Wageningen University
Study Abroad in the Netherlands
I spent eight months studying at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. There, I took a course called “Public Health Nutrition: Development of Nutrition Intervention Programs,” which culminated in a capstone group project. While most courses at Wageningen were taught in English, a vast majority of domestic students understandably chose to communicate and complete their work in Dutch. The day our capstone project was assigned was the day that everyone, myself and the professor included, realized that I was the only non-Dutch student taking the course. The four girls sitting in my row invited me to join their group, forfeiting the luxury of completing our project in their mother tongue. I was humbled by this, and humbled further still when it became apparent that, being American, I was not equipped with the cultural understanding necessary to design a nutrition intervention project targeting Dutch adults. It became wholly necessary for the success of the project and for the well-being of Zelhem—the community for whom we were designing our campaign to decrease sugary beverage consumption—that I open my mouth less and listen more. My group members suggested we call the project "Je Bent Wat Je Drinkt," or "You Are What Your Drink."
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When we received top marks on our final presentation to the Dutch Municipality and were informed they would be implementing a portion of our project, it felt like more of a celebration of the relationships I had developed with my group members than anything I had personally contributed to earn our grade. It had become clear to me that while the didactic steps to a health intervention project are evidence-based and clear-cut, in the field, it is imperative to have the knowledge from and the buy-in of the local population to support its design and implementation. I wanted to continue developing my understanding of health programming through a multicultural lens. I extended my semester at Wageningen for another period, and then again into the summer term.
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My time at Wageningen was hugely impactful, and planted the seed that would eventually blossom into my Peace Corps service in Mozambique.
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