Hello fellow CLS-ers! It’s been a while since I wrote, but it’s hard to find the time in between a testing schedule as rigorous as this last week has been. But the good news is that I am almost done! With a grand total of 34 participants (some tested, some signed up in the near future), I have met and exceeded the goals set for myself. As long as nothing horribly critical happens within these next few weeks (such as an EEG computer blowing up, or the college getting shut down due to some ridiculous reason), I should be arriving back in State College with a hard drive full of answers to the questions that the study I am conducting poses. Three cheers for college students desperate for money!
Testing itself I have found a certain passion in. Though I have worked in labs before, this is truly the first time I am single-handedly running an EEG study. I find it fascinating. There’s nothing more rewarding than watching the brainwaves flick across the computer screens as the participant listens to stimuli, to work with the electrodes until they elicit a response. I love working on my own, taking charge and feeling as independent as I ever have. It’s exciting and inspiring, and I have loved every moment I have spent thus far in the labs.
On a more personal and less academic note, I have also found the time to do more traveling around the country. This past weekend I, along with two other American psycholinguistics interns I befriended, traveled to The Hoge Veluwe National Park. Once a baseline fee has been paid to enter the park itself, visitors are encouraged to grab one of the thousand bikes free for the day’s transport. My friends and I each grabbed a bike and set out, making our way through forest trails and paved roads, taking in the changing landscape and the wildlife that the Netherlands has to offer. Before long we found ourselves in the Dunes of Loon—a desert landscape trapped in the middle of a heavily forested area. We stopped along a roadside vendor and practiced our heavy-tongued Dutch as we ordered our lunch, sat down in an empty field nearby and ate as we soaked up the warm weather and baking sun. It was a gorgeous day. We stopped at a museum placed near the entrance of a park and walked its interiors, taking time to admire Van Gogh’s famous The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum. After that we made our way to the exit—taking our time biking on more forest trails-and eventually headed back towards Nijmegen.
The idea of leaving for home at this point is incredibly bittersweet. I miss my family and my friends, of course, and the unquestioned speech of my own language (though I have learned a small amount of Dutch, I am nowhere near proficient enough to maintain a conversation), but the idea of leaving Nijmegen so soon is a melancholy thought. I like the long walks downtown, growing frustrated at my stupid secondhand bike that acts like a moody teenager, the flowers, and the lukewarm temperatures. I like being able to hop on a train and arrive anywhere in the country in just a matter of a few hours. But most of all, I love the research and the autonomy of running my own study. These are all things that took me quite a while to fully enjoy, and now that I have, I see the number of days ticking away quietly. As of this moment, I will have a mere three weeks until I am required to leave my apartment, and a mere three weeks and four days before I will be jumping on a plane and crossing the Atlantic. Oh, how time moves so quickly.
But since there’s nothing I can do at this point to stop time in its tracks, I intend wholeheartedly to throw myself into everything I do over the course of these next few weeks. I really hope to take advantage of every spare hour that Nijmegen has to offer. Already I have at least one trip to Utrecht planned for the upcoming weekend, and a total of nine participants to test before the week comes to a close. I have grocery shopping to do and plans with the friends I have made, a Game of Thrones finale to look forward to (though let’s be real—this last season has deviated way too far from the books and I’m not too happy about it), Grote Markt’s constant appearances downtown, and last minute souvenir shopping to do for those who are back in the States. I have plenty to keep me busy, whether it’s international traveling or mundane chores such as laundry. But everything I do here, no matter how minute, is amazing for no other reason than I’m doing it while living in a foreign country.
And if you ask me, that’s pretty dang cool.
Until next time,
Laura