“It’s hard to get in touch with the Dutch."

“The Dutch are nice, but are not open to friendships with international students.”

“Germans drive home immediately after a tutorial group meeting and Maastricht has no student life in the weekend.”

The debate on the integration of foreign students in Dutch student life, organised by the Maastricht Student Council (MSC), identified the problems in Maastricht student culture.

While the lecture hall on the Tongersestraat was packed because of the Schuman lecture at eight o'clock in the evening, eighteen students have made their way to the auditorium on the Minderbroedersberg for the MSC debate.

"It is disappointing that we are the only ones who are interested in this," they say. The discussion, however, hardly suffers from it, they feel: "I now know exactly what everyone here thinks about this subject."

Enough, it appeared when the debate, led by rector Gerard Mols, is about the Maastricht student associations. The foreign students present have very little affinity with them. "I felt so overwhelmed by all those associations during the Inkom that I decided not to become a member of any of them and to make friends myself. The disadvantage is that outside those associations, it is hard to get in touch with Dutch students," says an American student of European Studies.

A German ES student thinks that the German students ignore the associations because of the hazing rituals. A prejudice that Koko chairman Rob van den Meijdenberg regrets: "There is no such thing in our organisation, but nevertheless students from abroad don't join. Five of the two hundred new members this year are from outside the Netherlands, which is not a lot.

Even at the open parties, approximately ten times a year, they fail to show up. What can we do differently? It is probably because of the language, as we do everything in Dutch." "So what?" says Gerard Mols. Indeed, the students from abroad agree that the language should not be a problem: "When you come here, you should make some effort to learn the language and the culture."

The latter does not always happen, to the great annoyance of one of the German students present: "It is ridiculous how many German students drive back to Aachen or Cologne immediately after their group meetings. They come to Maastricht purely for the education, but for the rest do not participate in student life at all."

On the other hand, the Dutch do not make an effort to involve them, according to Jade, a student of tax law from Curacao. "My German friend, who studies International Business, says that the Dutch do not want to have anything to do with them”.

Maybe that has something to do with the past?" "And with football," a German jokes. A Scottish student of Medicine has had a similar experience: "The Dutch are friendly, but apparently they are not open to friendships. You are always a foreigner."

Another problem is that everyone leaves Maastricht at the weekend: "I am the only German in a house with eleven Dutch people. During the weekend, I am always alone, because everyone goes home to do the washing," he says.

A Dutch student wants to know why no effort is made to invest in sports? "I studied at an American university for a while. Every Friday, there was some or other sports event where we could go to cheer on the university team. Our nationality didn't matter, everyone was proud of the university”. It should be part of the student life.

Source: www.eurogates.nl/en_holland_news/id/266/

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