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hunting the housing mafia when dutch 'directness' hurts secret study spots at the uni

independent news for academic groningen

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The best of Groningen

o you know what’s going on in your brain when your vision blurs after a night of heavy partying? Or why your speech starts to slur? Or why you have such a brutal headache the next morning? Read our article ‘Never drinking again’ to find out what really happens to your body when you get wasted. Drinking, room scams, prejudice: within these pages you’ll find a selection of the topics we’ve covered over the past year on UKrant.nl – an introduction for people who are new to the university or Groningen. In this magazine, you’ll learn how to fool your professor if you want to skip class, what it’s like to work strange jobs on the side, how to make life a little brighter for the elderly, and how to spot scammers conspiring to steal your money when you’re looking for a place to live. We’ll also tell you where to find the best pizza, the juiciest burger, and the tastiest cocktail. Who are ‘we’? We’re the Groningen university newspaper - UKrant.nl - and we have been the independent journalism medium for the RUG for almost fifty years. The word newspaper might sound a bit misleading, since it suggests ink and paper. We are an entirely online publication. We report 24/7 on the RUG: its news, politics, student life, sports, culture, research, and science. In short, we write about everything interesting or important that matters to you.

Where can you get the best pizza or the tastiest cocktail? Ukrant.nl made you a list . 4 -->

Hunting the housing mafia All over the world, international students are being conned by fake room advertisements. It’s even happening in Groningen. 7 -->

Secret study spots During exam time, the University library is packed. Where can you go when other students are driving you nuts? 13 -->

Never drinking again Stumbling home drunk after a night out? Discover what binge drinking does to your body. 14 -->

Rob Siebelink, editor-in-chief

When Dutch ‘directness’ hurts Internationals often face subtle prejudice from their Dutch peers. 23 -->

Colophon n editorial staff Rob Siebelink (editor-in-chief), Christien Boomsma, Thereza Langeler, Megan Embry, Evelien Hofman, Thamar Smit, René Lapoutre (design); Freek Schueler, Puck Swarte, Simone Harmsen, Leonie Sinnema, Koen Marée, Nina Yakimova, Valia Papadopoulou (freelancers)

Oude Kijk in ‘t Jatstraat 28, Postbus 80, 9700 AB Groningen. Tel: 050-3636700

Other news: Email: uk@rug.nl Website: ukrant.nl Twitter: @UK_Groningen Facebook: facebook.com/ universiteitskrant Instagram: instagram.com/ukrant

Adopt a grandma 11 This is how you integrate 17 Wytze's friends 18 How do I fool my professor 21 Pall bearing as a side job 27

n translation Alain Reniers, Sarah van Steenderen n photography/ illustrations Reyer Boxem, Marre Meijerink, Kalle Wolters

Cover photo Dead Hipster Dance Party cc

u k r an t. n l 3

BEST IN GRONINGEN BREAKFAST

Noorderplan tsoen

e d i u g ’ s r e m o c A new

Despite its size, Groningen has a vibrant night - and day – life and plenty of options to suit every taste. To help you take advantage of the best the city has to offer, we polled our readers for their favourite tips – most of them for under ten euros - and ran them by Saskia Jonker, one of the bloggers behind De Smaak van Stad (Taste of the City - desmaakvanstad.nl). By Valia Papadopoulou

Looking for a spot to break up the monotony of your breakfast routine? Bakkerij Blanche might just be the best breakfast spot in town. Located just a stone’s throw from the city centre - at Brugstraat 28 – Bakkerij Blanche offers a wide variety of items, with special emphasis on their freshly baked breads, so you can either indulge or make healthier breakfast choices. De Smaak van Stad says: ‘You can have a full breakfast for a good price. It’s also ideal for early morning types, as it opens at 8:00 a.m.’

meal upstairs or just grab a seat at one of the picnic tables outside. De Smaak van Stad says: ‘It’s a student spot, a great place to meet with friends and offers amazing pizza for less than 10 euros.’

De Smaak van Stad says: ’If you are the kind of person who is always up for trying something new, Pernikkel is a good fit: their menu changes every week.’ n pernikkel, aweg 2

n the uurwerker, uurwerkersplein 1

BURGER

BRUNCH

n bakkerij blanche, brugstraat 28

PIZZA

The Uurwerker serves the most delicious wood oven pizza in town by far. The location – Uurwerkersplein 1 – is just around the corner from the Harmonie building, so it is the ideal spot to grab some grub if you study in the arts or law faculties. You can either get cozy inside by snuggling up on one of the leather couches, have a romantic

n pappa joe, folkingestraat 46 and gelking-

The chillest place to get your brunch on is definitely Het Concerthuis, in Poelestraat 30. On Sundays, this laid back establishment hosts an all-you-can-eat brunch – for 11 euros - from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. De Smaak van Stad says: ‘What I like about it is that none of the furniture or plates match with each other. I think they bought most of them from a second hand store, so it’s very informal, like a proper student house.’

estraat 50

n het concerthuis, poelestraat 30

When it comes to big, juicy burgers, Pappa Joe is the best place to go. All burgers are served with southern style potato wedges and mayonnaise on the side for around 10 euros. However, Pappa Joe is not only for beef-a-holics: you can also try a delicious chicken or vegetarian burger at either one of their two locations: Folkingestraat 46 and Gelkingestraat 50.

VEGETARIAN

Although this next spot also has meat options, Pernikkel is an especially good choice for vegetarians. Located at Aweg 2, it is right in the heart of one of the city’s bustling shopping areas, and you can enjoy a nice vegetarian meal here for just 9 euros.

COCKTAILS

T here is little in the way of true competition with Mr. Mofongo when it comes to cocktails in Groningen. The best feature of this restaurant, located at Oude Boteringestraat 26, is the futuristic bar upstairs: there is a cocktail robot barman that mixes the drinks,

4 u k r a n t. n l / e ngl i sh

7 t aa str ge bin . Eb Nw Academy Building

Martini Tower

2 9

Vismarkt

Poelestraat

10 3

small side, but coffee is a very big deal here: be prepared for the owner to talk you out of simply ordering a chai latte. It is located in Oude Kijk in ‘t Jatstraat 32, very close to the Harmonie Building.

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in Folk

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Town Hall

Grote Markt

n black & bloom, o. kijk in ‘t jatstraat 32

TEA

Groningen Museum

For those passionate about tea, Simon Lévelt at Oude Kijk in ‘t Jatstraat 2 is definitely worth visiting. They have been offering the best tea in terms of quality and flavour for almost 200 years now, with teas from all over the word.

Central Station

n simon levelt, o. kijk in ‘t jatstraat 2

LATE NIGHT GRUB

which you definitely have to see for yourself. De Smaak van Stad says: ‘You can just sit and watch a robot mixing everything, which makes it a sort of entertainment.’

n mr. mofongo, oude boteringestraat 26

SUPERMARKET

If you have already tried the Jumbo or the Albert Heijn but you still need something more, especially something from your home country, try Amazing Oriental at

Korreweg 51. It combines a great variety of products which are virtually impossible to find elsewhere with good quality and cheap prices. n amazing oriental, korreweg 35

COFFEE

People who work at Black & Bloom are real coffee specialists: they even roast it themselves. Black & Bloom may be a little on the

If you find yourself in town and hungry after midnight, check out Bienvenue at Peperstraat 27. Despite the city’s buzzing nightlife, your chance of finding something to eat during the wee hours is slim. If you want options beyond fries and croquettes, Bienvenue makes eating at night possible: they stay open until 1 a.m. most nights and until 4:45 a.m. on Saturdays. n bienvenue, peperstraat 27

u k r an t. n l / engli sh 5

d of

wel

10 dingen die je nog niet wist over

geneesmiddelenonderzoek Wist je dat.. 1

..er jaarlijks honderden Groningse studenten deelnemen?

..ieder onderzoek is goedgekeurd door de METC?

..ontbijt, lunch en diner gratis worden verzorgd?

..al je devices mee mogen en er goede wifi is?

..je alle tijd hebt om (hard) te studeren?

..je momenteel tot wel €4262 vergoeding kan krijgen?

..je gezondheid continu in de gaten wordt gehouden?

..er een huiskamer is waar je kunt chillen?

..ieder onderzoek eindigt met een nakeuring?

(medisch-ethische toetsingscommissie)

10 ..je bijdraagt aan de kwaliteit van leven van je medemens?

Iets voor jou?  ✓

Je bent minimaal 18 jaar

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Je BMI is tussen 18 en 30

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Je rookt niet

(of nouja, de afgelopen 3 maanden niet)

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CS0295 R € 4262,- (bruto) BE

 V, 18-35 

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17 dagen

Informatie en aanmelden: www.qpsvrijwilliger.nl

KT O

BE R CS0294 € v.a. 1426,- (bruto)

 M, 18-45 

9/ 11 dagen

Criminals exposed

SCAMMING INTERNATIONALS

Hunting the housing mafia All over the world, international students are being conned by fake advertisements for living space on social media. Groningen students have fallen prey to this practice as well. Leonie and Nina, two reporters from UKrant.nl, went undercover in the shady world of house fraud. By Leonie Sinnema, Koen Marée and Nina Yakimova Illustrations by Kalle Wolters, Translation by Sarah van Steenderen

he adress is Nieuweweg 26. Someone named Nathalie Halleux is offering several rooms at this address on Facebook. She wants 800 euros as a down payment. UKrant reporter Nina Yakimova, from Bulgaria, is pretending to be a student from Sofia looking for a place to live. We count the house numbers on the left side of the street: 22, 24, and then… nothing. Just a high fence and a dark alleyway. The gate is locked. No doorbell to be found, no letterbox. Nieuweweg 26 does not exist. When we tell the story to the police in Groningen, they are already familiar with it. ‘Nieuweweg 26? We know that address’, we are told at the police headquarters. International students trying to find a place to live in Groningen do not have the ability to check out a place beforehand the way we

do. Hungarian conservatory students Ibolya Vörösváry and Alexandra Ruisz lost quite a bit of money last year as a result.

Belgian blonde Ibolya and Alexandra come to Groningen in September 2016 to study at the Prince Claus Conservatory. Ibolya’s brother Martón joins them. They look for a nice, available room in Groningen over the summer on Facebook. In the Facebook group Rooms in Groningen, they find an advertisement placed by Nathalie Halleux. At the Nieuweweg 26 address, this blonde Belgian woman is offering two rooms: a large one for 450 euros and a smaller one for 350 euros a month. Ibolya wants to share the large room with her brother. She forwards the message to Alexandra, who is interested

in the smaller one. Nathalie Halleux gives both students the email address for a person named Sandy He who is the supposed owner of the apartment. She responds quickly. In the email, she writes that she works as a tour guide in London and cannot come to Groningen. Her deceased father left her the building at the Nieuweweg, she writes. As a token of faith, she sends several photos of the apartment, as well as a copy of her passport. The Hungarian students do not hesitate. They sign the contract that Sandy sends them and transfer a security deposit worth a month’s rent: Ibolya pays 450 and Alexandra 350 euros.

Dig further Then it gets quiet. ‘Sandy said she’d contact us as soon as she’d received the money. She told us it could take two to three weeks’, they say later. At the end of August, they email Sandy to take care of the final details. But they get no response. They try the mobile phone number, but it has been disconnected. Once in Groningen, Ibolya and Alexandra go

u k r an t. n l / engli sh 7

to the police to report the con. But the police tell them there is not much they can do. The 800 euros they transferred are lost. For the time being, they couch surf with friends in Groningen. The Hungarian students are not the only victims of He and Halleux. The police in Groningen have heard dozens of similar stories. As we dig further, we find them in Facebook groups in Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Sweden.

Russian mafia Belgian student Marie Damman was scammed by He and Halleux when she was looking for a room in Munich in the autumn of 2015. Damman refused to let the matter rest and published the story on her blog.

She received responses from other victims in Germany, Sweden, Italy, and Switzerland. Damman hires a lawyer, who suspects the swindle is the work of the Russian mafia. He cannot help her. For us, the search goes on. Again we find an ad on Facebook: a luxury apartment at Het Hout 12 in Groningen, close to IKEA. Nina once again poses as an international student and responds to the message of Ekaterina Efimova. Just like Nathalie Halleux, Efimova refers us to someone else after initial contact is made. She too does not in fact own the apartment, but says it belongs to her ‘uncle’, someone named Martinez Herben. In an email in broken English, Herben asks her for 1,200 euros, which includes a 650 euro deposit and 550 euros in rent. If she transfers that, the

How to recognise & unmask the swindler clue 1 n The advertisement for the

room or apartment on Facebook has disabled commenting. Upon responding, you are referred to a ‘family member’ that owns the apartment. è Check the Facebook profile of the person who placed the advertisement. Having only a few or ‘strange’ friends who write spam-like responses to messages on the profile are clear warning signs. You can use reverse image search (Google or TinEye) to check if the profile photo matches the actual profile.

clue 2 n After contact by email, the

owner turns out to live abroad. There is no option to see the house, but you are asked to transfer a month’s rent or a security deposit. è To see whether the email sender is physically located where they say they are, you can check their IP address. You do this by looking at the email’s source code. To get to the source code, click on the downward arrow next to the reply button (in Gmail) of the email. Select ‘show original’ in the menu. Next, copy the information to a website that retrieves IP address, such as whatismyipadress.com. This method is more successful for Outlook email addresses than for Gmail addresses.

clue 3 n The photos of the apartment

look like they do not belong together, or as though they come straight from a realtor’s brochure or magazine. è Use reverse image search here to find out where the photos come from.

clue 4 n The ‘owner’ sends you an

ID card or passport to prove his or her trustworthiness. Swindlers often ask you to provide a copy of your ID as well: never do this! è Verifying whether identification is real is tricky. Do you have questions about Dutch identification? Call the municipality. It is also a good idea to google the name on the passport, potentially together with the place of birth. To find out whether this person was connected to fraud before, google “name AND fraud” or “scam”. No hits? Try variations of the name! The app DutchID2 can help you check Dutch IDs for security features.

clue 5 n You are emailed a rental con-

tract that at first glance looks legitimate. è Find out whether the contract appears on other websites by googling a sentence from the contract. Use the search operator “ ” to only get exact search results. Did you find the contract on other websites? Use text-compare.com to check for differences and similarities between your version of the contract and the one you found.

apartment is hers. To convince Nina he shows her a series of photos. And just like Sandy He, he attaches a copy of his passport (issued by the Dutch embassy in Beijing). But the photos are questionable. They show a luxurious living room, but also a small kitchen with a countertop straight out of the seventies. It looks as though they were taken at different apartments. Nina tells him that she is very interested and asks if a friend who already lives in Groningen can come take a look at it. She is quickly told that this is out of the question. ‘I’ve been disappointed a lot in the past’, he says. ‘I’m not taking the risk of coming to Groningen from London, where I work, for nothing.’ We decide to investigate on site, just as with the Nieuweweg. On a cold evening, Leonie and Nina ring the doorbell at Het Hout 12. There is no response. After several tries, a helpful resident lets us in. We show him the photos and ask if it looks anything like the apartment. ‘No’, he says resolutely. ‘That is definitely not here.’

Erasmus students When we arrive at the front door of number 12 on the third floor, no one answers. But the neighbours are home, and they let us inside their apartment. It becomes clear that the photos that Martinez sent us are not real. The window in the photo looks completely different from the glass facade of the apartment. By now we have figured out that Sandy He and Martinez Herben’s methods are virtually identical. However, there are differences as well: Sandy He specifically targets Erasmus students, while Martinez offers luxury apartments for rent. Sandy He’s emails are written in proper English, whereas Martinez’s proficiency varies from email to email. But is it possible that the same people are behind both these scams anyway? We submit the email exchanges to several linguistic experts at the RUG, who analyse the texts. The results are conclusive. The emails from Martinez all come from the same person. Sandy He’s messages all follow the same script. The lack of personal linguistic characteristics means there is not enough evidence to determine whether Sandy He is one or more people. Another thing is clear as day, however: the match between Sandy He and

8 u k r a n t. n l / e ngl i sh

How to handle identity theft Martinez Herben is 0.05, or practically zero. So that means we are dealing with at least two swindlers. Then, shortly after the failed acquisition of Het Hout 12, a new advertisement pops up. Cruz Perez Alvaro is offering a house at the Reitdiephaven (number 225). We tell him we are interested. He then refers us to the owner and provides us with an email address. At this point, we are no longer surprised to find out this is - once again - Martinez Johberg Herben. He gives us the same line as before: he has been living in England, he will be staying there for four years, and the apartment at the Reitdiephaven can be rented for a shorter or longer time. We also speak to Groningen housing corporation Lefier, who ultimately rents the apartment out, about Het Hout 12. They say that they are not aware of any wrongdoings. ‘Only if we suspect something illegal is going on, we involve the police.’ ‘But we have the “offer” on Facebook, a rental contract for Het Hout 12, email exchanges, and more’, we reply. ‘How much do you need?’ Lefier does not seem to believe in the idea that prevention is better than cure: ‘Unless someone comes to us and says: “Hey, I rented this”, and the apartment is already inhabited by someone else, we will not take action.’

Fake name Back to Cruz/Herben. We decide to take him up on it once again. This time Nina calls herself Trysha McKay, looking for a place to live from Budapest. After several exchanges via email, Martinez sends us pictures of the apartment at the Reitdiephaven. They are the exact same pictures as the ones of Het Hout: the kitschy living room, the luxurious bathroom, and the same small kitchen. Once again, he wants 1,200 euros transferred to his account before we can do business. We pretend to pay the 750 euros and make a screenshot the ‘bank transfer’ which we email to Martinez. He is pleased and seems to take the bait when he sees the transfer. He says he will come to Groningen to hand over the keys. On an overcast Tuesday evening, we cycle to Reitdiephaven 225, eager to meet this man. But the bottle of champagne we brought to celebrate getting the keys never makes it

If you think your personal information has been stolen, but you are not sure if it has been used in a crime, notify the police. You can make an official report later. But if something criminal has happened, report it. The way you report it depends on the seriousness of the offence. In the case of identity theft, you need to make an appointment at the police station. Bring as much evidence as you can: bank account numbers, phone numbers, and IP addresses are especially useful to the police. Without a report, the police cannot investigate, and you will be unable to recoup the damages from your insurance or the perpetrator.

out of the bag: Martinez does not show up. He does contact us one more time though. Despite the transfer we sent him, he has not received the 750 euros yet, he emails angrily. We say that something must have gone wrong, but he seems to sense that something is off. He breaks off all contact. We are no closer to unmasking this conman. We pool our resources: the entire UKrant team gets together for a ‘hack-a-thon’ hoping we will be able to unearth this man somewhere. After hours of investigation, we strike gold by trying different variations of the name. His passport turns out to have been photoshopped. Its actual owner is named Martin Johannes rather than Martinez Johberg. Martin lives in The Hague and works at a high school. Up until a few years ago, he worked in China at an international educational institute.

Responsibility The university is attracting an ever increasing number of foreign students, but does not offer them much in the way of information about how to rent a room and what to look out for. Both police spokesperson Robbert-Jan Valkema and legal advisor Denise Zonnebeld at Frently feel that the RUG should focus more on prevention. ‘The tenants themselves have the most responsibility, obviously. But the RUG and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences should provide students who enrol from abroad with an information packet. Then they’ll know exactly what to expect’, according to Zonnebeld.

Did you send someone your ID and do you think it is being misused? Request a new ID from the city. Each document has its own unique number. Should someone make use of your identity in the future, you will be able to prove it was not you. Report the identity theft to CMI. They can help. Be careful when sharing your identity documents. Check what kind of data organisations are allowed to ask for online. The Dutch Data Protection Authority’s website contains more information about who is allowed to ask for a copy of your ID. You can use the app KopieID to make a safe copy of your ID.

We track down his phone number and talk to the real Martin. It turns out he is a victim of identity theft, and not for the first time. Six months ago a bailiff suddenly knocked on his door. He was sent by an Argentinian student that had paid for a non-existent apartment. The ‘real’ Martin knew nothing about it. He has no idea how internet swindlers got ahold of his passport. It probably happened when he was living and working in China. ‘In China, I looked for living space through agencies and I stayed in hotels. They always make copies of passports’, he says. ‘Everyone has a copy of your passport these days.’

Report Martin Herben reports the identity theft to the police station in the The Hague. They tell him the police will not be able to do much for him. ‘That seemed strange to me. There’s not much I can do myself, either. All the scammers have to do is alter the data on my passport and they can just keep using it.’ In the meantime, we go looking for that other swindler: Sandy He, the woman who took money from students all over Europe. After a long search, we find Sandy He in Calgary, Canada. Just like Martin, the real Sandy He is the victim of identity theft. During her internship in Hong Kong in the autumn of 2015, she went looking for living space in all manner of ways. But she had no luck. Finally, she found an advertisement for a lovely apartment in a great location on Facebook. She emails a copy of her passport to the swindlers. That passport is later used in dozens of places around the world to take money from others. At first Sandy He is hesitant to tell us her story, but eventually, we talk to her over Skype.

u k r an t. n l / engli sh 9

‘I feel so terribly guilty. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about it’, she tells us. ‘I know people are calling me a swindler.’ The identity theft has greatly impacted her life. She is anxious and barely travels by plane, afraid she will get arrested. She uses a different name on all her social media accounts, and has told her employer about the situation. ‘But I’m afraid it’ll come back to haunt me every time I look for a job.’

Money trail We have one final bread crumb to follow: the money. This is easier said than done. Marie Dammen, the Belgian student who fell prey to the fake Sandy He, transferred money to a bank account in Malta in the autumn of 2015. That account was in the name of a Mark Bugeja. We track him down. Well, actually, we find dozens of him: there are quite a few Mark Bugejas living on Malta, where the name is as common as John Smith. None of the men can be directly linked to our case. After several fruitless attempts to get the Maltese bank to tell us the real name belonging to the bank account number, this trail ends, too. But there is still the money trail left by Hungarian students Ibolya and Alexandra, who transferred hundreds of euros for the non-existent apartment at the Nieuweweg

26 in Groningen to an SNS bank account belonging to a Violet Mary K. who lives in Amsterdam. We are unable to dig up much about Violet Mary K. online, but we do find a profile on Russia’s answer to Facebook, VKontakte. Could there really be a link to Russia, as Marie Damman’s lawyer suggested earlier? When you transfer money to a bank account, you always have to enter the recipient’s name. But Dutch banks do not all actually check if that combination is correct, even though they are working on it. For foreign bank accounts, whether the money actually ends up with the addressee is still unclear (for now).

Weird story The profile on VKontakte contains two photos of Violet Mary. They appear to have been taken in the same house. On a Friday afternoon, we ring the doorbell at the address provided. Mary Violet K. turns out to be a middle-aged woman. We immediately recognise her from the pictures on VKontakte. Her story is a bit weird: she feigns innocence, saying the bank account number is not hers. But when we ask to see her bank card to compare the numbers, she refuses. She claims her name is being used to con people. Is she a money mule, in cahoots with the

swindlers? Or is she just another one of the real swindlers’ victims? Even the police have trouble figuring out who is behind it all, says police spokesperson Ramona Venema after our questions about Ibolya's and Alexandra's report. ‘In cases like these, we often find that people are using foreign bank account numbers supplied by money mules. These people make their bank account available in return for a fee. It often involves vulnerable people with no permanent address who need a little extra money. We often don’t have enough leads to actually come up with a suspect.’ That is strange, says Denise Zonnebeld, legal adviser at Frently, an organisation that helps students with rental problems. She calls the response from the Groningen police ‘lacking’. ‘We can’t expect them to solve the problem on their own, but they are obligated to take down reports. That way they can create files. It happens way too often that the police send victims away, saying they can’t help them.’ Zonnebeld adds, ‘Students who have been swindled in Groningen often report the crime in the city they come from, which makes it unclear how many foreign students are being conned. That is why I always tell them to report it. And there should also be a unit where all the reports concerning this type of fraud are collected, maybe even an international unit. If the police were to track IP addresses and follow the money through the bank accounts, they could definitely help.’

False start Despite the false start, Ibolya and Alexandra are feeling perfectly at home. However, they are still angry. Not even necessarily with the swindlers; they know they will never get the money back. But it is the police’s reaction that does not sit well with them. Or rather, the lack of reaction. ‘To be honest, we expected them to go after the swindler. But since we reported the crime, we haven’t heard back from them at all. We’re very disappointed.’

10 u k r a n t. n l / e ngl i sh

FIGHT THE LONELINESS

Adopt a grandma Every week Welmoed Wester has a cup of coffee with her adoptive grandma. She gets to hear stories from a time where even a typewriter was exceptional. In return, her 93 -year-old protege has someone to talk to. ‘Nothing ever happens in my life.’ Text and photo Freek Schueler translation sarah van steenderen

t 9:33 a.m., 22-year-old Welmoed Wester enters the ZINN’s grand new assisted living facility in Selwerd. She was set to meet her ‘adoptive grandma’ at nine thirty. The fact that she’s three minutes late has not gone unnoticed. Welmoed: ‘She’s already phoned me three times to make sure I didn’t forget.’ Once a week, the pair has a cup of coffee together. Sometimes they go grocery shopping. It’s only an hour, but it’s an hour that 93-year-old Mrs Benthem-Dwars always looks forward to. She feels lonely sometimes, especially because she doesn’t like her new home. ‘The old building across the street was much more pleasant. I also had a great view of the pond, where there was always something happening’, she sighs.

Alone in her room Her husband died approximately ten years ago. Her children visit her every now and then, but she spends most of her time alone in her room. With age came various ailments, such as pain in her arm, trouble walking, and hardness of hearing, which means she has become increasingly less independent. Fortunately, she has not lost her sense of curiosity, nor does she have trouble talking to people. She can’t help but wonder out loud why she is interesting enough to write an article about. ‘Nothing ever happens to me, why don’t you write about her?’ she says, pointing at Welmoed. She would rather not talk about her current situation. She avoids questions, and it takes forever before she consents to having her picture taken. She laughs: ‘No, I’m old and ugly. When I was young and happy I could still pass muster.’ She would much rather talk about the old days. About how she used to take long walks

with her grandpa, back when she lived in Harderwijk. About all the times she moved house. About her husband, who was a horse trader. About her work as an office worker for the national health service: ‘We didn’t even have typewriters.’ About Amersfoort, Leeuwarden, Groningen, and Dalfsen. About how much she used to love reading and writing. About how she should have tried to develop that, but that she never finished school because of the war.

Online world Welmoed listens attentively. ‘But why don’t you tell me something about yourself’, says Mrs Benthem-Dwars. Last weekend, Welmoed ran the Batavia race. ‘We ran a relay race from Nijmegen to Enschede.’ Mrs Benthem-Dwars is visibly surprised. ‘But how do all those students know that there’s a race?’ she asks. She has no idea about the online world. Welmoed learned about the ‘adopt a grandma’ project through the student desk at the Red Cross. ‘I knew someone who participated in the project last year, and someone on the board of the Red Cross’ student desk.’ She has only been visiting Benthem-Dwars for a few weeks. ‘It’s been really nice so far.’ She combines it with, among other things, a pre-master in clinical neuropsychology.

Mrs Benthem-Dwars interrupts: ‘Is that at Zernike?’ Welmoed: ‘No, at the UMCG.’ Mrs Benthem-Dwars is silent for a while. ‘I didn’t know they had a school there’, she finally responds. ‘But tell me what you did this weekend. The weather was so nice.’

War The war – ‘That one broke us.’ – is a repeat subject in Mrs Benthem-Dwars’ stories. Our meeting takes place a week before Remembrance Day. She effortlessly reproduces the date Leeuwarden, the city she lived in during the war, was liberated: 15 April, 1945. The day itself is more difficult to recall. Something with Canadians in a parade? ‘Although we were really happy about the bread that was being dropped from the sky.’ Mrs Benthem-Dwars tells one story after another. Welmoed makes for a captivated audience. Welmoed: ‘I like being able to help. I like that she’s happy that I’m here. I get satisfaction from that.’ And for Mrs Benthem-Dwars it makes for a welcome change, even though it’s just one of the 168 hours in her week. Mrs Benthem-Dwars would really like a copy of the Ukrant containing the article about her: ‘Could you bring me one?’

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WHEN THE UB IS TOO MUCH

Secret study spots The UB during exam time is not a great place to study. Where can you go when squeaky door hinges, restless legs, and frantic typing drives you crazy? Puck Swarte gave some unexpected spots a try. By Puck Swarte / Photos by Marre Meijerink / Translation by Sarah van Steenderen

At home ‘Just study at home, there’s no need to actually go to the library’, you might think. True. But I am easily distracted and unexpected noises break my concentration. The neighbours might decide to throw a party, or my roommate might start baking a cake. I can even hear the vibrations of my neighbour’s cell phone going off upstairs. But the deadline to my essay is in two days. Where can I be free from noisy students?

building I sat behind a closed door, but here I’m visible to everyone who walks in. I feel like an intruder in a private community. It’s not perfectly quiet here, but it’s much quieter than the overflowing libraries. If you happen to spend a lot of time at the Zernike campus, this is a great spot.

Theology

Public Library Maybe the public library. There are plenty of tables, even though it's ten thirty in the morning, and I can spread out all my things. With a relieved sigh, I open my laptop. But then comes the disappointment: the Wi-Fi connection sucks. And while at the UB even drinking a cup of tea is prohibited, here people are eating entire meals. Then, an older couple begins a discussion about which travel books on Ukraine they need. I deduce from the heavy sighs of students near me that I’m not the only one who’s bothered. All the same, there is something to be said for the public library: the lighting is nice, there is plenty of space and you don’t have to get up ridiculously early. But I would prefer a less public place with fewer people. A secret location… is there such a thing?

The Honours Tower Hidden at the top of the Academy building are several study booths. They’re technically reserved for Honours students, but no one asks for my credentials. There are also plenty of seats even though it’s now twelve o’clock. I sit down in one of the focus areas. I can’t imagine anything distracting me here. Except… People keep tromping past. The constant hum of students and employees prevents me from focusing. It would be a great place to work on group assignments: the tables seat four people and it’s quiet enough for more intimate discussions. If you can stand some ambient noise, this is a pretty good study spot. But it’s not quite what I’m looking for.

Zernike

I’m still not entirely satisfied. I decide to try one more spot in the city centre: the theology library. It is supposed to be the holy grail of silent study spaces. In order to get here, I have to go through the cafeteria in the Academy building, through a door to the inner courtyard, up a set of stairs to the right, and through a large heavy door, behind which I find a room full of steps and old books. I can’t believe my eyes. This is amazing! Several desks are hidden between the bookshelves, where students work. There is room at the large table, and there are plenty of sockets, which means I can use my laptop. Here I am not bothered by the other students at all. I am in love. The only drawback is the small number of tables. To get a spot, you have to show up very early and you have to be lucky. Nevertheless, I am happy. It’s dead quiet. There’s not a student within a three-metre radius, and I’m completely closed off. Maybe I’ll get to finish that essay after all.

I am running out of time. A friend tips me off to a place on the Zernike campus almost no one knows about. It's in the Duisenberg Building. To reach it, I take the lift to the eighth floor, the stairs to the ninth floor, and make a right at the end of the hall, where I spot a few booths. This must be the place. I discover why this ‘secret’ spot is so out of the way: like the tower in the Academy building, this space too is just for honours students. Luckily nobody seems to care. Still, I can’t help feeling a little embarrassed, like an outsider. At the Academy

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Going out HOW DOES ALCOHOL AFFECT YOUR BODY?

Never drinking

How many times have you stumbled home drunk? The room is spinning, you can't speak without slurring, you're nauseated and can't see straight. Here you can read what a night of drinking does to your body. Note: you will (possibly) never want to get drunk againâ&#x20AC;Ś By Simone Harmsen / Translation by Alain Reniers Photo by Reyer Boxem

09:00 pM friday night

After a week of seminars and being nosedeep in your textbooks, you have earned a night out drinking with your friends. The beer cases are stacked, the fridge is full. Let the party begin. The substance we colloquially call alcohol has the chemical name ethanol. Ethanol dissolves in both water and fat and, as such, can penetrate all cells in our body. Ten miÂ nutes after you've popped the first bottles,

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again...

the first ethanol molecules reach the blood stream through the stomach wall. After that, the cells in the body also slowly fill up. After a beer or four, the ethanol reaches the brain and eases any study-related stress. It makes way for a feeling of relaxation. What is actually happening: it dulls everything up there, in your head. How? Your brain has GABA receptors that, when stimulated by a substance such as alcohol, ensure that the brain cells send fewer signals to one another. You get numbed in a way. This process is enhanced because, at the same time, ethanol blocks the NMDA

receptors that ensure brain activity. In short, your brain becomes less active. ‘Alcohol works in the same way as the substances used to anaesthetise you,’ toxicologist Daan Touw from UMCG explains. ‘Due to the blocking of nerve impulses, you get relaxed and are not able to think straight.’ And it makes you feel better. This is the result of our reward system, an area in the brain that is activated when you do something fun, are in love, or are having a nice dinner; it makes us glad, happy and cheerful. Alcohol does the same thing, but how it does that is not fully known.

11:59 pM friday night

The Martini Tower strikes midnight. The night is still young. The party continues in town. But hey! Your bike is nowhere to be seen. In front of the house? In the bike stand? Against that tree? Alcohol quickly leads to memory loss, paediatrician Boudien Flapper warns. ‘After a few drinks, you can already see the effect on the brain. You might think you’re still functioning properly, but scans

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show that, after consuming a small amount of alcohol, parts of your brain shut down’, Flapper states. Back to the bike situation. With the help of some friends, your bike is found. It was parked against that tree after all. The party heads for the bar. Once there, it is time to visit the bathroom – it is always the same. Your kidneys are working overtime. Toxicologist Touw: ‘Alcohol suppresses the creation of the antidiuretic hormone (ADH), which in turn slows down the creation of urine.’ The increased production of urine means you can get dehydrated quickly. For every gram of alcohol you consume, you urinate 10 millilitres of additional water. A bottle of beer contains 16.5 grams of alcohol. So if you drank about six bottles of beer by one o’clock, then you would urinate nearly one litre of additional water. That, plus the volume of the beer itself. After ten beers you are starting to really feel it, but you’d be mad if you think we are going home. Adrenaline from your adrenal glands make sure you feel inexhaustible. You decide to go to the club. Sweating profusely, you stumble around the dance floor – you are feeling hot. It is not due to your surroundings, but because the blood vessels in your skin are dilating and you are losing a lot of body heat. You feel hot, but you are actually cooling down. So remember to wear your coat when you go outside for some air; you might get hypothermia.

02:00 AM saturday morning

The DJ is playing Michael Jackson; you think you are the best with your flawless moonwalk. You fail to see the looks of pity. Your dance moves are not what they used to be; your arms and legs no longer do what you think they are doing. Your cerebellum, in the lower back of your head, has been thoroughly numbed. The cerebellum controls your movement, which is not going so well. Your vestibular system is completely disrupted. To understand what alcohol does with your sense of balance, we first need to under-

stand the anatomy of this system. The vestibular system can register turning motions and speed changes in multiple directions. It is filled with a fluid. When you move, the fluid stands still for a bit and thus presses against a membrane. This sends a signal to your brain: I am moving. After a few beers, this membrane is filled with ethanol and becomes lighter. It starts to ‘float’ and gives the brain the fake signal that you are turning. This makes you compensate for movement that is not actually happening; after 15 beers, the moonwalk has turned into a form of controlled stumbling.

05:00 AM saturday morning

Twenty beers and a couple of shots later, you are excessively drunk, but you do not even notice it. When you look closely in the mirror, you can tell that your eyes are shifting back and forth. Your brain, confused by your vestibular system, thinks that you are turning and is sending a torrent of messages to your eyes. These move along with a turning motion that is not there. This phenomenon is called nystagmus. It is one of the reasons that cute blonde girl is looking at you with dismay. Apart from losing control of your bladder, you have also lost all your charm. Overconfident due to the booze, you talk to her, but she cannot understand you. By now, the alcohol has numbed your cerebellum so much that you have even lost control of your tongue. You feel a wave of nausea rise up. ‘Without vomit, there’s no fun in it!’, a friend to your left shouts at you. Paediatrician Boudien Flapper: ‘Alcohol irritates the stomach wall, which results in an acute stomach infection.’ Add to this the fact that your drunk vestibular system activates the vomit centre in the brain and you are facing the toilet before you know it. Suddenly, you feel compelled to go home. Without saying goodbye, you jump on your bike and when you get home and in your bed, the world really starts spinning. You lie on your side and the world starts spinning right, because that’s the signal the floating membrane is giving. You turn to your left

and the world starts turning left. After all, the membrane is floating to the other side. The entire world seems to be spinning. The acute stomach infection is rearing its head. You stumble when you get out of bed. The toilet is not far – but just too far away. Oh well, need to clean that up later…

--:-the day after

After a couple of restless hours, you wake up. Why is everything still spinning? Your vestibular system is still under the influence, the fluid has only now been fully filled with alcohol, which makes the membrane grow heavier and drop. Once again, your brain is given a false signal and the world keeps spinning. The remedy is to crack open another beer; this restores the balance between membrane and fluid. Your stomach has not recovered from its attack after the bingeing. The stomach wall is still infected. This can still affect you heavily the day after. The nausea is part of a hangover, according to paediatrician Flapper. Your head is aching. Toxicologist Touw: ‘Headaches due to drinking are often attributed to dehydration.’ It is not that simple, he says. There are theories that headaches occur due to expansion of the blood vessels in the brain or due to shrinking meninges because of dehydration. ‘The truth is that we’re not really sure’, Touw says. While you stumble to the toilet, you are breaking into a sweat. Your internal thermostat is failing; it has been sabotaged by the many litres of beer. The boiler seems to have overheated. A painkiller offers some respite thanks to its fever-reducing properties. Also, just keep drinking water; most of the effects of your hangover are due to dehydration, probably. Probably: ‘We really don’t know all the effects alcohol has on your body’, Flapper says. Back to bed. While you pull the covers over your body, your head is pounding and your stomach is contracting again, you are certain: ‘I will never, never ever drink again…’

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Friends THE GAP BETWEEN DUTCH & INTERNATIONALS

This is how you do it! Worried about integrating at the RUG? Three students give advice. ‘Act quickly before Dutch students establish friend groups.’ By Megan Embry

‘Engage’ ‘Stick it out’ Xhorxhia Peno is from Albania and in her first year of the International and European Law program. She is still struggling to integrate. Little things remind her she doesn’t belong: ‘Something I found strange – especially at the beginning – is that when you sneeze, nobody says “bless you”. It’s so weird; when I sneeze, I still look around.’ Dutch students are ‘polite, but not friendly’, and Peno finds it cold and awkward when they speak Dutch as if she isn’t there. ‘I try to follow the conversation but usually I just stay on my phone.’ But it’s not all hard; Peno has a kind Dutch housemate who explains new things like garbage bins and bike lanes. ‘I guess you could say I’ve made one Dutch friend!’ She hopes this will help her integrate. ‘You make one friend, and then she introduces you to other people, and it just happens.’ Is social integration a problem? Peno shakes her head. ‘People are different – like, Albanians have a lot of loud laughter, and sometimes people just look at you like: “you’re crazy, what are you doing?” But that’s my laugh.’ People will learn to like it, she laughs, loudly.

German student Sara Seber has just started a Master of Marketing. She does have quite a lot of Dutch friends - mostly from rowing. She says everyone should join a sports or study association. ‘It really has to be very spontaneous – you meet over a committee and you’re like, “Oh! I really like that person.” And then you have to push a bit: “let’s do something.”’ But, Seber warns, you must act quickly before Dutch students establish friend groups. ‘Once they have that, it’s really impossible to get in.’ Beginnings are key, because everyone feels equally vulnerable – introduction week, or the first week of classes or sports. ‘Dutchies’ can be insecure, Seber says, ‘especially the ones who have not been abroad and are not comfortable with English – they get super stiff, and they don’t know what to do with it.’ But don’t take that personally. Instead, ‘invite them over for something fun, so that they get out of their bubble and see it’s not just their safe environment that is nice.’ Seber’s closest friend is Dutch, and she says the effort to make a connection pays off. ‘I guess it’s because they don’t let lots of people very close. So when you make it, it’s also meaningful.’

‘Embrace something different’ Medical student Cantin Gillen from the US has no plans to leave the Netherlands any time soon. ‘I think Dutch people are inherently pretty cool’, he says. He considers. ‘There’s a lot of logic in the daily life here. I think that gives them some sort of time and freedom from worry, so they can just enjoy things.’ This is true of Dutch relationships as well. ‘It’s part of the culture to just go to a café and have a coffee with a friend, even for half an hour in midday. It’s just: this is how life is. I make time for you because you’re my friend and I like doing it.’ Gillen arrived alone in Groningen six months before classes began. Steven, a Dutch guy he once shared a beer with, found Gillen a room and even got him a job tending bar. ‘You have to learn Dutch’, he says. ‘It’s just kindness, you know? It’s also a conversation spot. What’s better than making fun of yourself sounding like a toddler trying to speak a language?’ So why is integration so tricky for a lot of students? ‘I don’t think it’s a structural problem’, Gillen says. ‘It’s probably more a personal problem.’ He shrugs. ‘It’s much easier to go up to someone and say, “Hey, where are you from? I have no idea what the fuck is going on here.” And then you share in that discomfort.’

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Loss

A BENCH FOR WYTZE

We’ll never piss in the canals again Eighteen-year-olds aren’t supposed to die. Nevertheless, Steven Gast and Joop Stolle suddenly lost their friend and roommate in 2016. Now they’re telling everyone who’s listening to take care of themselves, and each other. By Thereza Langeler Photo Reyer Boxem & archive Steven Gast Translation by Sarah van Steenderen

very once in a while you meet someone and you just hit it off. You may not even know why, but you can feel it: you guys just mesh. This is how the guys living at Pension Dieters, a house of student association Vindicat, felt when first-year student Wytze came to stay with them during the KEI week. ‘He just fit right in’, Steven Gast, one of the occupants remembers. ‘He was so upbeat

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the bereaved could visit, a memorial at the place where Wytze died. Something that clearly said: take care of yourself, be careful. So now there’s a bench. And what a bench it is: it’s remarkably wide, made of untreated wood. Embedded in the sidewalk is a tile with a picture on it, sort of like the ladybird that protests random acts of violence. This tile depicts a hand with the middle three fingers folded inward towards the palm, the thumb and pinky finger outstretched. It’s called the shaka sign, also known as ‘hang loose’. ‘Hang loose, that’s what Wytze was all about’, says Joop. ‘Relaxed and laid back, but he always enjoyed life.’ Steven: ‘He used to make that sign with his hand like, all the time.’

New beginning

and positive. I could have lived with him for four years.’ In the end, they lived together for less than four months. After a night out in October of 2016, eighteen-year-old Wytze Pennink failed to return home. He fell into the water near the Kijk in ‘t Jat bridge – no one exactly knows what happened. A little over eighteen months later, a special

bench has been erected in his memory.

Picture ‘We got the idea for a commemorative bench almost immediately’, says Joop Stolle, another roommate. He, Steven, and Wytze’s brother Sjoerd arranged for the bench to be installed. ‘We thought there had to be something.’ The guys wanted to create something

Groningen was a new beginning for Wytze, just like it is for many first-year students every year. ‘He was a little shy in the beginning, but he was truly starting to open up’, Joop recalls. Vindicat, new friends, great house, parties: it was all amazing and Wytze enjoyed it all. When he wasn’t in his room one Friday morning in October, his roommates assumed he had stayed over at a friend’s house. He sometimes did that, so they figured he would eventually turn up. But morning turned into afternoon, and by the evening, Wytze still hadn’t appeared. ‘That’s when we started getting worried’, says Joop. Joop was at his parents’ house in Amsterdam, but immediately went back home. In the days following, he ceaselessly searched all locations in the city where Wytze may have been, aided by hundreds of other Vindicat members and Groningen residents. ‘Those days went by in a haze’, says Joop. ‘It’s too awful to remember’, says Steven. The guys didn’t sleep, couldn’t bear to sit still. Doing nothing drove them crazy. That weekend, Pension Dieters served as a base of operations where Wytze’s family gathered, the search parties kept each other informed, and friends dropped off lasagne casseroles. On Saturday, they even decided to deploy tracker dogs, because they felt the police wasn’t doing enough. On Sunday, the police started diving in the canal. On Monday afternoon, Joop and Steven were having coffee at a little shop in the Oude Kijk in’t Jatstraat, because everyone needs a break every once in a while. ‘That’s when we heard the sirens’, says Joop. ‘The

u k r an t. n l / engli sh 19

ambulances drove right past us, towards the bridge. That’s when we knew that they’d found him.’ It has been more than eighteen months and this isn’t the first time they’ve talked about it. It’s become easier, almost routine. But they’ll never get truly used to the fact that it happened. ‘He was just so young. That’s the most bizarre part’, Joop summarises the guys’ feelings. ‘It never should have happened.’

People die The guys were both struck by the senselessness of Wytze’s death, and they still are. Whenever they talked to people about what happened or about death in general, they were often told: ‘That’s life. People die, and there’s nothing you can do about it.’ Bullshit, says Steven. ‘Of course you can do something about it.’ Steven doesn’t like doing nothing. According to him, he’s ‘addicted’ to being active. He doesn’t like lounging around; whenever he’s got time, he’ll find something to fix, to do, to make. So when his good friend and roommate suddenly died for no discernible reason, Steven decided to do something.

‘We wanted to create awareness’, he explains. ‘People should stick together when they go out.’ Together with his roommates, he became the ambassador of being careful. They composed a message to the new firstyear students, which was included in the KEI week informational pamphlet: ‘Enjoy the things student life has to offer, but take care of yourself, and of each other.’ At Vindicat, they’ve also been busy promoting the ‘stick together’ policy, including during the introduction period. They are seeing its effect: many of their members now walk or bike home together after a night out. ‘And we never piss in the canals anymore’, says Joop. ‘I know that you can’t always prevent accidents’, Steven reluctantly admits. ‘But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.’

Mayor Six months after Wytze’s accident, he emailed the municipality of Groningen. ‘I just used the standard contact form on their website, where they ask for your name, address, and your issue.’ In a short message, he explained that they would like to donate a bench to the municipality. Just a simple

one, where Wytze’s friends and family could come together. He sent the message, not expecting any results. The mayor of Groningen responded almost immediately. He thought it was a great idea and wanted to meet with them personally. So the guys got to work, together with civil servant Arda Klijnsma, who helped them out. The guys would get the money for the bench, and the municipality was in charge of placing it. To collect the funds needed, the guys launched the website 07102016.net. This was the date that Wytze died. Through the site, they sold art that they’d made themselves. Steven made drawings, in an Andy Warholinspired pop art style, in a range of colours. They all featured that sign that they’d seen Wytze make over and over again: hang loose. The work finally paid off. The remarkably wide bench, made from untreated wood, looks out over the water at the north side of the Lopendediep. ‘It’s a good thing that it’s simple’, says Steven. ‘That’s how Wytze was. Humble and sincere.’

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Day off EXCUSES FOR YOUR HOLIDAY

How do I fool my professor? Your cat died. Your house burned down. It will take a really good excuse to ditch a mandatory class during the winter holidays. But how do you convince your professor? Professor of social psychology Arie Dijkstra advises. By Puck Swarte / Translation by Sarah van Steenderen Illustration RenÉ lapoutre

‘I have a hernia’ Your lie has to be sound and preferably not verifiable. Lying about a hernia only to show up to class a week later is not a clever move. ‘And if they do end up checking on you, you’d have to tell all your roommates to say that you are indeed deathly ill. It’s a hassle, but it’s doable.’

‘My brother is getting married’ Be careful about faking emotions. Acting really happy – say, because you’re going to your brother’s fake wedding – is risky, says Dijkstra. ‘When you’re truly happy, a little muscle under your eyes twitches when you laugh. So when you fake-laugh, that muscle has to move. Except only about twenty percent of people are actually capable of controlling that muscle. And even if they’re not trained in spotting your fakery, intuition and experience will tell them you’re not being honest.’ If you want use a sad excuse instead, like a bad break-up, Dijkstra says you have to control your face properly: ‘When you’re lying, the facial muscles have to be symmetrical. Research has shown that when people are asked to fake an emotion, these muscles often differentiate from each other. By keeping your face as symmetrical as possible, you’ll stand a better chance of your lie being believed.’

‘My grandma died’ Finding out what kind of teacher you’re dealing with can also help. Are they sensitive, or really strict? ‘Each teacher has their own reasoning. When students come to me

saying they haven’t been able to prepare for their exam because their grandma has died, I’m not particularly sympathetic to them, because dying is what grandmothers do. But I’m very understanding if you have a sick dog and need to take it to the vet. I use dogs in my research and have three of my own, so I know what it’s like to be there for them.’ So check your teacher’s Facebook page. ‘Maybe it says your teacher really likes making music. Make sure your excuse uses that somehow. You could say you have an important performance that day that you would have to miss otherwise.’

‘I have a job interview’ According to Dijkstra, the most important part of your lie is preparation. You have to think your lie through, because there’s a good chance your teacher will ask questions. So don’t just say that you have a job interview, but come up with the place you are interviewing with and why the job is so important to you. ‘You also have to consider your compensatory behaviour. You can say how sorry you are, for example. It doesn’t have anything to do with the lie, but it does

make it sound more plausible. You have to make it look as though you’re the one who’s suffering. It will minimise your chances of getting caught.’

‘I have a tennis match that day’ Don’t use a lie that makes it seem as though you think you are more important than the class. Saying you have an important tennis match that day will just make you look selfish. According to Dijkstra, you have to ensure that the teacher feels sympathetic towards you. If all else fails, burst into tears as you explain that all the stress is leading to a burn-out and that you need a break. ‘Crying always leaves an impression. Presenting yourself as the victim, or doing something noble, always works. If your excuse is that you have to go to the hospital with your mother, there’s no harm in saying that this has priority over the class. You have to make sure your teacher thinks your excuse is more important.’

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Heb jij ook wel eens zin om de hectiek van de stad, het studeren, de drukte te ontvluchten? Kom dan eens langs bij de Hortus botanicus Haren! De Hortus is een enorme tuin van wel 20 ha. op maar 20 minuten fietsen van het centrum van Groningen of bereikbaar met bus 51 vanaf station Groningen. Ideaal om na een paar uur druk studeren even tot rust te komen! De Hortus heeft veel verschillende tuinen, zoals de voor Europa unieke Chinese tuin, een wilde plantentuin en een Keltische tuin met overal veel bijzondere hoekjes, vijvers en plekjes waar je van de rust en natuur kunt genieten. Je zou natuurlijk ook je boeken mee kunnen nemen en in alle rust hier komen studeren! Middenin de Hortus staat het gezellige Grand CafĂŠ De Plantage, waar je heerlijk belegde broodjes kunt eten met een lekkere kop cappuccino erbij! Studenten van de RUG of Hanzehogeschool kunnen voor slechts 10 euro een jaarabonnement kopen en hebben dan onbeperkt toegang tot dit groene hart! Pak snel de fiets of de bus en kom eens kijken! De Hortus is elke dag open van 10.00-17.00 uur. Voor meer informatie, kijk op onze website: www.hortusharen.nl

Us and them INTERNATIONALS & PREJUDICE

When Dutch 'directness' hurts International students face everyday exclusion and indirect discrimination from their Dutch peers. And the Dutch don’t even know they’re doing it. ‘They think they are being direct, but actually it is just rude.’ By Megan Embry

lejandra Hernandez is an ambitious PhD student. She is also Mexican, and her colleagues often remind her of that. ‘I think sometimes Dutch people have a very difficult sense of humour’, says Hernandez. ‘The first time they called me “Consuela” I laughed. But the tenth time?’, she sighs. ‘Consuela’ is a Mexican character in the American TV show Family Guy. In one episode she appears on a game show called Are You Smarter Than a Hispanic Maid? It is not a flattering stereotype. ‘Why act like my people can only serve in that kind of work?’, she wonders. ‘And being a cleaning lady is a super honest job! But there are also engineers and Nobel Prize winners in Mexico. And I have exactly the same job my colleagues do: so why do these comments come up all the time? They think they are being direct, but actually it is just rude.’ Her experience is one of many. UKrant.nl did a survey of over 300 international students. In the last three months, more than 42 percent of respondents have been on the receiving end of jokes or comments by RUG students or staff that negatively stereotype their nationality or culture. And 13.6 percent of respondents say they have heard blatantly racist comments from RUG students or staff during that time.

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Maria Kovacevic is from Montenegro. She says she lost count of the inappropriate comments she heard while pursuing her PhD in physics at the RUG. ‘One student said to me, “Oh you are from Montenegro. Do you know what we think about people who come from your country? Well, you don’t want to know what we think”.’ She and her international friends would compare notes at the end of the day. The fact that she wasn’t alone was hardly comforting. ‘I would think: this is totally wrong. What kind of society is this? I came

to the Netherlands because I thought it was a country of freedom and openness’, she says. ‘And maybe as long as you are Dutch you won’t be judged. But if you appear to be someone with some other nationality, it’s problematic.’

'Kruiperig' Violeta Stojanovska is a PhD student from Macedonia. She doesn’t know what’s worse: being the butt of a joke, or feeling complicit when a joke is made about someone else.

She recalls a particularly painful example. ‘The first year of my PhD I was in a room full of Dutch students and a Chinese student came in to talk. As soon as she left, everyone burst out laughing, mocking the way she talked and behaved. They have a Dutch word for it – ‘kruiperig’ – for when you are a very low person. I was shocked. These people are training to be doctors! And I felt timid and afraid to say anything because I was the only person in the room who was not Dutch. I thought: do you do that when I leave the room?’ In the 1990s, Tom Pettigrew (an American social psychologist working out of the University of Amsterdam) developed a metric to measure ‘subtle’ and ‘blatant’ prejudice. His team found that Holland is full of subtle prejudice. This came as a big surprise to a nation that sees itself as one of the most tolerant in the world, says RUG social psychologist Ernestine Gordijn. But people generally don’t know that they are prejudiced. ‘And in the Netherlands people think they are open and direct but are often not aware of their prejudices. I wouldn’t say the Dutch are more racist than anyone else; I truly think they are just more naïve about the ways they are racist.’ Ludo Aerts is a Dutch student who has studied history and religious studies. He thinks recent history plays a big role in the way many of the Dutch see the world and themselves: ‘In the late 1980s we were doing so well economically and socially that we developed a dominant idea of ourselves as a guiding nation, an exemplary nation. It’s part of the national story that we tell ourselves, and it grounds this assumption that implicit racism and implicit xenophobia is not a problem.’ FEB economist Swarnodeep Homroy sees this kind of thinking in his own research all the time: people condone their micro-behavior by identifying instead with the macro-behavior of their group. Individuals can dismiss personally prejudiced behaviours by viewing their actions in light of the larger Dutch stereotype: ‘tolerant’.

Not just the Dutch Readers might object: this isn’t just a Dutch problem. And that’s true, says Gordijn. ‘Everybody stereotypes – we categorise everything we see, including people. But the problem is that stereotypes are simplistic

24 u k r a n t. n l / e ngl i sh

and often wrong; and stereotypes about minority groups are usually negative.’ International students say their Dutch peers defend negative stereotypes as a way of being ‘direct’. ‘But I even doubt whether that’s right’, says Gordijn. ‘It’s just that negative stereotypes make us feel good about ourselves. That’s basic social psychology. So if Belgians are dumb, then we are smart; if Germans are cold, then we are warm.’ And the fact is that expressions of subtle prejudice are usually indirect. Jokes are a convenient way of expressing negative value judgements, because the joke teller isn’t accountable for the effect of the joke. ‘It’s your fault if you don’t think it’s funny’, says recent RUG graduate, Paolo Petrocchi. Petrocchi is from Aruba, so he’s technically Dutch. But he often hears comments that remind him of his outsider status. ‘There is a hidden layer of intolerance or racism behind them. And because everything here falls under the umbrella of “tolerance” they think you should also be tolerant of their jokes.’

No harm intended According to the UK survey, only 8.3 percent of respondents think these comments are meant to be hurtful. 30 percent aren’t sure what motivates the jokes, and 61 percent say they know their peers are just trying to be funny. But Homroy doesn’t think any of that matters. ‘It’s how your words are received that matters.’ And over 30 percent of respondents say the jokes are, in fact, upsetting. A bad sense of humour hardly justifies hurting other people, Homroy says. His research focuses on gender discrimination, but he thinks gender bias and culture bias play out in similar ways and with similar consequen ces. Discrimination is not always intentional and bias is not always conscious. ‘But it can still inflict a kind of harm.’ When you’re in a majority position you probably won’t notice how often you stereotype others, says Gordijn. So she simply lets majority groups know how minorities see them. ‘They are always surprised. They don’t ever have to think about it because they set the norms.’ On the other hand, minorities anticipate being unfairly stereotyped at any moment. That psychological burden ‘can make you insecure, or angry, or feel like you need to actively dismantle negative stereotypes by acting differently'. Kovacevic has firsthand experience of this

phenomenon. ‘Students would joke that people from ex-Yugoslav countries come to the Netherlands just to steal’, she says. ‘The result is that international students end up asking themselves: what do they think of me? That I am some kind of criminal?’

Use your voice But just try to see the minority perspective, Gordijn advises. And that should be easy, because minority status is not static. Dutch students report their own experiences of exclusion while abroad or in international working groups. ‘Diversity is often a solution for subtle prejudice’, Gordijn says. ‘And if we really want to be an international university,

we should stop using mental shortcuts when we interact with each other.’ Alejandra Hernandez hopes to spend the rest of her life in the Netherlands. Like most of the students who contributed to this article, she doesn’t want to complain. But Homroy is optimistic that internationals can dismantle subtle prejudice if they just say something. ‘People from other countries can have a psychological disadvantage: if I always feel like I am a minority, I keep my head down. I stay out of the way. I don’t complain. But it’s good to normalise your presence by using your voice.’

u k r an t. n l / engli sh 25

Voordelig huren voor studenten

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Making money

PALLBEARING AS A JOB on the side

No room to mess up Some students have very unusual jobs to earn their tuition fees. Like those who regularly function as pallbearers at funerals in and around Groningen. Bug on your shirt collar? Keep it cool. By Matthijs Nieuwenhuijse Photo by Axios Dragers

‘G

entlemen, hats off.’ With a simple, solemn movement, the gentlemen pallbearers take their black stove pipes off their heads, holding them by their sides with a single hand. They look straight ahead. Friendly, but serious. Slowly, the funeral procession enters the Frisian natural cemetery. It’s almost thirty minutes late, but that’s all part of it. ‘A lot of this work consists of waiting around’, says pallbearer Thijs de Vries (28).

Eccentric De Vries was only twenty when he and his brother Robert (now 33) started Axios Dragers in 2010. The business sends students to funeral services to act as pallbearers. ‘We got the idea from a friend who works at Ferentes, our competitor in Utrecht’, De Vries says in his apartment in the Poelestraat, which also serves as a meeting place and a dressing room for the pallbearers. ‘It didn’t exist yet in Groningen.’ What started as a somewhat eccentric and unusual student service has grown into a sizeable business. ‘Initially, my brother and

I just worked in the immediate area. We would use our mother’s Toyota Starlet to drive from service to service’, says De Vries. ‘Now we serve the entire province of Groningen, as well as Friesland and Drenthe, with a pool of seventy student pall bearers.’ After he finished his law studies at the RUG, De Vries tried to make his way as a lawyer for six months, but he did not like it much. ‘I was working in bankruptcy law, but I was barely interested.’

Carrying the casket He went back to pallbearing and since then, Axios has become his full-time job. The Toyota Starlet has been replaced by two white company vans. And in addition to Groningen, Axios has branches in Nijmegen, Delft, and Zwolle. His brother lives in Zwolle with his family, taking care of the business in between changing nappies. Above all, pallbearers have to look presentable. The regulations (black socks, white shirt, a clean-shaven face) are strict. Visible piercings and tattoos are not allowed. All the men have to be between 1.80 and 1.95 metres tall. The coffin has to be balanced, after all. The bearers listen to the foreman: as the ‘Commander of the Pallbearers’, he’s in charge, giving orders before, during, and after carrying the casket. The order – ‘hats off’, ‘walk’, and ‘please’, the latter being the order to lower the casket into the grave – are fairly self-explanatory. Everything has to

go smoothly and professionally: there is no room to mess up. A funeral service ‘can only be done right once’, is De Vries’ creed.

Stressful The first time can be pretty stressful. You only half know what needs to be done, and before you know it, one of the bereaved asks if you can hold her purse, while a bug is crawling around your shirt collar at the same time. Also, you’re just about to carry the casket from the car to a rolling bier to take it to the grave. But the road may be uneven, the bier’s handle detaches and slips from your grasp. In other words: a lot is happening in a short time. In between the long periods of waiting evidenced by packs of playing cards in the pallbearers’ overcoats, you have to stay alert, and calm. Fortunately, no one is ever alone. ‘If you can’t figure it out, just look at us’, De Vries tell his employees beforehand. The foreman is usually the one who has talked everything over with the funeral director and the bereaved. The rest just follows. After the casket has been buried in the Frisian soil, the pallbearers walk towards the exit. There, they will form an honour guard. They face each other in two rows and when the commander tells them to, they once again take off their hats while the funeral attendees slowly walk back to the car park, nodding to the pallbearers. Then, a final ‘gentlemen, hats on’ rings through the cemetery grounds. The day is done.

u k r an t. n l / engli sh 27

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