The Romantic City of Bruges

Figure 1: A glimpse into the romantic city of Bruges.

Today, we took a day trip to Bruges, the most romantic and beautiful city of the Low Countries. Turns out, if any tourist would come to the Low Countries, they would only see Bruges and nowhere else because it is a city that’s stuck in history. Ever since the Middle Ages, the government gave money to the “more important cities”, such as Antwerp and Brussels, so that they could advance and move on, but Bruges just stayed the way it was, as a city in the middle ages. So tourists come to Bruges to experience the middle ages and the romantic city it is. In the middle ages, the population of the city was double its current population, which implies how Bruges was once an important city in Flanders.

Figure 2: An ancient document of the archive.

Our first stop in Bruge was the city archive, where the director, Noel Geernaert, showed us some of the huge collection of documents that record the city’s administration and history. One of the documents even recorded this religious creed that was given to Bruges. Another document had all the laws that were applied to the city of Brugeduring the time of the Flemish movement. It was interesting to see how some of the documents were of animal skin, wood, and then paper. Seeing the progression of material for these documents showed me how civilization advanced throughout the ages. Printing techniques were also invented as time passed, allowing some documents to be printed by machines instead of by hand. Although printing techniques may have allowed people to produce documents in an efficient manner, some documents were not as legible as others, so some ancient documents were more legible than later documents.

Afterwards, we were given a tour of the city and visited the City hall and the Chapel of the Holy Blood. I was astounded when I heard people could pay to see the “Holy Blood”. I was talking to a classmate, and she and I both concluded that we thought it was fake blood being displayed for commercial purposes. Scientifically speaking, blood is bright red when oxygen is still present in the blood. The moment blood leaves the body, the oxygen will escape from the blood too, which is why blood does not stay bright red for long. Logically speaking, do you really think the blood displayed at that church is the blood from 2,000 years ago when Christ died? I don’t think people back in the day had the technology or science to preserve oxygen in blood so that it would last into the 21th century for people to see. I find it amusing how people use the name of the church or other religious objects to raise money. Other than that, I was able to sense the religious atmosphere of the church since the church had so many images of Christ nailed to the cross and religious sounding music playing in the background. The atmosphere certainly rouses up anyone’s emotions to feel the religious atmosphere. I do appreciate how people respected the rules of the church, and it was interesting to see how some believers were mesmerized by the statues and images of Christ on the cross. If only they knew exactly how to contact the Lord what the Lord desires…

Figure 3: The Last Supper by Sustave van de Woestyne

Lastly, we visited the Groeninge Museum, which has collections of Flemish medical masters, including Jan van Eyck and Hieronymus Bosch. I was impressed by the “Last Supper” by Sustave van de Woestyne in 1927. It was this huge painting telling the story of The Last Supper in the style of Flemish Expressionism. The facial expressions of the men were a little distorted; I couldn’t make out how the artist thought the men felt during the last supper. I observed how there were many thick and spontaneous brushstrokes, which is very much the style of Flemish Expressionism. This piece of art was perhaps the largest piece of the museum, catching most people’s attention. Because the artist chose this piece to be gigantic, I’ll assume he holds the Last Supper as a very important event in history.

Arrival in Leuven!

We took the bus to Leuven and arrived midday. Our first stop was Leuven University, one of the most reputable universities of Belgium. We were received by Koen Brosens who gave us a lecture on the history and educational system of Leuven. It is one of the oldest universities in the Low Countries (and the world), being established in 1425. The only two universities established before this was Bologna, established in 1088, in Italy, and Oxford University, established 1167, in England. At first, the purpose of the university was to transmit accepted wisdom or knowledge known to man, so the university did not concentrate on teaching students how to critically think. It was not until around 1518 when the university started to teach students how to think critically about what they learn in class. The university has many well-known alumni such as Pope Adrian VI, who was the tutor of Charles V, and Erasmus, the one who introduced the concept of critical analysis to the school. Erasmus also established the Collegium Trilingue, where the classes were taught in three languages: Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. (I was impressed by this, because none of those languages are really spoken nowadays, and to think that classes were taught in those languages is difficult for me to wrap my head around.) Other famous alumni include Lipsius, a classical scholar and political theorists; Vesalius, the father of modern anatomy and empirical research; and Mercator, who is known for his Mercator projector map. In 1835, the university was reestablished and named as the Catholic University of Leuven, and the languages the classes were taught in were French or Latin. It was interesting for me to hear that even though the university is Catholic, none of the principles were applied to university policies. For example, Koen Brosens isn’t married and his son isn’t baptized. So I wondered what the whole point is of having the university name have the word ‘Catholic’ in it, when it doesn’t really apply to the university. Another thing that really impressed me is the difference between the application system between Belgium and the US. In Belgium, as long as a person has a high school diploma, you can go to Leuven University. However, because there is no screening of students in an application process, the fail rate (or drop-out rate) is 60 to 70%. The mentality is that because it’s cheap to pay for university, there’s no harm in trying to study at the university level because you don’t know what’s going to happen. In order to study at Berkeley, on the other hand, one needs to obtain high grades in high school, do a ton of after school activities to become a well-rounded person, and apply. The admissions office will determine who is well suited to step on their campus, so the drop-out rate at Berkeley is only 10%.

Figure 1: The town hall meant to be a shrine for the saints, but now symbolizes the liberties given to the people of the city.

After the lecture, Professor Patrick Pasteure gave us a tour of the city. The center of the city is shaped like a star because all the main streets stretch out from the center to point to the main cities surrounding Leuven, such as Brussels and Antwerp. The city hall was meant to be a shrine to house all the saints, but now it’s just a symbolic building to represent the liberties given to the people of the city. We also visited the Catholic Church right across the city hall and Pope College, a student dormitory. Afterwards, we saw the building where many women chose to stay in isolation and live their lives according to religion.

Figure 2: The architecture of the entrance to the library. The clock tower is somewhat visible in this photo.

After the tour, we visited the University Library with Luc Rombouts. He mentioned how the library was burned down during WWII, but American institutions donated money for the rebuilding of the library. There was also this interesting sculpture of a beetle being skewered by a needle. It was meant to represent the 19^th century practice of collecting scientific knowledge, which needed the killing of animals and insects. He also mentioned how the needle being used to skewer the insect was a sewing needle, which gave the sculpture an interesting, humorous side to it. The Virgin Mary is placed at the center of the library with an Allied helmet and a sword. The library clock used American stars as its digits instead of the normal figures of a clock. The clock tower is exactly 48 meters high because the US had 48 states at the time the library was built. The animals along the roof of the library represent different countries. Lastly, we climbed up the clock tower were Mr. Rombouts played different songs on the bells, which included one of my favorite Disney songs, “Beauty and the Beast.”

Ostend!

We arrived in Ostend, the biggest city our Professor grew up next to, so he gave us a tour of the town. We visited the local Fishing Port, the James Ensor House, and saw a Memorial of Leopold II.

Figure 1: The living room in Ensor House.

I was most impressed by the Ensor House and the Monument of Leopold II. Both of these men are very accomplished and the people who admired their works decided to commemorate their contributions to the town by dedicating a museum or statue to them. The Ensor House was very artistic, which makes sense because he was a talented artist. He even said “Je crois etre un peintre d’exception…” (I think I am an extraordinary painter…) Usually, when people think of something, those thoughts become their words, and if they really mean it, their words become their actions, their actions become their character, and then their character defines who and what they are. Ensor thought he was a talented painter, thus he produced many paintings that is today at the top of western art history, here in the ‘Queen of seaside resorts’! His works were worth preserving and displaying in his house because they express the culture of Ostend. He spent most of his life there and his inspirations for some of his works came from the souvenir shop which sold items such as shells, beads, toys, and masks. His works express a combination of his personality and life as an inhabitant of Ostend.

Figure 2: Leopold II monument. The slave to the left has his arm chopped off. All the Belgians and Africans look up to Leopold who is not pictured.

The Leopold II Monument also impressed me because of its duel function: it commemorates Leopold II as the Belgian king who established Ostend as a stylish and fashionable seaside retreat, but it also represents the price that was paid to achieve all the rubber and ivory from the “Congolese Free State”, powered by forced labor that lead to the deaths of 3 million Congolese. The monument shows the King on horseback above the clambering figures of his subjects, both European (Belgian) and African (Congolese). Initially, the monument was to commemorate him and thank him for bringing Ostend the reputation it has now, but after the hand of the slave was cut off, the monument portrayed a different meaning. Whenever a bullet was shot, a hand had to be presented to Leopold as payment for the bullet and as proof that work was being done at the Congo. The missing hand makes the monument’s meaning a little more controversial, especially since the monument was meant to commemorate the King’s good deed for the city. In any case, the monument now shows the full story of what resulted from the “Congolese Free State”: 3 million Congolese were forced to extract rubber and ivory which were used to help the European economy to produce a pleasant town such as Ostend.

WWI from Ieper

Today, we took a long train ride to Ieper, a city of the former war front of World War I, where the trenches and war cemeteries are also located. We received a lecture by Wouter Sinaeve, who grew up in the city, heavily influenced by the aftermath of the war. We then spent a good amount of time in the interactive museum “In Flanders Fields” on WWI. Lastly, we attended the Last Post Memorial Concert, to commemorate all the men who died in WWI.

I was most impressed by the opening word of Wouter’s lecture. He asked why anyone would want to care about the war when the war is well done and over with. I actually asked that question when I studied WWI in high school, and the feeling of not caring about the war was even stronger because I didn’t feel any connection to that part of history: my parents are born and raised in the Philippines. They moved to America, so I’m far removed from the rest of my family in the Philippines, let alone European history. So I had no interest in learning about it! But fortunately, Wouter sparked my interest since he actually grew up with the aftermath of the war. He would walk around and find bullets on the ground, remnants of grenades and other weaponry. He has access to the cemeteries and what the city looked like before and after the war. He grew up surrounded by people who would tell stories of the war. I could tell just by the way he delivered his lecture with great enthusiasm and energy that he was greatly influenced by the aftermath of the war, and this enthusiasm and energy, along with being in the land where this major event happened, finally made me interested in European history.

Figure 1: The interior of the Memorial for WWI. The carved writings  are just a portion of the names of  the people who died on the battlefield.

He mentioned a couple things in his lecture that interested me. The first is that the reason why WWI existed was so that “this war will be the one to end all wars. If you kill off everybody, then the peace will begin.” My opinion of this statement is heavily influenced by the fact that I know the result of the war, but killing off everybody and hoping peace will start by killing off the people who disagree with you is not going to bring peace to the world. War, as seen from the WWI memorial in Ieper, results in 55,000 deaths. Peace can only be found when people understand each other. All human conflicts result from misunderstanding or miscommunication, which is why the Dutch way of communicating and having everyone’s opinions expressed is ideal. Clear communication and the willingness to understand other people is what will develop peace between people.

Figure 2: The German uniform for war. Observe how the helmet's horn at the top of the head is used to impress people.

The second set of facts that interested me is how the uniforms and helmets of the armies were mostly designed to impress people. The German helmet had a horn sticking out of the head to impress civilians whenever they walked the streets of Germany. The German front line can also impress the opponent on the other of the field by wearing the helmet. Unfortunately, the helmet didn’t really offer the soldier any protection, so I wondered why soldiers wore dysfunctional armor. What’s the point of impressing people, and is it worth it to the point where you sacrifice the necessary function of your clothing to impress people? When a person tries to impress someone, they desire to catch the attention of the other person, so German troops catching the attention of civilians would be beneficial when they gain the support of their country for the war, but impressing the opponents on the battle field isn’t necessary. If anything, it would be best if they could hide themselves from the enemy so they can use stealth to defeat the enemy. After having these thoughts, Wouter started lecturing on how the German and French armies altered their war gear in order to better protect and suit their soldiers.

Figure 3: A display of some of the long range weapons used in battle, such as the machine gun.

It was very interesting to see all the types of weapons used in the war. Grenades were engineered to explode and hit people surrounding the grenade, increasing the chances of killing people. Chemistry was also used to create a lethal weapon via chlorine gas! I find it hard to believe people would actually go that far to find a way to kill people, but most of these long range weapons were created in order to make it much easier to kill another person without seeing it. Wouter shared the testimony of a soldier who killed another person with a deadly club and how that greatly affected him the rest of his life. I think it is safe to say that people are greatly affected by death. There were many sections in the museum dedicated to how people didn’t want to nurse the soldiers because they knew they would eventually face near death situations again. Nobody wants to see another person die, let alone deliberately take another person’s life. In general, people are not naturally built to kill other people, unless they are trained and raised to know nothing else, but everyone was born with emotions to experience, a mind to think, and willpower to choose what to do. Perhaps when everyone is trained or raised to use their minds, emotions, and willpower to understand other people and respect their viewpoints in life, then war may never come up as the solution to peace again.

Flemish Locals!

Today, we took a trip to Ghent, a very beautiful, medieval city. Professor Prevenier gave us a tour of the city, where he also gave us some historical information of how Ghent was important in the Middle-Ages. We went to Saint Bavo Cathedral where we visited the most famous Flemish medieval painting; the Mystic Lamb by Jan van Eyck. We then visited the Ghent City Museum where we learned a bit more about the history of Ghent. Afterwards, we split up into small groups and had dinner at the house of a Flemish family.

The dinner with the local Flemish family was the most enjoyable and amusing activity we did today. The food was amazing, and it was interesting to hear about the culture of Belgians, especially about what it’s like growing up in Belgium. The begin learning Dutch in the homes, then French when they are 10, German when they are in middle school, and English somewhere in between. Their teachers teach the language to them using Dutch in the beginning levels, but once students reach the higher levels, teachers teach the language to them in the language they are studying. This is a huge difference compared to America because most of the language classes I took in high school were taught in English, regardless of whether or not we were in the higher levels. In addition, right after we exit the language class, we immediately start speaking English, and lack practice in speaking the language to anyone else. The best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in an environment where you are forced to speak the language, read the language, and even listen to the language. I only started to become somewhat proficient in French when I studied it in Berkeley, where the language classroom was completely run in French. They encouraged and even urged us to speak French whenever we could. They provided us with a radio station played on the internet and encouraged us to listen to the news or music in French, just to get our brains to think in the language. In Belgium, it is very easy to find channels and radio stations in another language, so students living here have an easier time immersing themselves in the language. They are also in very close proximity to the countries that speak the languages they study. America, on the other hand, doesn’t really give their students that luxury because everything is conducted in English, and it is the one official language of the nation. That’s definitely one disadvantage of having only one official language in the country.

It was also slightly amusing because I would ask every so often if I’m picking up the food right, or eating my food in a proper fashion because I was very conscious about whether or not I would do something that would be considered rude. The reason why I acted that way is because in the Ann Frank house, back in the Netherlands, my American colleagues and I took many samples of the food that was offered to us, thinking it was okay because that is what we would have done in our country. If offered something, take as much of it as you want to show how much you appreciate and enjoy what you are offered! To the Dutch, that is not the case. It’s considered rude to take more than one sample of what is offered to you, so when I heard I did something to offend our hosts, I became a bit more conscious about my actions, so I explained to my Flemish hosts that I would rather make a fool of myself first and make sure I don’t offend anyone before I actually offend someone without even knowing I did. So we had a little inside joke going around, where our Flemish hosts would be like “That’s not considered rude” and “Oh yes, that is not considered rude either.” The most amusing comment they made was “That’s the difference between the Dutch and the Flemish. We don’t consider things to be as rude as they do.”

Figure 1: The most delicious French white wine you will ever run into in your life!

As mentioned before, the food was amazing! I want to comment mostly on the wine because they served us some high quality wine from France, and apparently, if the Flemish has guests over, they serve wine at the dinner table. Perhaps that’s a way of showing their guests that they really appreciate their presence since they are willing to offer an expensive drink to them.

Eugeen van Mieghem Museum and Antwerp's Seaport

Tuesday was an exciting day because most of it was spent exploring Antwerp’s Sea Port. We started off by seeing a museum dedicated to the painter, Eugeen van Mieghem, who painted people from all over Europe who immigrated to the United States from Antwerp sea port.

Figure 1: An awesome staircase.

I really liked the museum because it fit my preference and expression of the subject of interest: nature. The stair cases exhibited the style of Art Nouveau, where the inspiration for the work comes from nature. I felt like the stair cases and the walls of the museum did a very good job presenting nature the way it appears in real life. The only difference is that the colors of the leaves and plants changed to more royal, uplifting colors, such as gold, golden brown, and dark brown. The curvature of the lines gives the stair case some energetic movement, which contributes to the atmosphere of the house, implying that you are with a different group of people. The cloudy white forms below the golden plant images on the walls remind me of the movement of water or the form of plants in a field. The circular, cloudy white image on top of the plant like images reminds me of the radiant sun that rises every day to supply energy to all forms of plant life. Climbing up and down that stair case gave me a taste and feeling of walking with nature. Perhaps I felt a little bit different when walking through this museum because of the Art Nouveau. The style is a little more abstract and open to interpretation instead of restricting the audience to whatever the artist wants to portray. Abstract art gives a little more flexibility for interpretation.

One of the things our tour guide mentioned is that “a lot of rich people buy paintings because it’s a good investment, not because they appreciate the art.” I find this really interesting because some pieces of art can be considered very expensive to some, but not to others. In a previous entry from last week, the most expensive piece of art was just a gradient of the color turquoise, and the purpose of the piece was to express the feeling of love. People thought that work of art was expensive because it was hand made by tissue paper, which implies that it took a very long time to put that piece together, but for others, they may think that it wasn’t worth that much. I’m not entirely sure if investing in art is the best thing to invest in because the value of the piece can vary, depending on preference. It seems like people raise the prices of the art of deceased artists, so the prices of their works keep going up since they can’t produce any more art, but what exactly is the point of that? Surely, people are like grass and flowers. The grass withers and the flower fades, so the artist will eventually wither and fade, but the ideas and remnants of the expression of the artist’s mind can last if the people who live after him/her keep people interested in the art. One of the most difficult things to get people to do is have them understand or be remotely interested in the same things you are, but some people put so much interest in just one person’s expression, ideas, and emotions portrayed through art.

Figure 2: A glimpse into Antwerp's seaport.

The rest of the day, we spent the time exploring the Antwerp Seaport, which I found impressive because its geographical location would make someone think that this seaport would not be the source of much commerce for the country. The seaport is on a river, which is not the most ideal place to  hold a seaport because it will be difficult to get in or out of the river since the movement of water will control where the ships or boats will go. In addition, it will be difficult for anyone outside the country to make it into the seaport since they will have to meander and follow the path of the river to reach the seaport. Doing so would take a lot of time, and I'm not sure how many countries will be willing to do that. On top of all that, the mouth of the river is located in another country, so if Belgium and the Netherlands go to war and the mouth of that river is closed, then Antwerp's Seaport will no longer be able to function. Despite all these downfalls, the seaport is still very successful and active today.

The Diamond Stock Exchange and the Definition of the Church

Today, we visited Antwerp’s Our Lady’s Cathedral and climbed the Tower. It was 400 feet high and had an awesome view of the city. I also appreciated our tour guide’s demonstration of playing the bells on top of the tower. It definitely reminded me of the people who played Berkeley’s bell tower, The Campanile. 

Afterwards, we visited the Antwerp Diamond Stock Exchange and visited the old Sephardic Synagogue. We took a tour of the neighborhood surrounding the Diamond Stock Exchange as well, and it was interesting to see the attire of the Jewish community living around the area. They wore black hats and black suits, which definitely distinguished them from the rest of the people walking around the area. It was an interesting way to “fulfill” the Jewish male attire requirement by covering their heads with the black top hat. It made me think of them as magicians who did magic in the neighborhood by running the diamond business with everyone. The diamond business in Antwerp was said to be very successful due to the fact that business was done with everyone, making it open and easily accessible to people of every trait.

Figure 1: A mini shrine in Our Lady's Cathedral. Observe how they reserve sections of the church for prayer. It's a little silly from my point of view because anyone can pray wherever they want to pray.

The activity I reacted to the most was our visitation into the cathedral. After being in Europe for almost a month and having seen all these churches in the Low Countries, I finally came to the conclusion that even though these countries were very religious at one point in time, they were still very far off from the real definition of the church. It seems that whenever people think of a church, they think of this amazing building with all these different sculptures and paintings that give an image of Christ and other Biblical stories, when in Bible, the church is defined as a group of people who have been called out of the world because they have chosen live a life that expresses God’s nature and character. (The word “church” is derived from the Greek word ekklesia, meaning a gathering or assembly of people who have been called out.)  It has upset me every single time I entered a “church” with all these unnecessary images in paintings and sculptures that implant a man-made concept of God and the church into other peoples’ minds. An example of an unnecessary painting is that of Pieter Rubens, The Raising of the Cross, which was displayed in Our Lady’s Cathedral.  Looking at the image makes me feel uncomfortable because it makes Jesus look like this pathetic man who was nailed on the cross, which is why I chose not to show the painting here, but the work of art shows Pieter’s interpretation of the story of cross which gives his audience a concept of what the cross is all about. All these images in the “church” give people ideas about God, which influence people to think a certain way about religion and God. Perhaps it’s a good idea to be open-minded about the definition of the church because what people say is not necessarily what is, especially when the primary source is available to you.

TB or no TB? That is the [medical] question between two countries.

Figure 1:  Belgium offers the highest-quality medical care, which is regarded among the best healthcare systems in Europe and the world... that doesn't necessarily mean their medical procedures are the same as that of America's.

We arrived in Antwerp today and spent my entire 3 hour break running around the city to find a medical institution that would run a TB test on me. To my surprise, the TB test isn’t a standard medical procedure in Belgium and it’s a very exotic request to just have a TB test done without having been exposed to TB at all. It was slightly amusing to see the reactions on all the receptionists’ faces whenever my GSI, Petra, would explain my request to them in Dutch. The following was the standard conversation held in Dutch:

Petra: Hi. Here’s an American student who needs a TB test done.

Receptionist: Where did she get exposed? How long has she been exposed for?

Petra: She never got exposed. She just needs this test to apply for her institution back in America.

[Receptionist stares blankly.]

Petra: Yes, I know, it’s awkward.

[Receptionist smiles and starts writing information to refer us to another medical institution.]

The above conversation was repeated until we finally agreed that this TB test is not going to happen in Belgium and that I’m going to have to wait until I reach the states to run this standard American medical procedure.

It was interesting to see this clash between the American and Belgian medical system because it gave me a chance to think more critically of the American medical system. After hearing the logic behind the Belgian system of doing the TB test, I understood why they thought my request for a TB test was exotic. They only do a TB test if you’ve been exposed to TB by spending some time in a third world country, exploring a tropical rain forest, or if you somehow encountered a person with TB and caught it yourself. They never just have someone walk into a medical institution asking for a TB test to be done – that’s so awkward to them, and they have logical reasons to think that way. If I’ve never been in a place where I could potentially catch TB, or if no one around has ever caught TB from me, or if I’ve never coughed up blood or exhibited any symptoms of TB then… I most likely don’t have TB right? Why would you need to take a TB test if you’re not deathly sick in any way? You would only need to take a series of tests to identify exactly what illness you caught during your adventures in a third world country. That’s the way Belgians think: If it isn’t necessary, then don’t do it - and to my amusement, they now think that Americans are weird for doing TB tests randomly.

Since I’ve lived in America for most of my life, I always thought these medical procedures were normal, but I’m thankful I got to experience another culture’s medical system just so I can see things done differently. Americans do TB tests to prove to the institution they work for that they do not have TB, so it’s safe to admit them into this program. Then no one has to worry that some highly contagious disease will spread among all the students or employees of the institution.

I’m sick, but I still went to the European Parliament

Figure 1: There are two locations for the European Parliament, one in Brussels and another in France.  Here is an image of the one in Brussels, the one we visited today.

Today’s schedule consisted of visiting the Parliamentarium museum, European Parliament, and participating in a role-playing game where the students step into the shoes of a Member of the European Parliament. That was all fine and dandy until I decided to go back to the hostel super early and rest a bit more because my health started to fail me. Fortunately, Jeroen (my professor who prefers to be called by first name) assisted me in purchasing some European medicine to help me with my condition. (I got excited because now I get to experience my first dose of European drugs.) Petra (my GSI), assisted me in the 30 minute walk back to the hostel. As I was walking back to the hostel, I started to reflect on my interactions with my professor and GSI because it was very different from what I was used to.

In my past four years of college, I was under the regulations of my chemical engineering professors, who showed no mercy if I got sick – Jeroen, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. He literally came up to me and asked me if I was okay, that he could tell I was sick, and that he was actually concerned about my health. I guess it showed that he cared because he accompanied me to the pharmacy and helped me out with the language barrier by communicating with the receptionist in Dutch so that there would be no misunderstanding with whatever medications I actually needed. My chemical engineering professors never came close to showing that much care. I still remember my freshman year of college, I was pretty sick, and I emailed my professors/GSIs if I could get an extension on a problem set or reschedule the quiz/midterm. The responses I got were “It is none of my business to know what your medical condition is” or “It’s not the end of the world if you miss a midterm or a problem set. You’ll just get a zero on your grade report.” The worse card they pulled on me was “Did you not pay attention the first day when we went over the syllabus? There are no acceptations to the schedule or grading policy. If you need to miss a midterm, just retake the class next year.” So… I always did my best to be in lecture or the day of the exam just to survive college.

Perhaps that’s just the way American professors are like, but I think it’s safe to say that since Jeroen grew up in Flanders, he’s more Dutch than he is American. In the reader, it mentions how the Dutch see such unfortunate conditions, such as poor health, to “not be the people’s own fault, and therefore they should be given the chance to be normal (13)”. A Czechoslovakian was impressed by how the Dutch “take care of the weak here! Take ill people for example: one may be ill for some weeks a couple times a year, they just keep paying you (14).”At first, when Jeroen mentioned he wouldn’t mind if I missed a little bit of the program to rest a bit more, I was hesitant to believe him because I still looked at him as if he was an American, chemical engineering professor. He could have easily pulled the same card as them and said that he prepared the itinerary for the program well in advanced, so I should know what’s next, but after realizing that the Dutch are very different from American professors, I found it much easier to believe Jeroen when he says it’s okay to miss a bit of the program to rest some more. I appreciate how the Dutch genuinely take care of people and how I can finally relax and not worry about getting a zero in my grade book.

Is the European Union really a union?

Figure 1: The European Union Flag.

Today, we received a lecture on the political history of Belgium, the history and importance of the European Union, and visited the Belgian Federal Parliament. I was supposed to visit the Rene Magritte Museum, but I bailed because I still felt pretty sick.

I was most interested in what we learned about regarding the European Union. I never thought it was really a union, but instead a collaboration of several different countries. After today’s lecture, my opinion of the EU was solidified. Turns out after WWII, Europe was completely destroyed and lost a lot of influence on the world. The young people in France were suddenly becoming more American because Americans were more influential at that time, so naturally the French feared that their young people would lose their identity of being French (and thus lose the French culture in general since the young people are the future of their nation). They sought a solution to preserve European identity and decided to create the European Union. The Germans supported this idea to unite Europe since they had a hostile image after losing the war, so to change and improve their image, they wanted to participate in the creation of the union that would promote peace among these nations.

Some European politicians would look at the United States and find the idea of uniting the European countries together the same way the states are together would be beneficial. However, there is already one major flaw in that comparison: The United States is actually one nation. The European Union, on the other hand, is not one nation. It’s a collaboration of several different countries with their own histories, culture, and language. The United States, on the other hand, has one official language and shares one history. Sure, one can say that it is easy to tell if someone is from Texas or California based on the accent, or that the government in Texas is a bit different from that in California, but in general, because there is one overarching government in the United States, it is clear that America is one nation. Americans think of themselves as American first before they consider themselves Californian or Texan. It appears that a Dutchman would consider himself Dutch first before he considers himself European. Do people in Europe even know what it means to be European? What exactly identifies a person as being European? From my perspective, it appears that a person is European if they live in the continent known as Europe.

I honestly don’t think the EU has much of a future because there are so many dividing lines between the countries, let alone their intentions for being in the union. Countries are only in this union for the benefit of their own nation. They put their county first before whatever would benefit Europe as a whole. This observation can be seen from the very beginning of the EU: The French wanted to preserve their identity in their young people while the Germans wanted to change their reputation. It will be difficult to create a credible union in Europe if every nation insists on its own well-being. The disadvantage of the European Union is that it was created after every country developed its own identity through its own unique history, culture, and language. A group of people are united if they share these three things. The United States of America shares these identifying factors because each state was united to this one nation through the same history as the young nation was built from scratch. Perhaps if all the nations in Europe were to drop all their names, culture, identity, language, and currency, and just built up the identity of being European from scratch just like that of the states, then the purpose of the European Union may actually work out, but it appears that every nation has too much pride to do this, so only time will tell of what will happen to the EU.

It's all about Brussels...

Figure 1: The remains of the wall of Brussels.

Today we received a lecture on the cultural history of Belgium and the history and importance of Brussels. Apprently, Brussels is the capital of Europe, and has seen many wars and changes, so remember how I mentioned that I should brace myself for the unexpected? The city tour was 4 hours long in some intense, uncomfortable heat, so that was unexpected. Perhaps our tour guide has experienced some of this “cruelly disfigured and violated (242)” events that Brussels has been through, which causes a person to have more endurance than the average person who hasn’t seen as much. Thus, our tour guide was able to last 4 hours walking in intense heat without having to take a break or take a sip of water at all. Europeans are impressive.

The architecture of the city caught my eye the most because the city seems a bit run down, but it makes sense because of “‘brusselisation’, meaning the brutal demolition of large areas without building anything sensible to replace them. All these colossal projects were necessary to make Brussels a worthy capital of Belgium (Van Istendael 240).” I noticed when the tour guide pointed out what remained of the brick wall of Brussels that it definitely looked like it was torn down without any pattern to follow. Van Istendael mentions that these actions were necessary to make this city the capital of Belgium so it can symbolize the history and experiences these people had to endure. The people of Belgium know “only too well what invasion is like, and… have lived always between powerful and aggressive neighbours who preferred to fight things out in the Low Countries rather than on their own soil. It makes the Belgian expect defeat… (Patricia Arson 212).” So having a city whose architecture and buildings torn down can easily symbolize how these people have experienced defeat, having their land invaded several times, and seen wars fought out on their own soil. These worn down buildings are contrasted with the buildings following the style of Art Nouveau, where they use metal as their material for building while following the patterns of nature instead of the style and patterns of the past. The presence of destructed buildings and royal architecture of Art Nouveau seems to show how Brussels will carry on in the future as the capital of Europe, even though it has been through many rough times.

Out of Luxembourg and into Belgium!

By the time we left Luxembourg, my impressions of the city changed. I thought Luxembourg was just a country that spoke French, but it turns out there are three official languages. I’ll never forget how I tried using the laundry machine there and couldn’t identify the language on the machine. I tried looking up the words in French and German… but it turns out it was all in Letzebuergesch. I also thought the people here, being in one of the wealthiest countries, would have some manners and be polite, but after hearing some stories of my classmates entering tourist shops, that is not the case. Apparently, if you don’t speak French or any language they know, they’ll be rude to you. One of my classmates got kicked out of a shop because she couldn’t communicate or understand anything the receptionist said. Altogether, Luxembourg is a gorgeous country filled with castles and wealthy people who aren’t very good at English and could be a bit more accommodating to their tourists...although, their economy doesn’t depend too much on tourists since they chase them out.

Now we’re in Brussels, and because it is a city right between Flanders and Wallonia, I expect to see a blend between two different groups of people: the Walloons and the Fleming. In addition, G. van Istendael’s article on Brussels mentions how “Brussels is a textbook example of a twenty-first century city: its inhabitants have blown in from all four winds, and it has experience in accommodating minorities and having many different cultures living together (242).” So I expect to see many different kinds of people in Brussels (besides tourists) walking the streets and working in shops of Brussels. Unfortunately, Geert Van Istendael also mentions how “Brussels is chaotic, because Brussels has been cruelly disfigured and violated… (242).” So I guess I’ll brace myself for a very busy, hectic city with some broken buildings and unexpected behaviors.

Introduction to Luxembourg!

Figure 1: A humble photo of Luxembourg.

Friday morning, we received a lecture on the medieval history of the former “Southern Netherlands”, today’s Belgium and Luxembourg. We then visited the Luxembourg City Museum, explored fortifications of Castle Luxembourg and visited the Luxembourg Modern Art Museum.

Today, Luxembourg is the international banking centre and stronghold of European unification. This city’s influence unquestionably extends beyond its national borders, especially since the foundation of the European Union is found in this small country. It remained neutral in the midst of wars in order to protect itself against the greed of neighboring countries. It finds its national identity from halting foreign annexation ambitions. Even though it is a very small country, it is conveniently located in the heart of Europe. It is right between France and Germany, so its position is very strategic since it provides an easy way in between two countries, but because of its location, Luxembourg has gotten tangled up in other countries affairs. The Luxembourg City Museum states that this “small town became a crossroads to Europe.”

One of the mind-boggling characteristics of this nation is that there are three official languages, one of which is Letzebuergesch, which is a language that only exists within the country. There is no official language for the official activities that go on, namely the state, school, and the church – the “three institutions that call for an interesting analysis of linguistic practices (Reader 182).” Since no language can be the official language, French, German, and Letzebuergesch are omnipresent to varying degrees in the workplace and that used for publication and communication purposes, on both a formal and informal level. During lecture, we learned that children start learning Letzebuergesch in primary school. In middle school, they start learning German, and in high school, they learn French. This education system is ideal if the child is intelligent because then they would graduate high school being fluent in three different languages. However, not everyone has that intellectual capacity, so Luxembourg has the highest high school dropout rate in Europe, but because there are few people who can be fluent in all three languages, never deny a job offer in this country because the salary will be very satisfying.

Figure 2: Blinky Palermo, Sans titre, 1968.

I ran into the most expensive piece in the Luxembourg Modern Art Museum. Ironic don’t you think? How such a simple looking piece can be the most expensive. Turns out the piece was made by several thousand pieces of colored tissue paper, which suggests that this piece took a lot of time to complete. If you love someone, you’re going to spend a lot of time with that person. You may even spend a lot of time doing something for them, just to impress them a little bit. Love is a very simple but complex emotion to express through art. The artist, Blinky Palermo, wanted to portray love through serene blue-ish, turquoise colors. I appreciated this piece because of its simplicity. It is a very abstract way to express love, but at the same time, anything can be made simple should one think of it simplistically.

A Stroll Through Nijmegen

Thursday, we got on a bus to Luxembourg and stopped for a tour of Nijmege by UC Berkeley Professors Cindy Looy and Ivo Duijnstee.

Figure 1: Our tour guides mention how Luxembourg is a very small country, so Americans bombed some of the buildings in this small town to create a convenient path into Germany. Here is a castle that still remains from WWII.

Figure 2: This is the city hall that still remains from the bombing of WWII. The statues are people who were considered important rulers of the land, such as Charlemagne, whose image is portrayed in the second to the left statue in this photo. Observe the bottom left window has somewhat of a cage element to it. That was the window prisoners were displayed in, when judgment was passed on them.

Figure 3: This sign greatly amused me. I believe this is a great way to discipline people to respect and preserve the history behind the buildings of this area. Bringing this to the states would be most helpful.

Figure 4: This is a school where young boys would learn Latin. The statues on this building are statues of saints, such as Bartholomew. It was mentioned that his skin was shed as punishment, so the statue that resembled him visualized his skin peeling off. Perhaps these statues are a way to reflect and express the history of the city so that the identity and culture of the town will be preserved for the years to come.

Figure 5: The interior of the church we toured. The most interesting thing that caught my attention here is that people who attended this church were buried here. If the person was rich, they would be buried inside the church. If the person was poor, they would be buried outside the church. In the end, I wondered what difference that made. According to the Bible, man was made from the dust of the earth, so when they died, all they would do is just return to the earth which is where they came from. Getting buried inside or outside the church didn’t seem to matter too. Differentiating people by class after they have died makes no difference because their class is now the same now that they are in the grave. The people of the church back in the day came up with many unnecessary and unbiblical practices.

Before reaching Amsterdam, I expected to see a very gorgeous city with canals and reputable buildings with unique architecture. My expectations of the city were met, however, none of my friends or family told me what Amsterdam was known for. One friend told me that everyone knows Amsterdam is the drug capital of the world, and that he was very surprised when he heard I was going there. His thoughts were "wow... Priscilla's being... adventurous..." Another friend from the chemistry department at Berkeley told me that she didn't think I knew what Amsterdam was known for either, and that if I did know, I would probably avoid the city with my life. To be quiet honest, before I knew the Red Light District existed or how illegal drugs were legal in the city, I loved Amsterdam! I loved the history it held, the museums we visited, the gorgeous canals, and the beautiful buildings. I wish I could have avoided the second hand smoke and the stories that went around from the Red Light District... because now I think of Amsterdam as a city that expresses the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Besides the things I found out about, I can really appreciate Amsterdam for the city that it is.

Altogether, the Netherlands is a very small country where all the cities are easily accessible by public transportation. It's easy to just take a train and enjoy a day in a city close to the city you're in, considering how the farthest city is only 2 hours away by train. The Dutch are very concise, direct, efficient, and hard-working people. I still remember my first interaction with the Dutch in the train station: I accidentally got on a train too early, so when the Dutch man checked my ticket and saw I got on the wrong train, he yelled at me in Dutch with a very disappointed tone and expected me to understand him. Usually when someone yells at me, I would be affected by it, but because I didn't understand what he said on top of the fact that he yelled at me for such a simple mistake, I just dismissed it and got off the train to catch the right one. Then I suddenly remembered that the reader said that if the Dutch are very direct with you, you could consider it a compliment because they consider you one of them. Even though the Dutch can be harsh with their tone, at least they get their point across so there is no misunderstanding between two parties. In addition, the Dutch really take care of people and are understanding when weaker people ask for help, so they are a balanced group of people: harsh to get the job done, but gentle to those who are in need.

I first heard of Luxembourg in the 7th grade when I started studying French. My teacher described the city as a romantic place with beautiful gardens, so that's the image I expected to see. Fortunately, I got to see more than that! There are awesome castles here and people who sing and dance in the city plaza. I can't wait to explore more of the city.

Identity and Integration of Indonesian to Dutch culture

Figure 1: A photo of half Dutch, half Asian kids. I met them when I visited my friends in Delft during the free weekend in Amsterdam. I felt that this  picture may depict the integration of two cultures to make some culture in between.

Today we took a long trip to Bronbeek where we met up with Humphrey Delacroix who told us the story of the Dutch-Indonesian community in the Netherlands. For lunch, we had some awesome Dutch-Indonesian food during which we got to talk to some of the Dutch-Indonesian community. The conversation we had at the dinner table was most interesting, so I guess I will focus on that for my journal today.

Unfortunately, I did not write down the name of the Indonesian who was at our table, but I definitely learned a lot from him. His parents immigrated to the Netherlands when he was young, so he grew up here without learning the Indonesian language. I was interested in knowing if he went to school as the only Indonesian in his class, and he answered yes. He felt very different growing up, but since he grew up here, he feels more Dutch than he does Indonesian, and even though he was the only Indonesian of his class, he adjusted to it and went along with his position in society. Since he is a second generation Indonesian in the Netherlands, I would expect him to have an identity crisis and not identify with the Dutch or Indonesian community. At home, he lives under the influence of his parents who identify more with the Indonesian culture. However, the moment he steps out of the boundary of his parent’s home, he lives under the influence of the Dutch community. So he is neither Dutch nor Indonesian, but somewhere in between, which is what Humphrey calls the Dutch-Indonesian community.

I learned about how the government separated the Indonesians into different districts, so they weren’t allowed to live together, which explains why our Indonesian friend was the only one of his skin color in his class. In a way, I would consider this an intelligent move by the Dutch government to force integration of Indonesians into the Dutch community, but having the Dutch adjust to Indonesian culture would make this process more mutual. Another shocking fact I learned about is that his parents were placed into an asylum and forced to eat Dutch food instead of Indonesian food as an attempt to eliminate the Indonesian culture and replace it with the Dutch culture. In the reader on page 148, it mentions how "classical integration theory argues that immigrants preserve their food habits long after they have become assimilated into their new surroundings." This implies that immigrants tend to abandon their language, culture, and music more readily than their food. So forcing Indonesians to eat Dutch food instead of familiar food may have forced the immigrants to assimilate into the new surroundings much faster than normal.

Living in the Netherlands, it makes sense that the Dutch culture would be considered the superior culture, so being more Dutch makes you a “better person”. I think it’s a bit ridiculous to define or even think that one culture is better than another culture. What about the British setting up a colony in Hong Kong? If we follow the same line of thinking, then by definition, the British culture is better than the Chinese culture. The same goes for the Spanish conquering the Philippines. Forcing Filipinos to become more Spanish would create a Filipino-Spanish community. So integration between two cultures will ultimately create a culture that is somewhere in between the two, which makes for a more diverse community, but still does not make the people completely one community since there will always be differences between all these different cultures. There’s always something that will make a person Dutch, Luxembourgian, Chinese, Filipino, Italian… etc. Will there ever come a time when all of these people will come together and integrate themselves to make some culture in between? If that day ever comes, it would make a very interesting blend between all these people and the definition of one culture being superior will be much more difficult to define.

I do happen to know of one solution to this problem of division due to cultural differences among people, and it’s found in the book of Colossians chapter 3: “… there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.” After going to many art museums on this trip, I think it’s safe to conclude that Christ is pretty famous and well known, since so many artists have depicted their opinions on what Christ means to them via their art. But in this verse, it mentions that if a person chooses Christ, then it doesn’t matter what culture you are from, what economic status you hold, where in the social hierarchy you fall in. I learned that the Indonesians in the Netherlands are still one community because they all shared the same experiences of suffering under the Dutch government, but what if people don’t share those same experiences?  There would still be a dividing line between two communities. However, because Christ is available to everyone, and because Christ abolished all those differences, everyone can be made one community through Christ.

The Hall of Knights and Art!

Tuesday, the class travelled to the Dutch House of Representatives, where we learned a lot about Dutch politics. Afterwards, we went to the Haags Historisch Museum and Panorama Mesdag.

Figure 1: The Hall of Knights where the Dutch queen sits on her throne and delivers a speech to the public so they know what to expect for the coming year. 

The Hall of Knights has a lot of history. When Napoleon V was in charge, he had his soldiers sleep here because it was close to the field where they needed to be to fight in battle. When the French left, there was a huge hole to the right of the photo, so the hall was a semi open market. Today, the hall is used as a meeting hall where the Queen (who is the head of state), reads a note of what you can expect for the New Year. In addition, the cabinet presents news of their plans of government. 11,000 people can be seated here on Budget Day, when all the news related to government is announced. This once a year meeting is a good way to gather together all the people of the country so everyone is on the same page. In the reader, it mentions how the Dutch make sure everyone’s opinion is heard and clear communication is practiced so there is no misunderstanding. Communication is necessary in order for the nation to move as one unit.

Figure 2: The ceiling of the Hall of Knights is modeled after a Viking ship, which gives the hall even more special meaning.

The Viking ship served as a war ship with both pragmatic and religious purposes. These ships allowed control of the waterways, which were of critical importance should one want to dominate and be successful in trading, thus Viking ships eventually evolved into symbols of power and prowess. Through cultural and practical significance, the Viking ship progressed into the most powerful, advanced naval vessel in Viking Age Europe. The roof of the Hall of Knights gives a little insight to what the image the people of the Netherlands desires. The Hall resembles a place where prowess and power of the different districts in the Netherlands gather together to collaborate and advance the country to the next step in becoming one of the most powerful, influential nations in the world.

Afterwards, we toured the newly built building where the House of Representatives and the Senate meet for 3 days straight and learned about the Dutch political system. The tour guide is a student in political science, so she had her opinions on the Dutch system. She mentioned how the House of Representatives has the most power since their votes directly affect who gets elected. She then compared the Dutch system to the American system of voting, since the president is indirectly chosen via electoral votes. I'm not really into politics, nor have I studied it in depth, but I got the impression that as long as there's a system that works for the country, everything should be able to run smoothly.


Of the two art museums we visited, I was most impressed by the Panorama Mesdag, the world's oldest surviving panorama-painting. We entered into a small hut which was encompassed by the images of a beach and small city in the Netherlands. The top of the piece was covered by the top of the hut and the bottom of the piece was hidden by real sand, tricking the audience into thinking that what they were seeing was the real thing. Many of my classmates mentioned how everything in the panorama was moving, and they felt what the artist wanted his audience to feel. I was personally impressed with how accurate this piece portrayed reality, but my senses were not tricked into thinking everything was moving. The moment I entered the room of the panorama, I immediately noticed how the waves weren't crashing into the beach, nor were the flags actually moving according to the wind, nor were the smoke from the chimneys moving as they should have been. I guess my observation of broken physical laws made me miss out on the effect my classmates experienced, but all together, I enjoyed seeing such a beautiful and well-made piece of art.

Colonization and Multiculturalism in the Netherlands

Figure 1: A memorial in Oosterpark to commemorate freedom of speech.

Monday, we received two lectures: one on the colonial history of the Netherlands and another on Dutch multiculturalism. The rest of the day’s activities got cancelled because the museum was closed and the weather that day did not permit our evening tour of Amsterdam-North.

The Dutch needed to explore the world and start some sort of colony because they weren’t doing so well competing against the businesses of Spain, considering how they were controlling spices from their colonies, making them very competitive in the business field. They went out and explored a couple times, but they failed, so they made a small business titled VOC, the United East India Company. Unfortunately, not many Dutch people were willing to risk their lives for business, so the VOC joined ventures and spread the work among several businessmen throughout the different surrounding countries. With all the pros and cons to weigh, the VOC had to make a choice: focus on business or focus on colonization. Some people, like Jan Pieterszoon Coen, supported colonization, but others, like Multatuli, completely opposed it. I personally have positive and negative feelings toward colonization. I think colonization is great for people from other countries and cultures to meet and learn from each other so that people’s perspectives and knowledge on life will be broadened, which will increase people’s appreciation for other ways of life. However, it appears that the people that make a colony on another country’s territory treats the native people of the colony as slaves or tools to get whatever they want to accomplish. I think this malign treatment of people is what causes conflict between two parties. For example, the Dutch colonized Indonesia and in an effort to make Indonesians more Dutch, they oppressed the Indonesian culture and forced them to take on the ways of the Dutch. This caused the Indonesians to protest against the Dutch and become independent. I feel that if the Dutch treated the Indonesians as people, as friends, or even as if they were their own people, they would have developed a more harmonious relationship with them such that the two groups of people would work together for the benefit of both cultures. It’s generally a bad idea to think that the only people who are people are the people who look and think like you. In the end, every person has his or her story which makes them unique, and you can learn from each and every person.

After colonizing the East Indies, some Indonesians made it to the Netherlands and immigration increased, therefore many different religions and cultures in the country were introduced. With many different opinions and cultures, there was bound to be some grinding against other people, and because the Netherlands was very progressive, people have been very open about their opinions of other religions. There were many Muslims that lived in the Netherlands and didn’t approve of some of the teachings in the Netherlands, thus causing division in the school system. There was a time when the Netherlands was a religious country and all of the decisions made were based on the Bible, but that time is now gone, so political decisions can now be made without any religious reasons involved.

Leiden and the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity!

On Friday, Steef Eman, Director of the Central College Abroad Program, gave us a city tour of Leiden. Afterwards, we visited a science museum to advance our knowledge of biodiversity.

According to Steef, Leiden is the city that is the highest point of the Netherlands, which suggest that the city is the safest city to live in, because it is not as far below sea level as the rest of the country. There are many windmills that can be adjusted to catch the winds flowing in various directions, to fight against floods or to convert mechanical energy to electrical energy. The Rhine River flows through the city, and the Roman Empire claimed that everything north of the river was considered part of the empire. Everything south of the river was considered worthless because barbarians, who were considered to be fairly uneducated and wore beards, were not capable of speaking Latin. Leiden was one of the first places where one could bridge the Rhine, and it began to evolve into a small market town at the turn of the millennium.

Figure 1: A windmill in Leiden. This windmill in this photo is a museum, but later in the tour, Steef actually showed us a windmill that actually disconnects from the ground and turns to catch winds in the right direction.

Figure 2: The Rhine River.

Figure 3: Rambrant was born in Leiden, so his school is still here along with this memorial to commemorate his existence as a famous Dutch painter.

Figure 4: Here’s the Rapenburg building. Steef mentioned how this building was strong enough to withstand winds so gardens can grow. Unfortunately, the gardens are no longer visible in front of the building, but this building protected the gardens when they were there.

Figure 5: Here’s an image of the interior of the most significant church in Leiden. Steef mentioned how important people in America come to this church to deliver a speech or sermon. The last important American who did so was President Bush Senior. It appears that churches are the place to give an inspiring speech of some sort.

The next place we visted was the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity NCB Naturalis. I was most interested in their biotechnology section since it was most related to what I studied, and it was a good ereview to see how bioreactors are used to grow useful biomaterial! For example, exnzymes can be used to wash out jeans to produce a warn look, and these enzymes are produced in a bioreactor. Within the bioreactor, the bacteria have an additional gene inserted into them so that these enzymes can produce the same stonewashed look that stonewashing produces when using real stones in a washing machine. This method seems to provide a less expensive and quick way of achieving the same stonewashed effect!

Figure 6: An example of a bioreactor.