Home and Graduated

So the year in Leiden is over. I have returned to the USA with my Masters Degree in tow. What an incredible ten months I had in the Netherlands! Such an amazing country, people, and environment. I have only been back a short time but it is quite a different feel in the states. Everything is so much bigger and faster. Maybe that is just the reverse culture shock settling in. I am sure it will take a few more weeks to clear out the Dutch air and replace it with American.

But life must go on and as one chapter closes, another opens up...
With that I leave you with some final pictures.

From the Dutch-Denmark Friendly Match




















Dutch Countryside












Master of Science in Public Administration!

OWisOR- “Our World is Our Responsibility”

“Our World is Our Responsibility”
An International Students’ Conference

LEIDEN, THE NETHERLANDS – As Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars left their home countries
to gain experience in a new living and social environment, six scholars currently studying in the
Netherlands organized an international students’ conference inspiring young people to begin
paving their own paths to impact the world.

On April 5, 2008, at the Kammerlingh Onnes

Building, the home of the Faculty of Law at Leiden
University, over one-hundred attendees actively
participated in a full day of lectures and in-depth
discussions surrounding humanitarian topics of
Built Environment, Peace, Food Security, Health,
& Ecology. Attendees included university students
from all over the world, fellow Rotarians, Rotary
Scholars, and alumni of various Rotary educational
programs. The conference speakers were a varied
mix of academics and real-world practitioners,
which also included Rotarians from other clubs
around Europe. As a result of the gracious
sponsorship by local Dutch Rotary Clubs and the time donated by the speakers, the attendees
were able to participate at no cost.

The speakers provoked and challenged the participants to think and question issues regarding
climate change, peace and conflict dilemmas, and unequal distribution of resources. Kentaro
Hayashi, who is simultaneously a current Rotary Scholar and a doctor-volunteer with Doctors
without Borders, spoke about his experiences in conflict zones around the world, which included
a recent trip to Iraq.

Annabelle Slingerland, a Dutch
physician, spoke at the conference about her work with
Kid’s Chain for Diabetes and the importance of taking
a holistic and pro-active approach to managing
pediatric health issues.
A Rotarian from Germany, Paul-Josef Ziesler gave a
detailed presentation on Rotary’s World Community
Service programs with a focus on women’s health in
developing countries. He inspired participants to
engage in such work in third-world countries. In
addition, Jos de Krieger, an architect with 2012
Architects, discussed the need for reusing waste
materials in designing sustainable architecture. A
former Rotary Scholar, Shital Dixit, presented her
doctorate dissertation on how the environment and
climate change can have a significant impact on food
production.



The conference was capped off by a Rotarian from Scotland and Keynote speaker, Robert
Thompson, who spoke about his Group Study Exchange experience with Rotary’s clean water
project, which thus inspired the audience to become engaged and active citizens to help face the
challenge of humanitarian issues worldwide. The conference was concluded by a panel
discussion of all speakers where attendees were given the opportunity to ask questions about how they can get involved in humanitarian related projects.
After the long day, conference attendees and speakers further discussed issues and got to know
each other at a reception and dinner held at Het Koetshuis de Burcht, Leiden. District Governor of District 1600 Hans Meerburg was in attendance and was very impressed by the conference. At the reception, he noted that such a conference should be an annual event.

Overall, the conference was very successful, and attendees walked away with new ideas, a
greater understanding of Rotary International, and an awareness of a personal mission.

Thank you for the financial support of the following Rotary Clubs:
- Rotary Club Amsterdam Hoog-Zuid, the Netherlands
- Rotary Club Deft-Vermeer, the Netherlands
- Rotary Club Leiden, the Netherlands
- Rotary Club Lisse-Bollenstreek, the Netherlands
- Rotary Club Zoetermeer, the Netherlands
- Rotary District 1590 & 1600

OWisOR Organizing Committee (L to R): Matt Hill, USA,
Elisa Mayes, USA, Janita Han, Malaysia, Christin Reynolds, USA,

Katrina Perehudoff, Canada, and David Nguyen, USA

Koninginnedag

It was Koningnnedag here in the Netherlands yesterday. It is a national holiday to celebrate the birthday of the Dutch Queen's mother. But basically it is just another excuse to drink beer. Now most people associate the day with the party Amsterdam, but Leiden too has an excellent festival. This year they even had the world's best DJ play here. Armin van Buuren is his name and he was actually born here. I went down and listened to the music and found it to be pretty good. So with that I leave you with this...

Have We Lost Our Ability?

So I came across this article in the BBC the other night,

Danish PM jogs with Facebook fans

Denmark's Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has gone jogging with about 100 people he met through the social networking website Facebook.

It goes on to say,

One of his Danish Liberal Party aides, Soeren Lauridsen, said Mr Rasmussen was enthusiastic about Facebook as a way of connecting with ordinary Danes.
"He has 12,000 supporters now on Facebook - he's only just behind [California Governor] Arnold Schwarzenegger, and he's the Europe Facebook champion," Mr Lauridsen said.
and "for him it's a way to reach a lot of people who are not specifically political", Mr Lauridsen added.

Now this is great, but it got me thinking. When does something like this happen in the US? I could never imagine this taking place. Sure our leaders engage the public but is anyone being innovative and fresh with their approach? It is as if there is a disconnect between the elected and the population, both functioning separately in their own world. The appearance is that the elected only enter the public sphere when the must make a speech to explain something or defend something. Never for the reason as simple as a desire to listen to the people. But really have our politicians become so disconnected from the populace? I scan the newspapers everyday and I find nothing about our American leaders, both local and national, doing much to reach out to and listen to citizens' opinions. This of course comes when 81% of Americans thinks our country is headed in the wrong direction. So again I ask, what is going on?

While you ponder that, here are a few more pictures from the Keukenhof.

A View From Abroad...

I am a bit busy with the thesis at the moment. But I have had a few side thoughts the past couple of days. Trouble is stirring in the US. No doubt about it. Look in the News. We have this example,

Retailing Chains Caught in a Wave of Bankruptcies
The consumer spending slump and tightening credit markets are unleashing a widening wave of bankruptcies in American retailing, prompting thousands of store closings that are expected to remake suburban malls and downtown shopping districts across the country.


And this...


Foreclosures Jump 57 Percent in Last 12 Months
Home foreclosure filings surged 57 percent in the 12 month-period ended in March and bank repossessions soared 129 percent from a year ago, as homeowners struggled to make mortgage payments, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said on Tuesday.

What do people think?

Aside from all of this stuff I have been enjoying the nice weather. This is one thing I did recently. A few pictures from the amazingly beautiful Keukenhof Gardens.

Holland and a Controversial Film

So while I finish all of my work at the end of the third quarter there has been an interesting debate taking place here in Dutch society. This right-wing politician, Geert Wilders, recently released a film about how Islam is an extreme religion. He is very nationalist and has been hammering away on this issue of Muslims and immigrants for many years now. Due to this, he has in my opinion, successfully managed to chip away at the notion of Dutch tolerance in society. Instead now there is an ever increasing anti-immigrant resentment forming in the country. This also stems from two previous, high profile killings of public figures that have been used as 'evidence' to demand a more homogeneous society instead of the multiculturalist society that Holland used to be famous for. While the film is not as bad as people originally thought it would be, it is still interesting to view. What are your thoughts?

Money is a Beach

So the American economy is tanking at the moment. Quite an interesting time to be living in Europe. Unfortunately, there is little left for me to do except make it through my studies and hope for the best. It really is crazy to see headlines from the paper saying, "Dollars tough to sell on streets of Amsterdam." I mean the dollar has lost 10 cents in the last month and over 20% of its value since I arrived in August.

While I am not going to get into the reasons for why this dollar predicament is happening conveniently while I am in Europe, I think it is still very important for not only Americans but other internationals to think of the repercussions that the collapse of the dollar could have. I think this exchange rate graph nicely sums up the extremes of this decline...









So with that I leave you some pictures from the beach which is only about 10 kilometers from here and still is free to attend!