Maud and the RA Bubble

Here at RA, we live in what we lovingly refer to as 'the RA bubble'. Not only is Middelburg pretty tiny, the Roosevelt Academy – with its 600 students – is an exceptionally small university by Dutch standards. Contrary to popular belief, this has far more advantages than disadvantages. I initially went to a regular Dutch university and got out of there faster than you can say "college drop-out". Although the system admittedly works for a lot of people, the whole mass-studying idea, the idea of not a single soul caring whether you pass an exam or not… it didn't work for me. It demotivated and depressed me.

No, RA is much more the place for me. Small. Personal. Small because it's personal, and personal because it's small. The same goes for Middelburg in general: you can't walk into town without running into someone you know, and quickly get on a first-name basis with the employees at the places you frequent. I'll gladly take that over being a number any day.

But of course, every advantage has its disadvantage, and that's what I discovered last Thursday on the train. The ticket inspector stopped by and scanned my public transport pass that allows me to travel for free during the week (but not on public holidays). I was already holding out my hand to accept it back when he said, "Hey, you should've bought a ticket today."

"Excuse me?" I said.

"You should've bought a ticket," he said. "It's Bevrijdingsdag—Liberation Day."

"Is that even a public holiday?" I spluttered, only to receive disapproving looks from the other people in the compartment. I tried to save face by tacking on, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize. I go to an international university, we're generally unaware of what goes on out here," but for some inconceivable reason this only deepened their frowns.

Once at Rotterdam Central Station, I was confronted with another oddity: there were loads of kids on the train. This is usually not the case. However, it was only when I was at the movie theater later that night—usually quiet during the week, now packed with people—that I realized the majority of Holland is currently on break. Or, well, realized… my brother had to explicitly inform me of the fact that it's 'May vacation'.

Now, I could chalk all of this up to the fact that I've been ridiculously busy this past week. By now you guys might have concluded that I'm just dense and ignorant of what goes on around me in general. I myself am blaming the RA bubble, though. It's charming, but not always convenient when you have to get back to the real world.

My name is Maud and I am a second-year student of Linguistics & Literary Studies. These are a few of my favorite things: books, sneakers, loud music, and coffee.