So, if you are bored during one class, you can visit feb-international.com from you mobile device.

All the posts will be automatically displayed in a mobile friendly way, so you can read the latest articles without problems.

Give it a try!

“Carnival in the Netherlands is also called “Vastenavond” or “Vastelaovend(j)”, and is most celebrated in Catholic regions, mainly the southern provinces North Brabant and Limburg. Dutch Carnival is officially celebrated on the Sunday through Tuesday preceding Ash Wednesday. Although traditions vary from town to town, some common characteristics of Dutch Carnival include a parade, a “prince” plus cortège (“Council of 11″), a farmer’s wedding (boerenbruiloft), and eating herring (haring happen) on Ash Wednesday.

One variant of Dutch Carnival is known as the Rijnlandsche Carnival, which can be seen in the province of Limburg. The province’s capital of Maastricht holds a street Carnival featuring elaborate costumes that resemble some South American and Venetian influences. Intentionally amateurish marching bands (‘Zaate Hermeniekes’ or ‘Drunken Marching Bands’) traditionally perform on the streets.

The oldest-known Dutch Carnival festivities date from 1385 in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. They are depicted in several paintings by 15th-century painter Jheronimus Bosch. During the three days of the Carnival, ‘s-Hertogenbosch changes its name to “Oeteldonk”, which means “Frog Hill.” This name changing tradition is common in and around North Brabant.”

This year the destination for the carnival was Den Bosh (‘s-Hertogenbosch). The weather this year was not very carnival-friendly, but the streets were still filled with funny looking people. It was like Queen’s day in February.

Dress code: madness.

Here are some pictures from the event.

The brave adventurers were divided into groups and were let to explore The World of Zernike in the search of ten check points. As if that task on its own was not hard enough, they had to go even further and prove their knowledge by answering tricky questions on each check point.  Every right answer was a step closer to one of the “treasures” prepared for the three best teams.

At the end of the day winners or losers didn’t matter so much because everyone was enjoying the delicious dinner at the warm and cozy restaurant, organized by the Exchange office.  Many were chatting with the new friends made during the day and there was not even one new exchange student who didn’t know Zernike like the back of his hand.

The arctic weather didn’t stop the audience of coming to cheer on their favourite team and give their best to back them. Although the strength of their support cannot be doubt, the power of the hot soup, refreshments and cheerful music prepared from BEAST should not be underestimated in the fight against the cold. At the end, everybody managed to create warm memories of one exciting contest.

No doubt, the most lucky ones were the children, who took their ice skates and head towards the frozen lakes, made snowmen or were a brave warriors in a snowfight. Looking at them you could not help thinking that the weather was trying to compensate for the warm Christmas, giving its best to paint everything in white.

So now, let’s talk fun! If you are student, most likely you are having a low cost life. So, I would like to recommend to all students a website for low cost traveling.

The website is http://www.carpooling.co.uk/

The basic idea is that you can share the gas costs with people who are traveling by car and have a free seat. So, for example, you can find a ride sharing from Groningen to Amsterdam even with 10 euros. But the most important aspect is that you can search for international rides. For example, there are a lot of rides from Maastricht to Paris for 30-45 euros.

Happy traveling!

So, in order to be prepared we will highly recommend you a great blog that “puts the ducks in a row”. The address of the blog is: http://stuffdutchpeoplelike.com/

The blog is hilarious and presents the facts exactly as they are in reality. There are very interesting things about Dutch lifestyle and habits, which you will not find on universities websites of brochures.

Here is a preview…

P.S. I don’t know any international student who likes that type of candies.

As a student from abroad you will most probably arrive in the Netherlands by plane at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. The best way to get to Groningen from the airport is by train. The entrance to the railway station is signposted in the arrivals hall.

You can buy train tickets at the ticket machine or at the ticket office. You can buy a one-way ticket to Groningen, which costs around € 28 (2^nd class) or € 45 (1^st class). From Schiphol Airport you can take a direct train to Groningen every hour, or, you might have to transfer to another train in Amersfoort in the direction to Groningen. Make sure that you sit in the part of the train destined for Groningen (usually the front carriages of the train), and not the part destined for Leeuwarden (another city in the north). The train journey takes about 2½ hours. For more information about the Dutch Railways and a train planner please check the following website: www.ns.nl.

Schiphol Airport and the Schiphol railway station are fertile ground for pickpockets, so always keep an eye on your belongings, especially when getting on or off the train.

After arriving at the Groningen central station, you can take a taxi to your international student house, cost approx. Euro 10. Taxi’s can be found in front of- and outside the central station building.
Coaches from Central and Eastern Europe

Some countries, particularly those in Central and Eastern Europe, run coaches to the Netherlands. Most of these coaches have a stop at Utrecht or The Hague. From there you can take a direct train to Groningen which runs every hour. Make sure that you are sitting in the front part of the train which runs to Groningen. The back part of the train runs to Leeuwarden, another city in the North.

Travel by bus
Within the city of Groningen, about 12 bus lines connect the outer districts with the city centre/railway station. A “strippenkaart” (ticket strip) has to be purchased for bus rides. This can be bought at railway stations, kiosks and at most supermarkets. Most rides within the city of Groningen will require 2 “strippen”. The bus lines 11 and 15 connect the city centre with the Zernike complex, where the Faculty of Economics is located. Update: “Strippenkaart” are not in use anymore. If you want to travel in The Netherlands you should buy a ticket from the driver of the bus or you should use your OV-Chipkaart.

Bicycles

The best way to travel in and around Groningen is the Dutch way, i.e. by bycicle. A vast network of cycle lanes extends through the entire city and to many villages around. Some years ago, it was estimated that on the basis of its number of bikes, Groningen was the most densely inhabited place in the world after Beijing. Everybody has at least one bike, and many people even have two (one for the city, one for leisure). The down side is that many bikes get stolen. Always keep your bike locked, and store it at bike garages if possible. If you want to buy a 2^nd hand bike, the best and most reliable way of doing this is from the bike garage at the main railway station, or, at the bike shop on the Zernike complex (called Recife). Never buy a bike from someone you meet on the street: it will be a stolen one! If you are caught doing so, you will be heavily fined.

Transport information
Please check the following websites for transport information:

www.ns.nl (only for travelling by train)

www.9292ov.nl (for door to door travel information)

http://www.ov-chipkaart.nl/ (for purchase your OV Chipkaart)

Contact the faculty

You can find more information about this >>HERE<<

Here is a video with some impressions about the event:

P.S. If you are a prospective student do not forget about the next “Student for a day” event: 29th March 2012.

The biggest sport center in The Netherlands, ACLO has tone of sports you can choose to practice. http://www.aclosport.nl/en/sports

Starting with a short movie about wallclimbing, we would like to present you the most extreme and unusual sports ACLO has.

If you never climbed before, you can join a 10 weeks beginners course. But if you are an experienced climber you can directly join the climbing association GSAC. http://gsac.climbing.nl/ (the courses and training are in Dutch, but they can speak English too; you just have to ask them).