Together since Eureka: ‘You totally ripped your trousers’

From a first kiss on the terrace to moving in together and getting married: for many, the Eurekaweek proved to be the starting point for a relationship or a friendship. Ahead of the 53rd edition a couple and two friends talk about how they met and where that led to. 

Merel Smits (27) and Sjoerd Riemens (29) met during the introduction week of 2017. Merel took part in the Eurekaweek, while Sjoerd guided the group as a mentor. 

Gin-tonic

Looking back at their first meeting, they cannot suppress a laugh. “I remember that on the second day we went for a drink, when Merel accidentally poured a gin-tonic over my trousers”, Sjoerd recalls. Merel: “We were playing dice and then the can suddenly toppled over. It was quite the introduction, haha.”

They connected really well. Merel: “I thought he was cool: an older guy who was already studying and in his first year at a student association. With his sunglasses, cap worn backwards and dimples in his cheeks I soon fell for him.”

Tear in the trousers

Sjoerd too fell for Merel’s charm. “I thought she was cool as well; she was a girl with spirit. She challenged me in a fun way and teased me.” To impress Merel, Sjoerd tried to show off his punching-bag skills by kicking the punching bag with his foot. “Then you totally ripped your trousers”, Merel recalls, laughing.

During the Eurekaweek they really hit it off and the two became a couple. It is nine years later now. Merel: “The butterflies have turned into love. Precisely by talking to each other and embracing each other’s differences, we’ve come to know each other much better. I am very exuberant and say what comes into my head, Sjoerd is a bit calmer and more calculating. That way we complement each other.”

Nine years on, the two have bought an apartment in Rotterdam-Blijdorp, where they live with their two cats Guus and Saartje. Next June Merel and Sjoerd will even get married. “That feels like a very big, grown-up step. At the same time it feels natural, because we’ve been together for so long. You don’t go into the Eurekaweek with the idea that you’re going to meet a new love. It’s such a coincidence how it turned out”, says Merel.

Blindfold

Petra and Alexandra (both 57) have been friends for 35 years and the Eurekaweek played an important role in that. As incoming second-years they took part as mentors. “Verhip een mentorkip (‘Blimey, a mentor hen’) was written on the Eurekaweek leaflet. The mentors were the hens, the first-years the chicks”, Petra explains.

In preparation of their role during the Eurekaweek, the two medical students attended a training weekend. Petra: “I had to walk through the house with a blindfold, while Alexandra had to lead me. When I took off my blindfold I was standing on a very scary little balcony. You really get to know and trust each other like that, haha.”

Calm and lively

Although the two were already study friends, the Eurekaweek strengthened their bond. “You’re together day and night for seven days, you really get to know each other”, Alexandra explains. As guides the two complemented each other. “Petra was a bit more introverted and looked after the calm chicks. I went out with the lively chicks.”

The two also kept in touch after the intro week. “Every day we sat together in the lecture hall: you studied and I slept”, Alexandra laughs. “We also both had student rooms in Rotterdam, where we were ‘married in community of bicycles’. And I consoled you when your hamster would die again.”

150 kilometres

They stayed in touch afterwards too. Thirty-five years later and 150 kilometres apart – Petra lives in Wateringen, Alexandra in Dieren – they are still good friends. “Petra is a bit more thoughtful, I always have lots of ideas. That way we complement each other. If we were both the same, I wouldn’t be able to keep it up”, says Alexandra.

The two are different, but in some ways the same. “Recently we stayed overnight together and what turned out? We were both wearing exactly the same pink pyjamas with blue flowers on, haha. While we have four of them.”

Cruise

Next year another activity is on the programme: a cruise to Norway with their mothers. “Thirty-five years ago we went interrailing together and slept on a platform in Belgrade.” Now they are going cruising with their parents. The contrast could hardly be greater, they both realise. Although: “The core of our friendship will always remain the same.”