Brussels was extremely fun! Some of the pictures last week showed my friends and I at the fine arts museum which had a Rene Magritte exhibit, a musical instrument museum which had 4 floors of instruments and amazing city views, waffles, a bar with a record of 2004 beers on tap, tiny restaurants where waiters harass you to come in and a good amount of walking around the city.
Throughout the week I attended classes for the most part. On Monday my unit decided to have a roommate dinner where they made pancakes (although it was so dry it tasted like flat bread), but it was fun! I also realized that this school is so small, that they don't have any sport teams, outside of the sports club. This is the first college I've heard about having a yearbook as well. Oh, and PROM! Apparently once a year they have prom at UCU. Which doesn't really make sense to me, but I think ill go (not in anything fancy, since the best attire I brought are button down shirts and jeans), but the theme is Titanic, and we will be going to a ship at Utrecht harbor.
This past weekend was very relaxing. I mostly hung out with friends and studied, since I have my first quiz tomorrow in Psycholinguistics and midterms are in two weeks. Other than that, the week went by pretty quickly, I was in town some days just getting to know the city and locations of all the stores.
I am not planning any trips until Spring Break. But a bunch of people are renting a house in Italy (under 10euro a day) in ISCHIA which is located off the coast of Naples. So we will be able to do day trips to Naples/Pompeii, Rome, and other historic sites near by.
But I have to go study!
Vaarwel!
February 27, 2011
February 21, 2011
February 13, 2011
Duck Sauce - Barbra Streisand
Watch this video: It is the ONLY song clubs/bars play in Europe! Well, not really but 99% of the time. I'll start with today and work my way back throughout the week.
So I woke up and read some assignments for classes and then went to the bar at 4PM to help clean up the atrocious smell and mess that was leftover from the weekend activities. This weekend was "Bartenders Weekend" where for 10 euro, 80 students can learn how to bar-tend and play drinking games Friday night through Saturday night. Saturday day everyone met for brunch in the dinning hall at 1030 and soon went to the bar (with their teams, mine was The Jesus 5, like Jackson 5, since we were team #5 and the name had to be creative). Anyways, we had a scavenger hunt throughout the campus (which included activities like creating a team mascot, ours was a priest) that took the majority of the day to complete. A break for a few hours to eat and relax, a cocktail competition, and a closing party. Friday night we had team vs team competitions playing. It was not exactly academic or too healthy, but it was a great social experience.
During the week there was a club/committees fair where students can sign up and learn about what clubs are available. I signed up with Culture, Humanities, Music, and soon DJ committees. Meetings have not started yet so I will keep you posted as they come along. This Wednesday the Music Co. is hosting an open mic night which I may partake in.
Aside from homework, I spent most of my week in class. I've realized that teachers (except in my Psycholinguistics class), don't have as structured schedules as back in the US. For example, back home I would go to class and take about one hour of notes, with some discussion, mostly from the teacher. Here, the teachers will have a student (chosen in advance) to begin by summarizing the readings assigned and have that student initiate a class discussion for at least 15 minutes. Some teachers will lecture with notes, but most just speak and have discussions with the class about a specific topic. In some sense it is a nice change from the traditional note/quiz style at home, but it does make it more difficult to have an understanding on what material will be tested on the midterm/final and what material is just to inspire critical and philosophical thinking.
I think the only thing I have not liked since my arrival is the amount of smoking (cigarettes) that students do indoors during parties, which makes the room feel suffocating and leaves your closed stained with strong odors.
But, I must go read some Neuroscience and articles about Ethnic Relations. Oh, and this coming weekend I will be going to Brussels! My friends and I might couch surf (if the hosts respond to my message on time), if not we will be staying in a hostel. I will write all about it in my next post!
OH! My family also met up for dinner at a members unit to cook some Italian food! Here are some pics from the dinner/week!
Vaarwel!
So I woke up and read some assignments for classes and then went to the bar at 4PM to help clean up the atrocious smell and mess that was leftover from the weekend activities. This weekend was "Bartenders Weekend" where for 10 euro, 80 students can learn how to bar-tend and play drinking games Friday night through Saturday night. Saturday day everyone met for brunch in the dinning hall at 1030 and soon went to the bar (with their teams, mine was The Jesus 5, like Jackson 5, since we were team #5 and the name had to be creative). Anyways, we had a scavenger hunt throughout the campus (which included activities like creating a team mascot, ours was a priest) that took the majority of the day to complete. A break for a few hours to eat and relax, a cocktail competition, and a closing party. Friday night we had team vs team competitions playing. It was not exactly academic or too healthy, but it was a great social experience.
During the week there was a club/committees fair where students can sign up and learn about what clubs are available. I signed up with Culture, Humanities, Music, and soon DJ committees. Meetings have not started yet so I will keep you posted as they come along. This Wednesday the Music Co. is hosting an open mic night which I may partake in.
Aside from homework, I spent most of my week in class. I've realized that teachers (except in my Psycholinguistics class), don't have as structured schedules as back in the US. For example, back home I would go to class and take about one hour of notes, with some discussion, mostly from the teacher. Here, the teachers will have a student (chosen in advance) to begin by summarizing the readings assigned and have that student initiate a class discussion for at least 15 minutes. Some teachers will lecture with notes, but most just speak and have discussions with the class about a specific topic. In some sense it is a nice change from the traditional note/quiz style at home, but it does make it more difficult to have an understanding on what material will be tested on the midterm/final and what material is just to inspire critical and philosophical thinking.
I think the only thing I have not liked since my arrival is the amount of smoking (cigarettes) that students do indoors during parties, which makes the room feel suffocating and leaves your closed stained with strong odors.
But, I must go read some Neuroscience and articles about Ethnic Relations. Oh, and this coming weekend I will be going to Brussels! My friends and I might couch surf (if the hosts respond to my message on time), if not we will be staying in a hostel. I will write all about it in my next post!
OH! My family also met up for dinner at a members unit to cook some Italian food! Here are some pics from the dinner/week!
Vaarwel!
February 6, 2011
First week of classes!
Okay, so my schedule is: Mondays and Wednesdays I have Psycholinguistics, Clinical (or Ethnic relations), and Cognitive Neuroscience, Tuesdays off, Thursday just Clinical and Friday just Ethnic Relations! Each class is just under two hours with a ten minute break about half way. Usually the professors break the week into one day lecture and the other day exercises. So in my Clinical Psych class on Thursday we had an exercises where we spoke as if we were patients or listened as if we were psychologist and try to critique each other on how we preformed. That is definitely something I would not have completed in my home institution due to the large class sizes.
There is a LOT of reading assigned in each class, and this is agreed by everyone on campus. For Ethnic Relations alone, I will have read over 50 articles (1000) pages by the end of the semester. Usually assigned readings are not as important back home because the classes are too large to have a full discussion. There are also almost no tests. I have several presentations due, a paper, a midterm and a final. Unlike back home, where I would have a quiz or test ever two weeks. The work itself does not seem any more difficult then what is assigned at my home university.
Anyways, the Dutch do have different party habits! Tuesdays and Thursdays are party nights but Friday and Saturday are either go home to your family time or hang out around the town.
This Friday I booked my first two trips outside of the Netherlands. In two weeks I will be spending a weekend eating Belgium waffles in BRUSSELS! It is a 3 hour bus ride for about 30 Euros round trip! and the second trip will be to PARIS! For the SAME PRICE (30 EURO)! Round trip overnight bus for Easter weekend (April 22-26). The journey is about 7 hours!
Yesterday I went to Amsterdam for the day with some friends. It was incredible to see all of the tilted buildings and canals, along with the famous red light districts and coffee shop (which I did not have a chance to partake in if you're wondering). I also went to Utrecht Historic Museum this week, which was okay.
But I must go read for my classes, so I might put some pictures up this week!
Vaarwel!
There is a LOT of reading assigned in each class, and this is agreed by everyone on campus. For Ethnic Relations alone, I will have read over 50 articles (1000) pages by the end of the semester. Usually assigned readings are not as important back home because the classes are too large to have a full discussion. There are also almost no tests. I have several presentations due, a paper, a midterm and a final. Unlike back home, where I would have a quiz or test ever two weeks. The work itself does not seem any more difficult then what is assigned at my home university.
Anyways, the Dutch do have different party habits! Tuesdays and Thursdays are party nights but Friday and Saturday are either go home to your family time or hang out around the town.
This Friday I booked my first two trips outside of the Netherlands. In two weeks I will be spending a weekend eating Belgium waffles in BRUSSELS! It is a 3 hour bus ride for about 30 Euros round trip! and the second trip will be to PARIS! For the SAME PRICE (30 EURO)! Round trip overnight bus for Easter weekend (April 22-26). The journey is about 7 hours!
Yesterday I went to Amsterdam for the day with some friends. It was incredible to see all of the tilted buildings and canals, along with the famous red light districts and coffee shop (which I did not have a chance to partake in if you're wondering). I also went to Utrecht Historic Museum this week, which was okay.
But I must go read for my classes, so I might put some pictures up this week!
Vaarwel!
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