The movie is “Margin call” which follows the key people at an investment bank, over a 24-hour period, during the early stages of the financial crisis.

Before the start Professor Boudewijn de Bruin will give a short introduction on the topic. After the movie there will be a discussion where everyone can take part and give his opinion about the movie and the crucial topics in it.

The activity is in English and to make it a delicious experience, free snacks and drinks are provided, so grab some friends and be there!

When?  17.00 23^rd of May

Where? Duisenberg building room 5412.0031, Zernike

Why? Why not

Of course, as a national celebration it is a day free of lecturers and classes. Most students in Groningen head to the Stadspark, where various events are held each year during the whole day.  There are several stages, where artists are playing different types of music to match everyone’s taste. You have the choice to a look at famous bands on the main stage or check out the local heroes and get to know some traditional Dutch songs on some of the smaller stages.

The event brings together people from different generations, so you can see families having picnics on the grass, children running around the place and in the kids area their a lot of interesting activities, some of them suited even for a little bit grown children. This year there were people cosplaying as Stone-age villagers, except that it was fascinating for the children, I had the chance to bake my own bread on fire and appreciate the hard work of the one who invented the oven.

If you are seeing many people dressed in orange with extravagant hats, glasses and customs, it doesn`t mean that orange is the new trendy color of Lady Gaga’s fans suddenly tremendously increased. Keep calm you’ve just got the opportunity to join the crazies and largest party of the year-Queen’s day.

Queen`s day knows also as Koninginnedag, is the national holiday of the Netherlands. Celebrated on 30 April it is Queen Beatrix’s official celebration day. Although Queen Beatrix was born on 31 January, the holiday is observed on 30 April as it was the birthday of her mother and predecessor, Juliana.

Everything starts on the day before, called Queen`s night, though I said “night” there are a lot of activities even during the day just the big concert and most people, of course dressed in orange, start gathering in the city center in the evening. Traditionally, in Groningen two big concert stages are built one on Grote Markt and the other on Vrijmarkt, the musical program this year started from 14 to 2 am but the after wards party continued much longer. To cut a long story short, Groningen didn’t sleep that night.

But there is no rest the day after since the official Queen`s day begins. There is no much difference compared to the previous night but this time the party starts from noon and young and old are joined in the orange madness.  Moreover, if you are not fond of big stages you can party on the streets where your favorite club’s Dj is playing music.

If you have the chance to be in the Netherlands during the national celebration, don’t hesitate but grab something orange, draw you face with the national flag, be crazy, be Dutch and join the orange crowd.

Nuffic website provides a great checklist for this.

Here is the link: http://www.nuffic.nl/international-students/how-to-prepare/checklist

Good luck!

The room has the capacity of 288 seats which are waiting for brave students to prove themselves in the trial called exam period. However, this time the weapons won`t be old fashioned pen and pencil but mouse and keyboard. The only thing that an examinee needs to do is to log in a course in Nestor that becomes available at the beginning of the exam and let his knowledge do everything else.

As for the teachers, there will be no more horrible hand writing, that looks like a hieroglyphs of an ancient spell. They will receive all the answers made available on Nestor, seeing only the student number. This will speed up the process of correcting the papers and will save the lives of hundreds innocent trees, which are ending their existence in the form of exam papers.

Looking at the new exam room the futuristic picture in the old cartoons of students studying in front of their laptops in a fully digital class rooms seems more and more not just imaginary scenery but a close reality.

One thing I surely did not understand was why on my way home I became a witness of Groningen being invaded by farm animals. Not really something you see every day!

So, how many of you know the real “power” of bikes in Netherlands?

I just discovered some important tips and tricks regarding biking in this beautiful country. I thought it would be a pity not to share this with all of you, so here we go.

Netherlands has an amazing infrastructure. And I am not talking only about highways and airports.

Since the spring in here a bike trip sounds like a good idea for escaping the rush of the city.

On this website: http://www.nederlandfietsland.nl/fietsrouteplanner you can plan your bike trip using the magic tool provided. You can actually travel across Netherlands using just bike paths.

http://www.bikemap.net is another website that provides bike routes that you can enjoy with your friends.

Here is a short movie about the bike paths and their use in Netherlands.

 

First of all, there are the normal supermarkets, such as “Albert Heijn”, “Jumbo”, “Lidl”, “Aldi”, “Super de Boer” etc. The biggest Albert Heijn (or “Appi” how the Dutch like to call it) is located directly at the Vismarkt in the City Centre of Groningen. The selection is huge and you will certainly find good food there. An advice would be getting a discount card because by obtaining it, you will get a lot of products cheaper. You can get it inside.

Additionally, there are an “Aldi” and a “Jumbo” next to each other close to the Norderplantsoen (the street is called: “Korreweg”). Those two supermarkets are a good alternative to the Appi.

Jumbo at the “Korreweg”

Apart from that there takes place the Farmer’s Market, 3 times a week (Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays). Lots of people don’t know that you don’t only get your vegetables and fruits over there in a better quality, but you may get it a lot cheaper, as well. It is therefore advisable paying the Farmer’s Market a visit once in a while. It is located as well at the Vismarkt, and you could combine a visit of the Appi with a walk over the market.

Another “secret” is going to “Xenos, which is located as well at the Vismarkt. They have a lot of cheap products, which not a lot of people know about. It is especially a good place when planning a party or planning a gathering with friends.

Alert Heijn at the Vismarkt

If you are looking for some special non-typical ingredients, you may want to look into the more specialised stores. There are one or two stores selling Mediterranean delicacies on the Vismarkt, a Russian store a little to the south (Paterswoldseweg 90) and an oriental supermarket offering a wide variety of products from Asia very close to the Jumbo (Korreweg 51). Food and spices from the Balkans can also be found at a number of Turkish stores located around Groningen (there are two on Poelestraat) as well as a Bulgarian store on Oude Kijk in Het Jatstraat 56.

Here are the websites to the Russian store and the Asian supermarket: http://www.russischewinkel.nl/

http://www.amazingoriental.com/content/oriental-groningen

Have fun shopping!

The beginning of the campaign was 9 March in Maastricht and Groningen had the honor to be the final stage and welcome artists like Racoon, DJ Sander van Doorn and Xander Buisonjé and the participants of “War child city talent” which were competing for the heart of the audience during the whole campaign. They were getting SMS votes from their supporters and all of the profits were donated for the War child cause.

The one who managed to conquer both the stage and the audience was Eva Luitsz with her stunning performance of “Time After Time” in a duet with Chris Hordijk. Her reward will be a recording contract and the chance to release a single with the profits going to War Child.

At the end of the night the results of the whole campaign were announced. The generosities of all willing to donate changed or even save in some cases 72 984 lives which makes all these noble hearts heroes.

Last night it was proven how little is needed to bring hope to so many children that didn’t had any, living in cold endless nigh and as Shel Silverstein said:

“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”