Abroad & Cold

Hello once again,

It's nearing the time of holidays, depending that is the country you are staying in. I'm not just going to assume you are celebrating Christmas, Sinterklaas, Thanksgiving or any other mainstream holiday. That besides the point, one drastic change that is nearing is the fact i now wear three layers of clothing when I go outside.
The weather is changing and the temperature is slowly dropping to zero.  The leaves are no longer green as I am no longer of some color. Last year, around this time, was the first time I snow, FIRST TIME. And yes, I was as excited as I could ever be. The urge to make snow angels, build snowmen and throw snowball at some random bystander was at it's peak.  It was all very exciting, especially when it started to pile up. But then a day passed and a week passed and my excitement had faded. The white beautiful fluffy snow had turn it brown melty gunk and I wasn't as excited to put on many layers of clothes just to pass by the grocery store to buy bread.

Adapting to seasonal changes was definitely a struggle for me. I had only ever lived my life in one season, summer. There was no need for jackets, sweaters, gloves, heaters or any other necessities you would need for winter time. I lived the life of air-conditioning, short pants and flip-flops of 18 years so it's no surprise i had a temperature shock or maybe a seasonal shock.  

Literally on Christmas Days I would be in my bikini, hanging out with friends and family.
 

However being able to experience seasonal changes as many people would agree to, he changing of scenery and seeing the flowers bloom again, is quite beautiful.
you also tend to appreciate good weather in colder places a lot more. Adapting, is what we are made to do, experiencing is overcoming. There are always going to be people who prefer cold or hot, or hot over cold. But if you are sorta stuck in a new situation, where you find it impossible to adapt, making the best out of something is what will get you out alive. Sure, your toes are numb and you skin feels like it's chapping off, but hey, snowboarding might be fun so i'll try it out. 

I learned the ins & outs of how to dress in different seasons (winter especially). And tried my best to embrace the chilling air by comparing it to heat wave days on St.Maarten. Although there were days I would have love to go back on the beach. I enjoyed what I was seeing right in front of me, something new. 

I've been watermarked: Paris video

Hello all, I thought I would share yet another tale from the Paris trip, but decided to do a short collaborated video with a friend of mine. We worked with small clips from our Paris Trip and edited a fun trailer-like video.  Due to the limited MB allowed to be uploaded onto Blogger (only 100 MB?? WHYYY?). I was forced to compress the video using free software with it's watermark plastered over my video, sadly :( :(. However, it is still a fun watch and hope you enjoy it.

As, always please leave comments sharing opinion or stories about any of your personal experiences studying abroad or traveling. Go out see the world, experience and learn!

Do you eat coconuts?

Quite excited today because in two days I'll be in Paris hopefully standing next to the Eiffel tower, eating a croissant and doing all the other French clichés you can think of. Which, as a student, got me thinking about something we deal with every day, stereotypes, and you can lie to me and say that you haven't really ever believed or used stereotypes, which I do believe that some use them way less than others. But as human beings we can't help but kind of use these stereotypes when faced with something unfamiliar in life, especially other cultures. 

I myself think it's a quite an icebreaker, but that's me being corny and humorless. I, myself heard quite a  lot of Caribbean stereotypes, Antillean stereotypes and all kinds of Island stereotypes in my first year in the Netherlands, and I have never really gotten offended. Mainly because I am aware some people are just not knowledgeable of other cultures and everything they"know" about certain cultures are these stereotypes that are being presented in media or by others.

I was (or am) typically the same when I was faced with other cultures I was not knowledgable about. Best tips I can give about these certain situations is to keep an open mind, be willing to learn about different cultures from personal experiences (such as stories from your classmates etc.), and don't be afraid to ask questions ( but be careful what you touch upon, some questions can be out of line). In regards to hearing about stereotypes about your culture/country I can hopefully advise you to not be easily offended or take it as an opportunity to give them a little teaching.

A picture of "my outfit" for the Introduction party that was held in my first year. The concept was to represent your country in an outfit and boy did i get couple of laughs with mine.

Big shot, Big Campus!

Here in the Netherlands I attend Erasmus University, which at first seemed completely different than I was use to. Not only were the people and professors I met at campus a new experience but the campus itself, which is really really huge. 10 story buildings all around the campus gave a entirely different feeling of "school", one that i wasn't entirely used to. But that definitely intrigued me. Everything what we students on the island (St. Maarten) knew about what "universities" or "colleges" looked like, came from television or the internet so we sort of knew what to expect but it's a completely different feeling when seeing it in person.

This is a picture i took of a building on campus, it's funny to know that I haven't been in half of the buildings on my campus.

Just to give you a preview of my high school back home i found some pictures online.
(Pictures source: AOB architects: http://www.aobarchitects.com/miltoncollege.htm)

Buildings were nowhere nearly as tall and colors like neon green and blue seemed very appropriate. 

My high school, Milton Peters College, is the biggest school on the island with a rough average of 1000 students. From going to a class of 10 students to a class of 100+ was defiantly the weirdest for me. Making classes seem somewhat impersonal and difficult to even remember all the names of your classmates.

But that's what I love about studying abroad, it is experiencing these different situations and scenes and getting out of your comfort zone. 

Ask or share some of your stories & pictures of your experience studying abroad/ visiting a foreign country :)!!