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ROUTE
LIFE
How to Live Your Best Life? If you were to google ‘way of life’ (which I indeed did for this editorial), one of the first links to pop up is 7 Ways to Live Your Best Life. Out of (slightly sarcastic) curiosity, I decided to take a look to find out what I should be doing to ‘live my best life’. The article starts with an introduction that is about living a life that others will remember and thinking about what people would say at your funeral and such. Why? Why should a good life be about being remembered by others? I can’t help but think that you can live a very ‘bad’ life and still be remembered – but that aside. The article continues with a list of New Year’s resolutions like Be Generous, Vow to get healthier, Stop bad-mouthing others and Read to your children. ‘Read to your children?’ I hear you thinking. Yes, apparently that makes you a better person, so good luck with that, fellow students. I guess the article is just very idealistic and focuses on what the writer thinks are the ultimate goals of life: being a good, healthy, friendly person (who reads to his/her kids). There is nothing wrong with that and in a sense, it’s quite beautiful. However, of course
there are many different sorts of lifestyles and people’s views of the best possible life(style) differ. In this Intermania, we decided to look into some of these views and lifestyles: Manon informs you about faith and why people stop believing nowadays (p. 25-28), Maithe interviewed some people about (their change in) eating/drinking habits (p. 12-13), Noël provides you with some nice lifehacks (p. 17-18) and Joost from the InterT.E.A.M. will help you get yourself motivated for a more active lifestyle (p. 24). Additionally, you can find an infographic about what would happen if everyone became a vegetarian (p. 22-23), a theme-relevant movie review (p. 19) and we would like to introduce you to our new cartoonist Isabel Blijenburg! We hope you enjoy this new edition, good luck with your New Year’s resolutions, never let other people tell you how to live your life and don’t forget to read to your children.
Table of contents HousCie Happenings Read about what the Rehousing Committee did in 2017.
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Do You Hear What I Hear?
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No ‘Weight’ to Live 31* Pam dives into different types of diets A Martial Art or a Way of Life?
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Column: Britte
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Trying and Failing to Dutch
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Culture or Carnaval? Both?
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Living With Lightlogs Maaike Kompier tells graduation project.
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Eindhoven Symposium of Innovation 7* Stadsbrouwerij 9 Twee eerstejaarsstudenten bezochten en beoordelen de Stadsbrouwerij. Taras Boulba
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Humans of Intermate
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Zoeken naar Zoenen
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Theme: A way of Life Intermania Rates 16* New section for the Intermania, check it out on page 16! Lifehacks
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Column: Hub
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More Beer, more Better
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What if.... ...the entire world went vegetarian?
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How to be Active!
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Don’t Stop Believing
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De Derde Leeftijd
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about
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In het Midden
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Oh Canada!
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Klaagmuur: TostNie
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*English Articles
Cartoon 30* New Cartoonist Isabel Blijenburg made her first artwork!
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Intermania
Table of contents
“Together, we did something that Trump would be jealous of: We built that wall!” - HousCie, p. 4
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42. Colophon Intermania is the magazine of study association Intermate, home to the bachelor’s and master’s programs of the department Innovation Sciences at Eindhoven University of Technology. The Intermania is released four times a year, with a total of 650 prints. Members of Intermate automatically receive the Intermania at home.
Study Association Intermate Address: Den Dolech 2, IPO 0.74 Postbus 513, 5600MB Eindhoven Phone: (040) 247 44 30 Website: www.intermate.nl E-mail: board@intermate.nl Advertisements: external@intermate.nl
January 2018
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Content for the Intermania may be submitted in consultation with the editors. The editorial staff shall not be liable for any consequences arising from its content and reserves the right to, without notice, amend or not publish any submitted content. Articles may only be redistributed with permission of the editorial staff.
Intermania Chief Editor: Editorial Staff: E-mail: Printer:
Marit Loonen Anke van Rietschoten, Ashly Berghuizen, Benedetta Malagoni, Britte Bouchaut, Colin de Bruin, Frank Vendrig, Hugo Bezombes, Ileen Smits, Manon van Hastenberg, Meike van Heldoorn, Nienke Buikstra, Noël Coenraad, Pam Philippens intermania@ieis.tue.nl Drukkerij Snep
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Rehousing Committee
HousCie Happenings As a lot of you might have seen, quite some progress on the Atlas building has been made during the past year. Anke and Marit, members of the HousCie, bring you up to date on everything that happened in 2017. Text: Anke van Rietschoten & Marit Loonen, editorial staff and HousCie members
February 2017: Start of archiving all Intermate’s documents Usually with a rehousing, one gets surprised by how much useless stuff is hiding in an old home. This was not different for us. We were aware of the props from the AC, InterT.E.A.M. and many other committees and events. However, when we took a look in the big, dark and scary basement, we found out that there was a time that digital photo cameras were non-existent and when hard drives were way too expensive for students. Long story short, there were tons of old documents and pictures chilling in the basement and in the Kleedjeshok. As it would have been a waste to just throw everything away and also because we were obligated to keep some documents, we started scanning the necessary papers and the pictures from the older members of Intermate… May, 2017: We get approval for the boardroom! With walls! The architect’s vision for Atlas is that all working areas will be set up for flex working. That means that all areas are open and accessible for everyone, so you can work anywhere (on the university) and anytime. The problem with this concept is that you can’t put your stuff on the desk when you leave, since someone else may need that working place during the time that you are away. Even though this is not a big problem for students, it would be for a board. According to the original plans of the architect, Intermate’s board‘room’ would have no walls. Of course, this would be very inconvenient for us and the boards of Lucid and Industria, who would face the same problem. Together, we accomplished something that Trump would be jealous of; We built that wall. Dienst Huisvesting has agreed to give us a glass walls. Outside of the boardroom, we can show our identity with TV screens where we can display posters to promote Intermate and its activities. 4
Intermania
Rehousing Committee
Also, May, 2017: We get the catalogue with furniture Dienst Huisvesting has published a catalogue with all the available furniture for the new inhabitants of Atlas. The HousCie picked some appropriate furniture for the new Internaat, based on previous discussions. However, the furniture wasn’t completely suitable for our Internaat. Therefore, the HousCie sent the needed adjustments to Dienst Huisvesting. June, 2017: Start on a budget estimation for the rehousing The HousCie has started on a budget estimation for the rehousing. The skeleton for the budget has been made. However, there is still a lot of unclarity about who will have to pay what. The FCC took a look at the first draft and the budget will be updated every time new information is available. September, 2017: The archiving is complete! It took us a total of 5 days to scan everything, but we have seen some very interesting stuff. In a while, you will be able to see Intermate’s past on the website!
September & November, 2017: Guided tour through Atlas Divided in two groups, we got a guided tour through Atlas. It was great to see the progress! 2018... The coming year, we will remain working towards the rehousing of Intermate, which is planned around October/November 2018. Want to know more and/or stay up to date? Check the website: http://rehousing.intermate.nl/ January 2018
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Lustrum
Do You Hear What I Hear? Once upon a time there were two Intermate members who had an amazing idea. Het Geluid from QMusic had just been guessed and the lucky winner had been granted a huge monetary price to take home. This event inspired Bas and Gido to ask the current board - Delphi - for permission to organize an Intermate version for Het Geluid. Unfortunately, time was against them and nothing was organized. Fast forward one year and enter the 7th Lustrum committee in a serious case of “great minds think alike”. Roxanne approached Bas and a secret group app was brought to life with its name being a course code. “We are working on a project together” was the excuse that was spread, and believed by certain innocent members (*cough* Koen *cough*). Hence the secrecy started and the process of creating and promoting the first Geluid started. The adventure started with making a promotion video that would introduce Het Geluid and would include the first actual sound. The brainstorming process for this video went something like “What stupid sounds can we film and record?”. Firstly, some alcoholic beverages were consumed at
the borrel and then the Taskforce got their moment in the spotlight while walking around the campus. Especially the scene with the party popper attracted a lot of attention, as it took 15 takes to get the popper to actually pop. The problem? The plastic wrap turned out to be quite a challenge for the “manly power” of the Taskforce. The moment the video was actually aired came with a mixture of awkwardness (“Do I look like that on video?”) and excitement for the reaction of the members. That’s when the calling started, and luckily Intermate seemed very enthusiastic about this game! However, the guesses were wrong time after time. Sometimes the Taskforce would raise their hands to the sky and ask why people would think certain things. Fortunately, the hints seemed to work and our esteemed chairman Hugo eventually guessed Het Geluid; tearing apart a bell pepper! For all of you who are frustrated because they were so close to the actual sound, worry not, because the Taskforce is currently working very hard on a new Geluid. Stay tuned! Oh, and one last tip; keep in mind what was already guessed before (and thus wrong).
Text: Bas van Rhenen, Het Geluid Taskforce, and Manon van Hastenberg, editorial staff. Image: Manon van Hastenberg, editorial staff.
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Intermania
SympoCie
Eindhoven Symposium of Innovation Intermate’s annual symposium is back! This year, trying to imagine the future of engineering in 2040. The unpredictable and ever-changing world of today can usually feel imposing and out of control. Many of us cannot decide what to do next year, let alone think about 20 or more years from now. The “2040: Engineering the Future” symposium will offer you the chance to discuss the future with fellow students and companies making the future slightly less abstract and more tangible. Besides promoting this year’s Symposium, Noël will also describe the development of Symposia throughout the ages. Text: Noel Coenraad, SympoCie member
To balance out all the future talk, it is interesting to look into the history of symposia, since people have been exchanging new ideas for quite some time. The modern-day symposium is considered an undertaking in which a number of speakers discuss a certain topic before an audience. The audience is engaged either through a questions and
anecdotes and witty remarks. Notably, symposia come from ancient Greek times when it was a party where intellectuals would gather to drink, eat and discuss various topics. Usually, symposia were only open to men on terms of invitation, with the exception of women from the hetaerae class, who in essence
What you need to know about this year’s symposium • • • •
Location: Temporary Art Center, Vonderweg 1, 5611 BK Eindhoven Date: 25th April 2018 Price: €7.50 pp A short overview of the day: panel, business cases, and closing talks.
answers section (Q&A) or by trying to solve the speaker’s problem in a business case. It usually lasts a minimum of a day and to a maximum of 5 days. They can be attended by anyone who buys a ticket, but usually are only visited by experts and enthusiasts on the topic of the symposium. Topics can range from highly intellectual matters to sales conferences of new products. Finally, the symposium is led by the host or moderator whom is well versed on the topic and can effortlessly switch between humorous January 2018
were prostitutes trained in high culture. The symposium was guided by a symposiarch , who is a master of ceremony determining the strength of wine and thus also the topic and level of conversation. Symposia were so prominent in Greek times that one of Plato’s greatest works, Symposium, is dedicated to the recording of conversations of men at these gatherings. Topics also varied, but they would always converge around fundamental principles such as love, education or honor. In the dark ages, sadly, this wonderful 7
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SympoCie
“Symposia come from ancient Greek times when it was a party where intellectuals would gather to drink, eat and discuss various topics.” practice disappeared from the history books and re-emerges at the World Exposition in 1851 that was held in Great Britain. This World Exposition was more of a conference displaying and discussing the newest innovations in nations around the world. This was the first time that conferences were not purely invitation-only and open to the general public. This revived version of the symposium lost many – what some would call – immature features such as the prostitutes and heavy drinking. As globalization opened up, new cultures and markets, an increasing number of conferences, symposia and expositions
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were organized, all with different approaches and purposes. Towards the 1920s, Expositions diverged from the conferences and symposia sector, defining themselves towards works of art and history. Meanwhile conferences and symposia still overlap with no agreed upon dividing difference. Nevertheless, the essence has not been lost, since symposia still offer an opportunity to discuss a topic with fellow enthusiasts and to enjoy the experience. 2040: Engineering the Future will not have women from the hetaerae class, but there definitely will be inspiring and intellectual discussions to shape the future and there is some room for a drink at the end. Intermania
Stadsbrouwerij
Sneak Review
Ook voor deze editie zijn twee verse eerstejaars, Rik en Titus, eropuit gestuurd om een review te schrijven voor de Intermania.. Dit keer: Stadsbrouwerij Eindhoven. Tekst: Titus Bouman & Rik Meijerman, eerstejaarsstudenten P&T en SI
Op slechts een steenworp afstand van Stratumseind bevindt zich een pand waarvan de buitenkant geen enkele eer weet te doen aan de binnenkant. Want waar het van buiten vooral een snel in elkaar gebeund gebouw lijkt, is de binnenzijde met zeer veel tijd en aandacht ingericht. Zoals gezegd verdient het interieur alle lof; het is een toffe, industrieel aangeklede kroeg. Het is echter niet zomaar aan te wijzen als kroeg, maar meer als een ontmoetingsplaats. De muziek staat net te hard om relaxed te kunnen borrelen, maar veel te zacht om eens even flink knieschijven te gaan breken. De sfeer is bijzonder aangenaam, al wisten wij met z’n tweeën de gemiddelde leeftijd te halveren. We waren er op een woensdagavond en dachten dat de studentenkorting die dan geldt enig studentikoos volk naar binnen zou weten te krijgen. Dit was echter teleurstellend weinig. De gasten terzijde was het een fantastische plek om samen even lekker te lullen. Verschillende soorten bier waren in overvloed aanwezig, iets wat in combinatie met de vlotte werknemers resulteert in het bestellen van meer dan één biertje. Het aanbod was zoals je dat van een brouwer verwacht: van elk type bier stond er wel meer dan een enkele op het menu. Bovendien zorgden de verschillende try-out pakketten en hapjesplanken voor een volledig verzorgde avond. Toch heeft de Stadsbrouwerij ook zijn nadelen. Naast het volume waren wij het ook oneens met de agressieve toon van de muziek, iets wat de sfeer alleen maar ten nadele January 2018
kwam. Het was ook duidelijk dat er flink budget is uitgetrokken voor een geur op de wc’s, maar of dat de goede keuze is geweest laten wij nog even in het midden. Bovendien was er geen garderobe; een overvol gehangen kapstokje moest voor een volle tent dienst houden. De ervaring was zeker een positieve. Wij kunnen ons inbeelden dat je in de zomer echt chill op het terras kan zitten. Zeker op de woensdagavond, waarop speciaal biertjes bijna allemaal voor € 2,50 op te pikken zijn bij de bar. Op elke andere avond zouden wij het afraden. Er zijn genoeg plaatsen in Eindhoven die zich ook niet als zuipkroeg profileren, maar die toch stukken goedkoper zijn. Het is een plek waar je met je ouders gaat zitten, niet eentje waar je met je maten naartoe gaat. Al zijn wij er zeker nog vaker te vinden!
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Tekst etiket vertaald: ‘Ziedaar! Taras Boulba is razend kwaad! Zijn zoon is met een Waalse getrouwd!’
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Intermania
Borrellegendes
Taras Boulba
Geschiedenisles van Bo en Fenna Lang, lang, lang geleden was er eens… Oh nee toch niet. Laatst stonden wij achter de bar en verkochten wij maar liefst vijf Taras Boulba. Toen vroegen we ons plots af welk verhaal er achter deze heerlijke, extra hoppy ale schuilt. Tekst: Bo Drummen en Fenna Wit, bierliefhebbers
Het biertje ‘Taras Boulba’ verwijst naar het tragische verhaal van Vlaamse kozakkenleider Taras Boulba en zijn zonen. Taras was een echte held onder de Vlamingen en leidde zijn zonen op tot krijgslieden en leerde hen te vechten voor hun Vaderland: Vlaanderen! Maar niet alles liep volgens zijn plan… Op een zonnige dag swipete de oudste zoon van Taras Boulba, Andrei, met zijn gespierde armen de Waalse Clara naar rechts. Een geheime tinderdate wakkerde de vlam tussen hen aan en het hart van Clara uit Dottenijs was veroverd. Helaas maakte hun afkomst de liefde tussen hen erg ingewikkeld. Er waren namelijk heftige spanningen tussen Vlaanderen en Wallonië. Door alle taalcomplicaties werd het zelfs nog erger. Clara eet graag frites, maar Andrei heeft het liefst patat. De relatie werd al snel ‘ingewikkeld’; ze moesten alles stiekem doen en hadden vaak onenigheden. De strijd tussen de Vlamingen en de Walen werd heftiger door de jaren heen en Taras maakte zijn zonen er maar al te bewust van dat ze moesten vechten voor hun Vlaanderen. In 1628 trokken Taras Boulba en zijn zonen tezamen met alle kozakken dan ook ten strijde tegen de Walloniërs. Ze verwoestten diverse Waalse gebieden. Tijdens deze strijd stormden Taras Boulba en zijn zonen richting het plaatsje Dottenijs. Andrei wist dat Clara hier ergens moest verblijven en hij kon het niet over zijn hart verkrijgen om haar dorp te verwoesten. Andrei verzon een list en overtuigde de January 2018
Kozakken ervan dat een andere aanvalsroute beter zou werken. In plaats van de eerste afslag, namen ze de tweede. Hierdoor werd de afslag Dottenijs gemist en ze trokken verder ten strijde richting de kust. Zijn broer Ostap had door dat er iets niet klopte. Andrei gedroeg zich erg vreemd. Waren de aardappelen gisteren niet goed bevallen, of zou hij verliefd zijn? Maar alle Vlaamse vrouwen waren thuis gebleven... Nee, het was toch niet ‘n Waalse?
“Een geheime tinderdate wakkerde de vlam tussen hen aan...” Toen Ostap zeker wist dat Andrei hen voor de gek hield, kon hij de Kozakken al niet meer stoppen. De Waalse rebellen hadden de fout door en bereidden een tegenaanval vanuit Dottenijs voor. Dit werd het einde van de Kozakken en Taras. Hij leefde ongelukkig verder en maakte van ellende een carriereswitch naar circusdirecteur. Ostap zag hoe ontevreden zijn vader was en kon het niet meer voor zich houden. Hij verraadde Andrei bij hun vader Taras en vertelde dat Andrei er vandoor was gegaan met een Waalse en dat Andrei de missie met opzet omgeleid had. Taras werd razend kwaad en wat er toen gebeurde... [zie etiket op linker pagina] 11
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Humans of Intermate
Humans of Intermate: Interesting Lifestyles At Intermate, we have lots of interesting people. This edition of Humans of Intermate focusses on three Intermate-members who have a special eating or drinking habit. Text: Maithe van der Wal, active Intermate member
Manon van Hastenberg, vegetarian In high school, I thought a lot about quitting eating meat, but I thought that I wouldn’t be able to live without it. I wanted to quit eating meat because of the impact it has on the environment. Also, I believe that meat is a luxury good, while right now we massively produce meat and treat it as if it is a regular product. This summer I finally gave it a try and it turned out to be easier than I thought. At first, I only ate meat at dinner, but not through the rest of the day. The step between that and not eating meat at all was pretty easy. However, I still miss it sometimes. Mostly after a night of drinking, I just want to eat a frikadel the day after, but I can’t. My eggs on toast are just not as satisfying in such a situation. Luckily, I eat lots of kaassouflés, which are also heavenly. In the end, I am glad that I did it and I am mostly proud of myself that I took a stand and that I stuck to it.
“My eggs on toast are just not as satisfying.” – Manon Paolo Franken, picky eater I think most people know why I am being interviewed; I really don’t like a lot of food. I think that there is more food I don’t like than food I do like. It has always been that way. My parents really tried to let me eat different things, they really did, but I just don’t enjoy it. A big part of it is that I do not like the taste, but I also really don’t like the texture. People ask if it’s difficult when I eat together with others, but I mostly just bring my own food. I do not want to burden other people with it, mostly because for other people it is very difficult to know what I eat and mostly don’t eat. However, it also has advantages. I don’t have to think hard what I want for dinner, because there is not that much to choose from!
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Intermania
Humans of Intermate
Bart van de Wetering, stopped drinking alcohol Starting the first day of the academic year, I quit drinking alcohol. It started with my girlfriend asking me to join her in trying to lose some weight by drinking less alcohol and eating healthier. We agreed to stop drinking alcohol until her birthday in January. Every time we slip up, we put some money in our holiday-jar. I don’t know if this is a good thing, but we are looking forward to a fine holiday, because the jar is decently filled! I only slipped twice, but when I start drinking, I drink for an entire night. However, the effort is definitely paying off. I already lost 9 kilos! This is of course not just because of the alcohol, it’s also because I eat more healthily and because I work out more than I used to. Nevertheless, I’m pretty proud of the results! I’m even starting to feel more fit than before.
“Every time we slip up, we put some money in our holiday-jar. I don’t know if this is a good thing, but we – Bart are looking forward to a fine holiday.” “I don’t have to think hard what I want for dinner, there is not that much to choose from.” – Paolo January 2018
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AC-Team
De Zoektocht naar Zoenen Na vorige editie te hebben geschreven over haar zoektocht naar de beste versiertrucs, zet Melissa haar onderzoek deze editie verder. Veel films en wat veldwerk verder, licht ze ons in over haar bevindingen op het gebied van ‘het perfecte afscheid’. Tekst: Melissa Pruijn, AC-Team Lid en 2de Jaar P&T
Dit artikel is een deel 2, dus hier volgt een beknopte samenvatting van deel 1 in de vorm van een krantenkop: “Fake ginger op zoek naar versiertrucs tijdens AC feest.” Nou moet ik bekennen dat ik deze waardevolle tips nog niet in de realiteit heb uitgeprobeerd, want wat moet ik doen als het werkt? Helaas is het leven geen toneelstuk en kan ik me dus niet houden aan een script. Hoe de rest van het gesprek zal verlopen kan ik dus niet opschrijven, maar hoe het gesprek afloopt is misschien nog wel belangrijker. Loop je gewoon weg? Of verlang je eigenlijk naar een kus?
Nu is er op woensdag 7 februari weer een nieuwe AC activiteit, namelijk de jaarlijkse kroegentocht. Om me alvast goed voor te
Spaghetti is een goed hulpmiddel in “Lady and the Tramp” bereiden ga ik op zoek naar het perfecte afscheid. Want wat is eigenlijk de beste manier
Afbeelding: Scène uit “The Notebook”
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AC-Team
“Een andere fysieke strategie is de welbekende Titanic pose. ” – Melissa om die kus waarnaar je verlangt te initiëren? aan te raken?” waarna ze de innige kus Om dit uit te zoeken heb ik een hoogwaardig eindigt met “Nu heb ik verloren.” kwalitatief onderzoek uitgevoerd, namelijk Of deze laatste techniek nou echt werkt het kijken van films. In films kan men immers weet ik niet, maar ik hoop van wel. Zelfs precies bepalen hoe een kus moet verlopen. na alle incognito vensters met gênante Dit is dan ook gelijk een probleem als je zoektermen ben ik namelijk niet veel wijzer kijkt naar situationele geworden. Om dit factoren; zo blijkt onderzoek naar een regen het goed te hoger niveau te tillen doen volgens “The besloot ik dan ook Notebook” en ook om achter mijn laptop spaghetti is een goed vandaan te komen hulpmiddel in “Lady en actief te zoeken and the Tramp”. naar een jongen en de Deze middelen zijn bijbehorende kus. Toen echter niet altijd ter ik wat bier ging halen, beschikking. bleek er een leuke Het is dus van jongen achter de bar belang om niet naar te staan, waar ik een de omgevingsfactoren gesprek mee had over te kijken, maar naar spanning. Dit abstracte Afbeelding: Scène uit “Love Actually” de tekst of beweging onderwerp was de voorafgaand aan de kus. Zo kust in “Love rode draad in de korte ontmoetingen die wij Actually” Karl eerst de wang van Sarah de rest van de avond hadden. Uiteindelijk waarna hij soepel overgaat op haar mond. kwam hij op me afgelopen en pakte me En als hij later in de scène ook nog eens vast alsof hij me ging zoenen. Hij vroeg “Is z’n kleren uitdoet vraag je je eigenlijk af dit spannend genoeg voor je?”, waarna waarom Sarah überhaupt moeilijk deed. hij wegliep. Ik was overdonderd door deze *Schraapt de keel* Anyway, een andere krachtige actie en toen ik hem even later weer fysieke strategie is de welbekende Titanic zag zou ik nadoen wat hij deed, maar dan met pose. Hieruit lijkt het belangrijk dat er al veel een ander einde… lichaamscontact is voordat de lippen elkaar Dit laatste onderzoek bleek toch wel het raken. Volgens wikiHow is het inderdaad meest nuttige. Ik zal dit onderzoek dan ook tot belangrijk om elkaar eerst aan te raken, en met de kroegentocht blijven voortzetten. door bijvoorbeeld iemands haren naar achteren te strelen. Een verbale strategie van dit aspect zit in de musical “Ramses”. Hier vraagt Liesbeth “Wedden dat ik je kan zoenen zonder je January 2018
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Intermania Rates
The Meaning of Life In this new section of the Intermania, the committee will rate something to inform our readers every edition. This time: completely in line with the current theme, Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life. Text: Intermania Editorial Staff, movie lovers
Bizarreness
Rancidness
“Not sure I know what the meaning of life is now, BUT it definitely made me happy” - Manon “You could see that it was fake, but some scenes were still pretty gross” - Noël
Inspiring
a way of life
Well thought-out
Funniness
Final Verdict
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“The writing process was quite cumbersome. An awful lot of material didn’t get used. In the end, we just said: ‘Well, what the heck. We have got lots of good material, let’s give it the loosest structure, which will be the meaning of life.” - Michael Palin, member of Monty Python “Not inspiring, with an exception for the galaxy song, 10/10 must watch when you’re feeling down!” - Marit Intermania
Theme: A Way of Life
Hack your Way into the Flow State Ever feel like life is a drag and that everything you do takes an enormous amount of time? Well, let’s change that! Noël will give you a couple of tangible tips that can actually improve your productivity and the science to back it up. Text: Noël Coenraad, editorial staff
Finding your flow in a day is extremely important since it determines whether you are actually going to finish that assignment not. Being in the flow or zone is described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi as the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. This has become an essential part of positive psychology and the center of many experiments. The following hacks will show you ways to get into the flow easier. I have personally tried them and will share my experience for each of the hacks. 1. Physically write out and plan your morning A seemingly insignificant and arduous task actually has a large impact on your productivity. The hack is to as soon as you wake up to grab a pen and write out the first 1 or 2 hours of your day. You might think this to be unnecessary since you have an idea of how you “morning” since the age of 6, but you have to admit that there is always a slight variation in the timing and/or order of doing things. The two beneficial consequences of writing out your morning are long-term reduction in decisions and the creation of a foundation to get into flow easier during the rest of the day. Firstly, decisions take up a large part of our daily cognitive capacity and frequently overload our brains with information. Neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin prescribes that by bundling all the insignificant decisions like when to shower and what to eat, you will lower the strain on your mental capacity since you will not tackle each decision separately. Secondly, this mental ease of an organized morning frees you up to concentrate on the more difficult tasks later in the day. In my experience, this hack feels like a waste of paper the first week you try it and I was skeptical. However, I found that my mornings became very quick and easy after it became a habit. Also I found it easier to wake up when I gave myself those couple minutes to write my morning down. It works, but requires a lot of self-discipline. 2. Warrior or deep breathing techniques Of course, not everyone wants to make such disruptive change to their daily routine like waking up to plan out their morning. That’s where this next hack comes in. Breathing is something we all take for granted, yet it is one of our most powerful tools to enter a focused state of mind and relax. Many meditation forms are centered around breathing, but most of them require 10 minutes and a quiet place to perform. This deep breathing technique, as developed by Harvard Medical School, takes only 1-3 minutes depending on how you react to the technique. It goes as follows: January 2018
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Stand and place your hands under your navel and feel your hands move up and down from your regular breathing, Breath in deeply and slowly for 3 seconds, Breath out forcefully for 3 seconds (these times can be longer or shorter depending on what you find comfortable), Continue the breathing for 1, 2 or 3 minutes with a 3-second pause between breaths.
The deep breathing allows for more oxygen to diffuse into your blood and thus giving more oxygen to the brain. In a sense, a full oxygen exchange gives the brain a chance to work with more resources. Since the brain already requires 3 times more oxygen compared to my muscles, I can conclude that I will perform better. This explains how to achieve the focus necessary to get into the flow, but the ease and relaxation of the flow state are provided by de-elevation of stress. Stress levels lower through using this breathing technique as well since there is more oxygen in the blood than usual so the heart pumps more efficiently. Fun Fact: US Navy Seals and Snipers say their accuracy improves by 200%-250% when using warrior breathing technique. Now you are not expected to function under high-stress situations like covert operations, but deep breathing will definitely benefit you in stressful situations like an exam or a presentation. I found that the effects are immediately noticeable, but it’s only a short burst which means you might need to do it multiple times if you happen to get out of the flow easily. Also if you do the hack in public you might get some weird looks from others since it is quite a sight to behold. Nevertheless, it is a type of quick meditation for any situation.
A way of life
3. High Consequence hack This last hack is for the real procrastinators among us. The high consequence hack is to tell others what you are going to do and also give them the authority to check if you actually did it. This increases the stakes to complete a task and thus places your mind in a check-mate position so that it has no choice but to work efficiently. This forced flow might not be as relaxing as the other hacks, but it is a surefire way to become immensely productive in limited time situations. This hack is linked to the human psyche and is considered a social trigger by inflating the consequences of an incomplete task with social ramifications like embarrassment. For this hack to work best, pick a handful of people to act as people to check you. Set the rules like when is it due and what the punishment for incompletion is and you are off to the races! My experience with this hack was very unpleasant because I had picked my brother as the authority and finishing my master applications before Christmas as the task with the consequence of doing 100 sit-ups, 100 push-ups, and 100 Burpees for three consecutive days. I did finish in time, but the entire time of writing my applications I was in fear of not finishing in time which really took all the fun out of the experience. Also, I am not a procrastinator so I was not used to this kind of extra stress. Nevertheless, I did get into the flow and got the job done which means it is effective. So there it is, 3 hacks to reach the flow state when working on tasks. Research in the field of flow is growing, so be sure to check it out as there are many other methods that I could not try out just now. Let me know if these worked for you! Finally, a disclaimer that apparently getting into the flow is highly addictive so please use responsibly. 18
Intermania
That’s the Way to Play! Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious. Sounds quite deliberating, doesn’t it? However, pursuing reckless behavior may lead to serious problems and life won’t be much fun either that way. One of the reasons why the careless whisperer inside of you won’t hold for long is society. Whether it is about education, work or complying to the rules, the human social structure has its subtle and clear demands. Another seemingly freedom facilitating statement is “YOLO”. While it is used to justify risky or unthoughtful actions, reasoning could also go the other way around: because You Only Live Once, you should rather think more seriously what to do with the only life you have (cats excluded). However, play does apply broadly in the ‘serious world’ without social side effects. The power of play resides in the aspect of allowed experimentation in a context similar to a real-life counterpart, but partly unknown and therefore interesting. Because trial-and-error provides a feedback loop in a safe but intriguing environment, one is able to learn through enjoyment and excitement. If clear goals come into play, it’s a game. Since goals are omnipresent and games are intuitively fun, an innovative concept has arisen: gamification. It is distinct from actual games by the practice of applying game-like mechanisms in a non-game context. This basically says: making everything fun that isn’t fun yet. Imagine being as engaged in studying calculus as in watching a tv-series. Unfortunately, realizing both fun and functionality is easier said than done. If you ever started with Codecademy, but haven’t finished a course, that’s your own empirical evidence of non-optimal gamification. Many caveats and even destructive side effects exist that you wouldn’t expect of making things fun and playful. Therefore, the need of research is crucial. During my graduation project, I will attempt to contribute to this lack of scientific knowledge and hopefully make life a little less serious, but still letting it live up to the demands of society. The best of, and the best for both worlds. I take my graduation project itself quite serious though; You Only Live Once after all. January 2018
Column Hub
“Imagine being as engaged in studying calculus as in watching a tvseries” –Hub
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More Beer, More Better? Feeling regret in the morning after a night of too much drinking: a story that must resonate for a lot of you. Timo dives into his own experiences, of having a few (too many) beers. Remember, drink met (Inter)mate(n). Text: Timo van Helvoort, morning-after expert
A Way of life
Alcohol; the number one reason ambitious student careers go to die. Pretty much every student becomes a victim of beer, wine, shots, or another ethanol-containing drink, at least once in their university lifetime. Especially because pretty much every student is a member of a student association that has a weekly drink. Failing an exam, group pressure or just wanting to get wasted all frequently heard and obviously valid reasons to have a few glasses of alcohol-containing-goodness. I have the feeling that, especially in Brabant, there is some sort of general idea that you need alcohol to have fun. For me, there are two sides to this story. The first being that I have to admit that I am able to have a good time without drinking. On the other hand, with a beer in my left hand (drinken links, stemmen rechts) everything does go way easier. Thinking less about your stressful student life, getting more self-confidence and just feeling happier overall is, as many claim, worth it.
“We arrive with a “chagrijnige bakkes” at the university on Friday”
Sadly, there will always be a ‘morning after’; the moments I always think and say: “Jongens, ik ga echt nooit meer drinken”. 20
Naturally, every time I say this, my friends respond by exploding in an exaggerated laughter. And while every Friday morning there are tons of students feeling terrible, the same mistakes are made every single week. This to the greatest pleasure of our loving friends, when we arrive with a “chagrijnige bakkes” at the university on Friday. One might wonder whether all these vomit containing adventures are healthy. Kidding; of course they aren’t. However, this unhealthiness does not seem to bother many students as Stratumseind is never empty. And while going to Stratum does not necessarily have to mean being hangover the following morning, we all know this happens, a lot. Next to a tragic morning after, there is also the night itself. Doing dumb things or seeing others do dumb stuff while being drunk is the crown jewel of every Thursday evening. Who doesn’t remember the moment he or she sent the classic drunk text, feeling like a complete idiot because of it the next day? I myself even remember getting hit in the eye because of my own drunk stupidity. One might again argue: is all of this worth it? Why just never drink again? This question probably crosses the mind of an average student at least once a week. But in the end, the “Brabantse gezelligheid” always beats the potential terrible morning after. While joking around the other day, someone pushed me into doing an alcohol addiction test. I eventually did Intermania
Theme: A Way of Life complete it, thinking something along the lines of “How bad can it be?”. Some people sitting next to me talked about alcohol addiction tests containing the question: “Are you a student?”. They claimed this would make the result of the test lower, since apparently it is okay for students to drink fives glasses of beer every day. Unfortunately, this question was no longer there so this
“Hopefully my adultness will increase with age.” would probably mean a more depressing score. The result scheme of the test was as follows: “The extent to which you are at risk is 0 to 7: low, 8 to 15: medium, 16 to 19: high, or 20 to 40: very high.” My score being 23 did not feel that bad, since it is just above 20. However, after comparing it to my friends' scores,
January 2018
something painful became true; their lives are way less fun. With great pity, I saw even some real “Brabanders” getting scores in the “low” category - absolutely terrible. Obviously, I urged them to start drinking like a real student, which they countered by calling me an idiot. However, this potential truth will not stop me from making my buddies just as “gezellig” as me. For the internationals among us, there is no English word for “gezellig” as it is more of a feeling only known by real “Brabanders”. With alcohol being such an intrinsic value of “gezelligheid” and with “gezelligheid” being amazingly important in student culture, today’s conclusion is: student drinking habits are not likely to change in the near future, and so aren’t mine. I do believe it will get less over the years for my situation as hopefully my adultness will increase with age. Don’t quote me on this one.
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What if...
What if the Entire World People become vegetarians for a variety of reasons. Some do it to alleviate animal suffering, others because it is better for the environment. What exactly are the consequences of the meat industry and what would happen if everyone became a vegetarian? Text & Graphics: Marit Loonen, editorial staff
In total, around 33 million km2 of land is used as pasture, which is around the size of Africa.
Around 5% of the Dutch population is vegetarian.
This area excludes all the land used to grow food for livestock. When managed properly, this land could return to being forest, which can reduce CO2.
Currently, there are around 23.5 billion livestock animals.
15 %
Loss of forest and livestock production (methane production) are responsible for around 15% of greenhouse gases. This is more than all planes, trains and autmobiles together.
Sources:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANUoAdXfA60 Intermania
went Vegetarian?
70% of fresh water is used for agriculture
Theme: A Way of Life
Food:
Amount of water needed to ‘create’ 1 kg of certain food
Beef
15,000 L
Pork
6,000 L
Chicken
4,000 L
Fruit
1,600 L
Vegetables
900 L
Cereal Crops
300 L
Of course, 1 kg of meat contains more calories than 1 kg of non-meat. However, even compared to the calorie/water ratio, beef needs 5x more water than fruit, 7x more water than vegetables, and 20x more water than cereal crops.
So, if everyone would become a vegetarian, less water would be needed to produce our food, there would be less greenhouse gases and some land could be returned to being forest. These are all big advantages for the environment and of couse a reduction of animal suffering. However, there are also some other things to keep in mind: Raising and processing animals is a full time job for around 1 billion people Because way less animals would be ‘used’, around the world. Even if animal products, such as leather and fats, some of them could make would become very expensive. the switch to other sorts of farming, many would go jobless.
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Not all land that is won back from not having to have pasture would go back to being forest. There would also be land needed to grow soy and other food (e.g. vegetables) for human consumption.
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How to Be Active! As some people would rather be lazy than tired, it might be useful for them to get some tips and tricks on how to start 2018 with a sporty lifestyle. Joost Sanderink was kind enough to provide these tricks. Text: Joost Sanderink, InterT.E.A.M. member
Everyone does it: tearing open a bag of crisps, while in your sweatpants on the couch watching Netflix. Ideal life right? Most people find that it’s simple to choose the easy option to stay comfortable and warm in your house. However, not everyone agrees. Being active outside is ‘comfortable’ for some enthusiasts! How do you get off that couch? How to get active and healthy? Let’s find out!
drinking water, or hang at a height of 1500m by one finger; be our guest. InterT.E.A.M. likes challenges, but even for us this is a step too far. Do we have tips to get your ass off the couch and go exercising? Yes, we do! The first tip would be to try out a lot of different sports. Many try-outs and small clinics are organized by the students sports center (SSCE). There
“If you want to run a marathon through the Namibian desert without drinking water, be our guest” – Joost
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Meet Wim Hof, better known as the iceman. He has several world records on his name that are all related to extreme cold weather experiences. He is convinced that the human body is able to do supernatural things. The ice-man says that everyone should be able to do what he can too, as long as they have the right mindset. Of course, this is an extreme version of being active. If you want to run a marathon through the Namibian desert without
Image: Wim Hoff, a.k.a. “the ice-man”
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is a sport for everyone! What do you think of underwater hockey? Or maybe golf? What about diving? Try out all of these sports and you will find the one that suits you best. It is also motivating to track your progress. Simply in your head or with an app on your phone, like Strava. Step counters help as well! The last tip we want to give you is to do sports with the right people! These people will challenge you to take that extra step! Of course, everyone needs that evening on the couch. However, being active and productive is something we all pursue, right? So, after finishing reading this article, go and find your sport by trying out several sports with different people. Sooner or later, you will find the perfect combination that will lead to a healthier lifestyle. A good way to start is to attend InterT.E.A.M. activities. With lots of cool Intermate people, trying out different sports is the best recipe to go get that active life style that makes lying on the couch even more relaxing and comfortable! Intermania
Don’t Stop Believing Text: Manon van Hastenberg, editorial staff & questioning faith
Critical articles bashing religion and highlighting all that is wrong with its traditions are the only “religious” texts most of us read nowadays. One headline that caught my attention a while ago was “The US Supreme Court divided over gay wedding cake.” Besides not scoring any points for Christianity, this article shows how intellectual the discussion on religion has become. All that we seem to be able to do is joke about how all people associated with the church molest little boys. And don’t get me wrong, these are very serious issues, but I think there must be more interesting things to discuss about religion itself. My grandma was strongly Catholic and prayed for her soul to go to heaven before she passed away. Instances like this heighten my curiosity to why people believe in our current sceptic society. What I am most interested in is what drives the current trend of nonbelieving. Especially since religion has been a driving force for most of our existence on earth, one might wonder what effects nonbelieving might have.
“A “superhuman controlling all” does not comfort me” For the layman reading this article (bonus points because layman actually means a non-ordained male member of church), religion is defined as “the belief in and January 2018
Theme: A Way of Life
worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods”. If I am being completely honest, the thought of a “superhuman controlling all” does not comfort me in the slightest. However, I can imagine that believing in something so
“Stopping to believe can be qualified as either good or bad.” strongly can be a huge source of strength that might get you through hard times. Still, I think I am too down-to-earth to be able to believe in someone or something controlling us completely and thus essentially me not having any power over my own life. This is where the concept of spirituality comes in. Spirituality means something different to everyone; either participating in organized religion or getting in touch with your spiritual side in a more personal manner. The latter can take many different forms, such as private prayer, yoga, meditation, quiet reflection, or even long walks. Based on this definition, new religious movements have been formed over the last decades, in contrast to the traditional religions we know. What I am trying to understand through this article is whether stopping to believe can be qualified as either good or bad, and what it is that drives new religions to be formed.
Why did we stop believing? There were over 1.1 billion non-believers in 2010, and that number is expected to reach 1.2 billion in 2020. It is true that Christianity has seen a rise in followers over the past years, but in Europe - the religion’s former 25
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en Theme: A Way of Life stories are unbelievable or unrelatable to their daily lives. However, many young people actually want to believe in a God, because it comes with the promise of another beautiful life after this one, which means certainty that everything in this life is worth it eventually. Secondly, the fact that traditional religions usually have specific ideas - like disapproving gay marriage - does not help in convincing modern-thinking millennials to join. They like the core ideas behind a religion; love, acceptance, community, etc., but they want to pursue these values in other ways. Thirdly, we are living in a time where literally everything is being questioned. We are becoming more and more critical of everything around us, including religion. The question “Why would God punish us if he loves us?” is one that is Protestant churches and over 1,000 Catholic often posed. Nonchurches to close in the believers simply do next few years. A third not believe that God of young Americans is present to burden say they don’t belong “Many millennials feel us with his wrath. to any religion, and Lastly, and related this is typical for that religious stories are to us questioning millennials all around everything in life, the world. I could give simply unbelievable” comes the burden you an endless list of of scientific proof numbers, but they all against traditional show the same thing; religion (evolution = fake news?). We are fewer and fewer people - and especially young relying increasingly on science to give us people - consider themselves to be religious. the facts, which is why refuting religious The most important thing to ask ourselves statements causes people to believe is; why do we see this trend of declining interest in the traditional religions? Many less and less. millennials feel that religious stories are simply Recap: fewer and fewer people - especially unbelievable, which causes them to lose faith. millennials - are religious because they It is not that they don’t want to believe, they think the religious mindset is outdated. simply cannot relate to biblical stories like They don’t believe God is out to get us, and Abraham sacrificing his son. So, the first science has refuted much of what religions reason people stop believing is that religious have tried to imprint in their followers.
a way of life
hotbed - it still is in decline. Take our small but modern-thinking country; this year, nearly 70% of the Dutch reported to not be affiliated with any religion. This trend, resulting in low attendance, will cause approximately 700
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“Love thy brothers and spread some love” Intermania
Theme: A Way of Life
Consequences of non-believing Now that we know why the amount of non-believers is rising, one might wonder what the consequences of not being part of a religion might be. It might seem like a logical conclusion to say being a non-believer implies having a different mindset. However, one should realize that this means having a different opinion on death and perhaps even voting in a different way. Non-believers have a heightened sense of the now, seeing that a big part of them does not believe in an afterlife. They believe that when they die, they seize to exist, which implies they should make most of their life on earth since it is their only one. For people who believe they go to heaven after they die, this “carpe diem” outlook on life might be a bit different. After all, they believe that there is something after death, and thus life is not over when they die. Still, non-believers do carry the burden of fearing death, especially when loved ones die. They cannot comfort themselves by saying “Now they are looking down upon us” or other platitudes. In January 2018
contrast, some atheists claim that a fear of death is inextricably tied to a belief in higher powers. These people feel more free while non-believing; nothing will happen to them when they die, because there will not be anyone left for anything to happen to.
“...make most of their life on earth, since it is their only one.” Additionally, political leanings are heavily influenced by religion. This is something that is used especially in the USA, where both parties know exactly which religious groups to target. More people identifying as non-believers has multiple consequences for elections. Firstly, political parties will have more difficulty in categorizing people into groups and determining which groups might vote for them. Secondly, there is a clear shift 27
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en Theme: A Way of Life in preference. Strict Christian churches see a 35-70% preference for the Republican Party (depending on exactly which church), while agnostics and atheists only have a 15-21% preference for this party. Recap: there are several consequences of being a non-believer, including a different outlook on life and death and an altered political preference. We saw that there are several consequences
New directions
from traditional religion” considered alternatives to the mainstream religions of Western society. Furthermore, they are often founded by a charismatic and authoritarian leader who is thought to have extraordinary insights. Otherwise no one would actually join the alternative. A surprising characteristic of NRM’s is that they are tightly organized; they have to fight against their outsider status and thus often make great demands on the commitment of their followers. In short, these replacements are responses to modernity, pluralism, and the scientific worldview. Based on all of this, I think we will continue to see the trend of people shifting away from traditional religion. However, because we are just human we might need something to believe in to get us through the day. Perhaps even these new movements are not for everyone, but we should all appreciate the core values that both traditional religions and new movements teach us; love thy brothers and spread some love.
A way of life
on being non-religious, but I also mentioned the growing importance of spirituality in the introduction. Apparently, people do find replacements for the traditional religions. This need for replacements comes from the need of humans to ask the big questions. Research shows that even skeptics cannot stifle the sense that there is something beyond what we can see. New religious movements (NRM’s) - religious, ethical, and spiritual groups, communities and practices of modern origins - play into this sense of something greater and the need to have the big questions of life answered. All of these groups share a few traits; they offer innovative religious responses to the current world, but they still consider themselves rooted in ancient traditions. They are countercultural in the sense that they are
“We [are] shifting away
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Intermania
De Derde Leeftijd De redactie van de Intermania formuleerde, zoals elke keer, een thema voor deze editie: Levenswijzes. Aanvankelijk was dit thema een beetje verwarrend, maar door hun duiding kon ik toch een onderwerp kiezen. Ze noemden namelijk ‘levenscycli’. Ik dacht, laat ik ‘m persoonlijk maken en daar kon ik natuurlijk wel iets mee. Ik heb al verschillende levenscycli meegemaakt en sta op de drempel van weer een nieuwe: ‘De derde leeftijd’ zoals de Spanjaarden dat noemen. Zoiets als vrije tijd tot aan de dood. De eerste is tot aan de volwassenheid, zeg grofweg tot je 25e, de tweede tot grofweg je AOW leeftijd. En mijn derde klopt, als gezegd, aan de deur. Hoewel er over de eerste twee veel te vertellen is, is de mij toegemeten ruimte hiervoor volstrekt onvoldoende. Ik beperk me daarom tot de fase die nu aanbreekt én waar ik natuurlijk helemaal niets over kan zeggen gebaseerd op ervaring, want die heb ik niet. Nou ja, een heel klein beetje. Het begin van het tweede kwartiel markeert mijn afscheid van het reguliere onderwijsgeven. Dat begon ergens in 1978 op de sociale academie in Den Bosch met een paar lessen over arbeidsongeschiktheid en werkloosheid vanuit juridisch perspectief en eindigde half november 2017 met het inleveren van mijn getekende puntenlijst voor 0ZK00 bij het Onderwijsbureau. En toen gebeurde er iets wat als een totale verrassing kwam voor mij: er viel een enorme last van me af. Ik voelde me lichter, letterlijk en figuurlijk. Gezien onderwijsgeven mij nooit zwaar gevallen is, lijkt die afgevallen last daarmee in tegenspraak. Dus moet ik voor de tweede keer dat woord gebruiken; het voelt nogal verwarrend. Toch kijk ik ook uit naar de komende tijd, waarin ik meer tijd zal hebben om me druk te maken over de sleepwet en andere zaken. Meer tijd om de onderhuidse (en maatschappij ondermijnende) en voortkruipende macht van slechts een paar datarovers te bestrijden. Meer tijd om me zorgen te maken over hoe we via de Apple watch (fitbit) ons lichaam ‘verhuren’, via de iCloud (skydrive) onze data niet meer zelf onder controle hebben, via Nest (Toon en aanverwanten) ons huis door een ander laten regelen, en - het meest bizarre - dat we hebben toegestaan dat we onze e-mail (Gmail) en berichten (Messenger) laten opslurpen. Meer tijd om de privatisering van de openbare ruimte (via allerlei sensoren en onze eigen mobiele telefoon) te stoppen. Ik hoop dat mijn derde leeftijd nog even duurt. Maar ook dat velen van jullie het stokje van mij zullen overnemen. January 2018
Column Jan
“Ik heb al verschillende levenscycli meegemaakt en sta op de drempel van weer een nieuwe” –Jan Smits
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Cartoon Isabel Blijenburg
No ‘Weight’ to Live
Theme: A Way of Life
You can’t open a magazine or Facebook timeline, without bumping into ‘experts’ claiming to have found the best diet for you to finally lose those pounds. In order to create clarity in the never-ending world of diets, Pam did some thorough research. Text: Pam Philippens, editorial staff
I was inspired by a Youtube account called ‘Dit gebeurt er als’ (Dutch for ‘This happens when...’). Marijke is a young woman who works for Woman’s health magazine and enjoys challenging herself. Many of these challenges happen to concern foods and diets. This varies from ‘This happens when you only eat Pringles for a day’ to ‘This happens when you eat 7500 calories on one day’. However, some challenges are less shocking and unhealthy. She has also tried several diets, so far. Such as the Paleo and Keto diet. Source: http://www.youtube.com/ditgebeurterals
You proudly post a picture of your homecooked veggie pasta on Instagram, including #fitgirl, of course. Now, all your followers are able to see how much you care about your body and health. Suddenly, someone starts commenting on your posts: ‘Do you know how many carbs are in spaghetti??’, ‘You should have used coconut oil, instead of olive oil!’, ‘That canned tomato sauce is full of added sugars!’. I have not necessarily experienced the latter myself, but I do have the feeling that all food is labeled ‘unhealthy’, these days. If we had to believe everything we read, we should be banning gluten, sugars, carbs and fats out of our nutrition completely. Even though I am skeptical about many diets, I am highly interested in them. So, I decided to dive in and learn about the existing types of diets and why they are claimed to be beneficial for either your health or weight-loss. I chose three popular diets to explain to you.
Paleo diet
Concept? The philosophy behind this diet is ‘living like our ancestors’. Thousands of years ago, people did not eat any unnatural food, since this was obviously not available. Over the years, our food has become more and more processed. What can(’t) you eat? Basically anything that is not bought in a can, jar or box can be eaten. Meaning nothing that was processed before ending up in the supermarket. So, (raw) meat/fish, vegetables, fruits and nuts will cover the largest part of your meals. Why? The idea of Paleo is that our bodies are not ‘made’ for processed food and that natural nutrition will, therefore, benefit your health. Also, it should be easy to stick to this diet, since you will not be counting any calories.
“I have the feeling that all food is labeled ‘unhealthy’, these days”
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Ketogenic diet
Concept? During this diet, your body reaches a metabolic state called ‘ketosis’. This implies that your body is switched to a fuel supply of fats, instead of glucose. This is due to the fact that you eat as few carbs and proteins as possible and a lot of fat.
“Over the years, our food has become more and more processed”
What can(’t) you eat? Ideally, you eat less than 100 grams of carbohydrates a day. Food that contains (a lot of) sugar should be avoided, such as fruit, potatoes, rice and bread. You should get 70% of your energy from fat.
Concept? This diet focuses on lowcarbohydrate eating. It is claimed to be a lifestyle, rather than a diet for a (short) period of time. It is spread over four phases.
What can(’t) you eat? In the first phase, weight loss is the main priority, by eating only 20 grams of carbohydrates per day. The next phase focuses on less rapid weight loss. Now, 25 grams of carb’s should be eaten and this number should be increased every week by 5 grams. Phase three takes place when your target weight is almost reached. You keep increasing the amount of carbohydrates until you stop losing weight. This nutrition plan should be part of your lifestyle, in phase four. Why? You will use protein and fat as your primary energy source, during this diet. Since you will mostly be banning fast carbohydrates out of your nutrition, your body will experience less sudden changes in your blood sugar.
A way of life
Why? By using fat as the main energy source, it is more ‘accessible’ and therefore easier to burn off. Also, you should be less hungry and have a steadier supply of energy while following this diet.
Atkins diet
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Intermania
According to Arjan
A Martial Art or a Way of Life?
In the sports centre in Eindhoven, one can practice 70 sports. Some are widely practiced, like soccer or hockey. Others are slightly more rare, like golf or rugby. ‘My’ sports are judo and taekwondo, which I also practice in the ESSC. Judo and Taekwondo are martial arts, as the goal is to (learn how to) ‘fight’. Text: Arjan Derks, Sustainable Innovation student
Judo literally means ‘the soft way’, since it focuses on bringing your opponent out of balance and on his back from a standing position, with control, speed and force. There are no punches involved and you learn how to fall well before you get thrown, so you don’t hurt yourself when landing. If a landing is not fully on your back, but on the side, a match continues on the ground, until one of the two manages to get the other into submission. Matches do not last very long, but they are very intensive. Taekwondo means ‘the way of foot and fist’, as it focuses on kicks and punches, though more on kicks. Sparring matches are about placing a decent kick on someone’s chest or head, scoring you points, or knocking the other out in a physical sense (from a certain age) or in a technical sense, as your opponent cannot fight anymore. Same as judo, matches do not last very long, but are really tiring.
“ ‘My’ sports are judo and taekwondo...” An important aspect, as evidenced from the sparring matches, is of course fighting. This is also done regularly during training. But the paradox is that the fighting teaches you to respect others more. The fighting is done for fun and relaxation and it can only be fun if you do not stand with the intent to hurt January 2018
“There are values behind it, like mutual respect; integrity in your actions; perseverance and self-control.” your opponent. If you accidentally hurt your opponent too badly, you will apologise and make up with him or her. This is the way in which you are trained. This ‘way’ is translated as ‘do’ in Korean or Japanese. The ‘do’ is not only an example of how the fights are, but also a bit more philosophical. And yes, there is a philosophy behind the sports. There are values behind it, like mutual respect, integrity in your actions, perseverance and self-control. In the dojo/ training hall these are shown by bowing to your opponents, trainer and to the hall, being honest around each other, keeping up your habit of training and keeping your actions in balance with your training partner. It means that you give everyone a chance to practice and learn. In judo, the more experienced judokas do not go all-out with beginners during trainings. In taekwondo, the tenet is that the higher belts do not kick you in half whenever they see an opening. This shows, again, that everyone respects each other. 33
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According to Arjan
“You live to be the same person inside and outside the dojo, making ‘your’ martial art into ‘your’ way of life.”
A way of life
However, the values do not stop at the door of the dojo. They are also widely applicable in the outside world. Mutual respect for one another is something that is not only a requirement in the dojo, but it also pays off outside. You get what you give, and, if what you give is respect, it leads to two people that will be nice to one another, making the world a happier place in the process. Perseverance means, and I like to showcase that, whatever you do, you do with all vigour possible. You do not give up easily on a goal you have and you go 100% for anything you do. Self-control means that you will not apply the techniques in anger and will not use them to harm others. It also means that you breath in, count to ten and breath out whenever someone is making you angry, and then try to continue on a mutual agreement afterwards. Integrity means you say what you do and you do what you say. It requires some courage
Image: Judo
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and some wisdom, but primarily a good dose of backbone. It literally means that you live to be the same person inside and outside the dojo, making ‘your’ martial art into ‘your’ way of life. You live the values of taekwondo, you live the values of judo and you stand to humbly take pride in the fact that you do so. In judo and taekwondo, you have to learn your techniques and build your confidence yourself. It is not someone else that can learn the techniques for you, no one else will come and fight for you. You have to do it yourself. It means taking some hits, it means lying on your back, it means getting all your breath knocked out of you if something goes wrong. But it will boost your confidence. It will teach you resilience. It will give you many new friends and many great moments, great evenings of training, or evenings of party. And most of all, a martial art will be a door to a new way of life.
Image: Taekwondo Intermania
Het nieuwe leven Het werkende leven gaat beginnen. Dat betekent ook dat dit mijn laatste column voor de Intermania is. Nu was ik in eerste instantie van plan om gewoon niets te schrijven, maar een kort en krachtige ‘Doei’ voor jullie neer te planten. Vooral omdat ik geen zin had in een column vol dankwoorden en andere clichés. Toch ga ik dit nu wel doen, mede omdat ik het schrijven van columns voor de Intermania toch zal gaan missen, net zoals vele andere zaken die bij het studentenleven horen. Wanneer ik denk aan werken, denk ik vooral aan hetgene dat ik waarschijnlijk het meeste zal gaan missen: uitslapen. En dan niet tot 12 uur ’s middags in je bed liggen, maar gewoon pas uit je bed komen wanneer je wakker wordt. De uitslaapmomenten zijn vanaf dan niet meer puur bedoeld voor heerlijk relaxen, maar meer als praktisch oplaadmoment om de werkweken weer door te kunnen komen. Nu, tijdens de laatste dag van mijn ‘vakantie’, besluipt mij wel een benauwd gevoel. Nachten heb ik al wakker gelegen over irrelevante zaken zoals wat ik aan zal doen. Daarnaast zijn de nachtmerries waarin ik me op mijn eerste werkdag verslaap ook al niet meer op één hand te tellen. Wat dat betreft is het afstudeerleventje wel fijn; geen afspraken is geen risico om me te verslapen! Maar, ik heb er ook wel zin in. Een nieuwe omgeving, nieuwe mensen, nieuwe projecten en geen stoffig IPO 0.31 meer. Hoewel ik het uitzicht vanuit het afstudeerhok op de wandplaten van het IPO ga missen, ben ik ook wel benieuwd of ik nu wel zonnestralen zal kunnen absorberen van achter m’n bureau. Misschien helpt de extra vitamine D om mijn wallen van het tekort aan slaap te maskeren. Bedankt Intermate en Intermania dat ik atlijd mijn frustraties met jullie kon delen. Ik ga nu nog even een dutje doen om mezelf op te laden voor mijn nieuwe leven. January 2018
Column Britte
“De nachtmerries waarin ik me op mijn eerste werkdag verslaap zijn al niet meer op één hand te tellen” –Britte
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Living in the Netherlands
Trying and Failing to Dutch In the series ‘Binnenlander’, we ask foreign students of Intermate to share their thoughts on and/or struggles with the Dutch culture and way of living. For this edition, Tjalling elaborated on his move from Ecuador to The Netherlands. Text: Tjalling Nobels, Dutch-Ecuadorian Sustainable Innovation student
I think some people already know me, but for those who don’t, I’ll introduce myself. I was born 19 years ago in the savage South American country Ecuador, where you learn to survive or die. I lived in the capital of Ecuador, Quito, for 17 years and strangely I went to a French school. However, that is not even the weirdest part of my background. My father is actually from Rotterdam. Now, with time and patience, he has become more Ecuadorian than anyone else. I was asked to write about my “experience as an international student in the Netherlands”, so I decided to tell you a little bit about my journey in the last one and a half years. Once upon a time, a small Ecuadorian boy came to the Netherlands to start a new life: a student life. When he first arrived, he immediately noticed people looked like him and everyone would confuse him for one more ‘Dutchie’. However, he was different inside and he knew it. From his first day, he decided to merge as much as
“His goal to merge with the culture was bigger than his confusion...” possible with the culture and to discover his truthful Dutch roots. The funny Latin quickly discovered he would have to become part of an association to fulfill his goal 36
“The poor, warmblooded Ecuadorian began to miss the Latin drama, the gossip, the friendliness and the unplanned life that he used to have. ” and so he did. He became part of Theta, one of the most Dutch associations in Eindhoven. The first month in Theta, the little student was constantly confused by the language, the culture and the parties. Somehow, his goal to merge with the culture was bigger than his confusion, which made him stay. Immediately, he began to understand more about the culture and the social dynamics of human interactions. He loved the fact that Dutch students were so relaxed, but at the same time organized. Also, he was intrigued by how this opposite combination somehow worked. So, basically, he was going through an illusionary phase. The time went by slowly and his view of the natives now started to become more cold and distant. The poor, warm-blooded Ecuadorian began to miss the Latin drama, the gossip, the friendliness and the unplanned life Intermania
Living in the Netherlands
“He stopped partying the Dutch way, which is mainly dancing between men (really gay) and drinking tons of beer (really retarded).� that he used to have. He became angry with the country. When things reached the bottom, he realized it was not the culture, but it was him. In other words, he understood that he did not need to fit completely, he only needed to have fun. Immediately after, he dropped many Dutch habits from his life, but he kept what he liked. He stopped partying the Dutch way, which is mainly dancing between men (really gay) and drinking tons of beer (really retarded). He stopped eating bread twice a day (really sad) and planning everything in life (really boring). Nevertheless, he integrated some Dutch habits, such as a more steady emotional state and a more individual and independent way of thinking.
January 2018
The international student went from an illusionary idea of becoming Dutch to a cultural frustration. In his journey, he was able to discover himself and understood that it is not about the people or the society, but it is about your attitude towards it. Today, I acknowledge that the most important thing is to be open-minded and try to experience the language, the cultural habits, the food, the student life and the associations such as Intermate, because it is fun and you learn a lot from that. Right now, I do not push myself to follow all the cultural practices, but I only reflect on them and integrate the ones I like. At the end of the day, how do you know if you were born in the right place?
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Culture Calender
Culture or Carnaval? Both!
For this edition, Anoek again discovered new and interesting things to do around Eindhoven. Check out all these cool culture activities! Februray will be an inspiring cultural month: CARNAVAL! I’m peronally not a real fan, but in Eindhoven there is no way around it so you’d better just go with the flow, sing, drink, dance etc. Now that I have your attention... I would like to highlight our very own Van Abbemuseum, with a cool collection of which we can be proud! A real Eindhovenaar sure visits once a year! 27 Jan - PopEI Winterfest: New music festival €12.50 Everything
29 Jan - Zwarte Doos
1 Feb - Café Altstadt
Movie: Good Time €3.50*** Crime/Thriller
Mister and Mississippi €16.50 SynthPop
3 Feb - Effenaar
7 Feb - PopEI
9 Feb - Parktheater
Nachtcollege
PUURliedjes €15.50
Free!
Scapino Ballet: Scala €19.50/€12.50** Ballet
Techno&House
Singersongwriters
10 Feb - City Centre Carnaval: procession
11 Feb - StratumsEind Carnaval: stropdassentocht! €25.00 Pubcrawl (incl. 15 drinks)
14 Feb - Natlab
17 Feb - Parktheater Rundfunk: Wachstumsschmerzen* €19.50 Cabaret
18 Feb - Muziekgebouw NSO & Remy van Kesteren €5.00*** Classical music for students
Free! Dutch Must-see
15 Feb - Parktheater Cello8ctet Amsterdam €19.50/€12.50** Classical music with 8 celli
22 Feb - Effenaar Afterpartees €11.50 Pop/Rock
€8.00*** Portrait of Julian Assange
25 Nov - Muziekgebouw Gare du Nord: A decade of Sex ’n Jazz €24.50 Jazz
* Dutch-spoken, ** Last-minute price, *** Student price
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Movie: Risk
Text & Picks: Anoek de Jonge, culture enthusiast Intermania
Living with Lightlogs
Graduate
This edition’s graduate is Maaike Kompier, who is writing a master thesis on Lightlogs: the sensors that are popular among researchers in the Human-Technology Interaction field. Here is an insight on Maaike’s graduation project. Text: Maaike Kompier, student Human-Technology Interaction
That we are greatly influenced by the environment in which we live is probably no news for any of you. It should also be no news that one of these environmental factors is light. As you know, light is not only relevant for our visual performance but also impacts our mental wellbeing. Research in the field has shown that bright light affects feelings of vitality, mood, social interaction, job satisfaction and organizational commitment amongst others (Aan het Rot, Moskowitz, & Young, 2008; An, Colarelli, Brien, & Boyajian, 2016; Smolders, De Kort, & Van den Berg, 2013). Whereas visual performance is immediately affected by the photopic illuminance and the colour temperature of the current lighting situation, physiological and photobiological effects are affected by other aspects of light (Lucas et al., 2014). These non-image forming (NIF) effects of light are attributed to activation of retinal ganglion cells that are directly sensitive to bright light and light exposure of shorter wavelengths (~480nm). Daylight, being full-spectrum and bright, could therefore contribute to the emergence of these beneficial effects. Decisions about the building envelope, material properties, furniture, furnishing, but also orientation of the building can influence the spectrum, quantity and directionality of the daylight that reaches the occupants’ eyes (Khademagha, Aries, osemann, & van Loenen, 2016). When making decisions considering these design parameters, the effects on daylight on our state need to be kept in mind as changing them later is often hard. January 2018
Beute (2018) reported improved affective states and decreased levels of stress in daylight-rich environments. However, in this field study, daylight was measured through self-report and thus no conclusion could be drawn on whether the effects were driven by the amount and spectrum of light, or the mere presence of daylight. In order to be able to draw a conclusion on this matter, it is important to quantify the light properly. To accomplish this in the field, often personal photosensitive dosimeters are used. However, accurate measurement of light remains challenging with such devices, as concluded by Aarts, van Duijnhoven, Aries, & Rosemann (2017) after they evaluated a set of personal dosimeters and found widely varying accuracies.
“Did you ever think of what the lightlog actually measures?” This is also true for the Lightlog, which most of you probably know and maybe even used sometime, when participating in a study from the HTI group about your well-being. These wonderful devices are perfect for field experiments, as they are convenient to wear, store data locally and have a decent battery life. However, did you ever think of what the device actually measures? Well, it measures light, that’s true. However, if you open the plastic cover, you will find a color sensor 39
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Graduate
chip that measures R, G, B, and C values. By calibration with a spectrophotometer, up to now only photopic illuminance levels were calculated. But wait, photopic illuminance is the light, corrected for the sensitivity of the eye and not the sensitivity of the ipRGBCs that are responsible for these NIF effects of light. So, were we relating the fact that there is a correlation between an increase in ice cream sales and people drowning, and then we concluded that ice cream sales cause people to drown?! With my research, I aim to develop a method through which technical aspects of light, which are related to affective states of people, can be measured adequately in the field with the readily available Lightlogs. I will test this method in a few weeks in a validation study, which will, at the same time, be a pilot study for a student from Utrecht University also doing her graduation project. She examines the effects of daylight on stress levels of the nurses working in the operation theatres. For this, we are looking at the practical adaptations that are required when doing research in such a high-performance work environment. To measure a complicated 40
“Did we conclude that ice cream sales cause people two drown?!� concept like stress, it is relatively new but promising to use physiological data in combination with repeated self-report of experience sampling methods (Wilhelm & Grossman, 2010). Applying this in the context in which data connections are not self-evident, the environment needs to be sterile. However, risky, time-consuming surgical operations are not always known for their sterile aspects. Although my project is all about methodological issues, this second part is also very practical, which fits my interests perfectly. In this project, I think I can really show what I have learned over the past 5 years. However, my biggest reward in the end would be that this method is actually used within the HTI group to improve the quality of the studies that are done. Intermania
In ’t Midden
Puzzel
Puzzel: Colin de Bruin, redactie
Horizontaal 1. Route over grond van je buren 7. Stelt de rente vast in Europa 11. Oud Grieks dorp 12. Best verkochte stripreeks van Europa 15. Niehe of Opstelten 16. Stierenvechter 17. Wordt bereden door Shiva 19. Klinkerloze indianentent 20. E-mail protocol 22. Argon 23. Makkelijk, warm, loszittend kledingstuk 28. Werden sommigen koortsachtig van 29. Stuk chocola 30. Vleierij 36. Nee 38. Laat mensen in slaap vallen 40. Zorgen bij Vught voor vertraging 42. Zwart-wit koekje 43. Past na appel en voor tuin 44. Meisjesnaam Verticaal 1. Japans eiland 2. Leven dieren in 3. Dit toetje is rommelig erg lekker 4. Retweet 5. Edelroest 6. Is Barney ambassadeur van 7. Baskische versie van 14 verticaal 8. Munteenheid van Ghana 9. Br- 10. Niet meer 13. Bruinige tint 14. Ierse versie van 7 verticaal 18. Steeg in 2017 voor het eerst met 5000 punten 21. Bloem, vaak beschouwd als onkruid 24. Boom 25. Oudste zoon van Juda, tevens televisieserie 26. Helers 27. Draait de Japanse economie op 31. Rustplaats 32. Europese eilandbewoner 33. “Hé, _, meisje!” 34. Roept een zeeman 35. American Educational Research Journal 37. Pinautomaat onder druk 39. Alles is verbonden 41. Japanse vechtstok, ook wel meisjesnaam
January 2018
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Studying Abroad
Oh Canada! For her master Ariane went on an International Semester in Vancover. She talks about her experiences in Canada and everything the land has to offer. Here, you can read what she liked most about her time abroad. Text: Ariane Rombouts, master student Human-Technology Interaction
As I’m writing this story for the Intermania, I just handed in my final essay and finished my international semester here in Vancouver, Canada. After many essays, assignments, and even more reading, it’s time to enjoy my last month here! For my international exchange, I went to Canada to study at the Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. I did an exchange at the School of Interactive Arts and Technology, a cool mix between Human-Technology Interaction and Industrial Design. Grad students in this program have to follow some courses, but they will spend most of their time conducting research in their supervisor’s lab. I really liked this research based environment. As a grad student, you are both
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a student as well as a researcher. Research that is conducted here is mostly in the field of Human-Computer Interaction with research in, for example, large displays, immersive virtual reality, and perceived connectedness through communication technology. However, they also conduct research in, for example, how to use technology for the preservation of intangible cultural heritage, how to design technology for people with chronic pain, or how people interact with everyday objects embedded with so-called slow technology. Because there are so many different research areas, both students and professors come from a diverse background, which makes the people and environment within SIAT very interesting. The workload in SIAT is pretty high and although it is normally recommended to take two courses in one semester, I had to take three in order to get enough ECTs. So, that meant that I spend a lot of my time in the library. But that’s enough complaining for now. I had to study a lot, but I also had plenty of time for some fun stuff! The nature surrounding Vancouver is amazing, even after four months I still enjoy the views. Well, if it’s not raining. Okay, maybe I’ll do a little more complaining. We Dutch people should be used to a lot of rain, but Vancouver lives up to its nickname: Raincouver. You can’t really survive without an umbrella and since sewer systems aren’t really a thing here, you’ll have to buy a pair of rain boots if you don’t want to walk around with soaked shoes all day. Luckily, I arrived before the rainy season started and got to see some of the most Intermania
beautiful parts of British Columbia. Once you leave the last suburbs of Greater Vancouver, you’ll find yourself in the middle of vast nature, mountains and amazing views. Hiking is the best way to get the most spectacular sceneries, so that’s what I mostly did when I arrived here. Canada is the best place to take a dip in crystal-clear lakes or just to stroll through forests. After two weeks of sightseeing, whale watching and admiring the nature, it was time to start the thing I came here for: studying.
“Vancouver lives up to its nickname: Raincouver ” One of the first things you’ll notice, when you walk around in Vancouver, is the high amount of Asians that live there. Google tells me that Vancouver is ‘the most Asian town outside of Asia’ and Wikipedia says that 40.8 % of the population in Vancouver is Asian vs. 5 % indigenous peoples (it’s on the internet, so it must be true). Because of the great amount of Asian restaurants around here, it’s pretty easy to get to know the various Asian cuisines. Although I also tried some Canadian January 2018
specialties like poutine (fries with gravy and cheese) or root beer (pop a.k.a. soda), my favorite food was the extremely cheap sushi. Next to poutine and root beer, my Canadian experience also consisted of a hockey game (yes a hockey game, for Canadians it’s either hockey or field hockey). Although Canadians are usually very friendly people, all of that friendliness disappears when they enter the ice rink. I got to see two dislocated shoulders, one puck-smashed face, and a stick that got broken on the back of one of the opponents. Brutally entertaining. Other highlights of my exchange were Thanksgiving and Halloween. I celebrated my first Thanksgiving with my roommates with an improvised Thanksgiving dinner, consisting of chicken and pumpkin soup. Also, it was the first time for me celebrating Halloween, including costumes and trick-or-treating. And now, it’s almost time to celebrate Christmas in winter Canada! I still have a month left to explore Canada and the US before I have to go home to start my thesis. With sightseeing in Seattle and Vancouver with my parents, checking out the slopes of Mount Baker and driving around on Vancouver Island, I hope to make the most out of the last month of my exchange. And after, that I’ll see you guys around in Eindhoven! 43
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Klaagmuur
Tost- CNie Nieuw deze Intermania: de klaagmuur! De klaagmuur is een rubriek waarin iedereen mag klagen over wat hem/haar dwars zit. Wil jij even ergens over zeuren? Stuur het naar ons! Het probleem kunnen we (waarschijnlijk) niet voor je oplossen, maar je kunt wel even je hart luchten. Tekst: anoniempje95, zeurpiet
Lieve Intermania, De TostCie - een van de meest geliefde commissies onder Intermate leden. Toch blijkt deze commissie een heel donker verleden te hebben. Het ontstaan van de commissie kleurt de verdere invulling van het beleid binnen de TostCie: als een slechte grap. Het zit namelijk zo; de TostCie is tijdens de wissel-AV door het 31e bestuur der sv Intermate, Helios, voor een proefperiode ingehamerd om het toen-nieuwe 32e bestuur Adesse te pesten. Want laten we eerlijk wezen: hoe kansloos kan een Tosticommissie nu toch eigenlijk zijn? Nu weten we allemaal dat Helios zelf ook meer een slechte grap was, maar het is wel een beetje jammer dat ze de hele vereniging daar nog jaren mee moeten opzadelen! Je moet je naam maar ergens op willen plakken he… In het kader van de #MeToo spanningen blijft Intermate ook niet gespaard. Als er één commissie seksistisch is, dan is het de TostCie wel. Zelfs een ‘Croque Madame’ weigeren ze te voeren. Ja, ze mogen dan nu wel twee excuus-truus’en hebben laten infiltreren binnen hun bammetjes, maar de
regie blijft gevoerd worden door de commissie mannen. Écht een paradepaardje voor onze vereniging dus. Daarnaast is het maar de vraag of de commissie nog wel voldoet aan de voorwaarden waaronder ze zijn opgericht: de leden van Intermate voorzien van heerlijke, ambachtelijke tosti’s. En, precies zoals het veelal misbruikte woord ‘ambachtelijk’ suggereert, zijn de tosti’s in kwestie geëvolueerd naar massaproductie. Tijd is er niet meer om de grill fatsoenlijk zijn werk te laten doen - kwantiteit gaat duidelijk voor kwaliteit. Dit straalt ook uit naar de commissieleden zelf. In het begin van de commissie waren de ideeën voor tosti’s nog innovatief. Nu worden recepten alleen maar herhaald. Nee, van goede tosti’s maken heeft de commissie duidelijk geen kaas gegeten! Laat staan van boter, daar hebben ze ook nog nooit van gehoord! Kansloos. Laat het duidelijk zijn: wij hachelen nog liever zo’n verlepte Eurest kroket weg, dan zo’n half gare, zweterige kut-tosti. * Groetjes anoniempje95
Heb jij ook iets om over te klagen? Stuur je brief naar intermania@intermate.nl (+- 450 woorden) en wie weet sta je in de volgende editie van de klaagmuur! *Disclaimer:
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Het kan zeker geen kwaad om deze ‘brief’ met een flinke korrel zout te nemen. Intermania
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