T-Minus Four Days

In about four days, I will be catching a plane to the Netherlands. You may be asking, "how can a poor grad student such as yourself make it to the Netherlands?" Well, that is what fellowships are all about. I was given a fellowship along with 15 other students to go to the Netherlands to do research. I have mentioned this trip before, and now the time is finally upon me, when I am anxiously counting the days, and soon the hours before I leave. I am not entirely sure what I will be doing there, but there is some focus on helping with English language proficiency, (yes, even though it is Holland, they speak a lot of English), better understanding and learning about how the education system in the Netherlands is dealing with the immigrant phenomenon, and finally developing a larger curriculum for graduate students at MSU to take courses on global competency. Indeed, all very vague-ish.

One aspect of the program that was not initially part of our study plan is working with a school that enrolls students who have recently come to the Netherlands from countries in crisis. The majority of these students are aged 12 - 18, and are from Syria, Eritrea, and Afghanistan. Many of the students, from what we have learned so far, have not only traveled thousands of miles to leave their home countries, but are also alone. The Netherlands has somewhat of a system to integrate these children and young adults into their education system. Yet because of the instability of the system, and the relocation efforts, many of these students do not stay in one area longer than half a year, and 18 months at most.

Most of the work my group and I will be doing on this subject is in a city called Maastricht, down in the little southeast nubbin corner of the Netherlands. Admittedly, I am terrified. I have realized that most of the last several weeks I have been very inwardly focused on preparing for this "trip" and have somewhat forgotten what I will be doing once I get there. I have also been balancing the knowledge that once we land in Amsterdam, I'm sure everything will be just fine. However, I am also aware that I haven't been thoughtful about who I will be working with in Maastricht, both the teachers at the school, and the students. This will certainly be a journey that may seem to be set in a familiar place (a western country in Europe) yet contains extremely unfamiliar experiences with a very diverse community who I am sure, have many stories to tell.