UCU borders a NATO command center and military base — The dark mornings and nights are especially important during the winter months in the Netherlands, where daylight and sunshine are hard to find. My third day in Utrecht included a lot of geopolitical discussions and discoveries that were interwoven into our many Introweek activities. After an opening ceremony for exchange…

Early discoveries in Utrecht — Soft sounds go a far way in the streets of Utrecht, where despite hundreds of residents and students walking around, the noise level resembles that of a quaint French town. That was one of the main takeaways from my first walk around Utrecht today with the other exchange students —…

Newark, Amsterdam and Utrecht in one day — After a sleepless overnight United flight from Newark Liberty International Airport to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, I stumbled into Dutch travelers filling the coffee shops of Airport Schiphol with concentrated conversation, diligent espresso-drinking and an overall level of composure at 8:00 a.m. …

“Voluntary Time Off” is their trojan horse to exploit workers, minimize wage costs and protect tax breaks — Short break times. Punishment for using the bathroom. Worker surveillance. These are some of the poor working conditions in Amazon warehouses that have been documented in recent years. But, Amazon’s exploitative practices go beyond their blatantly poor treatment of workers. …

The platform’s viral algorithm is creating upward social mobility for millions. — TikTok, a video-sharing platform with 65.9 million American users in 2020, has swiftly established its large presence in the social media market two years after gaining popularity in 2019. …

Memes have grown to a point in popularity where we have to ask the question: why? Memes control internet culture, as popular meme pages on social media now draw tens of millions of followers. People around the world are reliant on that daily release of dopamine in their brains through…

For centuries, every culture has shared an important characteristic: leisure. Buddhists in Southeast Asia have meditated since prehistoric times, while the Romans began reading books in 23 B.C. While stress dominates the majority of life in many modern cultures, leisure is a time when interests are paramount. Whether that means…

From emotional to tactics-focused, sports commentators have unique styles often hidden from viewers. — Whether it’s Super Bowl Sunday, game seven of the World Series, or the World Cup Final, there is always someone behind that TV screen guiding a viewer through each step of a sporting event. While sometimes they might be hard to even notice among the intensity of the game, or…