October | 33rd Board

During the first period we talked about a large number of things. We had to discuss all the events we were organizing (introweek, pubquizz, Halloween party) and the necessary details such as booking the place, the timing, who will be present during the event, etc. We also discussed the committees which most are already made apart from Family Day and Gala which we are still looking for members if you are interested! We’ve also been discussing our upcoming CoBo and the organization coming with it. We hope to see you there!

Hey everyone!
I hope your first period went well. Personally, it was a bit hectic.
Since we did not have a newsletter for September, I’ll give the updates since the beginning of the academic year.

So, during the first week of September, we had the Introweek organized. There were moments that were quite stressful, but we were able to face them, and it was definitely worth it, seeing how most enjoyed it! We also organized the pubquizz with previous education committee members and the board. Unfortunately, there were some technical issues, which you could help fix if you join the education committee 😉, but I’m glad we were able to find a nice gift for everyone to enjoy at the end. And let’s not forget our Halloween party! It was really fun to collaborate with placebo and have a shared event 😊

Overall, with all the events we organized and the ones we attended, a lot of work needed to be done. So, it was a bit hard to keep up with both board duties and classes, and my social life too. But, I still think it was a really fun period, seeing my friends, going to parties, organizing weekly dinners really helps with uplifting the mood during stressful moments 😊

Hi all,
I can’t believe we’re already two months into the academic year. We would’ve updated you earlier, but the beginning of the year was so hectic that the newsletter completely slipped my mind last month. Turns out balancing a minor, a Board position, and your personal life isn’t actually that easy. Who could have guessed? I’m slowly regaining balance though, in no small part thanks to my wonderful Board members.

The first period has been a lot of sending emails, managing new memberships, and then sending out even more emails to try and solve all these little issues that seem to keep popping up. I think I’ve sent out more emails in these past two months than I have in my entire bachelor. Of course there’s more to being secretary than just sending emails, but somehow everything else is just boring behind-the-scenes work. We also took part in the graduation ceremony & Bachelor’s Open Day recently, which were both so tiring but so satisfying to be part of. Graduation was especially satisfying - putting in hours of work to make the slides, standing up there for three hours reading out all the quotes, a small scare where Alta got sick last-minute and I ended up being the one to give the speech - all of that was more than worth it to see everyone’s proud little faces. I got to see so many of my friends get rewarded for all the effort they put in over the past years, and I couldn’t be prouder of them.

Outside of Helix work, I’ve also been a busy woman (all the time) in my personal life. I’m currently doing my minor in Psychology, which is really interesting. I actually considered doing Psychology before I chose BMS, but I’m so glad I didn’t. There’s so much reading involved that I don’t even get to half the time. But hey, so far it looks like I’m doing fine! Other than that I’ve been trying to make sure I spend time on myself as well. I recently started going on walks more often, I still spend a lot of time with the horses, and I’m trying to cook more often. That last bit especially is something my dad enjoyed - until I explained to him that no, I couldn’t make big meals daily, and then he was disappointed again 🥲

I’m really excited to see what the rest of the year brings. These past two months have been so much more chaotic, but also brought me so much more, than I expected - I’m sure the rest will be the exact same. I can’t wait :D

Always yours,
Nalin <3

Heyy, I’m Emilie the treasurer but some of you may have met me already in the helix room. I must admit that the beginning of the year was quite busy, welcoming the new students, selling labcoats and waiting for these bank cards to arrive. Yes, you understood correctly, 3 months having no access to our bank made our lives even more difficult. I was quite stressed in this first month of September because my job just consists of managing the bank transactions and ensure money goes well, which was slightly impossible since I couldn’t even see those transactions. Don’t worry, I still had so much fun because I met new people, went partying, or just enjoyed my time reading and talking in the helix room! Moreover, I finished my first minor period (Diet, nutrition and health), which was really interesting! I find that I am starting the most relevant part of my Biomedical sciences studies, because I can finally choose the direction where I want to go for my future, and courses become more targeted towards topics I really like. The only stressful moments I’ve had in the beginning of this year are for, at least trying, finding an internship. This is A LOT more difficult, time- and energy-consuming than I expected. Between people who don't reply to emails, bitter people who turn you down, and those who are incredibly polite but don't have any more places available, I have to admit that I've never struggled so much in my life. I would like to finish on a happier note by telling you that I am eager to continue this year at Helix because I am learning more every day and having truly memorable experiences with the other board members and the entire community!
With love,
Emilie

Hi everyone!

I hope the beginning of the academic year was smooth, happy, and uneventful for you! It’s already my third year in Biomedical Sciences, yet it feels just like it was yesterday that I was having my first tutorial… Sometimes, I wish I were again a first-year Bachelor student, I miss that innocence, that happiness of seeing new things with new eyes, of learning things I had never learned before in detail…

During Period 1 we were very busy organizing the beginning of the academic year. The first couple of weeks we were present at most first lectures, of all years and SA Helix programs. It wasn’t possible to be at all minors, sadly. This year we got quite a lot of SEP applications (over 60!), which took most of the effort put in Period 1, as we ended up having to do a lot of interviews and reviewing many motivation letters. However, it resulted in 6 successful SEPs (plus minor SEPs) that are already working quite well together. It is now early Period 2 as of writing this, and the SEP reports from Period 1 are getting finalized and sent. I am so proud of the new Student Evaluation Panels, their feedback and writing skills are terrific!

Personally, these past two months have also been very busy. During the first week of September, I took the TMS-VRS-D course (which I successfully passed), as I am quite interested in doing biomedical research involving radionuclides in the future. I’ve also been enjoying my minor, as well as my extra course in Systems Biology at MSP (since I’m considering doing the SysBio master’s programme, it was a nice way to see if I’d enjoy the challenge level, as I really enjoyed the topic last year). On a non-academic note, PostNL invited me to attend a couple of the bike races they sponsor, which was very exciting, and I found a passion for seeing those kinds of races in person. It was super impressive and exciting to see and feel the bikes pass so close to us, at such high speeds (they kept an average speed of 50 km/h, for 3 hours!). I was also able to visit the ESA ESTEC campus in early October, which is very impressive, and if you can visit, I fully recommend it. The Open Day is usually in October, with tickets being available in early September.

This letter ended being longer than I expected, but I guess it has been a very packed couple of months. I’ll see you in the next one!

My life as HoIA (hooyaaaahhh) is very hectic. Especially since I tried to make my first romanian ciorba. Or borș. It’s basically just soup with veggies and meat but sour. BUT ITS AMAZING. And I can’t stop cooking it ever since. I am actually the reason why this newsletter is so late haha :) Anyways, my job is to socialize (a lot) with my beloved Helix and committee members. All committees have been created and are now runningggggggg! Me and my committees have been already preparing some really cool stuff for you guys so stay tuned!!! I can’t wait to see how all of our events will turn out this year. Back in September, the beginning of the academic year came in strong. Me and my amazing Introweek committee organized our Introweek for new biomedical sciences and RMT students, which was very fun and packed with nice activities. I am so happy to see that the friend groups formed during Introweek are still friends even now 😁. After this, I decided to take a well deserved break and go to Norway, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, all by myself🤭. I was lucky enough to see the aurora every single night that I was there. I do not regret taking this holiday one single bit, even if it meant missing one full week worth of classes. I mean, who cares about classes when you still pass the course, right? (I definitely did not end up missing half of the material less than a week before the exam) Please do not take me as an example!!!!! Do prepare your cases in time because uni is important 😇 After this, people started signing up for committees and I had to schedule maaanyyy interviews. I love taking interviews. It is really one of the things I like most about my position! This is how we ended up having some amazing people in our committees! Also, if any of you are still interested in joining one of our committees, you can always send me an e-mail via activities_sahelix@maastrichtuniversity.nl. My personal life has also been full of changes in the past few months. Last month, I finally started going to the gym again (after the very long break of 4 weeks), and switched jobs, so now I am working at Only! (the clothing store bruh, I ain’t doing any nasty aah stuff in here). I also adopted a very affordable hobby of collecting Pokemon cards (crying in spending hundreds of euros on my collection).

I am not gonna lie, being head of external affairs is something…interesting. As not much of an extrovert, reaching out to people is not always my favourite thing, kinda procrastinating every time i need to do it (but i still get it done). But, hey, this also have a good part, for example a possible new sponsorship😝but not giving it away.

On a personal note, I’ve been spending some time baking or just cooking in general (not only noodles). For example, I made some kind of a banana bread with some apple mouse?? in my airfryer (my treasurer liked it so I am calling it a win), and some sort of diabetes cake (really sweet and addictive); and also tried to do some air fried donuts….ended up doing small breads (buns maybe). I should say it was sooo relaxing and a fun way to unwind, but it was not. I made a huge mess in the kitchen and had to clean everything up….but the food was good and the house smelled amazing!

Interesting life since I started to “board life”. Nice?? Yeah; Chaotic?? Always!! But I am really happy that I have my people around me that help me though my crashouts 😌(and it’s just the beginning, stay tunned!) I am quite a boring person so do not expect me to have some mindblowing updates. Kissessss :*