talking to strangers

Mom always taught me not to, but she's the worst offender I know. It's funny how that rule goes right out the window really quickly as soon as well, as soon as it's taught. I've spent the past month conversing with no one but strangers with no major incident or kidnapping to date.

We had a teacher work day Wednesday. I was told that I didn't need to come, all the workshops would be in Dutch. But I always feel like I'm cheating my internship when I don't attend stuff like that. So I spent the first half of my morning flying solo in the teachers lounge working on lesson plans and reflections. Everyone passed by with looks of pity and disbelief that I would choose to spend my morning at Marnix. It's still hard to explain my hyper-competitive work ethic. But their sympathy looks put little dent in the fact that I got most of my lessons reflected on and ready to turn in. Boom. Super intern.

Like most 22 year olds, I totally have a put together itinerary for my post graduate life and definitely am not struggling to figure out how/when I’m going to get a job. Is the sarcasm dripping heavily enough? I’ve been asking around the teachers lounge the past few weeks for suggestions about teaching internationally and what my post-grad options are. Over and over I’ve been told to check out the U-TEAch program at Utrecht University. I looked on the website, they were having an open house this week, so I went.

Like most of my trips to Utrecht, this one for lack of better phrase, was a mess. In the best, only by being abroad, messy way possible. This is the itinerary I printed out for myself off of 9292 (joking obviously, the times weren’t this accurate…)

15:14 – board bus 52 Ede-Wageningen

15:40 – disembark bus 52, walk to Ede-Wageningen train station

15:41 – feel false confidence about traveling abilities

15:42 – throw some elbows dodging fellow train passengers trying to check in

15:47 – shiver in the cold

15:50 – board Sprinter train toward Utrecht

15:52 – manage to find seat in second class, take a small cat nap

16:15– arrive in Utrecht

16:18 – get swept into crowd and go the wrong direction

16:20 – curse earlier confidence, fruitlessly search for bus 28

16:25– return to main train station, ask information desk for directions

16:26 – your bus is in the complete opposite direction

16:27– quick hustle to the other side

16:31 – watch as bus 28 pulls out of the station

16:33 – combine every expletive phrase you know

16:34 – spot another 28 bus

16:35 – board 28 bus, breathe a sigh of relief

16:38 – watch the stops board, increase worry that your stop is no where on the board

16:41 – remember that there are two bus lines running in opposite directions

16:43 – disembark bus 28

16:44 – cross street

16:46 – catch correct bus 28

16:50 – return to Utrecht Centraal

17:16 – abandon hope of attending the 5pm orientation

it was as the bus sat at Centraal, waiting to depart on the route I should've followed in the first place that I decided to relinquish hope in my directional skills. The stranger across the aisle from me looked about my age and didn't scream "serial killer" so I leaned over and asked if I was heading in the right direction. This time I was. Like most Dutchies, he asked what I was doing in Holland, which led to a conversation lasting the majority of the bus ride.My new buddy had gotten his bachelors in history, started his masters but was taking a year off. Still living the student lifestyle, he happened to be getting off at the same stop as me. We arrived at Utrecht's campus and my traveling companion pointed me in the right direction to send me on my merry way. I entered the tall glass building into a large, busy atrium, up the middle of the space ran a huge clear cylinder with a staircase inside. After asking directions to the U-TEAch classroom, I climbed the stairs and tried not to gawk at the futuristic architecture surrounding me. Once in the classroom, “suppose this thing is going to be in English?” I muttered to the girl next to me. After exchanging pleasantries, she revealed that she was in mathematics and was pretty sure that this was an introduction to the program if you were interested in teaching math or science………. erm.

Luckily the girl on my other side also was a native English speaker and wanted the presentation to be in English, but she could follow Dutch.

But the nub and gist, they had to change the presentation entirely for my benefit, despite the fact that the whole room found out really quickly that I wasn’t in mathematics or science. Turns out you were supposed to know the liberal arts from the sciences based on the campus locations whereas little old me didn’t know the difference so I just signed up for both. So if anyone is interested in getting a masters of science education, I’m an expert now. A lot of the structural components of the program would be the same regardless of the discipline, so at least I got that information. After the presentation I thanked the professor for switching into English and accommodating me. My second session, at a building halfway across town was where I actually needed to be. I ventured back into the night, met with a windy rain beating against my face as I walked/ran for the bus shelter.

“Some weather we’re having,” I said as I ducked under the covering. Dutch people love talking about the weather so I figured that would be a safe bet. And that’s how I got into a conversation with a student of social work who had the most distracting lip ring I have ever encountered. It wasn’t even that big or anything, but every time he spoke I just wanted to stare at the lip ring. Interesting character though, he had traveled all over Australia and Asia which was cool to hear about. We made small talk until I reached the liberal arts building’s stop where I jumped off and immediately recognized the area from my original misadventures in Utrecht. At this point I was a full thirty minutes late for the presentation but figured I could still get some information from an advisor or something. And that is exactly what happened.

While I was waiting for the advisor to finish her conversation with another prospective student, I think I got interviewed for the Utrecht University school newspaper. Some girl approached me and at first I just thought she wanted to make small talk. But then she told me that she was writing about the open house event for a newspaper and then asked me a bunch of questions about my plans. She took down my email and said that if she uses my stuff then she would get in contact with me again. So maybe I’ll be in their newspaper. After that I did get a chance to talk to the advisor who gave me some pamphlets and an overview. I don’t think the program is going to be right for me though. Half the courses are in Dutch and well, my grasp on the Dutch language would embarrass a child. So, back to the drawing board.