Inter-cultural debate is fun even without talking

'The Dutch soccer team is the best in the world. Yes or no?' Laughter and an abundance of red leaflets pops up in the international audience. An obvious no. Only a few Dutch patriots dare to show a green leaflet. The Over the Border forum that the UT International Office organised last week to talk about studying abroad, was designed to exchange experiences and start an intercultural discussion. One difficulty: debating also appears to be culturally bound.

'I feel like an alien here!' Andreea Merticaru admitted to her audience. 'Dutch people in my office want me to open the window and work at 15 degrees Celcius. They say it's good for me. But I cannot work feeling like a penguin!' The Romanian PhD student still shivered. Four students shared their experiences in studying and working outside their fatherland with the visitors of the 'Over the Border' forum. One of them was Merticaru, who shared some alienating experiences with Dutch culture. Even the Dutch part of the audience heartily laughed over them. Most of the times, that is.

After the speeches chairwoman Petra Boom, in traditional Dutch clothing and accompanied by a bicycle, attempted to get the audience to debate. With red and green pieces of paper the visitors could give their opinion on a variety of questions. 'Should Dutch crown prince Willem-Alexander should marry his partner Maxima?' An overwhelming amount of green appears. A big fuss over nothing, according to the foreign part of the audience. The question whether people who want to study at the UT should be obliged to learn Dutch engendered more discussion. Learning Dutch is very useful, but making it compulsory is not sensible, was the conclusion.

The most striking outcome was that only 5 of the 20 foreign students specifically chose the UT to study abroad. Although applying to more than one university is usual, the UT people seemed disappointed. 'What are we doing with the international marketing strategy of the UT?' they wondered.

The whole audience enthusiastically used the green and red leaflets, but when it came to discussing the reason behind their choice of color, there was less eagerness. The people most involved in the debates were either Dutch or had lived in Holland for a while. Not that chairwoman Boom didn't try. 'So what do our Russian friends think of this?' she said. With limited result, unfortunately, for after a few sentences the Russian speech was finished.

Nevertheless, during drinks afterwards positive sounds had the upper hand. Another lesson learnt: people can enjoy a debate without debating themselves.