Just returned from a 3 day trip to Cordoba to attend the opening ceremony of the 2012 European university games. 3,500 athletes will compete for 10 days in sports as diverse as futsall, beach volleyball and badminton. And sitting there on Saturday morning, watching our EUR beach volleyball team winning their first match in the scorching heat, I felt very proud of the 25 athletes our university has delegated to these games. For every Erasmus University team that wins a gold medal, the executive board will reimburse their travel and accomodation expenses. As it is our turn to organise these games in 2 years time, we took the opportunity to watch and learn from Cordoba. We know it will all be very different: no cockroaches, no oppressive heat (in all probability), different sports (Cordoba doesn’t do rowing, for example) and a very different culture. But looking out of my window today at the pouring rain chiseling the desolate Woudestein campus, I can only be happy for the guys and girls in Spain this week – they will have the time of their lives. Go for gold!