Loosely Talking: Karnival

The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. – Oscar Wilde. 

Hello! Welcome to our first issue of Loosely Talking, where we reflect on our lives between the cobblestones. 

As this is the first edition, an introduction is essential. This column within the Maastricht Diplomat is here to bring more whimsy to the journal and talk about our student lives in relation to our environment. The ‘Loosely Talking’ column is written by Celia Kervyn and Ella Leffler, both third-year UCM students. Celia is enthusiastic, yet she needs to learn how to control her impulsivity, and Ella is a hyper-positive person who needs to learn some volume control.

Let’s start by saying, what a week! Between the confetti sticking on our shoes and the beer breath wafting into our noses, Karnival has a way of taking over. This got us thinking that come Karnival and the costumes, one really transforms themselves into whoever they want to be. As we both recently returned from our exchange semesters, we couldn't help but wonder: now that the Exchange costumes have come off and our Maastricht ones back on, how does one go from night-to-night, in different costumes, while still keeping one's true self? 

Going into the exchange experience, we were thrown into an entirely new cultural and physical environment, inviting us to learn how to remain our true selves in the face of all those changes. One needs to embrace the flexibility of our human personhood and allow the integration of what we learn from our new countries to fully zip up our exchange costumes. 

For Ella, this meant tapping back into her daily use of Spanish and becoming more spontaneous and relaxed, in the face of exciting travels and indulgence in the Peruvian culture ripe within Lima and beyond. Her exchange costume adopted a more laid back academic life, leaning towards experience of the culture and connection with the community around her. For Celia, this implied putting on a suit costume and embracing the workaholic grind set of the U.S.’s capital, while allowing room to loosen her tie given the unhinged political climate. 

In a way, we became entirely new people respective to Washington D.C. and Peru, highlighting how humans are relational; reshaped by place, but not rewritten. 

Karnival has a way of making you lose yourself in the overload. Too many costumes, too many versions of who you could be. Coming back felt similar. Returning to the city, university life and friends, yet with the baggage of the time away. Caught between past and present, and feeling unsure about the future, we found ourselves dissociating. Lost in the Maastricht and abroad memories, the excitement of the return made us question the person we were and the one we want to be. 

Like how your annoying, strict neighbor obsessed with noise was caught being the loudest in the Vrijthof. Yet, went right back to his same uncompromising antics. The difference between the metaphorical costume and your neighbor's hypocrisy is, we do not need to come back from abroad unchanged. This comeback is also about embracing the person and experiences you had with the pre-abroad ones. Unlike the neighbor who will go back to being stubborn about noise, we must take this time to think about what new daily costume we want to wear. 

As our exchange and Karnival have both ended, pointing out how the clothes you wear or the place you go shape you. It is important that we remain flexible while true to ourselves regardless of the events or cities. This is also what we aim to bring to this weekly column: being honest while adapting to the community around us. So stick around if you want to read more about our thoughts, experiences and conversations. 

Until next week, 

Celia and Ella