Friends for at least three years
What if you would lose all your friends every six months? Degree-seeking students, the ones who stay here for longer than just one semester, sometimes have trouble finding long-lasting friends while they study in Tilburg. Student association I*ESN started a program that tries to solve this problem.
“I do study with some Dutch people, but they all go home in the weekends,” says Karoline, one of the students in the so-called Amigo-program. Karoline is one of the first to participate in a yearclub, a term derived from ‘jaarclub’, used by traditional Dutch student associations. Koen, the Vice-President of I*ESN and the board member responsible for the Amigo-program, says that even though the name is similar, the concept is not the same: “You can be a member of our yearclubs, and also be involved in other student associations or activities. Traditional ‘jaarclubs’ are more focused on partying, the activities in the Amigo-program are more mixed.”
Internationals meet Dutchies
Koen says that I*ESN-members can roughly be divided into three categories. There are the exchange students, who stay for half a year. They are put together in groups and are accompanied by a mentor. Secondly, the international master students. They are accompanied by a buddy and have biweekly dinners. In the third category are the international bachelor students who stay for over a year. In the new program, they can join a yearclub, together with internationally minded Dutch students. One week, they join the exchange students for dinner and party, and the other week they join the students in the buddy program for dinner and a quieter activity.
In the International Student Barometer, the survey through which international students can judge Tilburg University, results showed that internationals would like to meet more Dutch students. The two groups don’t seem able to find each other easily. This is also something I*ESN hopes to improve with the Amigo-program. Dutch students who want to get to know more internationals, possibly in preparation for their own exchange, are invited to join. Koen: “The university supported us in starting this new program. It is not really well-known yet, but we hope it will grow in the future. People can still apply.”
Bar shifts
Laura van de Kant, from Belgium, studies International Business Administration since last September. She wants to finish her Bachelor’s degree here, so she will stay for at least three years. “I got introduced to I*ESN during TOP week. I*ESN is known for its work for exchange students, but I subscribed anyway, because I like to meet new, international people. I chose the yearclub, because I want a group of friends to hang out with for longer than six months.” Apart from her activities in the yearclub, Laura takes up bar shifts at I*ESN-Carpe Diem and organized winter camp.
According to Laura, there is room for everyone at I*ESN. “It does not matter how long you are staying in Tilburg, you can always find some company here to spend time with”.
