Like the Dutch cabaret performer Herman Finkers’ would be joking: “the course Coping with Disappointments has been cancelled once again.” Some people just make the best out of bad situations. And so did some international students at our accommodation. Empowered by a more optimistic forecaster than buienradar.nl, they pop-upped an adorable outdoor cinema themselves.

Accordingly we watched Willy ‘Wrinkled’ Wonka starring on a blank bed sheet. All attendants had grass under their bottoms and some between their lips. The latter of the dried Dutch species: a part of culture that is absorbed most eagerly by internationals.

Even though the screen flew away a couple of times, the experience easily met the expectations of a Zwarte Doos outdoor movie. Mr. Weather remained a good boy, providing some well-timed special effects. At first these were occasional small bolts of lightning somewhere far far away. At the end, the first real rain came down along with the credits.

Hidden agenda

The objective of Studium Generale is to shape students’ general development. Obviously this includes the practical stuff like problem solving if an expected event blows off. Makes sense why they would cancel an outdoor movie due to wet weather at a three-hour-long dry sky. It all had been planned already. Forecasting storms, fostering proactivity. It is the hidden SG agenda behind the visible poster program.

So what if the World Press Photo Exposition isn’t any of your taste? Visit the repro shop at Metaforum, print your favorite holiday pictures at the largest and fanciest poster paper and put them in the corridor. It’s the way of thinking Studium Generale is silently telling you. If they would mention it explicitly, the objective of internalizing initiatives in students gets demolished. Hence their little life lesson here: do it yourself if it suits you. Or let other international students do it. This way the cultural goals of general development gets achieved along. Clever thinking too, SG!