My Dutch Dream

Something that I had never realised in a decade of taking vacations to Amsterdam is just how crazy freshman/fresher students are here.

I’m living with a Dutch guy at the moment who we have barely seen because he is always away on some kind of camping or adventure. Here’s what he had to go through so far:

• First he had to complete a one day drinking adventure, going to various bars around centrum and drinking Jagermeisters whereupon the bartender would stamp a sheet proving his participation. After one day of this, he would turn up at the opera house near Waterlooplein and find out if he was one of the lucky 50% to be accepted.
• “Luckily” for him he was accepted. He went on a 2 week camp in the middle of nowhere. He had no access to the outside world, mobile phone was confiscated. The entire time he had to wear a suit (you see these guys all over centrum if you look carefully this time of year – 18 year olds who don’t know how to “wear” a suit) and he could not wash. So 2 weeks later he comes home for barely a few hours absolutely reeking of body odor and booze and has his first wash in ages.
• Now he’s gone back again for more of the same.

Quite why someone would do all this was at first beyond me. But I guess that it is quite similar to the American fraternity scene. Get in and your social life, networks are made for life (I’ll bet your career prospects are enhanced too). Don’t get in and while you can have a more peaceful life you won’t reap any of the benefits.

And here are some more things I’ve seen while I’ve been riding around Amsterdam:

• 4 girls on a quiet canal bridge wearing “water wings”. 4 older girls instructing them to do “something”.
• A handful of guys blindfolded with duct/duck/gaffer tape and bundled into a minibus not far from where I live. If it wasn’t consensual, I’d call this kidnapping!
• Entire bars full of Dutch 18 year old chicks.
• Girls from this club chanting like football hooligans.
• and more that I can’t even remember

My flatmate tells me that his Dutch boss says that the antics here are far more extreme than those done by frat boys in USA undergoing initiation. I can believe it.

Edit: check out this video from youtube. Just type in “ontgroening studenten” (student initiation) for more: