MADE IT! Here's a nice pic of the view from my window as we flew into Amsterdam. She's a really photogenic city (kind of a showoff but she flaunts what she's got so I can't put it past her. Aw so cute). Not really sure what day of the trip to consider today because that whole "jet lag" and "lack of sleep" and "time change" stuff coincidentally isn't a myth. Tomorrow is orientation to the courses though, so that maybe helps give some perspective of what's up.
Today we flew in to Amsterdam and then took a train to Utrecht, home of the Strowis hostel. Lovely little joint. We unpacked, had some individual meetings with Iveta, the program director, and her TA, Lauren. It's interesting because Lauren prefers the pronoun "they" as opposed to "she" or even "he." A student in the program, Ezra (currently sleeping in the bunk above me and also was on the same flights as I was) actually does the same thing. It made me realize that I have to start asking people what pronoun they prefer before I assume it just is paired with the sex of the person. I am actually learning a lot of new things about gender and feminism and women's studies already, just from listening to these girls (or these people) talk among themselves. All of them have taken at least one WGS course before this, and most of them have WGS as part of their majors. Needless to say, I'm definitely the least-versed person in that area out of the whole group, so it's intimidating but I'm definitely not hesitant to ask what things mean or for a topic to be explained. It's all very new and exciting.
A few of us walked a little bit down the road to a little supermarket to get food for dinners and snacks and stuff. The amount of bikes and bikers in this city is incredible. I love it. There is more cycle traffic than car traffic which I think is so precious and it makes me want more/better bike lanes in the US (or at least Belleville).
It's kinda chilly at night here. Sweater weather. I like it.
xx
Today we flew in to Amsterdam and then took a train to Utrecht, home of the Strowis hostel. Lovely little joint. We unpacked, had some individual meetings with Iveta, the program director, and her TA, Lauren. It's interesting because Lauren prefers the pronoun "they" as opposed to "she" or even "he." A student in the program, Ezra (currently sleeping in the bunk above me and also was on the same flights as I was) actually does the same thing. It made me realize that I have to start asking people what pronoun they prefer before I assume it just is paired with the sex of the person. I am actually learning a lot of new things about gender and feminism and women's studies already, just from listening to these girls (or these people) talk among themselves. All of them have taken at least one WGS course before this, and most of them have WGS as part of their majors. Needless to say, I'm definitely the least-versed person in that area out of the whole group, so it's intimidating but I'm definitely not hesitant to ask what things mean or for a topic to be explained. It's all very new and exciting.
A few of us walked a little bit down the road to a little supermarket to get food for dinners and snacks and stuff. The amount of bikes and bikers in this city is incredible. I love it. There is more cycle traffic than car traffic which I think is so precious and it makes me want more/better bike lanes in the US (or at least Belleville).
It's kinda chilly at night here. Sweater weather. I like it.
xx
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