瓦大博士的生活趣事

大家都知道，读博士是个很具有挑战性的工作。钱少+各种“鸭梨”山大，而且各种“鸭梨”还远不止这些。

由于文化差异，各种留学生在荷兰都会遭遇一些”奇怪“的当地习俗。而瓦大博士毕业论文的硬性要求是要写下6-8个命题（proposition），除了与自己的研究领域相关的命题以外，还要求至少要有两个“与社会有关“的命题。这于是成为了他们正式表达各种“鸭梨”的最佳途径：

Adriana Ignaciuk，博士毕业于2006年9月22日，她发现写论文和怀孕极其相似：“写论文和怀孕其实是一样一样的。你可能以为，完事之后就会很轻松，其实完全错了”。

Maarten Jacobs，博士毕业于2006年11月10日，他当时显然很忙，而且鸭梨山大：“在你最忙，最没时间的时候，你就应该去度假”。

Antonio Sinzogan，博士毕业于2006年10月，他认为荷兰人的一些习惯相当“奇怪”：“在荷兰读博士不光要写文章，还要学会一些“奇怪”的交际方式---比如下午3时30分要准时和同事喝着咖灰聊聊天”。

Mark Kwaaital ，博士毕业于2007年1月31日，对他来说，咖灰则是支撑他博士研究的必需品：“读博需要持之以恒，五年的时间，起码喝了四个立方米（四吨）的咖灰”。

“在荷兰就餐，当人问你是需要咖灰还是茶的时候，你一定要回答“其中一种”，否则到最后什么都不会给你”，这就是Le Chen（博士毕业于2007年3月6日）对荷兰人待客之道的深刻印象。

留学生在荷兰所遇到的趣事还远不止这些。Jianjun Zhao开玩笑说：“在荷兰，因为周日所有的商店都关门，所以你有足够的时间去放松，之后每一天里你都会有一个好心情”。相信荷兰新内阁中的基督教政党听到这个说法会感到十分高兴。

Afaf Hassan Abdel Rahim，博士毕业于2006年11月20日，在博士毕业时提出质疑： “回顾读博的整个过程，我耗费了大量的纸张。现在我很困惑，我不是特别明白，我的最终目标，是为了拯救森林，还是在毁灭森林？”

PhD propositions reflect suffering and culture shock

text: Editors 13:55u 29 March 2007 -It’s a well-known fact that a PhD researcher’s life is not a bed of roses. The pay is low, the stress is high and as if that isn’t enough, PhD students from other countries are faced with strange Dutch habits. The compulsory ‘socially relevant’ propositions on the loose leaf in the dissertation shed light on the PhD researcher's suffering, as candidates express the frustrations they have experienced along the way to becoming a doctor.

Adriana Ignaciuk, a doctor since 22 September 2006, found writing a dissertation a difficult delivery: ‘Being pregnant and writing a PhD thesis is very similar; in both cases you hope in vain that life will become easier afterwards’. The stress of being an AIO was clearly also too much for Maarten Jacobs at times, who included the proposition ‘The best time to take a holiday is when there is no time to take a holiday’ (10 November 2006). Antonio Sinzogan, who obtained his doctorate in October 2006, made clear what he thought of some of his chair group’s habits: ‘Doing a PhD at Wageningen University entails not only writing articles but also learning to socialize with other people in strange ways – like taking coffee at 3.30 pm.’ But coffee is what keeps PhD researchers going, according to Mark Kwaaital who made the grade on 31 January 2007. ‘Obtaining a PhD requires persistence, five years of your life and four cubic metres of coffee’. Tea drinking customs in the Netherlands are a different story. ‘Say yes when offered tea by a Dutch. Otherwise you get nothing’, is how Le Chen formulates her impression of Dutch hospitality (6 March 2007). But it’s not all trouble and affliction for foreign PhD researchers in this chilly country. ‘Closing shops on Sundays, like in the Netherlands, gives you enough time to relax and results in a good mood during the coming working days’, proposes Jianjun Zhao on 22 January 2007. The Christian parties in the new Dutch cabinet will be happy to hear this. Afaf Hassan Abdel Rahim (20 November 2006) questions just what he has achieved with all his toil. ‘Looking at the amount of paper I used during my PhD work, I wonder: was my ultimate goal to save the forest or deplete it.’

http://resource.wur.nl/en/student/detail/phd-propositions-reflect-suffering-and-culture-shock/