{"id":150301,"date":"2023-02-10T15:15:55","date_gmt":"2023-02-10T14:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=150301"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:38","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:38","slug":"love-is-in-the-eur-etienne-and-mijke-kissed-for-the-first-time-on-the-euromast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/02\/10\/love-is-in-the-eur-etienne-and-mijke-kissed-for-the-first-time-on-the-euromast\/","title":{"rendered":"Etienne and Mijke kissed for the first time on the Euromast"},"content":{"rendered":"

“In the summer of 2011, I came to work at Erasmus University. I wanted to stay for one year at most, as my plan was to go to Sweden. I knew nothing about the Netherlands and had little interest in it. I was just divorced and not looking for love at all.”<\/p>

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\u201cWhen I was at a family dinner, a cousin looked up photos of my new EUR colleagues online and pointed out Mijke. Like: she looks good. And I thought so too. She is so gorgeous! So I asked Mijke if we could have coffee sometime. I got the most Dutch answer imaginable: she didn\u2019t like coffee. So I thought, she means: get lost! But it turned out she just really doesn\u2019t like coffee.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018I got the most Dutch answer imaginable: she didn\u2019t like coffee. So I thought, she means: get lost!\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

\u201cYet a little later, after a dinner with colleagues, we exchanged phone numbers, and started texting. That\u2019s how we fell in love with each other. It was so bad that I was even texting her during a movie in the cinema. While texting, I briefly put my phone on the seat next to me, and right there, my phone was stolen. I completely panicked. The word \u2018ghosting\u2019 didn\u2019t exist back then, but I was very scared that she thought I didn\u2019t want have anything to do with her anymore, so I rushed to buy a new phone immediately after the movie. The first kiss was on top of the Euromast. Very corny, I know.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first, we kept our relationship a secret at work, as we work in the same corridor at the ESHCC. Things came out when we ran into a colleague at Central Station. I immediately acted a very casual goodbye to Mijke: \u2018hey I\u2019ll see you tomorrow!\u2019, as if we were just colleagues, but it was too late. The colleague caught on right away and the next day I noticed people looking at the coffee corner, especially from female colleagues. So then Mijke went to talk to our boss, Susanne Janssen. Fortunately, she didn\u2019t think it was a problem at all, she really is fantastic. Of course, it makes a difference that we are scientists and have our own work, which makes it less complicated.<\/p>\n

Watching rugby<\/h2>

\u201cSweden never happened: 11 years later, we are married and have two children. There are some character differences: she is calm, rational and conflict-avoiding. I am French, so I am not so bothered by confrontation. That\u2019s how we learn from each other. Fortunately, I did get her to want to watch rugby with me!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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