Girls wearing fashionable T-shirts and jackets, boys with funky sunglasses, the sun high up in the sky… and a new exam session. Those are all signs that spring is starting to make its presence felt! And there is almost no one who feels bad about it, because, let’s be honest, even if some exams are difficult or we enjoy winter sports, when it comes to Rotterdam, sun and nice weather make your day a whole lot better.

As every other student at EUR I just finished my 3^rd block course. But unlike most others, I had another ‘first time experience in Rotterdam’, which came in the form of an exam. Yes, it was my very first written exam, since during the rest of my Organisational Change and Consulting courses I only had to deliver different projects and papers. I don’t want to give the impression I am a fan of exams, nor do I despise them. It’s just that it’s been a while since my last written exam, and I kinda got more butterflies in my stomach than I should have. I’m really curious if there’s anyone with a great exam story… like a colleague of mine who is from Argentina (if I remember correctly), who was late. I got the feeling that students here are more relaxed before an exam – compared to my home country, where there’s a lot of agitation, talk and some sort of “Wheel of Fortune” atmosphere. Well, to sum it up, my exam was ok: not too difficult, not too easy. And as usual, I didn’t manage to leave before the end of the 2 hours that it lasted.

But let me get back to the ‘Spring’ part of this post, since I enjoy it more than the ‘Exam(s)’ part. OK, who can tell me why is it great to live in a relatively small country like the Netherlands? Yes, that’s right: you can visit a lot of places! The previous weekend I decided to accept some of my friend’s invitation to visit Belgium – particularly Antwerpen and Brugge. And I have to say the only thing that was a better argument than “Don’t go, you’ve got an exam coming up!” was “Go, the weather is going to be awesome!”. And so it was, too bad my conscious kicked in and I actually didn’t get to visit Brugge and went into ‘study mode’. I missed out on a lot of fun and sightseeing, since Brugge is a wonderful city (<- Click that to see for yourselves). Luckily for me, if the weather is as nice as it is today – 15 degrees Celsius – I’ll do a lot more visiting, especially in the Netherlands. I actually have a trip planned for A’dam (that’s short for Amsterdam as I recently found out), but there’s a saying that also applies to Amsterdam “what happens there stays there”.

Now for some suggestions:

1. ESN Rotterdam is planning a trip to the biggest theme park in the Netherlands. More details ->here<-
2. Enrique Iglesias is going to perform soon in Rotterdam (link)… so grab your friends and head out!
3. Have a great innovative idea? Apply now to the Phillips Innovation Award!