Memoirs from Amsterdam: Introduction

Four years ago, I decided that I wanted to free my mind. I wanted to leave my hometown Dhaka and explore the seemingly endless opportunities outside the “bubble” of familiarity and security. I desired to go out and see different cultures. Experience new ways of life and embark on new adventures. Learn about the world. Very inspiring dreams, yet I had no means of accomplishing them - I had never left the country before, I had no idea if the grass was really greener in other parts of the world and I surely did not have any money to find out. I was just a middle-class high school student with big dreams and ambitions, sitting on a train with a fixed destination, and that destination was not very far. The situation appeared hopeless, yet, I never despaired; instead I did what seemed to be my only way out – I worked hard, put in the effort to do well in school and earned myself a scholarship to a private college in the United States. And that’s how I got off the train.

Four years later – I’m sitting in an apartment in Amsterdam, reflecting upon the life I left behind, my journey thus far, and the outlook for the future. I have come a long way from a little two bedroom apartment in a city of fifteen million people – I lived in suburban America for two years, traveled around, met people from all over the world and these experiences literally changed my life. Continuing on this journey, now I find myself in the Netherlands, a land of unique attitudes, rich history and a notion of freedom that is incomparable to anywhere else in the world. I believe in the transience of life, and among the many episodes of transition, I will forever identify my time in Amsterdam to be central to the shaping of “me” as a person.

Experiential learning is like water dripping from a leaky faucet onto a glass. Every drop hitting the surface creates waves. It also adds to the water in the glass. If the glass is life and the water is experience, then one can see that the glass is empty without water, just as life is empty without experiences. I had many reservations about coming to Amsterdam – starting with issues involving my university, immigration hurdles and monetary constraints. But following through with the plan turned out to be the best idea I’ve ever had. It is very easy to declare how a semester abroad “changed my life”, but it’s not as easy to quantify the meaning of the phrase or even explain how. If I could take a “before” and “after” picture of myself, my dreams and aspirations, my ideals and outlook on life, then I would be spared the trouble of using words to describe an experience which knows no bounds in words. But I will still make an attempt; this essay is a collection of excerpts and is a foray into expressing my thoughts and my emotions and my educational experience during the journey which changed my life. Over the next few weeks I will be putting up entries that highlight my Dutch experience and tells the tales of the process of experiential learning during my stay in Amsterdam...