A bystander’s question

With the semester in its initial phase, Maastricht’s student population is in the ‘design your life’-craze again… an annual recurrence, as close observation suggests.

And with enormous piles of new students freshly arrived from high school or from the usual year abroad, the demand for self-definition and identity is outpaced even by the demand for IKEA furniture.

The freetime-activity-roulette is rolling again, and everybody’s trying to fill up their lives with some hobby that sounds interesting enough to impress people with and that can potentially provide many new acquaintances.

Even among my dear fellow second-years, the personality-building rage has proven infectious.

For reasons that have yet to reveal themselves to me, people have returned from holiday with the firm resolution to spam their agenda (the ultimate Dutch accessory) for weeks to come.

Virtually everybody seems eager to be too busy for a chat over a beer at night.

While a couple of weeks ago, we were all still in a position to go out for a spontaneous coffee, these days careful coordination of even the smallest social encounter has become an absolute necessity.

Some people don’t even find the time for a casual chat around town anymore… (and what for do we live in a town the size of Maastricht, if not for the possibility of casual chats in the street?)

Rather, they’re all out and about improving their lives or joining the Lacrosse team or attending yoga classes.

Not that there is anything wrong with yoga classes or the like; I am simply standing in unbelieving awe before all these interesting activities everybody has taken up lately.

And since I am unable to observe life without questioning everything I see, I cannot help but ask myself how many empty spaces people have to fill up with things that were unimportant to them yesterday.

By Francesca Schmidt

Francesca Schmidt, 20, is a German student specialising in Arts and Culture at the University of Maastricht.