Just before summer, two colleagues of our sister association Asset | Econometrics from Tilburg travelled to Groningen to interview the VESTING Board 2015-2016. Below is a part of the interview that was published in their magazine Nekst Vol. 23 No.4. by Anouk Claassen and Roxanne Beerkens.
In all honesty, the last hour to Groningen there is almost nothing else to see than the country side and some sheep. However, once you are there it truly feels like a student city. We were somewhat early so we had the opportunity to see a bit of the campus, which is filled with modern, colorful buildings. Once we had found the room VESTING is settled in, we could start our interview with Lidewey (External Affairs) and Jorrit (Secretary). A bit later Pim (Vice Chairman and Treasurer) and Jeroen (Chairman) joined. Unfortunately, we did not have the pleasure of meeting Lise (Internal Affairs).
Since Groningen is rather far away from just about everything, we wonder what it is like to be a student here and why you have chosen to study here?
Jorrit: Groningen is one of the nicest student cities, you can go out every night.
Lidewey: We have two streets were there are so many nice bars. You have enough choice and you will find students there the entire week. There is even a sort of schedule for the week: Monday is committee evening, Tuesday is house evening, Wednesday is the evening for your association, Thursday is just a general party evening and on Friday most of the students will be going home. We also have a lot of sport associations.
Pim: I come from Amstelveen, so actually Amsterdam would have been a more logical choice. I have doubted for quite a while, but I have chosen for Groningen, since it is a bit smaller and more of a student city. It is indeed a sort of island, which ensures that almost all students live in lodges.
Jeroen: I just come from the province of Groningen, even from the same village as Janinke Tol, one of your old board members.
Lidewey: It is just very nice that it is smaller and that you are able to know the professors quite well.
Jorrit: Yes, that is perhaps just something from the north: being easy to approach.
When did you become active and how do you like being the board of VESTING?
Lidewey: I have become active in my first year in the Sports Committee and after this I have been a mentor at our introduction camp and I have organized the career days.
Jorrit: In my first year I was still living at home, which is only half an hour away. In my second year I joined the same committee as Lidewey.
Lidewey: It is really so much fun and you learn so much: from being more efficient to having unique opportunities at companies.
Jorrit: And you go to places you would normally not be able to go as a student.
Jeroen: You just dive in and it is rather a big switch between student and board member, certainly because you immediately have a constitution drink where you get to know so many new people.
Jorrit: It all goes by so fast.
Pim: Actually you just have no clue what you started with.
Is there anything else we should know about VESTING?
First of all, they are all very proud upon the fifty cent candy shop they have and I must confess it is a rather impressive assortment they have. They have a huge fridge filled with all sorts of soda and you can pay with your university card. However, when we talk a bit longer we slowly get to the more juicy details of VESTING. Obviously, we cannot address all their escapades, but we will dive into their constitution drinks, since there are some nice differences between these drinks in Groningen and Tilburg.
Jeroen: I believe our consti’s are a bit wilder.
Pim: We will also ‘bras’, meaning we will try to steal something from the new board. This can be the ‘pedelstaf’, the guestbook or just a board member and every board that comes to congratulate you will tell a story and give you a present. Jeroen will get three random words of us to put in his story.
Jeroen: It works as follows, you are being announced by means of the ‘pedelstaf’. Then you indeed have your little story and you give a present to the new board. Usually, we give Pisang with beer, such that your beer will have the color of VESTING. Once we gave as a present a broken dishwasher and therefore received a bed in return.
After this lovely interview it was time for Anouk and me to travel back south. However, we made sure to make a nice day of it and decided to lunch at the center of Groningen. I would like to thank Lidewey, Jorrit, Pim and Jeroen for their time. I look forward to seeing them on the Board Integration Day and wish them a great year.
This article was written by Roxanne Beerkens (Asset | Econometrics)
