Good food and warmer sleeping bags

| Michaela Nesvarova

This year´s CuriousU summer school officially began yesterday. The organizers pulled out all the stops to start the festival in style: the first dinner was catered by a Michelin star restaurant ´t Lansink from Hengelo and, as evening entertainment, the students could try out three different Escape Rooms.

Photo by: Gijs van Ouwerkerk

Compared to last year, CuriousU 2016 is hosting more participants and offering more courses, including 'Dutch Language and Culture', 'Insane Grains' or 'Design the Future'. Based on the feedback from the first edition of CuriousU, the organizing committee worked on improving the served food, which now includes more warm options and should better accommodate the 40 different nationalities that meet at the summer school.

Warm atmosphere, cold nights

There seems to be a great atmosphere at CuriousU and the festival is running smoothly so far, but - as at any big event - there are bound to be some hiccups. Most of the participants are sleeping in nearly 200 tents at the UT campus and many of them complained about being cold at night. No worries, though, the organizers quickly solved it by arranging warmer sleeping bags that were ready by the time the students went to sleep yesterday.

'I didn´t think it was so international'

Apart from being a bit chilly, how are the students enjoying themselves and why did they decide to join CuriousU in the first place? 'I was taking a Dutch course and I actually won a ticket to CuriousU. Also, I will start studying psychology here at the University of Twente soon, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to get to know the place,' says Leonie from Germany. 'I´m following the course 'English for Academic Purposes'. I had no expectations coming here and I definitely didn´t think it was so big and international. There are people from as far as Japan and the USA. Some of them had to travel for 24 hours just to be here for a week. That is crazy!'

Having fun and working on a career

Connor is one of the people who travelled from very far away to join CuriousU: 'I´m from the US, but that is not the furthest destination people had to travel from. I met a guy all the way from Australia,' says Connor. 'I learnt about this summer school through a family friend who is lecturing here. I´m following 'EntrepreneurialU', but I´m not even sure I want to be in management. I´m here only for the experience.'

Valerio from Italy, on the other hand, is definitely here to enhance his career: 'I have been working in management of a big pharmaceutical company for ten years. We have offices all over Europe, and so I want to improve my English. Last year I went to a summer school in Boston and this year I´m here, mainly to speak and learn English. It´s actually my third time in the Netherlands and I really like it.'

A lot more to come...

After last night´s great dinner and fun in various Escape Rooms, the participants can look forward to tonight´s beach party, tomorrow´s performance by a magician Victor Mids or a free day on Saturday, which will give them a chance to explore the rest of the Netherlands.

First night of CuriousU 2016

Recommended

  • EN
  • NL

Summer School CuriousU: ‘Vrienden maken, dat is het doel van deze dagen’

Na twee jaar van afwezigheid is CuriousU terug van weggeweest. Ruim tweehonderd leergierigen uit 45 verschillende landen arriveerden zondag op de campus om bij te leren op de Summer School in festivalsfeer.
  • EN
  • NL

Summer School CuriousU: 'Making friends, that's the aim of these days'

After two years of absence, CuriousU is back. Over two hundred eager learners from 45 different countries arrived on campus on Sunday to study at the Summer School in a festival atmosphere.
  • EN
  • NL

‘Laten zien hoe mooi internationalisering is’

De UT-zomerschool CuriousU, die zondag begint, viert haar lustrum. In vijf jaar is het uitgegroeid een ‘uniek evenement’, zegt projectleider Elena Tsigki. ‘Maar we rusten niet op onze lauweren. Volgend jaar willen we nóg meer aansluiting zoeken bij de studenten.’
  • EN
  • NL

‘Show how beautiful internationalization is’

The UT summer school CuriousU, which starts on Sunday, is celebrating its anniversary. In five years it has become a ‘unique event’, says project leader Elena Tsigki. ‘But we don't rest on our laurels. Next year we want to find even more connections with the students.’
  • EN
  • NL

CuriousU: ‘Een pretpark voor slimme mensen’

‘Dale, dale, dale, no pierdas el tino!’, zingt de Mexicaanse Nadia Wriu Zamora uit volle borst. Vrij vertaald: ‘slaan, slaan, slaan, maar blijf goed mikken!’. Met dit strijdlied moedigt de UT-masterstudent de deelnemers van UT-summerschool CuriousU aan om een piñata vol snoep zo hard mogelijk te raken. De Mexicaanse traditie is een van de lunchactiviteiten vandaag.
  • EN
  • NL

CuriousU: ‘A funfair for smart people’

‘Dale, dale, dale, no pierdas el tino!’, sings the Mexican student Nadia Wriu Zamora at the top of her lungs. Freely translated this means: ‘Hit, hit, hit, but keep aiming properly!’ The UT Master’s student uses this battle song to encourage participants of the CuriousU summer school to hit the piñata full of candy. This Mexican tradition was one of yesterday’s lunch activities at CuriousU.
  • EN
  • NL

‘Geen financiële chaos, maar het ontbreekt aan kaders’

De UT is financieel gezien ‘onvoldoende in control’, loopt achter de feiten aan en moet ‘de financiële hygiëne’ zo snel mogelijk op orde krijgen, luidde de conclusie in een vorige week uitgelekt rapport. Finance-directeur Dennis van Zijl reageert voor het eerst, nu de UT een samenvatting openbaar heeft gemaakt.
  • EN
  • NL

'No financial chaos, but there is a lack of frameworks'

The UT is 'insufficiently in control' financially, is lagging behind the facts and must get 'financial hygiene' in order as soon as possible, was the conclusion in a report leaked last week. Finance director Dennis van Zijl responds for the first time, now that the UT has made a summary available.

Stay tuned

Sign up for our weekly newsletter.