Groninger Student Paper June 2019

GRONINGER STUDENTENKRANT Jaargang 35

Nr. 6

Student City Groningen

juni 2019

VALERIE SCHULZ

Curse or Blessing?

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ach year a tsunami-like wave of new students floods into Groningen, which is currently already home to about 60,000 students. Groningen’s locals or “Stadjers” have to share their city and brace their nerves.

Groningen; Oosterstraat; 2 AM: the air is buzzing with sounds. Slurred shouts and ringing laughter echo off the facades, mixing with the sharp noise of cavalry horse hoofbeats on the pavement. A vomiting girl is crouching in the shadow of a narrow alleyway.

The sidewalk resembles a maze, carelessly parked or fallen-over bicycles creating dangerous tripping hazards for pedestrians. A state of madness? No, just an ordinary weekend night in the student city of Groningen.

Daniel Stok (26) works at the fast-food kiosk ‘Big Snack Hoek‘ on the corner of Oosterstraat and remarks that students become a plague, “when they go out at night, drink a lot of alcohol and use drugs”. Stock witnesses police interventions and conflicts “almost every week”.

Not only their ceaseless party-spirit can make students a nuisance to Stadjers, their poor performance on the busy bike lanes drive residents mad. Stadjer Meeke Breemhaan (41) is astonished that “especially the students from abroad just can’t ride a bike!”.

Stadjers Ralph Lindeman (38) worries “young people don’t care as much to keep the city

Hoofdredactioneel

H

i cuties,

Fasten your seatbelts, you’re witnessing a very special moment in the history of the Groninger Studentenkrant: we’re going international! After the tents at the ACLO and the couch-surfing crisis last summer, it’s hard to deny that Groningen counts many many MANY international students and, although we might have a hard time offering you a suitable room every now and then, we love to have you here guys! And as goes especially for the Studentenkrant, the team is very

How to summer Groningen

P.3 Groningen can get a bit boring in the summer. At least, when you don’t know what to do! This is a list of things to Groningen, so you won’t have to sit around doing nothing all day. All travel times are calculated from the Groningen Central Station.

A BULK OF STUDENTS BLOCKING THE BIKE LANE IN DAILY RUSH HOUR

clean”. Although the police charges penalties as high as 140€ for littering, empty beer cans and wine bottles can be spotted in entryways of houses or next to overflowing trashcans.

Psychology student Raima Harding (24) is aware of students impact on the city of Groningen. She understands the frequent discontent due to disturbances in the local’s daily routines. Nevertheless, she remains confident that “students from different cultures

enthusiastic to share all our articles about Groningen, student life and anything that matters in life with you, because we’re convinced you simply shouldn’t miss out on that.

So what’s in stock for you this month? Well, a lot! With the well-deserved summer break coming up, let’s get some travel inspiration.

This month, we have a review of Dublin and vintage walhalla Berlin for you. No time/money/energy to leave Groningen this summer? Don’t worry! The city turns into a completely different place during the summer, with all the students going back to

Wildlife tourism - Red flags

P.6 Go to Thailand, and you’ll be hard-pressed to miss them: so-called elephant sanctuaries. Dozens, if not hundreds of them dot the country, particularly in the hills around Chiang Mai. These places offer magical day trips where you can feed, pet and bathe a herd of elephants.

They distance themselves from the elephant riding camps they claim to have rescued their animals from. In reality, however, these places are often one and the same.

are bringing liveliness and something new, exciting to the city”.

Lastly most of Groningen’s Stadjers also see the potential for their city deriving from the many young minds. And in spite of regular indifferences, they stay positive. ‘Big Snack Hoek‘ employee Daniel Stok sees an advantage, as “students are very good for the business”.

their beloved mothers, but we have a lot to offer. Read all about the things to do around Groningen in the summer! By the way, did you know there are many things about Groningen people don’t tell you when you move to this place? You might recognize some of them by now, so check it out!

Hotel Schimmelpenninck Front Office Manager Manik Akop (32) receives guest complaints concerning noise almost every day, but she remains serene „people shouldn’t come here for a restfull holiday“, „we even inform about the noise on our website“.

Master student Raima lastly suggests that international students should “embrace Dutch culture and language”, as this can lead to better mutual understanding and respect between Stadjers and students.

in the horror scenario which is called: finding a room in Groningen in september 2019.

Guess what? Chaos guaranteed.

On a more serious note, we might all have this nasty gut feeling: last year’s housing crisis was real, but what will happen next september?

We dived into the housing crisis again, this time telling you not only what really went wrong last year, but also share some insights

Lastly, a shoutout: we’re especially thankful to all the international guest writers who helped us out with this special edition. Check out the articles from Valerie, Chai and Edward to read it yourself. Now the only thing left to say is to wish you guys all the best with your last tough weeks of exams and theses, keep the spirits high and enjoy your well-deserved break!

NOUSCHKA VAN DER MEIJ KARLIJN SARIS

Housings Crisis Groningen

Avengers Endgame

P.7 Predators prey on the most vulnerable, goes the old adage. Rogue landlords exploit international students, says the Groninger translation. And don’t be fooled by the promise that next year is going to be better.The RUG itself admits that we need more rooms to house incoming students. But they won’t be ready in time, warn local politicians.

P.10 They’ve done it, after eleven years and 23 movies, Marvels’ cinematic universe reached its apotheosis in Avengers: Endgame, the ultimate smorgasbord of all comic movies. Years of plot, character development and worldbuilding culminated in a epic finale, it was beautiful to say the least.

1. . Not all eierballen (eggballs, Scotch eggs) are vegetarian Groningen’s pride, the eierbal, even has its own festival where you can taste a lot of different flavours of eierbal. Even though the main ingredient is egg, some eierballs are not vegetarian. Just so you know.

2. All bikers cross the crossroad at the same time.

This happens only in Groningen and even confuses Dutchies from other cities.

There are no rules, because everyone gets a green light. It’s just a matter of going.

3.

Beer isn’t cheap.

De ten commandments The 10 things Groninger people don’t tell you about Groningen: REDACTIE

4.

The bars don’t close.

If you want to party from five straight after work until eight in the morning, the closing times of the bars won’t stop you. It’s as if time doesn’t exist when you’re going out in Groningen.

5.

We’ve got earthquakes too.

You probably won’t even notice, but the houses bear the brunt. Some walls break and home owners aren’t happy, because the earthquakes are the result of gas drilling.

6. Your dealer sits next to you in the lecture room.

Drugs are everywhere and students sell them as well. This doesn’t mean they’re not acing their studies.

7.

Urinals come out of the ground at night.

If you don’t go out much, you probably didn’t notice. Yet, when it gets dark urinals sprout like mushrooms throughout the city.

8.

Student societies are quite alright.

You mostly hear all the horror stories, but the societies are super nice. Also, there are a lot of them, so there may actually be one you like. Maybe just walk in sometimes.

9.

Buying a bike from a homeless person isn’t stealing, it’s being part of the circulation.

Everybody gets their bike stolen at least once. You can’t do anything about it and you’d better not buy a very fancy new bike. Best to buy another stolen bike then.

10.

Groningen has the biggest student introduction of Europe.

You may not have been here during the Keiweek before you started studying here, but luckily this eventweek is a yearly thing. It’s also nice to join when you’re already studying here, because it’s open for everyone. It’s the best place to meet people and find a new room.

Smoke-free Groningen

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Radical law or culture change

VALERIE SCHOLZ

roningen is steering towards a smoke-free generation. The government has passed a law banning smoking in public spaces at the end of September, but enforcement is complicated, and opponents need to be convinced.

University Medical Center Groningen; it is a freezing but sunny day. On the steps leading to the hospitals entrance, doctors in white overalls and patients in winter coats are huddled in groups, chatting and holding their gleaming cigarettes in hands tensed from the cold.

“That’s just not logical”, Erin Straat exclaims, as she is explaining the paradoxical former situation. “People come to a hospital to be cured, but instead they have to walk through smoke that harms them. More and more people get ill from smoking”. Straat works at the Groningen municipality. She is in charge of coordinating and enforcing the new law in Groningen, which bans smokers from public areas within the city.

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Groninger Studentenkrant Juni 2019

Although this law was passed by the council of Groningen on the 26th of September 2018, enforcement and implementation are still ongoing. The law will not be achieved using fines but rather with a moral urgency, Straat explains. It is meant to encourage public organizations such as schools, hospitals and universities to ban smoking not only on, but also close to their premises.

Not only smokers oppose the new law. “In our society, health is becoming a question of morality”, Dr. Susanne Täuber says. She is a professor at the University of Groningen and has researched the topic of morality and how norms are moralized in society. Her studies focus on the issue of addictions such as smoking and obesity.

People are categorized according health and „only ideal typical citizens are being supported by the government“, she worries. „Everyone is equal. Except for smokers and fat people, they are differently equal“, she adds. While other addicts receive extensive

help, smokers are simply banished. “How is that a free democracy?”.

Straat and the municipality of Groningen remain realistic. Their ultimate goal is not to make the city of Groningen entirely smoke-free, but to “achieve a cultural change in smoking habits”.

“It’s a complicated topic”. Straat understands that smokers may feel attacked, as the law forces them to change their habits. The municipality has no intention of making smokers feel worthless, like the “rats of society”.

“Any cultural change takes time and we have to take the time to get there”, says Straat. She compares the current situation with the law in 2008, where smoking was banned from pubs for the first time. “People were furious”, she laughs, “now it seems completely normal to everyone”.

Täuber understands that the municipality has only good intentions, but calls for more sensitivity from the municipality’s side. Almost 35.7% of Dutch smokers have tried to quit

but often failed. Täuber proposes offering better aid to smokers, such as 5- or 10-year schemes aiming to make quitting easier.

“It is very important to keep listening to the people that feel attacked”. Straat agrees with Täuber, that changes cannot be too radical, it will take time and sensitivity. However, she is confident that with thorough explanation of the importance for the next generation, the new law will seem reasonable and logical even to people who may at first oppose.

“Public health has priority”. Only by changing habits at their roots, can there be a healthy future for children of the coming generations.

Things to do around Groningen in the summer holidays

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HOOFDREDACTIE

roningen can get a bit boring in the summer. At least, when you don’t know what to do! This is a list of things to Groningen, so you won’t have to sit around doing nothing all day. All travel times are calculated from the Groningen Central Station.

Lauwersoog Travel time: 1 hour by train Lauwersoog is a village near the sea in the Northern part of Groningen.

You can do a lot of different things there like watching seals, hiking, a safari and you can even go camping for a few days if you want. The best thing about this place: it’s got a Dark Sky License. This means there’s no light pollution at night and you can fully enjoy that wonderful starry night.

Price: depends on what you’ll do there. You can always check lauwersoog.nl for more information.

Pieterburen Seal Centre Travel time: 50 min- 1 hour by train This is a rescue center for injured or orphaned seals. You can have a look at the seals, learn about their daily life and the ocean.

Price: €8,50 p.p.(if you buy tickets online, when you buy them there it’s €9.50 p.p.)

Hoornseplas Travel time: By bike: 15 mins, by bus: 20-30 mins This is the lake-to-go near the city center. You can have a swim, enjoy the naked beach if you want or keep your pants on and have a drink on the grass or play beach volleyball.

Price :free Paterswoldsemeer (lake) Travel time: By bike: 25 min, by bus: 30 min If you like to sail, this is the place for you. There are a lot of small islands in the lake, where you can only go by boat. Get yourself a boat or a canoe and enjoy the privacy.

Price: canoe: €5 per hour, sailboat: €35 per hour

SpaWell Peize Travel time: By bike: 35 min, by bus: 35 min Relaxing in the spa, having a massage, sweating in the sauna and swimming in salt baths. Just your regular luxury spa.

Price: depends on what you want.

Regular entree: €35, but they’ve always got special offers.

Drouwenerzand Travel time: 1 hour by train Canoeing at ‘t Peddeltje So, this is mostly a kids amusement Travel time: in the city center Get yourself a canoe and see the city park, but with your ticket you get an endless supply of fries, snacks, of Groningen from the canals.

Price: two-person canoe for two soup, fruit, coffee, lemonade and hours: €15. There are more options ice cream. They do have a few nice attractions tho. at tpeddeltje.nl Price: €15,50 p.p.

Jam sessions (and you can join!)

Travel time: in the city center Jam sessions are held throughout Groningen. It doesn’t matter if you’re very good at playing an instrument or not, some sessions are for professionals and others are for everyone.

It’s also great to watch and at least one happens every night. For example at Café ‘t Zoldertje on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Price: free Food Festivals Travel time: 10 min by bike: at Noorderplantsoen and EM2 (Energieweg 10) 2nd of June: Frituurfestival (Frying festival) @EM2 5th until 7th of July: De Culinaire Verleiding (The Culinary Seduction) @ Noorderplantsoen 15th until 25th of August: Noorderzon @ Noorderplantsoen Price: free entrance Bad Nieuweschans (wellnessresort) Travel time: 55 min by train Relax at the oldest and best known wellnessresort of the Netherlands.

Price:From €20, depends on what you want to do there

TT Assen (car racing) Travel time: 1 hour and 10 minutes by train This is your festival for car and motor racing. From the 28th until the 30th of June the TT Assen festival is happening. For more information you can go to ttcircuit.com Price: from €27 per day DELA Eredivisie Beach Travel time: 5 min by bike: at Grote Markt The best Dutch Beachvolleybalplayers (and some international ones) are playing at the Grote Markt. Have a beer and enjoy the sport.

Price: free Hongerige Wolf Festival Travel time: 2 hours by train Festival Hongerige Wolf is a festival for theatre, art, music and literature.

This little village called Hongerige Wolf (Hungry Wolf) is near the sea and is surrounded by nature.

Price: between €22 and €30 per day (depending on which day you go) and €85 for the whole weekend + camping. Check the site for more info: festivalhongerigewolf.nl Dichters in de Prinsentuin (poetry) Travel time: 5 mins by bike: at Prinsentuin This poetry festival is from the 12th until the 14th of July. There will be Dutch and English poetry.

Price: free Nacht van Winschoten (festival) Travel Time: 40 min by train This three-day festival from the 12th until the 14th of July has a fair, market and sing-alongs.

Price: free

Into The Village festival Travel time: 1 hour From the 18th until the 21st of July a little village is created in Friesland.

This festival is all about sustainability and art. Next to music stages, there’s also an innovative village, dedicated to working on sustainable projects.

Price: From €50 Bourtange Fortress Travel time: 1,5 hours by train At the 3rd and 4th of august the Fortress is transformed to the middle ages. There will be re-enactors and salesman. Besides this festival, Bourtange can be a nice history cultural visit. For more information visit bourtange.nl Price: €8,50 p.p. for the festival.

Paradigm festival Travel time: 10 min by bike: at EM2 (Energieweg 10) This festival, from the 9th until the 11th of August, is the perfect place for doing some X, at least, that’s what a little birdie told me.

Price: From €13,50 Keiweek Travel time: in the city center Between the 12th and 16th of August, the whole city center of Groningen will be about the Keiweek. There is a pub crawl, a party at the first and the last day of the week and a lot of stuff to do around town. This week the first years are getting a proper get-toknow with our beautiful city, but all students (also not participating ones) are partying.

Price: Free-ish, some things cost money, some don’t. Check the site for prices and information: keiweek. nl

Summerfair Travel time: in the city centre From the 21st until the 28th of August the Grote Markt and the Vismarkt are filled with fairground amusements.

Price: pay per amusement piece Noorderzon festival Travel time: 10 min by bike: at Noorderplantsoen From the 15th until the 25th of August it’s time for Noorderzon. The program of this performing arts festival is filled with theatre acts, music and art.

Price: free entrance for some things, you have to get tickets for others at noorderzon.nl Medieval Ter Apel (festival) Travel time: 1 hour and 40 minutes by train On the 7th and 8th of September the biggest medieval festival of the Netherlands takes place in Ter Apel.

Price: €10 p.p.

Groninger Studentenkrant Juni 2019

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LOTTE AIKEMA & BAS TEUNISSEN

What happens in

PARIS Stays in

PARIS

W

hat happens in Paris stays in Paris, must’ve been what Louis-Ernest Ladurée thought, starting the bakery in which the Macaron was founded by his grandson.

He couldn’t have been further off: 90 years later the almond cookies are everywhere. There’s pictures of them on everything, and every basic girl that likes Starbucks coffee every now and then will probably happily pay the shocking €2,65 that Ladurée asks for it. I won’t even deny being one of them, so when ‘Smaakaron’ announced opening a store in the city centre of Groningen I obviously wanted to go.

Mango

-

Lime

Guava - Mascarpone

Chocolat

The mango flavour was great, but it could have had a little more lime in it. Our suggestion would be giving this one a bit of the tanginess of the lemon tart, it would make both of them perfect.

This was a tricky one, and we weren’t agreeing on anything about this flavour. One of us thought it was amazing, whereas ‘aggressively sweet’ was what the

Prune

Lemon

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Coconut

Super flavourful, well balanced. As someone said during the meeting: “A lovely nod of subtle, sugary affection.”

salt

Banana - Salted caramel

We’ll be honest. We were REALLY sceptic about this one. Maybe even scared. But wow this one was good. 10/10 would recommend buying this one, and we’d like to give credits to the pastry chef. We see where you’re going with this and we like it.

This one was fantastic. It tastes amazing, the texture is nice and just everything about it is very likeable. We would however appreciate a tiny bit more salt.

It’s mostly banana you’re tasting, but it’s really good. We do need more of that salted caramel though, the more salted caramel the better.

Tart

Strawberrie - Cheescake

Pistachio

This one is great if you love eating quite sour things, but for us it was a bit much. It was really tangy.

Great balance of flavours, nice texture. Just simply good. A crowd pleaser.

Pretty nice, however quite an odd combination of flavours.

Vintage is hot

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ith the increasing interest in sustainability, originality and expression of a personal style, vintage clothing has become incredibly popular. All the more reason to go to Berlin, THE place to be when it comes to vintage shops (besides Groningen, of course). From Charlottenburg and Schöneberg to Neukölln and Friedrichshain, every part of the city

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Groninger Studentenkrant Juni 2019

chili

Toffee

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Sea

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Apricot

Vanilla Vanilla is underrated. This one was amazing, sweet and just very vanilla. But in a good way.

Vintage Heaven In Berlin knows its thrift stores. Where to begin?

Hereby a list of a few vintage shops and thrift stores to get you in the mood: Glencheck Berlin This vintage store, that specializes in both menswear and womenswear from the 1920s to the 1950s, is a true collector store in Charlottenburg. On top of that, it is not too far from the antique shopping street of Berlin, the Suarezstraße, better known as the ‘Antik Meile’. If you are more into old curiosities and antique furniture, this is definitely worth a visit. Especially when you also happen to be close to another very popular vintage shop: Die Spitze.

JOLIEN VERMEULEN

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Mimi Interior wise, Mimi has to be on your list; for a moment, you are in a 1920s elegant boutique.

Besides that, it also offers antique clothing from the 1850s to the 1950s. Prices are reasonable, and you can also hire clothes.

Fräulein Anders When you are done visiting the house where Christopher Isherwood, the inspiration for the novel Goodbye to Berlin and later the musical Cabaret, used to live, you will find the vintage boutique Fräulein Anders across the street.

Filled with mid century clothes and accessories, you do not want to miss this store, which is located in the part of Schöneberg that once was the heart of Berlin’s nightlife.

Tip: Fräulein Anders also has a YouTube channel filled with her love for vintage! If you can understand German, this might be a great channel to get you in the mood.

Sing Blackbird This designer vintage shop on Sanderstrasse, which first opened its doors as a vegan breakfast spot, is also a popular café, and hosts events on a regular basis. The atmosphere really reminds one of LA meets Berlin.

Tip: Check Sing Blackbird’s Facebook page for upcoming events and inspiring outfit combinations.

Humana Frankfurter Tor Last, but certainly not least, we have Humana.

With four floors of second hand items, Berlin certainly has one of the largest branches of Humana there is. Be prepared to thrift for a few hours, and challenge yourself to find a bargain (because the prices are, sadly, increasing).

Final tip If you cannot get enough from vintage, Berlin also regularly offers flea markets and other vintage shopping events. Old Fleas, for example, is held in Berlin’s oldest dance hall: Ballhaus Berlin. This event returns on the 8th of September…happy thrifting!

I

t is June. Sunbeams are breaking through your windows (on a good day, at least), while you can barely make it through the final weeks of school. Luckily for all of us, the summer break is coming up. All that is left, is deciding on what place you would like to visit. Preferably, one that satisfies all your interests and does not pull you away too far from this beautiful city. Look no further, because Dublin has it all. Whether you are into art, literature, booze, history, nature, or music, Dublin will provide your every need. Let’s elaborate:

Art lovers

For the art lovers among us, Dublin is home to a great number of museums. And what is more, most of them are free to enter! One of the highlights for many is the National Gallery of Ireland, which displays not only a collection of Irish art, but also artworks from every great European school of painting. Other great museums that are definitely worth visiting include the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of Ireland, the Irish Emigration museum and the Little Museum of Dublin, which houses over 5000 exhibits and gives you a great idea of life in Dublin during the 20th century.

Moreover, in case you really want to feel the artist in the room, and even obtain an insight into his life, the Hugh Lane Gallery houses the chaotic workspace of none other than Francis Bacon.

Literature lovers

Dublin is also the place to be for all you literature lovers out there, because it was the stomping ground for various famous writers, such as James Joyce, Jonathan Swift, Samuel Becket and Oscar Wilde, who is waiting for you to take a selfie with him on the corner of Merrion Square Park.

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Another iconic national and historical space is the Glasnevin Cemetry, which was built in 1832 and is the final resting place for many historical figures, such as Michael Colins and Brendan Behan. Nowadays, its museum tells the stories of more than 1.5 million individuals that helped to shape the Ireland of today.

Another way to embody your inner Hermione Granger is, of course, surrounding yourself with books. And what better way to do that than to go to the a-ma-zing library inside Trinity College, Ireland’s oldest university and home to the ancient Book of Kells. The Old Library possesses 200.000 ancient books in the most beautiful bookcases, as far as the eye can see. And the Harry Potter reference was not even misplaced, seeing that J.K.Rowling used the library as inspiration for Hogwarts!

St. Michan’s Church, finally, is not just any chapel. Instead, it holds 17th to 19th century vaults full of mummified people. Thus, probably not for the weak.

Alcohol lovers

Nature lovers

When one thinks of Dublin, one thinks of Guinness. So it is only natural that you have a pint (or maybe two), and even try to learn its secrets. After all, St. James’s Gate, the place where Guinness is brewed and that holds a secret experimental brewery as well, is now open to the general public.

Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more!

Phoenix Park, which opened 350 years ago, can be found close to the city center and is the perfect place to relax and enjoy mother nature in the shape of wild deer. If you wish to organize a picnic where you do not risk you meal being eaten by deer, you can also visit Saint Stephen’s Green Park.

Besides Guinness, you can also treat your taste buds to the incredible flavors of Irish whiskey. With an experience of over two hundred years, the taste and history of Irish whiskey cannot get much richer than this. In Dublin, a great whiskey tour is the one in the Teeling Distillery.

If you rather spend your day enjoying mother nature outside Dublin’s city center, the coastal town of Howth is the place for you. The Howth Cliff walk is also a great opportunity to get unimaginable views over the sea.

Nightlife in Dublin can be best experienced in the Temple Bar area, since these narrow streets are filled with pubs and live music. It is one of the oldest areas in Dublin and is located on the south side of River Liffey. Sadly, most pubs in Dublin already close at 11:30pm on weekdays, and 1am on weekends.

Last but not least, music lover will definitely feel at home in Dublin as well. Since, as mentioned before, it offers enough opportunities to experience live music. Not only in the pubs, but also on the street, for example on Grafton Street.

History lovers

Another thing that can certainly be experienced in Dublin is a rich history. St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral and Dublin castle are among the places you may want to visit when you are interested in architecture. Another interesting building is the so-called Kilmainham Gaol Prison. This is

Music lovers

where many Irish revolutionaries were imprisoned and executed by the British. In current times, it houses a museum that exhibits contemporary works made by prisoners from across Ireland.

On top of that, the Christ Church Cathedral also regularly has choral performances, in which choristers from all over the world come to sing.

Need I say more? Just come to Dublin and experience this all yourself!

Masculinity & make-up OLIVIER VAN EIJK

’m quite heterosexual. Something about 75% or more. I also wear makeup. On the table in my room is a set of five different kinds of nail polish: green, black, light blue, a kind of weird purple-greyish and dark blue. Every time the nail polish on my nails is about to crumble, I’ll put a new color on.

Sometimes when I go out, I wear eye shadow and mascara. I like the look of it.

One time I went out a guy asked me after looking at my nails and eyes: “why are you wearing makeup?” I said: “Because I like it.

What do you think of it?” He looked a bit awkward with my question but he still answered: “To be honest, it looks a bit gay.”

He had the face of a person who isn’t trying to offend someone, though he fears he just did. It’s ironic, apologizing for telling someone that he looks gay. Indeed, you would expect he was offending me, but to be honest I’m not offended if someone thinks I’m gay. Hell, gays look pretty cool most of the time. Though, I reckon that a lot of hetero-sexuals deliberately aim not to look gay, because they are afraid they might attract guys instead of girls.

I used to have that fear too. But now I wasn’t disappointed or annoyed by the guy’s answer.

I don’t really care if I look gay. If I’m attracted

to a girl in the club and that girls thinks by my looks that I’m gay, she’ll soon enough notice that I’m not gay. A lot of girls even like my makeup.

Makeup is something often referred to girls or gays. With the whole gender discussion that is booming today, many questions has risen: what is masculinity and femininity? And do these two actually exists?

Well I’m not going to answers these questions. I do not feel the urge to answer them and I d do not have the right expertise about this subject. But I know what it is to be a man.

After all I have a penis. Though, I’m not sure if that is the same as being masculine. It might be.

But do I feel masculine? Sometimes I do.

Sometimes I feel like the stereotypical masculine guy who talks about girls and sports, who makes rude jokes and is very macho.

But sometimes I feel masculine when I put makeup on before I go out. In some kind of odd way. Then I feel masculine because I just do what I want to do, without giving a damn about what other people think of me. When I feel confident like that, I almost see myself as a rock star like Mick Jagger or David Bowie, not caring about gender or sexuality, but still be a man. A real man.

I don’t know what it is to be a real man. I never fixed my bike. I’ve never been in a fight.

I have never been certain about anything like a stereotypical masculine man should be, a leader, a man who stands by his own thoughts without considering the fact that he might be wrong. I’m also sensitive as fuck, more sensitive than quite some women are. I can cry like a little girl. I like to cry when I am by myself or when I talk to my mother and sometimes I don’t feel like the world is understanding me, that I’m the only person in a mass of dark faces full of angry and hating stares.

The stereotype of masculinity does not coincide with vulnerability. But when I’m vulnerable, I do not feel less masculine. I just feel good. Good to relieve myself from the heavy weight of emotions.

I love hooking up with girls and I like to have sex with girls and sometimes I like to be very dominant. But I also feel attracted to men.

Though not in the way that I feel attracted to girls.

When I’m flirting with a man I feel more insecure than when I’m flirting with a girl. Also because I have never had sex with a man, but especially because it feels different with a man. I feel more vulnerable. He’s physically

as strong as me or even stronger. It’s another kind of role-play.

But this doesn’t make me feel less masculine. I still feel like a real man. I even feel more masculine because I’m doing something out of my comfort zone.

I must say that most of the time I do not think about masculinity. Just when I started to wear makeup I began to wonder about it and when I started to write this article, I found myself intrigued by the subject. But I found out that I do not care about masculinity. Or femininity.

Sometimes I feel strong, sometimes I feel vulnerable. Sometimes I feel sexy, sometimes I feel ugly as hell. Sometimes I feel a bit better than the day before and sometimes I feel worse than I have been in months.

In this article I have been using masculine as a synonym for other kinds of feelings: when I felt comfortable, strong or confident. The whole concept of masculinity sounds empty to me. Though I do not reject masculinity or femininity. The two archetypes are very real.

But when I identify myself with masculinity, I merely feel confident with being myself and in that way, with being a man.

I wear makeup because I like it. I like how it looks. It looks like me.

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Wildfire Tourism: choose wisely!

JANNICK SCHEEPSTRA

Red flags!!

Places that offer physical contact with the animals. Touching, feeding and playing with animals sounds nice, but isn’t healthy for them and can be risky for you too!

Any products made from wildlife. Even buying legally-made products still grows the market for poached animal goods.

Photo-ops where you can take selfies with “tame” animals. These are usually beaten and abused into submission. Not worth the likes!

G

BAD THINGS AND ALTERNATIVES Elephant “sanctuaries” o to Thailand, and you’ll be hard-pressed to miss them: so-called elephant sanctuaries. Dozens, if not hundreds of them dot the country, particularly in the hills around Chiang Mai. These places offer magical day trips where you can feed, pet and bathe a herd of elephants. They claim to be rescue centers where elephants rescued from cruel tourist attractions can live out their days in peace. Often, they’ll have “NO RIDING!” stamped front and center on their brochures, to distance themselves from the elephant riding camps they claim to have rescued their animals from. In reality, however, these places are often one and the same. When the riding camps realised that tourists no longer wanted to pay to hop on the back of a tortured animal, they simply cleverly rebranded themselves as sanctuaries. Behind the scenes, though, the old ways live on. Elephants are hooked and beaten to go where they’re wanted so the tourists can have their fun. If an animal won’t cooperate it is isolated from its family and chained until it’s “broken.”

That is not to say that all elephant sanctuaries are bad, though. There are certainly some that do treat their animals with respect, but they are few and far between. If you do choose to go to an elephant sanctuary, do your homework and choose carefully! Look out for places that value education over entertainment and don’t promise physical contact.

Alternative: look for wild elephants!

The best place to see elephants is, of course, in the wild!

Although they have unfortunately been hunted almost to extinction in many areas of Southeast Asia, there are still protected places where healthy populations survive. Many of them are in remote and inaccessible places, which is probably for the best. Some of them, though, are easier to visit! Khao Yai National Park, in Thailand, is only 2,5 hours northeast of Bangkok and is home to a large population of Asian elephants. The park is easily accessible and there are many companies that offer guided elephant spotting tours, giving you a good chance to see these magnificent animals in their element! The park is also home to a great many other species, such as hornbills, buffalo and loudly singing gibbons swinging from the treetops. No better place for an elephant than its natural habitat!

Snake wine Gracing the shelves of many dodgy tourist traps and market stalls across Southeast Asia are bottles of “snake wine”: strong liquor with snakes, scorpions, monkeys or other animals in them. The animals are put in the alcohol to capture their “essence” and pass it on to whoever drinks it. It is also traditionally believed to be a cure for a variety of ailments from hair loss to blindness and everything in between.

Not only are these claims untrue, animal wine can actually be a danger to your health! Drinking the bodily fluids of improperly preserved animals can cause a some nasty infections.

In addition, many of the animals used in animal wine are endangered species, poached from the wild for sale on markets. Populations of monkeys and many snake species have plummeted across Southeast Asia due to poaching, and a lot of them are on the verge of extinction. Every animal preserved in a liquor bottle is one less animal in the wild. It will never be able to raise young and guarantee the continued existence of its species. No cool souvenir is worth that.

Alternative: just drink something else!

Vietnamese rice wine, Laotian whisky; the world of Asian liquors is a big and colourful one. If you want to broaden your alcoholic horizons beyond Chang and Beerlao, there are enough local specialties to drink yourself into oblivion ten times over without the deaths of endangered animals.

Cheers!

Selfies with Slow lorises Lorises are small, venomous(!) primates that live high in the treetops and only come out at night to eat insects and tree sap. With their fluffy bodies, round heads and enormous brown eyes, they are definitely one of the cutest animals on Earth. Because of their huge awww-factor, photos and

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videos of people taking selfies with “tame” lorises in marketplaces took the internet by storm, and it’s common to see people carrying a loris around on a stick for tourists to take photos. Unfortunately, behind the cute facade is a world of pain for the animal. Lorises are very hard to keep and breed in captivity, so the animals are taken from the wild.

Their fangs and venom glands are unprofessionally removed, stripping them of their only natural defense mechanism. They are fed a diet of sweetened rice, which their bodies can’t digest, leading to malnutrition and disease.

Then, these shy animals are exposed to large crowds and bright flashing lights. The animals are in a constant state of stress and pain, and so often live very short lives before being replaced. Even worse, the online craze means international demand for pet lorises has soared. Thousands are taken from the wild each year and smuggled through airports to be sold in China, Europe and the USA, where they quickly die in a cage far away from home. By taking selfies with lorises or other animals taken from the wild, you feed into this lethal market. It might look very instagrammable, but the animal is suffering immensely.

Alternative: visit a loris rehab center!

With so many lorises being smuggled through airports, large numbers are intercepted by border police every year. These animals need a place to go, and here and there, zoos and charities have stepped up to take them in, get them back on their feet and release them back into the wild, where they belong! One of these places is the Endangered Primate Rescue Center in Cuc Phuong National Park, about 2 hours south of Hanoi. Besides lorises, they rescue and breed over a dozen other endangered primate species and work with local communities to protect primate habitat in Vietnam.

If you want to see lorises in action, visit the Night Safari in Singapore. Besides rescue and release, the Night Safari also keeps lorises that can’t be released due to disease or injury, giving them a big and natural home to live out their nights in peace!

River dolphin cruises The mighty Mekong river winds its path through much of Southeast Asia. Although much of it is now dammed-in and overfished, near the Laos-Cambodia border there are still wild places, and this is the last refuge for the adorable Mekong river dolphin. From Laos’ Thousand Islands and Kratie in Cambodia, many companies offer day trips to take a motorboat to see the river dolphins. Unfortunately, Mekong river dolphins are not like other dolphins; they’re shy animals that stay away from the loud engines of motorboats. With increased tourism comes increased boat traffic, and it’s become more and more difficult for the dolphins to go about their lives. Now, instead of spending their time hunting or socialising, they spend much of their day fleeing from boats leaving little time for other activities.

Higher stress levels and less time spent feeding means that dolphins are dying younger and fewer calves survive to adulthood. This puts even more pressure on this highly endangered species that’s already at risk from habitat destruction and overfishing of its prey. Ultimately, disturbance from well-meaning tourists might end up being the nail in the coffin for the Mekong river dolphins. If you do go on a motorboat tour, make sure the boatman keeps a distance of at least 100 meters. You might not see much of the dolphins, but at least they’re left to do their thing in peace.

Alternative: go kayaking!

There are some companies that offer kayak tours to see the dolphins instead. The weather might be hot and the distance far, but it’s definitely worth it. Kayaks, of course, don’t have engines, so the dolphins aren’t scared off by the loud noises. This means they can happily go about their day undisturbed. When it’s quiet, the dolphins can sometimes even be curious to the people floating in the kayaks, and they’ll come in closer to have a look! By going kayaking instead of taking a motorboat, you’re being healthy, making the dolphin’s lives a lot easier, and you might be rewarded for your sweaty labour with better views than you’d ever get from a motorboat.

Te one that got away: why are we heading for another housing crisis?

EDWARD SZEKERS & KARLIJN SARIS

P

redators prey on the most vulnerable, goes the old adage. Rogue landlords exploit international students, says the Groninger translation. And don’t be fooled by the promise that next year is going to be better.The RUG itself admits that we need more rooms to house incoming students. But they won’t be ready in time, warn local politicians.

English student Angus Pringle (18) wears a light frown as he meets the midday sun outside a lengthy studio he calls home. Neatly groomed and donning the white shirt of his favourite football club, he is perched on a small black stool just outside his front door.

“It gets quite lonely in this place. I have no one to talk to,” he says, staring at the patch of dirt at his feet. A tape striped with red and white separates him from the muddy plain below.

Behind him, a bright red transportation container turned into a temporary room. On top of it - another one. And another one.It´s as if Angus was living on a cargo ship stranded on a building site, with only loud drilling machines and the menacing claws of bulldozers to accompany him. “This was not what I was expecting.”

Angus is one of 249 students living in the Suikerunie container complex. With identical containers/rooms stacked on top of each other on the remnants of Groningen´s former Sugar Factory, the iconic “sugar-home” facility has already become an urban legend in its short existence. But Angus’ home, enveloped in the infinite hum of cars streaming down the highway just a few metres from his top floor neighbours, is anything but sweet.

You´re (not so) Welcome

Groningen is seldom a hot topic in national news, except for the occasional earthquake that prompts local farmers to grab their pitchforks. Yet, in the autumn of last year, the city monopolised headlines across the country.

But the spotlight was rather stingy.

Hundreds of international students coming to the RUG in late August 2018 didn’t manage to find a room in time for their arrival. They had no choice but to sleep in overpriced tents or crash on the couch of a generous RUG employee, stadjer, or a fellow students. The crowd of incoming international students kept growing while the construction of new rooms couldn’t keep up. Man became temporarily homeless, finding refuge in overpriced hotels, botels, tent camps, or simply under a bridge. In the end, something went terribly wrong with ‘welcoming’ international students in Groningen last year. The diagnosis was clear: housing shortage. But who was to blame for not curing the symptoms? The RUG, the Hanze, or the municipality? Perhaps rogue landlords exploiting the crisis?

A deafening silence has fallen over the city’s rain-battered roof tiles ever since. But the cause of the problem is far from being solved.

Instead, it has been swept under the rug while living conditions in emergency locations

continue to be anything but convenient and the perspective for next year is no better by any means.

What went wrong, what is still wrong and why will it go just as wrong next year? Follow our guide to this housing maze.

Deception and Disappointment

It is June 2019 and, barring a few exceptions, students no longer sleep in tents, empty schools and couches. Instead they are lodged in “emergency housing” the university had hastily arranged for with the help of the municipality and private landlords. Internationals now live in containers, a former rehab clinic, and an old-fashioned care home. The RUG pretends the mess has been cleared up.

“Right now, there is basically no problem. If you check the websites providing rooms in Groningen, you can see that there are rooms available, said Jorien Bakker, the University spokesperson, in a previous interview. “So at this moment, there is no problem.”

But many students still live in subpar, “shitty” conditions. And hope seems to be fading for next year’s crop, too. Both for new students and second-year returnees who will have to find a new room. If you fall in one of these categories, you better prepare for deception

and disappointment. These are only understatements of what homeless students encountered last September, when various emergency locations were being offered up last minute by the University.

Rehab Facility? “Gezellig!”

Journalism student Dimitra Karapanagiotou (23) found a room in a ‘student house’ at the Vondellaan in the southern part of Groningen.

The partially renovated building used to be a rehab facility. Some residents claim it was housing drug addicts and/or alcoholics prior to its refurbishment.They say that Qrent, the building´s management company, advertised the premises as a “former office space”.

But for Dimitra, it makes no difference. “It felt disappointing”, she remembers her first impressions of her new home. “I expected this big student house where everyone would hang out, but in the end it was just a building under construction. The longer I stay here, the more I realise how crappy it is.”

Angus and Dimitra represent just the tip of the iceberg of hundreds of deceived students who were desperate enough to fall for empty promises. Even after months of constant complaints, there were still no signs of improvement. Vondellaan residents kept complaining

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about fickle electricity and slow internet half a year after their move-in. Day-in, day-out, the uninviting building haunts the students with reminders of the addicts and tormented individuals who wandered through the clinic´s halls in past times. Windows are shielded with bars and the names of patients and doctors are still attached to the walls hugging the rooms.

Nearly a year passed, and the building still appears to be under construction in some parts. A damaged pipe spills water over the floor in the shared kitchen. The laundry room suffers from broken washing machines. Burglaries used to be everyday business before tenants installed a “wall of shame” of unwelcome individuals in the lobby. Only then came the security cameras. And the landlord?

Barely ever picks up the phone.

Work in progress? Not at all!

Walk over to the hollow courtyard of the Suikerlaan and you´ll hear a similar whisper of dismay and unfulfilled promises. Instead of the aesthetically pleasing green common area, the students got a building site, with nothing but sand and stones. The barrier tape and construction materials indicate work in progress, but time seems to have stopped since September.

“A metal box is not a home,” thinks Lieke Schoutens (24), a councilwoman for the Green Left party. She is responsible for her party’s housing agenda in Groningen´s city council and knows how deep the problems run. She mentions safety and privacy as absolute necessities for any student housing. “You can’t have thin walls so you hear your neighbour breathing. We need to provide basic comfort. Otherwise it’s unacceptable.”

“A metal box is not a home” (Lieke Schoutens) And the RUG continues to tap itself on the back. “I think the containers are pretty cool, it looks very fancy”, Jorien Bakker of the RUG said. “Personally, I don’t like Vondellaan all too much, but still I think it can be quite gezellig...” One can only wonder what Ms Bakker would say had she actually spent a night in the former room of an addict. Still gezellig?

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A Modern Form of Exploitation?

If you’re forced in the corner and you grudgingly agree to spend a semester or 10 months in such discomfort, you would at least expect to pay a relatively low and reasonable rent. But guess what - bigger and much more comfy rooms in the city center are even cheaper! But their central location and scarcity mean that they are almost exclusively reserved for Dutch students.

A room at the Vondellaan costs on average 400 euros a month. Living in a container will take 500 euros out of your pocket each month. Excluding internet.

Rogue landlords are taking advantage of merciless market forces in a predatory manner, preying on clueless students who are often left with no choice but paying absurd rent for shabby rooms in grim surroundings. But the delusion called ‘emergency housing’ is just one of the many symptoms of Groningen’s deepening housing crisis.

“They ask you to pay ahead and disappear” Housing scammers lurk in the shadows of Facebook and other social media, waiting for their innocent victims to walk straight into the lion’s den. There are dozens of “fake” groups and pages on Facebook that advertise non-existent rooms for rent and are often run from abroad. “They will ask you to pay ahead and then just disappear. Never pay anyone before actually having seen the room,” says Elzo Smid (56), a graphic designer and activist who flags housing scammers on Facebook. In his three years of exposing fake landlords online, he has come across more than 40 cases of people losing large sums of money to scammers. “It’s a game of cat and mouse. Warning each other is all we can do.”

A great deal of the problems concerning both rotten living conditions and unreasonably high rent for crappy rooms are rooted in the shady legal construction under which most international students rent their rooms. Internationals are victims of the short stay contract phenomenon, a void term that is not regulated under any legislation in the Netherlands. Landlords are all but free to fill these contracts with unfair terms as they please. So how does this crooked system actually work?

The Anarchy of Short Stay Contracts Short stay contracts are very different from regular rental contracts. They offer tenants far less protection and strip them of many of their rights. Check the infographic below for a handy overview:

All internationals renting at the Vondellaan or the Suikerunie had no other option but to sign short stay contracts, as they ran out of housing alternatives. Some students eventually found a better and cheaper room closer to the center. But too bad! Unless they came across a poor soul that would take over their miserly room or container, or had thousands of euros on their account to pay for the remainder of their contract, leaving was not an option. The contract says it loud and clear: you must stay for 10 months.

Staying until after the summer isn’t an option,either. All contracts expire at the end of the academic year, putting students out on the street again. They join the ranks of every new international and Dutch student entering the city in the summer, which only increases the competition on the already saturated housing market. “Good luck with the travails of finding a new room again” could easily be the concluding paragraph of all short stay contracts.

The uncertainty of having a roof over their heads and the cruelty of Groningen´s housing market puts students under a lot of stress.

“It really stresses me out that I have to go through the process of finding a new room, because it doesn’t seem that easy here in Groningen. And especially for internationals,” says Vondellaan resident Dimitra. She thinks that August, when many short stay contracts expire, is the hardest month to find a new place. “That’s when everybody comes in the city. It’s always in the back of my mind. It just really stresses me out.”

“I’ve been taken advantage of”

Denise Zonnebeld from legal consultancy Frently hints at the apparent shadiness of short stay contracts. Her firm helps students get compensation from their landlords for paying too much rent for unfittingly small rooms. “Short stay contracts don’t even exist.

It’s something made up by landlords.” Ms Zonnebeld had assisted several Vondellaan residents in their complaint against Qrent, the building’s management company. Some students were paying hundreds of euros more rent than they should have under law.

“We see it fairly often, a landlord using vague terms to mislead tenants. In this way, they hope the tenants don’t not fully understand what they’re signing,” she concludes.

By now, Greek student Dimitra realises that she is paying way more for her room than her fellow Dutch students living in a cosy room in the center. “I had no idea. I was so thankful that I found a room that I just signed the contract. But now I feel like I´ve been taken advantage of.”

Buying Your Silence

The fishiness of the short stay business has become even more apparent this spring.

Rizoem, the company managing the container complex, has had several disputes with tenants who complained about the terms of their contracts and bad living conditions. The

company settled disputes with residents out of court, promising financial compensation in exchange for a contractual obligation to keep the arrangement a secret. As a result, students are afraid to publicly comment on what went wrong at the Suikerunie and had requested full anonymity when asked about the issue. Some say Rizoem representatives acted rude during the proceedings, but were reluctant to disclose any further details.

Intimidating students this way is unacceptable and begs the question: why would the RUG and the Hanze cooperate with these rogue landlords? “It’s pretty simple”, says Ms Bakker, the University spokesperson. “We just didn’t have a choice. We really want to have these rooms available for students, so this is how we’re fixing it now.” She thinks the ultimate responsibility lies with the state. “Of course, when the government or the council don’t allow this system any longer, we will accept that. But for now we really want these rooms to stay available.”

Jimmy Dijk, a council member from the Socialist Party, deeply disagrees with the malicious housing system the municipality continues to silently ignore. “The ones really benefiting from this construction are the rogue landlords. They build containers for almost nothing, while asking very high prices,” he says. “And this is exactly what happened this year at the Suikerunie. The students are the prey in this case.”

“The ones really benefiting from this construction are the rogue landlords” (Jimmy Dijk) The utopia of changing the system

The RUG tries to shed responsibility by passing the ball on the municipality´s side of the court. Waiting for change from above might sound like a hypocritical, even cowardly move from the biggest employer in the city. Yet, it could eventually pay off, as the municipality and the university are inextricably dependent on each other, says Lieke Schoutens from the Green Left party. ”We’re committed to making a change by looking at alternatives for short stay as students simply don’t have equal rights under such contracts.These contracts could work for exchange students who stay here for a few months, but not for full time international students.”

Ms Schoutens thinks a distinction should be made between full-time and exchange students, but she categorically refuses to differentiate between internationals and Dutch students. As for legal guarantees, there’s still a long way to go. “We want to ensure that rents don’t go higher and the quality of living doesn’t sink, but we don’t really have the tools to do so now. Hopefully that will change soon.”

The utopia of changing the system The RUG tries to shed responsibility by passing the ball on the municipality´s side of the

court. Waiting for change from above might sound like a hypocritical, even cowardly move from the biggest employer in the city. Yet, it could eventually pay off, as the municipality and the university are inextricably dependent on each other, says Lieke Schoutens from the Green Left party. ”We’re committed to making a change by looking at alternatives for short stay as students simply don’t have equal rights under such contracts.These contracts could work for exchange students who stay here for a few months, but not for full time international students.”

Ms Schoutens thinks a distinction should be made between full-time and exchange students, but she categorically refuses to differentiate between internationals and Dutch students. As for legal guarantees, there’s still a long way to go. “We want to ensure that rents don’t go higher and the quality of living doesn’t sink, but we don’t really have the tools to do so now. Hopefully that will change soon.”

Heading for a New Crisis

While students are on the lookout for hope and quality, affordable housing, Ms Schoutes is wary of delivering empty promises. In a recent report by the RUG, the University estimates an increase the number of required rooms for next year. “The proportion of students new to the RUG, who might need housing, seems to be increasing lightly,” concludes the report.

This means we’re heading for a new crisis, thinks Ms Schoutens.”Yes, there´s new construction, but it might be just too few and too late again. It won’t be on time and students will have to sleep in tents and empty schools again.”

“Students will have to sleep in tents and empty schools again” (Lieke Schoutens) As far as last summer, the city council launched an investigation into exploring alternatives for short stay contracts. The results were anticipated to surface in March 2019.

Yet, to this day, we´re still waiting. Results are now expected to be published as late as autumn this year. Again, internationals will be left with no choice but to pay extortionate prices for short-stay rentals at the likes of the Suikerunie or Student Hotel.

Meanwhile, the RUG makes no effort to inform prospective students of the housing troubles that await here. “We would like to stress that student housing is scarce in

Groningen and we advise all our students to book their accommodation as soon as they have received their acceptance letter,” reads the University´s webpage. Nothing more is stated regarding the looming crisis that will likely affect hundreds, if not thousands of new incoming internationals.

Dutch only!

While the RUG´s top picks for local housing include the Student Hotel and Kamernet, an online room finding service, few will be able to afford the use of these facilities. Student Hotel is reserved for the top 1% of society while Kamernet has made headlines with facilitating discrimination on its website (“Dutch only!”). Landlords are able to explicitly state that they´re only looking for Dutch speaking students, often with a blatant preference for women.

Yet, the university continues to turn a blind eye to this problem. “We believe it’s easy for students to integrate. We know from past experience that if students have stayed here for half a year, the’ve created a network and it’s mostly easy for them to find a room via [their network],” says Ms Bakker from the RUG. But what about new students who don´t speak a word of Dutch and don´t know anyone in Groningen?...

A Broken System

In early 2019, the municipality launched a state-of-the-art permit system, the first of its kind in the Netherlands, to combat the spread of rogue and fraudulent landlords. All private landlords will need to obtain a permit to rent out rooms before 1st of July. If tenants run into trouble with their landlord, they will be able to file a complaint with the municipality.

That, in turn, will have the option to fine the landlord or, at the worst instance, to revoke his permit.

But this mechanism will not apply to corporate landlords or managing companies, such as Rizoem or Qrent, warns Ms Schoutens. The housing conundrum will have to be solved on a state level, with nationwide legislation being implemented to reform the broken financial system that pays universities per capita - the more students you have, the more money you get.

Laws regulating short stay contracts could pave the way for a brighter future. Yet, they are nowhere to be seen. For Lieke Schoutens and her fellow politicians, the clouds are gathering by the day. “We´re not the best hosts. It often seems that everything is only about the money. I´m ashamed of that.”

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RICHARD NOBBE

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame, the new Spider-Man trailer and almost all preceding MCU-movies. Continue reading at your own discretion.

T

hey’ve done it, after eleven years and 23 movies, Marvels’ cinematic universe reached its apotheosis in Avengers: Endgame, the ultimate smorgasbord of all comic movies.

Years of plot, character development and worldbuilding culminated in a epic finale, it was beautiful to say the least.

However, things do not end there. Even though the three phase-spanning Infinity saga has been concluded, Marvel is still pushing out movies like there’s no tomorrow.

But where will these movies take us? What corner of the mystic, cosmic and outright weird Marvel-universe will be explored on the silver screen next, and what do studios have to do with it?

Phase 3

We’ll start off easy. This summers’ Spiderman sequel, Spider-man: Far From Home is the final piece of the phase 3 puzzle. Just like phase 2 ended with the completely adequate Ant-man, phase 3’s swansong will be the second part of the world’s favourite webslinger.

The new trailer, released after Endgame’s spoiler-embargo dropped like a whale from the sky, might point some fingers into the MCU’s new direction.

One of the movies characters, Quentin Beck – better known as Mysterio -, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, mentions the multiverse in the second trailer for the movie. For the uninitiated: the multiverse-theory entails the idea that there are possibly millions of different universes parallel to our one. There might be a universe in which the writing for Game of Thrones this season isn’t absolute dogshit, or there might be a universe in which Madonna didn’t butcher her performance like a mafioso butcher trying to settle a score with a particularly unlucky cow.

This could mean we could see different versions of characters we know. For example: there might be a universe in which Captain America’s Peggy Carter would down the super-serum, with her taking up the mantle of Captain America whilst Steve Rogers gets a suit of armor from Howard Stark, a scenario that’s going to be explored in Disney+ Marvel: What if animated series.

However, one very important notion to take into account is who mentions the multiverse in the trailer, namely Mysterio. In the comics, Mysterio is a disgruntled special-effects expert with a penchant for lying, deceiving and using illusions (they’re called illusions mom!) skills he uses for well, villainous purposes. So the fact that a scheming, manipulating villain mentions the multiverse, should be taken with a grain of salt.

Phase 4

Luckily Spider-Man: Far from Home isn’t the only movie on Marvels’ slate. For the coming years several new projects have been announced.

Like (As)guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3. After James Gunn got fired and rehired again, and after Thor decided to join our intergalactic band of misfits, Marvels’ cosmic clowns might go in a different direction. A few things are (almost) a given, such as the search for the alternate-timeline Gamora or the inclusion of Adam Warlock, as teased in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2’s post credits stinger.

If we take the cosmic nature and Thors’ inclusion into account however, plus a small cameo on the Grandmasters’ tower in Thor: Ragnarok, Beta Ray Bill might make an appearance.

Beta Ray Bill is a character from the Thor-mythos, a horse-like alien who – despite his monstrous appearance – was actually the first non-Asgardian to be able to lift Mjolnir. Maybe they’ll introduce him in a skrulllike way: setting him up to be a villain, but showing his true, more friendly nature later in the film.

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Up next on the slate is Doctor Strange 2.

Benadryl Cobblepatch is set to return as the sorcerer supreme, and despite a post-credits scene confirming Chitewel Ejiofors’ Baron Mordo to the dark side, the villain-name that’s buzzing around in the world of rumours is Nightmare: a terrifying guy on a horse who is in control of the Dream Dimension. Which means: A: apart from the Dark Dimension, earth’s’ top wizard is now going to explore another dimension and B: Baron Mordo’s got to wait, or they’ll make him a secondary villain, which is about as wasteful as our current economic climate.

A similar deal had been reached with Sony for Spider-Man, so he could appear in Captain America: Civil War and al subsequent films.

Ever since the MCU lifted off the way it did,

These are the movies that have some plot details revealed. Black Panther 2’s been announced, but no details are confirmed, except that Ryan Coogler is said to return as the director, which is a goddamned blessing.

A movie that’s also in the works is The Eternals, about a race of vastly overpowered people. Angelina Jolie is set to play Sersi, opposite Richard Madden, who’s rumoured to play Ikaris, with Kumail Nanjiani in a as of yet undisclosed role. Details are sparse, but apparently it’s going to be a love story or some other sentimental shit, we’ll just have to see how Marvel can make it work.

Also confirmed to be in the works is ShangChi, the first Asian-led superhero. Apart from its director, Destin Deniel Crettin, nothing is known about this movie, apart from the fact that there will be a lot of kung-fu.

Thanos is destroyed. He has been stopped by the same power he wanted to have so badly, deader than dead in two timelines. This means there’s an opening for the position of big bad, the overarching threat that forcer our heroes to overcome their differences and go to town on that villain like they’re coked-up MMA-fighters. However, there are only a few threats that can match up to the

Studio studio studio

There has been, however, a far more impactful change within the MCU, one that has been years in the making, done completely backstage: Disney has acquired 20th Century Fox. You might think ‘’Jee-fuckin’-jolly, that’s neat.’’ but that acquisition is very, very lucrative for the MCU: in the nineties, Marvel was struggling to make dough. So they decided to sell movie rights to the highest bidder: Sony got Spider-Man, Universal got the Hulk, 20th Century Fox got X-Men and the Fantastic Four and the rest didn’t sell. Because of that reason, the MCU has been lacking certain character. A deal had been arranged for the inclusion of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron, which were classically X-Men character.

Marvel has done its best to reacquire the rights to all of their characters, and since the acquisition of Fox, they have (almost) all of their characters back in their field.

This means that in a couple of years the Fantastic Four and X-Men could join seamlessly into the MCU, as would their villains, which brings me to my next point.

The Big Bad

fucked-up Grimace-face of Thanos, and most of them come from Fox, or more specifically, the Fantastic Four.

We’ll start off with a villain that might pose a danger for a (new) Avengers team: Annihilus. Annihilus is a Fantastic Four villain and ruler of the Negative Zone, a universe in which all matter is negatively charged.

It doesn’t sound to interesting, unless you take into account that the Negative Zone is the cause of the big crunch, a hypothetical endgame for our actual universe. Annihilus is a threatening presence, wielding the Cosmic Space Rod, which – apart from being a great name for a penis – allows its wielder to rearrange matter or even destroy it.

If Marvel wants to stay on a cosmic path, Annihilus is a good – albeit safe – replacement for Thanos.

Up next is Galactus. Galactus is a hungry man, a very, very hungry man. He’s also bigger than most planets and sustains himself by eating planets. He also wears a weird, purple helmet.

Galactus is the cosmic threat in the Marvel universe. Where Thanos was somewhat human, having emotions and motivations and stuff like that, Galactus is more a pure force of nature and destruction. He is able to swallow planets like he’s high as a kite in front of a bowl of M&M’s and can go toe to toe with actual forces of nature like Infinity or the weird-as-fuck Living Tribunal. If they want to stay cosmic, but want to one-up that shit like it’s Mario, Marvel should go all-in on Galactus. Personally I’d cast Bryan Cranston, because he’d be the only one that could still be intimidating in a weird-ass purple helmet.

But instead of going bigger and better, Marvel might take a step back and make its villain smaller, more personal, but more threatening than ever. There is a theory that all living villains which are still wandering around in the MCU, might team up to take down earth’s’ mightiest heroes.

These villains include: Justin Hammer (Iron Man 2), The Abomination (The Incredible Hulk), Leader (The Incredible Hulk), Baron Mordo (Doctor Strange), Baron Zemo (Captain America: Civil War), The Mandarin (the actual mandarin, as teased in the oneshot Long Live the King) and even the one-off villain Batroc the Leaper (Captain America: Winter Soldier). Maybe set these guys up in a ‘’Earth’s Deadliest Villains’’-kind of movie, and have them face-off against a new, fresh team of Avengers in a final battle that makes Civil War look like a kindergarten fight. It’ll be the perfect way to confront our heroes with their own failures, and would make for some great storytelling. Plus any excuse to bring back Sam Rockwell is a good one.

Speaking of human villains, there is one name that must be mentioned: Doctor Doom.

After fucking him up in three different Fantastic Four-films, it’s about time we got this guy right. He’s the leader of the sovereign nation of Latveria, is as technologically savvy as Iron Man (rip) and as skilled a sorcerer as Doctor Strange. He even wielded the Infinity Gauntlet once, and instead of dying in a narratively satisfying fashion, he made himself God Emperor of a Battleworld in which shit was more flip-turned upside down than having to live with your auntie and uncle in Bel-Air. If you want one guy, one human-ass guy being a threat that makes Thanos look like a bit of a retard chewing on rocks, then they’ve got to go with Viktor von Doom. Put Nicolaj CosterWaldau in that creepy-ass metal mask and I’ll throw all my money at the movie theatre.

Endgame

So there you go, predictions, speculations and cold hard facts about where the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going in the next ten years. Expect X-Men, expect sequels, expect Fantastic Four, expect more Beetleborg Cuddleyou, expect the weirdest reaches of the Marvel-universe that make Endgame look like playing Mortal Kombat against an especially stupid five-year-old.

Born out of flames

It was a tragedy and a blessing when the Cleveland Hill

The life and music of Jackson C. Frank

classmates and was badly injured. But it was a blessing for

Elementary school burned down. A tragedy for the kids who’ve died and their parents that mourned. And a tragedy for the boy called Jackson Carey; he lost his girlfriend and the music world, because when Jackson Carey stayed in the hospital his teacher gave him a guitar. Out of flames a songwriter was born. Jackson Carey, also known as Jackson C. Frank, became an amazing singer songwriter. But a fairly known one.

W

OLIVIER VAN EIJK

hen Jackson C. Frank was twenty-one he achieved an insurance check of more than $100.000. He went to England to work as a songwriter. In England he played at pubs where Paul Simon discovered him. Paul, by that time still unknown in the music world, produced his debut album, titled: Jackson C. Frank.

After his release Jackson had a strong core of fans that came to his concerts. But he never could sustain himself as a songwriter.

After he went back to America he married. He and his wife got a kid, but the kid died young and they divorced. Jackson ended institutionalized afterwards, suffering from depression. After he left the hospital he went out looking for Paul Simon claiming that he still got some of his material. He ended up roaming the streets, without a home or a friend.

Some kids on the streets blinded him with an air rifle. One of his old friends found him and encouraged him to write again.

But the self-titled debut was the only album he made.

And it was a great folk-album. By all standards. Bob Dylan, Nick Drake, Bert Jansch, Paul Simon, none of them were able to make a better folk album than the first album of Jackson C. Frank.

The album is drenched in the blues. All the songs are about what is lost or what is about to get lost. Songs about girlfriends that do

not want him, songs about milk and honey (a bible reference, that is mainly about the promise of goods that was never fulfilled), songs about nature and life, love and sorrow.

He is a traditional folk artist. Swinging between romanticizing nature and romanticizing human relations. But there’s something eerily beautiful about his voice. His voice is warm and pure, a voice that sounds like it contemplates about life while it sings. In the trembling of the chorus you can find reasons that don’t need explaining, words that aren’t given in the lyrics, soul that isn’t find in the body.

The first song is called “The blues run the game”, where he seems to filter his life down to the core of it: the sorrow he always had to drag along with him.

“Livin’ is a gamble baby Lovin’s much the same wherever I have played whenever I’ve thrown them dice wherever I have played the blues have run the game” Though all songs are about his sad life, he never sounds self-pitying. He sounds blue and melancholic, reflecting objectively the misery life can give to someone. He sounds like someone remembering life but without all

the emotions that come up with it, just producing information about what has been and what will never be.

Later on the album there is the song Kimbie, a love song where he sings about rough and rowdy men. He just wants Kimbie to let her hair down, even though she’ll be gone in the morning. There are no big statements about love in this song. But in the way he describes her and sings her name, you know how much he loves her.

On the end of the album, there’s the most astonishing folk-song ever written: Just like anything. It has beautiful guitar picking, with Frank’s mysterious lyrics floating above it like hot air balloons. He sings:

The recordings from the time that Jackson just got out of the streets, are very different from his first album. His voice is broken. All the suffering he endured seemed to have wiggled his way into his tongue and throat, infecting his voice with a virus of pain. It’s hard to listen to if you’ve heard the warm and soothing voice of his first album. After the recordings he soon died as a homeless drunk.

Jackson C. Frank is a true embodiment of the blues. He lived the live that Robert Johnson or Howlin’ Wolf sing about. The gritty, dark life, full of disappointments and despair. But

“Just like anything to sing to sing to sing is a state mind” And indeed for Jackson C. Frank singing is a state of mind. While singing he seems to find himself in another place, a vacuum of otherworldly safety. When he sings his life is a story, he doesn’t need to drag it along anymore, he only needs to tell it.

NO PAIN NO GAIN

V

KATHELIJNE TIJMS & MAIKE VAN ELDERT

ans, Dr. Martens, Converse, Superga and so many other brands nowadays add a new dimension to their boots or sneakers, namely the platform sole.

Half of Groningen is walking around town with this expansion of their sole. Where is this new trend coming from?

This trend is not introducing itself out of the blue. Its roots lie in the nineties, the time of the Spice Girls. It is hard to miss if you take a look at the streets: the 90s are making a comeback!

The platform sole can’t be labeled as comfortable, because there is a high risk of tripping. Your shoe cannot bend when you walk and therefore you occasionally look a bit like bigfoot. Yet the sneakers are hip, cool and even make you just a few centimeters longer (shoutout to all the small girls!). Just keep this in mind while wearing these shoes because no pain no gain!

The platform sole is not the only trend from the nineties that’s making a comeback.

Anywhere you go you just need to take a look around and you will see the return of trends from the nineties. The last few years these trends mainly consisted of animal prints, flared pants, the Levi’s 501 jeans and sports brands such as Kappa, Lotto and Champion.

Five years ago you could buy these sports brands for just ten euros at a few local sports stores, and now they can be purchased for at least three times the amount of money in all clothing stores and web shops.

Since the summer of 2018, there appear to be even more trends which are rising from their deaths. Think of the tie-dye print, the scrunchie, the biker short, eye-catching hair accessories and neon colors. You might not ever want to wear some of these trends, but believe me everyone will be wearing them in the blink of an eye.

If you have no idea what this is all about or if you just want to read some more about the upcoming trends to get ready for the festival season? Don’t worry because we will list the do’s and don’ts for you.

The “scrunchie” for example. Almost every girl has a number of these in her closet. If you have missed this trend, scrunchies are large hair elastics with a soft fabric in many different colors. Whether you wear it as a bracelet or in your hair, for which the thing is actually intended, it is soft and it is trending: you don’t need anything else. Tip: stick to one around your arm or in your hair. Don’t overdo it!

Another notorious trend is the biker short.

Many fanatic cyclists won’t know what’s happening to them and they will no longer have to purchase a new summer wardrobe.

Neon yellow, neon pink or snake print, it’s all possible. It will probably be comfortable, but whether it really does something for the eye?

Opinions are still divided on this. Fun fact: Princess Diana is the one who started this trend. We are forever grateful to her, right?

Also discovered in the nineties: the tie-dye print. Nicely cheerful and colorful or just gray with white, preferably as many crazy colors as possible mixed together. If you don’t have the money for all these trends? You can easily

make this tie-dye print yourself. All you need is an old T-shirt and some paint. You will probably have enough time during the summer holidays for a fun DIY (do-it-yourself: https:// www.tiedyeyoursummer.com/Technique/ spiral-tie-dye-technique).

Finally, one last, very bright, trend. For those who have always wanted to walk around like a living glow stick: it’s your time to shine, because it’s impossible to imagine a fashion magazine without neon colors nowadays.

Everything is possible: fluorescent pink trousers with bright blue cat eye sunglasses, just go for it!

Are these trends not your cup of tea? Don’t worry, we are convinced that in a few years the fifties will be completely hot and happening again. When the time comes you can safely take your grandma’s flower dress out of the closet!

Groninger Studentenkrant Juni 2019

11

The enigm

W OLIVIER VA

N EIJK

a that is Fr

ank Ocea

n

h e n I wa s si very strict xteen I had a Fra nk used th view on m ousand dif u Only musi ferent voic c made in sic. outburst. es in one sixties, se th e So I went h In Frank’s w venties ha ome and tr o d the w qualificatio universal. T ie d year flew b rds: “That’s a pretty fu ant to do d it out. I don n to be ca here could y cking fast ”. e ’t sc re ll ri e al b d e ly be no comp the feeling ween the B If I’d do th Frank Oce True that. on Tumblr w aris it e at riti the Doors atles and Kanye West on bet- Let me just , only superlatives w gave me. hood an an celebrates in his ri ence, which ng about his first sexu and the Str d m , ill b te u sa b e si e tw y e c n th was w u al exp ag e ch se e at e n ild d -t o m . time m kes. There to the best ourns abou imes, while at the sa - exploded after th ith a guy. The whole w ewas an end changed drastically. y opinion about musi music ever m at t orld c it e , around 19 . ce A T m p le h n a and courage eople look ere d b de and that 80 when Ta back on life that’s how a lot of of Frank Oce rating the openness was the is still universally valid lking Head Remain in ti . o L fu f if e an l m th e v it id . u ca e lite But is to be mo sic, Frank w ence of it. n be so beau s th urned for. as - his lett rary quality that he w also because made after e Lights. All the shit dropped But what er. After th as makes the that is on an that was at m in the perip o he waited showing in Though his drop his se hery, not in ther level of music, so great? It can be de usic of Frank Ocean four year m co u n si d album Blo c is very in sc greatness. th sona might album End triguing, his nd and the s to I especially e center of music’s You can talk about the ribed in several ways. b le e ss e ve , visual p w n e h rm ich also re the 2010’s smart song disliked m ore interest using on C Frank Oce and internat ceived crit .A w u h ing. ional claim ical listened to ll the rap and R&B th sic from kinds of m annel Orange, where riting he’s He lived an started out as a . w usi in so at h music as H as for me as connecte people ating from cal genres while still e uses all Katrina d New Orleans but afte ngwriter. But the ne ein fu d e h r Around that eken is to a good be to great about his is own, unique vibe. Y ver retre- Angeles stroyed his home, he Hurricane backgro nny thing is, he always ar. to stay the ou can talk went to Lo und. ambiguous staye ti m e I ch re ill s from High e for six wee wrote musi them going He did some interview d on the school. On d with some people paints canvasses full and poetic lyrics that k s. c In s, non fo in L r d A John Legen e e of them p of high vio Ocean’s ‘Th ons of love and others d, Justin B he the interviewe pth. Only in one inte e of ut o let in , ieber as r rview w a thering in m king About You’. I was n Frank drugs and lust, heartbreak, low illustrati- But he d . nted to go ked a quest all kinds of -key vibes, y idn’t want still smodeeper an ion about st they listen own judgments abou to d B at a u e st n an t s ay anonym his one of artist and of mind swered that t th ed stopped as ous as n he wanted sexuality. Frank hit. I was m to when suddenly th e music artist is th his most important fa . m e o t a t to w h so is sh it ng h the rap p are his musi e at ce e chorus group Odd writer. He For his ersonal or sexual life. in which Fra smerized by it. The h c, times all of he’s relatable. He ta ts as an they help igh fan F e n first love af k declared his doubts vibrato years with us had experienced. lks about Nostalgia d him produce his fi uture and Frank is s and the people who rst mix tap Te th , Ultra. This fa ab just that. listen to h sexy, and st ir with a man, was exc out his cence inte e strong feelings of ad enage diately in th mix tape put him im e: mythical creature He’s a creator of mu im, rweaved in ill olesruciating m sic. A e th e lim it at Could it hav melancholic. ties, sex, dru : first love, elights. H only arrive time to ted with Ja e been true? par g y-Z and Kan e collabora- He’s an melt the world to jelly s at the right saved? in nostalgia s. His writing is drench Could musi with his mu ye enigma. . It when Beyo c still be e sic.

It took abo nce heard h West and pictures on ’s like looking at Polaro d ut one and is id th m tu u e rn si w c e a d sh ll. to e really accep O a half year an Ja n e y T d -Z h lo it oug ok at and said: “O takes fo t who’s that? kay, Kan h he reached the of rap and Frank’s music (and also r me to lap of yo you back, straight in it I want him sam ye W R&B music) u th r al e o o to l n ld ki a n n ig fl m d ig h s ate t.” So Frank ht got fe est and Jay-Z, it seem e heights as ,w mended th al d s that he e album Blo hen a friend recom- love-affairs and holid s, desires, so u p co te in llaborad with Beyo the celebri nd listen to it. ays. But isn’t outsp nce. ty life. Beca never But he insi . I was still unsure to never is there a look o ke n use A o ft utside of h er that it w sted at the song ‘W a wall wit never got a is music, p he ent fast. W hout a fee such hite Ferrar . He told me about re as eople o n it h h to i’ where (in is li n n d d ostalgia. Fa g of is ebut albu would’ve h his words) appened if like him (a thing that Orange, h m Channel Jay-Z). thinks you ding memories, y o u act lik e re Th ’ve never Grammy an ceived a that Fra at’s also the reason (n e Kanye or Everyone d e nk made g knows the one. d internatireat music) xt to the fact feeling. onal acclaim artist are in th . Before he at almost al aw l released th Now it’s just e of Frank Ocean. is album, he w ai ti n g for the ne posted an xt album. open letter

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Groninger Studentenkrant Juni 2019

Mark my words

W

MAIKE VAN ELDERT

anneer je aandachtig luistert naar gesprekken om je heen, valt het al snel op dat Engelse uitdrukkingen, woorden of zelfs hele zinnen bij onze taal zijn gaan horen. Kijk eens naar jezelf, hoe vaak gebruik je woorden als track & trace, chick, guy of hele uitdrukkingen zoals mark my words! Waarom doen we dat eigenlijk? Is dit verloedering of verrijking?

We hebben zelf niet eens door hoeveel Engelse uitdrukkingen of titels we gebruiken in plaats van een Nederlands alternatief. Er bestaat voor veel uitdrukkingen niet eens een fatsoenlijke Nederlandse variant. Neem bijvoorbeeld been there, done that, deze zin rolt waarschijnlijk lekker van je tong. Een Nederlandse vertaling zou dan neigen naar iets als ‘geweest, gedaan’, ronduit saai. Op zich is het best chill om Engelse termen te gebruiken, maar seriously, wordt het niet een beetje too much?

De studie Nederlands wordt steeds minder populair. Aan de VU is hij zelfs geschrapt, er waren namelijk maar vijf inschrijvingen.

Hoogleraar Nederlands Lotte Jensen stelt dat deze daling het gevolg is van ‘een optelsom van factoren’, maar een belangrijk aspect is volgens haar de focus die universiteiten hebben op Engels.

Hoe vaak gebeurt het niet dat een Nederlandse student het ‘Nederlandse woord hiervoor even niet meer weet’. Onze woordenschat bevat zoveel Engelse begrippen die niet meer weg te denken zijn uit het Nederlandse straatbeeld: dat is echt amazing, kijk die dude daar, dit is echt lame, je snapt het wel. Het lijkt deel te worden van onze eigen Nederlandse taal.

Waarom is Engels toch zo aantrekkelijk? It isn’t rocket science.

Mensen willen alles om zich heen kunnen benoemen. Wanneer objecten of gedragingen in de eigen taal geen naam hebben, is het praktisch om de naam van de andere taal over te nemen. Nieuwe woorden zijn vaak afleidingen van al bestaande woorden, zoals gebak van bakken komt, maar het zijn het ook leenwoorden, denk aan patisserie, banket of bagel. Een buitenlands product wordt dus meestal overgenomen met de buitenlandse benaming.

Het Engels wordt ook gekozen vanwege eufemistische redenen: ‘transpireren’ klinkt bijvoorbeeld minder heftig dan ‘zweten’ en salesmanager klinkt als een betere baan dan ‘verkoopleider’. Daarnaast geven leenwoorden je simpelweg de kans om af te wisselen wat je vertelt: zo kan je het woord ‘bezoek’ soms afwisselen met het woord ‘visite’. To make a long story short, het Engels klinkt voor velen gewoon interessanter dan het Nederlands.

politeia in je klaslokaal (Schoolbord!)

waren

wanneer

we

ziek

the better half of a year is daarbij

stilts

clamshells for stuff to de

we have the that kind of

stroy some natural

disadvantage

zoals geen nederlands tussen de regels door

kunnen lezen

of

acceptable antwoord en had de commodificering van alles je tussenjaar

je motherfucking tandenborstel knipperende kopjes koffie internet

een spelshow om je

studieschuld te winnen and we have a winner politiseren je moeder

we moeten zelf bijhouden

ik

moeten melden ergens een ver weg

on the exam staat niet op het tentamen er bestaan ook mensen die

geen

lets get jimmy some goddamn

It’s a piece of cake: Engelse invloeden komen in een tijd van sociale media steeds meer op en worden zelfs deel van onze eigen taal. Dit is niet negatief, verkeerd en we moeten dit ook niet bestrijden. Het is logisch en je ontkomt er niet aan, hoe hard je er ook tegen zult vechten, don’t be a dead horse. Wij worden nu ook niet meer boos om bijvoorbeeld ‘shoppen’ of ‘computer’, woorden die van oorsprong Engels zijn maar nu in principe gewoon horen bij de Nederlandse taal.

bij

titus heten

let that sink in over

naar inhoudelijke zaken

decaan in een hoekje een stil kwartier besteden aan een papier

dat te lezen viel this wil not be

Richard nobbe

Wat wel bestreden moet worden is het negatieve imago van onze eigen taal. Dat wij alleen saaie alternatieven zouden hebben voor een woord als track & trace is onzin. De Volkskrant heeft hier een creatieve oplossing voor gevonden en laat lezers in een terugkerende rubriek Nederlandse alternatieven bedenken voor Engelse begrippen. Zo ook track & trace.

Tussen de inzendingen zitten alternatieven als ‘vind-en-volg’, letterlijke vertalingen dus. Maar gelukkig zijn er ook creatieve inzendingen en is er enthousiasme te zien voor een taal die op zichzelf hartstikke mooi is. Denk aan inzendingen als bezorgmonitor, zendingzoeker en pakkettentomtom.

Dat het Nederlands alleen maar saaie alternatieven zou hebben voor gangbare Engelse uitspraken en woorden is dus niet het geval. Al die Engelse uitdrukkingen en woorden zijn ook niet per definitie verkeerd, maar het is vooral interessant om eens na te gaan hoe vaak je op een dag Engelse woorden gebruikt. Woorden waar ook een prima Nederlandse vertaling voor te vinden is. Je moet alleen even creatief zijn in sommige gevallen, tsja, no pain no gain.

Het is tijd voor een imagoverbetering van onze eigen taal: it’s time to get our act together.

Groninger Studentenkrant Juni 2019

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en Ge

D

b

jaar gedaan? s r u u est

Een bestuursjaar bij je studentenvereniging, vrijwilligerswerk bij een politieke partij of maatschappelijke organisatie: nevenactiviteiten staan goed op je CV. Dat steeds meer studenten ervoor kiezen om meer met hun studie en minder met andere activiteiten bezig zijn heeft negatieve gevolgen. Hoe meer uur je in nevenactiviteiten steekt, hoe meer baankans je namelijk hebt. Vincent Karremans (co-founder van Magnet.me) ziet de kansen van studenten op de arbeidsmarkt verminderen: “Werkgevers hechten aan de bredere ontwikkeling die studenten dankzij nevenactiviteiten doormaken. Studenten leren er leidinggeven, samenwerken en met verantwoordelijkheid omgaan op een manier die in de collegebankjes en in bijbaantjes niet is na te bootsen. Dat zijn vaardigheden die werkgevers juist zoeken.’’

Gemiddeld benaderd door werkgevers 4,60

4,40 3,32

3,79

3,81

3,95

4,86

ba

eze week verscheen er een onderzoek van Magnet.me waaruit blijkt dat studenten steeds minder tijd in een commissie of bestuursjaar stoppen. Veel studenten kiezen er zelfs voor om helemaal geen activiteiten naast hun studie te doen. Helaas verlaagt dit ook de baankans die studenten na hun studie hebben. Misschien toch maar de Eventcie gaan helpen?

ge da an en n

NOUSCHKA VAN DER MEIJ

In 2005 is het BSA (Bindend Studieadvies) ingevoerd en zijn studenten de druk gaan voelen om goede cijfers te halen. Sinds dat jaar is het aantal uren dat gemiddeld werd besteed aan nevenactiviteiten ook met 67% gedaald. Het sociale leenstelsel dat in 2015 werd ingevoerd had hier weinig invloed op. Daarbij heeft de afnemende nevenactiviteit ook niet voor hogere eindcijfers voor studenten gezorgd.

Niet alleen de studenten zelf, maar ook verenigingen hebben last van deze ontwikkeling. Iris van Noort (lid van het Dagelijks bestuur van de Landelijke Kamer van Verenigingen) vertelt dat verenigingen moeite hebben om hun bestuur en commissies te vullen. Dit geldt vooral voor commissies waarvan wordt gedacht dat ze minder goed op je CV staan, zoals de kroegcommissie. Ze heeft er wel een verklaring voor: ‘‘Deze generatie studenten is opgegroeid tijdens de crisis en wil voor alles direct na de studie een baan.’’

Om die baan te krijgen kun je dus maar beter wel activiteiten naast je studie je gaan doen.

Gemiddeld aantal uren neven activiteit

5,07

636 601

4,25

596

544 482

422 351 270 201

0-99

100-249

250-499

500-999

1000-1499 1500-1999 2000-2499 2500-2999

3000+

Aantal uren nevenactiviteit

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Startjaar studie

Opereren in het wereldwijde netwerk

D

MAIKE VAN ELDERT

e status van Nederlands ligt onder druk. Studentenaantallen kelderen naar beneden, de VU stopt zelfs met de studie, maar in het buitenland is onze moedertaal wel populair. Nemen wij onze eigen taal wel serieus genoeg?

Op 27 maart 2019 publiceert de Internationale Vereniging voor Neerlandistiek in de NRC het artikel ‘Stop met dat ge-Calimero, Nederlands is geen kleine taal’.

Volgens hen ligt de toekomst van de studie Nederlands in de internationalisering en moet het ‘kleindenken’ dat de neerlandistiek traditioneel wordt opgedr¬¬¬ongen bij de wortel aangepakt worden.

In de hele wereld houden academici zich bezig met de Neerlandistiek in brede zin. Denk hierbij aan taal- en letterkunde, geschiedenis, taalverwerving en cultuur. In diverse landen, van Zuid-Amerika tot aan Australië, zijn er zo’n 13.000 studenten Nederlands.

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Groninger Studentenkrant Juni 2019

Om een beeld te geven van hoe internationaal Neerlandistiek daadwerkelijk is, is het goed om eens dieper in te gaan op de studie Nederlands aan een universiteit duizenden kilometers verderop. Niet alleen de inhoud van de studie is interessant om eens te vergelijken met hoe de rest van de wereld zich verdiept in onze taal, ook de beweegredenen van de studenten laten ons wellicht inzien dat Nederlands helemaal niet zo’n kleine taal is als wij veronderstellen. Om deze redenen is contact opgenomen met twee studenten Dutch Studies aan de Universiteit van Californië, Berkeley.

Daarnaast heeft de studievereniging van Dutch Studies onlangs ook een YouTube filmpje gemaakt waarin een aantal studenten kort vertellen over waarom zij hebben gekozen voor Dutch Studies.

Lisanne van Engelen, student Dutch Studies aan de universiteit van Berkeley vertelt: ‘I’m minoring in Dutch Studies because my entire family is Dutch. I was born in Utrecht, but my family and I moved to

Florida when I was one. I grew up speaking Dutch at home, but writing and grammar has always been a challenge for me. So, when I came to Berkeley and found out that they offer Dutch courses, I thought it would be great to learn more about how to properly write it.’ Opvallend is dat de studenten in het YouTube filmpje ook bijna allemaal relaties hebben met ons land en daarom ook meer willen weten over de taal en de cultuur (https://youtu.be/dyuasar46Yc).

Ook Sophie Parsons, student Dutch Studies, studeert om ‘familieredenen’ Dutch Studies: ‘I started studying Dutch because my mom is from Belgium and I wanted to be able to speak to my family’. Sophie is vooral geïnteresseerd in de impact van Nederlands kolonialisme in Amerika en vindt het leuk om een nieuwe taal te leren tijdens de taalcursussen.

Berkeley besteedt veel aandacht aan het Nederlands volgens Lisanne: ‘It’s also a great way to keep practicing my speaking skills and to meet other Dutch people. Every week we actually have a koffie uurtje, where students, faculty, and guests from around the area can come and practice their speaking while enjoying a free coffee!’

De studenten Dutch Studies houden zich met verschillende onderwerpen van de Neerlandistiek bezig. De afdeling is opgesplitst in twee delen: taalcursussen en literatuur/cultuurcursussen. Binnen de taalcursussen maakt Berkeley weer onderscheid tussen spreken en schrijven. Ze bieden speciale cursussen aan waarin de studenten leren lezen in het Nederlands bijvoorbeeld.

De literatuur/cultuur vakken verschillen per semester, maar Lisanne heeft gekozen voor Dutch 171AC en legt uit waarom: ‘I’ve personally taken Dutch 171AC (about New Amsterdam and the Dutch in America), then a course on Anne Frank and literature in World War II, and a course called the Indonesian connection which was about how the Dutch are connected to Indonesia and their presence there. The literature/culture courses are taught in English.’ Volgens Lisanne zijn beide cursussen, taalverwerving en literatuur/ cultuur, interessant omdat zij graag, naast het leren van de taal, ook meer wil weten over de Nederlands geschiedenis.

Conclusie? ‘Stop met dat ge-Calimero, Nederlands is geen kleine taal!’ zoals de IVN inderdaad stelt in het artikel in de NRC. Een kort YouTube filmpje van een universiteit in Amerika geeft al aan hoeveel studenten het interessant en praktisch vinden om onze taal te leren en meer van onze cultuur te weten te komen. Of het nu is omdat zij een Nederlandse oma hebben, willen werken of studeren in Nederland, of omdat, ik citeer, ‘Dutch people are my favourite people!’, ze zijn geïnteresseerd in onze moedertaal die wij, als Nederlanders, te vaak onderschatten.

Dutch wax

I

t´s your regular Friday afternoon. Day off, no class, lots of PornHub. My weirdo flatmate and I are chilling in his fart-filled room, him playing an inexplicably boring Russian shooter game on his Slavic-looking PC, me munching on 2-days old second-hand sushi. You know it´s some cheap shit when they give you the soy sauce in a period blood coloured plastic sachet.

With the stinky fish slowly rotting in my right hand cramped from all the emotionless masturbation of the day, I reach for the rumpled soy-seasoned plastic in the wane hope of at least partially covering up the odour of the decaying meat I am about to insert to the remains of my digestive system.

After five futile attempts, I finally manage to rip it open. I press on the swollen side, the same way you pop a juicy acne. The brown, poopy liquid squirts out like a veteran pornstar´s urethra, directly onto my freshly washed white shorts. In a sudden, albeit understandable burst of anger, I throw the rotten fish in my hand, aiming at the bin in the corner of the room already filled with cum-stained handkerchiefs. But as I am as much athletic as a sleeping Stephen Hawking, I hit my uber focused flatmate´s glaring screen instead.

The ensuing sequence of events is as follows: flatmate misses clear headshot on a flagrantly Arab-looking terrorist in his manifestly racist game – flatmate screams out “Suka blyat” (son of a bitch, for the uninitiated) – flatmate punches keyboard, permanently disabling the space button (no more press-to-pause during porn videos for him I´m afraid) – flatmate turns around, saliva foaming from his herpes-prone mouth, and thinks of the most effective way to inflict physical pain on me – flatmate gives up thinking (too painful), bursts out of the room, invades the toilet, nearly ripping off the toilet seat still warm from somebody´s recent adventures that

tell the story of having too much sambal sauce the night before. No prisoners taken.

It´s at this moment that my other flatmate – a female – steps in our completely normal madhouse. Having seen all horrors of life during her exchange year on the dark web, she takes in the scene unfolding in front of her very eyes with no particular interest. “I just had a Brazilian wax,” she says, nonchalantly, with the fake confidence of an overweight pseudo-bitch.

“My pussy is now an open highway of baby skin.”

“You what?” responds the Slavic flatmate from the dark depths of the toilet, with a loud sound of poop hitting the murky water. He cuts his dropping in half as he storms out of the shitting room, visibly aroused in his ultra-tight running shorts.

Who the fuck wears running shorts at home?

“Show me,” runner boy tells the newly shaved female, as if it was the most natural request to have. “Fuck off,” the quick response flies in his face. “Alright, let´s smoke a joint then,” he proposes. “Alright,” she answers.

They go out in the backyard and light up some herbs that look like the dead cactus I threw out the morning before. But whatever junky shit they´re inhaling, it seems to be working. It doesn´t take long before they´re baked as the fuck you pretend not to give when you´re refused to be served at a gloryhole.

Then the dry mouth phase hits hard.

Running man and shaved woman decide to quench it with soured beer and acid wine that´s been sitting in the fridge since before Christ. At this point, they´re so intoxicated they start calling me Lord Brandenburg and demand that I take them to the quaint English seaside town of Eastbourne. (It´s Friday, so who the fuck cares.) Rather, I guide them to the female´s couch with the elegance of a cynical

butler, as it´s the closest furniture that fits the purpose.

In a once-in-a-lifetime moment of epiphany, he decides to give it another go.

“Show me.” “Fine then, you cheeky bastard,” comes the horny answer. She struggles to take off her undersized jeans that squeeze the last ounce out of her ballooned thighs. He hastily tears the Levy´s off her and pushes her 18th century knickers to the side. He dives in with his slimy tongue and has a taste. It looks like the day after Chernobyl down there and she seems completely unaware of what´s going on, still jabbering about her trip to England with Lord Brandenburg.

Suddenly, a loud, horrific scream. He pulls back. He reaches in his mouth and wiggles his finger. Eventually, he pulls out a long, greasy, curled up hair. The Brazilian wax missed a spot. He gags and turns towards the toilet. Too late. All the toxins start coming out. She is completely indifferent to any of this, now singing God Save the Queen at full volume. With vomit slowly filling up the room, I decide it´s time to retire.

Brazilian wax my ass. Looks more like Dutch wax to me. I go back to the fart-smelling nerdroom. My sushi is still lying below the soy-stained PC screen. At least I´ll have dinner tonight.

09/05 Jaya The Cat

SKA / REGGAE

ROCK

10/05

Hausmagger

11/05

Celine Cairo

11/05

Vunzige Deuntjes

URBAN

17/05

Audio Adam

ROCK

18/05

The Bony King Of Nowhere

18/05

Machtig

24/05

Judy Blank

29/05

Open Mike Eagle

31/05

FATA BOOM

31/05

303 Acid

07/06

KRS-One

POP

T

INDIE

DRUM & BASS

POP

HIPHOP

UITVERKOCHT

ACID HOUSE UITVERKOCHT POP/SOUL

SIMPLON UP

ELKE DONDERDAG. LIVE MUZIEK.

POPPODIUM SIMPLON - BOTERDIEP 69 - GRONINGEN

09/05 TUSKY 10/05 COCAINE PISS 16/05 KAIA KATER 24/05 FINN ANDREWS 30/05 THE BETHS 21/06 AMYL & THE SNIFFERS 03/07 NO VACATION 14/11 THE CHATS 23/11 INDIAN ASKIN 13/12 ZUCO 103

SKolofon

OOSTERSTRAAT 44 www.vera-groningen.nl

De Groninger Studentenkrant is een onafhankelijk blad gemaakt voor en door studenten van HBO en WO-instellingen in Groningen. Het verschijnt elf maal per jaar in een oplage van zesduizend exemplaren die gratis verspreid worden op de RuG, de Hanzehogeschool en andere plaatsen in Groningen.

Vormgeving: Thijs Krijnen

Redactie:

Nouschka van der Meij Karlijn Saris hoofdredactie@studentenkrant.org

Ben Hard Paulien Plat Thom Boonstra Bas Teunissen Karlijn Saris Jannick Scheepstra Jolien Vermeulen Kathelijne Tijms Maike van Eldert Richard Nobbe Olivier van Eijk

Eindredactie:

Illustrator:

Hoofdredactie:

Nouschka van der Meij Karlijn saris

Drukwerk: Rodi Media

Bestuur:

Mees Dijkstra Lotte Aikema

Volg ons voor dagelijkse nieuwsupdates voor en door studenten op:

Teo Cejvanovic

Video:

Mirre van de klok

Fotografie:

Nouschka van der Meij

/studentenkrant Groninger Studentenkrant Juni 2019

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Groninger Studentenkrant Juni 2019

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