Autumn (Herfst)

Now, fall in Holland is definitely not the same as in Minnesota.  First, they call it autumn, which isn't that weird I guess but seems a bit formal to me.  I equate fall in the states to a few key things: pumpkins, apple orchards, and Halloween.  The beginning of October always has people talking about pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin carving, visiting apple orchards, haunted houses, hayrides, and Halloween plans.  October in Holland just brings rain.

The air is crisp, the leaves on the trees are red, orange, and yellow, the leaves crunch under your feet and the air smells distinctly of a beautiful fall afternoon.  One of my favorite things to do in the fall is to drive out into the country, preferably somewhere with a nice overlook, and take in the breathtaking sight of all the colorful trees.  In Holland, today is the first day I've seen the sun in well over a week.  There are crunchy and colorful leaves on the ground, but not so much on the trees themselves; most of their leaves are still green.

The air around apple orchards seem sweeter than the air everywhere else.  This might be because of all the apples being picked, eaten, and turned into hot cider, or it could just be coming from all the adorable couples on their first fall outing together; love is in the air.  Here, they definitely have apple orchards and their apples are delicious, but going to the orchard to pick them yourself is definitely not something the Dutch get excited about, not that I have seen at least.

Now, the best part of the fall season is HALLOWEEN!  When you were little you and your friends would dress up as your favorite character, super hero, or object, take your basket shaped like a pumpkin and get candy from all the people in town.  As you got older you stopped dressing up and started going to Haunted Houses and Haunted Hayrides instead; the scarier the better.  Then after high school you started dressing up again, most college girls go for the scantily clad nurse, teacher, cop, or some other stereotypical job with a uniform.  However, I always went the fun route: band nerds and woodland fairies complete with a green face and glitter galore!  Even shops got into the Halloween spirit, covering their windows in creepy spiderwebs, "bloody" handprints on the door, and skeleton heads lined up on the counter.

I have yet to see one fake spiderweb, bloody handprint, or skeleton anywhere!  The only people talking about Halloween are the foreign students (mostly us Americans).  Now, thankfully there is a group for the International students and they are going to be throwing a Halloween party.  I am just astounded that this country with their creepy Sinterklaas (I'll talk more about him when his season arrives), doesn't massively celebrate this most festive of holidays where you can be anyone you want for a night.

Along with this blog I would like to send out a challenge to the Dutch reading this.  I want you to prove me wrong.  Show me what your Autumn season can offer that ours can't.

Creativiteit Blok (Creativity Block)

Wow!  It's the 4th week of classes, and boy can I tell.  My calendar this week is splattered with yellow notes saying "Project Due".  Now, usually this is due to my own procrastination, however this is just pure overload.  Maybe I just need a lesson in managing my time more efficiently (I know I actually do need this lesson).  I think my real issue is that I really am overwhelmed.  I'm not saying that the teachers are expecting too much; they are expecting a lot, but not an unmanageable amount.

The thing is, I've never had a job in the creative industry before.  I've been an art and film student for years now, but always had jobs where I didn't have to focus all my creative energy into them.  I could just turn off that part of my brain and let it rest for the few hours I was working.  Of course I can't completely turn off the creativity; it would wake up and I'd have new recipes for drinks, a new way to organize the furniture, or a brilliant plan for Christmas decorations.  This is not the case with my job at Buro.  I have to constantly be in that creative and detail-oriented frame of mind.  There's no one to move the furniture for me in my grand plan of design, just me.  I'm not saying that I'm doing all the work, definitely not.  I work with a great Audio-Visual team, but I am expected to perform to the best of my abilities.

This wouldn't be such an overload for my overly creative brain if I wasn't also taking classes in a creative area.  I don't really know what I expected my work and school life to be like here, but it's definitely more demanding than I thought it would be.  I guess I'll just take all of this as a challenge to my own creative perseverance. So here I go, into the trenches of my own creative brain.  Let's see what's hiding in there!

Onderwijs (Education)

There is something to be said about the Universities here in Holland.  First off, they have windows! I don't mean the operating system, I'm talking actual see-through windows!  I know it seems like a silly thing to get excited about, but it never really crossed my mind until today.  I was sitting in class, starting to zone out during the presentation and realized that I was just staring at the skyline through the window.  Then it hit me!  If I were in the states I'd be doodling something in my notebook. We don't have windows in most of our classrooms back home (No, the tiny ones in the doors don't count). I will say, my notes are a lot more legible here since they aren't sprinkled with swirls and mini vampires. (I went through a Dracula phase in Film History last fall.)
Another thing is that our assignments actually have a purpose!  The professors give us assignments that are relevant to an actual working environment, and constantly reiterate the importance of self-motivated research.  One professor simply said that by thoroughly researching your subject you will simply create better work.  I completely agree!
In general, I am very impressed with the teaching style and subject matter of my lessons.  I also appreciate that the professors treat their students as adults and value their feedback.  However, I do not have such a rave review for my fellow classmates.  Now, I know this isn't true for all the students, but I have found that the students here have a real problem with shutting their mouths while the professor is giving a presentation.  Maybe it's a simple matter of age, as most of the students in my class are around the age of 19, or maybe it's the same back home and I didn't notice.  Either way, it drives me crazy!  I am here to learn.
All in all, I am enjoying my classes thus far and am excited to see my growth throughout the next few months!

Een Introductie (An Introduction)

In West Philadelphia born and raised; on the playground is where I spent most of my days…. Wait, that wasn’t me.  My name is Bethany Cox, and yes, I go by Bethany not Beth.  I was actually born and raised in the grand old state of Texas where the stars at night are big and bright.  I moved to Minnesota at the age of 14 and my parents had to drag me kicking and screaming. Within no time at all I had more friends in my new state than I ever had growing up.  In some ways I am still that 14-year-old girl, digging my heels in at the first glimpse of change.  No matter my apprehensions before coming here, I think that my trip across the ocean will be similar to my trip across the U.S.  When it comes down to it, I won’t be able to imagine my life without taking this adventure.

The first week here, I swear I had walked onto a movie set.  I walked around half expecting to have magically learned Dutch just by walking into the country.  Then I realized that I couldn’t read any of the signs.  Luckily the bathroom signs at Hema depict a person clearly in need of a bathroom with their knees pressed together.  The food is a whole different story.  It seems that everything is some form of mashed ingredients made into a spread in which no one really knows the real ingredients; delicious but suspicious.  Going to a snack bar isn’t much better.  When asking what is inside some kind of pastry the attendant simply replies “meat”.  Thank goodness I stopped being vegan before I came here, otherwise I would surely starve!

I’m actually in this lovely country of mashed meats and bicycles to study film during the CAVI semester and to work here at Buro302 with the Audio Visuals team.  I have always loved film for as long as I can remember, but didn’t think about starting a career in the film industry until I graduated from high school.  Even then, it was more of a far off dream than anything substantial.  I signed up to be a Film Studies Minor when I enrolled at MSU Mankato; I didn’t have a major yet, but I knew I wanted to study film.  Now, here I am half way across the world going to school and working all because of that dream.  Who knows what will come next!

Last fall I took an Intro to Film Production class at MSU.  Now, I had never made a film on my own before, the most I had ever done was hold a boom mic in a river and star as an extra.  Well, turns out I had a knack for it, at least for a beginner.  If I could only make one type of video for the rest of my life, it would definitely be music videos.  I tend to connect more with music and can visualize scenes much more easily from a few bars of music than a whole book of text.  That being said, I am very eager to step outside my comfort zone, both professionally and personally in order to learn and most importantly, grow. Let's start this adventure!

Here's an example of the work I've done so far since being at HAN: