Studying in Groningen---working in a group

Group work is one of the most important
issues in the University
of Groningen (RuG).
Teamwork is highly valued, and how to cooperate with people from different
backgrounds is something that you cannot miss!



I have studied in RuG for almost two years, and have worked in lots of groups
with various students. I am going to talk about the two most impressing and
interesting experiences.

The first one is working in an all-Dutch-but-one-Chinese group, and I was the only
one from a foreign country! That was the first time I have had group work in
The Netherlands and worked with students with a different cultural background. At
that time, we were required to prepare a presentation every week. Thus we had
lots of chances to stay together. To my great surprise, the group work was
fantastic! Most of our presentations got some positive feedback, though at the
beginning we did make mistakes. Still, learning from mistakes is a great
experience too!





During our discussion, I found something
interesting. For instance, they could not handle two different issues at the
same time. That is, they need to finish the first one, and then the second one.
I learned many very Dutch things like “tik ‘Maan” (something like ‘give me five’).
AG, one of my group mates, a very funny boy, always said, “Hey Sammy, tik ‘Maan.”
Every time he said this to me, I strongly felt that we were connected, no
matter how different we were .





The second one is the opposite of the first
one. It was the first time I worked with all international students in RuG. The course was International Human Resource Management,
and we needed to finish six assignments, one per week. Two of my group mates
were from Hungry and one from South
Korea. We were discussing very different
things from our own countries, and what we liked or disliked what was happening
around us in The Netherlands. In short, it was a fabulous experience working
with these nice, smart and funny girls! We still keep in touch with each other,
and the Hungarian girls asked me to visit them in Hungary. It was a pity that I missed the
flight to Budapest,
otherwise, it would be great to see them again.





Such group work is very inspiring and
challenging, for we need to work with people from different backgrounds in such
an international university. Of course, group work may not be fun all the time,
and we may not agree with each other, however, learning how to ‘negotiate’ with
each other is such fabulous experience!