Invisible hand grenades

I skipped my first Eurekaweek. From what I had seen, it seemed rather overwhelming. Since I was the only one of my friends who was going to study in Rotterdam, I would have had to go there alone. I was convinced that I would have wandered around nervously and stared at stalls and stages for an hour at most before fleeing home.

The introduction week for my program was the week that mattered. That’s where I would meet the people who would become my friends for life. With the other first-year students, I visited the site where WipeOut is filmed. We weren’t allowed to attempt the obstacles on the water.

A French guy told the group anecdotes during lunch. He explained that he didn’t really need alcohol to have a good time because he was already very extroverted and confident. When we had to go to an inflatable obstacle course, an Indian fellow student asked me, “Why are you so shy?”

“I’m not shy”, I replied.

The summer before my second year, I signed up for a student association. It was customary to get acquainted with the association during Eurekaweek. I had missed this because I was on vacation with my parents in France. During the first weeks after the summer vacation, the association organized activities to get to know each other better. Upon arrival, a senior asked who my mentor was during Eurekaweek.

For the first activity, someone had to act out a song and the rest had to guess. A mildly enthusiastic guy threw about twenty invisible handgrenades in our direction. I guessed Grenade by Bruno Mars, which was the correct answer. A boy next to me said, “Wow, nice one! I don’t remember you from Eurekaweek. Which group were you in?”

Later that day, I had a conversation with a fellow association member while we were waiting to play laser tag. She said she found it all a bit awkward, but it was nice that she already knew a few people from Eurekaweek.

I missed the third Eurekaweek because I was on exchange in Australia. Otherwise, I would have found another reason.