Thoughts on Class

Thoughts on class, and a little more about the VU. I haven't done a numbered list in a while, so why not today?

Things you should know about the Vrije Universiteit and my Democratization class:

5) When I first got here, I called the Vrije Universiteit the "V" "U" -- so uncool. No one does that. If you want to blend in with the other students, call it the "foo". It's like saying VU as a word, but a Dutch V is more like an F. Even the voice announcing tram stops does it.

4) VU students like their breaks and their snacks. During our 15 minute break in Dem., nearly everyone buys candy and/or coffee from the vending machines in the hallway. People also bring cheese sandwiches with them to eat when we are NOT having a break. My class meets from 1:30-3:30 on Monday, and 3:30-5:30 on Wednesday, so not exactly over lunch or anything. Is the Dutch culture more of a snacking culture? Are the vending machines that take your ChipKnip card as payment too convenient? I must admit I have a hard time resisting the call of the instant cappuccino machine, which dispenses MUCH tastier coffee than the instant machines I've come across at rest stops. Anyway, enough on this.

3) The book we read for class, "Setting the People Free" by John Dunn, is HARD to get through. Mr. Dunn is not a fan of simple sentence structures. Here's a sample sentence, to give you an idea:

"America today remains a society uncomfortable with every surviving vestige of explicit privilege, but remarkably blithe in face of the most vertiginous of economic gulfs, and comprehensively reconciled to the most obtrusive privileges of wealth as such."

Vertiginous? Really? Really, John Dunn? On the bright side, I have now looked up and know the meaning of the word vertiginous. I asked some of my fellow classmates how reading the book was going for them, thinking they were bound to have troubles too since 90% of them are Dutch. I mean, if I had to read a book like this in my non-native language, I would drop out of college and live under a bridge by the canal with the smelly goldfish. It sounds like they have adapted the same policy that I have for getting through Dunn: skim reading.

2) The Dunn book is not the only time that I have worried about/felt guilty for the class being taught in English. We had a guest lecturer last week who admitted that he didn't know English fluently and so had written out word-for-word his lecture for the day. I will just say that did not lead to the most thrilling lecture I have ever heard. If the poor guy had been able to give the lecture in Dutch, ad lib a little, speak from his heart, the lecture would have been tons better. So sorry to everyone in Democratization that you had to hear a confusing lecture in English rather than a stimulating one in Dutch.

It all evens out, though, because there have been times when it is easier for them, harder for me. An example would be a few weeks ago when we watched a video about democracy in China. The narration was done in English with Dutch subtitles. Fine. But the interviews in the movie were done in Chinese, with...Dutch subtitles. Hmm. At least the Dutch students understood what was going on.

Actually, now that I think about it, someone told me after class that they had all watched the democracy in China movie in another class last year. Sometimes you're the bug, sometimes you're the windshield.

And, the most important thing you need to know about Democratization:

1) I think our professor is color blind! Seriously, I just deduced this yesterday. He had a graph on the power point with a green line on it, and he referred to it as a red line. ???? Do you think I'm right?

Small things like that help keep the class interesting ;)