“Living in the Netherlands is a test of my survival skills”, says Yingchun Yu. “In China, I’m used to eating my food hot – cold food and drink is bad for your health. Unfortunately, none of the university buildings have a place where you can heat up your food. The difference between animals and humans is that we can make fire. Cold food has to be heated by your stomach and that consumes too much energy. My stomach isn’t a microwave, is it?”
Yu rang the International Office to ask if they could install a microwave somewhere. “The woman who answered my call said: ‘In your opinion, cold food is bad for your health. We can’t help you with that.’” He thinks that the food in the canteen is too expensive, and accordingly, he does not go to the library in the morning so he can cook a hot meal at home at midday. Nevertheless, he can see the bright side. “I never had time to cook in Beijing, but I have to, here. Cooking helps you to understand life better, so it’s not all bad.”
Other Chinese students face the same problem. Xiaoshuang Xia stores an electric kettle in the lockers at the Sinological Institute and goes off in search of a socket in the lunch break so he can boil water for his rice. “Actually, water with rice is not very nice, but cold rice is worse”, he says. Chinese guest lecturers would like a microwave too, but as the Institute is mainly built of wood, they can’t get permission for one.
On the other hand, Yaxuan Zhang, from Taiwan, is very fond Western food: pancakes are her favourite. “But I really miss the Taiwanese night market, and of course, ‘bubble milk tea’, tea with gummy-like balls in it. Here, I usually cook for myself, and I often organise a potluck dinner with friends. Everyone brings a dish, and we share the food between us.” Zhang thinks it is a pity that Dutch restaurants are so expensive; in Taiwan, she eats out nearly every night. “I was surprised to hear that it’s also too expensive for the Dutch to eat out daily. All the restaurants I pass always seem to be full.”
It’s not just food that costs more in the Netherlands: the Chinese are shocked by the high rents and the costs of public transport. Xia sometimes gives calligraphy classes in another town. “I get 25 Euros for one hour, but a return ticket to Rotterdam costs nearly fifteen Euros. I can’t see how Dutch people make ends meet.” Consequently, the Chinese students hardly ever travel by train. Before Zhang left Taiwan, she acquired a rice pan via the Internet, which she could pick up from a Chinese girl in Rotterdam. “It just looked a short distance on the map, but when I arrived in Leiden, it turned out to be much dearer than I thought, so I just left it.”
Dutch universities would love to attract more Chinese students as these students must pay high tuition fees. Students from the EU pay €1,713 for a year’s study in Leiden, but students from outside the EU can pay more than €14,000 for a Master’s. Zhang, Xiao and Zhan from Taiwan are shocked when they hear this. They are here as exchange students. “We pay the regular tuition fees that we pay back in Taiwan, or actually, a bit less because we only have to pay the basic sum as we’re not following any lectures in Taiwan at the moment.” The Taiwanese tuition fees come to around €1000 for them and besides, Zhang and Zhan both have grants. “That just about covers my rent at DUWO”, says Zhan.
However, the Chinese gentlemen must pay said tuition fees. Their situation differs from that of the Taiwanese students because they worked for a few years before coming to the Netherlands to take a Master’s course. “You would expect better service for that amount of money”, says Yu. And he is not just referring to the absence of microwaves. The university is not as international as he expected. “At Schiphol, I was amazed to see that all the signs were in English. But then I arrived at the university and I couldn’t work out how to use the printer. Nearly everything here is in Dutch, even in the library.”
In addition, Yu is disappointed that the university does not organise very many activities. The course does not have its own space or building, so the students go home straight after the lectures, making it more difficult to get to know the other students. Although there are student fraternities for foreign students, the activities there are not generally free. Xia, who is specialised in Chinese Art History, was surprised that there were no red lanterns to be found in the Sinological Institute during the Chinese New Year. “It’s good that students organise so much, but the university could make a contribution too.”
Meanwhile, the university has decided to take the complaints about the cold Dutch food seriously and has installed a microwave at the Plexus building for the Chinese students.