December | 33rd Board

Happy New Year everyone! My holidays were pretty busy, my sister came back from Canada, and we did last-minute Christmas gift shopping for everyone, which dug a big hole in my bank account :’(. I had dinner on Christmas Eve with my mom’s family in the south of Belgium and drove a tractor in the morning. The start was rough but the ride was fun (Alessia can testify).

I then enjoyed Christmas at my dad’s with my cute cat and his bowtie. And then followed my sister’s and my dad’s birthdays (December is very expensive for me…).

Here is a picture of the cute cat:

My mom also took my sister and me to the spa, and it was very relaxing. I started reading a book of short scary stories I recommend called : “The King in Yellow” by Robert W. Chambers. And to stay in the theme of horror, I started Stranger Things 5 with my sister. I haven’t finished it yet, and I am not sure I will soon. Something about this season lost my interest, but I am curious to hear about your opinions. 😊

Finally, I spent New Year’s in Ghent at an event called the Final Ball. It was a folk dancing event with a live band, and although I missed the initiation (where you learn the steps to the dances), I had a lot of fun dancing with different people, and I enjoyed the group dances a lot. I recommend joining an event like this if you like dancing. You get to meet new people and you can follow the steps or dance at your own rhythm! 😊

Good luck with the start of January!

To be honest, December was a blur for me. I ended up getting married to the grind (we're divorced now, no worries). The real highlights were seeing the new Avatar movie & getting to spend some valuable time with my parents :) I still had a nice time, though! The holiday period just tends to get a bit hectic. I also watched Heated Rivalry with a good friend of mine - it wasn't my show at all, but if you have any conflicting opinions, please let me know :D

Always yours,
Nalin <3

Hello everyone,
Christmas and new year has now passed:( For almost 4 months, we got into the Christmas vibe and organised what to prepare for Dinner, what to wear during this day and obviously, we could feel the stress of finding presents for everyone (I did feel it). Once the day was over, I felt a bit disappointed since everyone has been putting in a lot of effort for so long, just for one or two single days. Then, I realised that this period is not only about the “endproduct” but also about the whole process behind it. This is, in my opinion, why this celebration is so magical. I love this period, because all cities and villages are so well decorated and the Christmas markets are opening. These events put me in a very good mood. In November, I went to Intratuin, which is a huge department store in Maastricht. I really advise you to go next year and admire the beautiful Christmas lights and other decorations, even though it is a bit expensive. During my holidays, I helped prepare for the two celebrations (christmas and new year) by baking a big cake. I love baking but I usually don’t have the time during school periods so the holidays are for me the only days I can make cakes and treats.

Also, I’m currently doing my last minor course (writing a review), the mandatory one, which is quite interesting since I can choose the topic of my project. We are a small group of 3 and decided to write our review about exercise interventions targeting postmenopausal women with hypertension. I love getting more and more knowledge related to nutrition and exercise and I want to use this knowledge to improve my skills in running and other sports. I’m still running regularly, although my motivation is not really present since it is SO COLD outside that I just don’t want to get out of my bed in the morning. Secondly, the sun rises at 8am and doesn’t even have the time to shine since it already sets at 4pm☹!!!

In summary, I’m in a good mood and I hope you’re also feeling happy. If not, go for a walk in the city of Maastricht to get some fresh air, observe all the lights and decorations before they get removed and think about what you’re going to cook tonight. See you in the Helix room <3

PS: sleep is important, so don’t neglect it! Thank you

Hello everyone!

How was the first period of the year for you? I hope it went well, and that you all passed your exams without much stress. There are only a few weeks left in the second period, so I wish you the best of luck on your exams. Some festivities are also coming up, so I wish upon all of you a warm and happy Sinterklaas!

The SEPs are now having their first meetings with coordinators, and everything seems to be going smoothly. The reports were sent all on time, and were very well-written, I’m so proud of them! If you want to meet them, and know who is representing your interests as a student in front of the coordinators, they will all present themselves during the First Committee General Assembly.
I have also recently joined the Education Programme Committee (EPC), to bring feedback from the SEPs faster, and clearer to the table. Some ideas have already been produced, such as organising a Student Evaluation Panel report on the whole bachelor to identify skills that students may be missing, or misalignments between courses.

On a more personal matter, this month has been a blur. I was so busy with projects from my courses that I did not realise that exams are less than two weeks away. However, I’m having a lot of fun coding Machine Learning models about detecting Atrial Fibrillation, screening for Hepatitis C, or modelling the activity of Human Rhinovirus during an infection.
I quite enjoyed attending the NUTRIM congress. My Honours PI invited us to see his lecture, and also the posters of the PhD’s from our department. It was overall a very nice environment, and I had a delicious lunch with other researchers from the Pulmonology department. I can’t wait to attend next year.
I’ve also been enjoying quite a bit this sudden cold weather (and the even more sudden snow we got a few days ago). While summer can be nice, nothing beats the cold of winter outside, while you’re laying in bed with a good cup of hot chocolate (with marshmallows and whipped cream, of course) reading a good book.

That’s about it for me, I hope you all have a warm and happy time!

November and December have been some really busy months. Your HoIA did NOT enjoy BBS2002 together with SOPHIA II. And the fact that the Christmas holiday was so close yet so far didn’t help at all. However, I made most out of these months and did some really cool stuff in my free time (besides doing Christmas shopping for literally everyone in my family T_T). For example, I went to my favorite band’s concert, Bad Omens in Amsterdam :D. I booked my tickets or this concert since the beginning of summer (and got really lucky because they got sold out in like 5 minutes lmao) and I was super excited to go. It was so good that I still suffer from post concert depression one month later.

After finally finishing the second period, I unfortunately wasn’t able to go back home and visit my family because I really needed to stay here and work to complete my DUO hours. I definitely don’t wanna mess around with the government. Even though my boyfriend stayed with me during the holidays, it still felt very humbling knowing I am not home with my family aswell. I’m happy that I at least got to go somewhere for New Year’s, so I went to Switzerland with my boyfriend and we visited Basel and Lucerna. I personally enjoyed Lucerna way more because it’s a really nice city that is surrounded by mountains. I always loved going to the mountains way more than going to the sea. Maybe also because I also live pretty close to the mountain area of Romania. Besides the nice views and experiences, I also got scammed into ordering a 12 euro 1L bottle of water at a restaurant while having fondue 😂. I genuinely thought “How expensive could some water be? It definitely cannot cost more than like 5 euro?”. In my defense, the water was NOT on the menu, but I almost had a heart attack when I saw the bill. I actually still keep it in my wallet as a reminder that I once actually drank from a 12 euro water bottle (and mind you, it was the most crisp and fresh one that I have ever had).

Heyy lovelies!! Another month, another update. To be honest, not too much has happened — but we did celebrate our CoBo, and it was an absolutely wonderful, unforgettable night. Like literally I do not think I can forget that night, and also met a tons of nice people!!
Aside from that, it’s been the usual board meetings, staying on balie (you are welcomed any time during our opening hours) and a few very long days. Between uni and board duties, I mostly spent my free time with friends, watching movies and stuffing our faces with food (as any normal person would, right??). I did lack on the cooking part tho, I’m not gonna lie 😞

That’s all for this month; short and sweet. Kissess 💗

SIKE!
December recap now my loveliess!! We did start strong in december with our first GA, it went really nice. Then one day lead to another and the Christmas brake happened!! (we skip the exams) I did spend some time with Alta (yes, she did have a rocky start, never let her drive) and I also drove that tractor, but my start was smooth😎. After that i did enjoy a nice session in a jacuzzi and sauna. For new years i didn’t do that much, i just spend some time with some family friends, and took care of a 14 years old girl (to whomever has younger siblings…good luck, i feel for you!) Anyway!! New year, new us! Good luck in this new year and see you next month!