Dealing with the Dutch

Dear Netherlands,


before I came here I did not worry about finding Dutch friends since I consider myself a rather open, friendly and approachable person. I had heard, though, that it might be difficult to become friends with Dutch people since they tend to stay within their established group of people.
When forming work groups in my classes the international students usually end up forming groups of themselves because the Dutch are already in groups consisting of their friends of peers.
Today during my Political Communication class the lecturer asked us to think about his question for two minutes ourselves and then turn to our partner to discuss our ideas. After I had come up with a few ideas I turned to the Dutch girl sitting next to me, looked at her and smiled, ready to start a conversation. But she did not look at me, even shielded her notes from me with her hands.
This might be a strong example, but my international friends confirm my impression that the Dutch prefer to stay for themselves. I hope this changes in the near future... Previous encounters with Dutch (e.g. at MUN conferences) stayed positively in my mind.

Building bridges

'Think differently' - appropriate motto for this month

Most Dutch reference point to find the way home

I had a lovely weekend with my international friends. On Saturday a German friend and I cycled across the border to Germany to do some shopping (everything is so much more expensive in NL!) - especially to buy some proper German bread. We took the scenic route, yet, on the way back we had to hurry up a little to be home before the rain started.

Whenever a pedestrian crossed our way near the border - on the German or the Dutch side - we greeted them or waited for them to greet us to find out if they were Dutch or German.
Since the Dutch car drivers are very considerate towards cyclists and their positive behaviour was a striking difference to what we are used to in Germany, we paid special attention to how 'fietsers' were treated once we had crossed the border.
We noticed what power a border still has! Once back on good German roads we experienced 'Fahrvergnügen' which only lasted for so long until the next German (!) car crossed our way and nearly pushed us off our bikes. Quickly we zijn gefietst back to the 'safe' side of the border...
In the shopping centre it seemed as if the cashiers were glad to have some Germans in front of them for a change - inside the shop we barely heard a German word but only Nederlands!

Welkom in Nederland

Let op, fietser!

Willkommen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

On Sunday my Russian friend and I checked out one of the many beautiful cafés in Nijmegen before exploring 'Honigcomplex' - a fancy place near the Waal river with cool shops, cafés, galleries, a skate park, music and event venues... We curiously entered one hall and found a vintage flea market inside we did not know about! We share a preference for vintage clothing so this discovery made our day. Our Italian friend met us there and we explored the interesting site of 'Honigcomplex' in the sunshine. Afterwards we went back to another cute café in the city centre (don't judge us, we just try to assimilate and be 'gezellig' - I reckon we are quite good at it ;) ) where the waiter thought we were British - because our accents were rather good, apparently, hihi. On the vintage market I also already had to explain to a woman that we were actually Russian, Italian and German, after she had let loose a flood of words in Dutch and we were staring at her doubtfully. Due to the linguistic proximity of Dutch and German I am usually the first of us three to understand the Dutch person and explain the situation, now and then seasoned with a few Dutch words. "Jullie zijn Engels?", asked the verkoopster. "Nee, wij zijn Russian, Italian and German", I answered. Much appreciated, though. Dank je wel!

Bridge over the Waal river

Fiets perspectief

Kopje koffie, anyone?

Kaas paradijs

"Thijs studeert economie in Nijmegen."

Jane studeert politocologie in Nijmegen. En zij leert Nederlands!

Books for uni...

How can I possibly study with this view from my room?

I am so lucky to live near the water.

Cheers!

Jane

P.S. from Tuesday morning: I cycled on the 'fietspad' in the right direction, sharing it with other cyclists. Nothing worse than cycling on the wrong side (always stick to the right side of the road!) so I was happy to follow other 'fietsers'.

Suddenly children appeared on the scene, cycling in the wrong direction! Usually I am not afraid to tell people that they are wrong - in English, when I get answers like "I don't speak English!" and I reply "Yes, you do!!" - since it can get dangerous on narrow bike lanes. This morning I was too tired to shout so I just gave the children an angry look. They were performing tricks with their bikes and when I passed them, one of them spat at me and hit my shoulder. Spit on my jacket and scarf! I was furious and yelled at the boy in German: "Du Vollidioit!!" (you utter idiot). Yeah, the native language usually comes through with strong emotions. They just laughed and cycled away. I then realised that they probably did not understand my utterance but hoped that they could tell from my face.
Disgusting and disrespectful.