#Delft is a very nice place and I can only recommend it

[arc-en-disco]

Spot the difference: Werner Herzog in Delft edition

1: every night the trees disappear

2: hat is not as pointy

3: makeshift cross

4: I did not feel like picking a smoked cigarette off the streets, sorry my dedication to Werner is big but not THAT big

5: where the hell is that moustache?

[yasmijn]

Year end post: 2019

2019 has been a great year and this is not an overstatement. It is particularly special because it is my first full year living on my own, far away from home, being a graduate student in the Netherlands, made lots of new friends and connections that I actually want to take back home. They are not only my friends during the definite 2 year duration of our master’s programs, but also good friends that shares personal thoughts, experiences, and doubts about the future. Isn’t that what we do best and fear the most? Facing uncertainties and trying our best to overcome our fears and find where we fit right?

I remember listing down important things that happened in 2018 (TU Delft scholarship announcement was the highlight of the year - an end to my 2 years of waiting and a beginning of something new!). 2019 is different from the preceding two years as this is the year when I start living the live that I wanted, so it felt more laid-back and full of contentment. I decided not to put so much pressure on myself and to try enjoy every bit of time. Well, a lot, and simultaneously, not so much, has happened this year but I will try to list down the things that I remember the most. Not in particular order. 

(P.s. This is a very long post)

(Pictures will be added soon)

1. The friends

I found such great friends. I know I have written this down so many times but it is my highlight of the year. I am one of those people who thought ‘What’s the point of studying abroad if you only hang out with fellow Indonesians?’ and here I am, spending most of my non-curricular time with every Indonesian I could find. Being with people from the same country create a sense of comfort. Of not having to translate every single word, and not to explain the backstory because you share the same roots. To share what we miss the most (food!), and to help each other figure out how to navigate our lives here, and what we’ll do afterwards. And most importantly, to create connections that I can actually bring back home. 

I don’t drink alcohol, and I am not comfortable being in a place where everybody drinks although yes, I can just have coke or other soft drinks because that’s usually the case. Don’t get me wrong. I still have international friends, from all the group projects and class interaction. And there’s this particular person who has turned out to become such a great friend. We invite each other over to eat lunch/dinner together (it’s usually me coming over to his place and eat his cookings so that’s super nice), talk about his country and my country and watch Kurzgezagt videos and talk about philosophy and psychology and share our thoughts on life. It is such an unlikely friendship but I am so grateful for it.  

I am reluctant to invest so much time into relationships that might not yield return, and those that require so much resource to maintain. But I’m keeping everybody I found here. 

2. All the cookings and the foods

Eating out is incredibly expensive compare to cooking at home, although I can’t say that I’m the most financially conscious person. To think back, I actually do eat out, a lot. The most natural topic of conversation between us people is actually food recommendations. Fat Kee’s chicken salt pepper and inktvis salt pepper. Five Guys’ milkshake. Sisi’s bubble tea. Hinoki Noodle Soup’s ramen. Pokelabs’ poke bowl. Kek’s salted caramel latte. Mekhong’s tom yam. The Martabak House’s red velvet martabak. Seleraku’s mie ayam. Taste the Best’s whole chicken. Food Station’s kip kapsalon. 

When we gather up, we cook. My Estonian friend once commented that us Indonesians eat a lot of good food, and I actually thought of it. Later on when I met him again, I told him that we eat because we don’t drink, which I think is a pretty accurate remark. We made lots of sushi, martabak, wedang ronde, did korean BBQ, eat pizza takeouts by the lake, made lebaran cookies. Reasons to come to the muslim community events? The food. Reasons to keep up with super kind ibu-ibu who is also a great cook? The iftar package she gives. Reasons to meet? To eat!

3. The conversations

I don’t know what I’m going to do with my life after graduation. I think of my life in 2 years time span. In 2016 I thought about what I’m going to do until 2018 (get a scholarship), and in 2018 I thought about what I’m going to do until 2020 (finish grad school and enjoy life here). So I actually still have approximately 8 months to figure things out. I have told several people about my insecurity. About my feeling not good enough to even apply for internship and graduate projects. I think it has something to do with my trajectory change, from a branch of engineering to full-on management. I feel like I can’t quantify my qualifications and it makes me insecure. 

Usually after we finished eating, or when everybody’s tired from studying or working in someone’s home or in a booked room in the library, we’d usually start talking. About life in general. About life in particular. About the life we had in Indonesia, and the decision points that lead us to this place, at the same time. It was repeatedly mentioned, how we’re lucky to be enrolled in the same batch, to find people that are alike and are so kind. Just a bunch of responsible, good kids. There are stints of idealism, about what we want to do with our degrees. To find ways to improve Indonesia but in a realistic way. And also being the pragmatic people who want to experience the lives abroad fully, by finding jobs and creating networks here (most of us have no obligation to come back straight away so that’s our privilege). 

4. Good grades

I like studying. And I like good grades. I don’t have a particular academic target, I won’t qualify for cum laude, and I have let go of my honours ambition. But I did have a little ambition to at least get one 9. I got one for my High-Tech Marketing course (9.5 for the report, and 8.8 for the exam), one for Emerging Breakthrough Technology (I didn’t expect it at all), and the best one was getting a 9 for my decision-making paper on NCICD. I poured so much effort and did so much reading, and after an awful peer feedback, we were able to revise the article and become one of the 2 groups with the highest grade in class. 

The entirety of the MoT program, to be honest, lacks technical skills. And I did not help myself by taking classes on things that I have already learned. But to be honest, I’m not really interested in the courses that are available, anyway. For now, I just want to give my best to work on my thesis.    

5. Lots of Webtoons

I don’t really remember when I started to binge-read so many series of Webtoons. I have spent so many coins on Mamamaaf and The Secret of Angel. By the way, I realized that the coins in English is so expensive compared to the coins in Bahasa Indonesia. In English, the price of 10 coins is US$ 0.99 and in Bahasa Indonesia it’s €1.09 for 100 coins. Meanwhile, the price for one chapter in English is 5 coin and in Bahasa Indonesia it’s between 5-12 coins. I think this signifies the difference in the purchasing power of Indonesians and non-Indonesians?

6. Eurotrips

I went to a lot of countries. I said yes to every invitation to go somewhere. Anywhere. On February I went with Rida and Grace to Italy (Rome) and Greece (Rome and Santorini). We ate real pasta and had the tastiest tiramisu. Santorini was incredibly beautiful and thanks to the low season, we could take pictures without other tourists swarming in the background. During Easter Break I went with Ginta and Widya to Switzerland (Zurich, Luzern, Engelberg - Mt. Titlis), Hungary (Budapest), and Austria (Vienna). It was a trip that utilized Flixbus and man, 17 hours on the same bus really makes you question the decisions you have made in life. 

On April I went to Prague with Enreina and Ammar for a weekend trip, with the main objective of watching Joe Hisaishi’s concert. The trdelnik and goulash and roasted duck and random pho we had were all so nice. In the summer I went on a roadtrip with Radit and Andrew to the southern of France which was mesmerizing. It was a very ambitious trip that covers Belgium (Brugge) and small cities and villages in France (Lille, Amiens, Paris, Luz St. Saveur, Lourdes, Gavarnie, La Roque Gageac). A pretty random assembly but I had such a great time. Then my family came here for an 11-day trip and again we went to Paris (third time already), Colmar (a pretty, smaller version of Strasbourg), Köln, Brussels (up to this point in life I have been in Brussels for 3 times already), Brugge, quick stopover in Gent, then Rotterdam, and Amsterdam. My last trip in summer was a random getaway to Budapest and Vienna (again) with Wida. It was better because we were more laid back and we get to see a lot of different places and climbed up to the hills!

There are other places I still want to see. But I’ll just keep them as bucket list to visit with a significant other. 

7. Dutch course

I finally gave in and signed up for a Dutch course offered by the Gemeente of Delft (pronunciation: khe-meyn-tē). It is so much fun! I have forgotten how exciting it is to learn new languages. I have two classes per week, 2 hours per meeting. We used a book and the teacher really taught us through the content material. It’s different compared to the course offered in TU where people have to study most on their own. A different approach.

Dutch language has a weird sentence structure and I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. And suddenly there’s regelmatig and onregelmatige werkwoorden (regular and irregular verbs), perfectum and imperfectum (basically V2 and V3) that we have to memorize (e.g. komen - kwam, kwamen - gekomen). When we reach Chapter 9 it was suddenly super hard. Weird. But challenging. 

8. Indelftnesia 2019

I spent a lot of time working on the scripts and other trivial things. But it was so fine. Rewarding. The play was amazingly good, with gamelan playing live on stage. It taught me to value my roots a lot more. 

9. Financial crisis and getting out of it

There was a point in time, somewhere in the summer, when I only have 30 euros in my bank account. I had to exchange the US dollars given by my grandmother then put it into my bank account using ATM. Since the university is on a holiday for the entire two months of summer break, we don’t receive our scholarship money until September. My financial management was shitty. I didn’t think at all to say yes to all the trips, to splurge on discounted stuff. To impulsively bought a tab (Which is so so useful! No regrets). There were also unexpected expenses such as the extra amount to be paid for electricity bills, and municipality taxes. Ugh. 

But I managed to find four jobs. One super weird one that involves my teaching algebra and science to the kids of a random Middle Eastern lady that I met at the parking lot of EWI (only €6/hour which can be categorized as slavery). One from being an internal affairs coordinator of the TU Delft Student Ambassadors group (a lot of hours in the beginning then pretty much none). One from being a teaching assistant for an online course on Cybersecurity. It was so much fun, and interesting, and it consumes so many hours. I also had to switch my student insurance into a Dutch basic health insurance. But I got a toeslag (allowance) so it became so much cheaper. The last one was being a part of the board of studies in my faculty. I somehow also qualify for additional funding on top of my fixed allowance. It’s such a great surprise.

I am getting better in managing my finances (no random trips, no shopping urges), and I’m confident that I can finish my degree with some money left in my savings account.  

10. Concerts!

One of my favorite one is Joe Hisaishi’s concert that I watched earlier this year with Enreina and Ammar. I watched Ghibli movies when I was still in elementary school, so this concert is particularly special. Went to watch John Mayer with friends, bought heavily marked-up tickets and to be honest it was not that great. The songs were not really the songs I liked plus the crowd was weird. People going in and out throughout the concert to buy beer and fries. Can’t you guys sit down and enjoy? The last concert I watch is The World of Hans Zimmer. It was so good!

11. Thesis defenses

My favorite part of a person’s thesis defense is when the first supervisor gives some sort of short speech that will eventually lead to the grade of the thesis. It is heartwarming. They listed down all the positive traits of the student, the hard work and hardships and how they appreciate all the process. 

12. Stuff on feelings

I’d say that this year ends with something super nice and rather unexpected. 

-

Here’s to a better year ahead!

[travels-with-chris]

The Hague

One important note to start with is that The Hague is a great place, a big city that doesn’t overwhelm, it is a mix of historical buildings and sandy beaches to name but two features. On any day it’s a place you would want to stay for as long as possible. When reading this please take it in the context it rained ALL day. I mean from being in bed, walking to the station, the train, arriving, walking, leaving, walking home in Delft, you get the picture!

Having delayed our visit by a day to undertake more running repairs on the leaky roof, we awoke from a good sleep and walked thirty minutes into Delft to the station. For €6 each we had a return ticket and less than twenty minutes later, were at Den Haag Centraal railway station, setting about dodging the rain, wondering why today of all days Richard’s new navigation app wasn’t working, before trying to locate the tourist office in the library. Map in hand and a free one too, we went round in circles getting wetter before deciding to have a coffee back at the library. Call us old fashioned but we were taken aback when cash was refused as it’s card only, even for a €2 coffee. Eventually the girl took pity, either that or the sight of the queue prompted her to take the cash as a one off.

Wandering to the Grote Markt, it was hard to imagine it as a bustling area of bars and restaurants. It was hard to picture anything with the rain and wind lashing and there was certainly no live music today. Close by the Great or St James Church certain looked impressive from the outside. Due to an over 50s event it was closed but we managed to beg a photo from inside, either they felt sorry for us or thought we were over 50! The main attraction could not be diminished by the weather and that was Binnenhof. Mainly built on the 13th century, the Gothic castle originally functioned as a residence of the counts of Holland, before becoming the political centre of the country in 1584. Now home to both houses of the State General of the Netherlands as well as the Prime Minister. In the main square is the Hall of Knights, used for the state opening of parliament, when the Dutch monarch drives to Parliament in the Golden Coach, delivering the speech from the throne. Sound familiar? Through the courtyard is Maurice House, an art museum housing the Royal Cabinet of Paintings. It looked impressive from the outside but we didn’t go in, instead opting to walk to Noordeine Palace, one of three official palaces of the Dutch royal family. There was no invite in, nor could we locate the gardens, despite scaling the outside so on we went. At our campsite we had seen pictures of the Peace Palace, an international law administrative building. It houses both the the International Court of Justice and Permanent Court of Arbitration. Whilst again, you cannot gain access to the building or gardens, you can view a free exhibition in a special visitor centre. Initially we took a picture of what we thought was the World Peace Flame, thinking it odd we could see no flame. After a wander we realised that we had taken a picture of a sculpture and the flame was besides the palace. If we had to pick one thing we wanted to see here most, next up is Richards choice, Fairytale Sculptures by the Sea. After a long and I mean long walk, passing the UN flag parade, a collection of all the flags of the world, we arrived at a lovely sandy beach, with the rain teaming down. Alongside the promenade various sculptures of all sizes exist, each enchanting in their own way, depicting many childhood like dreams. We walked along the covered pier and stopped for tea and apple pie. Braving the open roof area we walked back fighting the wind and seeing a wind surfer nearly swept against the pier. A very somber choice from me, as we jumped on the tram halfway, before yet another long walk to the International Criminal Court. Here it has the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Criminals from the former Yugoslavia to African leaders have appeared here in modern times. From here, as we walked back, we were granted a bonus upon seeing statues of famous historical Dutchmen who had made a contribution in the field of law, outside the Supreme Court of the Netherlands. It is the court of last resort for civil and criminal matters. A little further down and on the other side of the street we saw the Royal theatre. Another guidebook recommendation, chosen by us as it had a nice picture of the outside was the Escher Museum. Maybe in the darkness it did not look it’s best but here are displays of works by M C Escher and there were two good reasons why we didn’t go in. One, in 2015 it was revealed that many prints on display are replicas, scanned from original copies and printed onto the same type of paper used by Escher, rather than original prints as they had been labelled. The second reason was it was closed by the time we got there. Finally, we passed Binnenhof lit up in the gloomy night sky and arrived back at the train station, soon to be back home dry and in the warmth.