Through talking with many students from Wageningen as well as our supervisor, Rene, I have noticed many common day to day differences in the cultures between the U.S. and the Dutch. Most of these differences are small, but were fairly amusing to me.
Students from our course invited us to a dinner they made for us. It was a common Dutch meal and this was the first significant difference we have noticed. It is very common for students to have other students over for dinner and typically, you return the favor later on. This is not something Allison or I see much of in the States. I think it’s very nice and enjoyed it very much. We got to chatting about daily routines and I mentioned how the long days were a bit hard for us, since we college students typically take a nap during our school day. They were shocked, what do you mean you take a nap? Hah so we explained that it varies for each student, but it can be anywhere from 20 min to hours, in any place, your apartment, dorm, the quad, the Union, etc. They again were really surprised. This topic also came up when Rene had us over for dinner and again, everyone was surprised! End rule, students don’t nap here! How strange as that seems to be the basis for college life in the U.S.
This leads me to our next point difference. We have noticed that students here typically only work on school work during the week, through the typical 9-5 work day Mon-Fri. This was strange for us, as most students I know get quite a bit of work done in the late hours of the evening and throughout the weekend. The Dutch students end their day around 5 typically, some a bit longer and head home for the weekends, forgetting all about school. They were shocked to hear we stay at the library past 2am and take exams from 7-9 at night.
Also concerning school, work ethic and integrity. We have found that for most students, it is perfectly acceptable to aim to just ‘get by with a passing grade.’ There is no competition scale here constantly comparing your GPA and formulating a class rank. We discussed this also with Rene. We talked about our differing societies and what they deem as acceptable. Allison and I agreed that is often unfortunate in our own society that it is often hard to find mediocrity as acceptable or respectable. I was always raised to respect all people, of all jobs, because we need all types of people to make our world function. Yet unfortunately, much of our society does not share my same view and looks down on much of our working class. It is really unfortunate. That does not seem to be the case as much here since the general aim is satisfied with average.
You also decide which career path you will take at about 13 years of age. In ways I think this is good because you are not bothered with courses that you will never need, rather you continue on in an academic direction related to your career. Yet at the same time, it’s hard to imagine that most kids actually know what they want so young. So many of my friends have switched their majors halfway through college, which is shocking for most people here to hear.
Vacations/Holidays! Another very interesting difference! It seems as though most Europeans I’ve met from several countries take what we consider LONG holidays, as in 21 days straight, at a time. Heading off to Greece or Italy for 3 weeks is very common for a holiday! Allison and I are not familiar with taking family vacations for more than a week at most, because our parents would never think of leaving their jobs for longer. Many Americans do have more vacation time than that, but we take it in different chunks I suppose, breaking it up. I also explained that many will work through their holiday and get paid time and a half or save their days in case of an emergency or to be paid for them later in retirement.
In the theme of work, Rene pointed out something very interesting. They have too many jobs, not enough people here in the Netherlands. So they are cutting back weekly hours to 36-38 hrs/wk to accommodate more people. Not nearly the case in the U.S. as we have far too many people, not nearly enough jobs.
Food! I have recently discovered something interesting trends while at our last dinner at Rene’s. First, they do not eat doughnuts for breakfast, ever! Allison and I were so confused, we asked, well when do you eat them? As a dessert of course… apparently. We explained that doughnuts are a fairly common to-go breakfast food, amongst many others. It all started when we brought a pie for dessert and even that was ‘a bit much.’ A typical dessert is maybe some of their delicious yogurt with fruit and granola. So we again asked, well when do you eat pie then? Later, with coffee or at celebrations. We laughed and they got a bit of our culture as well by having pie as dessert.
We also got to talking about another Dutch tradition, which is eating a herring whole, to the tail. My face was shocked and horrified when they first were explaining this, because they assumed I knew that the fish had been cleaned out and that the head was chopped off. I imagined big eyes staring you down and was still disturbed that they ate it raw, I commented that it sounded like feeding the penguins I work with at Sea World, seeing as though that is just how they eat it. Rene even pulled out some pickled herring, his favorite evening snack. No thanks, especially when I have the particular food beyond associated with the animals I work with.
Those are the main recent differences that come to mind at the moment. I have a few must have tips for the handbook! For the Netherlands, bring a rain coat, it’s a must must must have! It has rained all day, for a majority of the days we’ve been here. With that, an umbrella is also great to have! You never really know what to expect with the weather! While it has been blistering hot in the states, we’ve barely been about to reach 60 here! So bring many variations in clothes, maybe a few more warmer things than you would think you will need for summer!
I cannot believe I only have a few days left here. I am finishing up working in the Aquaculture hatchery and then I am off to Interlaken, Switzerland to experience some extreme sports! I am quite excited! Beware girls, the culture shock of the U.S. has been harder for me each time I return from studying abroad, its amazing to realize how much a different culture can impact you.
No comments:
Post a Comment