Hey there, thanks for dropping by! This blog is about my graduation project. You can also find my experiences of my exchange study under the tag 'Sweden'. Grab the RSS feed to stay updated!
So my goal to post regularly failed. Maybe because I’m not fond on telling the world what I’m up to and telling about my average personal adventures. Same reason why I have a twitter account, but don’t find the motivation to tell about my “unexceptional life”. Twitter is mostly used as personal jibber-jabber platform, for the world to read. I don’t care that you hate snow, the battery of your phone is almost dead or you just arrived at work. Retro, silly animation, but hits spot on:
What I mean is that I find only a small portion of the tweets useful, mainly from tech-blogs or people who are deeply involved in innovation and design. There is a lot of noise in the information stream you get, and this can easily replaced by an aggregator like Google Reader. Twitter is an interesting platform for sure, but I think it’s mainly used for the wrong reason. Maybe I should learn to look past the noise, or appreciate what everybody thinks.
Anyways, I’ve been busy the past half year. To much to tell I think (and not very interesting). One of the main events is that I moved from Hilversum to Utrecht. I live in a nice, big room in almost the center of the city. Here I will stay until I’m done with my studies.
I’m starting with blogging again because I want to keep track of my graduation project for my study Interaction Design. It will be a good reference of my process.
Like I said I try to keep my blog up to date with what I do. So here is my first attempt to keep this blog interesting.
After getting back in Holland I stayed at my parents place for a while. There I looked for some new place to live for my studies (My parents live all the way in the south of the country). I tried searching on websites that offer rooms, but they are crap or way to expensive, or both. I also have send some e-mails to people I know who live in the neighborhood of Hilversum. Luckily, my old roommate had some room left in his big apartment. So here I am, living in the center in the city of Hilversum. It’s a great place to live and I feel settled already.
The view out from the room in Hilversum.
My studies don’t start until the 15th of September, so that means I have more spare time than expected. I was selected for the master program at our school, so I’m really happy. That means I have an international degree and I will be called Ing. instead of Mr. Veldhuis when I’m done. But it’s going to be a tough year I think.
With that extra spare time I decided to go back to Sweden for a short week in the beginning of September. I will go back the place where I lived and I will go to Stockholm to meet with a certain special someone .
With that extra spare time I also decided to do something useful, instead of laying down in the sun sipping booze. I’m working on a small technical project with Arduino. Arduino is a small interface board whereby you can connect all kinds of sensors and actuators and program its behavior on the computer. Simply that means you can build something physical and interactive. It is great fun, but I never had the time to learn the programming language at a decent level (also because I suck at programming). I have different kinds of stuff on my desk, like light sensors, motors, buttons, LED’s and some other small things. I hope to build something autonomous in the next weeks.
My arduino project…for the moment
Next week I have to go back to my parents place to look after the house and animals, because they are leaving for holidays. So I have to leave this city again. I probably leave tomorrow and will stay there until next weekend.
So this is it. This is how an exchange study supposed to be like. I had a great time with the Swedes and some exchange students. Quite unique actually, because exchange studies usually mean that you’re going to be with other Erasmus students. I barely had contact with other international students, except for the International Presence Exhibition project in Vasteras. Instead I was hanging around with local students in Eskilstuna. They we’re truly great friends and damn, I’m going to miss those guys. Always good for a crazy laugh and they we’re always a great help and company. I consider myself very lucky that I met them. David, Sandra, Henderson, Henrik, Oscar, Veronica, Klas, Andreas, Urban, Sophia, Andy and Robert; you are all fucking awesome.
Damn, I’m going to miss this country, the town but especially the people. If I ever have the chance to do an exchange study again, I will do it without thinking.
Of course, one of the reasons I started this blog is to report my school what I’ve done here. So here comes the official stuff.
I’ve learned especially some practical skills. I’ve learned 3d modeling and animation, got quite experienced in InDesign in a relative short time. My interaction design study at my home university is mostly about project methods and design ethics. It was very useful to learn some practical skills instead. However, from this point of view, I didn’t think I’ve learned some new methods in Sweden. I’ve learned to work in a team consisting of foreign people, but I used mostly the methods I’ve learned in Holland.
Most students (and some teachers) I talked to said that exchange studies are not about what you learn in school, but what you learn socially. You learn how to deal with difficult social situations, like languages and cultures. You learn how to fit in and use your own skills and expertise in a different environment. In this case, I learned more than enough and I think I got to know myself better. You discover things about yourself you never thought about before and look at it from a different perspective. This is the reason that everybody who has the chance has to go definitely on an exchange study. It’s a lot of work and a hassle before you go (and after) but it’s more, much more, than worth it.
At the moment I’m home with parents in the south of the Netherlands. The past few days I’ve been busy finding a room in Utrecht or Hilversum again. I really hope that I’m settled again before I have to start my last year at my school.
I was thinking to change this exchange study blog to a regular blog. It is a good way to learn writing English (I noticed that I still make terrible mistakes here and there). Also I want to keep my friends and family up to date with what I do. You will hear from me!
Finally, one more thing. I missed the dutch “quality” music!
After a hectic and stressful but fun time I’m finally in the train heading home (at least, back to my parents) to pack all my stuff. The last few days where really busy. I’ve been visiting some friends and family to say goodbye. I went criss-cross through the whole country to see everyone for the last time. I’ve been to Amsterdam, Utrecht, Tilburg, Maastricht, Hilversum (I had to sleep there at an old friends place, because I’ve gave up my own room) and at last to my birth place Sittard to pack my stuff.
Yesterday I had to work for the last time at my internship company. They gave a little goodbye party, which was a nice end for this working period. I’m really gonna miss my colleagues and the place (Also my crappy computer with more crappy network settings)
Tomorrow is the big day, i have the 10.30 flight to Stockholm from Dusseldorf. Fortunately it’s not a long drive from my parents house, so I can have some sleep before I leave.
I will arrive around half past 12 in Stockholm, then I’ve have to take a 1 1/2 hour train ride to Eskilstuna (still don’t know how to pronounce it properly). So I would arrive around 2 o’ clock. I’ve made an appointment with the landlord, so hopefully i can get in my room immediately. The next few days I think I’m busy buying some furniture, arranging my internetaddiction and hopefully meeting some people and enjoying the Swedish nightlife.
Friday arrives my co-student Lode, so I’m planning to wait for him at the train station. I’m gonna call him tonight if he has some more info.
Ow crap i forgot to buy some chewing gum. I swear to Sportlife, and I’m not sure if the sell this brand in Sweden, so I’m going to buy a whole box in the supermarket immediately to be sure.
Hi there, welcome to my blog! As the title says I’m going to Sweden for a half year to study at Malardalen University. I’ll leave Thursday morning already, so its really coming close. I’ve arranged as much as possible, so I hope everything goes nice and smooth the coming days.
At the moment I’ m working for the last day at my internship company, so I have to say goodbye to everyone here. It’s a bit of a shame that I have to leave so early here, but I think it’s worth it by studying in a foreign country.
I’m still finetuning the design and testing everything so hopefully I’ll have a working blog in a few days!
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