For its part, EM also joined the party at the Maassilo and reviewed the first day of this year’s Eureka Week with a few freshers who are about to embark on their degrees. The opening party is the traditional prelude to a week filled with drinking, fun times and hangovers.
Although they clearly hadn’t quite got used to everything yet, and DJs such as The Happy Feelings, Buurman & Buurman, Levi Hamerslag and Daisy’s DJs were creating an almighty racket in the background, a few revellers found time to tell us about their first experiences of being a student in Rotterdam.
Ezra Eijsenring (18, Pedagogical Sciences)
“I attended another party last night, at a house belonging to Laurentius, where I was also able to crash for the night afterwards. Later that night, when we went out for some shawarma, two friends of mine nearly came to blows with two other guys. Those guys were beating on the windows after leaving the shawarma place. One of my friends was whistling at a girl, and they were upset about that, even though they didn’t even know the girl! They were yelling at us that we should respect women. My friend tried to get them to calm down by saying it was just a joke. In the end they left without a fight, so that was a good outcome.”
Daniela Camacho (19, Management of International Social Challenges)
“I’m from Ecuador, and my first impressions of the Netherlands have been great! I’ve really liked Rotterdam so far and the food is wonderful. Hardly anyone knows the degree I’m going to take, so it was nice to meet a few fellow students here. Tonight we’ll be attending a party thrown by one of the student societies. I’m expecting it to be a lot wilder than this one. I hope I can actually get to the society, because I’m not used to cycling at all. Everyone rides bikes here! But thankfully, I’m getting the hang of it.”
Jonathan de Vries (18, Business Administration) and Bart van der Wel (18, Business Administration)
De Vries: “I’m struck by the amount of drinking on this first day. We’re rather enjoying it. Let’s put it this way: our group leaders were awfully cheerful. My group spent today sitting on a roof terrace, enjoying a lot of drinks. In the meantime, we saw a little bit of the city, thanks to a tour.”
Van der Wel: “So far the introduction week has been a lot of fun. When we were attending secondary school, we were not used to drinking this much. But in addition to all the partying, I’m looking forward to Wednesday, when the sports day and the Playground festival will be held.”
Puck Engelhard (18, Health Policy and Management)
“The craziest thing I’ve seen so far was a boy who was carrying a girl on his neck while cycling! Last night I spent the night at a Skadi house, and there was some serious partying going on there, as well. Two guys from my house kept partying until 4.30am. They were a complete mess this morning. I myself took it a little easier. But I do wish to join a society, so I’m planning to attend Laurentius’ open-to-all party tonight. And maybe I’ll visit Skadi, too.”
