Sporting a mix and match of different colours and textures, Du Yan’s style is one of a kind. She is almost unconscious of the eye-catchy look. Du Yan (26) is a student of the Dutch-taught Pre Master program of Fiscal Economics. She is from the city of Qingdao, in the North-East of China.
Style
Du Yan hesitated, almost unsure about what to answer to the question about defining her style. Then, a timid reply. “I like to wear flared trousers with floral. The outfit would be complete with a white blouse or another plain colour to contrast the explosion of colour and shapes of the bottom. Flower print dresses are another item I wear quite often. In this phase of my life, I am really loving colourful clothes. My favourites are light colours, such as light green or light blue. This feels like me, it is my style. I have tried to change it when I came here, but it didn’t feel right then. For instance, I am used to wear furry coats during winter, when I moved here, I noticed nobody wore them. Consequently, I put my furry coat away for a while, but that was not me, so I brought it back. My advice to everyone is to be themselves, don’t get sucked in another culture.”
Dutch
“Fiscal Economics is a Dutch-taught study. I didn’t speak Dutch before moving here from China, where I completed my Bachelor. Fiscal Economics in the Netherlands is renowned to be very good, hence I chose to move to follow the course here. I spent eight months doing a Dutch language course in Leiden. At the end of it, I passed the State exam and eventually succeeded in enrolling in the pre master. Learning Dutch wasn’t too difficult, I have studied German back in China, thus learning Dutch was for me easier. However, the beginning of the academic year was tough. Not only because of the study, but also because I felt I was losing myself a bit. “
Similarities
“I don’t perceive too many differences between here and China. Not only in the classroom environment, but also in general, the people, the shops etc. However, in the classroom, students are asked less questions than in China, furthermore, I find it nice to many tutorials. Regarding the food, well, I eat Chinese food every day; therefore, I can’t say I miss it. One of the biggest differences I perceive is the quietness of the Dutch cities compared to the Chinese ones. Dutch spaces are less crowed and less busy, sometimes it feels too quiet for my likings. At the end of the day, I don’t really care about differences; I try to go beyond them.”
