Dutch language

How to pronounce numbering in Dutch?

Full Transcript

Hi Guys!
My name is Marisha Agarwal and I'm back with another video.
So in today's video I am actually going to talk about my first year and first week experiences
after moving to the city of Groningen.
In fact, this is the exact same couch I was sitting on when I first received my admission
decree letter.
So in today's video I am going to be giving you guys a couple of my first week stories
and I am also going to give you a couple of tips to keep in mind once you move here.
So at the top of my head, the very 1st story that comes to mind is actually me being a
part of the ESN Week, which was one whole week worth of introduction which was non-academically
related.
And it was a lot of fun, because we got to see the city from a different perspective,
and thats also where I made my first and closest friends.
My most memorable story was when we used to go out for dinner as a group, our group leader
being the only boy, to get our attention he would take all of our phones away.
We would stack them up and keep them at the end of the table.
Whoever takes their phone first during the meal, had to pay for the whole group and we
were a group of 14 girls with large appetites.
So it was really funny to see how all the girls tried not to touch their phones.
My tip would be to sign up for the ESN week ASAP!
Preferably before moving to the city, but if you don't manage togo for the ESN week,
there is also the KEI week which is another option.
So talking about the city, I actually ended up coming to the city 2 weeks prior to classes
starting and I was just walking around Grote Markt and exploring on my own.
But that's where I accidentally joined a free walking tour.
And it was very interesting because it was my first time in the city and that was also
the only time I climbed the Martini Tower all the way to the top, and the view was breathtaking!
You can see the entire city and everything looks so cute and so beautiful because the
Dutch architecture is so nice!
This was my most memorable part of the first week because I actually saw the whole city
without even knowing the city, and that was really interesting.
A tip to give you guys is that there are a lot more such free walking tours and paid
walking tours - biking tours for a matter of fact! which can be found all over social
media or at the VVV.
So you should definitely check those out because it really helpful especially if you are coming
for the first time on your own.
For the first year, I stayed at the SSH shared accommodation.
Personally, I was a bit hesitant going into a completely unfurnished house on my own especially
in the first year.
So what I highly appreciated from the SSH was that they gave us packages of 50 Euros
which included bedding and basic kitchen utensils.
I think that was really helpful for me especially because it was kind of like a kick-starter
package, and it saved a lot of my time and effort especially in the first couple of weeks
as the first year was really intense.
And I think that's what really helped me gain confidence especially with living in a shared
accommodation with 40 people for the very first time.
But my Number 1 tip would be to sign up with companies like SSH and Lefier way in advance.
In fact, I signed up in January but on May 1st when the site opened up all the houses/rooms
were gone within 30 minutes.
I had to choose which house I am going to live in for the next year without actually
going to the city or checking out the place in person, just by the photographs on the
website.
Another really interesting story is that I actually faced 3 bike accidents in the first
3 weeks of moving here, and thats mainly because here in India we drive on the left side of
the road and it took me some time to get used to biking on the right side of the road.
It was really confusing, but at the same time I learned the "hard way", literally because
I had so many accidents.
This brings me to my next tip, registering with the medical company, the bank, the hospital
and government (city hall) are all very tedious processes.
There are over 20,000 students who come in every year, so the processing time takes very
long.
So my tip is to come earlier to avoid this long queue/waitlist.
I found it very confusing for the first time and wished someone would have told me about it
Lastly, since this is a university-themed video, I have to talk a little bit about the
university.
Turns out that I was actually in a 3rd year Physics classroom, when I was supposed to
be in my first year Chemical Engineering Introduction class and that's only because I had no idea
how the buildings were numbered.
However, it wasn't that bad because when I was in that lecture, the other students around
me noticed that I wasn't their classmate and they really helped me around the building
and taught me how the numbering system works.
Thats another tip I would like to give you, is that if you are lost, ASK around!
It's completely understandable because you're just 1 out of 30,000 students or more who
are equally lost in the building, running around and looking for your class.
Don't worry its okay, because at the end of the day everyone is equally lost, nervous
and excited.
Another really funny story that I remember from our very first lecture was that our teacher
had given us a practice question.
We had to use our phones to answer it but what we did was, since it was an open ended
box, we instead of answering the question, said Hi messages on the board.
These messages flashed on the screen and there were bunch of messages that read
"Hi, I'm from ___ country!".
And it was so so funny!
The lecturer had a good laugh, but after a point he cancelled the activity!
We all had a good laugh!
So this brings me to the end of the video.
And I really hope you guys liked and laughed along to my stories.
I am really interested to see what you guys experienced in the first week, if they were
equally funny or if they were more serious.
Let me know in the comment section down below!
And I will see you guys in my next video.
Until next time, bye!