Introductie Programma

I'm sorry to say, but I am behind in blogging. My faculty held their Introductie Programma about a week and a half ago. Activities included meeting other international students; learning about how to register for classes, then being told that since we were international, that didn't apply to us; lunch; two or three hours worth of presentations, where I recieved most of the information for this post; and a tour of the city...the city I've been living in for a month already. Okay, well they had good intentions. I did make friends, and I learned the following interesting things about the Netherlands:

- police need no "probable cause" to search/arrest you
- selectadna.com is a site where you can register your things so they can be more easily located and returned if stolen or lost
- the Netherlands is number 5 on the list of countries with the least sunshine. Ironic considering Binghamton is the 5th most depressing city in America. I guess I traded up...
- Leiden is fully below sea level
- the Netherlands holds a population of 16.5 million people, but is only about 220 miles from North to South and 112 miles from East to West
- consequently, the Netherlands is number 4 in the world for population density per sq mile
- the Netherlands boasts an openly gay police and military force
- the Netherlands is home to about 3.3 million allochtonen (immigrants)
- they have a figure known as the "Balkenendenorm," named after the last Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, which says that public administrators should earn no more than 188,000 euro per year
- finally, they tell us "doe maar gewoon, je doet al gek genoeg"..."behave normally, you are already crazy enough"

Isn't that the truth!


Tot ziens,

Flat Julia