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LUCAS RAS ERA M I RA NDA
INTRO The idea behind this project is to show, through a collection of photographs and interviews, how the international students living in The Netherlands bring with them some habits and traditions of their own home country. Living far away from where you were born and raised may bring a mixture of feelings. It is important to keep with you some things that help you remember where you come from. Those habits have the power of keeping you strong-minded, focused and comfortable wherever you are.
The place where this project has been thought of and created is a building called Macandra. This environment consists of almost two hundred rooms and all of them are the same size and shape. It is wonderful how each individual decorates and organize their rooms so differently from each other. It expresses the cultural differences and the personal interests of these students. We can think of this place as a collision of thoughts and habits that grow together in harmony, even though there are a lot of differences between them.
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Henrique Padovan Lira Campinas - Brazil 22 years old
BRAZIL How do you feel your cultural habits influence on your daily basis? Well, I used to work and study all day in Brazil, so I like to wake up every day early in the morning. I also think it’s very important to keep my place organized and cheerful, to remind me how beautiful life is!
Have you incorporated any of the Dutch habits? Or maybe some other culture’s habit? Yes, I have, of course! I use my bike daily to do my things, I eat one stroopwafel at breakfast (really yummy), and also eat a lot of cheese (Dutch cheese, the best in the world!). I learned how not to be offended by their straightforward-talking, and also how to be more practical in my daily life. I like their way of behaving. I always get to places in time, like the Dutch people. So it’s good to be around people who know the value of a schedule. Brazilians are, in general, always late.
Is there any habit that you have which is specific to your culture? I’m used to having two hot meals instead of one, like the Dutch people, and I’m not used to making schedules for absolutely everything! Here you need to schedule a time even if you want just to talk for 5 minutes with a professor, and that’s weird! Oh, yeah. And it’s been a while I haven’t eaten beans. Sad story.
How does living in such a multicultural environment, as Macandra, affect your daily basis and personal habits? These guys just don’t stop, it’s crazy. Every day there’s a meeting, a party, an event - if you want you can hang out every day of the week. At any moment someone can knock your door asking for something or just for a little chat. The fact that we are all from different places creates a lot of cultural noises that we laugh a lot about. It’s a really nice experience.
Ly Seal Quang Ngai - Vietnam 22 years old
VIETNAM How do you feel your cultural habits influence on your daily basis? Well. It’s a good question. I think a lot about which “Vietnamese” habits I still keep although I am living in Holland. First, although I live in the bread and cheese country, I still have to eat Vietnamese food, because Vietnamese food is like the love of my life, and I have been eating it for ages. You can take me out of Vietnam but never can take the Vietnamese food out of me. That means I have to buy Asian ingredients and cook almost every day. But after all, the food makes me feel like home although I’m 5000 Km away.
Have you incorporated any of the Dutch habits? Or maybe some other culture habit? I think I’ve learnt two things from the Dutch habits. The first is eating bread and cheese for breakfast. In Vietnam. I normally ate something like noodles or rice. But here, bread and cheese is the best option. One more thing that I’ve incorporated is the timing. In Vietnam, it is pretty normal to be late for 15-30 minutes for an appointment. You can be late and you don’t have to apologize. But here, it is totally different. I once had an appointment with my supervisor, he was late for 5 minutes.
He came and said sorry to me about that. I think it is a pretty good Dutch habit. Time flies fast!
Is there any habit that you have which is specific to your culture? My meal schedule is a bit earlier than my friends’. For example, I normally will have dinner at 6 o’clock in the evening (I know it’s pretty soon), but I see a lot of my friends having dinner at 9 or 10 o’clock, which is very close to bed time. That is pretty strange for me!
How does living in such a multicultural environment, as Macandra, affect your daily basis and personal habits? Macandra is a perfect place for students. What else can you ask from such a multicultural environment? I mean, I chose to go abroad, not only to study, but also to learn about other cultures and people, right? And here in Macandra I have a lot of eyes-opening experiences. I’ve met people from every corner of the world, talked to them, listened to their stories and tried their food. I also got the habit to drink tea every day from my Indian friends, and drink beer like Brazilians. All that memories will be cherished after I leave Holland.
Ieva Jakštaite Vilnius - Lithuania 19 years old
LITHUANIA How do you feel your cultural habits influence on your daily basis? I don’t have any particular cultural habits that are very different from most people, I could just say that the first thing in the morning that I do is play some music, get coffee and smoke a cigarette.
Have you incorporated any of the Dutch habits? Or maybe some other culture habit? I’m from Lithuania and I don’t have any specific cultural habit, except for we from time to time gather together and make traditional Lithuanian dinner or go crazy during the basketball season. Biking is the only Dutch habit that I’ve incorporated, because it is mandatory. I’ve also started to smoke water pipe so that would be a habit I’ve picked up from Turkish culture.
How does living in such a multicultural environment, as Macandra, affect your daily basis and personal habits? Living in macandra allows me to get both my personal space and social life in a great balance. I get to experience other cultures, meet different and interesting people. I’ve also become more open and integrated in other cultures and types of people. I’ve learned not to judge their background, the country they come from or their skin color, because as Lithuanians we are very used to stereotypes and living here gives a great possibility to get rid of these and gives a chance to make my own opinion about people.
Radina Chakarova Sofia - Bulgaria 23 years old
BULGARIA Is there any habit that you have which is specific to your culture?
Have you incorporated some other culture habit?
Bulgarians have quite a lot of different traditional habits, but if I have to say something connected with the Bulgarian cuisine, it will be that in most Bulgarian meals yogurt is present almost everytime.
In Bulgaria it is not common to take your own food to your work or school. Everyone buys it outside, once it is cheap. But in The Netherlands it is very normal to bring your own sandwiches instead of buying them.
Yogurt together with white and yellow cheese has been always a big part of the traditional meals and therefore eating them have become like a habit to Bulgarians.
Have been living for a year in the Dutch culture has made me to be also getting used to this habit, so I also take my own food to university and work.
How does living in such a multicultural environment, as Macandra, affect your daily basis and personal habits? Living in a multicultural environment as Macandra has taught me a lot about different cultures and personalities. I believe that this has somehow made me more respectful towards every culture and religion.
Jet Ankersmid Rietmolen - Netherlands 18 years old
HOLLAND How do you feel your cultural habits influence on your daily basis? I feel my cultural habits mostly on my love for bread and in the fact that I do not mind hardstyle or very bad Dutch music in the clubs, as long as there is music! Also, I go for a cup of coffee with friends and family spontaneously very often.
How does living in such a multicultural environment, as Macandra, affect your daily basis and personal habits? Macandra has changed my habits for sure, in a good way. From the international people I’ve learned a lot (ideas, new views about life and other important things). Also I have found habits which suit me more than the Dutch old fashioned way. For example hugging when I meet friends or the easy way of discussing anything in a group. Because I’m Dutch and I still live in my own country these new habits or ideas are sometimes different for my friends
and family and hard to understand, but, as soon as I take them to Macandra or to a party they get to understand this and most of them like the open and happy enviroment where you can do whatever you choose to do and are not being judged as you would be in the normal Dutch culture! On a daily basis it has made my life easier because I’ve learned to care less about what other people think of me and to have more fun! Also the different ideas that i got and still get from the people in Macandra with a different culture are very valuable for the daily things! Macandra has made my life more valuable, easier and fun!
Have you incorporated some other culture habit? I think that in Macandra I’ve learned how to be less distant from people by giving them a hug or a kiss when I see them and I’ve incorporated a less distant way of hanging out with people. In the Dutch culture its much more distant. Also in Macandra my eating schedule has changed from the tradional Dutch breakfast, lunch, dinner.
Vikt贸ria Fialov谩 Nitra - Slovakia 22 years old
SLOVAKIA How do you feel your cultural habits influence on your daily basis? Regarding my cultural habits, it is basically the same here, meeting up with friends in bars and having a good time. What was and still is not fully understandable is the way of eating. Plus, my sport habit has changed a bit due to the weather in The Netherlands.
Have you incorporated any of the Dutch habits? Or maybe some other culture habit? The eating habit of Dutch people reminds me of the British. At home, I usually try to eat regularly and hot meals not just for dinner as it is typical in the Netherlands, but also for lunch. But, as my classes usually start before 12pm, it has forced me to change my eating habits and instead of warm lunch I eat just a sandwich or get at least a hot soup at college.
Is there any habit that you have which is specific to your culture? I am in the phase of getting accustomed to the country and its habits, so actually until now I have just modified my eating schedule.
How does living in such a multicultural environment, as Macandra, affect your daily basis and personal habits? I am used to diverse cultures also from my home dormitory. Living in such a multicultural environment has given me every day a chance to meet new people and know new cultures, for example the international cuisine. My habits remain the same.
Kevin Ilardi Carpentras - France 22 years old
FRANCE How do you feel your cultural habits influence on your daily basis? The first days were really difficult because I have no benchmarks or references here. From one month I think I have changed my eating schedule a bit, for example. Effectively, the meals are really different here in The Netherlands and culture too. One simple example is the way to say “hello” in French with kisses and here you just shake hands, it’s a bit cold for me, but anyway I’ve met lots of beautiful people.
How does living in such a multicultural environment, as Macandra, affect your daily basis and personal habits? I really like cooking in the kitchen because you can meet Vietnamese, Bulgarian, Spanish or Brazilian people and you can cook together and learn lots of things. It’s really interesting!
Have you incorporated some other culture habit? I think this first month I lost my “biological clock” cause the schedule of my days are totally different and I don’t have class the whole day as in France. Inside Macandra it’s easy to meet new people and it’s something really interesting. But sometimes with some other cultures it’s sort of difficult, due to the habits on the openspaces and in the kitchen.
CONCLUSION This project has taught me way more than I’d thought it would. During the entire process I’ve had the opportunity to interact and share experiences with people from different nationalities. And it is incredible that even though we share almost the same experience, we deal with it in totally different manners.
This project is my tribute to all my friends who live with me, here in Macandra. Without them, nothing would be the same. This whole year was above and beyond all my expectations. I feel that this personal growth has been my most fruitful achievement so far.
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