Pondering with Jane

by Jane Cole

How do I survive ‘beginning of semester stresses’ at UCU?

Culture shock: it’s something we have likely all experienced. Yes you, don’t pretend you haven’t! Whether you are new at UCU or a returning student, UCU culture is something to adjust to. And yes, it is a culture. Since when do we remember each other, not by name, but by place? “I am from South Texas, but I have lived in Utrecht for the past five years.” That’s my well-recited line, and I’m sure you have one too, even if it is “I’m Dutch, fully Dutch, really please do not ask me again— I am Dutch, just Dutch, and nothing else.” It’s not that I mind telling people I am American, but I’m not sure how I feel about that being what people remember me by. Did you not want to ask about my hobbies or anything else first? Do we all just boil down to countries, cities, and states? This is kind of more second date material, don’t you think? And I have been pondering, am I allowed to use these hammocks?

Courses, classroom culture, also a bit of a change. Maybe you got two math courses, no sciences, three colliding timeslots, and now your law course is online. When am I going to have my tutor meeting? Because I need to complain to an adult. A fellow adult by the way, because there have been five speeches reminding you of that fact (like we needed to be reminded of this painful matter). You go to class, and after reading the 140 pages that were assigned (like the adult you are), your professor asks you to introduce yourself and please mention your pronouns, and you ponder: how have I managed to say something different each pronoun round? Am I having an identity crisis? What if my pronouns are different from what people expected? Everybody just admitted to being cis and now someone must announce they are the odd one out. Did my professor just say to call them by their first name? Who placed these two chairs in the middle of this U? Also, whose hammocks are those?

The shock extends past the social interactions. You are a shock to yourself too. You come back to your unit to find a dirty hamper filled with a t-shirt, two pairs of socks, three tank tops, and 14 pairs of underwear. Is this a normal ratio of clothes? At what ‘toerental’ should I set the washer? Why do we have two microwaves and no ovens? We also have one fridge for ten people, two toasters,