Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Delft life and Gothenburg in a week

So far, so good. It's been an eventful three weeks and promises only to get busier with the research end of things.

The month began with me (finally) checking out of my hotel, and heading to the university to do my lecture. The staff here have access to faculty bicycles that can be checked out for the day to get around the expansive campus. The lecture room happened to indeed be on the other side of campus and I only half-regret that my rocky attempt to take off on a bicycle too big for me, with a laptop strapped to my back was not documented. Perhaps for the best that only a few Dutch students witnessed this ;) I managed to eventually get going on it (don't ask) and it does get the heart going before lecture!

The students in the cross-cultural management course are a sharp bunch and we had a lively discussion afterwards about game addiction and what it means from a policy standpoint. I enjoy this group quite a bit, and have in subsequent weeks gotten into a mentorship role, providing feedback on their final projects, etc.

Home life: I'm living in a convenient apartment in the heart of Delft. It's a beautiful building built in 1899 and designed by architect Versteeg. Yes, I live in a tourist attraction. So I'm not adopting the traditional Dutch manner of leaving my curtains open, especially while tourists may be inclined take pictures that include my mundane activities!

While wrangling the predictable intricacies of doing research at the university, figuring out home life has been interesting. Little things, like how paper recycling is on Tuesdays and paper piles are left out in seemingly random spots with no designated bins (at least where I am). And then general garbage is out on Wednesdays, again with the little piles. Plastics get included in the general garbage, while glass and metal are a little ways off with bins at city hall and/or the supermarket. And so on, and so on. Figuring out the idiosyncrasies of the trains and how credit cards in general are viewed with suspicion (and not accepted in many places!) has also been an adventure of sorts.

Distances have also gotten closer, with the recent acquisition of a bicycle. After riding on the rack of yet another kind friend, I decided that enough was enough and in a way, a bicycle here is participation in society. It reminded me of how opting into games was a similar ticket to social life in other cultures! Bikes. Games. Hmm.

One week to AoIR in Sweden. I'm presenting the afternoon of my birthday, if you care to take a look at the program it's here>>

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