I know only one person that didn’t complain about the life
in the Netherlands. And no person that didn’t complain about the PhD process,
making it difficult to close a loop if two parts of a chain fail to fulfill the
task.
Complaining about the Netherlands, despite all the benefits
of a highly developed place? Having the best roads in Europe, having one of the
best public transportation networks and the Schiphol airport, we can easily understand,
don’t mean anything if stuck in traffic jams and unable to find a seat in the commuting
train. A relatively higher salary doesn’t mean much if you cannot complement it
with social comfort and connectivity. All mentioned doesn’t bother if you
grew up into this environment, but can annoy the stranger to great extent.
Considering the PhD process, the chance given to the student
of science is lessened to great extend because the candidates are actually not
students of science by themselves. The difficulty in selection, the hard-skills
dominant criteria upon selection due to multiculturalism and the excess of positions
fueled with the need of scientific growth opens the door to students not
actually interested in science and exploration, but rather in craft
development. Many will however argue that science has for long been shifting
its focus from its original natural philosophy
to utilization philosophy. If one
is interested in craft development and finds a wide plain valley instead, discomfort
kicks in, usually emphasizing the lack of structure and knowledge imposed by
the hierarchy after stronger work doesn’t yield any improvements.
When one arrives in the Netherlands, she and he is impressed
by the easiness of dealing with administration. Almost every step is done via
an internet connection. The oldfashioned buildings add to the visual charm, and
the coolness of the weather to the clearness of the mind. You see a great
extent of equality of social ranks and an inability to distinguish the social etiquette,
except the genetically given physical attributes. You are not dominated by the
Dutch language, and find it easy to communicate. If you catch a youngster group
going back home, you feel a happy calmness in the group temper. If you see a
barbeque celebration on a grass field during spring time, you feel an ignorant
carefreeness.
This carefreeness sometimes breaks the whole illusion. You
think about the randomness of their carefreeness and the lucky circumstances of
having Shell and Germany dominating their GDP, combined with the famous Dutch
Golden Age consequences, notoriously intervened not solely with the great
spirit of exploration, but also with the spirit of colonial slavery.
During the next phase, you praise the innovative responses
to many of the unfavorable geographical circumstances that led to strong
engineering mindsetting.
Putting aside the more factual surroundings, the feeling of
living in the Netherlands is dominated by quietness. The great quality of the
film festivals, jazz festivals, DJ scene, modern art scene, modern and
classical ballet and other institutionally supported life enhancers can to some
extend balance this quietness that manifests itself not only in boredom, but also
in a slow and unobservable decay in life quality for a person that did not grew
immune to it. This feeling is easily explored by looking at the non-existing
street culture and manifested in the land flatness!
In addition to that, the PhD programs are dominated by
foreigners creating a cultural melting pot bubble. If a person is used to rally
the struggles of the scientific exploration on the other life aspects, we see a
clear chain dropout. Joy in science and the ability to connect to abstract happiness
are very close aspects that we all had trouble finding within the described
combinations.
Both aspects create a great potential to which many were
allowed to attach to, but plentifully forget the kindness of this allowance.
All the struggles seem like an undersampling aliasing illusion if one finds the
feeling of humble gratefulness and the wisdom of selfdetermination upon
creation. The struggle doesn’t seize to exist, but rather parallelizes the two
aspects we are free to change between. Like a centrifugal force that is zeroed
with finding the centrum.
Enjoy the ride 