News - December 2, 2004

First impressions: ‘I can’t ride a bike yet, but I’m practising’

Tsitsi Sadomba from Zimbabwe, MSc Food Quality Management

Tsitsi arrived last Tuesday in Wageningen. The student administration (CSA) made her first week easier. “They gave me the e-mail address of a contact person, a man from Ghana. He was very helpful. He gave me lots of tips, showed me around town and helped me at the municipality.” CSA also gave her the names of her fellow countrymen at the university, when she asked for them. Someone helped her to find a bike: “I can’t ride a bike yet, although I practised on a bike we had at home. In Zimbabwe we don’t bike but drive. At our university campus you just walk.”
Now she’s looking forward to the arrival of her husband and their four-year-old daughter in September. Her husband is doing a PhD here and will defend his thesis around January. “We’ll stay here until I graduate. I’ve not made day care arrangements yet my daughter. This might be expensive.” She’s surprised to hear that four-year olds go to school in the Netherlands. “At that age already?”