ED1 - Sweden Exchange - Exchange Magazine 2010 [Editor]

1

ExchangeMagazine2010.Version2.2.indd 1 31-05-10 16:34

2

we’ve been through it


3

EDITORIAL Are you ready to ride the W-Curve?

A year ago, we were in our bedrooms, wondering about this existential ques-tion: should I stay or should I go? Indeed, going abroad is easier said than done: choosing the right destination and university, preparing your departure, looking for an accommodation … This adventure needs a lot of thoughts but it is definitely worth living, either you will fly to America, Eu-rope or Asia; either you will stay for a single month, a semester or years.

Feeling the excitement of the first days in this unknown land, creating new friendships and learning about cultures you never heard of: this is probably what makes exchange so charming. Not to mention the fact that this experi-ence will make you grow up because living far away from family and friends is not easy every day. Ups and downs will give rhythm to your life, shaping it in a W-Curve, a wonderful pattern to illustrate the culture shock that most of the students can try out in a foreign country.

But remember that the more you will put into this amazing journey, the more you will get. Of course, there is no miracle and sometimes, things can turn wrong. But isn’t that what we call “life”, after all? Walking on this long path through the mountains, discovering the surroundings, meeting new peo-ple on your way, getting hurt sometimes but making sure to not fall in the same traps again? Going into exile for a while is unmistakably a lifetime experience … as long as you are ready for it.

So we will maybe disappoint some of you but you won’t find any lesson in the following pages. Just some tips and slices of lifes which – let’s hope for it – could help you to make up your mind or will accompany you with this huge novelty, giving you a few keys to understand better what you are going through. At last, the only lesson we could learn from our five months spend-ing in Sundsvall is:

Be open … and exchange!


4

CONTENT16

24

27

34

6 The sights of the W-Curve

8 Study abroad, pick a country!?

10 AIESEC: be a part of exchange

11 Being an exchange student: a life experience

14 More than just studying

16 Tips for saving money

20 The Teahouse trick

22 Great expectations

24 The world in teacher’s classroom

27 How do others see your country?

30 English is not enough

32 Barriers to intercultural communication

34 All around the world

38 My highschool year in America


5

38

44

41

54

41 Going to +25° or to -25°?

44 Shanghai and the Chinese dream

48 The best traditional parties worldwide

52 Exchange food

54 From chopsticks to forks

57 Soundtrack clashes

60 When it’s over

62 Friend and international student

64 The friendship after

66 The truth about international studies

67 Have you seen my résumé?

68 Old Man’s Pace

70 A life changing experience

74 Magazine crew


6

Illustration by Bart Bergmeijer


7

Soon after arrival you will experience the rollercoaster of the honeymoon stage. Put on your rose-colored lenses, this phase is exciting! During the honey-moon stage you will encounter pure joy and excitement by absorbing your new social context. This can come along with loneliness or homesickness but is often overruled by the admiration of all your experiences. Everything is new and ex-citing enough to not think about home.

DUPLEX ARRIVALBut to all good things comes an end. Swap your rose-colored lenses for dark shades when the hostility stage hits you. This is the serious culture shock stage in which nothing is working out smoothly. This stage can occur rapidly right after the glow of the honeymoon stage when reality sets in. You will encounter diffi-culties in fulfilling your basic needs and it feels like nobody can help you. In this stage you tend to focus on the negative

sides of the new culture. This might re-sult in a major loss of self-esteem and self-confidence that can lead to with-drawn or hostile behaviour.

BLENDING & UNDERSTANDINGThe humorous stage however will let you see everything in a different perspective again, understanding the relativity. Re-alise that every culture has its up- and downsides. By this stage you will even be able to reflect your own behaviour towards the host culture and even laugh about it. Arriving at this point, you will not only learn a lot about the country you visit but also about your home cul-ture and more importantly; about your-self.

Going through the humorous stage will often result in the in-sync adjust-ment stage where you will start to feel at home. The boundaries between out-siders and insiders become fuzzier and even street sellers won’t recognise you as a tourist anymore. This often comes along with understanding the local cus-toms and behaviours. To new sojourn-ers you will be seen as a mentor. You are comfortable and confident. Yet your bags need to be packed.

The ambivalence stage sets in soon be-fore departure, leaving back home. Suddenly you will realise that there was

so much you wanted to see and do. A mixed feeling of grief, nostalgia and pride will strike you but also looking forward to exchange your intercultural experiences with your friends and family awaiting home.

SKILLFUL STRANGERWelcome home! Hum … or not? The impact of the re-entry culture shock stage might have a bigger impact on you than the entry culture shock since its unexpected existence. Coming home you will realise that nothing has changed but you. It seems like your friends and family are not interested in all that you have been through. And to be honest you will never be able to tell what you have felt during your experience abroad. Fortunately you have created so much independence during the previous stages that you don’t need listening ears and will quietly transform into the next stage.

After a period of being home the re-socialisation stage will occur. Just like the other stages everyone will experi-ence it differently. But in this stage we can divide three different trends. There are people who rather not look back at the abroad experience at all, others find there selves travelling the rest of their lives claiming to be the global nomads. The third and last sort of people ap-ply all that they have learned from the foreign culture to their own. To which group do you belong? There is one way to find out, go out there!

So how will you avoid the downsides of the W-curve? Don’t! Going through all the stages is a valuable experience. The deeper the valleys, the higher the peaks.

Going abroad is a great social expe-rience. You will encounter major ups and downs. The W-curve describes sev-en different stages of emotions, which often occur when entering any other culture for a longer period. This phe-nomenon, better known as the culture shock, will unavoidably affect your emotions.

Written by Bart Bergmeijer


8


9


10

aiesec is the world’s largest student-run organisation with more than 600 local committees in 108 countries. It’s the biggest student organisation in the world and it is the international plat-form for young people to discover and develop their potential. aiesec orga-nises more than 350 conferences and provides 3500 internships all over the world. You can have your internship in Australia, South America or elsewhere. The organisation offers jobs for students abroad. Next to that, aiesec organises different projects in which the students can participate. They organise projects against aids or about environment is-sues, like “Valmiera Goes Green!” in Latvia. The organisation offers residence and work placements or internship, but

not grants or scholarships. If you want to go abroad with this organisation, you need to pay for the living and transpor-tation by yourself.

BE A PART OF IT The organisation offers not only expe-riences abroad, but also allows students to become member of the organisation. Student Valdis Čeičs is already a mem-ber of aiesec for a year: “It’s a possibility for students to get international experi-ence and develop their organisational, leadership, and language skills. You learn how to work in international or-ganisations, meet new people from all over the world and participate or even organise interesting projects.” Valdis participated in the project “Valmiera

Goes Green”, which was held in Latvia: “That was a completely new experience for me. I worked with other students from different countries and we made a short movie about garbage sorting.” Valdis admits that the participation in this organisation helped him improve his presentation skills. It is useful before you go abroad with aiesec, to become a member to see how this process works. To become a member of aiesec you just have to look for the organisation’s local committee in your country, fill the ap-plication and pass an English language test. According to Valdis, the new mem-bers don’t have to pay any joining fee and are admitted every autumn.

Usually, students are going abroad to study. Student exchange programs like Nordplus, hesp, eez, Fulbraith and Erasmus will help you then. But what if you want to gain new experiences through internships or take part in an international project? What if you want to be a part of an international student organisation? Look for aiesec.

Written by Baiba Kreicmane

AIESEC be a part of exchange

Illustration by Sophie Kürth-Landwehr


11

Leaving your own country with your friends, family, activities and studies to discover a completely new environment during several months is an extremely enriching experience. By discovering a different way of life with multicultur-al people you learn a lot about people and a lot about yourself. For many students, an exchange program is one of their first time living and studying abroad.

The exchange student programs have several objectives. The main aim is to facilitate the exchange of culture

through an abroad study experience. Indeed learning to live, to work and to entertain with other culture’s people in-creases the future cooperation between different countries. During an exchange study, students from totally different countries and cultures get to know each other. Simply having an exchange study experience in a Curriculum Vitae is seen as a really positive point. Working in groups, spending time together is one of the best ways to understand how other culture’s behaves. It also directly influ-ences, in a positive way, the skills of ex-change students in their futture profes-sional life. With an exchange student

experience in your background a person will be much more comfortable to work with strangers.

Studying abroad also helps to complete the student’s formation. It is therefore very important to collect the maximum of information about the specificities of the curses available to the desired desti-nation available. Some universities offer a totally different way to teach and give new opportunities that student cannot expect in their proper university estab-lishment.

Being an Exchange Student: a life experience

During this experience you will learn a lot about yourself


12

WHAT IS EXACLY THE ERASMUS EXCHANGE PROGRAM?The European exchange student pro-gram named “Erasmus” stated his activ-ities in 1987. Firstly established between eleven European countries, the Erasmus program count now 30 members and reached, in 2009, a total of 2 millions exchange students who made the expe-rience since the creation. The Erasmus program now include even more than

the 27th countries of the European Union: Island, Liechtenstein and Nor-way are also members of the program. With Erasmus, European students can have the opportunity to study a period from three to twelve months in another European university member of the program. The origin of the name comes from the Dutch monk and philosopher Desiderius Erasmus (1465-1536). De-siderius is known to have traveled and

worked during many years in many dif-ferent places in Europe to improve and expand his knowledge in different cul-tures to develop his humanism theories. Erasmus plays an important role in the process of globalisation and Europeani-sation of the high education in Europe. These several months spent abroad by the Erasmus student represent a crucial moment in the life of thousands stu-

Facilitate the exchange of culture throughan abroad study experience


13

dents: 80% of the students taking part of an Erasmus experience are the first one in their family to try this experi-ence. That means that the journey is even harder because they usually don’t have a feedback coming from a fam-ily member. Since the launching of the international student program in 1987, more than 2 000 000 students have ben-eficiate of an Erasmus grant provided by the European commission, the number

of student Erasmus should go over the 3 billions mark until 2012.

Erasmus overhauls the stage of a simple education program. The organisation allows a lot of European university stu-dents to live for the first time in a for-eign country.

DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS?“Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs is a new European exchange program aimed at helping new entrepreneurs to acquire relevant skills for managing an SME by spending time working in another EU country with an experienced entrepre-neur.”

GENERAL PRESENTATION Project Objectives: The pilot project “Erasmus for young entrepreneurs” is based on the program: Student Ex-change Erasmus.It is created to promote entrepreneur-ship and entrepreneurship in Europe by offering young entrepreneurs the oppor-tunity to do an internship during one to six months in another EU member state, with a contractor activity. The

idea is to allow contractors (future de-signers or creators business) to acquire knowledge and skills by spending sev-eral weeks in a host company in another European country.

THE PRINCIPLE AIMS ARE TO:•Allow and provide exchange experiences between young entrepreneurs and business leaders.•Facilitate access to new market and identifying potential business partners.•Encourage the establishment of net works of business relationships through out Europe.

To get more information, visit the web site: http://www.erasmus-entrepreneurs.eu/

Written by Benoît Rolin

•Allow experienced entrepreneurs to develop new business relationships and find and seize opportunities in other countries the European Union.

WHO IS MORE MOTIVATED?In 2010, sixty exchanges had already been done. Spanish and Italian entrepreneurs are, by far, the most enthusiastic, each country representing 22% of approved applications for new entrepreneurs. WHERE THEY WANT TO GO? The United Kingdom, with 32% of ap-plications, is the most popular destina-tion, followed by Spain and Italy.

POPULAR SECTORS1. Advertising, the promotion, printing and media. 2. Communication and Information technologies (CIT). 3. Education and Training,4. Right and legal counseling - tax, 5. Tourism.

The services sector is well represented, while the traditional manufactur-ing industries such as automotive or chemicals. Host companies are often very small, 70% of them employing ten people or less.


14

Annija Beļicka (22)Third year student in bachelors pro-gram “Media Studies and Journalistic”Looking forward to find a placement for summer 2010

Māris Bičkovs (25)Has graduated masters program “Man-agement of Business Enviroment”Bad Gastein, Austria (2009)

Reinis Sietiņš (23)Last year student in bachelors program “Political Science”Vienna, Austria (2008)

MORE THAN JUST STUDYING

Photograph from personal archive


15

Reinis, in his second year of studies de-cided to attend, for his Erasmus schol-arship, as a trainee in some European country. His first choice in the appli-cation form was Austria, but finding a placement wasn’t as easy as he expected. “After I did not receive a positive answer from the political organisation I tried to contact, I searched for information where other students from previous years of my field of studies have been.” The international offices database of-fered Sweden and Spain, but Reinis wasn’t satisfied with those proposals. “Still with no clue what I was going to do, I asked my friend from Vienna for help.”

NOT AS EASY YOU EXPECTMāris in his master studies, was also in-terested in work experience abroad. First he tried through acquaintances in The Netherlands, but it didn’t work out, so he took another approach – search in the same university’s database as Reinis did. He found a couple of resources and

got an answer from a Austrian and Slo-venian company where a lot of previous year students had been interns.

Annija is still in the searching period: “In the last couple of month I have sent more than 400 e-mails to different countries. In the beginning I was con-centrating on the United Kingdom but later on I got so desperate when no one answered that I started to send my ré-sumé and transcript of records to every place I might be interested anywhere in Europe.” From her university no one has been on an internship abroad in media, and because she and hers classmates are the first journalistic students for a new program it is proving to be very difficult.

LANGUAGE BARRIERSWith a help of a friend, Reinis got ac-cepted as a trainee in the Social Demo-cratic Party of Austria (SPÖ). He ex-plains that his main assignments were to communicate with voters that came to the party’s office, write letters and ex-plore documents for Parliament mem-bers. During this process he was forced to improve his language skills otherwise there would not have been much for him to do: “Of course I still couldn’t talk at such a level to be able to com-municate with voters and answer their questions, especially if they were older people and I could not explain some things in English.”

The story of Annija tells that language barrier problems appear even before you get a placement somewhere abroad: “After starting to send e-mails to coun-tries that are not English speaking, I got answers that they prefer someone who knows local language, because media

is mostly in the native language of the country.” For Māris the language was mostly the reason why he chose to be an intern in a Latvian enterprise abroad: “I had to choose between two possible placements when I realised that the most important thing in graphic & web design marketing is to understand what exactly an employer wants, to avoid mis-understandings and do the job as good as possible.”

DON´T GIVE UP!Annija hasn’t got a concrete answer from any media organisation yet. “I haven’t stopped looking. Half of me has already accepted that I’m not going to be able to have this opportunity this year, but the other half still hopes for miracle.”

From the other two stories, the conclu-sion is that despite all the problems, dif-ficulties and barriers you meet on the way, it’s still worth it. Māris is still hav-ing cooperation with the company: “I’m still designing graphical elements, web page and advertisements for the compa-ny. We have great communication and I have been back in Bad Gastein and I will return there a couple more times because nothing can work better than direct communication.” All three of them are sure that an in-ternship is about getting experience and broadening your horizons. In any scenario you will learn something new – cultural aspects, improve language skills or just make contacts. It doesn’t matter if the outcome measures up to your first expectations, since during the journey you will still have gained more than you ever imagined.

Students all around the world can search, not only for international ex-perience during studying abroad, but also work experience. Reinis Sietiņš, Annija Beļicka and Māris Bičkovs shared their stories about the difficulty and success they had searching for in-ternships after being awarded Erasmus scholarships from Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences (Latvia). From the three different stories, appears the common theme that finding placement abroad differs a lot because of field of studies, personal and language skills, and also luck and acquaintance.

Written by Laura Zatlere


16

TIPS FOR $AVING MON€Y

If it comes to spending money, the life of an exchange student is not always easy. Indeed, some of us have probably never had to deal with a budget before. Then it can be quite difficult to realise the real price of your needs and desires. Plus, for an unknown and mysterious reason, most of the people tend to be surprisingly generous when they are abroad. And so you find yourself giving all your cents to every street musician you meet in the underground. But sooner or later, you’re going to find out that you need every single coin: how do you save this money carefully?


17

SOLUTION #1 Choose a cheap (but worthy)!

The easiest option would probably be to avoid going to an expensive city but it shouldn’t be your main motivation! The exchange experience is not free at all but keep in mind that it is worth living! If you are hesitating between two coun-tries, maybe taking a look at some top 10 most expensive cities would help you to be out of the woods.

Established by eca International – an organisation specialised in international mobility, this survey compares the cost of living in more than 370 cities world-wide, depending on the average con-sumer behaviour. In 2009, it appeared that the most expensive ones were:

The Swiss bank UBS also made its own survey based on a standardised basket of 122 goods and services among 73 coun-tries all over the world. You can check it out on www.citymayors.com. You could be quite surprised with the results ...

SOLUTION #2 Do your accounts!An old friend of mine called Oscar Wilde said “The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it”. Well, we propose to you, to follow his wise advice your first month abroad and to learn from it! Take notes of all the money received and spent: rent, food, transport, nights out, clothes and other daily little pleasures. Counting your costs will give you a global idea of your monthly budg-et. Plus, you will know how much you spend for your free time and it hurts to see it on paper! You can also set yourself an allowance for those little extra things.

SOLUTION #3 Make your new year’s resolutions! Cigarets, junk food, alcohol, shopping fever: why not cutting down on those guilty and unhealthy pleasures? What if

TOP 10

1. Luanda (Angola)2. Tokyo (Japan)3. Nagoya (Japan)4. Yokohama (Japan)5. Kobe (Japan)6. Copenhagen (Den mark)7. Oslo (Norway)8. Geneva (Switzerland)9. Zurich (Switzerland)10. Basel (Switzerland)

Start collecting supermarkets tickets to have a good overview of your shopping feverPhotograph by Alison Piron

you broke up with sweets and junk food? And if you went easy on alcohol or if you understood once andfor all that it is useless to keep on filling up a crammed wardrobe? Starting now, forget one of your addictions and your bank account might be more than grateful.

SOLUTION #4 Give items a second chance!Don’t hesitate to look for second-hand stores where you can always find incred-ible bargains, especially regarding the living essentials for the home: a tv or a microwave for 15€, a set of plates for 2€ etc. Never understimate retro chic!

SOLUTION #5 Bring old books to life!School books are extremely expensive. Try borrowing them from students from the previous year or buy them in


18

second-hand stores or online, where you can sometimes find really cheap used (or even brand new!) items. Or if you feel in bookworm mood, squat in the library of your university: they probably have some copies too!

SOLUTION #6 Shop smart!Before running to the supermarket, list everything you need so you won’t buy unnecessary things. A good idea could be to make that list depending on the menu of your week, which is also a good tip to avoid going to the restaurant just because you don’t know what to cook. You can also keep an eye out weekly of-fers.

In the shop, think big: it’s wiser to buy family packs (especially for pasta, rice, meat or hygiene products such as shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste etc.) instead of smaller ones which always cost you more in the end. You can also ask for the discount card of your super-marketm, which will provide you many advantages. And last but not least, don’t be afraid to choose the store brands, which sometimes appear to be as often as good as than the famous ones and for a cheaper price!

SOLUTION #7 Spend some time in the kitchen!Forget deep-frozen ready-meals: most of the time, they are expensive! Instead, cook fresh ingredients. Say goodbye to the daily lunch in the restaurant too:

instead of spending 8-10€ for a meal, prepare your own lunch to save up to 120€ a month!

But eating alone in your room can be boring after a while so why not cook together? You can do grocery shopping together and split the costs. This is re-ally cheap and much more fun than cooking alone. You could also create a new friendship with your Tupperware: be generous, cook for ten, eat for one (or two, if you are the greedy kind) and put the rest in the freezer. You will be so happy to just have to warm the food in your lazy periods!

SOLUTION #8 Listen to your grandma!Girls, go for the homemade beauty products! You will find many recipes based on natural and cheap products on www.mybeautyrecipes.com.

An option that you should also con-sider for cleaning: white vinegar is the

key to all your problems, trust me. This product is going to be a real superhero in your whole apartment, either to clean the windows, the bathroom or your fridge!

SOLUTION #9 Be geek!For once, none of your parents will criti-cise if you spend hours in front of your laptop ... talking to them on Skype! Use the social networks to give some news to your home country and even to stay fi n touch with your new friends! And pay attention to the different mobile phone deals: more and more companies offer unlimited text messages for reasonable amounts.

I

MONEYSAVING

My money always comes to an end before the end of

the month...


19

Please note that growing money on trees is not an option...Illustrations by Sophie Kürth-Landwehr

probably have access to a lot of benefits and if not, get the isic: the Interna-tional Student Identity Card (www.isic.org). Costing around 10€ (depending on your country), this will provide you various discounts for restaurants, travel, museums, hotels, gadgets and more... worldwide!

And don’t forget that you’re not alone: you can ask local or ex-exchange stu-dents where to go and maybe they even have a blog. They can tell you where you can find cheap drinks or recommend a nice pub or some clubs where the prices are not so high. They probably have a lot of useful tips for you.

As you can see, there is no magic formu-la to save money: be clever, be wise and get to know your kitchen! And above all, don’t forget to enjoy the little plea-sures of life: instead of spending money, spend some time with your favourite people in the sun. Or even in the snow, if you are one of the bravest ones!

Written by Sjoukje van der Heide & Alison Piron

SOLUTION #10.1 Behave like a poor person!Let’s make it clear: we’re not telling you to beg for money to all your friends. We’re just pointing out the fact that it’s so easy not to clean out your favourite shop ... when you have forgotten your wallet at home. Simple and efficient!

SOLUTION #10.2 (because it would be ugly to stop at 11)Claim your student status!Now it’s time to stop complaining a lit-tle and face the truth: it is not that hard to be a student. Indeed, if you can get the university student card, you will


20

THE TEAHOUSE TRICK茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲茶館把戲

I didn’t read my guidebook carefully and therefore I was unprepared for the follow-ing anecdote.

It is my first day in Shanghai. My room-mate and me are strolling, strongly af-fected by jetlag along Nanjing Road, the main street of Shanghai. We have just enough energy to focus on one particu-lar thing: finding an atm to pay our first month rent.

This street, with its high presence of neon, fake watch sellers and macabre massage places is the main hangout for the phlegmatic tourist and therefore, so we thought, a good place to find a won-der wall from which we can take Chi-nese Yuan’s. Whether it was the jetlag or not, we could not find an atm.

We decide to walk up to a pair of girls who are sitting and seem to be wait-ing for something. Prejudge mental as I am, I ask in a patronising tone where to find a place to withdraw money. One of them replies in intimidatingly good English that there is one just around the corner and that they will guide us there. Naively we followed the girls. On the way they explain to us that they are business school stu-dents at the University of Shanghai and they often talk to tourists to improve their English: “speaking English is the best way to get rich around here” she says. She is right, Shanghai is the eco-nomic centre of China where they do a lot of business with Europe and the

States. Arriving at the destination, they advise us to take as much money as we can since every transaction costs money. Thanking them for the tip I get inside a small glass area with a machine inside that I recognise as being an atm. And so it is.

Like in an average hip-hop video clip we walk out-side with a large stack of banknotes finding that the girls are still waiting for us. They ask us to drink

some traditional Chinese tea with them so they can improve their English. Both of us thinking their English is fine and longing for our beds but don’t want to be rude accept their invite.

上海“Naively we followed the two girls”


21

A couple of minutes later we find ourselves in an alley north of Nanjing Road, standing in front of a dazzling neon sign say-ing Shanghai Teahouse. Entering an iron door, another iron door and then passing a Chinese kitchen made us laugh but not yet suspicious.

We are led into a brightly lit cafe and for some reason the bartender knew that we came for traditional tea since he was not taking any orders but yet fills our cups with a strong smelling tea.

As civilized as my mother raised me I drink from the cup of tea hoping to leave once it’s empty. But before finishing the tea the girls ordered some traditional Chinese whiskey. Now it gets awkward but yet, my

friend and me like to believe that noth-ing is wrong.

They manage to push three more tradi-tional whiskeys down our throat before we give our company the reasonable ex-cuse that we’d like to go home to catch up some sleep. The bill has yet to arrive.

The bartender, seeing us moving, quick-ly pushes us the bill in our hands: 1500 Yuan! This roughly comes down to 150 Euros. After tough negotiations with the women they pay one half and we the other.

We were victims of a cultural scam and it cost us only 75 Euros. Did I wanted to miss it? Not really. Scams runs deep in any culture, being the victim of it is a cultural experience. I’d like to consider it as paying for a good story.

“They man-aged to push three more whiskeys down our throat”


Nanjing Lu, the main hangout for the phlegmatic tourist and the upper-class Shanghainese

Photographs by Pieter Bergmeijer


22

Not everything turns out the way you want if you are going on an exchange study. Wendy Middendorp (21) from the Netherlands

experienced an other side of exchange during her study in Turkey.

GREATEXPECTATIONS

Wendy is a fourth year Communication student. Studying one semester abroad seemed an opportunity of a lifetime. The same course in another country, another culture. A big challenge that she wanted to experience. “Actually I wanted to go to Spain but my university told me that Turkey would more satisfy my wants and needs,” Wendy explains. So in February 2009 she went together

with her best friend to Eskisehir, Turkey. It didn’t start so well. When you are go-ing to study abroad, you sometimes get a buddy from your host university. A bud-dy will help you with getting to know how things work in the city you are go-

“They told us that ev-erything

would be alright”.

“I wanted to give it all another chance”Photograph by personal archive


23

who couldn’t speak English so they had a lot of trouble with the communica-tion. Wendy: “My Turkish roommate made clear that I should pay the rent including gas, water and electricity. Af-ter two weeks there was no gas, water and electricity anymore. My roommate hadn’t paid her rent at all, so we got cut off.” After that, her roommate moved to another apartment. Wendy: “I made a wrong start and I expected everything to get better. I got a new buddy but she didn’t have time to help me. Me and my friend were completely on our own.”

GIVING UP ON THE EXCHANGE EXPERIENCEA lot of things happened during the three months she was in Turkey. “I considered leaving several times but I wanted to give it all another chance,” says Wendy. But then she received a telephone call from home that one of her family passed away: “That was for me the moment to give up on my exchange study. When I arrived in the Netherlands, I didn’t con-sider finishing my study in Turkey for one moment.” Wendy also thinks her expectations were too high. “I expected a warmer climate, better infrastructure, nicer views, a nice school and that the people would be kinder,” she explains. During this period she learned a lot about herself. She became even more in-dependent, even though she didn’t com-pleted the five months: “I also appreci-ate my family, friends and environment

ing to study in. The buddy of Wendy sent her an e-mail that she would not be able to help her. Wendy: “When I said this to the teachers at my home univer-sity they told me that there would be enough people on the airport from the university in Eskisehir who could help me and that everything would be alright at arrival at the airport.” But when she arrived at midnight, there was almost nobody on the airport, let alone some-one who speaks English. “So there I was, with all my luggage, in a strange coun-try, strange language, strange people.” Wendy says. Finally she could make clear to the taxi driver where to go. In short, it didn’t start so well.

GETTING USED TO EVERYTHINGWendy had to get used to the different culture. On the school campus, the peo-ple didn’t look at her with different eyes, they are used to see exchange students.

“But when I was walking in the city, people were staring at me and shout-ing things after me passing by. In the shops, people couldn’t speak English and the food in the grocery stores was totally different,” she says. She really had to get used to this all. Wendy didn’t live together with all the other exchange students but with a Turkish student

“My expectations were probably too high”

even more than before and the luxury we have in the Netherlands.”

Despite of this experience, Wendy hears a lot of positive reactions from other students who went on exchange. That is why she still recommends to go on exchange, if you have the chance. “You just have to be aware of the fact that things not always turn out the way you hope”, says Wendy. Her advice is to take a good look at the environment before you make your decision: “Contact stu-dents who have been there on exchange previous years. They can tell you every-thing about the school, the environ-ment, the climate, etc. In this way you know what to expect and you can fully enjoy your time abroad.

“Beware of the fact that not everything turns out the way you want”

Photograph by personal archive

“We got cut off from electricity, gas and water because my

roommate hadn’t paid her rent”

Written by Sjoukje van der Heide


24

THE WORLD IN THE TEACHER’S CLASSROOM

Studying in a foreign country for a longer time is a good experience and a big adventure for students. But how is it for the locals to meet them? How it is to work with them? How do the teachers feel in a class full of foreign students with different backgrounds? Karina Göransson is a teacher at the Mid Sweden University and teaches all courses in the graphic sector, like Graphic Design, Illustrations, and Digital Images. She is also the administrator of these courses and plans them with other teachers. She has been working with exchange students since the 1990’s.

Karina Göransson is a teacher at the Mid Sweden UniversityPhotograph by Baiba Kreicmane


25

Karina Göransson tells, that the lectures for Swedish students and for exchange students don’t differ, except for the English language. The content and course organisation is the same: “We prepare the same subjects and assignments for exchange and native students. The lecture structure is the same, “we have some theoretical lectures, where the preparation takes a long time and then there are workshops or tutorial classes when students work on computers and the teachers are there to answer their questions and help them,” points out Karina. The university wants students to work and study independently, which is common in many countries: “It is better if they learn from each other and deal with the problems themselves. In this way they learn more, than just asking for teachers help all the time. Of course they can always ask us for help though.” Karina points out, that the exchange students have more questions about the assignments, than native students. According to her, it’s because of the language and exchange students just want to be sure, that they understand the task completely.

DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS Karina admits that there are differences in the degree of preparation between exchange students, but they don’t affect the teachers. It affects more, the students themselves: “Some of the exchange stu-dents know these programmes better, some are beginners. Mostly the students from the Netherlands are really good in InDesign, they are better prepared and know how to work with design pro-grams. They are also good with tech-nique. It’s not the same in Romania or Bulgaria, for example. They don’t have the same standards. For most students

from Eastern Europe these things are new. Every year is the same situation. These regions are divided and you can see this difference”. Karina notes that the courses are made mostly for begin-ners, but every year there are students, who already know the basic things. That’s why maybe the beginners spend more time in school and at their assignments, but in the same time their progress is big-ger and they really learn new things here. For the teachers, it is more important and exciting that the students have some progress, that they can see that the student learned something new.

LANGUAGE BARRIERKarina says that cultural differences mostly don’t affect the studying process. The only thing that sometimes can be disturbing is the language barrier. Kari-

na reveals that English is not her native language and that’s why she sometimes is looking for words. She is talking a little bit slower than other teachers, who have English as their first language: “I do this course once in the year, in the spring semester. So I need to use my English skills only once in the year and

that’s why im not so flu-ent. Maybe that’s easier for students, they can understand me better. I’m in the same situation as they are. Sometimes it is difficult to understand the students who are not good in English, and then it is hard for the teachers. In some coun-tries they are just not used

to speaking English as much as in other countries. French and Spanish people are more linked to their native languag-es and sometimes they don’t even try to improve their English language skills. If there is the possibility to have a com-puter program in their language, then they will prefer to do that. But most of the students speak really well, and so it is no problem.” Karina points that she hasn’t noticed any specific features for different cultures, which would high-light in these lectures: “Only thing that comes to my mind is that usually there are more boys from the Netherlands and more girls from France and Spain.”

THE ATTITUDE AND UNDER-STANDINGKarina says: “It’s always lot of fun to meet exchange students, because it’s a lot of different personalities and there is a big-ger diversity in the class than with local students. The exchange students have different backgrounds and cultural fea-

“I learn from the exchange

students as well; new cultures, countries, and

interesting personalities”

Dealing with names from around the worldPhotograph by Baiba Kreicmane


26

tures.” Her attitude to the exchange studies is positive in general. In her opinion it is good to have this experience while you are young: “Of course it is not easy and you miss home. You need to deal with all new things but you become more independent and these things help you in your future.” Karina reveals that she had an exchange student experience when she was young: “I studied for a year abroad in New York when I was seventeen. I know how it is to be alone in another country where everything is new for you. My experience helps me to understand exchange students a little better.” Karina points out that her at-titude as a teacher, doesn’t change for exchange students: ”We could be maybe more helpful for exchange students. They have more questions around the studying process, about the country, city and university. The questions are more private and out of the lecture subject.

We know that you don’t live here and maybe for you it’s not only the study things to deal with, but in general our attitude is the same.” The feeling when you are standing in the front of class full of exchange students don’t differ. But it is an interesting experience for us teach-ers.

NOT ONLY TO STUDYExchange students are here not only for studying. They want to explore and travel around the country. They go back home for some time during this period. Karina understands that, but also she admits that sometimes for other teach-ers it is hard to accept that. They are dissatisfied with students absent in their lectures. Because Karina had her abroad experience, she knows how relevant is for student to go home and visit your parents and relatives:” I understand that and for me it’s not a problem. Of

course you need to understand that you will have to study little bit harder to make up for the week or days that you haven’t been in lectures.”

Karina has worked with exchange stu-dents for several years. She admits that the exchange students haven’t change during these years: “Of course, nowa-days they know more about techniques and these kinds of things. They have more often, their own computers; they don’t spend lot of time in the building anymore, but that’s it.”

Not only students learn from their teachers during the studies abroad. It is a reciprocal process: “I learn from the exchange students as well; new cultures, countries, and interesting personalities,” Karina smiles.

Writen by Baiba Kreicmane

International students have more questions than native studentsPhotograph by Baiba Kreicmane


27

times with the hands also, like many people tell me,” the Italian claims. But also he wants to make it clear: “I don’t like that some people say that we are a

people of thieves. For sure in the Italian mentality it is allowed to be crafty and smart, but not for reasons like thievery.”

LAND OF SANGRIA AND SIESTAMiguel González and Bea Gutiérrez Miranda are from Spain. According to them, most of the stereotypes about Spaniards are true: they really are late most of the time, they are lazy and love to sleep during a siesta. They agree that Spain is the land of sunshine and beach-es; the land of the bullfights and flamen-co, paella and sangria. Bea, however, recognises herself in the stereotypes: “I feel much identified except for the bull-fighting, that I hate, but unfortunately it is still a tradition in Spain.”

WHERE THE COOKING IS AN ARTWhen it comes to Italy, first thing that usually comes to mind is their flirting and cooking. Andrea Moretta from It-aly indicates that these things really do characterise his country: “About food it is all true; pizza, pasta, espresso and cappuccino were ‘born’ in Italy.” Andrea adds that many people say that Italians are good lovers, and in his mind that is because of the famous Venetian lover. “About talkative – you have to remember that we are a Latin people, like Spanish for example, and we like to talk. Some-

From left: to right: Katarina Olsson (Sweden); Juliane Breunig (Germany); Jessica Norbert (USA); Robin van de Oever (The Netherlands); Bea Gutiérrez Miranda ( Spain); Miguel González (Spain); Jörg Lambrecht (Germany) Photograph by Baiba Kreicmane

Wherever you will go, you will always face the stereotypes about different countries. Even more, you’ll probably have stereotypes as well. But how often are they true? Ten students from seven different countries share their experi-ences on national stereotypes about their countries.

HOW DO SEE YOUR COUNTRY?


28

THE MOST OPEN-MINDED COUNTRY?If we believe in assumptions about Dutch people, they are all tall and blond; an efficient, organised and dis-ciplined nation. The Dutch are tolerant and flexible and the Netherlands is one of the most open-minded countries in the world with teenage abortions on demand, over the counter weeds and hash, legalised prostitution, and gay marriages. Bas Van der Lans from the Netherlands: “I actually do agree about tolerant, flexible and open-minded. But most of us don’t do weed that often. It’s more a tourist thing and the country is probably happy with it, if they for-bid this we’d cut half of our tourism. Gay marriage and prostitution are le-gal, true.” Robin van den Oever adds: “Well yes it’s quite alright but teenage abortions, drugs and prostitution make it sound like ‘sin city’. And yes maybe

the stereotypes are true, but we also have some famous history with a lot of great painters and important historical people.”

COUNTRY THAT CHANGESThere are still stereotypes that India is a very poor country. Ram Pamarthi from India points out, that was true around twenty years ago: “If you look at stan-dards from other countries, it looks poor, but if you look at it from an In-dian point of view; you can buy food for 1€ in a good and nice restaurant. Calling to a mobile is much cheaper than in any other country in the world.” Ram notes that India is a number one software ex-porting country with highly developed communication and they have the sec-ond biggest film industry in the world; Bollywood. Ram: “But it’s true that we still have many poor people. There are both sides, but its changing very fast.”

PEDANTIC AND ORGANISEDIf you would ask, which people are most organised, than probably the answer will be Germans. Jörg Lwwambrecht, a student from Germany tells: “I would say we are organised and disciplined. What I experienced abroad was that we work fast and have good results. That’s what I was told about Germans.” Juliane Breunig joins to say: “We are probably more organised than Italians for example and we take things maybe more seriously.” They both agree, that it is true, Germans enjoy drinking a lot of beer, eating sauerkraut, sausages and potatoes.

BAD AT GEOGRAPHYThere are lot of stereotypes about Amer-icans. They are naive, tough, cunning They are bad at geography and love fast food. Jessica Norbert from usa says: “Naïve depends on the region. Some

Spaniards love their siesta Dutch don’t do weed often


29

might say southerners are more naive than others but this can also be said of people from the mid-west. This is usu-ally because a lot of people in these areas are from small towns and don’t know what else is out there. They tend to be-lieve most things you tell them because they don’t know any better and they didn’t grow up in a international or di-verse culture.”

Jessica agrees that Americans are tough and bad at geography. According to her, Americans love their tough cars and big trucks which help make them look like that. Jessica: “I have friends who don’t know where major cities are within our own country, or where all 50 states are on the map.” Americans invented fast-food as we know it today, and keep the industry going. Jessica says that this is not far from the truth.

SWEDISH BIKINI-TEAM“Well, the ‘Swedish bikini-team’ is well known from movies, like ‘Dumb and Dumber’. But actually we don’t have it,” Katarina Olsson from Sweden points out. Nevertheless, she recognises that the assumption that Swedish girls are all tall and blond is mostly true: “I think the most usual bias about Swed-ish women is that we are tall, blond, blue-eyed and have big breasts. And, of course, have the name Inga, which is ac-tually not a Swedish name.”

Katarina notes that she hasn’t heard a lot of bias about Swedish men. But the most well known is that all Swedish men are like the Swedish actor Dolph Lund-gren or the Swedish strongman Magnus Samuelsson. In other words, big, strong and blond. Katarina also says: “Sadly, one bias is that both the women and the men in Sweden are not as smart as

other people.” Sometimes the generally accepted assumptions are completely wrong. But still we need to be aware not to blindly follow them. And we can always change them with just travelling abroad and checking for oursleves.

Written by Baiba Kreicmane

American smile Strong Swedes Photograps by Baiba Kreicmane


30

Laine Kuzmane is a communications and pr student from Latvia. In the third year of her studies she applied for the Erasmus program and received scholar-ship for spending one semester in an-other European country: “I could not decide to which country I really wanted to go. I changed my mind hundreds of times until I finally told myself that it was just once-in-a-lifetime oppor-tunity, so my decision was Portugal.” I WILL LEARN THE LANGUAGE! The first choice for many international students going abroad is a country where studies are supported in English, but when your feelings and adventurous

spirits take over, you promise yourself that language is not going to stay in your way. “I was hoping that at least one semester before I went on exchange I would be able to take some language courses. Unfortunately, that year my home university did not provide Portu-guese for students who were preparing to go abroad.”

Laine explains that despite all the obsta-cles, she still wanted to learn the basics before going into an unknown country. “Language learning through self-study-ing failed because I was working part-time parallel to my school assignments and internship. However, I applied for intensive language courses in Portugal that took place one month before the beginning of my semester.”

Laine tells that Erasmus Intensive Lan-guage Courses (eilc) gave her the feel-ing of the language, some vocabulary and some new friends: “The process is really interesting but I would not call the outcome as super high. eilc was helpful but you have to understand that the language level in the actul courses

is much higher.” One of the problems with eilc is the difference in levels be-tween the countries during the language courses: “The Portuguese language seams easier for Italians, Spanish and French students; they were learning fast-er and better than others from Eastern Europe, for example. I think the study techniques should be different for differ-ent nations – for me it was a brand new language but for some of the classmates it felt similar to their native languages.”

ENGLISH OVER ALL Laine wanted to continue language studies in Porto which is the city she was studying in, but by being already too busy with five courses and assignments in each of them, Laine gave up this idea without being happy about it. “In every-day life I’m speaking English, but there are some situations where I’m forced to compose some sentences from a couple of the Portugese words I know. I feel terrible about the outcome, but local inhabitants appreciate that and praise me with compliments I don’t think I deserve.” At the university Laine also speaks English and she has agreed with

Before applying to spend one semester, one year, or even several years abroad as an international or exchange stu-dents, people look for any possible in-formation they can figure out about the next university they are going to attend. One of the most important questions for several countries: are they providing education in English?


31

most of the professors that the assign-ments she has to hand in can be written in English, but the classes she is attend-ing, are mostly in Portuguese. Laine ad-mits that English is not the easiest lan-guage to communicate with in Portugal. Studying for Laine is hard: “I have to be very persevering, persistent and pa-tient in order to study successfully.” Laine has experienced that her semes-ter abroad entailes more self-studying because she must attend lectures al-though most of the work is after classes during the individual assignments and

language as well I would have liked to.” It’s difficult for her to answer how she is currently doing with studying: “It is quiet impossible to get a feedback for as-signments that I have handed in already. I will see the outcome at the end of the semester by receiving good or bad sur-prises in my transcript of records.”

being creative in her own way. “More or less everything depends on the pro-fessors – there are some from who you still receive all the information in the local language, and most of the time you have to find all the study materi-als on your own, while Portuguese stu-dents receive them from the university.” By studying in a foreign country Laine has understood how hopeless and pow-erless you can sometimes feel if you don’t speak the local language. “I have never spent such a long time in an envi-ronment where I didn’t know the local


Laine balances English and Portuguese during her studies in Porto



32

Going on exchange can be an amazing and unforgettable experience. However, besides the excitement, most people haven’t realised the most common difficulty - In-tercultural Communication. This article identifies three major barriers that usually stand in the way of successful communi-cation and will help you to gain effective communication.

What’s your first concern if you are plan-ning to go abroad? Language! Here is a story of a good friend: Johanna is from Germany and English is her second lan-guage. Before she decided to go on ex-change in Greece in February this year. I asked her if she’s up to learn Greek. She answered NO without hesitation. How-ever, as soon as she arrived in Greece, she texted me and said that she’s in a country with extraordinary scenery, but a total strange language. She couldn’t understand the advertisements on the streets and even had difficulty to find what she wanted in a shop. All of those were caused by language barrier.

Language barrier is a metaphoric phrase mainly used to indicate the difficul-ties that faced by people who have no language in common, but attempt to communicate with each other. We all understand that people speak differ-ent languages. It is not quite possible

to expect everyone to communicate at the same level, while misunderstand-ings still exist even between people who speak the same language. For instance, though both Americans and Australians speak English, barriers still can be found in certain circumstances based on their different culture backgrounds.

Therefore, in order to overcome the language barriers, we firstly need to respect all 6912 existing languages; it’s not possible for us to learn all of them, but it is important for us to have some basic knowledge of the local lan-guage (concerning your study destina-tion). In addition, always be patient and if it’s necessary, combining words with gestures while communicating. GENDER BARRIERSDo men and women communicate in the same way? According to a previous research, the answer is negative. Men use language which is competitive, reflect-ing their general interest in acquiring and maintaining status; while women tend to use language which is coop-erative, reflecting their preference for equality and harmony. The sexes com-municate differently (and women do it better) because of the way their brains are wired. The female brain is surpass in verbal tasks while the male brain is bet-

ter adapted to visual-spatial and math-ematical tasks. In short, Women like to talk; men prefer action over words.

As a saying goes, “Difference in pro-fession makes one feel worlds apart”, it is not hard to imagine the barriers between genders. However, with the rapid development of the society, more and more people get educated globally, which makes them become more open-minded and less sexual-discriminated. Nowadays, normal schools also no longer have any gender-based preference while selecting students. While going on exchange, be aware of the differen-tiations considering gender customs in different countries and try to get some basic knowledge of it, especially when you are in a strange country.

EMOTIONAL BARRIERWhen I was in primary school, there was a very quiet girl in my class. She never answered or asked any ques-tions and barely talked to her classmates. We all thought she was a freak and kept a distance from her; but an oc-casional chance made me know the real her. She was adopted by a strange family when she’s still a baby and has been treated as a nobody. She has her own thoughts, but she

BARRIERS TO INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION


33

was not allowed to share them. When she made mistakes, no one listened to her explanations. She tried to complain, but it only brought her more trouble. This typical relentless family back-ground leads to one of the chief barriers to open and free communications – the emotional barrier. It primarily consists of fear, mistrust and suspicion. We are always afraid of making mistakes and looking foolish. With those who are more senior, we believe that we will be thought in- experienced

or imma-ture.

With those more junior we want to protect our image as being knowledge-able and experienced. Meanwhile we also fear taking risks, which is caused by our desire for security. As for mis-trust and suspicion, it’s related to your growing-up environment. If you were born in a family with little love, then you probably will doubt peo-ple around you, the world, and even yourself. As a result, you’d prefer to hold back your thoughts and feelings. How to conquer this barrier as an exchange student? Firstly, never judge a book by its cover and always be a good listener.

Secondly, show your care to people who need help and you will get other people’s care when you need. Last but not least, if you are still afraid of look-ing silly, try to develop your ideas into a practical form before you show them to anyone, or develop a logical argu-ment to prove that they will work; and if you don’t want to take risks, iden-tify the worst possible consequences, and how likely they would occur, and then try to find ways to prevent them. RECOMMENDATIONS It is a common sense that making inter-cultural communication is difficult and there is no easy way to break down the barriers. Gaining a healthy attitude is es-sential. Always be curious about various cultures and respect the diversity of the world. Be confident and don’t be afraid of making mistakes when communicat-ing with people who have different cul-tural backgrounds. As research shows, proximity is an important element to break the ice. Try to open your heart and be honest to yourself as well as oth-ers. Make a change or improvement of your thoughts, feelings, and physical connections. Conquering barriers is just a matter of time.

Written by Jessalyn/Yijing Wang

Barriers are like walls that keep two people apartPhotograph by Baiba Kreicmane


34

Nicole Aldershof is communications student from The Netherlands who participated in an exchange to France, attending the skema Business School at Sophia Antipolis. In the third year of her studies, she had the opportunity to go abroad: “The lovely French language, weather and good university are the rea-sons why I chose to study in France. I was wishing to learn the language, ex-plore the culture and enjoy the beautiful surroundings.”

ONE SEMESTER IN COTE d´AZURNicole tells that Cote d’Azur which in English is known as the French Riviera is famous because of the relaxed lifestyle, the wine, and of course, the baguette. “Living and studying in Cote d’Azur is

just beautiful. There is so much to see – cities all around, nature and archi-tecture.” In telling her story she had to admit that not everything is as amazing as it feels in the beginning: “My first cul-ture shock was on the first day. I was sit-ting on a terrace, drinking cappuccino, starting to feel really French, till I got the

bill. The Cote d’Azur is one of the rich-est areas in Europe, but I was shocked to pay € 3.80 for a cappuccino! And still – it was worth it. Every day I would think: “Wow, I live in the French Riviera!” The university is placed at Sophia Antipolis. The classes Nicole attended were com-bined with local and international stu-

all aroundWorldwide, you can meet an immea-surable number of international stu-dents who are experiencing exchange programs, being free movers or study-ing their masters’ degree education abroad. Each one of their stories dif-fer: why they choose to go abroad, why they go where they go, and also what baggage , both physical and emotional, they are taking with them returning back home with. All these stories are defined by personality, environment, and experience with different cultures and surroundings. So many students abroad. So many stories to explore – take a look at three of them!


35

all around

dents, but all of them were presented in English. “I don’t think that the level of education is very high, because I had to study with sudents from second year. Nevertheless, professors were qualified and had a lot of experience so I got to know more about the field I’m study-ing in.” At first, the interacting with

other international students was hard for Nicole. “I thought that when you go abroad you make a lot of friends and ev-erything is just perfect, but I found out that it doesn’t work like that.” She met nice people, but she doubts that they are going to be friends forever. “Also, the French students were unattainable

– maybe scared to talk English, maybe just not interested to make friends with students who were going to be in their classes for just a couple of months.” Nicole talks a lot about environment she is still amazed by: “Living the French life? Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! They are so relaxed, proud of their culture and language. One of my goals was to learn French, and pretty soon after be-ing there you figure out how much you really need it!”

From France it is easy to travel: “You de-cide to go somewhere and in one hour you are already in Italy!” Nicole saw a lot of different places during her time studying abroad. Most of all, she appre-ciates the gardens, where people just sit and enjoy their time, the beaches, and the amazing views all over. In the end of her semester abroad Ni-cole had to admit: “It was nice to study in France. I fell in love with the place and I will miss the French re-laxed lifestyle and lovely culture.” LEARN TO RIDE BICYCLE IN DENMARKIrina Cojocaru is a Romanian girl who decided to obtain hers master degree in Denmark. “After I finished my bach-elor studies, I decided to go abroad. The possibilities that Romania can offer regarding education and work are very limited.” Irina strongly believes that the experiences on exchange she went

the world!

Istanbul, Turkey Photograph from personal archive


36

through will provide better job offers and a higher standard of living, perhaps even in a foreign country.

The decision of going to Denmark was based on offers for European Union stu-dents to receive free education. “Den-mark is a Nordic country, known to be very clean, civilized and culturally, it is very different from Romania. All these aspects made me think that it might be the right place for me.”

Since Irina was studying abroad she has become more responsible and indepen-dent. “Now I have to worry about my own meals and bills I have to pay – I didn’t have to worry about these kinds of things before when I was close to my family.” She is calling the changes that affect her while studying abroad very positive: “I learned how to cook and ride a bicycle! I have started to learn a new language and improve the ones I already knew. Aarhus is a very interna-

tional city with students from all over the world.”One of the biggest problems she faced during her exchange, was accommoda-tion which was hard to find and was also pretty expensive. Irina had to get used to the weather: “It was colder, always rain-ing and windy, and mostly dark during the winters. Once I got used to it, it seamed like a small price to pay com-pared to everything I got in return for living there.”

Danish people are very good in English so there is no language barrier in ev-eryday life. Since Irina is looking for a job, she faced the fact that Danish is re-quired if you want to work there,which becomes a problem. “I don’t speak Danish yet, but I’m willing to, it just seems a very difficult language to learn.” Studying Finances at the Aarhus School

of Business Irina was amazed by the different study techniques from her previous experiences during bachelors’ degree education in Romania: “In Den-mark students have close relationships with their professors. They call them by first name, and the proffesors are open if you have any problems concerning the lectures, and you can always talk to them and write e-mails.” Irina had very young and enthusiastic teachers, who put an empasis on group works which was a good way for a foreign student to get to know their colleagues better. “In general, studying abroad was a great experience that has opened my hori-zons and created new ways of thinking.” FIVE MONTH IN THE CITY OF CONTRASTSLinda de Winter is student from The Netherlands, and at the moment she

Nicole from the Netherlands in France Photograph from personal archive

Irina from Romania is studying in Denmark Photograph from personal archive


37

is studying in Turkey, Istanbul for five months. She has always liked to expe-rience different cultures, learn different languages and meet new friends from all around the world, which was the main reason for making the step for going to a foreign country. Linda is studying visual communication and because her home university has partnerships with Belgium, Sweden and Turkey that spe-cialises in graphic design studies it was: “Quite easy to make a decision: Belgium is too close, Sweden is too cold, and so I chose Turkey.”

Linda had never been to Turkey before, but she fell in love with the culture from the first sight: “I really love the culture here. For example, people almost never complain; I love their hospitality and that they are very, very helpful.” She explains that sometimes, she has to face

the misunderstandings because of the cultural differences: “Me and my friends offended someone after spending the night at one locals place. We left early in the morning because of not willing to bother the host too much, but he felt bad of not taking good care of his guests. In Turkish culture, it is unforgiv-able not to prepare breakfast for people you have let stay in your home.”

Linda has been told that the university she was spending her exchange period at was one of the best universities in Tur-key. She was impressed that the teach-ers are mostly young professionals and approximately 50% of them are from abroad. All the classes she attended were taught in English. “All students and pro-fessors had their English at a high level.” The language barrier starts when Linda had to leave the campus: “Almost no-

body in the city speaks English except street sellers who know some sentences to make you buy some stuff from them.” In Turkey, the gap between poor and rich is really noticeable: “It is really vis-ible in local houses – some of them look grand, with swimming pools and other extras, but next to the amazing house stands some kind of a tent or tipi which used to be a place to live.”

Linda enjoyed her stay in Turkey and she will miss the many things she expe-rienced during her exchange program abroad: I will miss my new friends, the relaxed culture and a non-flat environ-ment. But on the other hand – I would love to hear the Dutch language again!”

Linda from the Netherlands with new friends in Turkey Photograph by personal archive



38

“My American friends are saying that I have seen more in one year, than what they have seen in

their whole life”.


39

What is it like to leave your family and friends for ten months and spend a full year in high school, in a country where you have never been before? Where you don’t know anyone, anything and you are totally on your own?

Gerda Keizer (18) from the Netherlands experienced this herself in America. Gerda is an exchange student in Raleigh, North Carolina, America. She is study-ing there for 10 months. Gerda is living in a host family together with an ex-change student from Portugal.

WHY AMERICA?Gerda chose America because she want-ed to experience the American culture. She says: “We see it all on television; Mean Girls, Sweet Sixteen, Made, etc. All these things I saw on tv made me curious about America. Even though I knew that I would miss my family, I wanted to start a whole new life, on the other side of the ocean.” A couple of years ago she met two American boys,

who told her a lot about America, how life is over there and about high school. They mentioned that in high school it is not all about getting high grades. It is also important to participate in sev-eral after-school activities, like clubs and sports. Gerda: “That is why I participat-ed in the schools soccer team.” Another reason why she wanted to go to America

was to improve her English. “I could have gone to England but then I would have

been closer to home and would not have been able to experience the American culture”, says Gerda.

A YEAR ABROADGerda could have gone for five months, which is one semester, but this was not recommended to her with the reason that five months is too short. Now she can say from her own experience that it is true: “Everything is new in the be-ginning, and it takes a while to experi-ence the new culture, because the first month, it feels like you are on a vaca-tion.” She ads that afterwards you meet

new friends, have to get used to the American lifestyle and when you are fi-nally used to all of this, you have to go home. Her friends, who had to go home after five months, experienced this. Ger-da is glad she had some more time to spend there.

CULTURE SHOCK?“Going abroad for such a long time was not easy. The closer my departure came, the more time I wanted to spend with my family and friends, because I knew that I would not see them for a long time”, Gerda explains. Despite that, she tried to prepare herself for this experi-ence in different ways. The organisa-tion, which helped her with planning her high school program, organised a weekend for all students who were going abroad. During this weekend they did all kinds of fun games and the ‘teachers’ were students who went on an exchange year in the past: “This was really useful because they knew exactly what I would be going through. They told me that I would experience a culture shock.” America and the Netherlands

“All the things I saw on tv made me curious.”

**

*“My high school year in America:

an unforgettable experience.”*

*


40

but that was more because of homesick-ness. She always experienced the home-sickness as a good thing. The first week was the toughest because of the jetlag she had, this made her tired. She also had a hard time with her birthday, and during

Christmas break: “It is a time that you want to spend with your fam-ily, and you are think-ing all the time: Back home, they’re doing this and that right now. Luckily I got surprised with such an amount of presents that I could barely see the Christ-mas tree. We spend all day unwrapping the

presents and I received about 65 gifts.” She loves her parents, siblings and

have a lot of differences, but she could not easily come up with a lot of differ-ences, because she was already so used to everything in America. For example, in the Netherlands they use their bicycles a lot for transportation, but in America, everybody uses their car for everything. An-other difference is the amount of fast food places. You can find one at every corner. Gerda also tells: “In America the people at school were more hon-est. Cheating is seri-ously not done. Some people are known for cheating, and they don’t really get accepted.” Despite the differences, she didn’t really experience a culture shock.

ON YOUR OWN FEETShe realised that spending a year in America made her more mature. With going abroad she had to start a whole new life and learned to be indepen-dent. Everytime when she has some doubts, she says to herself: “You came to America all by yourself, girl, than some-thing like this isn’t a big deal.” Gerda’s host family likes to travel, so she is re-ally lucky. During her time in America she did a lot of travelling. She went to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Savannah, New York City and many other places in America: “My American friends are saying that I have seen more in one year, than what they have seen in their whole life.”

HOMESICKNESSThere were some moments when she didn’t enjoy the American way of life,

friends and because she hasn’t seen them in such a long time, she loves them even more. “A lot of people ask me why I don’t go to college in America. But that was too expensive for me, and I couldn’t miss my family and friends again for such a long time”, Gerda explains. When she is in her last year of college in the Netherlands she will maybe do her internship abroad.

If you are thinking about going abroad, Gerda’s advice to you is: “Don’t think about it, just do it!” She dreamt about going to America for such a long time, so she did it. Now she is really happy that she made this decision. Gerda: “My high school year in America is an expe-rience of a lifetime, which I will never forget.”

“Because I haven’t seen my family in such a long time, I

love them even more.”

The sun is rising, together with new opportunitiesPhotograph from personal archive

Written by Sjoukje van der Heide


41

Going to +25° or to -25° ?She’s coming from Belgium, he’s coming from Portugal. They are both exchange stu-dents for five months. She’s in Portugal and he’s in Sweden. Coline is studying com-munication, public relations and Ricardo is studying Electrical Engineering, with focus on Wireless Systems. One of them chooses to go to 25°, the other one to -25°. Let’s discover how they manage their new life in another environment.

From the sand to the ice Photographs by Caroline Goffin


42

From Brusse l s to Co imbra & f rom L i sbon to S tockho lm

COIMBRAThis city was the second choice of Coline. She had no skills in the Portuguese language but she travelled around Brazil a few years ago. She already heard the Portuguese language and she liked it! “Why a small city instead of Lisbon? Because I like this kind of cities, where it’s easy to meet people and to do everything by feet.” When she arrived in February, her first impression was: it’s a cute city, sunny and full of history and traditions. She really enjoys the weather in Portugal!

What’s the price of? Portugal Sweden

A beer: 0,80€ to 1,50€ 1,10€ to 5€

A French baguette

0,60€ 2€

An apple: 0,20€ 0,50€

Disco entry fee:

At least 5€ 10€ to 15€

She chose the beach and surfing Photograph by personal archive

STOCKHOLMIt was the first choice of Ricardo. Firstly, because it’s prob-ably one of the cities in Europe where you can find the most cultures, and secondly because the Swedish focus towards ef-ficiency and general well-being makes the country very attrac-tive, something you can’t find so easily in the Southern part of Europe. When he arrived in January, all he saw was snow! “Since snow is not abundant in Portugal, I can surely say my first impression was amazing. Although it is a cold country, Sweden has beautiful and welcoming people and that is prob-ably the thing I like the most here.” He also likes the fact that everything works. The streets are often cleaned, the buildings look renovated and the transport system works efficiently. The only negative thing for him, is the cold weather during the winter.

In their new life, they have met a lot of new friends coming from all over the world. Coline can count more than seventeen different nationalities. Ricardo can’t even count them! Most of his friends have European nationalities but he can also count Americans, Chinese, Brazilians, Indians, Mexicans, and so on. “If I had to pick a number, I’ll say maybe more than 30 differ-ent nationalities!”

He went for snow and ice-skating Photograph by personal archive


43

In Coimbra you can spend hours: “Having a drink on a terrace with friends.”Your favorite sentence in this new language: “Vamos tomar um café” (let’s take a coffee) “Estas a falar sério?” (you talk seriously?)The song you’re listening to again and again: “Let’s go surfing, The Drums.”The funniest thing that happened to you: “In a supermarket I was searching for minced meat to cook some Belgian dish, but I couldn’t t find it. I tried to explain to an employee for hours. Then he took a huge piece of meat and began to mince it in front of me, without even asking me for it!”Your exchange student experience in one word: “Opening”Finally, do you prefer to live in the north or south? “In the South, of course.”

In Stockholm you can spend hours: “skiing, snowboarding and ice-skating!”Your favorite sentence in this new language: “Absolut!”The song you’re listening to again and again: “The Swedish got me into some Swedish music: The Hives, Backyard Babies and Mando Diao.”The funniest thing that happened to you: “Hm. This one I can’t tell! “Your exchange student experience in one word: “Awesome!”Finally, do you prefer to live in the north or south? “It’s a very difficult question… The south has so many attrac-tions, but in the north everything works well... I would go for the south still.”

Written by Caroline GoffinPhotographs by Coline Bricteux & Caroline Goffin

The experience in six sentences The sunny and history Coimbra, seaview

The colorful and icy Stockholm


44


45

GREEN AS I WAS I WENT TO ONE OF THE MOST

COLORFUL CITIES THIS WORLD SHELTERS. FOR

OVER THREE MONTHS I WAS DELIVERED TO MY

OWN INITIATIVE IN A PLACE THAT POSSESSES

TWO FACES. I’VE SEEN THEM BOTH.

Last year I spend three months working at McCann Worldgroup, an advertising agency in the city center of Shang-hai. I came their as an intern covering the title Junior Art di-rector that basically came down to graphic-and web designing. The aim from the internship throughout the university was to orientate my future work field. Due to my interests in ad-vertising and my preference of graphic design I was sure of looking for an internship at an advertising agency. Through an old friend I met a guy who owned an internship agency in Shanghai and Hong Kong that could provide me a placement at one the best agencies in Shanghai. And so I ended up work-ing in the Far East.

AND SO IT BEGUNNot knowing what to expect I arrived in Shanghai, the city of nine million people that move themselves over a labyrinth of lifted highways between enormous buildings that set the tone of Shanghai’s skyline. Yet I had no apartment to stay and therefore went to a hotel joining my friend Marnix. I know him from high school and he happened to be in Shanghai too. Since Marnix was also planning to stay for a longer period we decided to look for a shared apartment. Within a day we man-aged to get ourselves a furnished three room apartment on the 12th floor with a fabulous view over the east part of the city. At the Ikea, in a distance of two hundred meters, we bought all the necessary household tools and treated ourselves on Swed-ish meatballs; the world is not so big after all.

After a week absorbing my new interim-home city and finally released from the jetlag it was time to prepare for the first day of work. I arrived at the office at 9 am sharp wearing my best shirt and holding some gifts to impress. The only person pres-ent at that time was the cleaner. Her English was as terrible as my Chinese and therefore communicating didn’t make sense for both of us. I decided to sit in the lobby and wait for some-one that walks in the office able to speak English. It took until half past ten for the ceo to arrive; he was supposed to guide me around. He seemed not prepared for my arrival and felt more convenient sending me to another person, who sent me



46

On the fourth day one of the designers came to my desk. He had chosen Kevin as English name. Being a little nervous he stammered a place and time, next he pressed me a print in my hands showing a map of the location. ‘Futbol’ he concludes his visit and returns his to his desk. As had I understood I went to a football pitch just outside Shanghai on the next fol-lowing Saturday. Kevin and other colleagues were expressively happy that I showed up. For over two hours we spend on the pitch sharing glances of esteem and envy, there was physical contact and through undefined noises we communicate where we want the ball. Afterwards we shook hands. More than two hours we didn’t exchange words without feeling uncomfort-able because we all knew the game. Like Coca-Cola once ef-fectively advertised: ‘We all speak football’.

MISCELLANEOUS SHANGHAIAlthough I have never set foot on American ground I dare to argue that the Shanghainese ideology has a lot of resemblance with the American. The so-called ‘American Dream’ of a make-able life is clearly present in Shanghai. With status as ground-ing the professional success is the meaning and money the measure unit. Despite the value of family in China, Shanghai is the city of the individual. This is accompanied by a decadent lifestyle with exchanging business cards drinking prestigious

also to another person until they managed to find someone crazy enough to show me around.

And there I sat. From the 21st floor I looking down on one of the best areas in Shanghai, the French Connection. My of-fice was placed right next to a window from which I looked twenty-one floors down, a nightmare for someone with fear of heights. I was settled between the creative executives; de-signers, copywriters and illustrators. All of them were native Chinese. Despite their lack of English they were very friendly and always keen to commune.

“A DECADENT LIFESTYLE WITH EX-CHANGING BUSINESS CARDS &AND DRINK-ING PRESTIGIOUS DRINKS”


47

drinks at fancy parties, responsible for your own success. At least, this is the perception of the many international people who house themselves in city of the ‘Chinese Dream’. It is not so visible on first sight but the core Chinese cul-ture is also very present in Shanghai. The tradition of fam-ily, hierarchy, communism and energising the human body is a daily routine of the Shanghainese locals. On my way to work I always crossed a park where the pensioners practice Tai Chi to balance their bodies; elderly women move their legs up like eighteen-year-old ballerinas and next to this scenery pensioned men play Mahjong gambling the least money they have. Despite the beauty of these happenings I enter one of the many Starbucks franchises to order the most western coffee I can find before I climb the tower I work in.

This miscellaneous context makes Shanghai so interesting. On one side I experienced the modern China of economic de-velopment where expats set up one business after the other, creating a major employing for the locals. On the other side the rural city life of the people who are forced to move from the countryside to city in order to take care of their family. This lower-class Chinese work six or seven days a week, twelve hours a day for a daily salary that an average student working at McDonald’s in western countries makes in one hour.

LOOKING LEFT AND RIGHTIt is easy for internationals to neglect this diversity with the decadent life that Shanghai offers. There is no need to blend in. No need to sing karaoke, neither to eat on the streets nor to take a walk in the suburbs. But working at a Shanghainese company with native colleagues is a great chance to see more than the city guide offers. I advise everyone to take this op-portunity with both hands.

“ELDERLY WOMEN MOVE THEIR LEGS UP LIKE EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD BALLERINAS”

From city riverside looking out over Pudong, the economic heart of Shanghai

Photograph by Bart Bergmeijer



48

THE TEN MOSTTRADITIONAL FESTIVALSAlmost every country has its own traditional events and parties. These parties and events are specific to that country. These ones are so special that the residents are looking forward to them the whole year. But students from other countries who are visiting this country or studying have also difficulties to wait until the big party starts! And when the event finally takes place, everybody is celebrating.

Photograph by John Kimmer-Javier


49

BARBECUES AND BEACHES IN AUSTRALIA 26 January 2011The Australia day is all about barbe-cues and beer. This day, the Australian residents celebrate the first European settlement on the continent of Aus-tralia. It is, just like queens day in the Netherlands, a party that is held all over the country. Eating food from the barbeque, listening to music and drinking beer are the main things the Aussie’s do on this particular day.

The Aussies are also really open to new contacts. So if you decide to go to Aus-tralia, but you don’t have an Australian friend that can help you and lead you around, head to a beach with a beer and make some new friends.

CARNIVAL IN A DIFFERENT WAY IN AMERICAMardi Gras in New Orleans is the place to be when you want to celebrate carnival in the usa. The festival can be compared with the carnival in Rio de Janeiro, but in a much smaller form. Mardi Grass falls on different dates every year because it is connected to Easter. This event of-ten is scheduled 47 days before Eastern.

Every year there is a live stream on the internet on which they broadcast the parades, so if you are interested, but not yet convinced, Google for the live streams on the 8th of march.

15 DAYS OF CELEBRATING NEW YEAR IN CHINA 3 until 18 February 2011The Chinese new year is the most im-portant and traditional event for the Chinese residents. Every year it starts on a different date because every year it represents a different animal. There are in total 11 different animals: rat, ox, ti-ger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. This year, it is the year of the tiger and next year it will be the rabbit. The Chinese cel-ebrate this event with a lot of fireworks and costumes.

GLITTER, GLAMOUR AND BEAUTY IN BRAZIL 17 untill 20 February 2011 – Rio de JaneiroIn Brazil there is one of the biggest events in the world: Rio’s Carnival. It is four days of paradesa, shows, danc-ing and all kind of glittering and beautifull costumes. In the middle of the summer, which appears to be our winter because of the geographic posi-tion, the city is turned into a celebra-tion area with colours and music In the Samhadrome, the “parade of schools” is held. This is a dance off when the best samba clubs are fighting each other for the top spot. People are dancing and singing and celebrating on the streets. It is always a wild and stunning party. A SEVEN MILE COSTUME RACE IN AMERICA Third Sunday of May – San FranciscoProbably not the most famous party in the world, but definitely a big one. The bay to breakers party is supposed to be a seven mile foot race. but instead it is a seven mile costume party and race that goes through downtown San Francisco. It started in 1906 to keep the spirit up after the earthquakes. There are more then 70 000 people who visit this party every year and they are dressed up in the most outstanding costumes.

The party can be seen as a mix between Mardi Grass and Halloween college par-ties.

Chinese new year


50

There is music inside and outside the bars, all kind of outdoor theaters and big organized parties by different radio stationsQueens day - The Netherlands


51

CRAZY WITH ORANGE IN THE NETHERLANDS 31 April 2011One of the biggest events in the Netherlands is Queens day. It is a party on the birthdate of the old Dutch Queen: Juliana. On this day everybody is wearing all kinds of orange clothes and are dancing and singing all day and night. There is music inside and outside the bars, all kind of outdoor theaters and big organized parties by different radio stations. The biggest party is in Amsterdam, but in every town or vil-lage in Holland the Dutch are celebrat-ing. And there is an extra event called Queens night. It’s the night before Queens day and on this night there are outdoor festivals with music during the night and also a lot of parties inside the clubs. MUSIC FESTIVAL FOR ALL ART-ISTS IN ENGLAND 26 and 27 June 2010 – PiltonEvery year in the town Pilton in England there is a three day music festival called the Glastonbury festival. The festival is designed to celebrate the music, earth and the arts. At this event you will stay in your own tent. And last year, there were over 177 thousand people and 700 musical acts. It has a lot of live music, theater shows, night-time cinemas and a lot more. This festival is held on a farm so take some good shoes and party!

RAGING BULLS IN SPAIN July 7 - July 14 2010 – Pamplona

Most festivals in spain are during the spring and the summer. The biggest and most famous festival is held in Pam-plona each year and is called theA Pam-plona Bull Run. It’s part of Pamplona’s fiesta de san fermin but is by far the biggest event of the festival. For almost one month, every morning thousands of runners risk death by horn to run along-side the bulls as they are driven from their pen to the bullring.

THROWING TOMATOES IN SPAIN August 2010 (exact date tba) – BunyolLa Tomatina is the biggest food fight in the world and is more a party than a real festival. Every year, more then 30 000 people descend towards a little town in Spain called Bunyol. It all started in 1945 with a restaurant fight in the same city, Bunyol. The main act in this event is that people throw to each other tomatoes shared by the govern-ment for two hours. BIGGEST BEACH PARTY IN THE WORLD IN THAILAND Every month, when there is a full moon – Koh Pha Ngan

In Thailand there is a party every full moon called the full moon party. It is held on one of the white beaches in Koh Pha Ngan: Haad Rin. The party is possibly the biggest beach party in the world. The people dance on the music of international top dj’s with all the different music style. From dance to reggae to drum ‘n bass.

The full moon party started as a birth-day party of a couple of backpack-ers in the 80s. After that they decided to come back every year, and soon the word spread that every full moon, there would be a big party on the beaches of Ko Pha Nagan.

Written by Chris Constandse

Glastonbury


52

INGREDIENTSSome olive oil 300gr bacon 1 big zucchini -30ml of cream -50gr of grated parmesan cheese Salt Pepper 500gr of penne pasta

DIRECTIONSPreparation time: 15-25 min 1. Cook the sliced bacon with olive oil after 5min, add a zucchini cut in very small strips and put some salt and pepper2. During this time, put the pastas in the boiling water with salt3. When the bacon and the zucchini are done, add some cream and some grated parmesan cheese4. When the penne pasta is ready, put everything together.

Buon appetito !

INGREDIENTSSome butter 1 clove of garlic 1 onion 3 carrots 1 zucchini 1 yellow pepper 2 cans of peeled tomatoes Salt Pepper 500gr of tagliatelle pasta DIRECTIONSPreparation time: 30min but the vegetables have to cook during at least one hour

1. Slice the garlic clove and the onion in small pieces and cook it in a big saucepan with butter 2. Add the peeled tomatoes 3. Cut the carrots, the zucchini and the yellow pepper in small pieces 4. Put everything in the sauce pan and add some salt and pepper 5. Cover the saucepan and simmer for about one hour 6. When the ratatouille is ready you can cook the tagliatelle

Labu apetīti !

FoodExchange

INGREDIENTS300gr of pea 200gr of ham 30 ml of cream Salt Pepper 500gr of cheese tortellini

DIRECTIONSPreparation time: 15-25 min 1. Cook the peas in boiling water2. During this time, put the tortellini in boiling water3. When the peas are done, put them in an big pan, add the cream and the ham cutting in thin slice4. When the tortellini are cook, put ev erything together, add salt and pepper

¡buen provecho!

Pasta ZucchiniTortellini

French Ratatouille


53

INGREDIENTS250g flour½ l milk4 eggs50g butter1 pinch of salt

DIRECTIONSPreparation time : 10min Cooking time : 3min

1. In a bowl, add the flour and eggs. Then gradually add the milk while mixing with your whisk and the pinch of salt. You have to obtain a mixture without lumps. 2. Heat a frying pan, once warm add a little butter for greasing the pan3. Pour half a ladle of your mixture in the pan and cook it during 1 or 2 minutes. TRICKSYou can put want you want on your “Crêpes”, let do your imagination. The more common is sugar, marmalade or chocolate. But you can add some cooked fruits like apple or banana. The mix banana chocolate is awesome.

Smaklig måltid!

INGREDIENTS150g chocolate50cl milkFruits (bananas, strawberries, apples, pears…)

DIRECTIONS Preparation 5min or less! 1. Cut the fruits in pieces 2. Cut the chocolate in pieces 3. Add milk to the chocolate 4. Melt the chocolate and the milk until you obtain a liquid mixture 5. Now you have just to dunk the fruits in the melt chocolate

Bon appétit!

Written by Justine Lecomte & Caroline GoffinPhotographs by Baiba Kreicmane & Justine Lecomte

INGREDIENTS200g chocolate200g butter200g sugar1 spoon of flour4eggs

DIRECTIONS Preparation time: 10min Cooking time: 20min 1. Preheat the oven to 180°C2. Slightly melt the butter 3. Add the sugar and the flour4. Add the eggs, one at the time 5. Add the melted chocolate6. Grease a cake pan with butter and put all the mixture in7. Finally put the mixture in the warm oven (200°C) during 20 minutes.

Smakelijk!

French Ratatouille Crêpes

Chocolate CakeChocolate Fondue


54

You come from Asia? Welcome to Europe, for two students, coming from Chi-na and studying in Europe for ten months. We are about 740 000 000 peo-ple in Europe; there are more or less 1 360 000 000 inhabitants in China. Welcome to our little continent.

From

chopsticksto Forks


55

I had the lucky opportunity to interview two Chinese people. Coming from so far, from a country so different, I began to re-alise how we all come from the same planet and that the culture shock is never so great. How to describe my two chinese subjects in one sentence? Shy at first impression, funny when you know them more, but always very friendly and cheerful!

Yiwen Wang and Xiong Gao are respectively aged 24 and 23. But don’t look for them in Europe with those names. Here, they are known as Even and Eason. Because of the difficulty of pronunciation, Chinese people prefer to find themselves a new European name. They are both exchange students in Sweden for ten months. Even is studying computer science and Eason is studying elec-trical communication.

COMMUNICATIONLet’s recap Even and Eason’s new Euro-pean life. They arrived in August, and at the beginning they spent a lot of time with

Chinese people, but they quickly met new friends! “You know, we are coming from Bei-jing (Peking) and it’s an international city so we are used to meeting people coming from different parts of the world.” An important fact is that most of the Europeans are able to speak English so it’s easier to communicate with them. In China, students learn Eng-lish since their childhood, so they are well trained to write, understand and read english as well. The problem is getting practice us-ing the language. “For us, knowing English is more for the examination; our country is so big that we are not really supposed to go abroad. Most of the students learn English to pass the exam.” When they arrived, they were shy and afraid to speak. It was always difficult to find the good words to explain their feelings and what they really wanted. But now, they are used to using english and the language barrier is just a bad memory.

THE POWER OF CHOPSTICKSHomesick? Yes of course a little bit, but if you ask Even and Eason what they are

missing from their country most, before talking about family or friends, they will an-swer you: “the food”! And this may sound crazy but before coming to Sweden, they didn’t know how to cook Chinese food! So they had Chinese cooking lessons in Europe, but of course, they were given by a Chinese friend!

COOKING PROBLEMSEven explained that in Sweden they didn’t have the same electric cooking appliance as in China, so when she arrived, she wasn’t able to switch it on. They haven’t tasted so much European food yet, but have tried the regular “exchange student food”. “You eat a lot of pasta, pizzas and you also have a lot of fast-food.” At the beginning, they weren’t really used to this kind of “easy” food. “We cook with a lot of different spices, a lot of fresh vegetables, and also we eat rice every day.” Now they mix their traditional cuisine with the new world of European student cuisine. The strangest thing they have experi-enced eating here in Europe? French cheese! “It’s amazing how much different kind of cheese you have, we’ve tried a strong one and I think we’ll never try it again. We are really not use to this kind of strong taste.”

Eason explained that there is also lot of sweet foods in Sweden, and they are not used to that. For example, they never eat dessert. So food is maybe the most important culture shock. After ten months here, there are still

Comming from China, meeting in Sweden Photograph by Caroline Goffin

Trying to cook like at home Photograph by Caroline Goffin


56

not used to, and not planning to eat Euro-pean every day. Besides the strange European cooking appliances, for them, the shops are also so different. In their country, shops are always open. In Europe when it’s a holiday, everything is closed. “When we have a na-tional holiday, we go shopping with friends or with our family and it’s very crowded!” But maybe, not as crowded as Europeanparties.

HOW TO PARTYIt’s maybe the craziest thing they have seen here: the party time! In their country, it’s more quiet, with less people. For example, there are birthday parties: “I’ve never been to a birthday party like that in China. Of course, we celebrate it but not in that way.” For them it’s important to be together and with close friends or family. Sometimes they go out, but something more like a karaoke bar, they never go to a discotheque or put on loud music. “We have really a different perception of celebrating, we eat cake, make a wish, watch a movie; it’s a more quiet way I think.”

IN EUROPEEason loves The Netherlands (because of the flowers) but unfortunately he has never been there. Even likes Amsterdam. “From the cit-ies I’ve seen, it’s my favorite one. I was lucky because the weather was perfect. It’s an active and international city and people are really open minded. I also think that’s in Europe you can find so much different way of living. Sweden is maybe one of the most quiet, not so much people in the streets, they are never stressed, not like in Peking …” Actually, they don’t have to go abroad to experience the culture shock because they have so many different cultures in their own country. From the North to the South, the cultures are to-

tally different. And the thing is, that most of the time, people stay in China. “We were re-ally lucky to be chosen as exchange students. We don’t have so many chances to be chosen to go abroad because we are with so much.” In Even’s school, there are 200 students in his department and only two people have the opportunity to live this experience abroad… “For you, thanks to the European Union, it’s easier to go abroad with the Erasmus program for example. In China there are so many people that have fewer opportunities.”

WHAT TO BRING BACK?Even answered me, that now she likes eat-ing pasta and she likes to eat it with a fork! “My friends here teach me how to use a fork, and sometimes I surprise myself by using it to eat noodles.” Eason think that it’s go-ing to be strange to go back to a crowded and noisy city with polluted air. “The air here is so much better.” It’s also going to be strange for him to be unable to just open the faucet and drink the water. “We always have to boil it before using it otherwise it’s not safe. Yes you can drink it if you go in a five stars hotel but you can never do that at home. We also keep the habit here to drink warm water. Sometimes I just put wa-

ter in the tea-pot and drink it after and it seems strange for my European roommate.”

THE EXPERIENCE It was, at first, a challenge for Even and af-ter surviving many new experiences, she has a free life and can do what she wants here. For Eason, Europe is more synonymous with growing up and having a new mind. “I feel much more mature, I can do everything alone, even cooking. I have a new mind, new ideas, new values cause I’ve talked a lot

with foreigners.” They realise that European people are more free. “They can do what they like and what they want without think-ing about others. When you do something in China, you always think first to yours parents, your entourage, what are they going to think about you if you do that or not.” Europeans are really more individualist, Chinese people al-ways have to think about the con-sequences before doing anything. For them it’s more a culture gap than a culture shock. For Eason, the system in China is close to the French system, but in the seventies.

LUGGAGE TIME For Even, the European experience will end in June. She’s completed her Bachelor stud-ies and she will go back in China to find a job. Eason also finished his Bachelor studies but he’s going to stay two more years. “I was accepted at Chalmers University in Gote-borg. So I will come back to continue my Mastes degree in Sweden and after … actu-ally I don’t know I haven’t thought so much about that. Maybe I will do internships in Europe before coming back to China. For me it’s important to have a lot of experiences before beginning to work.”

Enjoying another continent Photographs by Sjoukje van der Heide

Written by Caroline Goffin


57

SoundtrackClaShes

If your life were a movie, what songs would be on the soundtrack? Which tunes embody the experiences you’ve had, the troubles you’ve conquered and those cheerful mo-ments that you replay over and over again?

Music plays such a massive role in our lives. It creates emo-tions, or interacts with the emotions we already feel. It pushes us up and brings us down. Hearing a long–lost song can produce a combination of feel-ings that immediately catapult you back to a precise time in your life. The effect can be quite extraordinary, most of the time it results in a bitter–sweet constellation. A situation where

you feel that one song sums up all the emotions you have at a certain point in your life. During times of travelling and periods we stay abroad we get to know a different culture from another perspective. Especially when we stay at a place for an amount of time we change the attitude towards the country, the people and their culture. Music is what helps us to defeat homesickness, comforts us in difficult situations and lets us enjoy the time being there.The students on the following pages present their top three songs during the time they stayed abroad.

Live music is more intense Photograph by Mônsieur J


58

Katrin, Germany

“Such Great Heights”Postal Service This song is the opposite of homesick. I always hear it if I go on a journey. I don´t know why, but it belongs to my trip like the sunglasses and my id .

“Mouthful Of Diamonds”Phantogram The simplest way to make me lucky is to give me a self made cd or tape. This song is on a cd from a good friend and whenever I sit in my car during the last weeks, I always hear that title at first.

“The empty bottle”ArchiveThis song is difficult to describe. It causes a mix of emotions - happiness and sadness at the same time. I forget to breath and I want to start running. Just a truly great song.

Roxana, Romania

“Flightless Bird” Iron&WineIt’s sad, it makes me think about home, about the fact that I can’t go there soon, but it’s also soothing. The lyrics are not exactly the most inspired ones ever, but when I feel down, this is what’s usually in the background.

“Alien like you” The Pigott Brothers Why this one? Well, because of the lyr-ics. Being 3000 km away from home is not easy and this song reminds me that even if I’m scared, confused, angry or down, there are people who understand how I feel and I’m definitely not alone.

“Afterglow” inxs

Because it is full of hope or just a spe-cial emotion that strikes me when I hear it. It has something optimistic in it. It makes me feel the freedom, the beauty and the freshness that an exchange pro-gram offers you. “As I let you go, I will find my way”... this is exactly what we are doing here... finding our way.

Miguel, Spain

“I gotta feeling” Black Eyed PeasWell, since this is one of the most lis-tened songs of this year, I think I’m gonna associate it to my year abroad, especially at all the good parties I had I listened to this song quite a lot.

“Wonderwall” OasisThe beginning in Sweden, with the lan-guage course, the new start in a new town, new experiences, with unknown people and places, this song kept me in a good mood through all that change.

“Madrid”PerezaEven being 3200km from home, I still remember Madrid and all the experi-ences I made there. This one song says enough about my hometown. And when I listen to it while I’m looking at my panoramic poster from Madrid in my student room, I can feel like home.

Written by Sophie Kürth-LandwehrPhotographs by Chris Constandse & Creative Commons


59

Hasan, Bangladesh

“Praan” Palbasha Siddique/Garry SchymanThe song is about the spirit and inspira-tion of life. Though it is in my native language, Bengali, and was written al-most 100 years ago by Nobel Laureate, Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore. I discovered it in one of YouTube’s all-times most-viewed (28.7 million!) videos “Where the Hell is Matt?”. The video is about international understanding and multiculturalism. The song goes really nice with it.

“May It Be”Lisa Kelly This song it easy to describe: A song about the journey that is called life.

“If Today Was Your Last Day”NickelbackAlways reminds me of why I am here and works as a reinforcement for moti-vation.

Charles, Belgium

“Positif ”Mr.OizoI’m a techno/electronic loving kind of guy, although I appreciate all sorts of music. This song makes me go wild and I heard it a couple of times during the time being abroad. But to be honest, its strange cause normally I always associ-ate moments with songs, yet here I don’t have this particular one that has been stuck in my head.

“Break your heart” Taio CruzIs the ultimate party song and I enjoyed it during fantastic nights in a student club here in town. And yeah, after great nights there and always hearing that song, I kind of associate it with good times.

“Hänt”SlagsmålsklubbenWell I plan a road trip together with my friends after the term has ended and this song fits just perfectly. First it was a sup-port during long hours of studying, but now we are going to burn a whole cd with good music for the roadtrip and this one is definitely one of them.

Annalisa, Tennessee USA

“Hey Now” Augustana“It’s hard to breathe when your stand-ing on your own” Despite the fact, when I arrived in Sweden and it was -16 cel-sius outside and that made it hard to breathe, I knew that coming to Sweden was going to give me a chance to stand on my own. Being here I have struggled, but I have also found a rewarding free-dom inside myself. Did I take it too far? Was it worth missing all I have missed? I think so.

“What a shame”ShinedownBeing in a different country has taught me just exactly how judgmental I can be. Being emerged into a culture com-pletely opposite of my beliefs was a struggle. Not only did I realise that I was judging these people I didn’t even know, but I had done the same to the ones I say I love. I can’t change and just have to accept them.

“Boondocks” Little Big TownI am from a small town in Tennessee and this song just sums everything up. Sweden was a blast, but my heart longs to be back in Tennessee.


60

Usually when you go to study abroad for 5 months or 2 years and you are single , at one time or another you think with a mischievous air about at all the girls or boys you will meet, don’t you? It was what I thought before I left my country; so exciting.

My thoughts were really far from the reality. Indeed, to charm someone in another language than yours is quite hard. Espe-cially for me; have you heard about this cliché that the French people can’t speak English very well? It was my case at the be-ginning. Now after five months I think I am able, but I didn’t really try because I met this guy, Andrea. It was totally unex-pected. We met more or less the third week of our Erasmus exchange. Sorry to disappoint you but our meeting was not so special or so romantic or whatever. We just met in a student

party. It was the first time I saw him, a friend that we have in common introduced us and we began to speak a lot. I suppose that after that, you can guess what happened. It should have been just the time of one evening but this time was different and I can’t explain why we decide to continue our relationship. I asked myself many questions at the beginning, I was not sure what I wanted but finally the time passed and I began to ap-preciate him, and now we have been together for 3 months.

Andréa: “I think that special special happened to me during this Erasmus; I met a girl, a Belgian girl that has made my ex-perience so different as I was expected. I never thought to stay 3-4 months with the same girl. Some people can think that we were crazy to have had a relationship here, but stay with a per-son that it is funny, gentle, beautiful and above all make you feel good it is nothing compare to change girls every week.”

I am not writing these words to explain all the details of our relationship but just to make some conclusions about the rela-tionship between two exchange students. I would like to focus

Falling in love. It is something which happens all the time, and anywhere. But if someone said to me that I will be in love during my Erasmus exchange, I would probably laughed in their face. Anyway, that’s happened...

Illustration by Justine Lecomte


61

on the end of the exchange student period. At this moment, the couple have two choices: stay together or break up ?It is a hard and sometimes a sad decision. When you have lived 3 or 4 months with someone, it is horrible to decide to leave him or her just because it’s time to go home. Some people decide to stay together; sometimes it works, sometimes not. With Andrea, we never think to stay together after our Ex-change experience. We already thought that our own lives won’t be compatible.But it is not so easy to make this decision. Now we are al-most at the end, it’s more and more difficult to accept that we will break up just because we come from different coun-tries. Many times I asked m self: Why do I have to leave him?

At the beginning it was really hard to think about it, to be separate to the person who makes you happy; who makes you feel confident. At one moment I thought of the pos-sibility to have a long distance relationship but I realised that I will probably not be able to support that. I believe in this Italian proverb: “Lontani da-gli occhi, lontani dal cuore” which means “far from the eyes, far from the heart.”

Luckily Andrea thinks almost in the same way as me. Actually he is really down-to-earth:

“When the end is so close, I think you have to realise that the story has to finish. Maybe you want the relationship to go on for months later but sometimes it is better that rationality prevails. In a relationship the feelings of the two people are not only important but the context as well; the environment

around them. You can’t always do what you really feel and say that “love conquers everything and always wins.” Unfortu-nately it is an old lie.”

I would like also to add that the Exchange period is special. This time abroad is a stop in my life, a break where I cre-

ated my own bubble with a new family and new habits. This comfortable bubble is just temporary, one day it will burst and everything will disappear into thin air. I will come back to Belgium and all will be different. So even if we would try to follow our rela-tionship, I think that it would be a failure. To see each other again in another context than the Erasmus would be really special.

Here we are, far away of wor-ries, we are peaceful and re-laxed. For sure we know each other, but the environment we have here is comfortable and allows us to have this simple relationship. We have a lot of free time to be together and we have no responsibilities. In our own country we have a life more busy!

I am sad but when I thought of all these moments we passed together I can only be happy. I want to keep this love story as

a wonderful memory which I will never forget. So now, I have one thing to do: enjoy the last moments I will have with him!

Written by Justine Lecomte

People always leave Photograph by Chris Constandse


62

When you choose an exchange abroad it means leaving people behind. Family and friends will have to deal with your absence during a longer period. You take some distance from each other, at least physically. But you don’t have to wait till your exchange friend comes back home. There is always the option of visiting. How is it to visit an exchange friend? Bob Kok, a Dutch student visited a friend who was studying in Sweden.

FRIENDs ANDINTERNATIONAL STUDENTs

Stockholm, Sweden Photograph by Robin van den Oever


63

Bob found out somewhere in November 2009 that his friend Erwin was going to study in Sweden on Erasmus exchange for six months.“Curious as I am, I started wondering why he wanted to go abroad

and what his stay in Sweden would be like”, Bob is telling. After a couple of stories Bob really felt like visiting: “I wanted to experience the country and culture he was in and how he adapted to this”. So Bob planned his flight and came to visit his friend in May 2010.

The first thing Bob noticed was that meeting Erwin after a long time wasn’t strange and it was just like before he left. In a short while he found out that there was one big group of international students and they all felt connected with each other. “I really felt welcome and fa-miliar around them. It was interesting to find out with what kind of people Erwin was hanging out for the last couple of months. Talking with his fellow students and expanding your way of looking and to the discus things with people from different parts of the world was really interesting.”

After a couple of days Bob was sure that his visit was definitely worth it. “When I am going to meet Erwin back home it is going to be much more easy to talk about his exchange. If you don’t experienced it, it is hard to understand what kind of feelings suit this abroad exchange. Of course you hear the stories, but actually being there gives a more

complete view and so it is more easy to support your friend when he is going to be back home. I can imagine that he is going to be a little homesick, after all he build some kind of new life abroad.”

During the couple of days Bob was visiting his opinion about studying abroad really changed: “I experienced it as really positive moment in a student’s life. I didn’t expected this kind of ‘being together’ among the students. It was like one big family, helping each other out. I could really see that an exchange abroad helps people develop and expand their view of the world. Just like my view expanded, a little.”

“The first questions came to mind were mostly about how to be-have and how to communicate with people from different parts of the world. I was visiting a familiar friend but also a lot of unfamiliar people from all over the world”. – Bob Kok.

Written by Erwin Spil

Photograph by Bart Bergmeijer Building a new life abroad


64

One day you have friends in the country abroad who you see almost every day. But when you go back to your home country, you see all your old friends again, and suddenly don’t see your new friends anymore. Some ex-international students even say that leaving their international friends was harder than leaving their friends from their home country. Is there anything to about this, or do you just have to accept it?

“Friendship is something deeper and more important. You can not calculate it or make it rational.” Ilze Grunska, Latvia

The friendship afTer

During your international period you meet a lot of new people. The first thing you notice is that the contrast between your old friends and new friends is harder to handle than you will expect. One day you’re with your friends from your home country, the next day you’re trying to make new friends in a new country. But it is quite similar when you come back.

Illustration by Gerwin Koppelaar


65

The first weeks will probably be the hardest, when every little detail can remind you of a friend and a certain moment you had together. The moment kicks in: you won’t spend as much time with your international friends as you did before. Talk about this with the friends in your home country. They can help you through this, with-out a doubt, difficult period.

NOW WHAT?When leaving your home coun-try you know you will see the friends you have there after a cer-tain period. When leaving the country you went to, you are not sure if or when you will see them again. But that’s all up to you. The first thing that comes to mind while thinking of seeing those friends again is a reunion. But an international reunion is quite harder to organise than, for example, a high school reunion. Ex-international students said that: “If

you really want to, you can make it happen” It’s as simple as that. When you really want to meet your international friends again, and if they were good friends, you probably will. You only have to organise a reunion that is easily accessible for those who are going to be invited. Just think that you’re

not the first one to organise this kind of reunion and not the first one studying abroad. Most people who have studied abroad are happy too help you with this kind of difficulties.

EXPERIENCE TIPLastly, one tip from some students who have already had their international experience. On your time abroad you will probably meet some people who speak the same language as you or are from the same country. Try not to hang out with those people just because the language and culture barrier is so low.

Written by Gerwin Koppelaar

“I will meet myinternational friends again! Soon.”

Goodbye or see you later? Photo by Sjoukje van der Heide, Illustration by Sophie Kürth-Landwehr


66

THE truth ABOUT

You have just learned that your application for going to study or work abroad was accepted. What an excitement! You will finally be able to replace all the fake memories you were building in your mind with real ones. But are you imagining ex-change the right way? Or are you just making up a lovely world full of rainbows where everything is always perfect? It could appear that some of your ideas were totally preconceived… Get ready to hear the real truth about international studies!

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

EXCHANGE IS A NEVER-ENDING PARTYTrue & false. Erasmus is often associated with partying and so it is for every inter-national student staying abroad for a few months. You don’t have much time so you want to enjoy every single moment and it’s normal. But be careful with it: it shouldn’t be a never-ending party. Don’t forget that months ago, you filled tons of application papers… in your univer-sity. This opportunity has been given to you to improve your knowledge and skills. Keep in mind that it’s a must for your future professional life.

EXCHANGE WILL MAKE ME BE-COME BILINGUALFalse. Of course you will come back with an incredible ease to speak English, fluently. But what English will you re-ally speak? The “global” one, this sim-plified version of Shakespeare’s language that all the foreigners talk when it is not their mother tongue.

In exchange, everyone understands each other… even though each conversation is full of horrible mistakes which prob-ably hurt the ears of native speakers: “Sometimes, I am wondering if they would like me to correct them but I don’t want to seem rude. But the worst part is that I am getting used to those mistakes and I am even doing the same ones!”, explains Jenna, Canadian.

EXCHANGE IS A POTLUCK True. Sometimes called “Spanish inn” or “Canadian supper” depending on the countries, the potluck is a get together where every guest brings their own food. Actually, it appears that this is a perfect metaphor for exchange. It means that it’s up to you to make it a good experi-ence: you will get from it as much as you put in. Be open-minded to challenges and new cultures and share yours with others. And while in your host country, you will bring your nationality; in your home country, you will bring back the world.

IN EXCHANGE, I WILL NEVER BE ALONETrue & false. Happy, sad, funny, boring moments There will always be someone to live it with you. It can sound cliché but this is the truth. Sometimes, it re-ally feels like you live in the Care Bears world: being so far away from family and friends, you just need to be sur-rounded and if you keep on staying all alone all day, this opportunity you were imagining to be so great, could turn out as a real nightmare and going home will be your only obsession, day and night. But if you are open for this new adventure and let go of your excessive shyness, the word “friendship” suddenly make sense and you are experiencing a new meaning of it. Over there, you will share everything. Material things: a place to spend the night, a cab, dinners, the keys of your apartment. But you will also share your downs, your days, your evenings, your tears, your fears, your shame. But above all, you will share tons of laughs and your lives, after all.

Written by Alison Piron


67

Have you seen my

résuméWhen searching and applying for a job be sure to mention your study abroad. Most employers are interested in knowing about how your exchange study influenced your professional competence and personal abilities. But which stories to tell? How to make best use of your exchange study when getting a job?

In an increasingly multicultural society it is important to have a strong inter-cultural competence. Studying abroad gives a big boost to this competence and helps you to develop a various range of skills. You can adapt much easier to new situations in a new place. You are able to deal with different cultures, morals, and ways of thinking. You’ve learned from different perspectives and different learning methods. You want to make sure that your potential new employer knows you are able to work with, and for, people from different cultural back-grounds.

SKILLS GAINEDTake some time to think about which skills you gained during your exchange. During your exchange you probably

experienced lots of interesting and use-ful adventures. Take in mind that some of these adventures aren’t interesting for potential employers. Think about which experiences to tell and how these experiences resulted in stronger skills.

DIFFERENT SKILLSYou can divide these skills into theo-retic and personal skills. Describe for example a personal skill: you’ve become more independent. The experiences you can connect to this can be arranging your own accommodation abroad, or applying at a university on your own initiative. Theoretic skills really depend on the different meth-ods of exchange study. If you did an Erasmus exchange, the courses of your studies are important but the

international experience is a big part of it. If you did a masters program you should really go into detail and tell the ins and outs of your master-program. Which courses did you take and what did you learn from them? And last but not least, don’t forget to mention your improved language skills.

While applying for a job, a study abroad is definitely a big advantage towards the competition. The most important thing is how you are going to bring the message across. Preparation is the main element here, really take the time to think what the biggest benefits of your exchange are. Think of your skills and through which experiences you’ve gained them. Good luck starting your new career!

Written by Erwin Spil


68

HIKING IN KANANASKISIt was a beautiful morning for a hike in the Kananaskis country, a region in the western part of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The sun was shining as I got out of my truck at the trail parking lot. I was eager to hit the trail, and wasted no time in putting on my hiking boots, throwing on my back pack, and heading up the mountain. I love getting high. Physically that is. The feeling of being “on top of the world” is bar none. That is why, this day, I was again “getting high” on a hike in the mountains. I ap-proach every hike as a challenge, a test of my skills, wit, and endurance. I like to move fast and efficiently. So it hap-pened, that I began cruising up the trail, making great time, passing other hikers; almost running I wound up passing one old man, he looked like a grandpa, just leisurely walking up the trail. . He had a balding grey head covered in a tilley hat, and was dressed in shorts and shirt which looked older than him. He also

sported a retro backpack, one with an exposed frame and everything. On a whole he was unremarkable, just an old man enjoying the nature. “Beautiful day isn’t it,” he said to me. I agreed and we chatted for a short while about the fore-cast and I was quickly back at my pace on the trail, speeding up the mountain.

BEAT BY AN OLD MANI frequently needed a quick break be-fore I could continue. Still I felt I was making great time and I had seen no one pass me on the trail. At the next rest area though, I was shocked to see the old man already walking by ahead of me. I had taken a couple of short breaks, but surely this old man could not have passed me. He was practically strolling along the trail, walking so slow, taking time to experience everything. I was a little angry at myself for somehow let-ting this old man beat me here, and took it as encouragement to move even faster and push on to the peak in one big haul.

BEAT AGAIN So I left the old man and moved even faster to the top. I never saw that old man, who seemed able to teleport up the mountain; it seemed the only way he could have beat me before, because there was no way I could be slower than an old man. I hiked faster, and faster, up that mountain and finally the top was in

Old Man’s PaceIf you don’t stop to take a look around, life can easily pass you by. We are just specks, on the earth, a vehicle hurtling through space at incredible speed in it’s orbit around our sun. The whole na-ture of our existence is driven by this speed, and its easy to get caught up in it.

Little did I know, that a regular hike would change my outlook on life forever


69

sight. I was so exhilarated that I broke into a full sprint up the final length of the trail. And then I saw something I never expected to see in a million years. There already at the top was the old man, unpacking his backpack and be-ginning to eat his lunch. How on earth could he have beat me? I confronted the old man, “Hey, how on earth could you have beat me up this mountain?” He just smiled and began to tell me some-thing I will never forget. He told me about the secret ways of old mans pace.

A LESSON LEARNEDOld man’s pace is a phenomena seen in old mountain men. Men who have given their lives to the mountains. Men who have suffered and been granted safe passage by the elements and the massive behemoths which stand towering over Western Canada. They are able to walk at old mans pace. They will appear slow and elderly, but will beat you up the mountain every time. Not just about hiking, old mans pace is a way of life. Its about slowing down, not rushing, and

enjoying the moment. It’s kind of like meditation only you can apply it all the time. The old man told me that it is very hard for someone so young to learn the ways of old mans pace, but if you work really hard and try actively to make it a part of your life you will see a change. On the walk down, instead of running all the way down, I took my time and enjoyed it so much. It took a lot longer, I obviously was no expert at old mans pace yet, but it didn’t seem to matter how long or how fast or how slow any-more. I was just happy and at peace.

SLOWDOWN. LOOK AROUNDThrough the years I have observed the phenomena of old mans pace countless times. Unfailingly there are these old men who will always beat you up the hiking trail, up a climbing pitch, down a ski slope, etc. It may seem like a just a dumb story, which maybe it is. I mean it doesn’t actually make logical sense, but for me there is some mysticism behind it. Regardless, I still try to live my life with old mans pace being my metro-nome, and I hope one day in the future I will finally be able to master it. Next time life seems out of control, speeding to an ominous end, slow down, take a look around and remember, old man’s pace.

Written by Darius Dias

“Hey, how on earth could you have beat me

up this mountain?” Old Man’s Pace: a way of life and form of meditation.


70


71

Most people who have had an international experience like Eras-mus, free mover or a masters in a foreign country, say they have changed when the came home. These changes will be more noticed by the people who you have left behind in your home country. At this point it is all about the contrast between the person you were when you left and the person you have become while you lived your new experience. The place you lived before and the place you lived during your international period. And the things you did before and after this period.

Keep in mind that the life after this special period may never be the same life again before you went. This fact will be different for the people who stay in your home country. They are probably hardly changed. Some people can have difficulties with this fact and it can be hard to deal with.

But in what way do you really change and what are the conse-quences of these changes.


72

When you go abroad to study, the first days are always dif-ficult. How does your new environment look, how are the people and fellow students, where do you life etc. Luckily you are not the only one at that time who has these difficulties. By going out, explore and open yourself for new cultures you will meet a lot of people. This is a quality you will remember and use when you come back to your home country. There are a lot of former international students who have become more social and open to new people. The changes are quite big, you will have less trouble with meeting new people and talk to them when you come back, just because you had to do it so often during your experience.

HI, I HAVE STUDIED ABROADStudying abroad is not something a lot of people do, therefore it is a great opener for conversations and a beautiful way to share your experiences with other people. The things you learn from other cultures can be things other people might not ever learn. Therefore it is more special to share this with others. You can share these experiences with friends, family and class-mates. But also with people who are willing to study abroad but are not quite shore yet, or just want to have more informa-tion. Share your knowledge and experiences with others.

YOU ONLY KNOW WHAT YOU GOT TILL IT’S GONEFor most international students this saying is something they experience during their time abroad. Most international stu-dents see their international period as the best part of their life. In this part you start a whole new life in a other country, with other people and other cultures. This can also mean you see your own culture from a different perspective and angle. You will start to miss things you never thought to miss. And therefore you will appreciate these things, gestures and people more when you come back. In the international period you could realise how much people mean to you, do for you, and love you. This can create a whole new respect for the people you care about.

GO OUT AND EXPLORE!Let’s be honest, you do not only go to another country just to study. The whole experience is based on a wider angle. Of course study is a big part of it, but also social contacts, devel-oping yourself and of course, travelling. You wont be the only one who wants to see more of the country and surrounding countries. You will have the ability to explore other countries you otherwise would never see. The university you study at might even plan trips for you.When you are used to this kind of travelling and exploring, your home city can be “too small” for you when you come back. The urge to travel more and investigate more cultures and countries will be an important souvenir you take back to your home country, This new type of exploring and travelling can be an addiction and something you will carry around for the rest of your life, beautiful isn’t it!

International experiences makes you grow Illustration by Sophie Kürth-Landwehr


73

CHANGE THE ANGLEDuring you international period you cannot keep the same perspective on things like you were used to. In order to re-spect and learn from new cultures you have to open yourself to receive this new information. You will not leave this ability in the country you have been, but you take it along with you to your home country. This new property will help you to see certain new and exiting things from a different angle. The val-ues you had can be strength or be abandoned and exchanged for new values.

THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDERe-integrate in your home country after a living a while in an other county is hard, it is as simple as that. The way you handle it is completely your own responsibility. It is not un-imaginable that you get homesick when your home. There are actually a lot of people who miss their “new” family from their international experience when they come home, that is com-pletely natural and normal. The best thing to do is to learn from this experience. You have probably learned to be more, or in an other way, social than you where before. You will use this experience and new quality back in you home country.

AND NOW WHATGo out and study in a country for a long time is not some-thing you suddenly do as an impulse, you will certainty not forget this time abroad. This experience will probably change your life for a long time and gives you the opportunity to get to know yourself better. The experiences you get cannot be compared to those you get when you stay in a classroom in your home university. When you come back the chances are quite big that you have changed. These changes can be visible in different ways, depending on the contrast of the “before” and “after”. The most striking change will probably be that your English will improve with big steps (when it is not your native language), since that is the language you will speak the most for a while. Travelling to the country where you will study will probably not be the only trip you do in that period. During your studies abroad you want to see more of the country and surrounding countries while you still have the chance. You will want to use this “gift” when you are back in your home country as well. The responsibility of living on your own, making a trip to a country you don’t know, to meet people you don’t know, and to do things you might not have done before, will create a new kind of responsibility which some people might never get. Hold on to this experience and share it with your loved ones at home.

Written by Gerwin Koppelaar


74

MAGAZINECREW What’s your most impressive exchange adventure ?

Laure ZatlereEditor in chief assistantLatvia

Erwin SpilEditor in chief assistantThe Netherlands

Gerwin KoppelaarArt directorThe Netherlands

Bart BergmeijerArt directorThe Netherlands

Darius DiasEditor in chief assistantCanada

Alison PironEditor in ChiefBelgium

“Seeing northen lights”“Walking on the ice” “White nights”

“Petting the moose”“Grow and explore” “Driving in the snow”


75

“Expect the unexpected” “Different life style”“All together”

Sjoukje van der HeideImage bossThe Netherlands

Jessalyn / Yijing WangTemplates & stylesheets teamThe Netherlands

Baiba KreicmanePhotographerLatvia

Sophie Kürth-LandwehrIllustrator & graphic designerGermany

Monika NetherIllustrator & graphic designerGermany

Chris ConstandsePhotographerThe Netherlands

Benoît RolinTemplates & stylesheets teamBelgium

Justine LecomteTemplates & stylesheets teamBelgium

Caroline GoffinPhotograph assistantBelgium

“Arctic swimming” “Change boots”“Friends & trips”

“Graphic & filming skills”“Fight for sleeping time”“Meeting new cultures”

Illustrations by Sophie Kürth-Landwehr & Monika NetherWritten by Jessalyn/ Yijing Wang


76


ED1 - Sweden Exchange - Exchange Magazine 2010 [Editor]

Documents

Transcript of ED1 - Sweden Exchange - Exchange Magazine 2010 [Editor]