A short break and a glimpse of the city during the Rotterdam Tour

A new addition to the Eurekaweek programme is the Rotterdam Tour. It is a tour of four museums in the centre of Rotterdam. They are not completely overrun, but the few hundred students who join greatly appreciate it. “We also wanted to see something of the city this week”, says prospective master’s student Johanna on the roof of the Depot.

In the reflection of the Depot of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, a few bright blue and orange T-shirts can be seen. The combination of colour and the prints with the sponsors and the Eurekaweek logo makes it immediately clear: these are guides. On the square around the silver pot, a few students can be seen. Only their wristbands reveal them as participants, as most are not walking around with their entire group or their guide.

Inside, the Greek student Maira (23) is waiting for a new tour to start. Every fifteen minutes, two museum guides take fifteen students around. After lunchtime, these groups fill up more quickly. “I already saw the associations at the campus market on Monday”, says Maira about why she chose this tour. Students could also visit the associations this Wednesday. “And I’ve skipped more this week. Standing at the cantus among all those younger people, I didn’t really feel like that.” The soon-to-be master’s student in Media & Creative Industries is completely taken with Rotterdam and is eager to see more of the city. “Two years ago, I came here to visit my aunt. I saw the city, the university, and I thought it was just perfect.”

Oh wow

Once all the bags and water bottles have been stored away in the pink lockers, the tour led by Leonie can begin. “Everyone okay with climbing stairs?”, she asks. The thirteen students nod. “Anyone afraid of heights? In the first group, someone turned out to be, and on the sixth floor you look straight down through the glass floor. She was quite shocked by that.” Twelve people show no fear. Hannah (20, from Leiden, starting the international Psychology programme) hesitates for a moment, then says it will be fine.

“Oh wow”, says Hannah as they climb the first stairs. She looks up at the staircases crossing through the spaces, and at the artworks displayed on glass, with a bright pink piece right at the top. Immediately, all the phones come out for photos and videos.

This building is not really a museum, explains museum teacher Leonie. “It is a storage facility, a depot, where you can look at art. The people behind the glass are not actors. They are working here, for example on the restoration of paintings.” When it becomes clear that one of the paintings in the restoration room is a Van Gogh, all the phones come out again. “The paint was coming off”, says Leonie. “That is the last thing you want with  a painting – and certainly not with a Van Gogh.”

No guide

At the very top, Hannah does dare to walk across the glass. As she takes the first step, her hand clings to the doorframe. “We needed something a bit calmer”, she says about her and her two groupmates’ choice to join the museum tour. “We had already seen the associations. And as you might hear, my voice is a bit hoarse from the cantus. Later we’re probably going to the Kunsthal and the festival.”

In addition to the Kunsthal and the Depot, students can also visit the Natural History Museum and Art Institute Melly. Bas (26), Ling (39), Johanna (26), Michat (23) and Cecilia (23) are also heading to the Kunsthal. Cecilia has already checked the route on her phone. “We also wanted to see something of the city this week”, says Johanna.

Most of this group will start their master’s in September. “In our group there are at least six different degree programmes”, says Bas, who is about to begin the master’s in Applied History. A few of the others are Philosophy and Clinical Psychology, and the Italian student Cecilia, who is here on exchange, says she will be taking ‘all kinds of nice courses’.

The students are enjoying Eurekaweek, but all five say they would have liked to have had a guide with their group. “We were told that master’s students didn’t really want or need one – but in EM’s newsletter we read that there was a shortage.” Ling nods and adds: “On campus on Monday I looked enviously at the groups with a guide, because they didn’t get lost and you could hear the guides giving all kinds of useful tips about lunch spots and study places.”