Ieuw, HBO.

Afgelopen vrijdag was ik naar de open dag voor Masteropleidingen van de Universiteit van Leiden. Aangezien ik over 4 maanden afstudeer ben ik een beetje aan het rondkijken wat ik na mijn studie wil gaan doen.  Ik ben eerst gaan kijken bij een presentatie over de premaster psychologie en daarna bij de master Economic and Consumer Psychology. Het lijkt me erg interessant en het sluit goed aan bij de vakken die ik nu volg, dus het is zeker een optie die ik open hou.

Er was alleen één ding dat mij opviel terwijl ik aan het luisteren was naar de presentatie: wat ik wel eens gehoord heb blijkt waar te zijn. Op universiteiten hebben ze een hekel aan HBO studenten.

Het begon met het feit dat degene die de presentatie voor de premaster gaf. HBO studenten kunnen zich ook aanmelden voor de premaster, om zo hun achterstand ten opzichte van de master die ze willen gaan doen te overbruggen.

Bij studeren aan de universiteit hoort een degelijk verstand van statistiek. Logisch. Hoort erbij. Op het armzalige HBO wordt er ook echt wel aan statistiek en SPSS gedaan. Er werd alleen wel 15 keer gezegd dat “het echt allemaal heel moeilijk is” en dat “als je van het HBO komt je hoogstwaarschijnlijk het niveau niet aan gaat kunnen”. Want alle HBO’ers zijn tenslotte hetzelfde.

Er werd zelfs letterlijk gezegd dat “HBO’ers ook een soort van studie hebben afgerond.” Pardon? Een ‘soort van studie?’ Dus wij betalen ook bijna 2000 euro per jaar voor een ‘soort van diploma’?

Nou laat ik me door dit soort ondoordachte opmerkingen niet zo afschrikken. Ik weet wel beter. Maar ik weet zeker dat ze hiermee genoeg HBO studenten die deze master als optie hadden hebben afgeschrikt. Goed gedaan jongens.

Oh ja. En voor de meisjes die een rij achter me zaten en bij het woord HBO begonnen te lachen “Ieuw, HBO” zeiden: beter nadenken voor jullie zoiets zeggen. Er zijn meer van ons dan van jullie.

 

Update!

Oke. Ik heb toch voor nu besloten om in het Nederlands verder te bloggen. Nadat ik hier al een jaar niets nieuws heb gepost ga ik jullie eerst even wijzen op deze blog. Voor iedereen die het gemist had, dat is de blog die ik bijhield toen in in Helsinki woonde, misschien leuk om te lezen (ik lees het zelf wel vaak terug). Maar sinds ik al sinds mei 2014 terug ben, wordt het toch tijd om hier ook weer eens verder te gaan.

Sindsdien is er in mijn leven niet bijster veel veranderd. Ik woon nog steeds in Alkmaar, al is dat nu wel in het huisje van een vriendin die nu zelf in het buitenland zit. En ik studeer nog steeds in Utrecht, hopelijk ben ik in juni klaar met mijn bachelor, en dan komt de vraag: ga ik gelijk werken of studeer ik door? Morgen ga ik kijken op de masterdag in Leiden of dat iets voor mij is.

Ik ben lang, lang geleden (om precies te zijn 6 jaar), begonnen met de studie Toegepaste Psychologie. Ik ben hier na 1.5 jaar mee gestopt, niet omdat ik het niet leuk vond, maar de manier waarop er toen werd lesgegeven lag mij niet. Nu heb ik altijd een interesse in psychologie gehouden, en de vakken op mijn huidige opleiding die ook maar enigszins een connectie ermee hadden vond ik vaak het meest interessant.

In Leiden is er dan de master Economic and Consumer Psychology. Wat dan weer aansluit bij mijn huidige afstudeerrichting: marketing. Niet alleen lijkt deze master mij heel leuk, ook heb ik dan het gevoel dat als ik hiermee begin het cirkeltje rond is. Ik ben ooit begonnen bij psychologie, en om er dan ook te eindigen lijkt mij geweldig.

Ik ga het zien morgen!

It’s been a while..

When I started this blog I thought it was gonna be something I would keep up with. But well, as you can see, I didn’t. It’s been over a year since I last posted something on here.

Time to give this page a make-over and see if I can make something of this again!

The ‘Erasmus’ Life

It’s almost been a week since I arrived and I am slowly getting used to life in Helsinki. The normal life I mean. The exchange program I am in is from Erasmus and apparently it is intended that you keep to some kind of ‘erasmus life’. Erasmus life apparently is equal to making out with as much guys/girls as possible, partying 7 days a week, checking out which parties to go to for 3 hours a day and being so incredibly scared that you will miss one thing/party/get together or whatever.

Don’t get me wrong, I like partying, but that’s not what I came here to do. I came here to study (god now I look like such a nerd, but you get what I mean), get my points, meet new people and experiencing life in a different city. Not to experience the same life I had 2/3 years ago all over again but just in a different city. It’s hard sometimes as my roommates are so scared they will miss one thing, I mean gosh you are here for 5 months, and you have been here for only one week, please sweet jesus for fucks sake calm yourselves down.

I will have to get used to this, because I really do like my roommates, they are very nice. I went here with a clear head and no expectations at all, I mean you can end up with shitty roommates as well. They just make such a big fuss over everything. I know I am mature for my age, It might sound a bit cocky to say that but I know I just am. I sometimes feel like I just think different about a lot of things compared to other girls my age (except my friends, jeez I miss them). But is that bad? Is it good? Sometimes I just don’t know. I don’t feel scared that I will miss out on ‘that amazing party’  because I know there will be more. There will be worse ones, there will be better ones. Who cares?

I have already had my fair share of partying.  Maybe that’s why? I really do feel lost in this part. Should I do things I don’t really feel like doing? I think not. But some part of me also feels shitty because the others are out having fun and I am not there. After a week I feel like that is already driving some kind of wedge between me and them. I just really wonder if I can really find my place here. Not getting wasted all the time, or going to class with while hungover.

I should just wait it out, after all I have only been here one week. And I have to say I really am having a lot of fun, and I have already met a lot of great people. But have I made real friends already? Maybe not. Time will tell. Am I overthinking this too much? I probably am. Good night!

I made it!

This is my second day in Helsinki, and it’s -12 at the moment.

After a very emotional goodbye at the airport on Tuesday (my grandparents came to say goodbye as a surprise, I had absolutely no idea they were coming), I took the 13.55 flight to Helsinki. I have to say, flying by yourself is GREAT. I booked a seat with extra legspace, and I am very happy I did that. There was no one sitting next to or behind me, and no screaming children around. Perfect.

After I arrived at Helsinki Airport I found my way to the exit and the tutors from my uni were already there, everything went so smoothly and I was at my apartment within 30 minutes.

The apartment is just fine, my room is bigger than I thought it would be so that’s great, but it doesn’t really feel like home yet. Maybe if I go to Ikea on Sunday to buy some stuff it’ll feel more homely. My flatmates all seem really nice, I live with 2 Koreans, 1 Spanish girl, 1 Austrian girl and 1 Girl from Germany who studies in Zwolle, so she speaks Dutch as well.

Yesterday we had the first orientation day and we were shown around campus a bit and went to see the important places in the city centre, which is only a 4/5 minute train ride away from where I live, and I live next to Pasila train station, so that’s perfect. I met so many people yesterday, including two girls who are doing the exact same study as I am and I have never met them before. I also have a travel card which allows me to travel within Helsinki, and lunch at school only costs 1.50 and that gets you a lot of food including salad, meats, potatoes, bread, drinks and more.

Today we have another orientation day which starts in 1 hour, so I better get ready, haha. Ah well. School is only a 2 minute walk from where I live, I have to say I really got lucky with the location of my apartment, everything is so close!

I’ll keep you updated!

Love.

Less than a day

Tomorrow around this time I’ll be on my way to Helsinki. Right now, I am not having so much fun as I absolutely hate saying goodbye. I don’t feel homesick very often but I just don’t like having to say goodbye. I admit I have already cried several times today. And it’s not because I am scared or anything like that. It’s just the fact that I won’t be here tomorrow.

But I am looking forward to my trip so much, I can’t wait, just let it be tomorrow, just let me be on that freaking plane. My bags are packed and I have packed a lot of clothes, way more than I thought would fit in my suitcase!

My flight leaves at 13.55! I’ll update here as soon as I have an internet connection!

 

Two weeks to go!

Hi all!

There are only two weeks left before I leave for Helsinki. I created a second blog (in dutch) which I share with my family and friends who are not following this blog. it’s http://saraistudeertinhelsinki.wordpress.com! If you really want to follow me during my stay abroad I encourage you to follow that blog as well, because I’ll probably post more on that one, since I don’t really feel like posting the same thing in dutch and english ;-) (lazy bastard haha)

So again: http://saraistudeertinhelsinki.wordpress.com

!

Moving to Helsinki: 1 month to go

Tomorrow is the 14th. Then it’s only one month to go until I move to Helsinki. Yesterday I picked my courses, they still have to be approved though, but I don’t think that’s gonna be a problem, since all of them have to do with marketing or communication. I am just bummed they didn’t have more like an advertisement course. They did have a change management course (similar to a course I very much enjoyed at HU), but it was at an other campus. And lazy as I am, I don’t want to travel 40 minutes for one course, when my own campus is 200 meters away.

The courses I picked are: Creative Corporate and Marketing Communication, Blogging and Social Media Marketing, Finnish for Exchange Students 1, Online Communication, Experimental Marketing and Multicultural Business Communication in English. Additional courses (if something goes wrong with applying or somthing) are: Corporate Identity Design and Image Processing, Multicultural Teamwork and Finnish for Exchange Students 2.

Blogging & Social Media Marketing and Experimental Marketing are virtual courses, which means I don’t have to go to class to follow them, they are online completely. This means, if I get all the classes I want + the times I want, I only have to go to school on Tuesdays from 08.00 to 17.30 (okay that’s pretty harsh), Wednesdays from 09.00 to 13.45 and Thursdays from 08.00 to 11.45. Which looks pretty damn perfect to me, 4 days of weekend, well, 4.5 actually because class on Thursday ends before 12! Of course I need to do the virtual courses, but I can do that whenever the hell I want.

Let’s just hope all will go as planned!

2013 in Music

What music and which artists have I discovered or maybe rediscovered in 2013?

1. Stromae

Damn, I fucking love Stromae. I think almost everyone knows him from his hit ‘Alors on Danse‘ in 2010. This year his second album, Racine Carrée, came out and it contained the hits ‘Papaoutai‘ and ‘Formidable‘. This Belgium artist has really got me. Even though I don’t understand about 80% of what he’s singing/rapping (because it’s all in French), it still gets me. The combination of beats and lyrics are just amazing. Yeah, Stromae is my discovery for 2013. I think I will keep listening to this for a while! (check out this amazing performance at RTL Late Night)

2. Editors

Editors, one of my favorite bands ever, brought out a new CD. ‘The Weight of Your Love‘ came out on june 1st and on june 9th me and my best friend went to a concert in Amsterdam. This was amazing for me since we kinda became friends 6 years ago at one of their concerts. So it was great re-experience that!

3. Alt-J

Admitted, I found out about Alt-J in late 2012, because of a short thing I had with this dude who turned out to be an ass. Anyway, he DID introduce me to this amazing band and I have been in love ever since. I have listened to their album ‘An Awesome Wave‘ over 200 times, without a doubt. Lately not so much, but you know how that goes. I know for sure that this band, definitely the album will stay one of my favorites.

4. Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake, usually SO NOT MY THING, brought out the first part of the 20/20 experience I think somewhere in April. And I LOVE it. I have listened to it many times and it really has some great songs on it.

5. other artists

I also really liked Passenger this year, Matt Simons (who became famous in Holland after ‘Goede Tijden Slechte Tijden’, biggest soap opera here, aired one of his songs. I do think there are better songs that that one on the album), The Boxer Rebellion scored a great hit here with ‘Diamonds‘ , but I really likes their CD as well. But I guess that’s about it.

Life without a proper phone. Day 2.

Well, actually it’s not even day two, because of my good good friend whose old HTC smartphone I can borrow for the time being.

It was actually kind of weird yesterday. Not having a proper phone. I was constantly grabbing the old phone and clicking the side button to see if I had any messages. It has become a habit, and a hard one that is.

Anyways, the phone I have now is just fine. At least I can check my email and use What´s App. Like my friend’s father said when I came to pick up her old phone: “You are reachable, so you excist!”

So true.