Who Else Is Here With Me?
The Netherlands is a new place for you, which means all the people around you are new and their culture, beliefs and habits might be different from yours. The Netherlands embraces multiple cultures and ethnicities. As a matter of fact, the largest ethnic groups in the Netherlands are Dutch, Germans and Turks.
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As humans, we are social animals and we need to interact with other people. As students the majority of us are in need of guidance, support and acceptance. However, as first year students living abroad, this is not very easy for us.
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Transitioning from High School to university can be academically and socially stressful for students. Interpersonal relationships and the transition to living alone are few of the social stressors a student can experience. (vanKim, 2013)
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Generally, informal social support is acquired from family, friends and neighbours and includes different types of support - feedback, emotional support, information and so on (Seon, 2019)
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We are looking to fit in reference groups to get guidance and support. Reference groups influence us in most of the areas in life. What we eat, what we wear, how we talk, which transport we use or what activities we do. The sports we do or the food we eat can even reflect our social position.
Our Special Pesto Meal helping you to bond!
Are you intrigued to know your new class-mates?
Are wondering who your flat mates are?
There are many ways of getting to meet a new person, eating together is one of them. In the human history social eating evolved as a mechanism for facilitating social bonding and it provides both social and individual benefits (Dunbar 2017).
We suggest you to organise a dinner with your “new” classmates! Are you not familiar with cooking and are scared of judgements? Here we recommend you the perfect meal for a get-together: Pasta al pesto! Original, cheap, vegetarian, simple, healthy and yummy!
Pasta al pesto is an all inclusive dish which is edible in every country in the world. It does not contain meat and has a variety of healthy nutritious food such as olive oil, basilicum and pine nuts. This dish can be very helpful when organising a dinner with a multicultural group.
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Instructions
Ingredients needed = 125g pasta/person + jar of Barilla pesto
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Bring a large pot of water to a boil; cook pasta according to package directions.
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Meanwhile place pesto in a large bowl, stir in ½-cup pasta cooking water.
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Drain pasta and then toss with pesto.
Here you can find indications on how to make pasta al pesto from the official website of Barilla:
https://www.barilla.com/en-us/recipes/sauce/rigatoni-with-barilla-classic-genovese-pesto
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No time to cook? Order some food YO!
We all know them around the Netherlands, it is really hard to miss them. The delivery services where cyclists are on the road with giant boxes on their backs bringing food all over your city. The most popular companies are Thuis bezorgd, Ubereats and Deliveroo. Deliveroo is the only service promoting healthy food and sharing food options.
When you go on the website to order some food you get a vast amount of options to starve on. But how do you choose one? The most important choice factors were identified as quality of food, appearance/presentation of food, menu-item variety, cleanliness of the restaurant, kitchen. (Economics of Agriculture, 2018).
Photo: Hollandse Hoogte / Gerard Til Photo
What's so fascinating about delivery services in The Netherlands? The delivery industry concentrates in promotional measures like attractive and frequent advertisement to capture the mind of the customer (Sangeetha, 2018).
Struggling to meet other students?
When different cultures meet, communication is not always easy. People might have different values and beliefs and behave in a different way (Knaap, 2017).
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By joining student associations you will be aware of the many social activities ongoing in your city, and you will be able to expand your network and meet young same alike students as yourself.
Go have a look at the links and find your closest student association !
The Hague: https://www.studyinthehague.com/studying/student-organisations
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Tillburg: https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/students/studying/studentlife/student-associations
Sport, Sport, Sport... Go and do some sports!!
Team sports, beyond its physical and emotional demands, has a strong and unique power to connect people. It is a unique activity which allows you to bond with people around you.
Try something new! Take some trial lessons in different sports and find out what you really like to do!
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Take a look in the link below and find a sports in your neighbourhood:
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Not convinced yet? Click on this other link for some wise words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH9AhFiM0AQ
Besides the health benefits of sports different studies show that team sports can decrease depression symptoms, improves your self-esteem and increases social interaction (Eime et al., 2013)
Interview Time,
Meet Tomek ! :)
Meet Tomek, student at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. Tomek was born and raised in Varsavia, Poland. Tomek came to The Hague at the age of 18 to pursue his studies. He is currently doing his first year at the Sports Management faculty. Tomek was asked a few questions regarding his lifestyle as a first year student in the Netherlands.
How is your first year doing so far in The Hague?
"So far so good. I miss my family and friends from back home. However, the city is treating me well and I must say I met some very nice people here"
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How were you able to meet people and your new friends?
"Well, in my faculty there aren't too many people therefore classes are quite small and I find it easy to talk especially when we work in groups. On top of that I must say that partying made me bond with a lot of people here"
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In what way did partying help you bond with people here? Do you believe partying is the most effective way for you to meet people?
"After a couple drinks everyone is more open to discussions and less tensed. It might sound bad to you but I do believe that enjoying a few beers together always creates a beautiful ambience. But this is only my opinion. I have friends who would disagree with me or simply can't afford to drink alcohol due to their religious faith like my muslim friends"
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Apart from partying, how else would you bond with other students and get to know who the others around you are?
"Well, I believe a nice dinner in a restaurant or anywhere is always a good idea. Or, here in The Hague there is the beach so I'd probably organise a get-together by the sea, it is always fun. Last week I went on a date with a girl and did some bowling together, it was real fun and we managed to bond a lot while having fun"
References:
Dunbar, R.I.M. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology (2017) 3: 198. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40750-017-0061-4
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Economics of Agriculture. (2018, January). factors influencing students. FACTORS INFLUENCING STUDENTS’ CHOICE OF FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS.
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Knaap, D. v. (2017, December 18). Experiences of expats living in the Netherlands. Expat life: experiences of expats living in the Netherlands. Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
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Sangeetha, D. C. (2018, August 7). Fast Food Buying Behavior of Consumers. A Study on trend of Fast Food Buying Behavior of Consumers with special reference. RESEARCH REVIEW International Journal of Multidisciplinary.
Seon, J., Prock, K., Bishop, J. D., Hughes, A. K. & Woodward A. T. (2019). Formal and Informal Social Support and Academic Achievement among College Students with Unstable Childhood Experiences. Child Welfare League of America, 97, 21-43.
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VanKim, N. A. & Nelson, T. F. (2013). Vigorous Physical Activity, Mental Health, Perceived Stress, and Socializing Among College Students. American Journal of health promotion, 28, 7-15.
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Young1, J. A., Jack, Charity1, M. J., Payne1, W. R., & Rochelle. (2013, August 15). A systematic review of the psychological and social benefits of participation in sport for children and adolescents: informing development of a conceptual model of health through sport. Retrieved from https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1479-5868-10-98.
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