Recently I tend to see more negative aspects of society. I am not sure how and why this occurs, but I do. Sure it could be that projects like Our Future and courses I am following at the moment on social issues like ethnicity and nationalism, elicit more and more awareness in me of things that go wrong. However, I can’t help but notice more annoyance and anger in the streets, in public transport, in stores, everywhere. When Turkey wins a soccer match, Turkish-Dutch people here in the neighbourhood get on the streets immediately and scream. Those who have cars get in their cars and make as much noise as they can. It lasts for at least an hour. I love it. They are happy, and how can I blame them for that? Unfortunately, many people dislike that behaviour and consider that sufficient reason for disliking Turkish people in general. I am not trying to prove them wrong anymore, there are just too many of them. Some weeks a ago I watched a movie named ‘Crash’, by Paul Haggis, and I was quite shocked. Not so much by what I saw in the movie, but the more by the resemblance I saw to the Dutch society. Again, it can be me, over-noticing bad things, but in general I am not a pessimist person. Still it makes me wonder. How can this be and how does this work? And more important, what to do?

It is in fact true that I am a hopelessly non-rational, over-sensitive girl, with a way too romantic view of the future. I’m aware of that, but however, I really want to believe that love is the solution for all evil. Unfortunately, the problem rises immediately: one can not love all people, and I do understand that. How unspecial would it then become to love someone? Actually, I do not think that would be the main concern for most people. The question will probably be: how to love someone you don’t know? Exactly! How? That is indeed very difficult since love is a rather personal sensation that requires closeness. I might be wrong, but I would say that hate follows the same path. So the question then turns into: how to hate someone you don’t know? Many people don’t seem to experience even the slightest problem in hating people they have never met. How do they do that? And how come it only takes a few bad experiences to hate an entire ‘kind of people’?

A big role is played by stereotyping, we all know that. I do not blame stereotyping in general. It is a useful social classification system. Also there are good and bad stereotypes. People just stereotype, and so far, nothing is wrong. Personally, I start to loose understanding of this thing when conclusions are drawn from stereotypes. I never saw anyone drawing conclusions from a good stereotype. ‘Oh look! Moroccan people are known as very hospitable people. Hospitality is nice, so I will now decide to like every Moroccan in the world!’ This would be a rather stupid way of reasoning, wouldn’t it? I don’t think I will have to mention a bad counterpart of the previous example, equally stupid, but used daily and by many.

My little investigation gets stuck at this point. Why do people draw conclusions from stereotypes and why only from bad stereotypes? I would be a bad philosopher if I had a definite answer to this, but philosopher or not, no possible answer comes to my mind. So I ask you all: why do they? Be welcome to figure this out with me.

Despite the lack of contact lately,

still loving you, still wondering….

Wendy

My name is Hilko, and my motto is the well-known: “Jack of all trades, master of none”. While this saying has a negative meaning, the full saying actually goes: “Jack of all trades, master of none, though ofttimes better than master of one,” which is a lot more positive.

Knowing something about everything is one of my life’s goals, but I realize knowing everything about something is an equally important goal. So what are those ‘somethings’ in my life? What captures my interest?

Well, (social) psychology and communications, for one. I study both these subjects at the Free University in Amsterdam, and they take up most of my time. I love to read, and aspire to be some kind of writer. I like to play guitar, and I’m a huge fan of (freak) folk music (Sufjan Stevens, Antony, CocoRosie, etc.) and classic ‘rock’ (Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, etc.). My slightly stranger hobbies include frequent hitchhiking, seeking out and talking with very strange people, and consuming large amounts of Yogi Caj (tea). These are a few of of my favorite (some)things.

As for my interest in this project: I grew up in the Balkans (Greece, Albania). I have a great love for the variety of culture in the area, and the politics captivate me. Because of this I jumped at the opportunity to know more, and to get more involved with this part of the world and its people!

Hi! I am Korab Rrmoku and I am 18 years old. I live in Prishtina,
Kosova with my family. I am studding in the University of Prishtina in
Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

I am very interested in the ancient history, travel and science. My
goals for the future include a successful contribution in engineering
field and also a contribution for peace and love everywhere in the
world.

I see myself as an honest, straight forward, and tolerant person, so I
feel myself safety to discuss about the topics that preoccupies the
world and I always have a tendency to help people solve their
problems.

Hi! My name is Jelena Nikolic. I live in Pancevo and I study Faculty
of Political Science, department of foreign affairs, in Belgrade.
I am member of one student’s NGO on Faculty named "Action for
political emancipation of youth" and I in past few years I was a
volunteer in NGO "Group 484".
I would like to work in humanitarian organization.

Hi everybody! Here’s a little about me section that I came up with! If
you want to know more just ask me.

My name is Katarina Kohen, 18. years young and living in Belgrade,
capital of Serbia! I am open-minded and tolerant, with a passion of
traveling and getting to know different people, different cultures and
making new friends. I believe the best way to learn about the world is
to get out of the house and engage in that beautiful day ahead of you,
so I am almost always on the move. I strive to be an international law
student and I never end in setting goals to myself. "Carpe Diem"!

I can’t wait to meet you all! See you soon!

Katarina

Hi Everyone!

I`m Evelijn, also participating in OF this year. In about 3 days I`ll be meeting you all in person, so maybe I should introduce myself so you all are prepared..;)

I`m 19 years old, I moved to Amsterdam in september where I now study Politics. Before Amsterdam I lived in Borne, small small village near to Germany. I did a little bit philosophy and theology,but then realised I like Politics best. I`m very good in keeping myself busy, mostly with sailing, reading,dancing,theatre and ofcourse politics. I write for the faculty magazine and organise the faculty congres in 2008.

This program is an unique opportunity for me to visit the Balkan countries. I followed the story of the region on tv since I was little,but times are changing and tv ofcourse doesn`t bring all the news. I expect to learn a lot from your stories, your experiences and hope together we will have a good week!

See you soon!!

Evelijn. 

My name is Emil Andel 25 years old. I live in Waddinxveen that is the second lowest place on planet earth. Waddinxveen is 25 minutes away from Den Haag, 20 min away from Rotterdam and 45 min. away from Amsterdam (by car, without traffic jams).

Study
I study Communication at the University of The Hague (Den Haag).

Work
I work at TV West (local television station) in Den Haag for a program that focuses on cultures and minorities in the region. Here you will find the link to the program:  http://rtvwest.nl/archief/programma_overzicht?id=8  If you want to see some of my programs press the date of: 01-04-2008. Besides that I also work at the Post Office in Waddinxveen.

Hobby
Filming, collect Kung Fu movies, running, shaolin

Music
My Mp3 player is very old and it only has the capacity of 128MB. The songs that are on it: Damien Marley – Confrontation, K-os – Crucial , Nas – Just a moment,  Coo Coo Cal – In my projects, Talib Kweli – Just to get by, etc…….. Mostly I listen to Hip Hop.   

Motivation
I would like to participate Our Future Network because I am curious how the people live together in Kosovo. It bothers me that the media only tells stories of people hating each other. If you show something positive, than this image can influence people of thinking in a positive way. In Holland we have all kinds of minorities. It makes me happy to see people of different nationalities hanging out together. Last year Amsterdam was the city with the most different nationalities (177) of the world. I am not saying that the integration process of all minorities in Holland is perfect but most minorities can get along just fine. As long as we show positive images I think that it will bring people together in stead of separating them from each other. To bring them closer together you must have something they all can identify with like hobby’s, sports, music or food. 

I am RINORA Gojani from Prishtina, Kosova. I amstudying Political Science at the

University

of

Prishtina

(sophomoreyear).

For years I have volunteered for Albanian Youth Action‘Pjetër Bogdani’- youth NGO, and also in Youth Centre „Don Bosko“- I work withchildren from 7-15 years. The center organizes different activities of teachingchildren English, computer lessons, dancing, theater, etc. Also I am anactivist of Youth Initiative for Human Rights.  

I like traveling, to meet new people, to learndifferent foreign languages because I think that the best way to keep away theprejudice and for any eventual collaboration is communication. 

I would like to be a diplomat.

Hi everyone,

My name is Jacqueline van Dooren, I am 20 years old, and I will join the Our Future Network in 2008.

I would like to write something about myself in order to get to know each other better. It would be nice when everyone of this year would do that J

Well, I am Jacqueline, I lived in Lisse (near the Keukenhof, which is a major tourist spot) for 17 years and then moved to

Utrecht

, which is in the middle of the

Netherlands

. I moved there for my study Human Geography. I am currently in my third year and I am finishing my bachelor degree! That is very exciting. In my study I mostly focus on developing countries, and I also followed some additional courses on Conflict Studies. I want to follow the Masters programme of Conflict Studies and Human Rights.

I am mainly joining this programme to take a look at societies that have faced conflict. I have learned a lot about conflicts in theory, but never have seen it on my own. It fascinates me how societies are recovering after a conflict. I think I can not imagine how difficult this must be. Life goes on, but the conflict is not over in a day. Also, I am especially fascinated by Kosovo. In lectures I heard a lot about it, and it got my attention.

I hope, and I think, that we, all the students in the network, can learn a lot of each other as well. We have total different experiences with the countries we are going to visit which will make it very interesting to hear your perspectives!!

Beside my study I join two associations actively: the Dutch United Nations Students Association of Utrecht (DUNSA) and scouting (in Lisse, my hometown). To start with the second: every week I spend two hours with children of age 5 and 6. Together with my fellows I organise the programme for every week, and beside that I take care of organizational tasks like writing letters to the parents, coordinating the group, and planning the summercamp.

I also join DUNSA. Every week we have lectures about an international subject, sometimes with very important politicians or journalists. Also we do other activities like watching movies, visit institutions, etcetera. Everything is focussed at international things. This is very nice, because you get ‘internationalized’ mostly in your own country, and in a relaxed way you learn a lot about diplomacy and facts.

Also I like to do things with my friends, or with my boyfriend – go out for a movie, to have dinner, and to party!

Well, I think that was about it. I am looking forward to meet you all!!

Kind regards,

Jacqueline van Dooren

Hello all,

My name is Lenneke Sprik and I am 22 years old and this year I will be a part of the Our Future Network program. In my study International Organisations and International Relations I have specialized as much as possible in one of my main passions: the Balkan region. Since I was a young girl I have been very interested in this region and therefore I am very motivated to participate in this exchange program. I live in one of the most northern cities of the Netherlands, Groningen, which is a typical university city. My main interest is conflict studies and the Balkan region, which is also the area of my study I hope to work in after I graduate.

I hope that this exchange program will be a great experience where I, and the other participants, get to learn more about each others cultures and maybe gain some more knowledge on what it is like living in countries that have experienced a lot of transitions the past few decades. I am looking forward meeting you all, in just a few weeks time.

Kind regards,

Lenneke