January | 33rd Board

January was - yet again - a bit of a hectic month. We started preparing for the Half-Year GA, which included writing the half-year report. That led to a lot of self-reflection and realisations that we weren’t quite hitting our goals yet, so the rest of January was focused on catching up where we could. Other than that, we kept up our relationship with the university by attending the Dies Natalis and meeting with the new Vice-Dean of Education of FHML.

Hi everyone ! I hope you’re all doing well 😊

I don’t have much to say to be honest. I passed the course of period 3 but had to resit period 1 and 2 and unfortunately, I failed the second one 😭. But all is good because I had cake to get my mood up and I also saw my cat again!

So far, I have a project about an academic book to read for philosophy and surprisingly I enjoyed it a lot. It was quite a long read but I learned quite a few things although it was frustrating reading about sexism in research 🙄

I also finally finished the book I mentioned in my previous news letter and I did not fully understand the stories although I enjoyed them. I ended up watching a video from a youtuber my friend recommended. I didn’t finish the video but I am an hour into the video and it is very helpful to understand the book. So if there is a book you are reading but are struggling to understand, look it up on youtube 😊

Finally, this period I have a group project which I did not understand much of at first. It wasn’t a project I really wanted to work on because I did not know anything about biosystems. But, I have a really nice group, which makes the meetings fun and we have finally found a clear structure for how the project will go.
Have a nice day, and see you next month!

Alta :3

Hi all,

Another month has passed! For full transparency, I’m writing this in February (...oops), so I’ll have to try to keep the timeline as separated as possible. Wish me luck!

The beginning of the year always brings new opportunities, so I spent most of my time answering emails - new collaboration requests, setting up Open Days, fixing a new banner… There was a lot to do, but we got through it. I also started making a definitive plan for finally working on the website. I’ve been a bit busy doing my other task as VP (helping my Board Members) but hopefully I can start focusing on the website a bit more. Keep an eye out for all the old monthly updates being added soon.

Personally, I celebrated my 21st birthday! It feels like such a milestone but I honestly just feel old now. I also picked up linedancing recently, which I’ve really been enjoying. Other than that, I’m just focused on the grind - Board work, internship, I somehow ended up taking up more shifts at work; there’s a lot keeping me busy right now.

Hopefully the early-year gloom isn’t getting to you. Remember, we’re only a couple weeks away from spring!

Always yours,
Nalin <3

Hey! How are you doing? From my side, I don’t know if I can say that everything is fine because many problems have raised this month. It’s as if live suddenly wanted to test me. Nothing new, I’ve been struggling finding an internship since September, which is really stressing me. While I was sending my last possible emails because I had already searched everywhere and the deadline was two weeks away, someone contacted me for an interview. I wondered if it was real because I had given up hope and resigned myself to the idea that I wouldn't get an internship, and then suddenly someone made the effort to respond to my request??? So, I regained hope... but not for long. After the interview, which went very well, I was disappointed because they didn't have an internship to offer me that met the criteria (their research doesn't start until October 2026, and just doing some literature review in preparation for the experiment isn't enough for this internship to be approved). And everyone knows that getting your hopes up only to be disappointed three days later hurts.

And that's not all, otherwise it wouldn't be funny! For my next class, I had to choose my top five favourite projects from a list of 23. I found some that were really interesting and had no trouble choosing. Two weeks later, we finally found out which project we would be working on, and I got my second choice! I was obviously very happy. We received an email from the university saying that this choice was not final. I didn't understand why, but I told myself that since I liked all the projects in my top five, it couldn't be worse. Of course, it had to be much worse. I was assigned to a new project, on the brain genome to be exact, and I quickly realised that it was not at all in my top 5. I thought to myself, ‘This can't be right, they must have made a mistake and we'll be notified when it's final.’ Then I received an email saying that everyone now had a project and that it would be impossible to change. I was, and still am, extremely disappointed, because I went from a project I liked to one that wasn't even on my list of choices. I'm not a difficult person, but I didn't expect this to happen to me: forming a top five, getting my second choice, and ending up with a random project that was left on the list. By the way, I don't like the nervous system because it's too abstract for me, nor genetics because I don't understand it at all. I don't know what I've gotten myself into. Other things have been added to the mix this month that I won’t talk about, but it's all piling up and becoming unbearable.

Well, we have to find something positive in this situation, otherwise I'm going to depress you with my writing (if I haven't already). I went to visit my grandparents for a week, who live far away from me. I try to visit them as often as possible when I don't have classes. This week, I only had one report to hand in, which meant I could spend a few days at their place. I felt like I was on holiday, which was really nice. The second positive thing is my cat. Every Friday when I go home to Belgium, I go and give him a cuddle because I've missed him. I love his soft fur, the way he sleeps, his love for us... well, everything, really.

I'm done talking. I always find it really strange to write a monthly update, it feels like I'm writing in my diary, something I've never done in my life.

Anyways, love you!

Hello everyone, Mar here.

I hope you all had some nice holidays, that you were able to spend some nice time in warmth and tasty food, and that you got enough rest to face the start of this new year! I hope that 2025 was a good year for everyone, both academically and personally, and that 2026 continues in that same way. I’m so glad we got a bit of snow to get the year started, it’s always a very fun experience (even if the rest of the country stops to a grind due to a few millimetres of snow…). I got to build a couple of snow…beasts (I don’t think they qualify as snowmen), even if they ended up melting a couple of days later.

We got the year started with the Period 2 SEP reports, as well as a delightful repertoire of meetings with coordinators, other faculty members, and other administration personnel. This board year has certainly had its fair share of speed bumps but, overall, we are staying strong on track. It has been a strong 6 months, and I am excited for the other 6. While on one hand, I can’t wait for it to be done, on the other one, I feel like I will miss it dearly once it’s gone. I’m getting to learn so much about the inner workings of this faculty, and getting to know so many new people…

As always, feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns, my email/door/WhatsApp/carrier pigeon is always open to you. I wish you a pleasant Period 4, and good luck with resits if you have them!

January was a quite boring month for me. I had to do a lot of working and studying for the current course and my statistics resit from year 1 at the same time. At least I scored a really good grade for both of them, but it was a very busy month. On a more positive note, my birthday was in January, so I had a great reason to skip studying for a bit and have fun with my friends hehe :) I went to Aachen at the zoo and then went to the cinema to watch Zootopia (great combination, I know). I also discovered that the pistachio cake from Jumbo is literally heavely (i genuinely think I am addicted because I am trying SO HARD not to buy one just for myself and eat the whole thing right now). I really think anyone could bribe me with it at this point. But seriously now, y'all need to try it out, it's amazing!!

Another day, another slay!! Here we are, almost halfway through. I don’t know about you guys, but for me January flew faster than the sound (Ultrasound joke btw🙃). I started the year strong with a couple of blue Red Bulls and Monster but in rest, not much happening this lovely month, just being buried under assignments…all i can say 2027 will be my year!! Anyway, I finally started watching the final season of Stranger Things. It is nice but idk…it feels like it’s a bit too stretched out at this point. I’m at the last episode, so please no spoilers!! On a Helix note, been keeping in contact with some of our sponsors, and managed to get even a new one. If u are interested in learning some dutch in next year, u can always check our instagram 😝 Overall, I hope January didn’t make u drag yourselves to uni and you enjoyed a bit the snow!! You’re gonna hear from me next month, till them keep on hop(e)ing!