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Life, research and Leiden!

Life, research and Leiden!

Guest Blogger: Francianne dos Santos Velho Programme: MA Latin American Studies My name is Francianne dos Santos Velho, I am 27 years old and I was born and raised in Curitiba, Brazil. Since January 2016 I have been living in Wormerveer, a small town in the north of the Netherlands, and in the academic year 2016-2017 I followed the Master program in Latin American Studies at Leiden University. My…

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Why you shouldn’t prepare for an internship and research project abroad

Why you shouldn’t prepare for an internship and research project abroad

3 months in Accra, Ghana I have just returned from 3 months in Ghana. In Ghana, I was working at Impact Hub Accra as part of my combined internship and research requirement for the 1 year African Studies master. While based at Impact Hub Accra I assisted the team with business development as part of my internship responsibilities. My research, meanwhile, focused on the role that the hub plays in…

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A Wondrous New World: An Internship in Ivory Coast

A Wondrous New World: An Internship in Ivory Coast

Guest Blogger:  Titus Sauerwein studies the MA African Studies at Leiden University. He has just finished his internship in the Ivory Coast. When thinking of Ivory Coast, the average Dutch person would probably not come up with more than ‘ehm, isn’t that the country of chocolate’. Perhaps a few among them are familiar with the music of Alpha Blondy or former president Gbagbo, who is spending his…

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How can an internship and research project in Africa help with career prospects?

How can an internship and research project in Africa help with career prospects?

Guest Blogger:  Eline Sleurink, MA African Studies 3 months in Accra, Ghana For the past 3 months I have been based at Impact Hub Accra, Ghana, as part of my combined internship and research requirement for the 1 year African Studies master. While based at Impact Hub Accra I have been assisting the team with business development as part of my internship responsibilities. My research, meanwhile,…

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From a lecture room in Leiden to the avenues of Accra: what has and hasn’t been useful?

From a lecture room in Leiden to the avenues of Accra: what has and hasn’t been useful?

Guest Blogger Eline Sleurink, MA African Studies What am I doing in Accra? For the past 3 months I have been based at Impact Hub Accra, Ghana, as part of my combined internship and research requirement for the 1-year African Studies master. While based at Impact Hub Accra I have been assisting the team with business development as part of my internship responsibilities. My research, meanwhile,…

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3 months abroad: daily life in Accra, Ghana

3 months abroad: daily life in Accra, Ghana

Guest Blogger:  Eline Sleurink, MA in African Studies   What am I doing in Accra? For the past 2.5 months I have been based at Impact Hub Accra, Ghana, as part of my combined internship and research requirement for the 1 year African Studies master. While based at Impact Hub Accra I have been assisting the team with business development as part of my internship responsibilities. My research,…

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Conducting an internship and research in Africa

Conducting an internship and research in Africa

What am I doing at Impact Hub Accra? For the past 2 months I have been based at Impact Hub Accra, Ghana. While based at Impact Hub Accra I have been assisting the team with business development as part of my internship responsibilities. My research, meanwhile, focuses on the role that the hub plays in facilitating the pathway of local entrepreneurs. In this series of blog posts I will be sharing…

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How did I end up in Accra, Ghana?

How did I end up in Accra, Ghana?

By special guest blogger:  Eline Sleurink, African Studies student 2 months and counting in Accra, Ghana For the past 2 months I have been based at Impact Hub Accra, Ghana. I still have 1 month to go in order to complete the internship and research component of my 1 year master’s in African Studies at Leiden. While based at Impact Hub Accra I have been assisting the team with business development…

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Orientation Week Leiden (OWL) is a great idea!

5 reasons why participating in Orientation Week Leiden (OWL) is a good idea!

5 Reasons why OWL week is a great idea It’s August, so the sun is shining and everyone is in holiday-mode. But August also means that its only one month until the University year starts again, and less than a month until OWL (Orientation Week Leiden) begins. So I thought I’d give you another list, this time of reasons why participating in OWL week is a good idea. You’ll get your first taste of…

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Madurodam - Holland in Miniature.

We all know that Holland is a great country and that it has plenty of sights to offer. But, what if you find yourselves in this country for a short period of time and you think that you don’t have the time to visit all the special places which this country has to offer?! Then, one place which you shouldn’t miss out on is Madurodam. Located in Den Haag, this park provides a miniature model of…

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Volkenkunde part 2

So I realized I hadn’t put up all the pictures from my visit to the Volkenkunde(ethnology museum). Don’t worry I didn’t capture the entire collection so there is still reason to visit it in person.  I have always been fascinated with the history of civilization. Along with fossils, thanks to the revolution in genetics we know that modern day humans originated in Africa but the path our ancestors…

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A Day in Utrecht.

Utrecht is one of the big cities in The Netherlands, albeit still one of the lesser known ones on a global scale. It is quite an amazing place to visit, even the canals which are present in this town are different in a way from the other ubiquitous canals in The Netherlands.

One must visit this town to discover a great side of Holland, an ideal mélange between all the convenience present in any…

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The Kröller-Müller Museum experience.

I am a big fan of the iconic Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh and I have been inspired by him. From a very early age I watched movies like ‘Lust for Life’ and ‘Akira Kurasowa’s Dreams’, these movies also made an indelible impression about Vincent Van Gogh in my mind.

Living in Holland and being a fan of Vincent Van Gogh meant, I could not miss visiting one place in particular. This was the Van Gogh…

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Crowd-funding: Bring the Sun to Leiden

Crowd-funding: Bring the Sun to Leiden

I am sure you have all heard of the phrase “charity begins at home” and since most of us call Leiden our home why not start here :) Basically the old Observatory is putting together a Solar Telescope which will be an addition to the historic 150 year old refracting telescopes. As you can imagine the apparatus consists of multiple components and one of the key parts is a heliostat. This is a…

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Museum Volkenkunde - Geisha

Hello Leideners, it’s been a while since I last posted something – have been really busy with my thesis and exams. Just last evening however, I was clearing my drawers and found my camera lying underneath a huge pile of papers. Flicking through it I realized I hadn’t transferred pictures from 3 months – blog material – yeah! Okay, so the first set of pictures were from my trip to the Volkenkunde…

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Leiden: World centre for terrible teenage poetry

Leiden: World centre for terrible teenage poetry

“Leiden, ye I came to know, I write in stormy weather, Leiden, ye I came to know, I want to know you better”

– anon. (trans. from Dutch original)

In my short life’s travels, my friends, I’ve developed a keen eye for the eclectic claims to fame of some of the more unheralded parts of the world. Zagreb, capital of Croatia, you may already know, is the world centre for broken hearts, Elista in…

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Who is Sinterklaas?

Fellow readers, I hope you have behaved this year. Sinterklaas has arrived in town.

“Sinter who?” you might be asking yourselves. Well, he is definitely not your ordinary guy-in-red-who-gives-presents-around-the-end-of-the-year. No Santa Claus, Nikolaus or Papai Noel.  It’s Sinterklaas all the way!

Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piets

He comes to The Netherlands around mid-November on boat from Spain,…