We are already a few weeks deep into the second block of the academic year, but the memories of the Active Members Weekend are still alive and well. The annual weekend, organised by the VESTING Board to thank all its active members, is often regarded to be one of the highlights of the committee period and this year’s edition only emphasized this.
Just like any other year, we gathered in front of the AH to Go to leave for our destination. However, due to a horribly planned exam of a third year course, the group was split up into an early and a late shift. This lead to some practical difficulties later that day, as there were no cozy busses after 5 a.m. going to the lovely city of Dwingeloo, but no serious problems arose. Added to that, Kampeerboerderij de Hooge Haer situated in Dwingeloo, the party ground, wasn’t that easy to reach as we experienced during our trip. We were very lucky with our bus drivers who decided to completely ignore the route they were obliged to drive and dropped us in the middle of nowhere (I know this could be anywhere close to our accommodation as it seemed to be surrounded by endless farmland) which reduced our walking time by about half an hour #shoutout.
Arriving at our final destination everyone first claimed a bed they preferred, which was (looking back at the weekend) completely unnecessary as they haven’t been used much. Meanwhile, some others and the board made sure that the beloved and stocked fifty-cent shop was put into place, just like the beer, wine and sodas. All the components for a successful weekend were thus set and ready!
After a delicious, though spicy pasta due to an excess of chili flakes (sorry for that), everyone was ready for the first activity of the weekend: the famous, annual beer pong tournament. After a warm welcome by Femke, everyone teamed up and the tournament was kicked off. Although almost no one recalls who won the tournament, it was a great success and lead to a party that continued until the early mornings… Another shout out to the ladies of the LED who decided to take the first train back home!
Waking up is nobody’s favourite part of the day, especially not the morning after a party. Consequently, the so-called ‘anytimers’ were distributed superfluously. After such a refreshing start and breakfast with pan grilled cheese sandwiches, everyone recovered of the night before in his or her own way. Some decided to watch a movie, others went outside for some afternoon-sports and the remainder decided to open up some beers again, a.k.a. ‘reparatie biertjes’.
Somewhere in the afternoon after the movie, we started off with our second activity: an escape room set up by the board. Although some of us decided to use it as some extra sleeping time, others were eager to escape from the different rooms as fast as possible.
After the second activity and some lovely wraps we started off with our last, but certainly not least, activity of the weekend: a pub quiz! We learned who of us would be mostly likely to appear in the playboy and who was probably the most annoying kid in high school, plus some other relatively irrelevant facts about the history of Groningen. First things first! Afterwards, there was another party until sunrise.
Sunday morning is always the best morning of the weekend: cleaning up. The common room looked like a warzone, just like the kitchen and the rest of the accommodation. But, as we all know, many hands make light work so within a few hours it looked like we never set foot in the building. Well, sort of… Anyways, after trying to gather all the things we took with us, we discovered that there weren’t that many busses driving on an average Sunday morning in Drenthe. After waiting for another 1.5 hour and an hour walk to the nearest bus station, we ‘only’ had to cover another hour on the bus and one hour on the train back to Groningen. Peanuts, but I am sure everybody was more than happy to get back to their own beds…
Dear VESTING Board, thanks (probably on behalf of everyone) for another great Active Members Weekend. We loved it!
This article has been written by Roel Krekels.
