Getting to Rotterdam

It turns out my difficulty falling asleep on Saturday night was NOTHING compared with last night (Sunday). What a DISASTER! I made a point of getting to my room relatively early. I took a shower and put on my pajamas and was calmly working on my blog by 9:00 p.m. I finished the blog and read a chapter or two from my wonderful novel (The Golem and The Jinni), and turned out the light by 11:30.

Fortunately, before climbing into bed I had enough foresight to contact my son and request a "wakeup call" via Google chat (he's in Oregon, so it was only 9:30 p.m. when he called me at 6:30 local time). My watch battery died last month and I didn't replace it before leaving the U.S. so I was left without an alarm. It occurred to me that this strategy would work, and Thank God it did.

I tossed and turned forever (or so it seemed). I went through the entirety of Jane Eyre in my head, said prayers for all my loved ones, reviewed what I had read in my book, went back over JE one more time and STILL I couldn't fall asleep. I tried meditating, but I'm hopeless at that. I finally decided to just close my eyes and rest to the extent that was possible. Every time this happens to me (and fortunately, it doesn't occur all that often), I recall my mother telling me about consulting with our pediatrician about my poor sleep habits. His advice to her was just to keep me in my bed and allow me to self-soothe until I dropped off to sleep. I still try to do that. I figure, if nothing else, I AM resting.

Last night, though, it was especially important for me to sleep as I had to get up by half past 6 in order to get my tram to Amsterdam's Centraal Station, and the take the 7:49 train to Rotterdam. Getting up early was bad enough, but tonight is a marathon train ride with at least three stops and one four-hour layover (in Dusseldorf, I think). I must have dropped off, because the call for a Google chat did in fact awaken me, but I have no idea how long I was out. I've learned that, if nothing else, during bouts of insomnia, it's a really bad idea to keep an eye on the clock.

Well, the bottom line is, I made it to Rotterdam without incident.

Once here, I had to figure out how to find my tram to the university. After a couple of quasi-false starts, I did find the tram and hopped on. It's a bit more expensive here than it was in Amsterdam (3 Euro, as compared with 2,80), but it was clean and efficient. There is a LOT of construction going on around the train station, and around Erasmus University as well. Regardless, I made it here by the appointed time.

My first point of contact, Emma, is in charge of International Programs, and she couldn't have been more generous. She set me up with an office and internet access.

The office is a supply room with two desks, two phones, two desktops, cases of water, soda and BEER!!

My first engagement for the day was to sit in on a Master's seminar on Media Economics and Media Management.

My Rotterdam University colleague Matthijs Leendertse was a very personable, bright young man who gave a terrific lecture on Managing Globalization and Rapid Technological Change.

I learned a tremendous amount and will find a way of sharing what I can when I return to the states. Once he was done with his formal presentation, the idea was for me to join one of the student groups to eavesdrop on a task he had set them. As it turned out, Matt and I had a very stimulating conversation about his course, my courses, and world politics. Frankly, once we were on the topic of world politics, there was no stopping us. I never did eavesdrop on the students. By the time they were ready to report, it was time for me to go to lunch with two students and three members of staff. It's a pity I didn't hear what the students had to say, but I don't regret for an instant learning what Matt had to say. I felt we made a real point of contact.

I had lunch with the aforementioned group in the Faculty Club on the 17th floor of one the university's newish buildings.

The faculty club is a very elegant space, complete with a bar, where faculty and others can eat an elegant and quiet meal.

The view is spectacular.

It was wonderful to exchange information with both the staff and students about the value of study abroad programs, internships and aspirations. The undergraduate students were very bright young people with big dreams.

It is clear that they both anticipate going in to some business aspect of media--developing new products, working in PR, but also, getting Master's degrees along the way. The three staff members all had international study experience and all three had completed Master's degrees.

We talked about student exchanges--over 50% of Erasmus students participate in exchange programs--as well as the international student and faculty composition of the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication. "International" is really the key word to describe my experience here. It was very, very impressive.

After lunch, Jess, one of the young students who ate with us, escorted me to his Human Communication class, taught by Dr. Professor Joern Jansz.

Dr. Jansz is acquainted with one of my colleagues at UMD, as both have done extensive research on video games. As it happened, Dr. Jansz was lecturing on his research on two video games as part of a unit on Persuasion. He shared a study he conducted with one of his Ph.D. students wherein they were examining the potential for games to persuade players to change behaviors and attitudes.

The game was about fashion modeling, and he and his colleagues worked with a Dutch bank to see if the role of bank within the game could affect players' attitudes toward learning about banking and engaging in banking.

He shared ethical concerns with the group as well. One of the issues he addressed was that he, a middle-aged man, along with two female colleagues, were taking on the persona of "Minime," one of the characters in a game. "Minime" is a young female, so obviously, there is a concern about representation. He explained that he and his research colleagues had been criticized for having such a close working relationship with a commercial interest in this project. He presented his ethical retort by noting that his research group had formed very clear agreements with the bank that anything they discovered in the course of their research could be published.

The second research project he explained was for a game called Poverty is Not a Game, or PING. The research on this game was designed to explore attitudes and behaviors of players with respect to income inequality, and other political issues related to poverty. He found attitudes did change, but behaviors didn't. He was heartened by players' willingness to talk with others about politics, which he noted is essential for a functioning democracy, but the behavioral change piece is probably something which takes a longer time.

It was a very interesting lecture. It was also interesting to observe his classroom management style. Some things, it seems, are universal. He had to admonish at least three different groups to focus or stop talking.

After his lecture we returned to the Comm office building where we chatted with the Department Head about the possibilities for exchange. I think it's fair to say we all see tremendous possibilities for student exchanges, for short-term faculty exchanges, and more. We'll discuss more over dinner.

One of the graduate students from the morning seminar fetched me and took me on an extensive "walkabout". This young man really embodies the international quality of this campus. He was born in Hong Kong, moved to South Africa, where he grew up, move to the Netherlands to finish high school and started college, moved to the UK for a gap year (and hopes to return once he's completed his MA), and then returned here to complete his BA and MA. He was a wonderful host who gave me a flavor of this campus.

As I noted earlier, the campus is really under construction. Although the university is celebrating is centennial this year, I didn't see any older buildings. James, my guide, indicated a number of buildings which had just opened in September, or which had finished dramatic renovation this fall.

The buildings at Erasmus University have letter designations, rather than names. The Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication is located in the L-Building.

I snapped a great many photos of the campus buildings we visited to convey the atmosphere of the Campus Woudestein (there are two campuses).

My tour guide, James, started our tour at a building featuring numerous lecture halls.

I thought the colored seat backs added a little spirit to an otherwise standard classroom.

The campus features an Examination Hall building where the students sit for their major exams.

One of the more surprising features of the campus were the numerous bars. This one was my favorite.

This bar is run by students who volunteer their services in exchange for beer.

Another "new" building houses office space for student organizations, such as this one devoted to law students.

This particular building also housed the book store, notions store (cards, Erasmus-wear, etc.), and a Hair Salon!

The campus has many, many water features.

This makes sense in a country where water is so prevalent.

I think my favorite building was the one with the theaters. I thought the design was elegant.