Master’s Introduction Day at SBE

Today is the last day of August and my first official day at School of Business and Economics at Maastricht University. Let's talk about how was my first impression of the Faculty, PBL system and the people I met today.

Slide from welcoming presentation, source: my picture

First I have to mention that I am an exchange student, but quite an active one. I took part at , which is more for regular students and also today – it's introduction prepared for regular master students, as will be tomorrow But I've already signed in and it's better to have more information and see the school from different points of view, don't you think?

The whole day was great, ideal introduction to the university and also to the city. Great thing is, that you are the whole day in a small group where are also your future fellow students – ideal for getting know each other a bit. You get the information about the most important things and also how to get along. If you still have any problems with the student card, missing documents or are you just not sure about something and do not know where to ask, than Introduction day will help you! Well, I had a great tutor so I can only give a very positive feedback and I hope that also other students had the same experience.

ESN – Maastricht City Tour, dinner and beer

City tour in Maastricht organized by Erasmus Student Network (ESN) from the Maastricht University, is one of the first action provided for the exchange students in order to organize some activity for them before the school starts.

Coctail bar David, source: my picture

After INKOM 2011 when I spent my time with regular master students I was interested about events for Erasmus students in Maastricht if there were any. I did a bit of search and found website of Erasmus Student Network in Maastricht – ESN Maastricht. This organization helps incoming exchange students and also prepares some events so those people who are new to the Maastricht University would not feel lonely and can enjoy their exchange semester. Of course anybody can join and have fun, events are not limited only for exchange students. Regular students are also new to Maastricht and not everybody joined INKOM so discovering city with group of international students is great idea in my opinion. There are of course Introduction days for regular students as well as for exchange students, but it's a bit different and I will write later about that.

Cantus and the final party – last day of INKOM

Friday was last day of INKOM, therefore a bit restful - the target was to relax a bit and strengthen social contacts. And what it Cantus? It is party, a lot of bier, songs and a lot of fun!

Cantus, source: my picture

The last day of INKOM started later than the others – we met at 12 at Stay Okay Hostel, where we got a sandwich and could enjoy some of it's facilities. Well, too much people and too little facilities (two pool tables?). So we talked and went to watch some movie. Then we moved to the MECC for Cantus. It's a Dutch tradition, people drink beer and sing songs. It's kind of a party, but you have to be prepared, than when you leave, you will be wet and stinky from beer as people also throw cups with it to the crowd. It was fun, as most of the songs were in Dutch MECC is really huge place, I cannot estimate how many people can fit in there, but definitely everybody from the INKOM. That's the reason why also the final party was there.

InfoFestival and BBQ – day 3 of INKOM 2011

Headline of Wednesday was InfoFestival - fare where you can get information about cultural events, sport activities, possible career, music, festival and a lot more what can you do in Maastricht.

BBQ in Maastricht, source: my picture

To have a small rest, this day was more about getting information than about physical activities. We started with breakfast on the Market – bacon with eggs, juice and banana. I would say it was more like brunch, because it was already 11 a.m. when they started serving it. About an hour later InfoFestival started. This time not only parts of the University presented themselves, but also a lot companies and organizations in Maastricht. I really liked this event, because there was a lot to do and in addition to that we got some free stuff – I was most happy about movie posters I selected for my room. What caught my attention was the fact, that a popular free goods given were condoms. Obviously this kind of internationality is connected with sex. Prevention and information kiosk with this topic as well as presentation by the police – walk with special glasses so you can see what you would see if you were drunk – were there. Nice move.

UM Sports, Master Dinner and Comedy night

Second day of INKOM was full of activities - breakfast, UM Sports, Master Dinner and Comedy night. One thing better than the other.

UM Sports event, source: my picture

The day started at 10 a.m. at law faculty with free breakfast, followed by a presentation where some students talked about their experience in Maastricht. Not that interesting actually, but Law Faculty has nice lecture hall Next stage was the Student service centre, where we got a cup of coffea and could buy Maastricht Universty T-shirts and hoodies with discount. To get to the SportEvent, we needed to walk several kilometres to another part of Maastricht. Actually it was near my flat, so I could leave my new T-shirt at there and continue to the presentation of UM Sports.

What was the SportEvent about? Actually exhibition of UM Sports, where all the sporting associations presented themselves with usually some activity. They target was obviously attract and recruit new members. I went climbing and rode a mechanic bull. The second activity was not that good idea. I hold for long time, but as the results, my legs and private parts were hurting. The funnies thing there was almost at the end – watching a match of snowball fight They had a marked field and ordered snow. Well, in these temperatures around 20°C, it was then more like ice.

INKOM 2011 – Week of fun begins

There is special week for incoming student for the whole Maastrichtu University. Four days to get to know Maastricht a bit more, get some friends before the school starts and also get some information about the university. That's what INKOM is about.

INKOM 2011, Source: www.inkom.nl

Before we get the the programme of today – I should mention, what the INKOM is about. It's organized with support of the Maastricht University and it's orientation week for all incoming students and freshmen to the University. It starts at the Faculty of Medicine, Health, and Life Sciences, which is on the other side of the city that School of Business and Economics. The reason is clear – here is much more space for everything including loud music. The target is to present the university, student associations, student life, city of Maastricht and getting to know some people before the school starts. It's good, because most of them are also lonely here. You can register and pay before, it's cheaper

The registration for the INKOM started at 10 a.m., so I wanted to arrive there for about this time. My brother our our friend drove me there and I was astonished by the building and all the people. Wow. There were so many people waiting in a queue, obviously everybody wanted to be there on time. I had to wait for about an hour in a line, so I had time to observe people around me. A lot of German speaking people – I didn't know before, that there are so many of them, but it's understandable, as Maastricht is close to Germany. Then you can clearly distinguish people from any student association, as they wear colourful costumes or are just united by some kind of uniform.

Exploring Maastricht – my first days

City of Maastricht in Netherlands become a place, where I will spent next months. It's time to explore the neighbourhood and the city itself. We are lucky about the weather, so we have spent in the town not only the day, but we were also curious what the city looks like in the night.

Maastricht – right shore of Maas, source: my picture

We arrived on Saturday afternoon, when we also made the first visit of the city. Maastricht's population is about 120 000, which is not that much actually, but the city is believed to be the oldest town in the Netherlands. It lies on the river Maas, so there are 5 bridges over the river. Two of them are for everybody also for cars in both directions, two are for bicycles and pedestrians only and one has restricted traffic. The oldest bridge is now in reconstruction. River itself is quite big, bigger than Moldau in Prag I would say. I also see quite a lot of ships there, so the river is used for transport.

I like historical places and the historical buildings all over the city are amazing! There are two main squares – Market and Vrijthof. Vrijthof is often used for concerts and festivals, there are every Wednesday and Friday markets on the Market. How convinient name for ths place in the city centre. There are also a lot of churches in Maastricht, but some of them are used for non religion purposes – like bookstore, kindergarden or place for celebrations. Quite a good idea, because the building itself is kept in a historical condition and the place itself is used very often by everyone.

Let's go to Maastricht – arrival

Time's up, packing finished and I am ready to leave my home town and go the Maastricht in Netherlands, where I will spent at least 5 following months at Maastricht University as Erasmus master student.

Maastricht, Source: www.sxc.hu

I started to pack my thing quite late (on Wednesday) if we take the fact, that I leave for several months. I do not know exactly why I postponed the packing again and again, maybe because I didn't feel like I am leaving for a long time. The most important things were arranged – meeting with the girl who will subrent me her room, paper work about Erasmus and that I will drive there by our car with my brother and his friend. We have quite a small car – Hyundai i10, so it will be challenge for me, to pack my stuff, as I cannot use all back-sets. I definitely need my PC, but I cannot take both of my LCD panels, so I take the bigger one. New laptop arrived yesterday, hopefully I will have no problem with it. I will not pack any of my books, actually, I have the important parts of materials from my bachelor studies in my PC.