Trip to Amsterdam and Queensday

Monday, April 30 is designated to national holiday called Queensday. The whole country goes nuts, everybody dress in orange, drink and enjoy themselves. I used the long weekend to visit my friend in Amsterdam and spend the Queensday there.

I Amsterdam, source: my picture

I was in Amsterdam in July 2008, but to be honest, I do not remember much. I made a lot of pictures, because I had my camera for a short time and was really excited. I don't remember any more, where we stayed, just that the weather was not so good and I liked the bridges and canals in the city. That was 4 years ago, now I have been in the Netherlands since September 2011 (I went back to the Czech Republic three times) and I haven't been in Amsterdam. I postponed my visit until Katka (my fellow student from Charles University) went there for Erasmus exchange so I have a place to stay, a guide but mostly someone to walk thought the city and spend the time with. I planned my visit for long weekend including the Queensday. In 2012 it's celebrated on Monday, April 30. So let's go to Amsterdam!

IESN Traffic Light Party

Traffic Light Party organized by IESN at the end of September in Studentcafé De Beurs. Let's go out on Thursday and party!

Traffic light party, source: my picture

People from International Erasmus Student Network organized thematic Traffic Light Party and as I had nothing else to do, I joined. The theme sent a clear message – your relationship status. Like on the traffic light, you were offered at the entrance 3 colours – green, yellow and orange. Green signalized that you are single, orange people are off limits (well, there is a saying that boyfriend is not a fence nor an incurable decease, but let's leave this now) and yellow… how knows, maybe secretly in love with someone or in complicated phase or a romance. Quite easy, no need to get a special outfit. I hoped that my fellow Czech exchange students would join me, but I didn't manage to convince them. The party was scheduled to start at 10 p.m., so I was there like 10.30, at the entrance picked up green bracelet in exchange for my ticket I bought for 2€ at the ESN office a week before and I entered the pub...

The best Carnival? In Maastricht!

Carnival - special event when people dress up into funny and colourful costumes, drink and have fun. Exactly this happens in Maastricht every year and as I am here, I could not miss it. I experienced something incredibly cool and atmosphere in the whole city was just fabulous.

Carnival in Maastricht, source: my picture

I was never a big fan of Carnival as I never had a reason to be. Maastricht is famous for holding up to the tradition so the only thing you can do to avoid Carnival is to get out of the city. Not my case. I was curious what it's gonna be. As I reported in November in article The beginning of the Carneval season, the Carnival in Maastricht changes the city. Really. And it was just a small introduction in November compared to current event. Preparations took several days – shops with big show windows put wooden boards for protection, different stuff coloured green-yellow-red decorated in the whole city. But what you could not see were the preparations made by the people – they created costumes, masks and carnival vehicles. I invited a friend who is now for exchange in Brussels to see it and she came with 5 other friends which was awesome. Happiness is real when shared So let's have fun!

Short summary of my winter holidays

Christmas break is over and it's time to get back to Maastricht to continue with studying at SBE. Today I will talk about the time I spent in the Czech republic and than about my superb weekend in Maastricht before period 3 started.

My favourite Maastricht University hoodie, source: my picture

I was home for three weeks and now it's time to return to Maastricht University. I really appreciate the fact, that all exams are written before the Christmas break. I could enjoy my holiday and relax. On the other hand, waiting for the results has an opposite effect – getting more and more nervous whether I passed and how. As I didn't fail any exam in the first period, I had now 3 weeks of free time. As I only visited my country – Czech Republic – for a few days at the end of October, I was looking forward to seeing my friends and family again. Christmas is an ideal time for stuff like that and after spending the New Year's Eve with my university buddies, time was going faster than I realized. I enjoyed great Czech beer, which is one of the things that I really miss in Maastricht. I spent during last two weeks quite a lot of time in pubs despite the fact that I am definitely not a big drinker.

Growth, Well-being and Quality of Life

Guest lecture with promising title by Prof. Dr. Christoph M. Schmidt, but was it really that good? It really depends, but I had definitely more fun in a pub afterwards, even I again couldn't drink any beer because of my eating experiment.

Prof. Dr. Christoph M. Schmidt, Source: scope-economics.nl

There were several guest lectures since the beginning of the semester, but for some reasons I haven't visited any of them so far, mostly because of my salsa lectures. Also my fellow Infonomics guys wanted to come, so we agreed to go into a pub after the lecture. For those, who know my economic believes, might be a bit surprise that I even wanted to spent my time at this lecture, but I was also expecting something more let's say descriptive and theoretical and then it's a good topic for discussion.

Prof. Dr. Christoph M. Schmidt introduced himself as the president of the RWI in Essen and a member of the German Council of Economic Experts, which is a group of economists that gives advise to the German government. At that point started to be a bit worried and hoped, that we will focus more on economics than on politics. Sometimes he managed to. Well, I mostly liked his comments about results from some research.

Infonomics drink and a pub afterwards

I was invited to a meeting of students and tutors of study programme Infonomics. It's quite interesting habit in there. And as we had nothing else to do, I and a few guys went after it to a pub nearby.

Beer, Source: www.sxc.hu

After our tutorial on Tuesday, I chatted with my classmate and just before we said goodbye, he mentioned Infonomics drink and on Wednesday. So as agreed, he forwarded me the e-mail form the coordinator – Huub Meijers – so I could write and ask him, if I can also join for the drink. Fortunately, he was glad that I wrote him, because he didn't know, that I follow Infonomics master programme. Hm, funny thing, because Veronika Tchiriaeva, who organizes Master Open Day on the 15th October, knew. The event was scheduled at 17 p.m. in the Ad Fundum, which is a place near to the main entrance of the School of Business and Economics. It's actually place especially made for there events, so there is also a bar.

Because of the eating experiment I am participating in, I knew that I am going to be a bit late – like about 10minutes due to biking from the other part of the university. Firstly, I could not find the place as I thought it's somewhere else, but now I know it. It was so obvious . There were already a bunch of people and a few tutors from the programme. Several drinks were offered to us, but again – eating experiment conditions made me drink only water. Damn it . Later more people showed up, also the rest of my classmates form Info products course.

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.