Zooming thru the year

A friend of mine reminded me that I'm falling behind on my posts and that my fans are dying to hear what's going on in my life.  Okay okay, fans is a bit dramatic but I'm sure a few of you are curious how things have been going since my last post back in January!

At this moment, I've been living in Utrecht for nearly 8 months! This fact blows my mind.  It just doesn't totally feel like that long even though it's been a great experience so far.  I've gotten to know my city pretty well and I have favorite places to shop, eat, drink coffee and go out for a beer or cocktail.  I've got pretty decent command of riding a bike although admittedly when you've had a few drinks it's a wee bit more challenging... I have a running bucket list with biking that includes riding with no hands and carrying someone on the back of my bike.  I've got a solid group of friends and housemates who are supportive of me when things can get tough (which they have occasionally).  Overall, I've carved out a happy little nook for myself.

Me and my bike!

My street in Utrecht (F.C. Dondersstraat)

Utrecht and the dom tower on a sunny day

This is the oudegracht (old canal) in Utrecht

So what is there to report on?  Since January I've been going to my 9-month internship at the University of Amsterdam which means I've been doing the commuting thing.  It's been fun, actually.  My commute door to door is about 45 minutes.  I bike to the train then train to Amstel station and then take a bus to the science park.  The downside is the expense.  For that, I resent dutch students.  At the moment, they can elect to travel for free on the weekdays or the weekends.  Obviously, if they are commuting for school, they chose the free week travel.  Lucky for me, I have my scholarship to help cushion the costs although I see the money disappear much more quickly now.

I've met some new people at my internship and at first it was hard.  Most of the group is dutch and they're aren't fabulous at switching to English all the time despite their mostly excellent command of the language.  Granted, all professional meetings and work that internationals are involved in are conducted in english but it was more of struggle during lunch or social breaks.  I've found in, at least our group, that there is more resistance to switching languages than there was in Utrecht which is interesting considering I hear much more english spoken around the UvA campus than the Utrecht campus.  Luckily, I work with two awesome internationals and a few dutchies who are really great about switching to english with us.  They really lighten the stress and frustrations of the internship.  I'm so happy to have met them.

Over the past couple months, I've decided that I probably want to do my PhD back in the states.  As great as it is being here, I've realized it's hard being far from home, friends and familiarity.  I used to be proud of my ability to move and feel comfortable in a new place rather quickly and surround myself with great people.  I still have that skill but I've realized that it doesn't translate into the ability to be a constant nomad and live anywhere in the world.  It's also been a realization that language separates you from normal experiences when you're immersed in your native tongue. I think it's important to make a small caveat, here.  I have not learned much, if any, dutch in my time living here. In some ways I regret this but in others I don't.  By not learning dutch I miss out on eavesdropping, at least partial, conversations.  By not learning dutch I don't have to struggle with difficult pronunciations etc when in reality I can pretty easily converse with any dutch person in english.  And frankly, unless I chose to live here more permanently, dutch isn't the most functional of languages since it's a small country and dutch isn't a commonly shared language.  Back to the main topic, I miss out on things without knowing the language and I miss that.  Those of you who know me, know how social I am.  When I'm at a party, it's extremely typical for me to hop all over the party in and out of many different conversations.  But when I'm at a party that's predominantly in another language, it's much more challenging to do that and silly as it sounds, it sucks having that taken away from me.  In the end, I have another year and few months living here in Europe and who knows what is really in store for me.  Maybe I'll fall in love with a new place and decide I want to stay forever.  In the meantime, I'll just take it day by day!

For those of you with an appreciation of the hilarious typicalness that accompanies my life, I have a good story.

On Valentines day, I went out clubbing with a few of my coworkers.  Alcohol was consumed, dinner was missed and I found myself a little drunker than I should have.  Long story short, I tripped and fell as we were leaving and my face, specifically one front tooth, caught my fall.  I also sliced under my chin pretty nicely.  In the end, I should've gone to the hospital but I just didn't want to deal with it at the time and didn't think they could do much either.  I went to the dentist the next day, got a root canal that following morning because I managed to expose one of my nerves in the break.  Then we had to figure out my insurance, which took way longer than it should've, but luckily the insurance covered the entire costs of the root canal and the crown.  It's still a bit a continuing story (yes, I realize it's almost 2.5 months later) because the crown glued on crooked and got a chip in it (not by my own fault).  I'll be replacing it soon.

Looking good

At the end of March, one of my best friends from New Paltz, where I did my bachelors, was able to visit me here in the Netherlands.  I know that part of the trip worked out because she tacked it onto another she was taking with her mom to Spain but regardless, I was so thrilled to share my current life with a friend.  Even though we had only 4 days of excitement, we got lots of sightseeing and shopping squeezed in.  I got to be a tourist in Amsterdam, which admittedly I hadn't really done yet.  We went on a canal boat tour, walked the red light district, ate dutch pancakes and took lots of pictures.  Conveniently, I had bought tickets for Mumford and Sons that weekend AND I'd bought two extra tickets for no reason.  Now I know I bought them for Emily and her mom without knowing it.  It was awesome sharing a concert in another country for a band that we both really love.  Such an unexpected treat.  I hope she's not the only visitor other than my parents but even if she is, it means something that one more person got to take a little peek into my life here.

Em and I outside the pancake house in Amsterdam

Mumford and Sons at Ziggo Dome

So that's a nice little sum it up post about what I've been up to lately.  I'm sure I've missed some things but I'll probably just make another post if I did!

Guest Post: Healthcare in NL

So I've decided to get ambitious and possibly lazy and asked my friends if they would like to join in and write up their experiences moving abroad.  All of us do somewhat different things and come from different countries and perspectives and I thought it would be cool to share that with all of my readers.

First up is Teresa!

        Teresa is in my neuroscience masters and works with Green Fluorescent Protein tagged neurons so (nerds that we are) she's a GFP tagged person :)

Hoi!

My name is Teresa and I’m happy to follow Brenna’s invitation to write a guest entry to her blog. I am an Austrian who has lived abroad in the US, Denmark and now the Netherlands, and I am especially interested in intra-European differences.

I had a lot of ideas, ranging from gel-indulging Dutch male hair styles to their blindsiding honesty. But (un)fortunate coincidence has brought to me a topic about which I can now talk about from personal experience: Gezondheidszorg, the Dutch health care system.

It started with a moderate sore throat that I didn’t worry about too much. When it didn’t go away after a week, I went to the local drugstore for advice. Technically not a pharmacy, they mainly sell body care products and a wide selection of relatively high dosed pain medication, many of which wouldn’t be available over-the-counter or outside pharmacies in other European countries.

A bit to my surprise they didn’t try to sell my anything, not even symptomatic relief, which they definitively would have done in Austria.  But simply said that it will go away on its own. ”Maybe get these honey liquorice drops for a euro on sale”, which, a bit faithlessy, I did.

As the symptoms worsened and I felt too sick to work, I decided to go to find a GP. Finding one, making an appointment and bridging the language gap went smooth, she saw me the same day. Again to my surprise, she discouraged me of taking any antibiotics but recommended strong pain relievers and faith in my immune system. With a background in molecular biology, I do generally have the latter, and I understand the fear of creating multi-resistances, so I decided to wait the weekend and see.

At that point, Brenna was the first one to mention to me that the Dutch have the tendency not to give medication when not absolutely necessary. I didn’t think about it too much, since in my experience the US American environment was more inclined to give out medication than my Austrian one.

Without giving too many details, it wasn’t a good idea to wait and I acquired some unpleasant stuff. I don’t consider myself a hypochondriac, and I was feeling a certain degree of urgency, so I was quite sure that when I went back to the GP the Monday after, that she would give me antibiotics. But still, no. She wasn’t sure what the effect would be. I should see a specialist first, meaning possibly waiting for one to two weeks for an appointment. In the meantime, she could give me stronger pain medication. 

Which I was quite sure wouldn’t close my ulcer.

This spurred my interest in this, in my eyes, bewildering system. What is the philosophy behind it? How is it organized?

One of the first things I read was a guideline¹ for expats to the health care system. Some excerpts:

"In general, there is a natural, non-interventionist approach to medical and maternity care in The Netherlands, reflected in the reluctance of doctors to prescribe drugs unless absolutely necessary, the general practice of giving birth without any pain relief and the high proportion of home births. Additionally, doctors tend to volunteer much less information to their patients about their conditions than is normal practice elsewhere, and there is far less preventative health screening than in many other western countries; it is not, for example, usual for women to have annual pap smears. Some non-Dutch nationals living in The Netherlands reportedly find this approach to healthcare a source of concern.“

"Alternative treatments, such as homeopathy and acupuncture, are very popular in The 
Netherlands and the cost of these are sometimes covered by health insurance." (Skeptics – where are you?)

The guide states that 55% of Dutch births take place at home, apparently the highest rate in the Western world (a short search in academic literature² suggests lower rates, 25-35%). The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates the US American share of home births to be around 0.70%, similar to the rates I could find for other European countries.

I find it difficult to embed this non-interventionalist fact, with some homeopathic hagelslag³ mixed in, into my general picture of Dutch culture. It especially seems to collide with their tradition and general high esteem of science.

Why give somebody pain medication, when there is a remedy that might have the same amount or even less side effects – taking into account that the natural course can take considerably longer? Do they value “fighting” something through on your own? Do you get a medal?

-(The popular blog ”Stuff Dutch People like” offers another explanation: Home births are just more gezellig - cozy, intimate, sociable.)

Another aspect that I find intriguing: If there is a tendency to “let nature take its course”, which I read from child birth without pain relief and generally less medication given – how does this fit with the Dutch liberal attitude towards euthanasia? Is suffering just a part of it at some, but not other stages of life?

Maybe I expect too much philosophy behind this. The reasons might be merely economical. Give less medication unless necessarily needed, save costs. But what about the longer time courses of disease? The missed days of work?

As a simplification, let’s look at some statistics: According to the OECD report  ”Health at a Glance 2011”⁴ the Netherlands has the second highest health expenditure in relation to GDP (following the US) of OECD member countries, which is roughly synonymous with the Western World. When looking at expenditure on pharmaceuticals per capita as a share of GDP, it scores a lot lower, 17th place out of 32 OECD member countries. While generally giving less than average medication, the Netherlands is the country of the Western world distributing the least amount of antibiotics, half of average. There seems to be a commission just dedicated to the decrease of usage, which in general seems legitimate – as long as people don’t start hesitating to use them when there really is a need for them.

So apparently, there is a difference in allocation of health care spending in the Netherlands compared to other countries, with less spent on medication. Then what do they spend it on? They score average for all measures I could find, such as doctors consultations per capita and length of stay in hospitals.⁵

Final outcomes: In life expectancy at age 65, it only scores 19th, and 10th (out of 32 countries each) in population aged 65 years and over reporting to be in good health, according to the same report.

OECD’s ”Society at a glance”⁶ from 2006 places the Netherlands slightly above average for work days lost to sickness and disability.

Thus, there seems to be a lot of spending with moderately satisfying outcomes. And some frustrated expats!

References

¹ „Dutch Health Care System“ by Bronovo Hospital, Den Haag. (http://www.bronovo.nl/NR/rdonlyres/9C846A53-22AD-40BB-9B92-E9242A123053/0/dutch_health_care_apr2011.pdf)

² Maternity Care in the Netherlands: The Changing Home Birth Rate. Wiegers et al, 1998. BIRTH 25:3.

³ http://stuffdutchpeoplelike.com/2011/03/06/hagelslag/

⁴ OECD: Health at a glance

http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/health-at-a-glance-2011_health_glance-2011-en

⁵ Interesting detail: The report also states that approx. 66% of adult females are screened for cervical cancer (pap test), so I guess the person of the guide mentioned above prided the Netherlands a bit too much on non-interventionalism.

⁶ OECD. Society at a glance

http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/society-at-a-glance-2006_soc_glance-2006-en

Notable Differences

Originally I thought I wouldn't write a post while I'm abroad but since I've returned, I started seeing and noticing things that are different from when I'm living in Holland so I think I'll keep a list.  Some of these difference seem like "duh" moments but I think it's important to think about when you're used to one thing (the US) then acclimate to another place (Holland) and then return to the original place (the US) those differences stick out even more!  I think at some point this list will become less specific so bear with me :)

What I've noticed:

-I used to say that I miss overhearing peoples conversations when I'm out and about on the bus/train/shops etc.  In Holland I barely know dutch so I really don't hear many conversations around me and thus I just tune them out.  When I got back I thought I would like hearing my language but it turns out that most people talk about dumb and uninteresting things...and now I have to "hear" them because it's in english. Although I still miss hearing little kiddos talking about funny things and the occasion overheard awkward conversations.

-Customer service.  Okay okay I know that it's known that American's are super nice and always checking in on you and in Europe they make it their business to serve you and then leave you be.  On one hand I like the european way since you're not overly harassed but also I miss the american way because sometimes it's difficult to get the waiters attention if you need something and it's a nice feeling to connect with a person who's entirely in control of the food that goes into your mouth.  But MAN when I first arrived back we ate dinner at the airport mexican restaurant while we waited for my sister to arrive and the waitress was driving me absolutely insane! It may be partially attributed to the fact that I was extremely sleep deprived but at that moment, I missed the european way.  After 3 weeks, I overall miss the european style leave them alone idea.  I was rushed out of a restaurant the other day and did not like that.

-I have to remember to tip again while I'm in the US...although I like good service, it's nice not having to consider tip as much while I'm abroad.

-In Holland the bathroom stalls usually have a door that you can shut like a regular bathroom.  I'm guessing they enjoy their privacy.  I've gotten used to it and I also like that privacy.  Now that I'm back in the US I have to get used to having shitty stall doors that have a foot open below and inches on each side. Just different hah.

-This might sound a little silly and hopefully not rude to my international friends but I realized that sometimes I have a hard time finding my own words in english.  In a way my english is degrading just slightly.  That's a weird feeling.  I also noticed that it was a little hard to get used to the speed of conversation with a bunch of natives again.  It's not like everyone speaks really slowly in Utrecht but when you speak in your native tongue with other natives inherently the conversation speed increases.

-I miss riding my bike.  The other day I, literally, spent 10 minutes driving my car around one of our local parking lots trying (with difficulty) to find a parking spot! It was insanity.  It made me miss just parking your bike wherever you like.  Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy driving and the freedom to go to distant places on my own timetable but I do miss the loveliness of riding my bike everywhere.

-I don't miss using euros instead of dollars. Every time I use euros I see my money slipping away (poor exchange rates).  I love that, generally speaking, shopping is cheaper here.  I also admittedly like that I can shop more quickly because I'm familiar with all of the stores and products.  It's also quite nice that everything is in english :P

-I went down to Santa Fe to do a little shopping before xmas and it was really amusing to me that even here in the US I don't just hear people speaking in english.  In fact, the majority of passing conversations I heard were in spanish.  Reminded me a bit of being back in Utrecht.  In fact, I've been noticing that many signs are written in both english and spanish.  Maybe it's always been like that and I've never minded but I found myself looking at the secondary provided text because typically english is the secondary text when I'm in NL.

-I really really really missed eating new mexican food.  It's just something that I won't be able to find in the Netherlands and it does bum me out.  I'm planning to bring much more back with me if I can manage it (i.e. green and red chile)!

-If there is anything that becomes repeatedly clear to me, it's that I am and always will be a mountain girl. I grew up in the mountains and I just love them.  There is something so majestic about them that I can't always find when I'm at the beach or in the wide open fields.  No offense NL but you just don't have that.

-Grocery stores.  America does it big.  This is definitely a cliche that we live up to.  The single grocery store in my hometown is about 5-7 times bigger than any of the grocery stores I've walked into while living in the NL.  On one hand, it's really nice because you have tons of options and you can find more unusual items that I typically haven't a clue where to look for them in NL.  The opposing thought is that I get on just find if not better in a smaller store.

• Caveat: I've noticed that you learn about what a culture/group likes to eat a lot of by examining what they provide tons of options for.  It's a wee bit more difficult to determine in the US but the dutch most definitely show it in the grocery stores. 
• Bread. Not only are there many options but nearly all of it is always gone by 6pm daily. It's insanity how much bread they eat on a daily basis.
• Dairy products.  There's so much and I don't even know what half of it is.  It's all kinds of drinks that are yogurts, yogurts that are drinks, buttermilk beverages, milks etc. Dessert style yogurt etc.  It's a lot!
• Mayonnaise. I pretty much loathe the stuff although there is something different about the type they have in NL.  But they have a hilarious selection of different types.  It's only laughable because that's normal in the US for allllll the condiments but really it's only focused in on mayo.
• Frying oil. Piggy backing on the mayo--fries combo, they love fried food.  I think every dutch party I've been to have served fried food as munchies and all of it was actually fried in their own personal frier.  That makes me smile. (*but how are you all still skinny?! bikes I guess)
• Sweets.  This can apply to both US and NL but I still remark on it because the sweets are different to what I see on our shelves.  I can't quite tell you what makes them different but they are. Frankly I'm not a huge sweets fan so I haven't dabbled to find out.

-One final note.  Going back home has made it just a little harder to come back here.  Don't get me wrong, I love living in Utrecht and I've met great people but it gave me this uncomfortable feeling of not knowing where I belong.  The chapter of my life in Los Alamos has closed although I still have many valuable friends there and the chapter of my life in Utrecht has only just begun.  Sometimes it's hard to find a place still.  I know it will come with time and I look forward to that certainty but in a way this break may have been poorly timed with my adjustment to life here in Utrecht.  BUT oh well!! I had a great time with friends and family in Los and I plan to continue having a great time in Utrecht.  Take it as it comes.

Failures

**sidenote: I wrote this post over 3 weeks so it might be slightly scattered and cover a lot of time**


One thing that I often forget is that with successes come failures and they are more difficult to embrace.  But in my heart I know that I learn more from my failures.

This time around I've had a failure in passing my final examination for my intensive 10-wk course.  It came as quite the shock despite my anxious feelings about my test performance.  That anxiety was quelled because my peer group also felt similarly and I figured I was just suffering from post-test nerves.  Unfortunately, that wasn't the case and while I was bombarded on facebook about everyone passing the exam etc, I received an email telling me that I needed to temporarily suspend my time at my internship and focus on studying for my re-examination in two weeks.  This failure is particularly hard for me because I've never truly failed any exam in my college life and even my high school life (ignoring one particularly woeful AP chemistry test).  Now, I'm not writing this to look for sympathy or pats on the back.  I'm writing this post because I told myself that I wanted to give an honest opinion and log of my time here, so here goes.

I can confidently say that on that day, I experienced my first true and honest bout of homesickness.  This my be surprising but I think it's important to note that I tend to make myself a new family in every place I inhabit and it always eases the difficulty of being away from home.  I've also lived far away from home in my bachelors so being thousands of miles away isn't a new concept for me either.  But this is the first time that I couldn't pick up the phone and call my mom or dad and hash out all of my frustrations and sadness.  I couldn't even skype with them because of the 8 hrs time difference. That was hard.  I've been lucky enough to have friends here that I can trust and open up to them and admit my embarrassment and sadness but they don't fill the unconditional love that comes from a parent. Regardless, they made me feel better and due to time difference I couldn't speak with my parents until the weekend.  They and a number of friends I spoke to here and at home were understanding and supportive.

Now, I'm going to go negative about my experience here so far just because I think it's important to indicate that things are always roses and daisies.  Inherently, moving to a new country and schooling system I would run into differences and difficulties.  This issue is that I'm not necessarily appreciating the differences.  My 10 wk course was a bit disappointing because I felt we never got the chance to get to the heart of the matter regardless of topic.  Inherently, it's nearly impossible to go in depth when you are squeezing a years of coursework into 10 weeks but I do think there are improvements to be made.  I struggled to find cohesion when my lecturer changed almost every hour each day.  How can you learn to predict what they think is important when you are constantly bombarded with different opinions that do not necessarily speak with each other.  Additionally, I've never taken an exam that was written by 5-8 different individuals.  This was an...experience.  The exam didn't feel as fluid and because I typically study based on cues I receive from the individuals, it was also a struggle.  The grading is also something new to me as well but that's another matter (they do a rigid scale from 1-10).  I can understand it well enough..Most frustrating is the fact that the re-examination does nothing to actually test my knowledge.  One question from each cluster I failed will not elaborate on my "true" knowledge of a topic.  I also don't understand why I don't see feedback on my exam either.  I understand that it's further work but when you're not given much else to understand...that might be helpful.

Back to some positive vibes...

Having taken the re-exam and passed it(!!) I continue uphold these thoughts.  I found it ridiculous that I studied so much material and was only tested on one topic.  Additionally, I was tested on the subjects that I had passed in the original exam.  How can you use this re-exam as a fair measure of competence if that happens?! Ah well, I'm happy it's all over.

Tomorrow I fly back to the US for 3 weeks and I'm really looking forward to it.  It will be to get away, clear my head and recharge my batteries for the upcoming 9 month internship that will undoubtedly try my patience on a number of occasions.  I'm looking forward to seeing friends who've recently been engaged, new friends, old friends, lots of family and friends that are like family to me.  It's going to be an excellent time.  I'm also looking forward to the sunshine and lack of rain! I don't hate it too much here but sometimes...I really miss having the idyllic Los Alamos 355 days of sunshine.

The past weekend I celebrated christmas with my friends and housemates.  My friends and I got together and all brought food and gifts and drank gluhwijn and spiked cider.  It was truly gezellig.  Me and my other american housemate introduced the secret santa gifting to our greek and chinese housemates.  On top of that we also celebrated together by eating dinner at a chinese restaurant which is a cliche "Jewish Christmas" theme.  It was really nice to give eachother gifts and see everyone's happy faces sharing a meal and gifts.  Can't wait for more of it back at home!

Probably won't have another post until after the new year.  Happy Holidays everyone!

Giving Thanks

I'll be keeping this post short but I thought I would share my thanksgiving experiences this year.

As my fellow Americans know, thanksgiving is a special time of year.  I like it particularly because it's not a holiday that is surrounded by religion which can sometimes divide family and friends.  Although thanksgiving certainly has it's sourness when we consider the history of settlers and their treatment of native peoples, which despite the colorful cartoons they feed children, is quite gruesome and bloody amongst both groups it can truly be a joyous holiday.

Growing up, I had a more unconventional thanksgiving than the typical advertised kind in american tv and film.  Since my extended family on both sides live very far away (Kansas and New York) we typically celebrate thanksgiving with 4-5 other families that my parents went to graduate school with.  Thus I've always been surrounded by a group of people I consider my family away from family.

When I lived in NY for my bachelors I was able to experience the more "quintessential" thanksgiving that is rich in family and inherently a little drama! Those years with my family was also truly lovely.

This year, as you know, I'm abroad and away from both types of family.  Many people asked me if I was homesick about the holiday and overall I thought, "No no, I'm fine. It's sad but what can you do?" At the beginning of the month, I wasn't sure if I would be able to participate in any kinds of mock thanksgiving meals since student housing often doesn't have an oven and even with the ovens you lack many of the tools required.  But I was blessed to celebrate the holiday this year twice!!

The sister of a friend I went to high school with is studying in Rotterdam and our mom's had spoken and she contacted me saying to call if I ever felt homesick etc.  Later she was sweet enough to think of me and invite me to join her and her friends for a thanksgiving dinner. I originally wasn't sure if I would be able to attend but in the end I was able to go and bring along my german friend, Laura.  We had a lovely time meeting new people, many of whom are also international, and eating great food.  I have to admit that it was nice to be reminded of home in the food we ate.

The second thanksgiving was Saturday.  I joined a lovely group of international students who are "mentored" by a dutch student and get together and share drinks and food weekly.  I've been really happy to meet such a great group and just lovely dutch mentors who go the extra mile to take care of us.  There are two other americans in the group though we're all from different parts of the US: New Mexico, Illinois(Chicago), and Washington DC.  Although I wasn't sure if I would be able to help out with the meal, I decided to do it and I'm glad I did.  Charlotte, one of our dutchies, offered up her parents home for the meal which made all the difference in prepping for the meal.

We started at 3:30 after picking up a 4.5 kilo/10 lbs fresh turkey from the butcher.  Alice had forethought to bring champagne which reminded me fondly of thanksgiving I share with my family in NY.  We always start our day with mimosas.  From there on out, we worked together to prepare our very first ever thanksgiving meal.  None of us had really any experience in preparing side dishes and certainly had no clue how to cook a turkey!  Luckily we were in a gorgeous fully equipped kitchen that could satisfy all of our cooking needs.

I proudly made apple pie for the first time and I thought it was delicious.  Frankly, the meal turned out better than I ever could've imagined.  We worked hard and we ate incredible amounts of food.  In case you're interested, we made:

• Turkey (with bacon on top!!)
• Stuffing
• Corn
• Candied carrots
• Pea, mushroom and onion casserole
• Mashed potatoes with rosemary goat cheese
• Salad
• Gravy from the drippings
• Apple Pie
• Lots and lots of wine and beer :D

Finally, my absolute favorite part of every thanksgiving aside from being surrounded by people you really love, is when everyone goes around the table saying what they're thankful for. To me, it's something we as a culture don't do often enough.  We are constantly rushing around frantically from one day to the next moaning about this and that and we forget to stop and look around at all the things we take for granted.  But on thanksgiving you have the chance to slow down and do just that.  And from my experiences, sometimes it can truly be tear-worthy speeches every year.  Since most guests were foreign, this was a new experience but every single person (new to the group or not) was able to say something nice and insightful about their lives.  Although many of us are thankful for the same things, each person was able to give us a peek into their lives and what truly matters to them.

So, I want to thank every person I celebrated with this year because you made this holiday mean even more to me than it did before.  Happy Thanksgiving!

The Chefs, Alice, me and Brooke from the right and our Dutch host Charlotte on far left

The masterpiece turkey

My apple pie!

The whole group :)

Familiar Comforts

So it's been about a month since I've posted about how things are going here at Utrecht and that's for a number of reasons.  I always want to have a nice coherent story to tell about my life in these posts but it often works out that this story bounces all over the place and I can't always manage it. So as a result, I'm just going to talk about my life the way it is, jumbled and fun.

This past month has been the most academically intensive of my time here so far.  We jumped into a 3 week section on molecular neuroscience and although I have some background and experience in the field, it was still demanding and cognitively exhausting at some points.  In addition to this block, we also had our midterm exam and the largest paper thus far.  Although I've had the grade scheme explained to me, it's still foreign and so it's hard to know what to expect.  If there's anything I hate, it's uncertainty.  So you can only imagine how this new grade scheme may have set me a little on edge!  But it's all over now and I'm happy enough with my grades.  I could always do better but I'm happy to have it over with.  Now that I've taken one exam I can better understand and prepare for the final exam next week!!

I continue to be blessed in the people who surround me here.  I've been able to connect with a number of great people and it has made adjusting to moving here much easier.  It's great to have international friends because you can connect over cultural differences and struggles that inherently come with being abroad and it's also great having dutch friends because they can help you out in the opposite way by teaching you more about their culture and generally helping you out by for example reading and translating the soup of the day for you....everyday.

Friday was our last day of classes and it was a bit sad.  I'm happy that the fundamentals course is over but I'll miss seeing all of my classmates everyday and sharing lunch together. I hope we all make an effort to see each other every few weeks and get together for nights out!

My *big news* is that I've chosen my internship for the next 9 months (finally!).  I'll be doing it in amsterdam which isn't the ideal since I'll have to commute but I'm positive that it will be worth it.  I'm working with transgenic mice and chronic stress modeling with attention to neurodevelopment.  What really sealed the deal for me was the opportunity to learn a number of biological and behavioral techniques.  I'm also looking forward to this part of my masters.  Doing hands on research was a huge part of my excitement with this program.  I'll start working in a few weeks and then leave for a vacation at home for 3 weeks over xmas.

One of the reasons why I named this post familiar comforts is because although I've been adjusting well and enjoying it here, I miss silly things from home.  I miss knowing what sizes I wear in shoes and clothes.  I miss going to one store and being able to find everything I might be looking for in one trip.  Here I have to wander around to different stores for different items.  It makes it a little harder for me because I'm just unfamiliar with the stores so I don't have as many "go-tos".  All of these examples are very silly and shouldn't make a difference and generally they don't but occasionally I want what I know.  I think it comes down to missing familiarity in my daily life.  I'm always working to create new familiars for myself but it's still a challenge.  And in good form, I'm giving myself more challenges by moving my daily work to another city! I guess I'm addicted to trying new things :)

Going home will satisfy those cravings for tacos and breakfast burritos with green chile.  I'll get to go skiing, spend time with great friends and see my family.  It's maybe a little silly to go back home so soon but at the same time, I can be sure that my family won't be working and friends will be home for the holidays.  It's surprising that I've only been living here for a few months.  I still have so much to learn and experience in this city and country!  Hopefully a little fluency in dutch is a part of that formula too.

Acclimation

I've been living here in Utrecht for about 5 weeks now and I'm still loving it.  I'll admit that that statement alone is a relief.  As confident as I might have been coming here, it was still a risky choice.  Two years is a long time to move to another country far away from family and friends.  But luckily, I've had only positive experiences with my program, the people and my new friends.

Since my masters is set up to have an intensive 9am to 5pm 5 days/week schedule, I've gotten to chat and meet with many of my fellow classmates.  Most of them are dutch as we have 6-7 total internationals out of 55 students.  At first I was a little intimidated by the fact that most of my classmates typically communicate with eachother in their native tongue, which I don't speak or understand, but now most of them have learned which of us are international and are fully capable and absolutely willing to switch to english.  This is a relief and also a kind gesture that continues to convince me that moving here was the right choice.

One of the most interesting things I've noticed about the dutch (although there are plenty other notable things), is that when they speak in english they often have a variety of accents.  I think I tend to have an ear for accents and notice subtle differences that are attributed to more than simple person to person differences.  It's really an interesting phenomena that I think can be chalked up to their exposure to english and american film and tv.  Many people have different shades of english accents while others lean more towards american accents.  Basically, I just find it super unusual because in the past I can tell different accents apart like italian, french, german and english.  Here, it's a guessing game.

Today I also experienced something that I might call an evident culture difference.  Generally speaking, the dutch are considered an egalitarian society that favors equality among individuals.  I've heard this, read about it and been given examples but today it was also apparent to me that this situation would've gone differently at home.  Today we were given information about the different opportunities for student representation and involvement in the department.  There are a limited number of spaces in the groups and they also are interested in a diverse and equally representative group.  Much to the presenters surprise, there were way too many volunteers.  This is where I found it interesting.  At home, I think the first suggestion to solve this problem would have been to hold elections.  The group would decide based on the experience, qualities and presentation of each candidate who's best fit for each job. One could say it would've been democracy at work.  Instead of this idea, essentially it came down to them saying they'll pick at random and also based on fulfilling diversity criteria because any other way would be unfair since they don't know anyone (although I'd argue that that is the fairest possible if you do a merit based scheme).  I'm not complaining about their system but I realized that our culture differences come through in these ways.  Anyways, I'm hoping I'll get a position but if not, I suppose it's less work and headache for me in the future!

I've found that since moving abroad, seeing and hearing is believing.  Before I left I did some reading up on weather, history, culture etc in the Netherlands.  One of the most important was that they bike in ALL kinds of weather.  Now, I knew this would probably be true but it didn't feel real until I started biking in it with them.  *According to them, I haven't seen anything dramatic yet either*  The other day was more typical dutch weather with rain and high winds.  I used to think that walking into wind can be annoying until I was biking into it.  It truly slows you down and if you weren't born on a bicycle (aka most non-dutch) you lack the grace required to maintain perfect balance when a crosswind catches you.    But I haven't fallen off the bike yet and I don't expect to until perhaps the ice and snow comes.  At that point I have no idea what to expect and I can only hope to not fall under particularly embarrassing circumstances.

A few important and exciting steps I've taken towards becoming a settled person here in Utrecht include picking up my residency permit, registering with the city, getting a bank account and bank card(!!), and hopefully soon a cell phone!  It sounds silly but all of these items, particularly the bank stuff, makes it significantly easier for me to do anything in Holland.  Most places only accept cards with a chip and rarely take anything other than maestro.  Both of which I did not have before arriving here.  I'm still getting used to finding my way around the city.  There are occasions that I definitely know where I am but there are also definite occasions in which I find myself going in circles.  It's all a part of the experience but it can really be defeating occasionally.

Class just kicked into high gear with a few big assignments on the horizon followed by our midterm exam.  Even though I'm confident in my abilities, I worry about being graded in another country since it's different from what I know.  I think it will be fine in the end, though.  I really can't believe it's already October! I'm getting a little nostalgic for all of the fall and halloween decorations that plague grocery store.  It's not a big thing here in the Netherlands.  I won't be seeing excited children dressed up in costume this year which is weird since I've seen that every year since my own days as that excited kid!  It's cooling off here too although it still hasn't gotten too cold.  I've been enjoying home cooking most days and lately lots of traditional chinese because my housemate is chinese and Sunday was their mid-autumn celebration.  It was really tasty and I loved being a part of different customs.

That's all for now!