een semester in utrecht

A new dawn, some cloudy sky, but at least no rain – the perfect weather to take a ride with the bicycle. The way was not very hard to find and also it was a great opportunity to see some areas off the university I have not seen before. I entered De Uithof via the Münsterlaan. The faculty that has settled down in this area is the veterinary medicine and ethology, but this was actually a thing I did not know earlier when I passed several loans with flocks of horses, cows, sheep’s and other animals. I mean how cool is that. They possess their own zoo to do their research studies.

This day I spent most of the time in the Minnaartgebouw. A building which belongs to the natural science faculty of the university. In contrast to yesterday there were mostly presentations from docent’s of the different master programs. Yes you read correctly master programs. Although I have not got even a bachelors degree I am allowed to study here at master level (Thanks to the agreement). As if this is not enough I also have a second special role here, since the university does not offer a interdisciplinary cognitive science program like in Osnabrück. There are several different programs from which I can choose my schedule, including lectures from linguistics, cognitive artificial intelligence and agent technology. Especially the two latter ones really caught my attention. Unfortunately my stay here is limited to only five months and so some very nice successor courses offered in the third and fourth period of the academic year are not open for me.

But the freedom with the course selection has also its bad sides. I do not really belong to one single faculty, although I am enrolled at the faculty of humanities most of the courses I take are from the faculty of computer science. That this causes great troubles I experienced when I tried to get my SOLIS-account, which is comparable to our rz-login in Osnabrück. It enables the students to get access to some internal information as well as access to the internet and Wifi here on the campus.

The first station of my odyssey was the international office in the Gestuurtgebouw. It did not seem to be a big issue. “Your solis account? No problem! I just need your student number” But as soon as I told them the first digit, namely an F the whole thing became an issue. “Oh I am sorry, but since you are an f-student I cannot do anything for you. You have to go to the studiepunt of your own faculty! Do you know in which faculty you are enrolled?” I knew the faculty, but unfortunately not where to find them, but that did not seem to be a big problem. I got a sheet a paper containing all necessary information and off I went to find the corresponding building, which was a much easier task than actually finding the room where I should appear (at least according to the international office).

But I could not have been that easy, could it? Of course they address they send me too was not the one of the studiepunt which was responsible for my SOLIS account. At first they just wanted to send me back from where I came from, but when I told them that those people actually did send me to them, there was silence for a moment. Fortunately they were very helpful and soon I got another address on the campus to go to. Half past three was however a little bit to late for further investigations and so my odyssey ended. At least for the day.

Until the dinner was enough time left and so I decided to get home, perhaps look for a supermarket, have a nap and cycle to Utrecht afterwards. Unfortunately the university area I was in to that point in time was not that familiar to me and the easiest way to get some orientation is looking for signs. I also found some that said “Zeist in this direction”, but not mentioning how far. Without notice I followed those signs.

As always there are multiple ways towards a goal. Some with a beautiful landscapes, some less beautiful, but much shorter. Now you can think about which of those types I got that time. Exactly! The first one. The distance was at least three times the usual way (already 5km), It took me along a golf yard, through a village district and of course entered Zeist directly at the opposite end from where I live.

The evening in contrast indemnified for the long journey. We had dinner in “Het Rode Hart”, a club/bar/restaurant directly in the Stadium of Utrecht. Afterwards the guys from A-eskwadraat organized a comedynight with four stand-up comedians. It was really a funny evening.

Heisenberg and Schrödinger meet each other. Asks Schrödinger Heisenberg: Have you seen my cat? Heisenberg answers: I am not certain.