Transcribed with AI with human review:
Ko’u Hopkins:
Hello and welcome to today's episode of Community Voices. I'm your host, Ko'u Hopkins. And today with our conversation, we are continuing the series that I started talking about the world around us with local people. So we are having local people who have gone abroad or people from abroad that are coming all the way from very far away to come and talk to us about how the world is viewing the United States so they can tell us from different points of views, from different ages. and from different backgrounds. And today's guest is a very special guest and also a personal friend of mine. And could our guest please introduce themselves?
Thomas Johnson:
My name is Thomas and I am a current student here at UIS and I just came back from a year-long exchange. from Radboud Universiteit in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Ko’u Hopkins:
That's very, very exciting, and I know that we're all very happy to have you back here in the States. And kind of talking about here that you are back in the States, can you tell us what your major and your minor is here at UIS?
Thomas Johnson:
Yeah, I'm a political science major and a legal studies minor.
Ko’u Hopkins:
Do you enjoy these topics, or are you wanting to maybe branch out?
Thomas Johnson:
I mean, I do enjoy political science and stuff, but I feel after my exchange, I definitely feel more inclined to take some more classes about global politics, potentially more like urban planning courses too.
Ko’u Hopkins:
That's very exciting and kind of jumping back to you abroad. Can you kind of tell us about the city that you're in? Did you drive? Did you bike? Take the trains? Tell us.
Thomas Johnson:
I mean, I was in a city called Nijmegen that it is the 10th biggest city in the Netherlands and also the oldest. But a lot of things are very new because the city was destroyed mostly in the war. Things are old looking, but they're quite modern in that regard. And in terms of mobility, trains are very prominent in the Netherlands. I mean, they have a nationwide train network run by NS. And then they have buses, pretty good bus system. And then I mean, the Netherlands, very famous for its bike culture. I mean, it's nothing like I've ever seen before. It's just like bike streets that has its own lights. It's for the traffic lights and its own like signs and bikes are the rulers of the road in the Netherlands.
Ko’u Hopkins:
And did you kind of have trouble with people saying kilometers or talking in Celsius or did you kind of already know about that or did you get the hang of it once you were there?
Thomas Johnson:
Yeah, I did have a lot of trouble like converting to the metric system. I think like one of the very first months I was there, I bought like a frozen pizza and I didn't really know how the oven had worked, so because it was in Celsius, and I definitely burned that pizza.
Ko’u Hopkins:
I'm very sorry about your pizza, but by the end you were able to, you know, not burn your pizzas anymore.
Thomas Johnson:
Oh yes, I mean, by the end of my time, like I've got, I definitely got more comfortable cooking. Part of that is just like knowing how the locals eat, when you figure out that stuff and then you watch them cook and you go out to restaurants and you take inspiration from that, then you kind of have more direction and then you kind of get used to the kitchen as time goes along to.
Ko’u Hopkins:
What was some of your favorite cuisine over there?
Thomas Johnson:
I mean, Dutch food is not really like the best food in the world. people travel to the Netherlands not for their cuisine, but they do have the terballen, which is like fried meat stew balls. Stamp pot, which is like mashed potatoes and sauerkraut, meatball and ruckwurst with gravy. Things of that matter, like going out. Bar food, they got lined up for that.
Ko’u Hopkins:
Did you miss any of the American food while you were overseas?
Thomas Johnson:
I feel like I missed like going to places like Chick-fil-A, Portillo's, I mean, or getting a good Italian beef sandwich from Italian beef sandwich from a restaurant somewhere, of course.
Ko’u Hopkins:
That's very understandable. I know many Portillo's fans, and I know that they would be very heartbroken if they did not have one overseas. Did you see any Five Guys overseas? Because that's a pretty big restaurant chain that I saw in Germany.
Thomas Johnson:
I mean, I actually ate at Five Guys on Koningsdag, which is King's Day. I was just wandering the streets of Rotterdam with my friend and then we ended up eating there. Yeah, I saw that there. I also saw that when I was in France a lot as well.
Ko’u Hopkins:
And you're talking about France, so were you able to travel a lot when you were overseas?
Thomas Johnson:
I've had some pretty interesting trips outside of the Netherlands when I was there. I went to In France, I went to Bordeaux and I went to Paris and a few coastal cities, towns on the Atlantic side. Belgium, I've went to Brussels. I went to Hint and Antwerp. And Germany, I went to Cologne. I went to a town called Cleve. You could take the bus from in Nijmegen and then Stockholm in Sweden and Budapest in Hungary.
Ko’u Hopkins:
What was one of your favorite cities from all these experiences?
Thomas Johnson:
I feel like nothing beats like Paris. It's very, you know, something is always happening there. I was there for the New Year's. Yeah, the food is amazing there. The wine is good. In Paris, it's like, it's really hard to beat.
Ko’u Hopkins:
And kind of while you were overseas, I know many people, because the World Cup was also going on, so there was a lot of talk about the United States. So kind of what did you hear about the US once you were over there? Was it positive, negative, medium, not really cared.
Thomas Johnson:
I feel like American culture and politics is pretty like global and everybody has an opinion. That became very apparent to me when I started talking. People just have jump assumptions about what's happening here. I mean, it's very easy to think like a thing about our the US when you're getting that news media overseas and really nothing else but the news.
Ko’u Hopkins:
What were the news channels kind of saying about us? Was there a lot of talk about the U.S., or was it kind of just here and there?
Thomas Johnson:
I really wasn't watching the Dutch news, but from what I heard from people, a lot of the Europeans were very, became very anti-American almost when the tariffs, I mean, that had happened. were, in effect. And then the Greenland situation became, there was like more tension, even when I was talking and then to people. And then US and Iran, I mean, it spiked the prices also overseas as well. I mean, the gas price, I mean, people complained about our 450 per gallon gas prices, but overseas it was like 2 Euro 30 per liter, which equals about $10 per gallon. So that became just, most American things do have a global effect. So I guess it's hard not to have these assumptions about our country.
Ko’u Hopkins:
Were a lot of people coming up to you once they knew you were American and asking you questions?
Thomas Johnson:
I feel like a lot of people's first questions to me was like, how do you feel about Trump? Because Trump is at the forefront of American news overseas and especially if he's going to some type of summit. I think the NATO summit was in Turkey, and then also they were in France for I think a G7 meeting. So when Trump is in town, I mean, when I mean JD Vance, he was in Hungary actually stumping for the former Hungarian president, Viktor Orban. And yeah, it was the Europeans don't really like us meddling in their politics, in their political sphere.
Ko’u Hopkins:
I mean, that's very understandable because I know that many Americans, like we would be very upset if it's like all these other countries were suddenly dealing with our politics. So that makes very much sense because it's like, hey, we know what we're doing. Just stick to what you know you got to do and I'll stick to what I got to do.
Thomas Johnson:
I feel like that's a pretty sensible reaction to that.
Ko’u Hopkins:
Was there anybody who was very excited to meet you because you were American? Because I know sometimes people, especially some Europeans, they take a lot of American culture because it's like that's what they grew up with. Like they listened to the songs, they watched the movies. Was anyone very excited to meet you?
Thomas Johnson:
I don't think anybody was necessarily excited to see an American abroad, because our relations with these countries became, I would say, strained after the rhetoric made it overseas, then the relations have become much more tense.
Ko’u Hopkins:
I know that when you were abroad, you took classes at university and you were learning about European governments. And now coming back here, do you have a new appreciation or a new view of the EU because you live there and you now understand it a lot?
Thomas Johnson:
Yeah, I mean, for a class I had taken, we actually went to Brussels to go to the European Parliament. I actually saw them when they were in session. I think that European Union itself, I think I definitely have developed like a favorable view of like what they are doing for Europe. I think Europe is stronger together. But I also do think that they, I mean, some of the courses brought up heavy topics like their border control and how they treat migrants that are coming from outside the EU into the EU. And I mean, especially the Schengen zone, which is their European free movement agreement. I mean, now you go out of the airports there, you have to show your passport and they tell you how many days left you have in the Schengen zone. So yeah, I think that they definitely have some things that they're working through and that became apparent to me when I took those classes.
Ko’u Hopkins:
Is there anything else that you learned in these classes?
Thomas Johnson:
Yeah. I mean, I've learned about Dutch history, which is very interesting. Dutch culture. I mean, I had a class called Dutch History, Culture and Politics, so it kind of covered it all. I learned a lot of stuff about urban planning. I mean, the Dutch are pretty remarkable when it comes to that type of stuff. it kind of, when I learned this stuff in the class and I actually experience it, like while I'm riding a bike to the grocery store and I know why, why it's built that way, like what is the philosophy behind these, I came to appreciate these classes more.
Ko’u Hopkins:
And from overall, from your experience, did you think you had a good time?
Thomas Johnson:
I mean, I think it was quite difficult. I think that's important to say. I struggled A lot. But I think what I did was really good for myself. So I'm very proud that I was able to go there for the time that I did.
Ko’u Hopkins:
Would you do it again if you had the choice?
Thomas Johnson:
No. I wouldn't do it again. But I would probably go to the Netherlands again.
Ko’u Hopkins:
So you would like to stick for the vacation and not really the classes, would you say?
Thomas Johnson:
I mean, I wouldn't mind living there. I know how to live there now, so that's a skill that I have. So I definitely see me going back more than just for vacations, especially because I've seen a lot of the countries. It wouldn't make as much sense to do vacations there.
Ko’u Hopkins:
And we only have about a minute left, but are there any last words that you would like to share with us, Thomas?
Thomas Johnson:
Yes. I mean, I think if you're a student here and you are contemplating rather to study abroad, I definitely feel like you should push yourself to go out there because you never know until you're there. And I think you'll learn a lot about yourself. So those are some valuable skills to have.
Ko’u Hopkins:
I completely agree with that sentiment as I myself is also an exchange student. It really changes who you are as a person, and it also helps you to see the world with a whole new lens. And thank you again, Thomas. Thank you so much for being on today. And thank you so much to all of our loyal listeners. And thank you for listening to today's episode on Community Voices. I am your host, Ko'u Hopkins.
