Occasionally nice, but always sincere

It was August 17, 2012. After 12 hours (or 16? I transferred at HK)of flight. We (me and Rene, my best Pilipino friend) arrived at Amsterdam. We were quite lucky to have someone picked us up from the airport: Jules and Johan from MSc20. They are one year senior than us; we are MSc21. On our way to Nyenrode campus, we asked all the questions about study, tracks, and ofc, about "Introduction Period"

I received a package from Nyenrode shortly after I decided to take the offer. There is a bunch of documents, including a seemingly weird packing list for "Introduction Period". The items on the list are actually quite normal when they are seen separately; it is the combination of those that makes the whole list very weird. Honestly I didn't even know what those two words combined stand for: I know the word "introduction" and I know the word "period", but seriously I am clueless about "Introduction Period". Therefore, I asked the senior students about it the minute I got the chance, hoping to get some answers. To my surprise, Jules and Johan did not reveal any info! This made me even more nervous about this upcoming "event" and the upcoming 16 months of campus life. At that moment I more or less had the feeling that studying here at Nyenrode may not be as "simple and peaceful" as my previous study at Lancaster.

After we arrived at the campus, we got the key to the room. Unlike other international students flying from abroad, I requested an unfurnished room since I have heard that I could get lots of used furniture for very low prices or even for free when people are moving out. It all sounded very nice and easy and I could really save some money, but when I dragged all my heavy luggage and opened the door to a nearly empty room with only a bed that housing department kindly lend me, I somehow felt a little miserable. I knew this is what I have signed up for: studying abroad means being independent and able to solve problems, both on my own or by finding the right helps. I said to myself, this is it, this could be heaven or this could be hell. It is totally up to me how I want to pave my future 16 moths here. By the way, I lived like a cave person, with only a borrowed bed, for about a week until I got some basic furniture from IKEA. Hail to IKEA!

The first day on campus, Rene and I got invited to have dinner in Breukelen with a small group of my future classmates (me, Rene, Darryl and his friends, Dimitri, Cedric, Sergio, Lloyd and his girlfriend, hope I didn't miss out anyone). We had great time together.

There were a few things I learned from the first day on campus: first of all, nobody from my year knows anything about "Introduction Period", and the people from previous year, they apparently know something but they just wouldn't tell, which is quite disturbing. Secondly, it seems quite important to get all the items on the list for Introduction period. Therefore I decided, together with Guninta (my newly happily married Indonesian friend, congrat, btw ), that we should go to Utrecht to get all the stuff we need.

FYI, needless to say, I finally got to know what "Introduction Period" is about after I went through the thing myself. It is indeed something you will have to experience for yourself; none of the heads-up or tips is better than going through in person. So if you are lucky enough to take part in this event, just take it and enjoy it, if possible.

This is really a good start for me. I was really nervous and not comfortable at all being in this still strange place, and the hospitality I got from these guys whom I went to dinner with really helps me to calm down and gradually feel more comfortable being here.