Let's Bring Back the Course "Peep Behind the Dikes: Culture and Society of the Netherlands" 2008-2009

With such amazing opportunity to pursue our studies in this lovely country, and especially in the vintage city of Leiden, we're not only looking forward to enhance our knowledge within professional realms but also to broaden our experiences abroad in many aspects; and one of which is to have a better understanding of the country!

Apart from the first-hand experiences we may gain in our daily lives, Department of Dutch Studies also provides a course, "Peep behind the Dikes: Culture and Society of the Netherlands" with in depth perspectives towards a better understanding of the Netherlands.

Unlike other courses, this one gives a broad overview of Dutch history and contemporary society, and with a wide range of topics including geography, history, government and politics, the people, the language, art. Other than that, we also will be going deeper into Dutch cultural identity and will interview a Dutch family about their life. Through this course, we international students can see how the identity is represented in literature and will discuss a short story and carry out some research for an essay on a novel.

Besides lectures and tutorials, three field trips are included to help us to obtain better insight in subjects we would have dealt with in the previous meetings, and a fourth field trip to a city that we'll present in class and write an essay on.

Unfortunately, we just realize this course will not be available for the coming academic year of 08-09.

It would be very nice for us international students to have this course as a medium towards a better understanding of the country, and that shall complete our experience abroad.

For this, we hereby hope kindly yet strongly that Leiden University would continue the course in the coming academic year.

Thank you very much.