Koolist, Orientalismist ja Allahist / About the University, Orientalism and Allah

Minu esimene koolinädal on läbi ja üle tüki aja kõlab reede tohutult hästi. Kui sul on parasjagu puhkus, on tegelikult täiesti ükskõik, mis päev parajasti on: midagi nagunii tegema ei pea. Koolis käies muutub see kõik muidugi totaalselt. Kuna TTÜs õppides oli mul igal semestril terve hunnik aineid ja ma sain nende kõigiga suurepäraselt (väike liialdus ilmselgelt) hakkama, mõtlesin ma esialgu oma siinset tunniplaani vaadates: jeeeeeerum, kaks ainet? Mismõttes? Mida ma kogu selle vaba ajaga peale hakkan? Reaalsus on muidugi hoopis teine ja hetkel olen ma superõnnelik, et ma kolme ainet võtma ei pidanud. Miks? Sest siis poleks mul ilmselt absoluutselt mingit elu peale ülikooli ja ega ma Amsterdami AINULT õppima ka ei tulnud. Sotsiaalne pool on ju ka tähtis (: Igatahes on mul sellel poolaastal kaks ainet: EL ja selle elanikud (kuigi tegelikult räägime me enamuse ajast majandusest) ning Orientalism. Ja ärge te minult jumala eest küsige, millest see orientalismi kursus ometi räägib, sest ma ei ole siiani veel aru saanud. Kerge oleks arvata, et orient = idamaad ja et me räägime terve aja Afganistanist ja Iraagist. Absoluutselt mitte, täna rääkisime me näiteks hoopis Marxist ja kommunismist. Ja kui päris aus olla, siis kohati on see isegi täitsa põnev, kuigi lugemismaterjali, mida meile igaks tunniks antakse, on palju ja lisaks on see sageli liialt filosoofiline. Niisiis tegelen ma sellel nädalavahetuselt näiteks sellega, et üritan kirjutada paarilehelist sisututvustust Orientalismi suurkuju Edward W. Said’i raamatu kohta. Hetkel loodan ma sellega muidugi kaine peaga ühele poole saada, ent kui mõte ei jookse, tuleb kasutada drastilisemaid meetmeid. Orientalismi õppejõud väitis, et kui sa istud 2 tundi ühe koha peal ja kordad muudkui „Allah, Allah“, siis võib ka sellest pilve jääda. Ilmselt oleks see tervislikum variant kui kanep. Odavam ilmselt ka.
Seega olen ma sellel nädalal äärmiselt tubli olnud ja metsikutes kogustes akadeemilisi tekste lugenud. Eelmises postituses mainitud raamatute nimekirja koostasin ma ka ning tundub, et seetõttu olen ma professor Michaeli jaoks heas nimekirjas. Vähemalt teadis ta teise tunni alguseks mu nime ilma seda küsimata ja see on ometigi hea märk.
Aga nüüd pean ma end riidesse panema ja borrelile minema, sest Hollandi (või minu puhul pigem Belgia) õllekultuur vajab ometi tutvumist.

My first week of university is successfully over and after a long time Friday is worth celebrating for me again. If you are on a long vacation (as I was) then you really couldn’t care less what day it is as you don’t have to do anything productive anyway. When you have to go to the university, Friday suddenly has a completely different meaning. When I was studying in Tallinn Technical University, I had a bunch of courses every semester and it was all rather manageable. The first time I checked my schedule here, I was quite gobsmacked: are you kidding me? Two courses? What will I do with all that free time? The reality of course is different and right now I am just incredibly glad that I didn’t have to take 3 courses. Why? Because in this case I wouldn’t have any life outside the UvA and I didn’t come here ONLY to study. The social part is important as well! Anyway, on this semester I’ll have 2 courses: EU and it’s Citizens (even though we’re discussing economics most of the time) and Orientalism. And no, I still have no idea what’s this Orientalism all about. It would somehow make sense to guess: Orient = Middle-East etc. and that we’re spending most of the time discussing Afghanistan and Iraq. Absolutely not, today for example we discussed Marx and communism. And I have to admit, this can get pretty exciting, but we have to do a lot of reading for every class and it’s often way too philosophical for me. So, this weekend I will concentrate on writing a book report about a book from one of the big names in Orientalism, Edward W. Said. At the moment I really hope that I can do that while being sober, but if my mind refuses to collaborate, drastic measures have to be used. Our Orientalism professor said that if you sit in one place for 2 hours and keep chanting „Allah, Allah“, you might get high as well. I guess it would be more healthy than smoking some weed. Cheaper as well.
So, I have been quite effective this week and chewed myself through a huge amount of academical texts. I also made a list of books for my Taliban paper and I guess this gave me some brownie points from professor Michael. At least he already knew what my name was for our second class without asking it and it seems quite a good sign for me.
But now I must hurry up and get dressed to have a borrel with some of my friends from UvA as it is about time to get acquianted to the Dutch beer culture.