Thursday, November 26, 2015

Beyond Thankful

Thanksgiving is a time to express how thankful we are for the blessings in our lives. Today, I would like to discuss three people in particular that are extremely special to me this Thanksgiving.

My parents

It would be typical and cliché of me to say that I am thankful for my parents. I am thankful for them every day and that should not be news to anyone by now. I would like to talk about a few things that make me extra thankful for them this year that they may not know about.
The entire reason I am in the Netherlands currently is because of my parents. Aside from financially supporting me, they also supported me on many other levels. Having the ability to study halfway across the world requires good grades, a strong worth ethic, and a confidence in your abilities. All of these qualities that I have come straight from my parents constant support throughout the years. I would like to believe that my parents telling me to “go the extra mile” since the third grade still applies to the reasons I have gotten where I am today. They raised me to believe in myself and my abilities and work as hard as I possibly could for the things I wanted. By raising me the way they did, they enabled me to have the experiences I do. I will always be so grateful for everything that they have given me.

 Tintern Abbey - Wales
Dad

It used to upset me how often my dad traveled for work. I understood that his job required him to be gone and that other families have it much worse than ours. What I didn’t realize was how all of that time he had to spend sitting on planes away from his family translated directly into me using his points to get home from the Netherlands. I didn’t realize that the money that I need for school and travel comes from all of the long hours he put in when we all know he would rather be at home. I spent a lot of time being upset at things he couldn’t control instead of realizing it was probably just as hard for him as it was me. Dad, I realize now how much your hard work has given me my opportunities and I am sorry I wasn’t always grateful for it.
Guinness Tour - Ireland
Mom

I called my mom when I found out I was accepted into Radboud University. Guess what? She wasn’t excited. The first emotion I heard out of her voice was worry. It was there for a split second and then it was masked by her attempt to be supportive and excited for me. People always attach worry as being a negative emotion. It is always considered bad to be a worry wart or to have a mom that worries too much. Those things are simply not true. I am so thankful for my mom’s worries. Her concern for my safety abroad is completely rational and actually wanted. My mom keeps me grounded and that keeps me safe. I am able to carefully navigate through my travels thanks to her and the conscience she instilled in me.  I have always known that my mom’s protectiveness only means one thing; she loves me more than I could even imagine. That’s pretty cool. Sure, my mom isn’t directly paying for my study abroad experience but she pays with her time. When I want to skype with her for over an hour at least once a week she always sits through it. She keeps me excited about my experiences here and makes sure I am making the most of it.

Both of my parents put in a lot of effort into preparing me to leave. My mom helped me decide what clothes I will need and what I can live without. My dad helped me try to jam all of my 60 lbs of ‘necessities’ into my suitcase as well as allowing them to spill into most if his! They both planned two weeks of travel for us while I was too worried about the silly things. They spent hours looking over my applications and bank information to make sure I wouldn’t have any problems once I got there. Studying abroad comes with an extremely long preparation process. It was a huge team effort to prepare and they handled it very well. Mom and Dad, you are the best parents I could have ever asked for and I am finding out you make amazing friends too! Thank you for everything you have given me and taught me.

Ring of Kerry Tour - Ireland

Logan

I don’t talk much about my boyfriend because I never wanted to be “that couple” but I think it is time to give him some credit. We have been together for 3 and a half years and for 2 of them we have been apart for long periods of time. We usually see each other for a few days at a time over Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, and Spring Break. We get around 3 weeks at Christmas and 3 months for summer as well. The rest of the time is usually spent around 1,000 miles away. Being the great girlfriend that I am, I decided to increase that to about 5,000 miles when I hopped the Atlantic Ocean. Even with all of those miles and an 8 hour time difference, Logan still knows more about what happens to me here than anyone else. We get to text from about 5 pm on (in the morning to early afternoon for him) every day. We also are able to find time to skype around twice a week. Although this isn’t exactly what we are used to, it isn’t all that different. He listens to my stories and he keeps me thinking positively. He is always supportive and is sure to make time for me. People frequently ask us how we do long distance and we don’t have an answer. We don’t know how we do it either. All I know is even with all of the miles, we still have so much fun talking to each other. We have learned how to make it work and it distance has just become a part of our lives at the moment. Logan, I am so thankful for you and everything you do for me.
Mendenhall Glacier - Alaska

Of course I am so thankful for many others in my life. I have met some amazing people here in the Netherlands, I have really solid friendships at MSU and I love my friends in Edwardsville! I am also thankful for the people in my life that I know through my parents or past jobs as well as my brother and extended family. The amount of people who have taken an interest in my travels and my blog is amazing to me and I am thankful for each and every one of you!


Happy Thanksgiving, God Bless!

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Koffie: it's all fun and games until Starbucks gets hurt

Vanilla Puxx Coffee - Puxx

My very first picture in my head of studying abroad came from a photo I saw on Pinterest (included below). I was talking with my mom in the kitchen at 18 years old saying if I study abroad, I want to go somewhere like this. Sitting in a cute little coffee shop, hiding from the cold in something just like this scene. My mom saw that it was a photo of Amsterdam and said, “Oh, I think Shannon went to the Netherlands, you should go there!”

Amsterdam, Netherlands:
Pinterest Photo: Amsterdam, Netherlands

A vague idea about coffee halfway across the globe inspired something that grew into the experience I am currently living today. Of course, I didn’t decide to go to the Netherlands right away. I looked at other places including England, Ireland, Finland, Spain and even Australia before I decided to give Shannon a call and get serious about considering the Netherlands. Although I didn't end up in Amsterdam like this photo, I'd say I landed pretty darn close!

Coffee got me started and koffie will be how it ends. The Dutch know their koffie and it is important to them. With a plethora of trendy café’s that sell beautiful frothy drinks, I learned a lot from koffie from the Netherlands.

Fresca - My favorite place for a Koffie!

You can find most of the Dutch on campus with a little cup of koffie all throughout the day. They drink small portions and often. Usually with just a little milk and sugar, not all fancy like Starbucks, because they appreciate the simple unsweetened things in life. This, I have really gotten used to and may have nixed my expensive Starbucks habit (sorry Starbucks for your loss). I guess we will have to see what the next few months in the States holds! Yeah, I thought the cups were tiny, (their large is the same size as the tall at Starbucks, which I tended to avoid before because of its small measure) but I learned you can always have another! Each of our classes at Radboud are anywhere from 2-3 hours long but they have a break every hour for koffie or a smoke (another vice the Dutch seem cling to a bit more than Americans). If our professors miss the time for the break and accidentally lecture a bit into it, they apologize a lot for taking up our break time because breaks are taken seriously by those koffie drinkers!

If you order a koffie in any café, it is popularly served in a glass just like water would be in America. This never made much sense to me because you can hardly pick up your glass to drink from it until it cools down. At that point it is too cool to enjoy. I will say though, it does look quite nice to see the layers of koffie, milk and foam in your drink as an artistic part of your purchase. My friend Lena, from Germany, says that must be a Dutch thing because her coffee is served in mugs in her country as well.

Speaking of Lena, her boyfriend is Dutch and I had the pleasure of learning from him all about the art of making coffee. He has a state of the art koffie machine at his apartment and a hand-held milk foamer. I had no idea that you could do that by hand (which is a purchase I promise to make right when I get back home) and he showed me how. He says that it is definitely not as good as the machines that do it at coffee shops but those are a huge investment and tricky to master.
My Dutch friend Willem from class informed me, you know the foam is good when your sugar rests on top and doesn’t sink through. (Sign of a good koffie)!

Latte Macchiato with good foam via the sugar test - Fresca

Quote from the Netherland’s Queen Maxima, “Dutch is one cookie with your koffie” reiterating the koffie/cookie relationship. Every single koffie I have ordered in a café has come with precisely one cookie. Let me tell you, there is nothing better. I now look forward to seeing the type of cookie I will get next!

A koffie is a good companion. It wakes you warmly in the morning, is a good conversation facilitator, and is there for you during the most stressful of times of studying.
I can promise that one of the final things I do in the Netherlands is enjoy a koffie. That’s a fact!

P.S., if you or anyone you know ever travel to Nijmegen and want to try some Dutch koffie, here is a list of my favorites!

Fresca Café, Puxx Coffee, The Fuzz, Sid en Liv & Café de Mug – I know there are many more and I am determined to find them!

The Fuzz Coffee

Friday, November 13, 2015

The Actual Study in Study Abroad: Radboud University


I just submitted my last exam and my first three courses are finished. I figured it was time to talk a little bit about my experience in courses here at Radboud University.

The Break-down
This University set up differently than the majority of universities in the United States. They have a fall and spring semester like we do but they look a little different. Usually, my fall semester begins in the middle of August and ends in the middle of December. Radboud’s semester begins in September and goes through until the end of January. Additionally, that semester is split into two blocks. The first block ends at the end of October and you have final exams for those courses. Then you begin a new set of courses that span from November until January with another set of exams at the end. Currently I have finished up exams for my first three courses and just began the next three this week. Since I will begin my semester back home in January, I will have to take the exams for those courses at Missouri State and have them sent back to Radboud. I will also be missing about two weeks of lectures in January but the professors say I will be able to keep up online just fine.

Easy-going professors
I was told at the beginning of the semester that professors in the Netherlands are different than those in the United States. They claim that it is completely normal to address them by their first name and in a causal manner. No Dr. Davis, you just call her Tine. For me though, their names were usually so complicated I don’t know if I could even begin to pronounce them. Although this was the case, it was still really hard for me to get comfortable titling an e-mail with just their first name. That is just the way they do it here. Also, all of the courses have multiple professors. Sometimes both will be present and sometimes they will switch off on teaching lectures. This was totally different than Missouri State. They all turned out to be pretty relaxed and easy to talk to. They were helpful and understanding and of course, when confused, I still use the “I’m an exchange student, how do things work here” to get me through!

My First Three Courses
Psychopharmacology and Psychopathology
This lecture style class was my favorite of the three and happened to be my only Psychology course in the first period. This course we learned about the different actions of drugs on neuronal malfunctions in the brain including those to treat depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and psychosis, addiction, chronic pain, dementia and ADHD. Unlike what I am used to at Missouri State where we have multiple tests in a semester as well as other assignments, this course was 100% based on the final exam for your grade. Although I was extremely interested in the topic, I prepared for weeks for the exam and it was definitely one of the most difficult exams I have ever taken. We were able to use our book and mine was filled with sticky notes with explanations from the lectures. Even with all of that, and all of my preparation, I can still say that test was a pain! I am thankful for that though because I have a newfound love for the brain and drug treatment for disorders. I can really say I still love my major, even when in another country.

Vulgar Culture
This course I took in order to fulfill a general education requirement at Missouri State. It is from the Faculty of Arts and was a course unlike any other I have ever taken. In this class we learned about how works from “low” culture can still be viewed as aesthetic or even considered art. I know nothing about appreciating art so this all was very new to me. We discussed things like kitsch (the cheap shiny trinkets people love like souvineers and coo coo clocks), photography, the abject (things that disgust us) and even pornography. The last one was so different for me to learn about that I still have trouble even blogging about it! In this class the first lecture of the week was taught by one of the two professors and then the second class of the week a group of students facilitated a discussion about the topic in the form of a group presentation. Of course, when my group had to do this, our topic was on pornography. Luck of the draw right? Welcome abroad Austin! The final exam was a multimedia assignment where we had to create a piece of art and then write about how it problematizes an aspect or two from the previous lectures. Overall I liked the set-up of this class because having to do the group projects helped me to really learn about the topics discussed and put my own ideas into what we were learning. We rarely have group projects at Missouri State in my courses and although they sometimes are a hassle, they can be a good way to collaborate ideas.

Culture, Development and Globalization
This course was a difficult one for me. It is a course from the Department of Anthropology and was all about different definitions of culture, theories of development and the problems of globalization within our world. Although these concepts were all completely new to me and I really struggled to understand even the simplest of concepts in this course, by the end, I can honestly say I have learned so much. We had a group research paper where we had to come up with an example of how culture and development effect globalization that we worked on throughout the entire course. Our group’s project was on how international companies like Starbucks and McDonald’s are able to be successful by incorporating different cultural practices into their menu options and stores. Our group put in so much effort into this paper and unfortunately it was only worth 30% of our grade. The other 70% came from our final exam which was a take home exam. It was 4 questions and was set up just like the paper we had to do. We had to defend our answers with citations from all of the different readings throughout the course as well as the lectures. After working on it for over 10 hours, I finished this exam and turned it in. Deep breath, and move on, right?

My Next Three Courses
New period, new classes! The first is called Introduction to Cognitive Psychology and I will be learning about all of the different brain processes like perception, face recognition and memory. Another course is called Fear, Anxiety and Related Disorders where we learn about the different disorders related to anxiety like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Panic Disorders, Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Social Phobias. Lastly, I am taking a course called Applied Research Methods for Clinical and Developmental Psychology where we will learn about research within these fields. I am pretty excited to take these courses since they are all Psychology courses.

A lot of reading means A LOT of reading
I have never read so much for classes in my life! Each class came with 2-3 papers or chapters to read per week. Although I didn’t have much studying or homework assignments, I was constantly sitting with my nose in a book. Before going abroad, reading was my worst enemy. On the ACT in high school, my lowest score was always on the reading portion. I struggled in college to read even some of the chapters in the book and it took me double the time it took an average person to finish readings. It turns out I just needed practice. I was never into reading books as a kid and I sure wasn’t into reading difficult books with ‘big’ words. After forcing my way through the first few weeks of reading here at Radboud, I have found that my reading skills have improved tenfold. As far as learning goes, studying abroad has been essential.

Research: My own project!

In addition to classes at Radboud, I also decided to bring some research. My project is to ask students about how mindful they think they are throughout their day with a series of questions they can answer online. Eventually, I will compare the answers between students in the Netherlands and students in Missouri. Another student at Missouri State studied abroad in Thailand and is doing the same research with students from there as well. I am very excited about how this project could turn out. Radboud University has given me multiple opportunities for my educational process. I will always be grateful for the ways in which I have been able to learn here.

Once again, thanks for reading! Sorry, no pretty pictures. What kinds of photos do I take for talking about classes? My concrete-walled lecture halls? (;