Introduction Week 2020

Our journey began in March of this year, just days after the university was closed as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Therefore, we started the committee through an online meeting, which is, as you might expect, suboptimal. Of course, not all of us knew each other that well and we found out that it was also quite difficult to get to do so online. Therefore, when circumstances allowed, we had our first commissieuitje in June. Since we had not seen each other face to face yet since becoming a committee, and we did not yet know much about each other apart from some weird facts, we did a fun game in which we got to know more about each other, which were surprisingly, again mainly only weird facts. Apparently, someone of us can ride a unicycle, another one does not like animals at all (?!) and someone has a lot of troubles with hangovers (but more on this later, I don’t want to spoil anything yet). Meeting in real life was very nice for us and made us feel like a real IntroCie for the first time. Another thing that COVID spoiled for us was the infamous knowledge transfer session with the IntroCie of last year. This was partially lost in the pandemic and also kind of forgotten, but this of course opens up the opportunity for a three-way-knowledge-transfer-session for next year’s committee . 

The preparation for the introduction week was, gently put, a rollercoaster. As a board responsible, I frequently joined meetings with the other study associations and the FSE in which we discussed the introduction week. However, when I met with the IntroCie afterward, there was hardly anything to tell. We as a committee were dependent on the FSE, who was in turn dependent on the Central Introduction Committee (CIC), who was in turn dependent on the TU/e, who was in turn dependent on the national government. Summarized, this entailed that no one really knew what was going on and what measures were being taken. You might imagine that this is quite stressful and tiresome as a committee trying to plan a large event, and it was. However, despite this lack of information, we had a very good brainstorm, leading to the still very festive theme of Hawaii (or deserted island, tropical, or something like that, I don’t believe there was ever any kind of certainty about this). And with a theme, of course, also the shirt colors had to be determined. One of the ideas that instantly came to mind was to just give the kiddos and the parents Hawaii shirts, but after some consideration, we decided that this was sadly not very feasible. Still, we managed to capture the Hawaii feeling in our shirt colors, one of which having an equally undetermined term. We described the kiddo shirts to be perzik-oranje-roze-perzik (iets met perzik), at least, that’s how I got it from the brainstorm minutes. The parents’ shirts were described as dark turquoise, and we were quite happy with how they turned out.

The uncertainty regarding the introduction week led to us not being sure whether to order the shirts, for which sponsors had to be sought. However, it wasn’t long after until the green light was given and the intro was a go! Fast-forward a few weeks and we find ourselves in the interim week, especially reserved by (almost) all IntroCie members to keihard beun on all the intro activities. Luckily, the Internaat was open for us, meaning we had our own space to work, making this a lot more gezellig and making sure we got things done. The things that were more difficult regarding taking up work, communicating, etc. during online meetings were now a thing of the past and before I knew it, people were working on the booklet, there was a task force for the business case and everyone was doing their thing. Another thing that was nice about being able to work in the Internaat was the presence of chalkboards. The chalkboards above the bar were now serving as a live bierpunt counter and boy was that necessary. We had the, very doable, deadline of being in the Internaat before 10 in the morning during the interim week. However, it did not appear to be ‘very doable’ for some of us (not naming anyone in particular, except of course for Arlette). Not for long, the live bierpunt counter was quite filled up with bierpuntjes, most of which are still to be cashed in by the committee. Next to working quite hard, we also had dinner together and had fun evenings together, making our experience as being the IntroCie a lot of fun, even though there was a pandemic going on. 

Having prepared almost everything for the introduction week, we felt quite prepared, except for the notion that we had little to no idea about what would be going on during the online part of the week itself. For those of you that do not know, the introduction week consisted of 2 offline days and 3 online days, on which kiddos and their parents could attend presentations, quizzes, and workshops and perhaps play some Skribbl.io in the meantime. During the offline days, the kiddos became acquainted with the university and the department by a tour, the good-ol’ Green Strip Market (GSM), a business case, and several workshops. Sadly, there were no parties at either the campus or Stratumseind this year, something which some groups might or might not have recreated at home #JusticeForGroup14.

Anyways, the Monday started out with a general introduction video and generally did not entail very much for us as a committee, meaning we could do some finishing touches on some of the offline activities on Tuesday and Thursday. Furthermore, we still organized a Crazy 88 and despite everything, we had quite some enthusiastic contestants. On Tuesday, it was finally time for an offline introduction week-day, something we had all been looking forward to. Even though two of us were a bit more hungover than planned, we managed to set up everything on time. Seeing all of the kiddos standing in a (sort of) Corona-proof circle together with their parents provided me with some warm introduction week feelings, as I had had them all years before. The kiddos then learned some more about Atlas and Intermate during the departmental tour and afterward had the chance to visit all of the associations during the GSM.

The Tuesday of the introweek was also a special day for the IntroCie, since we had a very special kamerborrel planned. We would visit all of the IntroCie’s members’ rooms and there were some rumors of pulling an all-nighter (doorhalen). Some of us were however still not in the very best shape and these plans were quickly deserted. However, some sterke spelers (strong players) still managed to visit quite some rooms and enjoy themselves. Due to these plans and the fact that there was not that much to do for the committee, the arriving deadline on Wednesday was pushed back a few hours, giving everyone the chance to prevent gaining another bierpunt. Still, this proved to be challenging for some (pro-tip: if you ever want Arlette to be on time, tell her to be there half an hour early, she might make it just in time).

Thursday was the second offline day, starting off with the business case. Usually held on the Monday of the introweek, the business case was now organized across multiple floors of Atlas, with several routes marking how groups could walk. The routes even had to be altered in the week itself, because even then things were not quite sure and we kept on getting updates on what was and what was not possible. Luckily, we had a very good taskforce working on this. Thursday was also the day of (offline) workshops. Fortunately, we were allowed to have a Tosti Workshop. Together with the TostCie of course, we had several quite special tosti's for those (max. 10 people per round) that subscribed. Afterward, they could build their own tosti’s and there were even rounds in which people could build a not-so-yummy tosti for others to enjoy. Overall, quite a success and also even a nice idea to repeat next year, COVID or not. Of course, Thursday of the introweek is not done correctly if doorhaaldonderdag (no-sleep-Thursday(?)) is not attempted. Some were lost in the fight against sleep, some just casually fell asleep on the floor, but a few sterke spelers made it till morning and fell asleep equally casual when trying to watch a movie at the Internaat. Quite a successful attempt if I say so myself.

Finally, the introduction week came to an end on Friday. With an online activity still to be done (not surprisingly, not many people showed up for a voluntary activity on Friday of the introweek, I wonder why), only our very own Bjorn (also going by Bjärn, Bjaarn, Bjørn, and Björn) still had some work left. With this, the week came to a conclusion and so did our journey as a committee. 

After all the uncertainty and struggles that we had, we managed to have some great weeks with the entire committee and we tried to make the introweek as enjoyable as possible for everyone. I for one enjoyed (especially the offline days of) the introweek a lot, but above all, I enjoyed working and having fun with a great IntroCie. Perhaps already a small generation gap (making me feel like an oude lul already) made sure that I got acquainted with the art of making a TikTok and the overall enthusiasm of the other members put a smile on my face throughout the entire weeks. We had a lot of fun with each other, with our very own home-grown flamingo Ferry and of course with the new kiddos. Hopefully, next year we will be able to enjoy the introduction week in all its glory, partying, and having fun together. Until then, you should really consider joining the IntroCie, one of the most fun committees at Intermate!