For the freshmen, the opening market is the moment to get to know study and sports associations or the local businesses. And for these organizations this is a good moment to find new souls.
Lots of flyers
The participants are divided into one of five groups. Spread over the morning and the beginning of the afternoon, they enter the central administration to claim their bracelet and orange bag. On the terrain at the Ganzenveld en Cariillonveld they receive information at stands and they get all kinds of flyers. Or they play a game of table tennis, shoot an arrow or aim a korfball through the hoop. All of this under the theme ‘Find your Rhythm’.
Association Fabel, that organizes ‘Live Action Role Playing’ (LARP), is one of these organizations that hopes to find new people. ‘Last year we didn’t attend the opening market,’ says Suzanne van den Berg, Master’s student of Chemical Engineering. ‘This day will be a success if we find new people for our meetings. Twice a year we organize the fantasy role play 7realms, which is a combination of improvisation theater and a game, and twice we organize SevCol, which has a 24th century spaceship as the setting. Last year about sixty people attended 7realms and about forty SevCol. We would like to have even more participants.’
Study pace
Later in the afternoon rector Thom Palstra comes back to the overall theme Find your rhythm. ‘The study pace will be a lot higher here,’ he warns the freshmen in the full and hot tent. ‘Also, you can find your rhythm at one of the 140 associations. The UT wants to be the most entrepreneurial university in Europe. We encourage you to start your own activities or an innovative startup.’
