Micha goes WWOOFing

So this blog it is finally time to explain what I am going to do this summer. It is completely not university related, however it is always great to see what you can do if you have so much time on your hands.

This summer I am going two months to Sweden to go WWOOFing. No this is not barking like a dog, but than written in capital letters ( however you do pronounce WWOOF like that). WWOOF stands for: World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms: WWOOF. http://www.wwoof.org/

WWOOFing basically means that you go to an organic farm, and you work there. Even though it is unpaid, you get a roof above your head and food. So it is volunteer work. The equation is very simple: you donate us your work, and we will give you food, roof, and knowledge about organic farming. If you are not interested in learning some organic farming skills, than don't do this. But if you do, please do so ;-)! So what am I going to do? I am going to take the train to Copenhagen, and than take the train to Malmo, where my journey through Sweden will start. I will first stay somewhere near Uddevalla, which is on the west side of Sweden. Here I will stay two weeks, after helping here I will travel all the way to the middle of Sweden, where I will stay in Mora. After staying there for a almost six weeks, I will travel through the rest of Sweden. Go to Stockholm for example, and some other places I still have to think about.

The picture on the map is absolutely not definitely, but this is the plan as I am thinking of it right now... oh how do I love 3 month long holidays!

My name is Micha, I am a first year student focussing on anthropology and sociology.

Micha and Trying to Find a Job

As you might have noticed, I already mentioned twice that I would reveal what I was going to do this summer. So far I didn't say one single word about it. This time I will not yet completely, I will tell you about how it has been to find a job for during the summer holidays.

The last weeks I have been thinking about what to do during my 3 month summer holiday. Considering the fact that it is such a long period I thought about working, that would earn me some money which I could use to... yeah you can guess it: go on a holiday next winter/summer! In Middelburg there are quite some outsourcing agencies, such as: Tempo-team, Manpower, Creyf's, & Adecco and some more. I decided that it would be best to just visit them all. Most of the replies I got were in the category of: we are sorry we don't have anything. I must admit though that perhaps saying that I don't want to work in the horeca, or as a cleaner eliminated a lot of job possibilities. Why not work in the horeca or as a cleaner you might think. Well, I'll be honest, I've got a phobia for jobs in cafeteria, first of all, I always think that I might drop something, or secondly forget all the orders placed. In the case of cleaning, I guess that my almost traumatic, but very rewarding,  experience with cleaning hospitals led me to reject such a job.

So what did I find? I found some jobs to work in a warehouse, or with truck drivers, as well as collecting books from high schools and repackaging them, as well as some other jobs. I almost went for the job were you help the truck driver, however thanks to some critical thoughts from my family and friends I decided that it would probably be more traumatic than the cleaning due to the overdose of boredom. Instead I dumped all the job agencies, and just ignored them, and considered something else. Which I would love to tell you immediately, however it will take quite some time to explain so I will do it in my next blog ;-).

My name is Micha, I am a first year student focussing on anthropology and sociology.

Micha and the Last Week

My last blog post was dedicated to making money through doing nothing. Or as they call it: “making money when you sleep”, well if you take that sentence very literal, I wouldn't have earned as much money as I would have liked to. Which can be translated to: I want to sleep...

The last week of the semester is beginning, something I hardly noticed until yesterday when I ordered my train tickets for my holiday. Another time I will tell you about my holiday, however, the last weeks of semester are for a lot of people here synonymous with not so much sleep, and a lot of work.

Compared to last semester I am actually doing great now. Last semester I somehow managed to stay up till 2 at night working, most of the days. This semester that habit has changed drastically. Through a bit more efficient planning, I stayed up only once until 2. Which can also be explained through the fact that it was pre-election night, which lasted quite long. However this pattern of super-early sleeping (compared to last semester) is starting to fall apart. Past Monday I stayed up until 3 am working on a paper due on Tuesday. Not something I prefer doing, most of the times I like to have finished them way before so I have all the time to think about how great it is to be done with it ;-). However this time it was inevitable. Next week it might be similar, for next week I've got a huge amount of homework. The last  week will be a continuous period of time dedicated to homework! Which definitely makes me look forward to my summer holiday.

My name is Micha, I am a first year student focussing on anthropology and sociology.

Micha is Making Money While He Sleeps!

Heya all!

I just figured out how to earn money without doing anything! Wow, I must admit, it almost sound like I want to get you to buy something very dubious, which promises to make you rich when you sleep. Even though what I am going to talk about, will make you rich when you sleep, it is only for RA students ;-). Too sad for all those readers wishing they found a nice way to earn some money in the summer... Anyway, during the summer holiday a lot of RA students are simply not in their room. During summer, however, there is also the MCTS and a UU (Universiteit Utrecht) Summer School program. Both take place in Middelburg. Students attending these programs need a room. And that is where we come into the picture, as students not using their room, why don't we  sublet our room to a summer student, and earn some money? To be honest I don't know why I shouldn't, therefore I also signed up ;-). The summer student is going to stay here for almost a month. This is absolutely no problem for me since I will be away for 2 months in the summer holiday (when I have the final plans I will of course share them with you guys ;-) ). Thus for current students, and future students: subletting your room is the easiest way of earning some money, whilst being on a holiday!

My name is Micha, I am a first year student focussing on anthropology and sociology.

Micha and Committee Work

Sometimes being in a board is quite hard. Especially when you have to organise an event, whilst you do not have the time to do so. It has already been abnormally busy with the TEDx talks livestream here

http://www.tedxutrechtuniversity.com/

and normal meetings.  Last Sunday I also arranged a lecturer to come here to talk about the International Stop the Tar Sands Day (I'll later on explain what it is). However due to the fact that I had quite some papers to do I completely forgot to arrange a room for the lecture! In the end everything ended up alright, we went sitting on a terrace on the market square instead :-).

So before I begin explaining what the  International Stop the Tar Sands Day actually is I should perhaps first begin with explaining what tar sands are. Most of the time when you start talking about the tar sands people think you talk about Tarzan. However sadly enough the tar sands aren't as great as Tarzan. Tar sands are basically oil mixed with clay, these tar sands can be found in Alberta, Canada. The reason why tar sands are so interesting to oil companies is because you can get oil out of these sands. For oil companies oil  equals money. So to get these tar sands companies engage in massive open pit mining; basically removing everything on top of the tar sands. To clarify I added some pictures which say more than a thousand words.

So now that the tar sand idea is a bit clearer I'll move on to the lecture(r). The lecturer was Derek Leahy, a Canadian born now living in Berlin. Two years ago he first got involved in clime change, by going to the Copenhagen climate talks. Now he is organiser/initiator of the International Stop The Tar Sands Day. He is just like you and me, and managed to get this international day of the ground with demonstration worldwide.

Derek explained us a lot about this day, as well as how it is to organise an international protest. However as time moved on it more turned into a discussion from which everybody learned in my opinion. Perhaps that was also because we were sitting on the terrace ;-). I would love to tell more in detail about what we talked about, however there will already be an article in the Tabula Rasa, as well as a clip in the CampusNEWS so I think I should stop here ;-).

I will posts some links or pictures as soon as these articles are available. Besides this I feel the urge to promote the event myself as well a bit. If you are interested or just want to know more feel free to contact tarsands.amsterdam@gmail.com. The demonstration will be the 18^th of June and it's going to be a great amount of fun.

My name is Micha, I am a first year student focussing on anthropology and sociology.

Micha and the Flying Time

It has been a while but I have gone back to blogging again. I am now in my second semester. After a very very long winterbreak (6 weeks) we have finally started school again, and we are already on 1/3^rd of the semester again. Time flies when you are having fun! :-). Or being busy.

I am, at the moment, treasurer of SARA (Society Association RA). At the same time I am trying to be an active member of PhoRA (Photography Committee), I also help filming for the CampusNews and at the same time I am also trying to write this blog. This means that I have a lot to do. From making budget proposals, organising meetings, to making films and taking pictures. This ofcourse all a whole lot of fun to do, so I don't mind at all. However sometimes you just don't have time enough to do it all.

For example this week with a stats exam, a paper and a presentation. This is sometimes quite difficult but so far I am managing just fine. That is also one of my tips for new students, just get into one or more committees and have some fun! Through committees you meet a lot of people but you can also do some fun stuff you would otherwise do on your own, for example taking pictures. Student life is not only studying and hanging out with friends but also being active in your community.

Adios and see you next time!

My name is Micha, I am a first year student focussing on anthropology and sociology.