this is joske. she is a classmate of mine that i met in grad school when we were studing in rotterdam and our study abroad in vienna. she is very dutch, very kind and very bright.

this is a photo i took of her sitting under a tree in the university courtyard on a sunny day not long before our finance exams. i named this photo “joske eruditus” because it portrays joske in a state of learning, or erudire, the latin verb meaning  to ‘instruct or train’ and the adjective erudite, which means ‘having or showing great knowledge or learning’. 

i like this portrayal because it’s a timeless representation of university: gaining knowledge through reading, reading and more reading. this photo also depicts a certain serenity in being a university student, which is an almost sheltered life of reading and gaining knowledge in a vacuum, while attempting to make it a more real life experience with case studies, presentations, and powerpoints.

oh, to remember being a student. it’s so peaceful to think about that the most stressful thing in life at that time was passing exams…..