‘My name is Lie and I will pick you up from Schiphol on February 1st to guide you to Groningen. I’m a Chinese looking girl, wearing a red jumper and I’ll wait for you at the red/white cubical thing at Schiphol.’ Every time the new semester begins, Lie sends this kind of email to international students who are about to start their study abroad at Hanze University of Applied Sciences (UAS).
Lie is a fourth-year student of Biology and Medical Laboratory Research at Hanze UAS. The letter contains two keys words about Lie’s life: ‘Chinese looking’ and ‘pick-up’.
I have a sister with blue eyes and blonde hair. When we hang out together, people can’t believe we are family.
‘I come from a family with three kids and I am the oldest,’ Lie says, ‘My bother and I were both adopted from China. I was adopted in Guiyang and my brother is from Chengdu.’ Lie’s parents also have a daughter of their own, ‘ I have a sister with blue eyes and blonde hair. When we hang out together, people can’t believe we are family.’
‘During winter and summer holidays, we have two extra Hungarian siblings. They are kids who live in a children’s home because their parents cannot take care of them. During the summer and winter they visit us to have a ‘real’ holiday with a family. We are a very international family.’
Lie was adopted at four, she still has some memories of China but they are very fuzzy. She became a totally Dutch girl except for her appearance. ‘I can only count to ten in Chinese. Yi, ar, san, se, wu, liu, she, ba…she? I can’t write it, even the sound is pretty difficult.’
Funny things often occur because of her appearance. ‘I went for diner with a Greek guy and the waiter came to our table and started talking Dutch to us, so I replied in Dutch, which surprised him. But then he greeted the Greek guy in Dutch and he couldn’t understand it. It was confusing for the waiter because I don’t look Dutch but I speak Dutch, and the Greek guy looked Dutch, but he wasn’t,’ Lie says. But that was just a minor inconvenience. When Lie went to China, it was way worse. ‘It was a nightmare, because people kept talking Chinese to me!’
The main goal is to bring the students to their dorm, but also to give them other necessary information
Her Chinese appearance sometimes also causes more serious problems. ‘Some people say “go back to your own country” to me. Sometimes it’s better to respond with a joke. One day I took a bus in Amsterdam and some guys said ‘look at the foreign girl, what does she do here, why doesn’t she go back?’ When I left the bus, I just said “have a nice day” in Dutch, and they looked really surprised.’ Lie says and laughs. Situations like this don’t bother her very much. Lie considers her country and the people to be open-minded and open to different races and nationalities.
‘People tend to be aware of foreigners, you know, it’s part of humanity,’ Lie says. ‘My parents told me that when they adopted me from China, there were people in the street who told their kids that if they don’t behave well, European people will take them.’
Lie had the opportunity to visit the country in which she was born. ‘I visited many places in China, not only big cities but also small villages.’ Lie says, ‘ it’s pretty hard to give my impression of China as a whole, it’s a beautiful country but it’s large and complicated. I have seen big cities in China, which are the same as London and Paris. But there are really small villages in the middle of nowhere. It’s sort of surprising that they can exist next to each other.’
Some of Lie’s knowledge about China and other countries comes from international students she has picked up from the airport. ‘Last semester I picked up a Chinese exchange student named James. He told me a lot of things about China and I really liked listening to his stories about China instead of watching TV.’
‘New international students are offered the option to be picked up when they arrive in the Netherlands, the International Student Office (ISO) announces that students will arrive at a certain day and time and students from Hanze UAS can inform the ISO if they are able to do a pick-up. The pick-upper goes to Schiphol, Eelde Airport or the train station of Groningen and waits there for the new student.’ Lie says, ‘The main goal is to bring the students to their dorm, but also to inform them about Welcoming Day and give them other necessary information. ‘
‘Sometimes it is a little tiring. Having to get up early is the worst part. Sometimes people have trouble with the train. In the summer, I got a last-minute call of someone asking me if I wanted to help pick-up a large group. Because the trains were delayed a few hours, there wasn’t much time to bring the people home, so I asked some people I picked up a week before to take a student to his dorm.’
Lie remembers the longest wait during pick-up. It wasn’t for her, but for the student she was supposed to pick up around 15 o’clock. ‘But there were troubles with the train, so I called the student and said I would be a little later. And then again and again.’ Lie says, ‘I was at Schiphol around 19 o’clock and then we had to go back. But because the troubles with the train were still not over, we had to change trains and busses a lot. The student had tons of luggage as well. It wasn’t fun at all.’
‘However I enjoy traveling by train and picking up people.’ Lie says, ‘One of the funniest things is that sometimes you are supposed to pick up one or two students, but you arrive at the dorm with three or even more. One time I picked up one girl, but she brought her dad and when we arrived at the dorm, four other people had followed us, so I arrived there with six instead of one.’
‘It is funny to hear prejudices that new students have about the Netherlands.’ Lie says. ‘I remember a girl who kept asking me about ‘typical Dutch things’; she thought everyone here was using drugs and was gay, which was surprising and very funny to hear for me. A lot of students do wonder where the coffee shops are, though. And they are curious about the red light districts as well.’
‘I guess it’s nice for those students to have a guide and I like to meet new people and learn about life in other counties. It’s a win-win situation!’
