Nieuwsbrief #3

Your monthly update

Newsletter #3 already!
We’re in block 2 now, it’s getting colder again and we’re getting closer to a second lockdown in Amsterdam. We will look back on the times when the cafe’s were still open and when we could get alcohol after 20:00. But we’re also announcing all of our events for the upcoming month, so that you won’t have to feel alone while sitting at home. We also have new columns for the newsletter, including the long awaited Piet in de Pauze.
But first up, some news!
Thursdays, 19:30!
Unfortunately we cannot have physical borrels anymore, but we’re not abandoning you. From now on there will be an online event every Thursday at 19:30. You can find the zoom/discord/etc. link on our Instagram. Same day, same time, same place. Almost like a physical borrel!
We’re working from home
Because of the new measures we decided to work from home as much as possible. So, if you want to come by to the board room for whatever reason you can make an appointment by mailing secretary@sociologen.nl or by approaching one of the board members!
Trust persons
We really value social safety and want everybody to have a good time at our events and within our association. To ensure this we’re introducing trust persons within our association. When feeling uncomfortable with anything SEC related you can contact Merle de la Rie (internal trust person). If there’s something you want to discuss with someone outside of the board, you can contact Isa den Boer (external trust person). For information about our trust persons or if you need help about whom to contact for other issues, take a look at our website.
More information
Pictures of the first borrel 
It took some time, but the pictures of the first borrel are finally on the website! You can find the password to access them at the bottom of this newsletter.
  
Check them out!
Online cocktail workshop & borrel
The online cocktail workshop was not only a lot of fun, but also when we announced this years committees! If you were there you know who are now working on all of the upcoming events, if not you’ll find out soon!
The borrel afterwards was nice like always, but unfortunately the last one for the time being. Hopefully the memories of nights like these will get us through the lockdown.
Exams 101
Then the time of exams, books and studying came by again. But you were not to worry, Núria was ready to help you guys out. And she did! Want to look at her great advice again? Check out the highlight on our Instagram!
Scary movie night 
No Halloween borrel this year, but we did host a scary movie night! We watched the movie ‘hereditary’ to get in the Halloween spirit. Unfortunately the scariest thing was seeing a party (oh how times have changed), but it was fun to catch up and share our comments on the movie on Netflixparty.
Online music quiz
We’ll be testing your musical knowledge on zoom this Thursday! Join us on Thursday the 5th at 19:30 and you might win the prize. The zoom link will be posted on our Instagram this week, so get your drinks and musical knowledge ready!
Lecture by Don Weenink
We are very excited to announce that we’re having an actual physical event! Don Weenink, known from Sociological Theory 1, is giving a lecture on “Randal Collins’ prediction of the collapse of the Soviet Union”. This will take place on Monday november 9th from 16:00-18:00 at Roeterseiland. Tickets are online now!  Due to the very limited space, we will also be live streaming it. So, you can still watch it if you don’t manage to get a ticket or if you’re not in Amsterdam. Keep an eye on our socials to see how. 
Get your tickets now!
Among Us borrel
Are we even a 2020 association if we don’t play Among Us with you? Join us online on Thursday november 12th at 19:30! We’ll post the zoom link on Instagram.  
Among Us is so popular that its developers just canceled the sequel - The  Verge
Online pub quiz
Get your friends ready, think of a great team name and sign up for the online pub quiz! Thursday november 19th will be the big day, of course at 19:30 on zoom. The zoom link and more information on how to sign up will be posted on our socials!
(Almost) December dinner
Because everything is a little different this year, so is the December dinner. We’ll be having a virtual dinner together on November 26th to celebrate that it’s almost December! The External Activity committee is working very hard on it right now and we can already tell you that it will be a lot of fun and a very new experience. So, keep an eye out for more updates about this (on our socials of course). 
Piet in de Pauze (Piet’s break)
It’s Pieter’s lucky month, not only because we have an event about communism but we’re also publishing his first ‘Piet in de Pauze’ column! This month he’ll tell you all about his study plans and the existential breakdown coming with it.
 Piet in de Pauze #1

I think everybody that studies sociology recognizes the questions. ‘But what can you do with it?’ ‘Can you actually get a job with that?’ ‘Shouldn’t you do something actually useful?’
We’ve heard them all, and they will continue to plague sociology students until the end of time. (Or until the cult of the individual finally decides to die a slow and painful death.) Last time this year I saw friends starting their theses and slowly turning in their final exams at the UvA. The perspective that in a year’s time, I would eventually have to graduate and either have to choose a master’s programme or think of something else to do sent me spiralling into a mild existential breakdown.

At the beginning of my sociology studies (and after a brief stint in Human Resource Management) I was filled with naïve idealism. The question what to do after sociology was an open ended one with no definitive answer. So, the logical conclusion was just to keep studying and do a PhD! I was sure that I was going to solve some big relevant problem like climate change or do some ground breaking research on populism and get a tenured position at a well known university and not have to worry about finding a job ever again.
The reality of this has turned out to be less comforting. The realisation that I’m probably too lazy and not smart enough to do a PhD came first. The knowledge that I don’t actually like speaking in front of groups and suck at explaining theory to others slowly emerged after.

Looking at what kind jobs sociologists get does not fill me with hope. I’m too socially awkward to interview people, so journalism is off the table. I don’t have the attention span to sit at a desk longer than 30 minutes so writing isn’t going to work, and I’ve got too much of a conscience to go back to HRM. I usually bluff my way through statistics, which means anything even remotely analytic is going to be way over my head. And in the sociology program we get one semester to do something outside our regular course load.

It’s already a year later and I’ve decided to put my thesis off for a year. 30 EC within six months to explore other disciplines and try to find something that matches with my personal interests seems just a bit on the small side. And while the career path of the ‘eeuwige student’ isn’t as viable nowadays as it was thirty years ago, it might not be that bad to stick around just a bit longer. Even though the student life has been hollowed out and is harder and with stricter consequences than ever nowadays (thanks neo-liberalism!).
I’ll keep my cheap student housing, Ome DUO loans and shitty university coffee at the UvA for just a bit longer. After all, it seems like it’s all downhill after graduation.

Gezellige vocabulary
If you’ve lived in the Netherlands for a while you’ve probably heard the word ‘gezellig’. It’s an adjective that Dutch people use a lot to describe an event. For example our borrels are always very gezellig. The thing with ‘gezellig’ is that it’s not translatable to English. It means something like fun, cozy, sociable or convivial, but non of these words really cover the meaning.

We want to learn more of these words and expand our ‘gezellige vocabulary’! Send us the untranslatable words from your language and what it means, it might show up in the newsletter next month! Slide in my dm’s or send me an email (secretary@sociologen.nl).

 #Gezellige Vocabulary #1

I (Merle) am following courses from the Faculty of Humanities this block. I’m thinking of staying with that faculty, because they get a week off after the exams every time! As a sociology student I’m not used to this, so I didn’t really knew what to do with this. So, what I did all week? Niksen.

Niksen is a Dutch verb for doing nothing. But you can do something while doing nothing, for example you can listen to some music or look out the window. The difference between niksen and doing something, is that when you’re doing something you have an actual goal. When you’re ‘aan het niksen’ there’s no goal, you’re just ‘aan het niksen’. Apparently this reduces stress, so I would recommend it to all of you!

Source: https://time.com/5622094/what-is-niksen/

Bye bye, until next time!

As a SEC member you can get a 10% discount on all non-Dutch English books sold by Athenaeum Boekhandel. Anytime throughout the year.

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