en Theme
Holland from a new perspective Each edition we try to find an international student to talk about their experience in the Netherlands. This time it is Yinan’s turn, who has decided to leave her home in China a couple of years ago to pursue her studies here. Text & Images: Yinan Zheng, HTI student
8800 kilometres, it is the distance between the Netherlands and my home in the far east. Sometimes, I just feel like everything is so unreal. In middle school, I learned about maritime trade in history class; I heard about windmills and tulips from my grandparents’ Europe tours; I got to know the uncrowned king of the World Cup because of football. All of these pieces of information gave me the first impression of the Netherlands. But honestly, I once dreamed of studying in Germany, and I never thought my life would be related to its neighbour. Then after 6 years, I arrived here, as a junior student. Actually, it’s a bit of a “shame” that I can speak only a little Dutch after two years. I’d like to “blame” it on Dutch people. I still remember the kind old couple I met the first time I went back to China on my own. It should have been
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an awful morning, the train ticket couldn’t be downloaded to my NS app because of some system error. I was super tired and worried when the old couple came and sat opposite me. They asked about my situation and explained it to the train inspector. We transferred together, chatted all the way and said goodbye to each other at the airport. It happened just before my last bachelor semester. Although I didn’t speak Dutch and they couldn’t speak Chinese, our communication in English went well and made me feel soft but strengthened that morning. This experience, more or less, helped me make up my mind to continue studying in the Netherlands. Every time I recall it, I feel as impressed as I did then. This beautiful memory is all due to the kindness and English ability of that couple. I am not
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