Utrecht is the Dutch-style city I had imagined it to be before arriving in Holland. I have previously visited Amsterdam, so I thought that Utrecht would look pretty similar and I was right. It is a small city compared to my hometown, Madrid, which is a very good thing when you want to move...
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A tall, slim, twenty-something blonde softly leans against the handle bars of her utility bicycle, and takes a swig from a cigarette. An Aztec eternity scarf is draped around her porcelain neck, her blonde hair perched on the top of her head in a loose bun. As she crosses one leg over the other,...
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So, you’ve arrived in Utrecht. “Welkom”, as the dutch would say. First of all – don’t worry. Depending on where you come from, the Netherlands may seem like an odd and confusing place, with people speaking fast in an incomprehensible language. Nevertheless, this is a hospitable country. It won’t take long before you are...
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Although he made an early departure from Club Poema yesterday – hours before closing time – Liam Gascoigne still has not caught up on his sleep when we meet at Neude in central Utrecht. It is his third day in the Netherlands. “Everyone is very polite here” he says while considering the strange-looking sweet...
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When arriving in a country for the first time, I usually head for the supermarket. Not just to ease my jet-lag with a snack or some ice tea, but to learn. Just as the local media will tell you a lot about its readers, the grocers’ is a great place for getting to know...
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Even though Annica has only been living in her small student room for two days she looks well settled. Sitting on the bed with her legs crossed, she tells me the change in moving to Utrecht from Helsinki was not that big of a change. Home is though a somewhat wedged feeling for her....
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Having left his native Sweden already a working journalist, Thomas Pickelner, 26, is one of the few in the Europe in the World Program no longer a student. He has spent the last few months working for a Swedish television station in Uppsala where he worked as a camera man, reporter, and even an...
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I got my first impression of The Netherlands, and of Utrecht itself, in the train on the way from Amsterdam to Utrecht. Seeing the city from the outside, one of the things that attracted my attention is that those low typical Dutch houses shaping the city are surrounded by some huge buildings, probably belonging...
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By Steffen Hesseldal Windfeld-Hansen and Beatriz Paúl Naya “You just need to look at the yellow piece of paper, and then you will know where to get it”, Arie said in the library. It seemed easy, just around the corner, as many things are in Utrecht, but as it turns out, nothing is that...
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Steffen Hesseldal, 28 years old, Copenhagen (Denmark) It was his last course of journalism and he wanted to travel abroad. After studying Economics for a year and getting bored with it, he decided to change his professional future. Actually, if you meet him for the first time, you will see the journalist prototype. Wearing...
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August, 2010. Spanish beaches are crowded with tourists sunbathing, so I need to travel to a different place. I am not a brown girl so I think that in Holland I could go unnoticed. I have already decided to do the Europe in the World programme in Utrecht, so I am spending the next...
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I got my first impression of The Netherlands, and of Utrecht itself, in the train on the way from Amsterdam to Utrecht. Seeing the city from the outside, one of the things that attracted my attention is that those low typical Dutch houses shaping the city are surrounded by some huge buildings, probably belonging...
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By Kai Heijneman & Michael Huguenin The Netherlands is known as a friendly country. So exchange students should have no problem fitting in with the Dutch…right? This was supposed to be easy. My time as an exchange student in Utrecht has gotten off to a decent start. School’s organised, I’ve moved in and I’m...
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by Anna Buch and Karoline Vallum Møllegård Hansen Some pints of beer with your new fellow students in the evening. Burgers and French fries for lunch in the cafeteria. Oh yeah, and don’t forget the coke! A lot of calories enter your body, but don’t worry. You can get rid of them quite easily....
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From the chairs lined up outside the restaurants by the Oudegracht, looking over the canal in the light of the moon and the streetlights, the city of Utrecht paints a beautiful picture. It’s cosy. It’s harmonious. But it’s hiding a big secret. By day, Utrecht is different. Of course there’s the bicycles. Going past...
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by Charlotte Boström, Tina Friedrich and Roos Mulders You think you have seen all of Utrecht? Done the Boat Tour, climbed the Domtower, biked along the canals? A new city tour takes you to places you might have never seen this way. Dark, hidden areas of the city center, shabby and avoided, once inhabited by...
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You hear it from afar. The thrilling sound of a cycle bell makes you jump. You get out of the way, even if you haven’t identified the distant threat yet. Seconds later you do. Several bikes fly by, leaving you stunned by their speed and the multitasking-abilities of their riders.
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Light hearted and friendly, yet forgetful and rarely on time, Andrea Moran, from San Francisco says her “state is broke and has had to cut classes,” and so in a search for some studying and travel Utrecht was her destination. Camera in tow to document the experience at every oppporunity.
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