Me, Myself and the Dutch

PERSONAL DETAILS:
Where are you from?
I am from México
What university do/did you attend in the country of your origin?
University Autonoma of Guadalajara
What university do/did you attend in the Netherlands?
NHTV, Breda University of Applied Sciences

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE NETHERLANDS
What kind of cultural expectations did you have before arriving about the Netherlands, and were they right?
Well, my first expectations before to arrived to the Neherlands were, blond, beautiful and tall people, also very directly, no friendly and very cold people, legal weed/mariguana, the red light district, too much soccer or football, especially the popular teams as PSV and Club Ajax and really good players of soccer. About the food I did not know about the gastronomy of the Netherlands.

Did you have any language barriers in the Netherlands?
At the begining was hard for me, especially because my english was not good. In another hand I di not speak Netherlands, so this was dificcult for me to communicate with the people. Sometimes I could not express my feelings an ideas to the others and to my friends, which this made feel uncomfortable.Furthermore I did not know too much about the culture in the Netherlands, the mentality, customs, food, language, especially the weather and the way of living and thinking of the people from the Netherlands. In addition, I did not know that they were very open mind and at the same time nice people and that they like to party a lot and drink a lot of beer, and listening, dancing electronic and house music; which is very nice and cool and I really like it. Talking english in the daily life was not good at the beginning as I mentioned before. The reason was that I had some miscomunication problems but everything went well and I improved from that mistakes.

Did you experience any kind of culture related miscommunication?
Yeah I had some experiences related to the miscomunication in the Netherlands for example, when I wanted to say to my Dutch friends see you tomorrow I did only with my hands, because I was in a hurry, and my country this is normal to say goodbye/see you tomorrow, moving your hands, but I realized that the did not get what I was trying to say; they were like what is going with him. So I came with them and I explained them what it does mean. Moreover, One thing that it happens was when you know Dutch people in a club or bar and then you and them are drinking and became friends and everything was fine, but the next day, they tell you Hi/ Ey; which is also fine I think, I can understand that is the culture and is totally diferent country and continent and I like to know and to learn new things, especially everyday. if my country we are happy to see them again and we give a hug or smile but here in the Netherlands is not so common to find with this kinds of aspects. I like to be a flexible person, who can understand the culture with respect. I think in this kind of characteristics and as a exchange student you need to be very open mind and try to understand the culture and try to adapt to the lifestyle in the Netherlands this is going to make the things easier.

After your arrival, what surprised you about the Netherlands?
Well, it surprised me the weather, because it was raining most the time in when I arrived to the Netherlands, and also was cold for me. When I arrived to Breda, it really surprised me the heater in the houses; which you can find in every place that you go for me was totally new, at the beginning I did not get it until my friend explained me.
One more aspect was the arquitecture of the houses and from the cities to see the chanels, a multicultural country, variety of people, religions, and food; which was an impacted me.
My first time, when I was in Amsterdam was that in the main street I saw two big guys with their motorcycles harley davidson, wearing black clothes as bad boys, but the most impacted aspect was that they were kising each other, that was a really cultural shock for me. At the same time, I really realized that I was in the Netherlands with very open mind people, which many things are normal and legal. In Amsterdam was surprising for me to see people from all around the world a very multicultural city and beautiful with many channels, coffees shops, museums and boats; which you can find everything, especially in Amsterdam the biggest city and the capital of the Nehterlands.
Another aspect that surprised me was, when I came to the Netherland, some of my first impresions was that is very normal to see people smoking joints/weed in the streets or in the coffie shops, but in my country we can do that, but not in the street or in ahouse it needs to be, where nobody cannot see you.

STUDYING IN THE NETHERLANDS
Were the people you get in touch with mostly Dutch, other Exchange students or people from your own country?
Well, the people that I got in touch were more Dutch people and exchange students. Because there are not many students studyng in NHTV from my country.

What is the difference in communicating with teachers compared to your own culture?
I can say that the relation here is more informal than in my country. In México the relation between students and teachers is more formal.In my country we respect to the teachers/profesors a lot. The Dutch school system is different comparing to my own country. I do not want to say which one is better because the system here and there is different.The education system is diferent, the way fo teaching is different, the clases and the schedule.

What are, in your opinion, the advantages of studying in the Netherlands?
In mi opinion I think the advantages here in the Netherlands is that the people are very open mind.Another advantage is that they speak at least two languages, also the system that they use is sophisticated and modern.
Another important aspect is that the Netherlands is a country which is very multicultural and this make them to be more open mind, patient and to know more about I mean a wider perspective of the how is world and how it works, which is very interesting and important to know about it.

What are, in your opinion, the disadvantages of studying in the Netherlands?
In my opinion the disadvantages that I find in the Netherlands is that sometimes you are not get use to the weather in the Netherlands, because you never know how is going to be even if you check the forecast.

If you had to make a choice again, would you choose to study in the Netherlands again? Why or why not?
Yes,I would chose again the Nehterlands, because is a nice experience and especially in NHTV; which gives a unique opportunity to know and more about the culture in the Netherelanfds and also because there are a lot of exchange students, who want to share with the experience studying abroad.

LEISURE:
What do/did you do in your spare time?
Travel into The Netherlands, studying, making parties, playing basketball, playing and listening music, go to the cinema, hanging around with my friends. I think in the Netherlands you can make many good things, especially Breda, because for me has everything that I want to do.

What are the differences in going to a restaurant, bar or club in the Netherlands?
In a bar and in a club is almost the same in Netherlands, there are not too much changes but between the restaurant and a club or bar there are some differences like when you go to the restaurant is because you want to have a nice dinner with your friends. Moreover, it means that you have a lot of money because to eat in a restaurant in the Netherlands is not cheap.

What kind of parties did you attend in the Netherlands, and were there many of them?
Well, for me the nightlife in the Netherlands, especially in Breda is very cool, because there are many pubs, clubs, restaurants, bars and discoteques in the city of Breda. The cool thing is that they are linked to each other; which is very nice, and this make the niglife in Breda unique; where you can find a lot of things to do and to have fun, making parties; it is not comparable with my country, because is different, we have pubs, clubs, restaurants, bars, discoteques, but are separately, if you want to go to another bar, club, restaurant or discoteque; you need to have a car or a taxi because the distances are quite far to go from one place to another place.

Did you experience any differences in rules about dating or relationships?
I think, the relationships is diferent, between the men and women. I mean I do not too much about how is a relationship here in the Netherlands. In my country, the relationships are very close and warm; which is a one thing that I like and if we feel something we say it.

OTHER SUBJECTS:
What are the differences in financing your student life compared to your own country?
Well, to pay my studies my family they support me to pay my studies, but in holiday/vacation I work with parents to earn some money and trying to help them. Also, we do not have support from our country/ goverment too much, I think in the Netherlands the government they support it to pay the studies, which is really good because they are inverted money into the system education.

What kind of differences in foods did you experience compared to your own country?
The food is veri different in the Netherlands and in my country. For example the people here, they do not eat spicy food, they take the breakfast something very light like: bread with cheese,ham. They eat a lot of vegetables. In México we eat a lot of tortillas, beans, spicy food, tacos, burritos, carne con chile, sopes, barbacoa, carnitas, soup but most of the time we mix it with chile, tortilla and beans. I would like to say that here, in the Netherlands is very common to find fries, frinkandel, bolibaal, cold fish, these food are very typical from the Netherlands.

What do you think of the Dutch people?
Open mind
Take care a lot of their money
Nice people
They like a lot the soccer especially when Holland is playing they get crazy in a good way. They are really soccers fans that they love the soccer.
They like to drink beer.
Enjoy their leisure time, they like to travel and to learn languages.

What kind of advice would you give to new exchange students?
The Nehterlands is very beautiful with th green fields and is very flat which is really surprised me, at the beginning and if you can adapt to this nice culture would be the best experience, but if you not adapt you will have some uncomfortables moments, because everything is different, like mentality, customs, culture, food, weather and people.
‘THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR PARTICIPATING IN THIS INTERVIEW!’
To emphasize the objectivity this document has been duplicated literally. Therefore there might be some inaccuracy in the English grammar and vocabulary.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 10:56 am and is filed under Mexico. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.