'What Are Your Plans Over Vacation?'
For Dutch students this consists of journeying home for the Christmas holidays. Mark de Jonge plans to spend Christmas with his family in Groningen, but not before a little fun with his buddies as they head over to a German disco for their annual Guys Only Night. Amber Walraven, will jet off to Dublin for a long weekend with her boyfriend before returning to her family in Den Ham. Like her peers, she is adamant about relaxing with 'no studying at all.'
Many international graduate students also plan to trek home to celebrate Christmas. Krzysztof Wrobel will return to Poland where he intends to eat, drink, and rest 'without doing anything connected with the job.'
For a few Spanish AIOs, the merrymaking had already begun Friday afternoon in the EF cafeteria. There they sat playing guitar, singing everything from Christmas carols to a novel rendition of Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven.' Elena Bartoleme will spend half the vacation with loved ones in her native Zaragoza, Spain. But for New Year's Eve, she and her Dutch husband will return to ring in the new year with her in-laws. No work for Elena because she just submitted a final draft of her dissertation! Luis Fernandez intends to spend the entire vacation home in Zaragoza, Spain where he will be reunited with his girlfriend. With her, he will celebrate Christmas with family, while New Year's Eve is reserved for friends. New Year's Day hardly matters for Luis as he doubts he will return from the all night fiesta before 10 in the morning. Javier Olivßn, the guitar strumming se±or, described a Spanish tradition which takes place at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. At each chime of the clock in Madrid, enthusiastic revelers all over Spain pop one green grape, toasting with Caba once they have consumed all twelve grapes.
What about AIOs who live thousands of kilometers from home? Thailand native Apirome Kuntha plans to explore Europe. With a group of friends, he will travel to Italy, France, and Switzerland, where he will try skiing for the first time. He says that his first Christmas away from home was sad, but now calling his family is enough to dissipate a few stray pangs of homesickness. H³seyin Ízdemir normally returns to Turkey for the holidays, but this year his wife Belgin is pregnant with their first child. So they will remain in Enschede, resting, relaxing, and avoiding anything to do with work.
In case you were wondering, Rector van Vught, some students do intend to work over vacation. For Jarjani his native Indonesia is too far away. After a short trip to Germany with friends, he will spend most of the vacation preparing final projects. Erik-Jan Slot will spend the requisite two days with his family in Zuidwolde and Veenendaal and then continue his internship with the Zoetermeer police. But Jarjani and Erik-Jan are in the minority, most students will spend vacations combating the modern calamity of stress, by taking their mind off work.
