Welcome Blog


Hallo Klasgenoten (or "Hello Classmates" in Dutch) and anyone else who stumbles upon my blog!!! My name is Davis and I am a senior at Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX and I will be studying abroad in Amsterdam this summer! The topic of the study abroad program is Sexuality & Culture, and I know I have a slew of interesting knowledge regarding sex, sexual orientation, policy surrounding sex education, and much more coming my way. I'm excited to use this blog to document my experiences and am excited to see where this blog will take us! Expect to see reflections from our class sessions, guest speakers, excursions, and definitely about the food I eat along the way!

Fair warning, sexual content will be discussed, but I'll try to keep it PG-13 ;)



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2 weeks to go: Reflections before arrival

Image
Getting ready to depart for Amsterdam has made me think a lot about what this experience is going to entail. I had the amazing opportunity to study abroad last summer, and there are certain aspects of that experience that led me to want to study abroad again. Navigating new cities, trying new food, making cultural comparisons, and making new friends are all parts of studying abroad that had a huge impact on me and inspired me to come to Amsterdam. However, I also learned a lot about travel and what I don't want to replicate.  I tried my best to go with the flow and join others in pursuits they were in charge of rather than take charge myself. In addition, I did not do a lot of research on the cities I went to beforehand. I think having a deeper knowledge of what tourist sites are worth it/what to avoid, and having a context of the history of a city would make studying abroad a richer experience through and through. While my experience last summer was incredible, I want to take matt...
Read more

The Netherlands: A relatively tolerant history

Image
If you ask someone from the United States to describe the culture in the Netherlands, it is likely that they would say something along the lines of "open", "accepting", or "liberal." While today these descriptions may hold truth, we must consider how our current understanding of The Netherlands has been shaped over time. It is unlikely that the everyday American would be aware of the Dutch involvement in the slave trade, prosecuting inter-faith/inter-racial marriages, or the anti-immigration sentiment in The Netherlands.  On our first day of class, Chantal- the IES Center Director- gave us a run-down of how the Netherlands originated and developed throughout the years. Coming in with barely any knowledge of Dutch history, this has proved useful both in understanding our class, but also navigating Amsterdam more generally. Amsterdam's proximity to the water made it a prime location to facilitate trade, resulting in the Dutch East India Company (VOC) ris...
Read more