good evening or should I say CUDA albums
my name is eros Ranson and i am proudly
100% dutch the kind that brings you
tulips windmills shouta and funcle’ or
as you would say Goethe and Van Gogh I
moved to California six years ago
something which apparently qualifies me
to come here today and talk to you about
a scary word I want to talk about change
change is terrifying now don’t get me
wrong I’m in no way saying it’s bad it’s
a very important part of growing up but
it is unfamiliar and very unknown to put
it into perspective
consider a forest fire well might be
scary and sudden at first if you can
look past all the negatives it gives way
to new opportunity the old fire the
remnants of the old forest provide a
foundation for the new forests the same
way that my past in Holland helps me
create a life here in America I was born
in Hong Kong I grew up in the
Netherlands and then I ended up maturing
in California something which is still
crazy to me to this day it’s very
different no matter how closely related
all three places might seem they have
different ideologies different customs
you name it so fitting into a culture
requires time and observation kind of
goes all the way from how people
interact to the smallest change in the
greeting I can tell you that
transitioning from the cheek kisses or
bonkers to the bear hugs use in America
7vf for quite some trial and error as
you can imagine just imagine nine year
old me kissing and head bumping people
and then imagine the impression that
must have left so rough start but it
just shows that no two places just as no
two people are the same actually our
first three weeks here me and my family
spent in Venice and keep in mind that
I’d never been to California prior to
this so all I knew was from YouTube and
social media I mean I could sing
every single word to Tupac’s California
love had a single idea what I was saying
but as I was saying the first three
weeks be spent in a small apartment near
Venice Beach which is one of the most
popular place in America and it kind of
reinforced this whole idea I had all the
stereotypes that I kind of seen from
movies and music videos I mean it had
the expensive Ford sports cars the
special people and of course the very
early morning surfers I mean it’s like a
page torn out of a Travel Guide but now
we’re fast-forwarding and I moved here
so they can a ovalle which though it’s
very close to Venice was yet again a
change from what I known in front of
what I’m kind of being used to at this
point for example one of the first
things I noticed is almost everybody in
Holland has a Gelder or what you would
call basement and this kind of drew my
attention to one of the less discussed
parts of a California or at least in
other places and that was earthquakes
and it’s kind of the first scary thing
that I noticed about living here in this
completely new place I mean I came from
a land where our biggest trouble was a
potential flood maybe I mean we’re
called the Netherlands or lowlands for a
reason but I hadn’t really thought about
how different this geography would be I
mean we used to joke in Holland about
our lack of even the smallest Hills and
meanwhile I spent the last summer here
fighting for my breath at the top of
Mount Whitney so it was something that
at the time didn’t make sense to me even
though it’s fairly obvious now but
that’s not the only difference of course
I mean when I looked around kind of
throughout the days throughout the years
I started noticing that one of the big
things is that nobody here rides a bike
and there’s a lot less green nature I
mean thank you drew out and that was
kind of a downer for me because riding a
bike is one of the first things you are
taught in Holland and similarly to a
driver’s test
everybody has to take a bike safety exam
at the end of the fourth grade so I mean
safety first right and then it’s also
kind of my childhood that was what I’d
grown up with and it’s always difficult
kind of moving past that that one thing
you’ve been doing one way your entire
life but kind of back to that forest
fire this negative part ended up as an
amazing opportunity I remember getting
my driver’s license just 16 and I told
my friends in Holland we still have to
wait two years at least and they were so
jealous and it was just it sounds
horrible it’s very gratifying and it
just kind of brought to my attention
that I hated biking everywhere in
Holland I look back at it now with such
wonder and I miss it so much but I was
not a fan I mean I look very happy here
but I was not a fan I have the cold and
wet climate and it just kind of brought
everything into perspective I mean I
feel in hindsight we always see the
things that we miss that we wish we
could have done and that we want to go
back to you it’s kind of the fond
memories and we never look at the
negative parts I mean I often choose to
oversee the fact that almost everybody
in Holland smokes cigarettes
I mean that’s not a good thing just like
there’s a way higher alcohol intake in
teens as compared to America and that
doesn’t occur to you you only look back
and see what you want to see but this is
something I did not realize until
recently the me from fifth grade needed
some more time
so fifth grade was my first year
experiencing school in America which was
a completely new path but luckily for me
a time where everybody was best friends
so I was an aspiring singer sauce
actress of course and a great field
hockey player
but despite kind of all the wonderful
games of freeze tag and the new faces
who greeted me every day it was still
difficult the first few months as one
would expect
this very competitive atmosphere here
that completely discouraged me from
pursuing my dreams of being the most
popular movie star ever and then of
course is the big issues or at least in
my opinion they were and that was my
childhood was on a different continent
and I had this constant language barrier
between me and the rest of my peers it
was I never spoke in English before then
so my best vocab word at the end of
fifth grade was probably Wednesday you
know really take a bow on that one but
just as always it kind of got resolved
so when my friends went to their
computer classes I went through the
worst form of torture possible a special
English class I was in a class with
three other people and we would switch
between rosetta stone and Scrabble I
mean school was still that easy but this
previously thought torture eventually
turned out to be my favor as one might
have guessed my English has improved by
the day and thereby my confidence among
my American friends increased so much so
time for me to brag about myself since
the beginning of middle school I
administrate honors and keeping in mind
that sixth grade was only my second year
speaking English and I kind of feel like
middle schools where everything came
together it was really the place where I
started finding myself within this new
culture I mean I had my new friends that
I still hang out with to this day and
then seventh grade I joined track and
field and musical clubs and everything
and then I also tried kind of to put
myself into the school to kind of force
myself into this new social chain so I
joined the student government and I ran
for a lot of physicians a lot of times
sometimes winning sometimes losing but
always accepted and happy so then we
kind of move on to the fact that this
was not what I used to do in Holland
this was not me at all it was a complete
180 but that’s not something bad that’s
a part of growing up in my opinion
that’s me fitting into this new culture
putting myself into it and I’ve also
kept parts of Holland of course it’s not
complete new me there’s of course the
amazing food because we got our cheese
we got our bread we got fried food I
don’t know if you guys have ever tried
Dutch fried food it’s the best and
there’s also the parts i miss i’ve
public transportation it seems like a
very mundane thing very government
website thing but i miss taking the
train and the buses and just talking to
people i was waiting for a taxi or
something and then of course there’s my
best friends and childhood i mean
they’re miles and miles away but in the
end it’s still whenever i see them it’s
like I never even left it’s really one
of those things you can just pick right
up and I don’t know I don’t have any
regrets so when I kind of want to leave
you guys here with today is I did it I
moved I went to a completely different
culture I went to a different place I
mean my family and I we picked up our
lives and we left but it’s okay because
I changed I mean it hasn’t changed who I
am it’s just changed the way I look at
things and you have the power to change
it’s it’s hard at times it’s weird and
it’s awkward and its head bumping and
kissing people but it works out so just
as I found my place I wish you luck with
your journey or should I say he’ll feel
click Thank You al
my name is eros Ranson and i am proudly
100% dutch the kind that brings you
tulips windmills shouta and funcle’ or
as you would say Goethe and Van Gogh I
moved to California six years ago
something which apparently qualifies me
to come here today and talk to you about
a scary word I want to talk about change
change is terrifying now don’t get me
wrong I’m in no way saying it’s bad it’s
a very important part of growing up but
it is unfamiliar and very unknown to put
it into perspective
consider a forest fire well might be
scary and sudden at first if you can
look past all the negatives it gives way
to new opportunity the old fire the
remnants of the old forest provide a
foundation for the new forests the same
way that my past in Holland helps me
create a life here in America I was born
in Hong Kong I grew up in the
Netherlands and then I ended up maturing
in California something which is still
crazy to me to this day it’s very
different no matter how closely related
all three places might seem they have
different ideologies different customs
you name it so fitting into a culture
requires time and observation kind of
goes all the way from how people
interact to the smallest change in the
greeting I can tell you that
transitioning from the cheek kisses or
bonkers to the bear hugs use in America
7vf for quite some trial and error as
you can imagine just imagine nine year
old me kissing and head bumping people
and then imagine the impression that
must have left so rough start but it
just shows that no two places just as no
two people are the same actually our
first three weeks here me and my family
spent in Venice and keep in mind that
I’d never been to California prior to
this so all I knew was from YouTube and
social media I mean I could sing
every single word to Tupac’s California
love had a single idea what I was saying
but as I was saying the first three
weeks be spent in a small apartment near
Venice Beach which is one of the most
popular place in America and it kind of
reinforced this whole idea I had all the
stereotypes that I kind of seen from
movies and music videos I mean it had
the expensive Ford sports cars the
special people and of course the very
early morning surfers I mean it’s like a
page torn out of a Travel Guide but now
we’re fast-forwarding and I moved here
so they can a ovalle which though it’s
very close to Venice was yet again a
change from what I known in front of
what I’m kind of being used to at this
point for example one of the first
things I noticed is almost everybody in
Holland has a Gelder or what you would
call basement and this kind of drew my
attention to one of the less discussed
parts of a California or at least in
other places and that was earthquakes
and it’s kind of the first scary thing
that I noticed about living here in this
completely new place I mean I came from
a land where our biggest trouble was a
potential flood maybe I mean we’re
called the Netherlands or lowlands for a
reason but I hadn’t really thought about
how different this geography would be I
mean we used to joke in Holland about
our lack of even the smallest Hills and
meanwhile I spent the last summer here
fighting for my breath at the top of
Mount Whitney so it was something that
at the time didn’t make sense to me even
though it’s fairly obvious now but
that’s not the only difference of course
I mean when I looked around kind of
throughout the days throughout the years
I started noticing that one of the big
things is that nobody here rides a bike
and there’s a lot less green nature I
mean thank you drew out and that was
kind of a downer for me because riding a
bike is one of the first things you are
taught in Holland and similarly to a
driver’s test
everybody has to take a bike safety exam
at the end of the fourth grade so I mean
safety first right and then it’s also
kind of my childhood that was what I’d
grown up with and it’s always difficult
kind of moving past that that one thing
you’ve been doing one way your entire
life but kind of back to that forest
fire this negative part ended up as an
amazing opportunity I remember getting
my driver’s license just 16 and I told
my friends in Holland we still have to
wait two years at least and they were so
jealous and it was just it sounds
horrible it’s very gratifying and it
just kind of brought to my attention
that I hated biking everywhere in
Holland I look back at it now with such
wonder and I miss it so much but I was
not a fan I mean I look very happy here
but I was not a fan I have the cold and
wet climate and it just kind of brought
everything into perspective I mean I
feel in hindsight we always see the
things that we miss that we wish we
could have done and that we want to go
back to you it’s kind of the fond
memories and we never look at the
negative parts I mean I often choose to
oversee the fact that almost everybody
in Holland smokes cigarettes
I mean that’s not a good thing just like
there’s a way higher alcohol intake in
teens as compared to America and that
doesn’t occur to you you only look back
and see what you want to see but this is
something I did not realize until
recently the me from fifth grade needed
some more time
so fifth grade was my first year
experiencing school in America which was
a completely new path but luckily for me
a time where everybody was best friends
so I was an aspiring singer sauce
actress of course and a great field
hockey player
but despite kind of all the wonderful
games of freeze tag and the new faces
who greeted me every day it was still
difficult the first few months as one
would expect
this very competitive atmosphere here
that completely discouraged me from
pursuing my dreams of being the most
popular movie star ever and then of
course is the big issues or at least in
my opinion they were and that was my
childhood was on a different continent
and I had this constant language barrier
between me and the rest of my peers it
was I never spoke in English before then
so my best vocab word at the end of
fifth grade was probably Wednesday you
know really take a bow on that one but
just as always it kind of got resolved
so when my friends went to their
computer classes I went through the
worst form of torture possible a special
English class I was in a class with
three other people and we would switch
between rosetta stone and Scrabble I
mean school was still that easy but this
previously thought torture eventually
turned out to be my favor as one might
have guessed my English has improved by
the day and thereby my confidence among
my American friends increased so much so
time for me to brag about myself since
the beginning of middle school I
administrate honors and keeping in mind
that sixth grade was only my second year
speaking English and I kind of feel like
middle schools where everything came
together it was really the place where I
started finding myself within this new
culture I mean I had my new friends that
I still hang out with to this day and
then seventh grade I joined track and
field and musical clubs and everything
and then I also tried kind of to put
myself into the school to kind of force
myself into this new social chain so I
joined the student government and I ran
for a lot of physicians a lot of times
sometimes winning sometimes losing but
always accepted and happy so then we
kind of move on to the fact that this
was not what I used to do in Holland
this was not me at all it was a complete
180 but that’s not something bad that’s
a part of growing up in my opinion
that’s me fitting into this new culture
putting myself into it and I’ve also
kept parts of Holland of course it’s not
complete new me there’s of course the
amazing food because we got our cheese
we got our bread we got fried food I
don’t know if you guys have ever tried
Dutch fried food it’s the best and
there’s also the parts i miss i’ve
public transportation it seems like a
very mundane thing very government
website thing but i miss taking the
train and the buses and just talking to
people i was waiting for a taxi or
something and then of course there’s my
best friends and childhood i mean
they’re miles and miles away but in the
end it’s still whenever i see them it’s
like I never even left it’s really one
of those things you can just pick right
up and I don’t know I don’t have any
regrets so when I kind of want to leave
you guys here with today is I did it I
moved I went to a completely different
culture I went to a different place I
mean my family and I we picked up our
lives and we left but it’s okay because
I changed I mean it hasn’t changed who I
am it’s just changed the way I look at
things and you have the power to change
it’s it’s hard at times it’s weird and
it’s awkward and its head bumping and
kissing people but it works out so just
as I found my place I wish you luck with
your journey or should I say he’ll feel
click Thank You al
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