I know it's been a while since my last post, but I've been very busy these past couple weeks. My story left off with our arrival in Middelburg. I also hinted at how living in Bagijnhof would be. Well, this post is going to cover a lot of events from our very first week in Middelburg. The IntRoweek...
We arrived in Middelburg on Monday, Jan. 20th. After having traveled for so long, it was really nice to have the rest of the day to just relax. But things started rather soon - at 9:30 the next morning, to be exact. All the new students for this semester reported to Helm's Square (the space between two of the campus buildings - Franklin and Theodore) to meet the RASA board members for our first day of IntRoweek.
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| RASA Board in front of Franklin. Front row, left to right: Steinar Boomsma, Ferry Tillekens, Marius d'Hond. Back row: Robert Peeters, Inge Zwart, Anne Laure Rouw. |
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| University College Roosevelt Dean Barbara Oomen |
Next came lunch and the revealing of the week's theme. The RASA board had chosen "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" as the theme, so they all wore western cowboy/girl hats to make them the sheriffs over the new students. They were on the lookout for the "most wanted" IntRoweek family. The big group was split into three smaller groups, with 10 students in each family. Thomas was placed in the "Good Family," I was put into the "Bad Family," and Lindsey was in the "Ugly Family." Each family had two older students as 'parents' for the week. To go along with the theme, the RASA board had organized various competitions, with the prize being dollars. Whoever had the most money at the end of the week won the title of "Most Wanted."
The first activity was a blindfolded trust walk through streets near campus. When we took our blindfolds off, our parents explained the activity: a scavenger hunt around Middelburg. The paper instructed us to collect various items by trading what was in our bag of items, take pictures by different buildings, and come up with a nickname for each member. Since my family was "Bad"...we tried to come up with villain nicknames. I was given "She-who-must-not-be-named" in reference to Voldemort from Harry Potter.
Each family was given a paperclip, a can of shoe polish, and a small musical instrument (that we could use, but couldn't trade). As we walked through the market square, we saw a flower stand. My parents designated two guys - Jasper and Matthijs (pronounced like Mathias) to try and trade the paperclip for a flower. They came back to the group with a beautiful pink rose, thus earning Matthijs the nickname "Casanova". We walked around the city for a while taking pictures by various buildings and brainstorming ideas of what to trade for. One of the items on the list was alcohol, so we found a pub and Jasper traded the rose for a bottle of beer. Matthijs tried going to the police station to trade the shoe polish for something in the lost and found, but it didn't work. We also had to find something red. While we walked near my street (Bagijnhof) we found a red/white striped traffic cone just lying there amid other junk, so we took it. I don't remember all the items on the list, but we eventually traded up to a small coffee table. We took our items back to RASA for evaluation. After all the points were tallied, my family came out as the winners.
We had supper as families on Tuesday night. After supper was the "pub crawl" during which each family had additional assignments to complete. I chose to stay home, since I don't drink. Technically the age here is 18, but in America it's 21, and my birthday isn't until May.
The next day we met at 11:30 for brunch and a meeting with Dr. de Wit, the director of education. We discussed how each student is paired with a faculty member as a tutor/mentor and then we received our class schedules. My schedule had all the classes I had asked for on my application. I'm currently taking Introduction to Theatre and Media Studies, The Bible in the Arts, Introduction to Psychology, and World History. I'll explain more about my first week of classes later.
Shortly after eating brunch, we gathered in one of the classrooms in Eleanor to play a "speed-dating" style game to get to know our 'opponents' from the other families. Every time we switched partners, we had three minutes to talk about the topic on the prompt at that station. But there was a catch - each prompt had a handicap that you had to follow. A few of mine were: must sing every sentence; what's your favorite music, but you can't mention artists, song names, genres, or instruments; and you are not allowed to tell the truth.
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| Getting to know my opponents... |
On Thursday we met at 10:00am for a real tour of the city with RASA board members. We'd seen a lot of Middelburg during the scavenger hunt, but we were rushing around and didn't get to take in much of what we saw. We didn't have to stay in our families for the tour, but we were split into two groups. Inge led the group I was in. We learned the history of the street names and saw gorgeous architecture. To end the tour, we all met up at the tallest building in Middelburg - the Lange Jan (pronounced lahn-geh yahn).
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| I didn't take this picture. I found it online. This is a view of the Lange Jan and the Abbey, as well as quite a bit of the city. I included this picture to show the height of Lange Jan (translated to Long John). |
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| View down into the Abbey Square |
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| The tallest building you can see in the two photos above is the tower on Franklin at UCR's campus. Franklin is the building that looks like Hogwarts. |
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| Marius explains to Thomas how the tower's old bell system worked. |
The morning was cloudy and misty, much like it usually is. Today as I write this post, it's actually sunny =)
After walking down the 207 steps, we met in a classroom in Theodore to learn UCR's anthem. The song was a gift from a couple students to the university back in 2011. We learned the anthem because we had been invited to attend the Dies Natalies celebration in honor of this year being the tenth anniversary of UCR. And during the ceremony, we'd be singing the anthem. The lyrics go as follows:
A steadfast Zeeland town of old,
Stands firm agains the Northern cold.
And nestled safely in her heart,
There stands a school, a world apart.
The bright minds sheltered deep within
Wake rested, eager to begin.
The gain in knowledge evermore,
Beneath the golden figures, pure.
A strong communal bond presides,
Politeness reigns, respect abides.
An hon'rable collegiates' code
Will guide us safe down future's road.
The beads of wisdom we can see
Are strung onto our memory.
And 'neath the town hall's watchful eye,
We study, party, love, and lie.
The statue's face may fade with years,
The bells will peal upon new ears.
We all shall pass our wisdom on
And swear our fealty, though we're gone.
We'll spread remembrance of this place,
With smiles on every aging face.
In all our hearts eternally,
Hail UC Roosevelt!
Hail UC Roosevelt!
After our singing lesson, we had a final game to earn points. We went back to the dorm where we ate pizza and played Capture the Flag. Then we had a break to get ready for the Dies celebration. When that got done, we met in an upper-level Franklin room for our final supper together as the Spring 2014 IntRoweek group. We had pancakes. But they were very different from American-style pancakes. These were almost as thin as crepes, and they had various ingredients baked into them. I tried one with bacon, another with cheese, and a plain one. Like most of the Dutch food I've had thus far, they were delicious. At the final supper, the RASA board announced which family was the "most wanted" for the week. My family won the title.
It definitely helped to stay so busy during my first week in Middelburg. I think it helped me get over the jet-lag faster. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were free to relax after all the craziness of IntRoweek. And then classes started on Jan. 27. Let's just say that my schedule is very different from anything I've ever had at UNK...
I don't have class on Mondays.
On Tuesdays I have World History from 8:45-10:45 a.m. Then Intro to Psychology from 1:45-3:45 p.m. And right after Psych, I go to The Bible in the Arts from 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Wednesdays are also long, but only in the mornings. I have one 4-hour class (Intro to Theatre and Media Studies) from 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. It's that long because it meets only once a week, whereas the other courses meet twice a week for two 2-hour sessions.
I don't have class on Thursdays.
On Fridays I have the same classes I had on Tuesdays. Except the meeting times and class order are switched around. I have The Bible in the Arts from 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Then I go to World History from 1:45-3:45 p.m. And right after World History I have Intro to Psych from 4:00-6:00 p.m.
I survived my first week of classes, and my schedule doesn't seem all that bad...considering I have Mondays and Thursdays free. But those will definitely be my homework days. For now, I'll just try to take every experience as it comes and keep up with my schoolwork.
Middelburg is full of adventures waiting to happen, and I'm full of curiosity. One of these days I'm just going to walk around with my camera and take a bunch of pictures. Though I'll probably wait for another sunny day...
Until we meet again...
~Laurie
