiction. In 2018, the first genome-edited baby will be born. Reality. It’s 2018, the first genome-edited twins were born. In November 2018, the world woke up to the news that the world’s first genome-edited babies were born. The Chinese scientist He Jiankui who lead this work, released the news in the most controversial wa...

Last Spring, I participated in a one-hour workshop at a medical humanities conference attended by sociologists, clinicians, researchers, healthcare leaders, or a hybrid thereof. The workshop leader, a nurse and cartoonist, provided crayons and paper, and asked us to bring our creativity and open minds. Our only rule to follow was that there was no ...

I recently gave up drinking, so when I saw the Observant report last week about the Wageningen research claiming that drinking alcohol-free beer is “just as much fun” as imbibing normal beer, I was intrigued (and quite sceptical). The research in question conducted fMRI scans on 21 drinkers and concluded that so long as the participants...

When things get tough, sometimes the best way to cope is to find the humor in whatever you are dealing with. A good joke boosts your mood. But more importantly, it can change your perspective and even allow you to look past or live with whatever issue. That other people share this coping strategy is reflected by the current ratings of American t...

I have grown up with a very idealised notion of love. I lay part of the blame at Disney’s door. Whilst there was not exactly an abundance (read: none) of gay Disney romances, it does have this tendency to perpetuate the idea that true love is out there and that all you have to do is wait and it will find you (ideally accompanied by a few misc...

It may seem obvious that universities need cafeterias, but it isn’t. An important part of a healthy lifestyle is regular physical activity, and a short walk from the faculty to a nearby eatery fits in perfectly. So while eating in your building is convenient, it’s not necessarily good for you. Admittedly, this applies more to those o...

My alarm goes off. I don’t feel like going to university today. I don’t feel like chatting with my classmates. I don’t feel like leaving my bed at all. My head feels like it’s full of clouds, my body heavy under my duvet. I try to get up, but the depression wins for a moment. Second attempt. I can barely stand upright, every...

We like to think that universities are places for freedom of expression, not only of ideas but also of how to dress. Compared with many other workplaces, we have a lot of choice. Some people who work in shops, hospitals or on public transport must wear a uniform. There are rigidly imposed and internalised clothing norms amongst those who work in fi...

It’s that time of year again: grant-writing season! Marie Curie, ERC, NWO, you name it: academics everywhere are labouring feverishly over their applications in the hope of landing a big bag of research dough. Almost all these people will miss out. Many of them will end up feeling disillusioned with academia and their place in it. To them ...

I ate my first ever Vietnamese meal a long time ago in Lomé, the capital of Togo. My friend from secondary school and I were to spend a month mountain biking in West Africa. After a long flight in a rickety Aeroflot Tupolev, Gerard and I were getting our bearings at a guest house run by an older Vietnamese lady, awaiting the arrival of our mountain...

Germany stops exporting arms to Saudi Arabia, due to the murder of regime critic Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Arabian embassy in Turkey. Instead of relief or happiness, I felt a stitch of bitterness. Why now? Why not after all the other countless human rights violations, why not after Saudi Arabia bombed the only 2.5 per cent of land usable for agr...

It has been two months since I started teaching much more than I used to before, and I noticed some issues that need to be addressed. Before we begin, no worries, your names were changed. So, let’s start: Tutorial is not a hostage situation. Stop looking at me with those big scared eyes, Lindsay. It’s uncomfortable. Besides, you w...

A recent survey of young physicians in the Netherlands reported that one in five (19%) participants self-reported symptoms of burnout, according to De Jonge Specialist, an association of young physicians. Compared to the U.S., where I trained and worked as a physician, the rates are similar, despite differing medical education systems and financing...

My colleague Juan Francisco Palacios Temprano has a large family in Asturias, Northern Spain. This region boasts a rich tradition of making cured meats from a famous Spanish breed of pig. Every winter, when the weather is forecast to be cold and dry, the men in the family slaughter a pig after having spent more than six months raising it with love ...

Albert Mhangami has an infectious, radiating smile. Yet, as a black student living in Maastricht, he is regularly confronted by racism. For example, once as he was cycling home, a group of drunks threw apples at him, calling him a nigger. As his teacher (and as a human being), I am infuriated, but as a minority living in Maastricht myself, I am not...

This summer a friend and I traveled through Norway. Due to our slight lack of planning we resorted to hitchhiking here and there. While doing so the large share of electric cars took us by surprise. Though we never actually managed to ride with one of the many Tesla’s we spotted, we were told that buying an electric car in Norway gets you a 2...

I recently found myself being invited to celebrate the Jewish New Year, which continues to be a novelty for me as someone who until very recently could not tell you the difference between schvitzing and kvetching (and if you have not taken the module 1.0 in Yiddish expressions, they refer to sweating and complaining respectively). It was during thi...

While waiting for a friend, I sit down on a bench in the city centre. Looking around me, I see a lot of people pass by; it’s a busy day. I see a lot of people, but I also see a lot of people staring at their smartphones. They don’t pay attention to the beauty of the city, or to the people around them. They only have eyes for their smart...

During my holiday, I observed an autonomous vehicle in action. H and I rented part of a lovely house in the Thuringian Forest with a garden. We often sat outside to enjoy the view. The garden was four metres by 12, edged with flower beds, sometimes curved. All edges were marked by small paving stones. Halfway along one side, a squat orange and blac...

In case you live under a rock and missed all the world-changing things that happened this summer, here’s a brief recap. In politics, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had a baby while in office, then turned down her annual pay rise, saying the NZ$ 470,000 she receives is quite enough, thank you, even with nappies to buy. Across the...

You recently finished high school. The diploma in your hands, you’re ready to tackle your next academic challenge. Or you just came back from your jaw-dropping, horizon-widening volunteering experience in South America. Either way, a new chapter starts. Friends and family are full of well-meant advice on how to make the most of your universit...

There’s this one topic I don’t like to talk about. Okay, there are more, but this particular topic seems so boring and unnecessary that I avoid talking about it whenever I can. Except for today. Today I want to talk about that one subject that drives me crazy: the weather. You know those people who constantly tell you, “Oh, loo...

Epigenetics is the study of environmental effects, including lifestyle habits, on an organism’s underlying genomic material or DNA. The underlying epigenetic mechanisms, are modifications to the DNA that dictate whether a certain gene will be turned on or off, carrying its own consequences on health and development. Many diseases such as c...

“If you’re going to try, go all the way,” Bukowski once wrote. Do so even if it means you alienate yourself from loved ones, lose your mind, and end up in jail because going all the way is “the only good fight there is.” There is indeed a certain sense of idolization awarded to people who are capable of mustering su...

Can a man voice his opinion on the #MeToo movement? How if he could never have experienced the specific sexism that women face daily? And can a person, ethnically belonging to a majority, use cultural items of a minority? Would this not mock the decades of forced assimilationist policies and degradation of this minority culture put forward by major...

In a recent issue of Ad Valvas, the Observant equivalent from VU University Amsterdam, there was a piece written by a student, stressing the importance of students getting involved in university governance by taking part in programme committees, faculty councils and university councils. Academic staff need to know what students think, in order to b...

A month ago, I took my boyfriend to my home country, Serbia. This was the first time for him to visit, and while he was super excited, I have to admit to being a bit nervous before the trip. As the trip drew closer, I started recalling all the things that I have said over the years about my country, and how, to be honest, they don’t paint a n...

“Saeed, wake up! We need to go to the hospital quickly. Your uncle is undergoing surgery. We are not sure what the problem is. You could probably explain it better”, said my father to me the very next day after my arrival back home in Saudi Arabia. Great, here we go again! The rumors are true, I have become the unintended family phys...

The last time my mom visited we took a longer way back home after dinner. On our stroll we passed by a small corner store not far from the Volksplein. An antique hanging scale and eet meer fruit handwritten on a wooden board caught our eyes. While we were inspecting some old-fashioned Easter eggs and bunnies sitting among fruit boxes in the window,...

I have always liked the atmosphere in markets: loud people, interesting smells, vivid colors and tasty food. Quito’s market answers to all these characteristics, but also has some things that make it unique. The first thing that stroke me is the fruit variety. There are so many fruits I had never seen before, with funny shapes and colors. So ...

Who am I? The great existential question of the times – well actually the great existential question of the times for many people is more likely to be, ‘do I want soy milk, coconut milk, almond milk, no milk, in my low-fat-no-fat-all-fat grande macchiato?’ But for those of us more inclined towards introspection, the ‘who am ...

On a cold April Saturday as a sad-eyed woman lets me in to see the flat she is giving up to move back in with her parents, leaving only advertising brochures for baby furniture behind, I spot a metal bridge over my shoulder at the end of the street. It’s doing the everyday things that pedestrian bridges do: holding up a sign announcing Praxis...

A few weeks into my stay in Quito I find myself on a bus ride where a young man is holding a box of chocolate in one hand and in the other a big stack of bills. For every chocolate you buy, he gives you an additional Venezuelan bill of your choice. I choose the nice-looking 100 Bolivares note, which in 2017 has lost 96% of its value. Venezuela i...

I'm supposed to be doing laundry, but I can't tear myself from my computer. I should be making the baby’s breakfast, but I'm writing. I ought to be heading out to vote – but I'm writing. For writers, writing is a necessity, like breathing or (in my case) eating double-caramel Magnums. And by writers I don’t mean...

Coming home after grocery shopping, I realize I haven’t opened my letterbox in a few days. I’m not expecting much, aside from some adverts, one or two bills maybe. With my groceries under my arms, I slowly open the box. But as I pull out a bunch of papers, I see I got lucky today. I’ve been sent a letter. From a friend, maybe, or ...

An old Army buddy of mine once joked that procrastination is like masturbation, it feels good until you realize you just screwed yourself. Rather than postponing things, just get it done. Action – as he would say – is the best cure for anxiety. But then there are those that believe that if you wait until the last minute, it only takes a...

Outside of the majestic walls of our faculties, there is a world that many of my UM peers are not fully aware of – a Maastricht outside Maastricht University. Some have a faint notion that it is out there. For instance, there is Zuyd, the regional university of applied sciences, and its students - a lot of them, around 13.000. Then again you ...

I´ve been teaching since 1980. More than 35 years later, I completed my BKO (basic teaching qualification). That included preparing a personal SWOT analysis – identifying my strengths and weaknesses (in relation to teaching – it´s not a general exercise in personal reflection), and external opportunities and threats affectin...

In 1992, we moved to Spain. To Madrid, to be precise. I had taken a two-week crash course in Spanish at the Language Centre and felt reasonably equipped for a talk with the Spanish landlord and the grocer. They would appreciate my well-intended efforts in Spanish, help me when I stumbled or was lost for words. With hands (and even feet) we would ma...

The principle of evolution is a theory that justifies the diversity seen in this world, from unicellular organisms to plants, animals, and even humans. Evolution explains questions like how come apes are our closest relatives? Why do giraffes have long necks? It is true that living things change over time and that is due to several factors includin...

As I had a few days off for carnival, I decided to take a trip to the Amazon Forest, which is only four hours by bus from the city of Quito. I arrived at the city of Tena, which is right at the border with the Amazon forest. On the second day there, together with a friend, we decided to take one of the boats that ride you further down the forest, t...

Recently, I read a book: The subtle art of not giving a f*ck by Mark Manson. I strongly recommend it. Manson openly admits that there is no such thing as not giving a f*ck in life. However, in order to truly not give a f*ck about something, we need to give extreme f*ck for something else. And those “f*ck-worthy” things are those that...

When a Spanish person wakes up with a hangover, he has la Resaca. But not Ecuadorians, they are Chuchaqui. This is only an example of the many words that make Ecuadorian slang so unique, differentiating it from the Spanish spoken in other Latin American countries. Ecuadorian Spanish is influenced by Quechua, a very old language, which used to be sp...

Maastricht University prides itself on its problem-based learning approach in education – a system which has been adopted by almost all Dutch universities and many others around the globe. The edge that Maastricht once had no longer exists. Therefore, the university must remedy the situation. Otherwise, the university might struggle to attrac...

As a Master's student of Health Food Innovation Management, I love going to the grocery store. This love started when I was a kid. A trip to the supermarket often ended with my parents buying me a chocolate chip cookie. I grew up in the U.S. and remember those cookies were literally the size of my face. Cookie dimensions are just one example of...

Picture the scene: you have arrived to meet your friend in a nearby café, ready to fill them in on the juicy details of your date last night. It is fair to say it was one of the worst dates you’ve been on. They did not look their photo. They had all the charisma of a block of cheese. The music was too loud. They were too quiet. As you enterta...

Months pass. When you are a solitary big-city escapee riding the city’s streets on a rattling Gazelle, you find yourself becoming more patient, more observant. In return, Maastricht starts revealing its mysteries. Their existence, anyway, if not their secrets, like a hand of cards in a complicated old Limburg game. The hidden-in-plain-sigh...

Standing in the heat on the side of the road, I kill boredom by observing the other people waiting for the bus that will take us to Quito. Just as I am losing my hopes of ever seeing the bus arrive, there it is! The bus rides with its doors open, and if there are not that many people at the stop, it doesn’t even fully break: people have to ju...

In late December some twelve thousand people in the Netherlands had the flu, two of them under our roof. Our baby son started showing the signs on Christmas Eve, signalling his discomfort as best he could, which is to say with indiscriminate shrieking. We are hoping that by this time next year he will be capable of simply announcing ‘Listen, ...

Grenoble- you have been good. But now it is time to leave behind the breathtaking Alpine scenery and return to my beloved, flat Maastricht which I have learned to appreciate in manners, I did not image I ever would. Four months, to the day, I have lived in Grenoble- a beautiful city in the heart of the Alps. Over the past 16 weeks, I have been a...

Sitting in the train, I listen calmly to the first tones of Beethoven’s 5th symphony: da-da-da-dum! Calm is not quite the right word though. It’s loud and very dramatic. As it should be. This symphony has helped me through the roughest times. I can get lost in the power of the first part, the softness of the second movement, the hope of...

A concept that is quite unfamiliar to me (and I assume to most other students in Maastricht) is that you receive study credits for participating in a university sports class. While I knew from the onset of my exchange that Maastricht University would not recognize the credits, I nevertheless wanted to make use of this unique offer. Grenoble is s...

"Sometimes changes in the lives of others can truly be made behind closed doors, in a lab, on a bench with just a pipet in hand and a revolutionary idea in head." The first decisions one takes when aiming for medical school, begin well before you get a white coat and stethoscope around the neck. For me, my passion developed during high...

Whenever I draft recommendation letters and offer career advice to students asking for them, I am confronted by a sense of unease. This feeling emerges from the fact that as students prepare for the next stage of their lives (and the uncertainty that comes with it), too many of them fall into the trap of assessing their employability and self-worth...

When I told my friends that I joined Club Oeno - a wine association at Sciences Po Grenoble, I was accused of participating only for good-quality wine. Little did they know that, in reality, I joined for the cheese and the olives that are served with it. Club Oeno is a student association run by students for students. Members, as well as non-mem...

Mutti (Mommy in English) is a common nickname we Germans use for our chancellor. It incorporates this warm, soft feeling of security and that everything will be fine since Mutti knows what she is doing. You might not really understand her reasoning, but you know that she knows what she is doing. Why do we need a Mutti? Well, uncertainty is one o...

One easily earns the impression that we live in a time of hostility, hate and indifference. In the news, we learn about yet another attack here, a violent crime there and overall acts of vulgarity. People are portrayed as egoistic utility maximizers that are indifferent to their surroundings and interpersonal encounters. But that is not true. Becau...

The fact that sexual harassment and assault are features of many workplaces hit the headlines again recently. The reports were greeted with surprise, ´how did we not know?´ But it was in the news not so long ago, during the US presidential campaign when the winning candidate boasted about assaulting women and getting away with it. Maybe...

I always thought that Germans liked to go on strike, but being in France has proven me otherwise. Since my arrival in August, I have been victim to the French right to go on strike five times. I kicked my heels when waiting for the bus stop to go to class or did not know how to get home after dinner with friends because the trams simply stopped wor...

So I went to this talk of Marc Lewis, a now retired psychology professor. It was about why addiction is not a “brain disease”, even though many “healing-oriented” parties passionately claim it is. Their agenda is obvious: the “disease” part is crucial in the selling-a-cure schem. Lewis made some good points in...

Unlike most of my Erasmus friends, who spent our week off from university in the South of France or Paris, I decided to go north to visit my boyfriend who is currently doing his Erasmus in Helsinki. After all, love takes you places, right? As I have never been further north than Groningen or the North Sea Islands, I was very much looking forward to...

The day I applied for my Research Master at Maastricht University, my hope was to get accepted into the Fundamental Neuroscience track. But what is Fundamental Neurosciences, and why was that the track of my choice amongst the other equally interesting tracks? By definition, fundamental or basic neuroscience is research looking into the underlyi...

“Please take a seat!” This is how we start the family meeting, my very first one with a doomsday scenario. We need to discuss the treatment options, although we do not foresee recovery; the patient’s health is worsening. The family wants answers that we cannot provide. They are desperate and shattered. Their father came in with a ...

Whereas people in Germany (or the Netherlands) shake hands, wave hello or hug (depending on the level of intimacy), French people kiss. La bise is the French way to say hello, to say goodbye, to say thank you. In France, the handshake as a greeting, is seemingly reserved for formal encounters. It comes as no surprise then, that people your age will...

Being the new kid in school is often a challenge. At 10 years old, with little to no English vocabulary, I fully came to grips with that challenge when my family moved from Germany to the US. In the first weeks of school I not only had a lot of practice in keeping a straight face amidst a complete lack of understanding, but I also learned most thin...

Who doesn´t recognize this feeling of being caught up in our everyday responsibilities? Too often, we are occupied with ticking off our to-do list or busy running from one appointment to another. In the haste of moments like this, we too easily oversee the beauty of life that hides behind the most mundane and quotidian things. I had initia...

The other day I found myself correcting a friend of mine who referred to himself as a member of the ‘expat community’ (he has been working in Rwanda for several months). I explained that what he should be saying was ‘migrant community’, but the trouble with this term is it rarely resonates with white Europeans – you on...

The title might already reveal that I am talking about France, the country of red wine, l’amour and enlightenment. For almost five months I am switching Maastricht’s bikes, its hagelslag, and our beloved (irony off) PBL system with Bordeaux’ Tram coordination, its amazing variation of wine and an education system which couldn&rsqu...

There admittedly exists this stereotype of French people surviving on nothing but baguette, fromage et vin rouge. Baguette has established itself as a symbol of French culture next to the Tour Eiffel. It is quintessentially French and doubtlessly indispensable for the French cusine. After a couple of months in l´Hexagon, I have come to und...

It’s about time. In a new place – and Maastricht is my new place, fresh out of Brexit London – there’s always a fresh awareness of the clock. The four minutes (five in the rain) it takes to get to the SSC for a bakkie koffie. The stomach-rumbling time it takes Delibelge to snap an elastic band on your paper-wrapped broodj...

We all have one, either randomly collected in our head or neatly jotted down in a little notebook. A bucket list- a list of achievements or experiences we hope to accomplish during our lifetime. I belong to category number two. I possess a little book in which I scribble down notes, ideas, poems or things I simply want to remember. And within th...

If you're a new student in Maastricht, you'll have received lots of advice already. Some of it contradictory. Focus on your studies. No, enjoy student life – you’ll never have this time again. Knuckle down and finish as soon as you can. No, take the time to explore, find out what you’re really interested in. Most important...

I would lie if I said that my time so far in Grenoble has been a succession of picture-perfect memories and unforgettable days of intercultural exchange. After a couple of weeks in l´Hexagon, I admit that the rose-colored glasses have slipped slightly and reality has found its way into what is supposed to be ‘the semester of a lifetime&...

On one of my better days I decided to be open. Open about my vulnerability, my fears, my weaknesses, even my feelings. Because openness is important. As the Dutch foundation Samen Sterk Zonder Stigma says on its website, openheid leidt tot begrip: openness leads to understanding. Easier said than done. Standing in front of your tutorial group, r...

People always say that French is a difficult language. And it surely qualifies as challenging with all its irregular verbs, its exceptions to the rules and its exceptions to the expectations. But there seems to be an unofficial keyword that can be used in (barely) any situation and you are good to go. So, which seemingly magical word am I talkin...

“I think about suicide every day.” So read an anonymous post on Spotted: Maastricht University, a popular Facebook group among the students. Unfortunately, posts like this are not uncommon as many students struggle with emotional and psychological issues while studying in Maastricht; and in my humble opinion, there is an alarming lack o...

Barrels filled with olives and tapenade- green or black. Cases full of tomatoes- Coeur de Boef, Cherry Tomatoes, Sunrise Bumble Bee, Romanesco or Green Zebra. Savon de Marseille, bags filled with lavender or handmade basketry deftly laid out. Stalls with Camembert, Gouda, Chèvre or Beaufort. Tart au citron and blueberry tartelettes draped next to c...

I meditate daily. I know, it sounds oddly nerdy. My own prejudices towards meditating people were cruel. In my ignorance I thought of them as esoteric freaks. A little bit Buddhism here and an occasional sprinkle of Hinduist terms there – voilá! A new - arguably - revolutionary lifestyle was born. Which is not really accurate. By now companie...

Before starting university in Grenoble, I thought it would be a good idea to discover France´s beauty, get to know the region and meet locals. Where better to go to than the French Riviera, right? Though, I must admit that I would lie if I said that my desire to go there was completely altruistically and solely for the purpose of cultural ...

It’s the beginning of the academic year, so time for some ‘new year’s resolutions’. Here are a few suggestions to get you started. Students: ‘I will not get angry if my tutors don’t respond to my emails within minutes.’  This could be expanded to resolve not to send emails two hours before a submiss...

Germany- a country at the heart of Europe which is infamously famous for its affiliation for bureaucracy and (compulsive) orderliness. This is nothing new to me as the need for order is a strand running through my DNA. In case I neglected this “typical German attribute” when on exchange or holiday, locals made sure to remind me of th...

Recently my colleague, Isabella Niesten, gave a great talk about political correctness. Originally, this was about limiting hate speech in order to stop homophobes, racists, xenophobes and other lunatics who undermine democratic society. Good, right? However, today, it seems to be about something quite different. For example, in Canada, they now ha...

I was walking through the hallways of the university, incredibly excited for my first tutorial group. I could not wait to see what would be brought on the table in an international group with different backgrounds and cultures. My first disappointment: my group consisted of ten people. Seven of them were from Saudi Arabia, like me, and the other...

Me: Hi, my name is Saeed Banaama. I am a medical intern at the emergency department. Do you mind if I take your history? Patient: Yes, sure. No problem. You have to learn it too. Me, with a polite smile, in an apologetic tone: Before we start I have to admit that I only recently learned Dutch and as a result, it might come across as odd or no...

A couple of months ago I happened to watch a video clip from 1976 of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. The video was about a street live performance of the song It’s a long way to the top (if you wanna rock n’ roll), featuring on their second studio album. A great song by the way. The performance starts with only a few people standin...

Do I live in the Netherlands? Descriptively speaking, I do. My address is in Maastricht; I have a BSN number and bread here is far too soft for my German taste. But leaving the geography and administration aside, do I? Sitting in Banditos, looking around, no single word in Dutch to be heard or seen. It is this famous international student bubble. M...

‘Life is a constant process of dying’. My classes on Schopenhauer at my exchange university in Spain might not sound like a recipe for a happy morning, but last year I was thoroughly enjoying them. Schopenhauer’s work tells us that we are unfree, because our desires rule our behavior. These desires will never really be satisfied, ...

Let me tell you, biking in Maastricht is a dangerous venture. One sunny evening, I was on my way to UM Sports. I packed my things and hopped on my bike. Little did I know that the alight would be anything but elegant. I cycled up Tongersestraat, entered the roundabout, enjoyed the sun, observed the people that were driving home from work, hit the b...

I have been sick for a few days now and it just reminded me of all the things I simply hate about the Dutch healthcare system. It is expensive, slow, and not helpful, yet surrounded by white coats who will defend it until the last man standing. Actually, I think that doctors here spent the main part of their training learning how to defend their lo...

You’ve heard of the Slow Food movement. Now there’s Slow Academia as well. Slow Academia is a response to the university as anxiety machine. To a creeping, aggressive brand of academic capitalism, characterised by rampant managerialism and an insidious audit culture. Resisting the neoliberal university, proponents say, means embracin...

Every time I talk to my supervisor I feel a bit guilty. It was and still is a struggle to address him on a first-name basis. Back home in Saudi Arabia you are expected to address people formally unless you are very good friends. In fact, if someone is older than you, you would always find an appropriate term for them. Now keep in mind that my super...

There is a wonderful painting by James Ensor, a Belgian painter who lived across the nineteenth and twentieth century. The painting is called “Christ Calming the Storm”. It represents Jesus calming a storm which caught him and his disciples by surprise, while crossing the Sea of Galilee. The turbulent sea and sky are reproduced with an ...

“We should not begin to speak of Europe first but instead, think of all continents, countries and individuals as standing on equal terms”. In times of Donald Trump and wide-spread populist sentiments it is easy to follow this line of thinking. But it is important remember that being pro-Europe does not mean to be against all others. ...

Being born in Germany but raised in a pretty Turkish household I look at the approaching constitutional referendum with a feeling of alienation, while being touched on a very personal level. ‘Erdogan’s Turkey’ is the object of frequent and often justified critique. A strong, unnegotiable stance towards the Turkish President is jus...

Exactly one year ago, I was terrified by what I thought were KKK-soldiers invading my town with burning torches as their only weaponry. Semana Santa (holy week before Eastern) in Granada was not only an exercise in ‘how to effectively find your way through a crowd without being robbed and/or feeling like your private space is violated’,...

I recently read that great article: “By the way, you do not have to breed”. It addresses the issue of women who choose not to become mothers. In fact, it provides strong support for them. Usually, only childless women themselves understand and support other child-free women. But this fine piece was written by a mother of two! Hey, final...

“We can go out tomorrow?” – “No, sorry, have a deadline the next day, need to work on it.” – “No problem. What about next Monday then?” – “Not possible, my student association meeting is on this day.” – “Alright. But are you joining for the party next Thursday?” &nd...

Nothing about global politics over the last year has felt ordinary, but that didn’t stop the prime minister, Mark Rutte, from calling for more “normal” a few weeks prior to yesterday’s election. “Sometimes it seems as though nobody behaves normally any more,” he wrote in an open letter to the Dutch people. In ...

What I really want is to be happy. I would love to have a small family of four. A daughter and a son, living somewhere scenic where the children can go play outside safely. Yes, sure I would like to have enough money to be able to enjoy life, but I am definitely not aspiring to be filthy rich. I do not see the point. This is the typical respons...

Some days ago I happened to read one of the most beautiful considerations I’ve read in the last years. It was by Ben Okri, a Nigerian-born novelist. It was about the sense of tranquility emanating from the Ife Head, a brass statue from Nigeria, dating back to the fifteenth century. The author was talking about how the presence of tranquility ...

 ‘It’s not a big deal. No reason to freak out!’ I tell myself while this person I barely know is walking towards me. Ignoring me after we both recognized each other notably on the hallway would be rude, I guess. It’s small talk time! Talking for the sake of talking, no goals involved. When you are the type of person th...

MAASTRICHT. You know it’s Stukafest (the student room festival held last Thursday, 9 February) when you’re in a quiet residential street and suddenly a group of Germans on bikes comes to a screeching halt in front of a student building. “What are you going to see?” “Who knows, we just signed up for something, so I gues...

‘Told you so’ is among my most-hated English phrases, since it indicates two things: the other was right (and thus I wasn’t), and, probably even worse: I could’ve known, had I only listened. Before I went to Spain, I refused to believe the scaremongering stories about the level of Spanish university education. Surely, the...

“Stress seems to be a big thing at UCM that people talk about. It occurred to me after a while that maybe it’s not just me who has a hard time getting things done and we should do something about this,” says Amelie Gaetjen, a second year sociology student at UCM. She’s on the academic council and is one of the students behin...

Hollywood puts enormous efforts to present every Brit as subtle, polite, and decent by giving them the role of the butler. Yet, the description of Brits I’ve seen during my stay in the UK is far from Batman’s butler Alfred, and falls closer to any of the “Geordie shore” characters. Yes, Brits drink, and there is nothing s...

Today, I spent all day at Koffie. After my friends had continued to enthuse about its comfortable atmosphere, I wanted to check it out myself. According to their stories, the vibrant coffee house has turned into a popular alternative to the static library among students. Actually in search for distraction rather than a place to study- I made my ...

On the 20th of January, Americans around the world sat in grim silence as Donald Trump, now the 45th President of the United States, took his oath of office. Despite losing the popular vote by nearly 3 million, he stood before that podium, placed his hand on Lincoln’s Bible, and swore an oath that he was in violation of. This charade was soon...

The arrival of the film Arrival in movie theatres recently was the biggest event of the year in the linguists’ cinematic calendar, if that's a thing. It's not often linguistics meets Hollywood. In the film, the linguist Dr Louise Banks (played by Amy Adams – who is clearly hot but, thankfully, not too unrealistically hot) is ...

“Sorry, I haven’t vacuumed in a week. My mom would probably freak out!” Liza Hazenberg, the present ‘day in the life of’ student room candidate apologetically opens the door to her 18m2 territory. Her mom, she jokingly declares, “can be a real piece of work“ and worries a lot. It is rather unclear why, thou...

Yesterday, I asked a Dutch friend of mine: “Shall we go to the cinema tomorrow?” “Yes”, he replied enthusiastically. I saw the excitement beaming from his eyes – it was a movie he was keen on watching. But all that zest went down the drain when he said: “Oh wait, I have to check my diary.” I realized we wil...

On my way back to Granada - for the last time - after Christmas holidays at home, I am flying with Vueling, a Spanish airline, which means I’ll be surrounded by Spanish! Right after boarding, however, my excitement quickly dissolves, as I am suddenly reminded of one of the Great Spanish Mysteries my stay in Holland had made me forget about. ...

I like Christmas and Christmas holidays, I always have. It’s a magical period which brings some relief from the greyness and cold of winter, and fresh oxygen to start with motivation the new year to come. To me it’s the right moment to slow down, relax, spend time with family, enjoy all the food I normally try to avoid during the year, ...

MAASTRICHT. An intimate crowd gathers inside the Innbetween, which is decorated with warm lighting and a traditional Christmas tree, for the Unicef Charity Concert Thursday night. People chat and eat Mexican milk cake before the concert begins, which raises funds for children afflicted by the Hurricane Matthew in Haiti. An array of talented arti...

In Serbia, it is generally believed that animals in western countries have more rights than the average Serbian. The well-dressed and happy looking pets I’ve seen in the Netherlands, and the fact that the Dutch even have an animal rights party in the parliament make me think that the Serbian wisdom is true. Statistics show that about 40% o...

“You guys in Europe are different. You have a different way of seeing the world. I like Europe - everything is very well organized and there are a lot of opportunities.” My Blablacar-driver, just back from visiting his girlfriend in Southern England, surprises me. Not because he talks about the level of organization in other countries -...

MAASTRICHT. “You meet new people and learn more about the university yourself, it’s a win-win situation”, that’s how the buddies of the International Student Ambassador Programme described their time showing new international students around. Last Wednesday, Maastricht University invited them to the Lumière to reward th...

We did our homework in the sun. We despaired over the rain: “Can I go out in my flip-flops today?” We despaired over the workload. We rejoiced when we got good grades.  We slunk off and got a Gingerbread Latte in the café across from the bookstore for comfort if our grades were not so good.  We wanted to join all the clubs ...

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll have heard the term mansplaining being thrown around; a portmanteau of the words man and explaining. It was inspired by a landmark essay by the American writer Rebecca Solnit, Men Explain Things to Me. In it, she recalls the time a Very Important Man informed her about a book she must re...

A couple years ago, David Horowitz wrote a book called The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America. One of my professors at UC Santa Cruz is listed in it because of her attempt to introduce a feminist practice, which attempts to center women instead of men, into her teaching (she teaches in the Feminist Studies department). “At the time&rdquo...

“Sorry, what’s your name again?” “Saeed.” “No, I know your first name, I just need your last name.” While I was trying to gather my thoughts to figure out the importance of my last name, the professor managed to read it on my student card. “Oh, I see, Dr Banaama. Is that how you pronounce ...

The other day I had asked a friend of mine to proofread one of my essays. She’s from Spain, so English is not her native language but she has an excellent grasp of it nonetheless. At one point she looks up with a bewildered look on her face: “Sophie, what is a loofole?” I ask her to repeat it, believing I couldn’t possibl...

Is there anything else I could have written about this week? Walking to class on Wednesday morning, the regular crowd of flip-flop-wearing students carrying binders and water bottles is dotted with black. Many people on campus are treating this day as a day of mourning. The dining hall, usually abuzz and a-clatter with hungry voices and tinkling si...

And just as I was about to give up, the night bus I was running after stopped in the middle of the Ponte della Libertà and picked me up – drenched and slightly hysterical at 3 AM on a Venice Tuesday. Isn’t that refreshing: a quirky anecdote hinting at my utterly unique experience? Naturally, I’ll play it cool and give a dismis...

The Collector - John Fowles Recommended for: Art, Literature, and Society students (FaSoS) ‘We are such stuff/  As dreams are made on; and our little life/ Is rounded with a sleep.’ – Prospero in The Tempest (Act 4 Scene 1) Frederick, a lonely, uneducated butterfly collector leading an unremarkable existence in the E...

A Monday in late October, I was taking the tiny bus from my house in the village-like neighborhood of Albaicin to the city centre. As usual on tourist-low hours (early Mondays), I shared it only with locals. Hence, I was, by a wide margin, the youngest passenger. After all, most young Andalusians are not here anymore, having ignored the ubiquitous ...

“Audiences here cheer and whoop and get really excited but when I toured Europe with the San Francisco Youth Orchestra our audiences weren’t as loud. They just clapped, but they would keep clapping for a really long time. In the United States people will get excited about classical music as a novelty but I feel like in Europe it’s...

MAASTRICHT. In a well-hidden corner of the Bonnefanten museum, a group of about thirty people gathers. As they collect their paper and charcoal, pencil or pen, the near-nude models take their places at the front. Hungarian artist Sándor Sinkó will lead tonight’s sketching workshop, organised by the Young Office (YO), a group of volunteers tha...

People sure get worked up about rain here. I first wanted to illustrate this by writing about how everyone looks out of the window, the way European kids do at the first sign of snow, as soon as rain starts to fall or about how they suddenly panic about what to wear. But then the opportunity for an even better example presented itself – the U...

When I was about eight years old, I was convinced that I would be the first female president of the United States. In fact, whenever my grandmother called from California (on rare and exciting occasions in the days before Skype) I would invariable answer with: ‘The president speaking.’ When my ballot for the United States presidentia...

My UK visa journey started in Germany, and if history taught us anything, it is that you don’t want to be stuck between these two nations. Yes! History does have a point. I spotted the immigration office easily by a crowd of people in the middle of the sidewalk with their faces clinging the window, as if they are about to reach heaven. The...

“Back home, I barely use any oil at all, but here the food is so greasy!”, says one of my roommates. She remembers that when she first started going to UC Santa Cruz, adapting to the food in the dining halls was one of the hardest parts simply because of the sheer amount of heavy food. Even though the cooks make a stab at diversity, at ...

We know history has many purposes. It might offer us consolation, great movie plots, a sense of identity, lessons for the future, and, in many cases, tourism and jobs. Spain is one of those countries that counts with such a large amount of historical heritage that one might lose oversight - not necessarily a problem, in most cases, but an opportun...

Now and then people ask me, ‘Do you miss academia?’ The question always surprises me, because to my mind, I never left. I’m not affiliated with a university; not since I left Cambridge two years ago. But I never stopped doing and publishing research. I call myself an independent scholar. When I tell people this, they look at me...

“Does anyone recognize these markings?” The bicycling instructor indicates a symbol that is a simple line drawing of a bike with two pointy brackets pointing upwards above it. It’s Friday night, and fifteen students are attending the Bicycle Safety Class that is mandatory for participants in the Bike Library, a program to encourag...

More than a year after the attack on Paris, months after that in Brussels and not long after the so-called Islamic State attack on Nice, my family arrived in Europe. Tension is on the rise. Politics is shifting to the right and the conservatives are gaining in popularity in most countries. Everyone is scared and afraid as uncertainty unfolds. I ...

“We are uncultured people”, concludes Manu, with a face that is darker than last week’s Andalusian rain storm. While I’m working my way around eating my green beans with garlic - being a vegetarian here is a challenge sometimes, especially on the deserted highway that leads from the nothingness of central Spain to the greatn...

I have a violin! After regretting not bringing my violin from Maastricht I enquired in the music department about renting one. Rent? They were having none of that. After my audition on a friend’s violin I was whisked into a locked room full of instruments on hold for just such an occasion and presented with my (temporarily) very own violin fr...

The graphic novel is a genre often associated with lighthearted topics, shallow plotlines depicted in garish colors, and dialogue oriented more towards punchlines than introspection. Alison Bechdel subverts all this in her autobiographical novel, Fun Home. Even the title is already a subversion, an act of direct opposition towards the characteristi...

Two years ago I was given the opportunity to contribute to the English column of the Observant, and each year for the first column of the academic year I have written about happiness. This year I thought it would be nice to keep the tradition.   In the first column I was mainly insisting on the importance of knowing ourselves and being r...

You know us: those annoying students blocking the door of your faculty and almost forcing an Observant into your hands. Sorry about that, but most people just don´t seem to know the Observant well enough to let the matter go around on its own. If you don´t want a newspaper, then don´t take it; it´s as simple as that. We c...

“Back when I did Feminist Studies up at UCSC it wasn’t even a department yet. It was just run by a collective of women,” says the cashier as I pay for my textbook.  In downtown Santa Cruz, in the bookstore called The Literary Guillotine, I feel myself tipping headfirst into history. This small space is crammed floor to ceilin...

“So where do you draw the line between absolutism and not having an opinion at all?” Oh no, no, mate. That’s not what I meant. Look, I was quite happy with the dinner-friendly small-talk we had going on, but I suppose your seemingly –painfully- obvious question calls for one of my favourite rants, even if we’re only on...

On my last day in Granada before returning to spend the summer in Holland, my taxi driver (28 years, flip flops, a college degree) seems to be hesitating. I look at him questioningly, and, after apparently deciding that not much can be lost because we have almost arrived at our destination anyway, he continues our conversation about differences bet...

‘How’s it going?’ ‘I’m awesome!’ (accompanied by big thumbs up) ‘We should totally meet up sometime. Text me!’ And you never see them again. This is a typical round of American small talk, as acted out by our orientation leader during the ‘Understanding US Culture’ presentation...

Stuck between cultures, I’ve done adulthood all wrong. In Switzerland, where I grew up, drinking beer and wine is legal at sixteen. So for me, drinking was never a rebellious act to gain adult prestige. The big marker of adulthood was eighteen, the age I was allowed to vote and, in theory, drive. But driving held little symbolic value for me ...

Soon I will be moving to Great Britain for a half year, so I want to pass on my tips to those who face the challenge to assimilate to this awkwardly awesome Dutch culture. Dutchies have a difficult language with an ‘I-will-spit-on-you’ kind of sound. Don’t feel miserable, even a Dutch cat will pronounce their ‘g’ be...

During my road trip from San Francisco to New York, it quickly became clear that the United States of America are in fact not as unified as they might appear from a European perspective. This is a political reality that can be mapped with astonishing precision through food. Driving down California State Route 1 we encountered Mexican food that made...

At the Rio Olympics, all eyes in Britain were on Tom Daley. Daley is an English diver who won the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics in the 10 metre platform event. Fit and photogenic, he immediately shot to media stardom, even landing a role on the celebrity diving reality TV show Splash! Yes, that’s a thing that exists. So four ...