Wiebe Hollander
Study: European Master in Food studies.
Destination: England.
Internship & Thesis.
Hello everyone,
my name is Wiebe Hollander, I'm 22 years old and I'm following a two-year master program called 'European Master in Food Studies' (a specialisation which belongs to the Food Science and Technology Master).
As WURldexplorer I'll post stories on my advenures and shiny pictures of my experiences on this page. You can also follow me (@whollandia) and other WURldexplorers on Instagram: search for #WURldexplorers!
Cheerio!
Introduction
Let me introduce myself: my name is Wiebe Hollander, I'm 22 years old and I'm following a two-year master program called 'European Master in Food Studies' (a specialization which belongs to the Food Science and Technology Master). Together with a group of 21 international students, I followed courses at four top universities in Europe for the last year (Wageningen UR, University College Cork, AgroParisTech, and Lund University). The second year, which is now coming up, aims at a combined internship and thesis.
Chocolate, rain, and British humor!
The first month living in the UK passed far more quickly than expected. And to be honest, the weather was not bad at all! I came to the UK with the idea that it would rain quite often, but in fact until now I only arrived soaked at work once (!). A pretty good start I guess. Maybe I was lucky, let’s hope for the best for the coming period.
Weekend trips: London!
Time literally flies here in Birmingham! It's hard to imagine that already 2.5 months have passed by. During the weeks the agenda is fully filled with work related activities (often including awesome things like factory visits, business trips to other sites for meetings or consumer tests etc.). During the weekends I make lots of day or 2-day trips to surrounding cities or nature parks. Travel wise, Birmingham has a perfect central geographical location to visit exciting cities like Oxford, London, Manchester, York, and Cambridge in only 1-2hours by train.
It's all about Christmas
Being in the UK during the start of the winter season gets me involved in Great Britain's national craziness, which is all about Christmas! This craziness can be seen everywhere: restaurants advertise their Christmas dinners already from the end of October; crowded city centres and shops with people who do their Christmas shoppings (all with the same stress - 'what do I buy for my family this year and what do I wear during the Christmas dinner?!'); Christmas dinner plans (location and of course the menu) are being discussed at work since the start of December. The massive Christmas tree on the picture stands in front of st Pauls cathedral in London. That city is so lovely decorated this time of year: tingling lights everywhere and a couple of German markets with ridiculous expensive sausages, mulled wine and XL pints of Lager. Although London has some magic with Christmas, 'my city' Birmingham nominates itself for having the largest German market in the world, outside Germany! Quite worth mentioning.
Keep calm and carry on
Some time has past since I wrote my last update for wurldexplorers, but I'm still alive! In the meantime, I had some nice Christmas holidays in the Swiss snow, started my experimental trials after a long period of planning and method development, and went back to the Netherlands already 2 times (gaining some frequent flying bonus points there!).
Oxford
It's weekend again, which means it's time for traveling and exploring new cities. After visiting York I was excited to see the city in which multiple scenes of the Harry Potter movies were filmed: Oxford. Both are lovely in their historical and friendly atmosphere. Certainly worth a second visit!