Blog 02.12.19 - Mundane Culture Shock

Hello, hello, my name is Tuomo Immonen and I am a 3rd year Business Administration student at Hyria Vocational College in Hyvinkää. 

From 02.12 to 20.12 I will be attending Horizon College in Hoorn, Netherlands as an exchange student. I'm accompanied by one other student by the name of Gustav, here on the same business as I.

I and Gustav arrived in Netherlands yesterday morning, so we've had some time to establish ourselves, so to speak. Our accomodations at Topparken Westerkogge in Berkhout seem nice enough, if a bit lacking in some amenities. Nothing you can't buy from a local store though. 

You can find a store or two a few kilometers away in either direction, which one could describe as either inconvenient or the opposite, depending on attitude. 

Berkhout is a very flat place, nothing but the horizon to look at.
I see where the college might have gotten it's name.

Today was our first day at Horizon College proper, this is where the fun starts. After some briefing from the teachers responsible for the exchange, we met two of the students from the college named Duke (spelled like Duke Nukem, I assume) and Shawn. Bright young lads, they are. 

Later during the day, we were introduced to the rest of the class that should be working with us in the coming weeks through some "speed dating". Really, it was just some nice friendly conversation between us and the students.

Lunch.

One of our lovely teachers, Okke showed us around the place a bit and presented us with our bikes. He also gave us a bit of a tour around the town of Hoorn. Perhaps it went on for a bit too long, because he had to leave us in a hurry to teach his afternoon class, bless his soul.

Hoorn seems like a wonderful town and I can't wait to explore it further.

Did I learn anything these last two days?

I'm still trying to get my bearings, which will take some time. Naturally, most of the language you'll find around Holland is dutch, of which i know as much of as personal fitness and healthy eating. So none. 

Getting around the town(s), school and shopping is a bit of a challenge still, but it'll get better over time, I would hope. On the bright side, I still haven't found a local I couldn't converse in english with. The easiest way to learn something is to ask another, after all.

Learning the ropes of how Holland functions will take it's time, but so far it has been fairly familiar if a bit strange in some areas. I've had something of a mundane culture shock with how pedestrian and vehicle traffic is organized, with bike lanes and other things of that nature. I'm still a bit hesitant to take my bike around town, what with all the sharp turns, narrow sidewalks and sharing the road with cars and other vehicles. Okke assured me that it's all safe and stuff, considering that the cars don't go past 30 km/h in town, but the idea of getting slammed by a semi still doesn't sound very appealing.

I am a bit nervous about being able to perform well in the studies I'm attending. We are supposed to keep a log of our daily activities regarding school, similiar to this one, however we're also meant to do some "desk research" about various different topics such as: "What are best practices?" No idea what that entails, even after I asked Mick, our other teacher. I'm sure it'll be fine.

That's it for today and yesterday, for the most part. We have quite a bit of time to roam around as we choose, so let's make the most of it.

Also, the tap water tastes really weird and the Wifi is a nightmare.

- Tuomo