IBCoMagazine Issue 2 |2018 - 2019 |

IBCOM

CONTENTS

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6

Self-Love

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Passiion to career

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Poem 1

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Romantic Places

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Greatest Love Stories

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To love the Unkwnown

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Long distance

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What is love

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Love what you do

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Let's talk about love baby

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Intense crushes

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Photography Editorial

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Playlist love

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Poem 2

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Spreading the Love

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Gestures of Love

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To 'love' the Dutch way

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EDITORIAL LETTER

IN THIS February, the month surrounded by capitalist propaganda, but just the right touch of love, brings you the second edition of 2018-2019’s IBCoMagazine.

Valentine’s Day celebrates the martyrdom of all the Saint Valentines - growing specifically from St. Valentine of Rome’s brave decision to marry soldiers. Or something like that. After Chaucer’s decision to romanticize the day, and the commercialization of courtship, we now have our day of love.

The team knew love was going to be in the air, and to get you, our readers, to feel and give the love, we give you our Valentine’s Day present.

We weren’t just going to give you an insight into the usual romantic love - our writers looked into deeper passions, friendships, heartbreak, and yes, crushes. Compiling articles about the art of loving what you do to the struggles of going through the cycle of infatuation, we bring to you, with love, the product of passion. Whether you’re spending the day with a “special someone”, a friend, yourself, or at work - this issue will definitely have someone you’ll love.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you all, IBCoMagazine Editorial Team 2018-2019

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Do what you love, love what you do L

ove. One word, yet so many connotations. It is often linked to one of the most cliché sayings of all time: “Do what you love, love what you do.” For some of us, there is no question about the career we want to pursue after graduation. For others, their future occupation is still kind of a blank space. No matter where you currently find yourself, know that some of the world’s most cliché sayings often tell us the truth. Finding love in a passion and turning that into your career can become one of the most rewarding things in your life. We have created a mini-guide to turning your passion into a career, starting with your first day of IBCoM all the way to your first day as an IBCoM graduate.

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E V LO WRITTE

ONYA N BY D

Find your passion!

Many students find themselves going to university not exactly sure what they are passionate about.

Don’t fret! Many students find their passion during their university years. It is a time in your life where you really develop yourself personally, socially, and professionally. The IBCoM program provides a great base for you to build on throughout your academic career. Orientate yourself on the different aspects of media and communication during your first year and use that to make informed choices for your second-year focus areas. Ask yourself: what first year courses did I enjoy the most? What subjects interest me?

What makes you happy, even when studying for exams? IBCoM gives you the opportunity to really specialize yourself and make you stand out from the crowd upon graduation. For students in their second year or beyond, it is never too late to find your passion. Try to find a hobby outside of uni, or a hobby that you can combine with your acquired IBCoM knowledge such as photography, blogging, or designing.

Expand your horizon!

Just because you are currently a student doesn’t mean you can’t jumpstart your career! Find the time to get involved in the community and add some extracurriculars to your CV before you even graduate. If your passion lies in writing, designing, or illustrating, look no further than IBCoMagazine.

Besides gaining experience, you also get to meet like-minded people from almost all years. You can even work your way up and possibly become part of the editorial team. Maybe you’ll be writing in this issue next year?

Another way to gain some ‘work’ experience is by joining a committee (e.g. at our very own faculty association ACE). You can gain new skills that might prove beneficial later on in your career.

Being part of a committee will encourage you to develop your leadership and organizational skills in addition to helping you grow your (social) network. You never know who might be useful to know later in life (and vice versa, of course!).

IBCoM has many gems, with the mandatory internship during your second year probably being the nicest one of all. It provides you the perfect opportunity to put the theory you have spent hours learning into practice. However, don’t limit yourself to just one internship. Consider spending part of your summer doing an internship or do one part-time during the school year. Explore different kinds of companies and fields if you are still unsure of the career you want to pursue or choose the same kinds of internships to boost your CV with real-life work experience. No doubt, you will thank yourself for the commitment and drive once you graduate and have a great CV to match.

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Romance in

Written by Cecilia Arroyo

February is the month of love, with Saint Valentine’s around the corner and all the pink and red hearts everywhere, we are more than surrounded. So why don’t take advantage of this beautiful and romantic month to discover or rediscover places to go enjoy with your loved one or by yourself?

For the era of “Love in times of Finals and deadlines” that February is, I would like to suggest: BACKYARD, a beautiful cafe where you can actually also stay studying.

The ambiance is perfect for maybe inviting that classmate you want to have a deeper convo with, to have some one on one time over something boring and then it can turn into sparks like in any worthy romantic movie. The tables are set in a way everything is quite intimate even when you’re using a communal table, and the whole aesthetics of the place are just too Instagram worthy.

BACKYARD,

Korte Hoogstraat 14

Another place that is super romantic all year around is Het Park, which could be considered as the Rotterdam’s Central Park. Designed inspired in the English Countryside, this park is rather lovely. It is a beautiful place to have a picnic, or you can even buy food at its stands. One tip about this beautiful park, is checking if there is any event the day you want to go, during winter, they had an ice-skating rink, and there are different events during the summer and festive weekends.

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Rotterdam Rotterdam A third gem for a romantic adventure in Rotterdam is the cat cafe PEBBLES. With a 3 euro fee, it is not the best place to eat something (since the cats are quite comfortable stealing from you), but to bond with your dear one over cuddly soft cats. My tip about this place is going just for a soda or coffee and to pet the cats, leave food for another store, since its around many beautiful cafés as well. This is definitely a place that will only be enjoyed by cat lovers, but there is really cute board games such as “Exploding Kittens” that you can play with inside while hanging out with your date and your new feline friends.

The final place I would like to recommend is to enjoy a moment of self-care and self love.

We never hesitate on taking care and putting effort in the ones we love, but we often neglect ourselves in the process. This february you should take some time to pamper yourself, and one way of doing it is going to LUSH to get either a bathbomb (If you have access to a bathtub) or one of their natural face-masks. Take some time to take care of yourself, of doing anything that you enjoy.

Take time to watch a movie, or eat candy, or cooking dinner. Being romantic with yourself means being able to pay attention to yourself the way you would treat your loved one.

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the GREATEST love stories

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s this article comes out, one of the most famous holidays Valentine’s Day! In honor of Saint Valentine, we celebrate this loved ones how much we love and care about them and roma (and some books) are the Valentine’s Day staple that we all kno further ado, here is my selection of romcom/romantic movies and not an exhaustive list but these are some of the stories that have st

10 Things I Hate About You

Love Actually

Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has fallen head over heels for it-girl Bianca, but she isn’t allowed to date until her unpopular and rebellious sister Kat (Julia Stiles) starts dating. Cameron sets up Patrick (Heath Ledger) to win Kat’s heart, but who knows if she’ll let her guard down. This is my all-time favorite 90s chick flick based on Shakespeare’s Taming of The Shrew, and it’s got the right amount of cheesy and heartfelt love.

Perhaps the most well-know Love Actually is about 10 in love and being in love from ensemble cast includes Lia Emma Thompson, Rowan At among others. If you want tear up and gush at the sam

Love, Simon

La La Land

Simon is your typical 17-year-old high school student, with a secret; he’s gay. In this movie, we see Simon balance his friends, family, and a blackmailer who threatens to out him to the rest of the school if Simon doesn’t help him get a date with his best friend Abby.

Love, Simon was one of the first movies produced by a major Hollywood studio to focus on an LGBT teen romance. It’s got a great soundtrack and cast, and it’s a heartwarming story.

Emma Stone and Ryan Go the city of Los Angeles and complicated story of succe most successful movies from critical acclaim for its cinem it can be considered a gre shows the sadder realities.

Crazy Rich Asians

A sweet rom-com that stars Juno MacGuffin and Micha It’s light and humorous, dea 2000s romance comedy mov portrayals of single parents a

Successful New York economics professor Rachel Chu is dating Nick Young and decides to accompany him to Singapore for his best friend’s wedding. Although only offering a portrayal of very rich Asian families, it’s another great movie adapted from a book by Kevin Kwan and it’s one of the first all-Asian casts in a long time. It deals with the importance of family and acceptance as well as love and relationships.

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Juno

s

is around the corner; s day by showing our ance-comedies movies ow and enjoy. Without books. This is definitely tuck with me the most.

wn holiday romance movie, ntertwining stories depicting all kinds of perspectives. The am Neeson, Keira Knightley, tkinson, and Martin Freeman a movie that will make you me time, this is the one.

osling star struggling artists in d La La Land navigates the ess in Hollywood. One of the m 2016, this musical received matography and music. While eat modern love story, it also

Ellen Page as pregnant teen ael Cera as Paulie Bleaker. aling with young love like any vie does but it also deals with and teen pregnancy.

WRITTEN BY KAT

Brokeback Mountain By far, one of the saddest romance movies I’ve ever watched, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal star Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist in the American West over a 20 year period. It’s another famous LGBT movie but not nearly as happy as Love, Simon.

Stuck in Love Finally, Stuck in Love is an independent film that shows the situations of love from many perspectives of one family, the popular cast includes Lily Collins, Logan Lerman, Nat Wolff, and Kristen Bell. It’s funny, serious, realistic and tear-jerking.

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Lara Jean Song Covey is very close to her sisters Margot and Kitty, and she keeps 5 letters to 5 intense crushes she’s had over the years. Lara Jean gets into some twisty situations when someone mails all of her letters to the respective boys. To All The Boys was recently turned into a charming movie by Netflix, gaining recognition for its main character. An overall sweet and innocent story to make you remember your high school crushes.

Pride And Prejudice The five Bennett sisters must marry well because their father cannot leave them an inheritance. The story follows Elizabeth Bennett, the second sister, who makes the mistake of judging people too quickly for their actions. This novel by Jane Austen shows us how important it is to marry someone for love, rather than money despite the social pressure there is to marry well.

The Fault in Our Stars 16-year old cancer patient Hazel Grace falls in love with Gus Waters after meeting him at a cancer support group. Every 14-year-old cried over this story at least once but it taught us to cherish what we love, even if we only have it for a short time.

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I love.

I love tirelessly. I love like my life depends on it, drinking in all your soft sounds and touches, paying more attention to them than my own desires. What else can I do, when I know I wouldn’t ever be able to hate you even if the whole world did? I would steal all the happiness in the world and present it to you in a big box, wrapped in glistening paper with a bow on top because you don’t deserve carelessness. You are my tranquility; my short-lived, but very own small universe free of pain and anxiety, and I thank you for making it so easy to love you and everything you entail. I love selflessly. I love like I don’t exist, throwing flower petals into the bright abyss called “you” and watching them disappear, because neither of us would survive without this daily ritual of mine. Slowly but surely, I surround you with the best of this world because I can never see less than perfection when I look into your glistening eyes, or hear the sounds of your happiness. I love you because I don’t know any other way of living, and because it was you who taught me how to

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love myself. I am the s day I spend breathing. reach this place; I was wading through thor myself up every time only to see the faint my own silhouette in th away horizon. And so I feet had not known g to clutch onto that m it strength with my pre ready to be you. Sorry Why was I on the oppos surface? Why was I hid too dark to come out of becoming my bett to be perfect to be be to be fierce to be brav anything I don’t want held my face in its arm so delicate, so careful disappeared in me, so

love life itself. The smell of the wind in December. The morning sound of the city asleep; in its blueish pink bliss, it does not yet know that I am out to conquer it, shower it with my love. I blend into it and breathe in unison with the sound of the concrete jungle, painting my body in its colors – I am its inevitable part, and so I try to thank this big creature for letting me enjoy my every day in its possession. I look up and my skin shines with the billion of stars that died a few hours ago for me to be born again; I blind everyone on my way, because I am surrounded by the power of my love, the power not yet available to everyone, and so I assiduously, with every ounce of devotion try to share it with every soul in my vicinity. I close my eyes and smile, as the birds lull my worries to sleep. I am life itself.

star and sun of every . It took me a while to s climbing mountains, rny shrubs, patching my legs gave out – but final destination: he blue mist of the farI ran. I ran to it like my ground before. I ran meek figure, feeding esence: I’m here, I’m to keep you waiting. site side of this slippery ding myself until it was t? Why was I terrified ter self? I don’t need eautiful. I don’t need ve. I don’t need to be to be. The silhouette ms and fed me stars – l. The hazy apparition o I could finally

And so I love. I love tirelessly, exactly because my life depends on it.

W hy w o n ' t y o u ?

WRITTEN BY DIANA 23

O D U O Y T A H W E V LO LOVE WHAT YOU DO Writen by Antonia Radmacher

‘Live, Love, Laugh’. Three different words but equally as important, especially when you want to build a career based on what your hobby is, what you are passionate about, and what you love.

When people asked me what I wanted to be when I was younger, I remember saying I wanted to be a princess.

Years later, I was asked again and I said I wanted to become an actress. Now, reminiscing about what I said, it is interesting to see that I always answered this question according to what my current passion was. The most important lesson to learn is to believe in yourself, follow your heart, and find a study that suits your interests in a specific academic field. IBCoM provides a great chance to find your passion as it offers a broad range of subjects and knowledge areas in the first year yet offers students the opportunity to deepen their understanding in a field of their own choice in the second. Through this, we will all hopefully be able to answer the question of what we want to be when we grow up not by guessing the answer but by knowing it.

Especially for deciding what path I want to follow in the second year of IBCoM, I have resolved to let passion be my fuel.

What I have learned from experience is that once you are doing what you love you will be able to love what you do, hence passion unfolds work ethics. Once you are happy with what you are doing, you will see that you become more willing to work. If, however, you are struggling with turning your passion into a career, I created a short guide that will help you get ahead and what to expect after graduation.

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What g in v o L o t Six Steps at h W g in o D You Do & ife L r o F e v o L You Guide to Success (both for second year IBCoM and after graduation)

1. Find your passion or aspiration.

4. Become qualified

The easiest question to ask yourself: what makes you happy?

It can be hard to find something you are so passionate about that you want to pursue a career in that field. In order to find this true passion of yours you can, for example:

• Find a study that matches your mantra, your interests and of course your passion • Commit to various courses that will challenge you

• • • •

5. Be flexible and don’t get afraid to run into obstacles

Take inventory of your interests Stay true to yourself Focus on yourself Talk to friends or family - engage in a discussion!

• Be patient • Start slow • Learn from mistakes/failures

2. Expand your horizon (IBCoMmunity, extracurriculars)

6. And in the end… success will have no choice but to follow

- Research • Talk to professionals in that field • Take classes • Find a mentor • If necessary, apply for an internship in a field of interests • Stay realistic

• Preferably, Passion turns into Profit

3. Make a (business) plan - Develop your personal mantra and write it out. Say it to yourself every day, pin it to your door, make a reminder in your phone!

• Motivate yourself to follow that plan

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Let’s talk about..

friends, baby!

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o o prese (20) each

Aimée: We hav the same tutor together, we o in Rotterdam. T about a free ro

Claire: We bec started rolling. N The rest of the t Whatsapp. It’s

Yes, it is. But wh know about e life. When I kno wish her good

Yes, that’s true of course! Bec We’re always h my shampoo in that she has to okay.

I think that ou but also on hum know. She is als can make my d

I can say exac amazing me tim is so reckless! Y ring the bell to

Sorry… Do you

Try me.

You may exp stressed about

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WRITTEN BY FÉ

ove is not always about romantic relationships. In fact, most of the time it isn’t. More often, love is about friendship. And within IBCoM, there are loads of friendships ent between students. Second years Aimée Storm (19) and Claire van Emmerik can tell you all about it. They are both friends and roommates, but still don’t tire h other.

ve been friends ever since we ended up in rial group in our first year. Besides studying often went out and about, mainly to parties Then, over last summer, Claire informed me oom in her student house.

came roommates, and then the ball really Now, we see each other 4 to 5 days a week. time we update each other on our lives via a lot, haha.

hen you speak to each other that often, you everything that is going on in that person’s ow Claire has something important to do, I luck or afterwards ask if it went well.

e. And that’s the other way around too cause of that, our friendship is very strong. honest with each other; when Aimée uses n the shower for the millionth time, I tell her o buy her own, which she then finds totally

ur friendship is indeed based on honesty, mour. Claire is one of the funniest persons I so very ambitious and firm in her goals. She day in a split second.

ctly the same about you too. The only thing me after time, is that you’re biking behaviour You tend to bike on the sidewalk, and then pedestrians. That is so not done.

u want to know what I don’t like about you?

pect this… Sometimes, you can be very t one particular event for hours and hours.

Oh, I know! You always say that to me. Again, we’re very honest with each other. I really value that in friendships in general. We can be ourselves around each other. We can laugh, cry, complain, whatever.

True. I can storm into your room in my pig onesie if I want to, and you wouldn’t think I’m crazy. Or at least, you act as if it is the most natural thing in the world, haha. I’m never ashamed of myself when I’m with you, and vice versa. I especially like it when you pretend like you're Shakira.

Haha, you will never not laugh about that. Do you remember that time when we were watching Holland’s Next Top Model, and Danilo got eliminated?

Oh, yes! You sent him an Instagram direct message that we were very sorry that he wasn’t in the competition anymore, with ‘xxx Claire and Aimée’ as occlusion. We laughed about it for hours, and I still can when I think about it. Although it doesn’t sound funny at all when explaining it… You should have been there.

I was!

You know what I mean. Do you have any advice regarding making friends for IBCoM students? Some first years are maybe having a hard time, or second years are worrying about that for exchange...

Hmm… What I’ve learned from our friendship, is that you just need to be yourself. Liking each other for who you are is the best fundament there is. And also, don’t be scared to approach someone. Most of the time, you’re all in the same boat.

And when you tend to be shy. Just go partying! People tend to be more at ease then, and it befits the student life perfectly. At least, that’s how we became such good friends.

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Model: Ayanda Ntuli

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LOVE IS JUST AN ILLUSSION 29

Writen by Kat an

Having crushes is a normal thing through all ages, something we can all be familiar with.

Sometimes you have no idea what to do when you feel consumed by these strong feelings, and it can be difficult to channel these feelings into something productive. Making the first move can be scary and nerve-wracking but hopefully following this step-by-step guide will help you deal with your feelings in the best way possible.

STEP 1: Admit your feelings to yourself A lot of the time, people find themselves denying their feelings about someone for one reason or another; maybe you don’t have time for a relationship or you didn’t expect yourself to start liking someone specific. Whatever the situation is, bottling up your feelings is unhealthy and you need to be honest with yourself. It can be more relieving than you think.

STEP 2: Tell someone about it This is a good way to channel your feelings after admitting it to yourself. Confiding in a close friend means you can get some advice and someone to actually talk to you about whoever you’re crushing on. One important thing to remember is that you shouldn’t make your crush the only thing you talk about. You could end up frustrating your friends if that’s the only thing you want to talk about with them.

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ndKarim

STEP 3: Start a conversation and talk to your crush

Depending on how well you already know your crush, starting conversations is a tricky situation. If you’ve been admiring someone from afar, sometimes it can be a little hard to find a connection or a reason to talk to them. Likewise, if you’re really good friends with someone you’ve just started liking, finding an excuse to talk to them can be really easy but your intentions have shifted. Bottom line is, you need to talk to them if you want to get somewhere.

STEP 4: Face it head on and ask them out!

This part is really important! Here, you can invite them to do something easygoing like grabbing coffee or lunch together and it can be minimal effort for both of you. If they enjoy hanging out with you for a bit, try something a little more intimate like having dinner, going to the beach or ice skating, depending on the time of year (it’s a really good excuse to hold hands with someone!). And maybe if asking them out is a little too soon for you, at least telling them about your feelings can give you a good sense of relief and lets you be as honest as possible with your crush.

If they like you, that’s great! You can spend more time getting to know them, it gets easier and easier to talk to them and ask them out on dates and your budding romance will develop into something lovely. On the other hand, if they don’t like you, don’t lose hope. Facing rejection is hurts and it can take some time to get over someone you like, but that doesn’t mean you won’t find someone who likes you just as much. It’ll take time to heal and reevaluate your situation. No matter what happens, your friends and family will be around to help you cope with your feelings.

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ROMANCE

Photography: Anano Shalamberidze 33

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AGE

DIGITAL

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Wirtten by Cecilia

It is possible that you associate an artist with a specific person, or a song with a moment of your life; and as one of the most important and most intriguing things in life, music can be associated as well with love. In this article we will tell you about the different songs that remind us of different types of love There are so many types of love, and all of them are valid, they all indicate different things and have different places in your heart, and as one of the most intriguing forces of life, it is difficult to put into words what it actually means, so we try to explain it with actions, and with art. Music helps us put words and melody into feelings, intointangible things we don’t really know how to explain. Falling in love doesn’t feel the same twice, and for this reason, here we have a list of songs that is just fitting for that specific moment you’re going through.

1. The inglorious CRUSH. We all felt that exploding rush of adrenaline when we saw someone we like, that feeling that brings you back to a 13 year-old self dancing in your room or daydreaming you were actually living the “You belong with me - Taylor Swift” music video. If you are in that moment right now, or you want to relive your Crushing days, then these songs are for you: Nervous - Shawn Mendes Crush - Jennifer Paige

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2. Empowered free spirit.

This is the moment that you feel you own the world, you are not ready to settle for a monogamous relationship and you’re living your best life in Tinder, Bumble and/ or Grindr. Nothing can touch you, you’re on fire, and these songs identify that moment more than anything in the world: Surround me - Léon S.L.U.T. - Bea Miller You should see me in a crown - Billie Eilish

3. Start of a relationship.

So many butterflies. This is the era of giggling without reason, of overthinking our wardrobe decisions, and feeling more endorphins than ever. Good times, crazy emotional, but good times. As we reminisce about the beauty of this stage, we leave these songs for you to do too:

Mint car - The cure Heaven in Hiding - Halsey I love you like that - Dagny Elephants - Age.Sex.Location

4. In a relationship Your love is solid, the butterfly stage finished, but you’re left with a sense of belonging, of security that nothing can give you. You’re in a loving relationship, you guys trust each other and still make each other smile. You still watch them sleep while you’re up early, and you still smile to yourself when you get a text from them. This is heaven. These are the songs we chose to represent it:

Lovesong - The cure Paris in the rain - Lauv

5. Long distance relationships: Here at IBCOM it usually happens that you have to endure long distance relationships.

They are hard, we won’t lie, but they are worth it when the love and confidence is big. Some days it will bring some loneliness, but at the same time it helps to so many different ways of expressing love, of understanding each other and basically growing as a couple and a human being. To picture this stage, we chose these songs: Photograph - Ed Sheeran Wildest dreams - Taylor Swift

6. Breaking up relationship This is one of the most difficult moments someone have to endure, the loss of love, in any way, can be incredibly debilitating and harsh for both physical and mental health. This is a moment to grieve one love and encourage another, it can be self-love, another relationship, friend’s love, any type that can put some happy notes to such a sad time. To deal with this painful moment, we collected these songs that help processing emotions and make us feel empowered again.

Green light - Lorde Sad Beautiful Tragic - Taylor Swift Slow dancing in a burning room - John Mayer

7. Self love This is the most important stage. This stage has to last your entire life, and it may have its ups and downs like any relationship, but it is the most important of them all. You are the only one that you need to please, you need to help and encourage. You will have this relationship until your last day, so why not making it amazing, worthwhile and powerful. After all, if you can handle this one, you can handle anything. To celebrate this love, we chose this songs: Love myself - Hailee Steinfeld Square Pegs - Kelsea Ballerini

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A POEM

Written by Diana

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i looked into your eyes; they shined like late-night lakes with million stars hidden in them. they were screaming for help and telling me to go away at the same time. maybe one day they will let me feel their warm waters on my bare skin. i looked at your lips; they ripened with a thousand peaches in them. they gasped for air and sealed the world’s secrets – all at the same time. maybe one day they will crack open the salty secrets of my mind. i looked at you; you were all i never knew i loved. i used to hate stars, giving favor to the scorching sun. i used to hate peaches, stuffing myself with sour lemons. you came crushing down on me. so rude. so insolent. not leaving me time to consent. i’m all yours. where are you?

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spreading the VOLUNTEERING IN NEPAL

DREAM When I was about 14 years old, I decided I wanted to go abroad for volunteering. Asia has always been enchanting to me with its rich cultures and exciting combination of cities and nature. I looked for volunteering organisations to go with and countries I could go to. I chose to go to Nepal, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

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REALITY I was assigned to volunteer at Sunrise School, with children aged 2 to 16. I taught some English to young children, played games with them and even taught some of them about brushing teeth and the importance of personal hygiene. The experience was unforgettable. All the children were super enthusiastic and incredibly grateful. Outside the ‘working’ times, I discovered more about the culture of Nepal. I visited temples and ancient cities, did some urban exploring in the capital of Nepal, and saw a rhino and elephants in Chitwan National Park.

After the 3 weeks of volunteering in Kathmandu, I went on a trekking with a guide; just the two of us. We walked for 5 days, slept in cottages and hostels in the mountains. I saw a langur sitting in the trees, an enormous spider just chilling in a bathroom, donkeys travelling with loads of luggage on their backs led by a shepherd and I even received a lovely hickey from a leech. I walked through rain, thunder and the brightest sunshine, but most importantly I met a whole lot of interesting people from almost as much nationalities as are in IBCoM. When I returned to Kathmandu, I met a guy in the hotel, and he offered me a ride on the back of his motorcycle to places I still wanted to visit. Couldn’t resist such a nice offer, right? So my last day in Nepal, I spent on the back of a motorcycle with a Nepalese guy I just met. We visited an ancient city centre and a temple where cremations were publicly carried out. Honestly, I almost cried that night while my plane took off to fly back to the Netherlands. I was so sad for this experience to end!

EXPERIENCES AND MEMORIES There are many reasons why I came to love this country. Firstly, Hinduism and Buddhism exist next to each other, both with gorgeous temples and stupas. Having different religions and rituals in one country is not exceptional, but still very fascinating. Secondly, the people in Nepal are grateful, hard-working but yet easily satisfied.

In comparison to Nepal, in the Netherlands we don’t really realise the importance of different cultures, rituals or anything related to it. However, it is truly beautiful to share such unfamiliar things with strangers and I would therefore wish anyone to be part of something completely out of their comfort zone like that, just to expand your personal mindset. Lastly, a quick note, being by yourself (and also a minimal use of social media), might be more comfortable than one might expect. You can decide for yourself what you do, when you do it and how you do it. The most important thing is: nobody is ever going to take that feeling of freedom and those memories away from you. The experience is just yours forever.

Try it.

WRITTEN BY RENÉE

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Kalina Mishkov years, Serbia

My heart will fl sister takes me month trip, jus

Luka Pjevac,10 years, Macedonia

Sofija Pjevac, 20 years, Germany

It makes me happy when my loved ones just treat me well and respect me.

I would say it is when my loved ones come to see me when I least expect it, makes me smile on my worst days or makes me happy without any reason (buy me cake)!

"What gestu loved ones w heart fl Lina Petrovska, 19 years, United Kingdom Right now, a hug will do it.

Daiana Khardagaliyeva, 19 years, Kazakhstan The gesture that will definitely make my heart flutter is my mom’s smile.

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Valerija Jor 21 years, Ne

I want 101 r definitely.

vska, 10

flutter if my e on a one st us two!

Dushan Mishkovski, 12 years, Serbia Just the everyday presence of my sister will make my heart flutter.

Anika Ilovska, 19 years, Slovenia A couple of years ago, my best friend Ana made me a diary as a gift for my birthday containing our best moments since day one till now, showing 10 years spent with joy and unforgettable moments.

Those type of things will make my heart flutter

ure from your will make your flutter?"

rdanovska, etherlands

Sambhavi Mathiyazhagan, 18 years, India Juneal Holder, 24 years, Curaçao For me it's easy...the little things as small as “I love you Jun” because I know they mean it.

For me, it would be anything that's unexpected.

Flowers, gifts, long messages, anything when you least expect it basically!

roses, WRITTEN BY ANA 45

What to ‘love’, the Dutch way Writen by Tessa

The people in the Netherlands are known for being stubborn, open-minded and direct.

But as many tourists – and international students – probably came to notice, the Dutchies also have a very distinctive culture, particularly fan culture. ‘We’ can either be a sea of orange to support our successful athletes; or we collectively diss artists we don’t like on the socials. Here is the guide to all internationals to escort you through some of the absolute beauties of the Dutch pop culture. Perhaps pick your new fan-zone away from home.

Music

Oslo, 2010: ‘Girl-next-door’ Sieneke gets to represent the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest. With her catchy song Sja la lie sja la la (you do not even need to speak to Dutch to understand the quality of the song) she manages to only obtain the remarkable amount of two (pity?) points from the jury. The Netherlands did not make it to the Eurovision final for the sixth time in a row. Dutch audience is furious.

2013, the music scene has done it again. With Het Koningslied (the King’s song) the top of the Dutch music industry is buried under criticism. What was supposed to be a musical present for the new king’s inauguration resulted in a heated debate about the quality of Dutch music. Again.

National music has always been a point of controversy in the Netherlands. For a long time the only real genre that was produced here was volksmuziek (freely translated music of the people). With a style that is comparable to German schlager music it is not so strange that many people cannot stand it.

It was obviously time for a new style. Unfortunately, nobody really liked that either. Nowadays Dutch hip hop has fully taken over the music scene. New artists such as Lil Kleine, Ronnie Flex, Frenna and many others produce smashing hits such as Drank en drugs (booze and drugs), Hosselen (hustling) and Blow it all. Strangely enough it was especially the parents of the 13-year-old fans base of these self-proclaimed rappers that were expressing their disgust on social media.

So, what is it that most Dutch people are proud of then? Though it is only a small country, we like to be ‘big’ in terms of being successful abroad. Therefore it is our successful DJ-clan that we adore. Tiësto, Afrojack, Armin van Buren and Martin Garrix: you saved the day. But you don’t even have to be that successful in order to gain popularity here, also one-hit wonders Natalie la Rose (Somebody) and Esmee Denters (Outta here) are still popular talk show guests even years after their hit.

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Sports

“If you cannot win; make sure that you won’t lose”. These and other deep philosophical lessons were taught to us by football legend Johan Cruijf. Football is by far the most popular sports in the Netherlands. If you are walking around on a Sunday evening and wonder why no male is anywhere to be found, it is the time when the football summaries are shown on television.

The intense love for football can be seen nowhere better than in our hometown Rotterdam. Feijenoord has a reputation of having the most active (and perhaps little aggressive) fanbase in football. It can be very ‘gezellig’ to go check out the atmosphere in the stadium once yourself. But if they lose; even worse, lose something BIG: you did not hear about it here.

Television

You love Netflix, and so do we. Nevertheless is television something that Dutchies are rather passionate about. There are plenty of TV programmes that are the centre of each discussion at the coffee machine. Wie is de Mol (who is the mole?; again a title that also doesn’t make sense in Dutch) is such an example. Each season 10 candidates are dropped at some spectacular place elsewhere in the world. They play games to win money in the end, however there is one person (the mole) whose task it is to ruin the games for everybody else.The viewers at home also don’t know who this mole is, and it is the absolute highlight of the television seasons when this person reveals itself. But until that time has come, people from all over the Netherlands create some theories about who the mole is, and why. Here are some last year’s finest:

that ‘finalist’. On Wikipedia we saw “Today’s episode was called cab a e participated in the final of Emilio [candidate’s name] onc ” lio?

Emi finalist. Is this a hint towards aret festival, and was thus a

“Jan [other cand idate’s name] de cided to take a in Belgium you ca swim. In the town n also swim very ship of Mol well. An obvious hint towards Jan as mole”

@onbruikbareWIDM

Hopefully this guide gave you enough insight to know what to love – and hate – during your time here and perhaps even gave you some inspiration to tell your friends and family back home about this country’s magnificence.

If you’re still not convinced to dive further into the Dutch pop culture, luckily the internet still exists so you do not have to fully Dutch-ify your life –just yet.

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EDITORIAL TEAM

WRITERS

Editor-in-Chief Temi de Groen

Salem Asghdom Ana Mishkovska Cecilia Arroyo Effie Korpershoek Fé van Ham Karim Oteify Diana Zavyalova Crystal Goh Rawding Tessa Peterse Kat Nivera Renée Motter Donya Kaersenhout Antonia Radmacher

Copy Editor Ayesha Ashe Managing Editor/Art director Angel Esajas

DESIGNERS Alejandra Murcia Myley van Prehn Femke van Bruggen

BLOGGERS Nicky Papilaja Nicoleta Ciobanu Floortje Passchier Tasha Mhishi Zeynep Kunduracilar Varvara Porenchenkova Giani Kasanmonadi

SPECIAL FASHION

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Joline d'Arnaud van Boeckholtz Djoeke Tuinte Shweta Balkaran Gigi Vissers Kayleigh Tanner Marijne Mangindaan Brianne Wind Fay oberdorf Fleur Bongertman Loes Julicher

ILLUSTRATORS Roos de Waard Zofia Jalowiecka Louise Lu

PHOTOGRAPHERS Anano Shalamberidze Max Peeters

Group photos team 2018/2019 - Photography: Anano & Max

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