Background
"We can help you to integrate"
Petra Meijer
Wednesday 19 March 2014
© Taco van der Eb

Giulia Pederzani (24, Maths, from Italy): “We’re the Committee of the International Student Network Leiden; we represent the international students here and help them to integrate with each other and with Dutch students by hosting introduction days, parties, dinners and cultural events.”

Vladimir Malaver (Archaeology, Colombia): “For example, we teamed up with Augustinus and organised a beer cantus.

“And our mentor programme gathers lots of new international students together in mentor groups, where they’ll find people to answer their questions and to meet up to explore the university buildings and the town.”

Christiana Demertzi (26, History, Greece): “In addition, ISN Leiden has various clubs, including a book club, a cookery club and a theatre club. We’re hoping to appeal to as many different people as we can.”

Andrea Cosic (23, Psychology, from Bosnia): “All sorts of people come here: exchange students, PhD students and expats with jobs come to our weekly Wednesday evenings in Einstein.”

Malaver: “Dutch people are welcome too, but they seem to have forgotten that Dutch students are also international students, which is a pity. We would be happier if more Dutch students came to our activities.”

Alexandra van Hoek (22, Political Science, half German, half Dutch): “Just drop in – no strings attached.

“We don’t charge membership fees and everyone is welcome. We don’t have a membership register – people come and go too much for that. After all, most people are only here for one or two semesters.”

Beatriz Sannuti de Carvalho (24, Political Science, Brazil): “However, we have a special member card: it costs four euros and gives you a discount on our activities and admittance to Einstein on Wednesday evenings.”

Cosic: “Because we don’t have a regular membership register, we can never be entirely certain of how many people will turn up. Nearly 1,100 people came to our biggest party at InCasa, which was pretty cool. Our most popular activity is the Cultural Festival.”

Van Hoek: “I really enjoyed the weekend on Ameland. It was extremely windy and I was driving a van with about sixty students supposedly following me on bikes to the holiday house. It was pitch black and I hadn’t a clue of where to go. We followed dirt tracks through mud and grass. By the time we found the house, there were only twenty cyclists left; we had lost the others on the way.”

Malaver: “Not everyone can ride a bike well – certainly not in those conditions. Well, it was a learning experience. But it was fun and everyone arrived home in one piece.”

Cosic: “Yeah, we always have fun together.”

Demertzi: “We like give the right example at parties by dressing up. We went as Disney characters at Halloween. We’ve also created our own superheroes and dressed up as them, and as Rainbow Piet at Sinterklaas.’

Sannuti de Carvalho: “We love to dance, Cuarenta Y Tres liqueur and cheesy songs like Wannabe by the Spice Girls.’

Malaver: “And we really love unhealthy snacks. Sometimes we try to live properly and bring fruit to eat, but it ends up rotting in the Plexus common room.”

By Petra Meijer