Author:  Rachel Silcox

Location: Utrecht, Netherlands

While abroad, one university professor told me that while I may come to this place as 100% American, I would leave only 95% American. Over those months spent in another country, we start to act, think, and feel at home there, even if just a little bit. This has certainly been my experience in the Netherlands. A once far off dreamy, tulip and bike clad land, Nederland has in a way, become a second home. While I may not speak the language, or look Dutch at all, the sounds and sights of the country do not seem strange or foreign anymore, in fact they feel quite comforting.

When I came back from my fall break trip to Italy, as soon as I got on the plane back to Amsterdam, I started to hear Dutch. Italian was foreign to me and having spent a week in that environment, I was excited to get back to what I knew! When I heard the throaty g’s and unique accent of the Dutch language, I immediately felt at home. This was the strangest feeling though, because I did not even recognize what these people were saying, yet somehow it still felt like home to me.

I wanted to come to Utrecht to become a global citizen and I have grown in that venture. I love how I was able to adapt to another culture and start to feel a part of it. It was a challenge in learning to be frustrated, confused, and hopelessly lost, and being able to conquer those feelings. At some moments, I felt like a complete outsider, unable to communicate or effectively function in this system. Other times I felt like I completely fit in. When I had to tell the cashier or store clerk, “sorry, I just speak English,” I felt like I was an intruder. But on the other hand, when I had a “conversation” with an old lady speaking Dutch by smiling, nodding, and laughing at the right moments, I felt completely Dutch. I felt like this sweet old woman could have even been my grandmother. There were hundreds of other moments on both sides of the spectrum, but through these moments I grew the most. I learned to try my best to adapt to a different way of living, to not feel defeated if I couldn’t the first time, and to realize I could try again.

I think this best summarizes my stay abroad: feeling like an outsider, but growing in my understanding and action to start to feel like I belonged. While my experience at University College Utrecht was heavily shaped by my transition to Dutch culture, it has broader implications. At first, I struggled to adapt to a new lifestyle, but eventually I was able, and it even started to become like home. Regardless of the specific culture I adapted to, I now know I can adapt, fit in, and be at home in another place. Through study abroad, I have not only learned that I can adapt to new environments, but I have also learned how. I think this is the most important lesson I have taken away from this experience, learning how to be, not just an American, but a global citizen.

Author: Janelle Bouman

Location: Utrect, Netherlands 

Cycling in such a bicycle-friendly place has been one of my greatest joys of living in Utrecht, Netherlands.  The Dutch are known for their bicycles, and not without good reason – there are more bicycles than there are people in this country!  I bought my own bicycle (or “fiets” in Dutch) just a few days after arriving in Utrecht for the semester, because cycling is absolutely essential to life in the Netherlands.  I ride my bike to the supermarket for groceries and to the train station when I travel places.  For many destinations in town, it’s actually faster to cycle there than it would be to take a car!  My Dutch friends used to cycle to high school every day, sometimes as far as an hour each way.  In the Netherlands, bicycles are not just a means of transportation, they are a way of life.

In Utrecht, I’ve learned pretty quickly to always check for cyclists before crossing the bike paths – something that would never be a concern in my American hometown because we don’t have bike paths or cyclists.  I’ve learned to carefully lock and unlock my bike without knocking over the one parked next to it and starting a domino effect with the hundred others nearby (a valuable skill).  Most of all, I’ve learned that it is no exaggeration when you hear people say that there are bicycles everywhere in the Netherlands.  You can’t step outside without someone cycling past you.  In town, it seems parked bicycles take up every bit of available space lining the canals and in front of stores.  I’ve even spotted one parked up on somebody’s 3rd floor balcony.

With so many bikes in town, you can imagine it often gets hard to find a parking spot.  One of the bicycle garages at the central train station has space for 4,200 bicycles, packed closely together in double-decker rows.  Another garage fits 6,000 and will be expanded to 12,500 by the end of next year, which will make it the world’s largest bicycle parking garage.  Even with the space that is currently available, sometimes I have arrived at the station with my bicycle, only to be met with a “FULL” sign in front of one of these garages.  That certainly gives you a sense of how ubiquitous bicycle travel is for the Dutch.

I enjoy cycling immensely as a form of both exercise and leisure, but I have to make a conscious effort to keep up the “leisure” part of this when the town is so crowded with bicycles.  One crisp fall morning, I decided to take a bike ride to a castle west of Utrecht in order to get out of the city a little bit.  It took around an hour (16 kilometers) to get there, but never once along the journey did I have to worry about there not being a bike path for a particular stretch of road.  Sometimes the cyclists simply share a lane with the cars, sometimes the outside edge of the road forms a bicycle lane, and sometimes there are separate bicycle paths running parallel to the road.  Anywhere it is possible to go at all, it is possible to go by bike – that’s the incredible bicycle-friendly infrastructure of the Netherlands.

My ride to the castle was incredibly beautiful, providing a scenic glimpse of so many aspects of the Netherlands.  It started off through the old city center of Utrecht, onto the more modern part of town, then past canals, boats, and even a windmill.  The ride was flat and easy; my Dutch friends were completely right when they advised me, “You won’t need a bicycle with gears.  You’ll never encounter a hill here!”  An impressive bicycle bridge that only opened a few months ago (a further testament to the bicycle infrastructure), deposited me across the river on the far side of town, where peaceful Dutch suburbs lead into idyllic countryside.  Along the final stretch I had cows keeping me company, separated from the bike path by only a canal.

Kasteel de Haar, my destination, was so worth the trip!  This beautiful castle was originally a medieval fortification, with the current buildings being a nineteenth-century reconstruction.  It’s also completely awesome for a castle to have a bicycle parking lot, as though everyone rides their bicycles there on any regular day.  I really enjoyed the museum inside the castle and the gardens surrounding it, but what will stick with me the most from this day is the bicycle ride I took to get there.  You see the world at a different pace when you are riding a bicycle.  You can get somewhere quicker than walking, but there is so much more to take in than when you drive.  It’s easy to feel at peace in the regular rhythm of pedaling and the changing scenery.  The Dutch know this, and I know that I will continue to learn a lot from their cycling ways.

Author: Rachel Silcox

Location: Utrecht, Netherlands

One of the reasons I wanted to study abroad  was traveling. I wanted to go lots of places and to see the world! But as I travel more, I keep finding the dynamic between the traveler and the host to be more and more interesting, so let me try to show you what I have learned through a metaphor.

Over the summer, one of my professors taught me that it is impossible to measure a system without inherently changing it. If you want to measure the temperature of a liquid, you stick a thermometer in and read the temperature. But actually, by inserting the thermometer in the liquid, some of the heat that was in the water has transferred to the thermometer. That heat was taken out of the system and that has permanently changed it. Now, one thermometer reading will not significantly change the temperature of a normal sized system. But imagine we have an insulated cup of boiling water. If we leave the system by itself, it will continue to stay piping hot for a very long time. But if we jam it full of thermometers, each which take a small amount of heat. We have now dramatically changed the system we are measuring. We may think at first that it is good to have so many measurement readings, but in the very processes of measuring so many times, we have eroded the heat that was there originally.

I think traveling and tourism can be exactly like this. We are like a thermometer. We want to experience a place and the people by dipping ourselves into the environment momentarily, enjoying what a place has to offer, and allowing it to change us, in whatever small way. The thermometer takes some heat from the system, in the same way that we take back home some of the experiences of that place. But this is not a one way exchange from a system with endless amounts of heat. Eventually, the thermometers take all the heat that they were trying to measure. When we take a small part back with us, we take it away from the place we visited. Tourists and travelers can slowly chip away at a places’ culture and traditions until it is so eroded that only a flimsy caricaturized stereotype is left standing. Hundreds of vendors sell the same three things that a place is supposedly known for. The depth of culture and tradition that stood behind a traveler’s experience from long ago is no longer there, it was eaten away by those who wanted to take a bit away with them. The heat that once made that system special is gone.

Recognizing this, it is easy to see why people may not want to be especially hospitable or caring to us as travelers. It is easier to see that as travelers and hosts we are in a unique position, each vulnerable to each other. In realizing this vulnerability, it is important for us to travel with a new mindset, one of preservation and understanding. We should seek to be in the culture, instead of around it.

In my recent travels to Italy and Germany, I have tried to be in the culture instead of around it and typically I enjoyed myself all the more. In Germany, I enjoyed eating some traditional lentils and spaetzle from a delicious authentic restaurant. I walked down the bustling cobblestone streets listening to the German equivalent of a hipster singing and playing the guitar. As soon as he finished, some German middle school girls start cheering and screaming and of course then some German adults walked by and rolled their eyes. I went to the Deustche Oper to see the opera Aida. I loved how when I got up to let an old German woman move past me to her seat she patted my hand like a grandma and said, “Danke schӧen.” I think these experiences of being part of the culture give depth to other experiences like visiting the Reichstag or buying lots of pretzels. By merging these two together, travelers and hosts can equally enjoy each other’s company.

In Italy, driving up the ridiculous mountain and coastal roads also gave me a taste of being in the culture. Numerous times we accidentally took the long way, but we enjoyed it more. I loved walking around the beautiful roads of Erice and interacting with the people there. At one restaurant, we sat down and a little boy, not more than four gave me my breadstick, smiled, and then shyly ran away. The rest of our meal comprised of laughing as the same boy would continually walk up to our table and stare at us, but as soon as we looked at him, he darted away. Eventually, his mom yelled at him in Italian. I’m not sure what she said, but it didn’t seem to deter him that much.

These small interactions, these authentic moments, I think are what create the basis for sustainable and respectful travel. Traveling can be made of both observing the culture and appreciating it. But I think when we take an extra step to interact authentically with the people and places we explore, we travel, not as gawkers or tourists, but as equals who seek understanding. For me, this type of travel produces the best memories, and I think for the host culture, the best preservation.

Author: Rachel Silcox

Location: Utrecht, Netherlands

Hi Friends! Welcome again to Utrecht, NL. Today, I will introduce you to one of my best friends here, Elise! Elise (pronounced Ill-ee-za) is 100% Dutch and was born and raised not far from Utrecht, in a small town called Hilversum. Whenever I want to explore the Utrecht area she knows just the place to go! My favorite time with Elise is when she took me on an hour bike ride! We rode to the small village of Lage Vuursche about 15 km away, where we had a dinner of Dutch pancakes (like crepes) with bacon and apples and cheese. Elise also showed me the outside of the former Dutch Queen’s current residence! We couldn’t see much because it had a huge fence in the way, but like Elise said, “That’s normal considering the Dutch version of Barack Obama basically lives there.” She is quite funny and is always interesting to talk to!

Elise is studying law and politics as she wants to go into international relations, specifically dealing with border conflicts. Her international interest is so strong as she speaks Dutch, English, Spanish, and French fluently, even though she was born and raised in the Netherlands. I asked Elise about herself and her interest in international studies, so here are the answers so you can get to know her too!

Me: How did you get so interested in international affairs?

Elise: I’m not sure. I’ve always really liked listening to the stories my grandparents would tell me when I was little and especially when I was old enough to start connecting what they would tell me to what I learned in school. For example, in school we learned about the Hungry Winter of 1944. This was when one part of the Netherlands was liberated, but the Allies couldn’t cross the big rivers in the South to get up North. It was a historically cold winter and people were walking from Rotterdam to Germany (about 90 miles) to get food because there was so little. Then, my grandparents told me about their specific experience and it was so cool to see how regular people fit into history. They survived by eating flower bulbs and making soup out of the most basic things. It’s interesting but sad to hear of how regularly had to people behave. It was also so crazy to hear about the German soldiers. Even though they were fighting for the Nazi’s, my grandparents said they acted nice, grateful, and welcoming. Not hostile at all. It is hard not to vilify someone who supported the Nazis, but it really makes you think how any of us could have been there if it was our country. Hearing these stories makes you think a lot about the individuals in different countries throughout history and what they were really like.

Me: You see history as an important part of understanding people?

Elise: Yeah, history is especially important when understanding conflicts between people, I think. Conflicts are so complex and you have to trace the origins of a specific conflict back so far to understand why these problems have come about, particularly when thinking about border conflicts. In the past, some borders were simply drawn arbitrarily, but it is interesting to think about how borders and country sovereignty determined our world today. That’s why I wanted to combine history, law, politics, and biology. Especially when dealing with political issues like border disputes, it is necessary to know about history and law. They are intertwined, like with the Arab-Israeli conflict you need to understand history to work effectively in politics today.

Me: Interesting! How does biology figure into that?

Elise: Oh. Well, I like Biology, so that’s for fun!

Me: Ah! Now that is a real Liberal Arts and Sciences student talking!

Elise: Yeah. I’m just genuinely interested in lots!

Me: What do you see yourself doing in the future?

Elise: Traveling. I really want to travel. I’ve been to the U.S. and various countries in Europe, but I really want to travel to Asia. My country gets so boring; I want to see something completely different!

Me: I feel that! Why do you think I came here?

Elise: It’s so cool that you chose the Netherlands to come to! It’s cool for me to see people interested in my country. I also love to talk to people from the U.S. There are so many opinions and ideas that I find interesting to listen to, so you should tell more people to come here from Valpo!

Elise is so easy to relate to! Even though we have grown up in very different places, we both have an interest in studying and learning about other cultures. We both love to share our culture and our experiences with each other. I hope you enjoyed Elise sharing a bit of her experience with you too!

Author: Rachel Silcox

Location: The Netherlands

Hello friends! Welcome back to the Netherlands and to Utrecht! I’m so excited today to introduce you to one of first people I met here and now one of my good friends, Marie-Christine, so you too can get to know her! Born and raised in the Netherlands, when I first saw Christine, I knew she was a Dutchie, the endearingly colloquial term for someone from the Netherlands. At 6 ft. tall and with blonde hair, she could actually be one of the Dutch milkmaids of yore, or just a really good rower as she has recently joined a local crew team. Olympic dreams can still be alive even in early adulthood! But beyond the obvious, Christine is from a small village outside Maastrich, at the southern tip of the Netherlands sandwiched between Belgium and Germany. She loves international food as she can’t decide between sushi or Italian food! Yum!

But to stop from boring you, or sounding like an online dating profile, I’ll now let Christine just tell you about herself!

Me: “So why did you choose to come to a Liberal Arts and Sciences College and UCU in particular?”

Christine: “First, I really like the international setting at UCU and the small campus! But also, I don’t know what I want to do! The Liberal Arts and Sciences here gives you the chance to keep it broad. Plus I’m interested in a lot of different subjects. Mostly social sciences, politics, law, economics, sociology, and psychology subjects. Also, the humanities and sciences are nice to get different perspectives. Like energy and sustainability, my science course, I can use and connect to politics, which I am more directly interested in.”

Me: “So you like the application of the social sciences to more general life, if you get what I mean? Sorry I’m not a professional interviewer.”

Christine: “Haha! Yeah I think so! I am really excited for human geography. It is so much more interesting to learn about societies and how they interact with their geographical place in an applied manner, rather than the pure science. It’s a cool mixture of the humanities and sciences. I really enjoy sciences that interact with people and the international aspect of social sciences.”

Me: “Ok Cool! So why do you like international affairs?”

Christine: “Well I’ve always enjoyed being in an international setting. I started at international school when I was five years old and I really enjoyed it. Everyone was so cool and different. It’s really nice to know people around the world and see that everyone has their own story. It made me more open to the idea that people are different and that’s ok. But coming back to the Netherlands made me realize how unique that was. In the Netherlands, everyone has same culture. I live in a little village and went to elementary school there. The other students, their world revolved around that village. They all shared the same story. It was weird to go back where so much was taken for granted. People followed each other more, from what they did to what they liked. At international school, everyone did their own thing and nobody really minded you doing your own thing. Back in the Netherlands though, everyone wanted to fit in and it was more important to fit in, where among international school people didn’t have to try to fit in. Everyone was different. Everyone thought each other was cool because everyone was different. There wasn’t a mold. But I came back, and I wanted to fit in again. I didn’t want to be different, or an outcast. But looking back, I didn’t need to do that. I still would have had friends. In the end, it would have been fine.”

Me: “That’s so cool that you got to grow up at least in part at an international school! How has that shaped what you want to do in the future?”

Christine: “Well, I want to work with in an international setting. Maybe with an NGO [known as Non-Profit in U.S.] or the UN or a UNICEF position, but I really don’t know. Overall though, this might sound very cliché and cheesy, but I want to have made a difference, even if it is so small. But I’m not really sure in what way. It’s hard to make a noticeable difference on your own, so I guess I want to find my place in an organization and help them make the world a better place.”

Me: “Awesome! Even if its cheesy, I love it! Finally, so is there anything you would like to say to people in US or Valpo?”

Christine: “I would say more people should do what you did! More people should go on exchange and experience a completely different culture. It really changes your perspective and that open-mindedness is so valuable.”

Me: “Thanks for your help! It’s been so great getting to know you!”

I hope through our little interview, you get to know Christine a bit too! She is so caring and interesting, as she really has a heart for people of all backgrounds. Next time, I’ll introduce you to another friend of mine from the Netherlands, Elise!

Author: Rachel Silcox

Location: The Netherlands

I hope as you read my blog you will be connected with the places I see and people I meet. I hope that I can transport you to Holland and even further through these words. However, before I begin to show you the world I have started to discover here in Utrecht, I thought I would first tell you my motivation in coming to the Netherlands. Do I just really love bicycles and windmills and tulips? No. I decided to travel to Europe to discover more about the Liberal Arts and Sciences. Through my studies at Valpo and more specifically Christ College, I have learned about the humanities in a way I have never experienced before. By reading texts written by Aristotle, Kant, Bonhoeffer, and Augustine, I discovered a love for examining, questioning, and discussing that I had not experienced before. At Christ College, I was not taught formulas and facts, but instead I was taught to develop my desire to learn. So, when CC emailed me describing a new study abroad opportunity like Christ College itself, I had to participate.

I am a mechanical engineering major at VU, and so normally, I don’t have time to spend exploring and taking Liberal Arts and Sciences courses. Therefore, this was an ideal opportunity to  explore courses, subjects, myself, and Europe. Throughout this exploration, I hope to bring you along with me. So, welcome to the Netherlands!

First, some basics: we are at Universiteit College Utrecht or UCU, the international campus and university college (meaning liberal arts and sciences college) of the much larger and spread out Universiteit Utrecht. Our school is made up of about 800 students from places ranging from Utrecht itself to Zimbabwe. We have a little close knit campus, with green space to lay out and lovely European architecture. Campus even has a cute black cat who will let you pet her! However, the cat can scare you at night when you see the little ninja creeping around in the shadows. Besides that, campus is lovely! We live in Elmarelaan 21, the newest (and smallest) building on campus. Built in short and stocky mid-century modern style, it is in stark contrast to the rest of campus, and because of that people lovingly refer to it as “the Wall.” However, the Wall is great for one reason: indoor parking…for bikes. Yes, we have a tiny little parking garage for our bikes, where they won’t get rained on or stolen, the latter being a bigger fear. Bikes are the main source of transportation here and we all want to keep ours safe! However, since mine only cost 65 euros and is one of the hundreds of lottery bikes the Dutch government gave away 4 years ago, the motive to steal mine is very low. My bike is not the best, but it works and we can even go grocery shopping with the little basket I attached on the back!

Now that you know approximately how life in the Netherlands and UCU goes, I’ll more carefully introduce you to the academic side of UCU. Everyone takes four classes. I am in Mathematical Methods (Partial Differential Equations), World Philosophies, Introduction to Law, and Origins and Crises in the Global Economy. I am excited to take courses on math, economic history, law, and philosophy!

Last, since you know approximately where we are, what life is like, and what we are studying, I now want to introduce you to some of the amazing people from UCU. If there is one thing that makes this new country feel like home, it is the people. Amongst a new language and a different world, these people are caring, funny, and great friends. Some of the first people I met here were my UCU Introweek “Family.” We did everything together from a scavenger hunt around town to playing Ultimate Frisbee at together for the Sportsday of Introweek. Look at the pictures for shots of us having fun together!

Through this blog, I will be introducing you to some of my new family members and some of the other cool people I have met at UCU! I hope that by introducing you to them, I can make you feel at home here too. While they still may be strangers to you, I hope that you will grow to care for these strangers, and all people that are different from you. While many people may rush to judgement in these times, I hope to show you that any stranger can become family, and every stranger should be treated as such. In my next blog, I will introduce you to Marie-Christine! But till then, once again, welcome to the Netherlands!