Maike Lindenau, Grade 11
UWC Maastricht
“Hi, what’s your name and where are you coming from?”
When I first arrived in Maastricht, I had to go through a tunnel of many new faces, belonging to my second years that were carrying out a tradition at our college created to welcome all the first years. Before I dived into this thunderous applause and cheering calls all around me, I had to scream as loud as possible to answer the question above – trust me, and this was already challenging since my voice is not that loud…
This was in August 2019. I came together with my dad and my younger sister from the opposite side of one of the neighbouring countries of the Netherlands - Germany. In UWC we are quite often saying that our nationalities do not matter – a lot of us cannot even define their nationality for themselves because they have several, so how to select one…? Nevertheless, I was confronted with questions asked by others but especially myself about how much of my identity consists of my national origin. In UWC what we do is to share our backgrounds, teaching each other unconsciously about our own cultures, and creating a better understanding of the different worlds we are coming from. Coming from a country that is, firstly, pretty much known worldwide and, secondly, both geographically and culturally close to UWC Maastricht and the Dutch environment, I sometimes felt like I don’t have much to say about my culture while others had so much. I could have talked for quite a lot of time about the countries of my roomies and friends, but not about my own. In the overwhelming beginning of this two years journey, I did not know anymore what it means to be German, and I was simply confused.
But UWC is something that first creates a great deal of irritation, but then also provides reflected answers to these identity-related questions: Expecting on that first day in UWC that I’m going to learn a lot about other cultures was true, but this is not everything that is happening at UWC. Now that I’m back in Germany again due to the outbreak of Covid-19, I had a lot of time to reflect on the weeks and months I already had with UWC: Besides the knowledge you gain about everything around you, UWC also is a journey to yourself and who you are. Being confronted by questions about your own identity is sometimes really hard and astounding, especially at first, but a human being is constantly developing. However, the development one goes through in UWC is probably many times more intense because one accosts to so many new questions and answers whose meaning one should and wants to understand in a very short time.
Even though I only spent some months in UWCM until now, it made me reflect on myself a lot. Being German in a Dutch college might not be the most special thing, but there are always things to share - and to learn. It truly is not important where I’m coming from – at least it is never giving the big picture about someone, but only is part of who you are. The decision of who I am is made by myself. I am so much more than my nationality, gender, or age. I’m myself, and I’m the only one like that – unique as everyone in this world.
My friends are coming from Portugal, Russia, China, Belgium, Canada, and so many more places. But that’s not what matters – it’s their personality that I love them for.
When I first arrived in Maastricht, I had to go through a tunnel of many new faces, belonging to my second years that were carrying out a tradition at our college created to welcome all the first years. Before I dived into this thunderous applause and cheering calls all around me, I had to scream as loud as possible to answer the question above – trust me, and this was already challenging since my voice is not that loud…
This was in August 2019. I came together with my dad and my younger sister from the opposite side of one of the neighbouring countries of the Netherlands - Germany. In UWC we are quite often saying that our nationalities do not matter – a lot of us cannot even define their nationality for themselves because they have several, so how to select one…? Nevertheless, I was confronted with questions asked by others but especially myself about how much of my identity consists of my national origin. In UWC what we do is to share our backgrounds, teaching each other unconsciously about our own cultures, and creating a better understanding of the different worlds we are coming from. Coming from a country that is, firstly, pretty much known worldwide and, secondly, both geographically and culturally close to UWC Maastricht and the Dutch environment, I sometimes felt like I don’t have much to say about my culture while others had so much. I could have talked for quite a lot of time about the countries of my roomies and friends, but not about my own. In the overwhelming beginning of this two years journey, I did not know anymore what it means to be German, and I was simply confused.
But UWC is something that first creates a great deal of irritation, but then also provides reflected answers to these identity-related questions: Expecting on that first day in UWC that I’m going to learn a lot about other cultures was true, but this is not everything that is happening at UWC. Now that I’m back in Germany again due to the outbreak of Covid-19, I had a lot of time to reflect on the weeks and months I already had with UWC: Besides the knowledge you gain about everything around you, UWC also is a journey to yourself and who you are. Being confronted by questions about your own identity is sometimes really hard and astounding, especially at first, but a human being is constantly developing. However, the development one goes through in UWC is probably many times more intense because one accosts to so many new questions and answers whose meaning one should and wants to understand in a very short time.
Even though I only spent some months in UWCM until now, it made me reflect on myself a lot. Being German in a Dutch college might not be the most special thing, but there are always things to share - and to learn. It truly is not important where I’m coming from – at least it is never giving the big picture about someone, but only is part of who you are. The decision of who I am is made by myself. I am so much more than my nationality, gender, or age. I’m myself, and I’m the only one like that – unique as everyone in this world.
My friends are coming from Portugal, Russia, China, Belgium, Canada, and so many more places. But that’s not what matters – it’s their personality that I love them for.
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