{"id":125238,"date":"2021-04-12T14:49:51","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T12:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=125238"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:25:32","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:25:32","slug":"first-year-student-nur-what-can-you-say-to-friends-who-have-lost-loved-ones-to-the-virus-its-so-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2021\/04\/12\/first-year-student-nur-what-can-you-say-to-friends-who-have-lost-loved-ones-to-the-virus-its-so-hard\/","title":{"rendered":"First-year student Nur: \u2018What can you say to friends who have lost loved ones to the virus? It\u2019s so hard\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis sun makes me feel so much better\u201d, Spanish student Nur * tells us. \u201cI don\u2019t really have the words to explain it.\u201d It\u2019s twenty degrees Celsius when we conduct our interview during a walk. The student from Madrid refuses to believe that it can actually snow in April.<\/p>\n

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Nur at the Kralingse Plas.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAysha Gasanova<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

\u201cRotterdam really is the city of opportunities, isn\u2019t it?\u201d, says Nur. After we\u2019ve bought two coffees at the Pavilion, we walk past the Polak Building, then leave the campus. Nur briefly glances towards the Rotterdam city centre. \u201cI get the feeling that this is a place of many possibilities. For instance, when those texts were projected onto the Tinbergen Building a little while ago, and onto buildings all over the city. That was the coolest thing ever!\u201d She has said she is \u2018super happy\u2019 to be here ever since she arrived<\/a> in Rotterdam. She still has a good feeling about the city. Maybe she could stay here after getting her degree, she says, thinking out loud.<\/p>\n

A special birthday gift<\/h2>

But don\u2019t think for one moment that the 19-year-old student doesn\u2019t miss Spain. Tell her that you\u2019d like to visit Madrid some day and Nur will get a sparkle in the eye and immediately start giving you a host of tips, ranging from nice restaurants to great museums she wholeheartedly recommends. Nur misses her family and friends, but she also misses Spanish delicacies. Thankfully, her mother recently sent her half a kilo of Spanish cheese, as well as a large leg of Spanish ham. The same parcel also contained her birthday present, which she isn\u2019t allowed to open until 27 April.<\/p>\n

She is momentarily distracted when a dog passes by. \u201cOoh, look how cute!\u201d Her own dog in Spain died a little while ago. It was sixteen years old, but even so, its death came as a surprise to her.<\/p>\n\n\t

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