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Just over a week ago at 4 July the air was beautiful in the evening around 22pm.
 4 July 22pm; the sky viewed from my balcony in Wageningen Today, a major storm passed the country with thunder and lightning, wind gusts and heavy rain. Wageningen wasn’t hit so badly, but for an hour the sky was dark, the wind was really strong and the rain was intense.
 14 July 2010 19pm; view on the storm from my balcony in Wageningen  14 July 2010 19pm; view on the storm from my balcony in Wageningen
The Netherlands = occasionally high temperatures (>30 degrees C) for a couple of days = thunderstorms after these few days = major problems
For the last days temperatures were high throughout the country and as usual the expected thunderstorms arrived on Saturday evening. After a beautiful day watching baseball at the Haarlemse Honkbalweek 2010 I spend the evening and night at my parents house. Soon after the start of the World Championship match for place 3 and 4 a big thunderstorm arrived together with poring rain and wind gusts.
We had no problems at all but didn’t notice that some parts of the country were having problems. This, I discovered the next afternoon when I was heading home to Wageningen. From Uithoorn to Amsterdam-Bijlmer-Arena everything was normal. Soon I heard a call from the speakers that no train traffic was possible between Bijlmer-Arena and Schiphol. I wasn’t too bothered by it, since I had to go in the other direction. However, the repetition of the call claimed that no traffic was possible between Bijlmer-Arena, Utrecht and Schiphol. Now I was bothered, cause I had to go over Utrecht.
At first I waited to see what was going to happen, because normally they explain what the alternatives are. Nothing happened and several other passengers tried to find out what to do. Suddenly a train stopped at a different platform, which was going to Utrecht and Nijmegen. I tried to get in, but was too late, as were many others. The NS personnel said that that train wasn’t supposed to stop, and that it was, for sure, the last one going to Utrecht. I wasn’t sure what to do, go back to Uithoorn and try later, or try to find another way. Finally, together with some others I decided to go to Amsterdam Amstel and from there to Utrecht (via Bijlmer-Arena). That train was also delayed, and just in time we went for the tram. After one transfer we arrived at Amstel.
Luckily, trains were driving from Amstel to Utrecht. I got a crowded, delayed train going all the way to my final destination. About 45 minutes later than planned I was home.
The problem???
Lightning stroke at several places around Utrecht causing major problems at the tracks.
After my graduation I hoped that I could find a job quite easily but soon after the start of my interest for the job market I discovered that it is not easy at all. Most companies have a very limited number of vacancies, especially in environmentally related jobs. This is because the government stops all its funding to environmentally favorable projects during an economic crisis. Unfortunately for me, this means that it is hard to find a nice job. At least for now.
Since I returned to Wageningen after my internship I was sitting home. Not yet bored but after a month, right around my graduation, I wanted to do something relevant again. And so I asked the professor of Meteorology and Air Quality, the research group where I graduated, if he had some work for me for a few months. Amazingly, he offered me a full time job for four months, starting the beginning of April. Two employees just stopped and therefore there was a gap in teaching capacity. He hired me as a teaching assistant to assist a course for bachelor students in May and June. Before the start of the course there is time to prepare the teaching material and in July I can write an article about my thesis work or help around where necessary.
After Easter, at April 6, I started my professional career with this temporary job. Now, two weeks later, I really enjoy the work, although I still have to get used to working full time. For the course I have to develop teaching material together with an employee. He gives me a lot of freedom so I can make my own little project. It’s nice to have this freedom and it’s a real challenge to develop good material. In two weeks time I will assist the first students. Then we will see if I’m a natural teacher and whether they understand my project.
Last Tuesday the research group went a day out and I could join them. Some PhD students organized the trip. We gathered at Ede-Wageningen from which the took the train to Nijmegen. Apparently, the group is rich, since we traveled first class! In the morning we did a puzzle walk through the city. However, my group was more interested in the many terraces, cause the weather was really nice. So we didn’t see a lot of the city but even with a few answers to the puzzles, we were able to find the solution!
In the afternoon we went to a museum called “MuZIEum“. This is an experience museum about seeing and not seeing. Some optical illusions showed how your eyes can fool your brain and vice versa. Another part was dedicated to not seeing: how does braille work, how to use a computer by sound, how to play games without seeing. We could experience this ourselves by writing with braille and by playing games blindfolded. Four-in-a-row and “mens-erger-je-niet” in which shapes and marks tell you what is your pawn or how much you threw with the dice. The games were doable but it took ages. In the last part we experienced how it is to be completely blind. In small groups we were let into the pitch black with a stick used my blind people and with a nearly blind or blind person as our guide. We were guided into several rooms, each with aspects from daily live: a study area with desk, chair and cuddly-animal, a balcony with fresh air and plants, a bridge, trains, dogs, birds, bikes, cars, a traffic light with sound to cross the road complete with stepping from the sidewalk to the street and back, a market with vegetables, fruit and clothes, and a bar in which we had a drink after paying (yes, still in the dark). By completely trusting the guide, using the stick and by hearing, smelling and feeling we all made it through the dark and back in the ‘terrible’ light again.
It was a very unique experience and quite exhausting cause you’re still trying to see things, and you’re not used to only hearing so every sound is much louder than normally. After the muZIEum we enjoyed another drink at a terrace. Some went home but most stayed for dinner. With a nicely filled stomach we went back to Wageningen, appreciating our sight!
Last Tuesday 23 March 2010 I got my master degree. During an official ceremony with 9 other students the head of Environmental Sciences handed over my master degree. A few weeks ago I had to answer some questions and so had my supervisors of my thesis and internship. With these answer the head was able to make a speech without even meeting her before. She had a nice talk and apparently my supervisors were pleased with how I worked in their research group based on the good evaluation they gave me.
After the ceremony we had some drinks in Hotel De Wereld; the famous hotel were the negotiations took place for the Germans to surrender and which ended World War II. I didn’t want to end this special day right there and so my parents, brothers, grandparents and two friends joined me in my room for some more drinks and a nice dinner. Everyone brought flowers and gifts, so my room was nicely crowded with people and presents.
But just celebrating the end of my student life for only one day was not enough. Last night I invited friends and family to have a drink in a bar in Wageningen. With a small group I had a wonderful time to fully celebrate my achievements. My dad gave a nice speech and because I had to follow this, I also said some words. After a really nice evening with more presents and fun I was completely satisfied with celebrating my new title:
Suzanne Visser BSc is now Suzanne Visser MSc!
As I’m almost graduated for my master degree it is time to leave my student life and start my career. Yesterday, at the National Career Market, I gave this a start. All kinds of companies had a stand in the RAI in Amsterdam and during the day workshop were given. I followed a workshop about the future of engineers, one about argumentation during job interviews and one about personal branding. This last one was about who you are and how a company is in terms of its culture, and how to match you as a person with the right company. I thought it would be interesting but it was rather disappointing. This feeling was shared by a lot of persons as many people left the room during the workshop. The first two workshops were interesting and quite useful. The speaker in the argumentation workshop had a very good way to keep the crowds attention. This was necessary as people were sitting everywhere to attend it (couple of hundred people). Everyone had a green and red paper and had to stand. By asking questions with a green and a red answer we showed what we thought was the right answer. The ones that were wrong had to sit down until one person won. After the first question about half the crowd was still standing and after two question some 50 were left. And I? I survived the first question.
Besides the workshops I visited a couple of stands from companies working in my area of interest. But as it was really crowded everywhere I had to wait every time before someone was available to talk to. And every time I started talking to someone and discovered immediately that he or she didn’t know about my area, so I had to wait again until the right person had time. A bit annoying but in the end I got quite some information and a good feeling about the work that is done. It was a good way to informally meet companies and to learn what kind of questions I have to ask and the things I have to know before I can do job interviews.
I was pretty luckily on my way back to Wageningen. From the RAI I took the tram to Amsterdam Amstel and there I saw that an interruption between Utrecht and Arnhem was just over and the trains were starting to go again. The only consequence of this was that the trains were chock full but somehow I found a place to sit. Everyone stopped at the balconies but I entered the seating areas to find a place to stand but luckily there was just one seat left. My sore feet were very pleased with that  At Utrecht the train almost emptied but became full again with people waiting over there. Without problems but pretty tired I arrived back in Wageningen.
So now the time has come to have a detailed look at the websites of the companies and apply to them in order to find a good and nice job.
This dates back about 2.5 years ago. It was the summer before I was going to start my master study in Wageningen. I was in the car with my parents and two brothers and we were talking about my study. I can’t remember exactly what I was talking about but out of nowhere one of my brothers asked me to bet. If I will finish my master study before my brother finishes his PhD he will buy me a dinner and vice versa. If everything would have gone according to plan I should have finished in June 2009 and my brother in August 2009. However, things were different. My brother finished in October 2009 and I?
I will graduate in three weeks.
So I lost the bet and I owed my brother a dinner. Last night we went to a Spanish restaurant called “Toledo” in Wageningen and enjoyed a very nice and delicious dinner.
Maybe I will try to come up with a bet which I’m sure I will win…no, just kidding. We had a great evening and it was a nice excuse to have dinner with one of my brothers.
Yesterday I attended “Bewegen op muziek” (aerobics) at the university’s sports center. Last year I used to do this on Wednesday evenings with quite a large crowd of girls. Now I went on a Thursday afternoon. It was exceptionally quiet due to the study week for the exams of coming week. With only 4! girls the teacher thought it would be nice to adjust the program. So after our warming up and about 20 min movements on music we installed a pole for pole dancing. The teacher showed us some movements after which we could try them. And that is much harder than you think! We did some turns and were hanging upside down at the pole. It was really funny to do. And today? Aching muscles and a few bruises. Hopefully swimming will loosen up my muscles again.
 Galway - Kennedy Park surrounded by Eyre Square The last week of my internship was a tough one. In just four days I had to revise my whole report of almost 50 pages with the last comments on about half the document only two days before the deadline. On Monday I could only work until 4:00 because of my volleyball training. In the evening I had a dinner in the Boardwalk restaurant with the research group because some guy finished his PhD. It is a tradition that people who finish their stay within the group get a free dinner. As surprised as I was when I tried to pay, I got a free meal. The food was really good. I started with a chicken bacon salad, followed by salmon with spinach and concluded with a banoffee pie.
The following two days I worked as much and as fast as I could which resulted in 9:00 to 18:30 days followed by almost two hours after dinner. On Thursday I had to finish the report and because progress was slow I finally sent my report at 00:15 to my supervisors. Pleased that it was finished I started somewhat later on my last day. That Friday I arranged all kind of things and half way the afternoon I said goodbye to everyone. They surprised me with a card at which they all had written something and a few presents.
My internship had finished. I’m very happy about what I’ve done and learned during these few months. A very good choice!
 Sunset at Galway Bay from Causeway In my last weekend it was time for my last trip through Ireland. I decided to go to Galway and Connemara. Galway is a city at the west coast about halfway between the south and north point of Ireland. With a large student population it’s a very lively city even in winter. After a 3.5 hrs bus ride from Cork to Galway I checked in in Kinlay House Hostel after which I spend the afternoon wandering through the city. The boulevard was especially nice.
In the evening I made a small trip but being really tired of the hard work of last weeks and the cold I went to my room quite early. There I met my three female roommates. We chatted for a while but then they went out for dinner and a pub and I read for a moment before going to bed.
 The deserted famine village
For the next day I had booked a bus tour through Connemara. With Healy’s Connemara and Galway Bay Tours I saw the spectacular landscape north west of Galway. After leaving Galway we drove west along Galway Bay and through the deserted famine village. Some two hundred years ago the Catholics were banned to this area of Ireland where nothing will grow on the land. However, they found that by mixing the top layer with sea weed potatoes could grow. But because there were so many people and the land was scarce everyone lived along the roads while the land was divided in small pieces with stony walls. When a potato disease destroyed all the food almost everyone died leaving the stony walls and a deserted land.
 Kylemore Abbey & Gardens After this strange landscape we drove through a beautiful landscape with mountains, valleys, lakes and many sheep. This area is Gaeltacht, an area where the Gaeltacht or Irish language is spoken and preserved. People are only allowed to live there if they can speak Irish, work in the area and have the intention to stay there. The tour continued to Kylemore Abbey and Gardens. The abbey was built as a castle in 1871 but converted to an abbey in 1920 after changing ownership. It is now run by nuns but unfortunately due to lack of money the day school for local girls just closed while the last girls of the international boarding school will leave in June. The abbey and gardens are now totally depended on tourism. The garden is in progress of restoration and is already nice to see even though it was winter. The ground floor of the abbey is open for public and shows the original castle.
After this cultural part of the day we drove back to Galway through the valleys and along the banks of the large Lough Corrib. This bus tour from 10:00 to 17:15 was followed by my return journey to Cork. At 18:30 I entered the bus again and left it at 22:50. Instead of just under 3.5 hrs it took 4.5 hrs because of a traffic accident. Despite this long journey home I had a great last weekend with good weather in a beautiful part of Ireland.
Click here for the other pictures.
 Packed baggage in Cork  The airplane to take me back to the Netherlands The following day I packed my bags, had my last volleyball training and said goodbye to my housemates. On Tuesday I returned back in the Netherlands without any trouble. There my parents and one of my brothers surprised me at the airport and brought me back home.
A very nice, learning full experience has come to an end…  The banner with which my parents and brothers surprised me at the airport
From 1824 to 1923 Cork had a prison at the north side of the river at Sunday’s Well Road. It is now open for the public to experience the prison life.
It was not as spectacular as I expected but still being in a former prison does something with you. It confirms how importance it is to stay outside one in operation because it is no fun at all.
For some pictures, click here.
On Sunday 17 January I went to Bantry. Bantry is a small village on the west coast of Ireland overlooking Bantry Bay. The area is heavily influenced by the Gulf Stream creating a mild climate with heavy rainfall allowing semi-tropical plant growth. With the ocean on one side and mountains on the other side this village is beautifully situated.
I was quite lucky with the weather. During the week Cork had a lot of rain and although the forecast looked promising, you never no in Ireland, especially near the coast. With a perfectly blue sky in Cork but increasing cloud cover during the two hour bus drive to the west I wasn’t surprised to end up in rain just before arriving in Bantry. Luckily it was dry again when I left the bus and only one short shower after half an hour or so was all the water falling from the sky.
With a mix of clouds and sun and temperatures around 4 degrees it was chilly but nice and relaxing to be out for a day.
Check the pictures here.
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