A month has passed since I, once again, boarded the Wageningen student life train. The only train whose destination and expected time of arrival are unknown. I feel rather small in this thing that careens on, indifferent to its passengers. And when I found my days planned full of thesis meetings, house parties and society drinks shortly after my return, I suddenly realised how fast we all move. Unnecessary, I feel.
When I feel the rush of student life is determining my day, I take a moment to stand still. I play my Vivalldisrush-is-unnecessary Spotify playlist, don a colourful shirt and take a seat at my desk among the plants. Escaping the daily grind, I look for people who are not in a hurry. People who simply are. Who exude not learned behaviour but effortlessness. Over the past years, I gathered a file on my laptop containing videos full of relaxed moments. I named the file Anti-nonsense.
When I feel the rush of student life is determining my day, I take a moment to stand still
Besides the file name, the videos have little in common. They are all about people who are at ease. These people require no explanation; they are precisely where they should be. The file contains, for example, my hero Herman Brood, but also fashion designer Iris van Herpen and the British perfumer Roja Dove. There is a jam session with Anouk, Nellie of Drugs lab and master chef Sergio Herman in a clip that shows him tearing up when he cooks beautiful oysters. There is also a tour through the residence of Italian designer Gaetano Pesce, an interview with Lucia Rijker in Dream school and a Boiler room set in which David August almost coalesces with his music. And this is just a tiny sample of all the fragments I have collected.
I feel we should consider what we are actually rushing towards and whether getting there a little later is really a problem. That will give us more time to enjoy the effortlessness surrounding us. Because who has time for all this hurrying?
Oscar Delissen is a fourth-year student of Food Technology and intends to have his own Pasticceria in southern Italy in thirty years.
- Joshua’s column: Internationalization at WUR
- Column Willy: Undesirable behaviour and silence
- Column Ilja: Wageningen cuisine
