Issue 4 by IBCoMagazine

IBCoMagazine

2013/2014, Issue 4

Exchange announcement event IBCoM Awards 2014

Pillow Fight

IBCoM Off-Campus

100 Euro Experiment Smartphones: The end of civilization?

Editorial

Time flies, doesn’t it? Only a few months ago, we were nervously setting up the terrain for the very first issue of IBCoMagazine, going over every single little detail in order to present it at its best, and today we are releasing the last issue of the magazine for this academic year! Slowly but surely, we are also approaching the end of the academic year, and with this comes many new experiences. Our third year students are preparing themselves for their graduation, second years already booking tickets to their exchange destinations, and our freshmen anxiously waiting to obtain their first 60ECTS in IBCoM. And of course, IBCoMagazine is excited to welcome the future IBCoMmers in September (p. 4) ! However, let’s not forget the pile of events that filled the previous months. Always wondered what it is like living in a house full of IBCoMmers? Find the answer in this issue (IBCoM Off Campus, p. 12)! Did you know that you could meet Fred Flinstone and Minnie Mouse on the streets of Rotterdam? Check out the specific locations so you do not miss them next year (p. 24). If you are struggling with your student finances we have some tips which will guarantee your survival at least for a month (p. 22). And let’s not forget about the glamorous IBCoM Awards which were held just a few days ago (p. 8)! Oh well, as the popular phrase say, “All good things come to an end.” This is (probably) the last editorial written by the current members of IBCoMagazine’s Editorial Team. It is impossible to describe all the emotions we experienced while creating and producing this magazine throughout the year but one thing is certain: we surely enjoyed our journey as an Editorial Team! We truly hope that the future editors of IBCoMagazine will enjoy their job as much as we did, or even have a better experience. It has been a pleasure collaborating with our talented writers and photographers, as well as our very own Advisory Team. We truly hope that we have accomplished our mission and you enjoyed your time reading the issues of IBCoMagazine! The IBCoMagazine Team wishes everyone a successful closing of the academic year, an amazing summer holiday and many adventures in the future!

Gaffar Rampage, Editor-in-Chief Monika Nikolova, Managing Editor Rei Safia Raksanugraha, Copy Editor Julian Sonntag, Deputy Editor Editorial Team IBCoMagazine 2013-2014

credits Editor-In-Chief Deputy Editor Managing Editor Copy Editor Art Director

Gaffar Rampage Julian Sonntag Monica Nicolova Rei Raksanugraha Monika Hlubinová

Advisory team

Brenda Grashoff Emma Hamilton Johannes von Engelhardt

Writers

Anna Efimenko Ruta Ziabkute Anne van Rozendaal Bilal Kabdani Tainah Bernardino Stijn van Venrooij Maria Cojocaru Margarita Kovalchuk Nour Abdul-Hadi Haba

Content 4 A Word of Welcome. 6 Exchange announcement event

8 IBCoM Awards 2014 12 IBCoM Off-Campus

Exchange announcement event

IBCoM Awards 2014

16 Extracurricular activities

19 The Internship

IBCoM Off-Campus

22 100 Euro Experiment

24 Carnaval 26 Smartphones: The end of civilization?

Pillow Fight 3

A Word of By Brenda Grashoff

Dear soon-to-be-IBCoMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ers, The application deadline for IBCoM has just passed on May 1st, but we are still processing some applications for the 2014-2015 academic year. On June 16th, we will have a complete list with 175 new IBCoM students, who should all receive their proof of placement from DUO over the summer. As the IBCoM Admissions and Recruitment Coordinator, I am delighted to be one of the first to welcome you to our programme! We are very happy to have selected such a diverse, enthusiastic and ambitious group of students and we are honored to have you here. Each and every one of you was selected because we see something unique in you. We are sure that all of you will have a lot to contribute to our international programme, and we can assure you that you have made the right choice. You have been selected because we believe you are a great person and you will do well in our programme, which is why we want to get to know you! We believe social support helps students perform well with their studies, so personal guidance and attention are important within IBCoM. We want you to feel right at home, which is why your IBCoMpanions will be assigned to you over the summer already. They will be there for practical matters, but also to help you study. Having been in IBCoM for one year already, their experience and guidance is extremely valuable. From admission and registration questions to more practical issues, such as buying your books or finding a place to live, the IBCoMmunity is there for you. The next three years of your life will be filled with all kinds of new experiences, and we take pride in being a part of it. Welcome to IBCoM! Kindest regards on behalf of the entire IBCoM Support Staff,

Brenda Grashoff

IBCoM Admissions & Recruitment Coordinator

PIllow fight by Maria Cojocaru On the 5th of April, 2014, the world witnessed an extraordinary event, a once-in-a-lifetime moment that brought people together in different corners of the world. The People of Los Angeles, Melbourne, Montreal and Amsterdam were all the guests of the sensational Pillow Fight Day. As Amsterdam was closest to the core of our life studies, my friends and I decided to join the Pillow Fight that took place there. Packing our backpacks for this beautiful one-day trip was easy, as the only unwritten rule we had to follow was to make sure that our outfits will match the design of our pillows. And so we did. Never before were we more excited to read on the platform “Amsterdam Centraal,” as all of us knew it was time to revolutionise the common use of pillows. It was time to occupy the centre square of Amsterdam and to join our fellow pillow fighters from the entire world, those millions of dreamers who engaged in this event as they wanted to relive one of their most precious childhood memory: the memorable pillow fights. My friends and I got to the centre square earlier than 15:00, as we wanted to see people`s reactions both before and after this wonderful pillow fight. At first, we couldn’t believe our eyes that the weather was so beautiful, as if the sun itself got ready for this event. But time flies, and all that we could hear was that it was time to start the pillow fight. We barely had time to realise it, when a bunch of people whom we had never seen before started to use their pillows as fun weapons. It was like a war, but this time a fun one without real injuries. Perhaps, the only way in which you could be injured was by getting addicted to this type of events. We all tried to make the best time of our lives by hitting each other, sometimes softly and other times harder, as we needed to see how the wind blew the feathers into the universe. After only half an hour or so, more than half of the pillows had already lost their dear feathers, yet the participants were too stubborn to go home. As a result, they had to become creative by starting to refill their pillows with the feathers that were scattered through the entire square. And so the pillow fight went on for at least two more hours. After the pillow fighters seemed to lose all their energy, people thought it was time to imprint this event in the sand of time, by taking pictures or videos. This event reminded me that life can be so much fun and that ordinary people as well as sophisticated ones can make the best of it by benefiting from simple things like a pillow fight. The feathers that were floating upon our heads reminded me of my childhood and how much I liked to dream that one day I could see all my dreams come true, if only I could catch a feather in my hands. Then I realized that my power of dreaming has never stopped to exist, only my perception of it has changed. But on the 5th of April, at the Pillow Fight, when I caught a feather that was floating in the air, I knew that dreams can be indeed achieved. Also, that simple events like Pillow Fight can be inspiring for all of us, if only we know how to read the drops of life that it gives us.

Exchange

announcement by Julian Sonntag

It was a cold and breezy Thursday night in February, when the long time of waiting finally came to an end. For days, weeks, if not months, the one, overarching question had lurked around in many second year IBCoMmers’ minds, and it accompanied and afflicted them at random moments of the day: Where will I go on exchange? Will it be my top choice? Was my application package in its entirety enough? Counting scores in one’s head had hardly been possible, too many factors played a role in how the Exchange Office made their decision, and thus, nothing could be done but to wait for that 20th of February, the day one was gonna find out where the journey was going to take one next. For many IBCoMmers, the urge to bring clearance to the matter felt at some point more powerful than the desire for a specific location itself, and so it came that the room seemed to be filled more with excitement rather than panic, when our exchange coordinators Emma, Miriam, Yasmin and Renée stepped in front of the crowd to reveal their choices. And from that moment on, everything went quickly. Concentration and nervousness gave way to an orchestra of emotions: laughter, outcries of relief, and some tears were shed. Some of joy. Others of disappointment. But even the sadness in some IBCoMmers who had not managed to score the exchange spot they had hoped for turned into relief and enthusiasm in many cases throughout the course of the event (maybe triggered and supported by the sparkling wine bottles that were passed around). In the end, what stands above everything surely is the experience itself, may it take place in Melbourne, in Vienna, in Beijing or in Leeds. In any case, it will be a great journey, a step out of the comfort zone, and certainly a semester crammed with unforgettable moments and new people and experiences. The IBCoMagazine team wishes all of you that are taking the step abroad a great and memorable time, as much as we encourage all our homebound IBCoMmers that will defend stronghold in Rotterdam to treat the city as your exchange location in the upcoming half a year and explore all its uncovered treats and treasures. Last but not least, we cannot miss to mention the five “stars” of the night, Naomi, Denise, Hanna Maria, Sami and Julia. Great job on having created the five most impressive creative exchange applications!

IBCoM2 0AWARDS 14 by Monica nicolova

The IBCoM Awards is one of the most exciting and iconic events in IBCoM. First introduced in 2010 by three IBCoM students, it has now become a tradition in the family of IBCoMmers, building up the identity of IBCoM. Comparable to the Oscars, our own awards ceremony brings together students, teachers and faculty members for an unforgettable night filled with class and entertainment. The IBCoM Awards gives the floor to the many talented students within IBCoM and rewards some of the most prominent ones. Naturally, a lot of fun is included in the programme of the IBCoM Awards: performances by some of the music talents of IBCoM, entertaining speeches by winners and presenters, and loads of dance moves!

IBCoM Awards 2014: #DreamBig On May 1st 2014, the 4th edition of the IBCoM Awards was held at the Erasmus Paviljoen. This year, IBCoMmunity presented a new theme for the event: dreams. We all dream, and mostly dream about our own future, and future achievements in life. IBCoMmunity gave IBCoMmers the opportunity to express those dreams through the awards. With the slogan “Dream Big” came new categories, tightly linked to the ‘future’ aura the event was surrounded with. Nevertheless, IBCoMmunity kept some of the traditions regarding the awards, and this year teachers and staff members were kind enough to help with presenting the various categories and awarding the winners. Winners in different categories were lucky to receive their awards from Emma Hamilton, Etienne Augé, Johannes von Engelhardt, Sarah van der Land and Jason Pridmore. The beginning of the ceremony was set by the marvellous performance of three IBCoM students – Lisa, Bilal and Lennart, who set the mood with the groovy theme song of ‘Friends’. Shortly afterwards, this year’s hosts Jason and Safae warmly welcomed the guests to the 4th IBCoM Awards. Professor Jeroen Jansz was kind enough to also present a short welcome speech and encouraged a round of applause for all the people from IBCoMmunity involved in the organisation of this event, which surely melted their hearts and spurred a long ‘awww’ somewhere in the back rows. Professor Jansz then gave the floor to the next performers – Tom and Frank, a well-known duo among the IBCoM students, who successfully encouraged the audience to sing along to the song by George Ezra – Budapest. After two more songs from the enthusiastic duo from BA-3, it was time to hand out the first two statuettes for the categories Future CEO and Future President. Lukas Kuhn (BA-2) and our very own Editor-in-Chief Gaffar Rampage (BA-2) respectively became the first award winners for this year!

(Photo credit: JR Photography)

In order to cool down the emotions after the passionate speeches by the winners, a highly talented group of two gorgeous ladies – Dunya and Georgie, and a young guitarist – Dylan, came out on stage to perform the beautiful music of Chris Isaak and his track Wicked Love, preceded by the sounds of ‘Californication’ by Red Hot Chili Peppers. As the ceremony proceeded, suspense was filling the air and everyone was eager to find out the other winners. Two of the ‘future’ categories followed: Future Nobel Prize Winner and Future Vogue Editor. The winner in the former category – Frank Holleman (BA-2) promised to find a way to put his Nobel Prize statuette precisely next to the IBCoM Awards 2014 one. As the name of the winner in the latter category was revealed, all the first-year students in the hall cheered as BA-1 student Raizel Eliasberg became the first winner from BA-1 for this year. As mentioned, IBCoM students have many talents, and this applies also for our exchange students. Emanuele Conte, an Italian exchange student, melted the hearts of the audience with his own songs in Italian, accompanied by the sounds of his guitar. Four winners were revealed, four winners were to be announced. The next set of categories combined a new one – Future Entertainer, and an old one – Midnight Warrior, one of the all-times favorites among IBCoM students. Sami Hamoudi (BA-2), one of the many talented singers in IBCoM, was voted to be the next star in the show business, while our Deputy Editor Julian Sonntag (BA-2) promised to guard the honour of the sleepless warriors. Mary and Lennart, the final performers for the night, then rocked the stage with the popular song by Train, ‘Hey Soul Sister’ which established the energetic tone for the after-party. With only two awards left, the level of curiosity along the rows was increasing. Two of the most interesting categories were left for the end, as the cherry on top. The newly introduced category Best Initiative rewarded not an individual but a highly promising project, created by IBCoMmers. The first award went to the initiative of two BA-2 students – Alessandro and Dominik, who created Labelgram, which provides a new view on advertising with social media. As a tradition, the IBCoM Awards also rewards teachers in IBCoM, namely the Most Inspiring Teacher. The golden statuette this year went to Dr. Ahmed Al-Rawi for teaching the IBCoM students not simply concepts and theories but also encouraging us to strive for our dreams.

The closing speech of two of the founders of IBCoMmunity and the IBCoM Awards – James Dooms and Christoph Rosenthal (who made a special video from London for the ceremony!) marked the end of the ceremony, and after a round of applause for all the winners, nominees and organisers, the hosts closed the awards ceremony by taking the biggest IBCoM selfie so far (even better than Ellen’s Oscars selfie!). The floor was freed for DJ Aron Hank and the dance moves of the IBCoM students who claimed that this was “an unforgettable night,” and indeed it was!

Ibcom off-campus by ruta ziabkute

There is a lot of rumour going on around IBCoM stating that we are very friendly, a community and we are like a family. However words are words and now it is time to actually prove it. So there it was, a big gap in research which was needed to be filled. We have the IBCoM students scattered all over the city, living in shared apartments, studios or on campus. Few of them knew each other before the beginning of studies and somehow even ended up living together. This mostly happens in the middle of the 1st year and especially 2nd year when they notice that there is more to living on campus, International House or The Student Hotel. This is why various IBCoM households appear in the city with their own identity and their own brand. Some become stereotypical families, and others, party houses that unites IBCoM every now and then. I interviewed a couple of IBCoM people living together to try and show the true IBCoM spirit everyone is talking about.

The House of Rice

(originally from: always have tons of rice in the house)

Members: Sepiedeh (Irani), Akef (Afghani), Jullaya (Thai) Moved in: February, 2014 Memorable house story: “Assignment with Policemen” “Assignment with Policemen” At the beginning, when these IBCoMers has just moved in (surprise, surprise), they did not have any WiFi connection for the first three weeks. And on top of that, there was an assignment due the next day for CSF. This was where they needed to get creative; therefore, they went outside with their laptops to the nearest tram stop hoping to get Internet connection from the Coffee Shop nearby. That didn‘t work out, so they went to Eendrachtsplein where there is free Rotterdam WiFi. So there they were, in February, freezing and sitting in the dark on a bench and doing the assignment. Suspicious people were walking around the little square and were frightening the students who were only trying to finish their assignment. It was around 1 AM when suddenly, police officers approached them. The policemen explained to the IBCoMers that there were two laptops recently stolen and he needs to check if these were the ones. So Akef, Jullaya & Sepiedeh were showing them their personal pictures, trying to prove the ownership of the laptops. With the help of persuasive communication, the policemen believed the 1st years and warned them to be careful before walking back into the darkness.

Rumbling Tummies

(originally from: the name of their game Rock Band)

Members: Nora (Dutch), Marnell (Dutch/Surinamese), Naomi (Dutch/Curacaoan) Moved in: September, 2013 Memorable house story: When people are visiting the Rumbling Tummies, they walk into the living room and usually point out that there is a rug on their wall. So now, exclusively for IBCoMagazine, the IBCoMers decided to reveal the secret behind the carpet. “The Mystery of the Rug” Nora was doing a photography course, and one of her assignments was to create an illusion picture. So they decided to turn the room upside down. So they put posters on the floor, they found a carpet in the house so hung it on the wall and put the couch upside down, put plate and cups on the rug itself and tried to create the illusion. Nora took out the ladder, climbed up there and tried to angle the heavy camera straight in order the perspective to be accurate. At the end, the plates and cups fell off, but the mega ultra double-sided tape kept the rug from falling, hence it stayed there forever…

P.S. The pink melted thing that doesn’t look like anything anymore, was caused by hot dim sum which was being steamed but then just happen to melt through the plastic at the end. Hence, the pink meltovers.

Casa Belleboys

(originally from: their street Bellevoystraat; also, Belle (fr. feminine adjective for ‘beautiful’), boy (eng. ‘boy’) hence Marie Julie representing the Belle and boys representing the boys)

Members: Balder (Dutch), Thijs (Dutch), Sami (Moroccan/Iraqi), Marie Julie (Dutch) Moved in: September, 2013 Memorable house story: “The Government visit” “The Government visit” On a quiet Thursday evening, there was a man in front of their door. It was dinner time, and Belleboys had friends over, so it was slightly hectic. But the man asked if he could come in, and when Thijs agreed, he saw around five people behind the man coming into their house, and some of them were policemen. While they were walking up the stairs, Thijs was trying to run over everything he did wrong in his life. Luckily, that wasn’t the case, since the men explained to the Belleboys that they are living in a special area, where families have more of a right to live here as compared to students, since they seek for sustainable households. The men said that only two people could live in this house. They left later on and called Belleboys two weeks later stating that they can stay living together as it is now, since IBCoMers can be regarded as a family since he saw them “truly living together” as they were constantly cooking and spending time together. One other thing he mentioned was that you cannot lock the doors to the bedrooms, because apparently that is not what families do…

GerPoly

(originally from: nationalitites in the house - German, Poland, Italy)

Members: Karolina (Polish), Marta (Polish), Joanna (Polish), Nora (German) Moved in: September, 2012 Memorable house story: At first, Karolina and Marta moved into the apartment. A year went by before Joanna and Nora joined them and assembled the GerPoly “The Pets“ The girls are currently living with an Italian guy, who once notified the girls that he bought a pet for the house and it is a surprise. The roommate came out with a big rabbit, unfortunately not a live one. The rabbit was without any fur, with a head and ears, just like it’s supposed to be… This made Joanna extremely frustrated, since she’s very strangely not used to seeing dead animals put in front of her face... Later on the roommate decided to entertain the IBCoM girls even more by chopping off its head. To make it even more of a show, he put it in a transparent box and kept it in their freezer. So every time Marta, Nora, Karolina or Joanna want to grab ice cubes or their frozen pizza, they can stare at the eyes of the rabbit. Literally. The Italian roommate really likes to ‘entertain’ the IBCoM girls, since other time, he brought a dead bird into the house, because rabbit was obviously not enough. So basically, the IBCoM girls are living with a guy who’s scaring them constantly with dead animals.

So these are a couple of examples from many, what IBCoM can truly be. All the cheesiness aside, we are people living in a community. More or less everyone knows each other and you won’t come into a lecture hall without saying dozens of hi, couple of hugs here and there and as we just noticed you might as well leave the lecture with your classmates and on the way home try to decide what’s for dinner.

The IBCoM

outside of IBCoM by Rei Raksanugraha & Nour Abdul-Hadi Haba

If you believe that university life is all about spending the passing days doing nothing but going to classes and handing in assignments in between your amazing night life, there is something you are doing wrong. IBCoM is not all about lamenting over the multiple choice chance correction and paper deadlines; it also offers a diverse variety of extracurricular activities to decorate your resume in the future - something we all should be looking into! To give you an idea of what amazing things you could be doing instead of watching reruns of and making alternate fanfiction endings to How I Met Your Mother, IBCoMagazine has asked several of our fellow students to tell you a little bit about the IBCoM outside of IBCoM.

IBCoMmunity: Sammy Rose

„During my first year in Rotterdam, IBCoM provided me a ‘second home’. This is why I joined IBCoMmunity, to strengthen this feeling even more for myself, but also for my fellow peers. We have a lovely team working together on fun activities, and are currently working on the IBCoM Awards, which will take place on 1st May in the Paviljoen. We want to host the best IBCoM Awards ever, so we are sticking our heads together and are working really hard to pull this off!”

IBCoM Ambassador: Jason Caesar Teetz „I first wanted to become an ambassador because I was very happy with IBCoM and wanted to share my experience with others (which also relates to why I wanted to become an IBCoMpanion). Secondly, I love giving presentations and having personal interaction with people. It builds confidence and I can refine my abilities to promote and appeal to target audiences. To do this as an ambassador seemed like the perfect opportunity to work on exactly that skill. It has added so much value to my study experience in that I have had the opportunity to travel around the Netherlands and help people see what IBCoM is all about. Also, I have been able to meet some fantastic people from other faculties, as you often travel and work with different ambassadors.”

IBCoMpanion: Wendy Steenbergen „As an IBCoMpanion, you engage in a lot of different activities like going on a big boat in Rotterdam to have a drink, Bootcamp (which I unfortunately couldn’t join) and a scavenger hunt. It is a great chance to get to know the first years, connect with them on a more meaningful level, and it brings you closer to the community. It also felt good to help out in this way, especially because first years are always quite clueless. The tips we now take for granted are really useful to them and discussing how things are going with everybody also helps.”

IBCoMagazine: Gaffar Rampage „Rebuilding IBCoMagazine from scratch was a challenge, right from the beginning. Thankfully though, we were able to recruit an enthusiastic bunch of students and were strongly supported by the programme (special thanks to Brenda, Emma and Johannes!). In less than a year, we managed to establish a regular publication for IBCoM, and there can only be greater things ahead. It has been an extremely rewarding experience leading the team and running the programme‘s magazine, and not forgetting: great experience for the future!”

IBCoM Honours Programme: Lisa Unterreiner

„The Honours Programme is special because it provides an opportunity to dig deeper into the field of communication and media and link it with other topics, such as politics and security. You get the chance to meet media experts and experienced researchers who can provide a useful network of contacts and provide feedback about any inquiries. The Honours Programme is not just about theory, but also teaches us how to apply this theory and adapt it to a specific media sector.”

Faculty Council: Marike Abrahamse „The faculty council allows you to apply your communication skills, mostly political communication skills. It is about negotiation, diplomacy and critical thinking. We represent the IBCoM students as well as the whole faculty. This year we have had a very busy year because the history department is reorganising. We had to advise the board on their plan (which is almost complete) and eventually give consent to the final reorganisation plan. One of the greatest benefits is how it shows the ways organisations are composed and governed.”

Course and Year Representatives IBComagazine has already covered the course and year representatives in our previous issues (#2 and #3), so check them out when you have the time! These are but a few of the possible things you could be doing to contribute to the IBCoM programme or Erasmus University, and many more have yet to be explored! We hope that these testimonies help in motivating you to join an extracurricular activity (or two — or three!) next year. Just remember, the application deadlines for most activities are coming up this month, so keep your eyes peeled!

The

Internship By Bilal Kabdani

Everyone should have at least had one, possibly more; some people opt to build a living on doing them (yes, really). It is part of the IBCoM curriculum. It is part of life. It is part of the dictionary. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson starred in a movie about it last year (ranks on the same level as Adam Sandler’s work for me, so is it really a movie or just a series of visual images?). It is the title of this article. It is going to hit you sooner or later. Hard. In the face. It is ‘the internship.’ I hear you thinking. ‘What is so special about an internship?’ ‘What is he on about?’ ‘Why am I still reading this absolute garbage?’ Well, you are probably still reading this because a) you have got nothing better to do, b) because you think this is actually quite entertaining or c) all of the above. Let me tell you a bit about ‘the internship’ though – why do I make such a big deal out of it? The answer is not so easy to describe. ‘The internship’ is something that comes along once in a while; it is an opportunity to get out there in the world of people who work and do stuff (or in some cases pretend really well that they do stuff). It is an opportunity to work on your CV and build that solid base for a future career. It is an opportunity to really showcase your skills in a serious environment (skills might include making copies, getting coffee and showing the computer-illiterate colleague how to navigate to their inbox). ‘Is that all?’ There is more. ‘The internship’ will provide you with the title of ‘intern’. Interns have a reputation all around the globe. You can join cool LinkedIn groups for interns (and update your current job whilst legitimately including the word ‘intern’). You will proudly wear shirts that say ‘Earning and Interning #livingthelife’. You will be able to share cool stories at the coffee machine in the morning and tell your interested colleagues how fantastic the new Game of Thrones episode was (only to find out they have not seen it yet and you know have a target on your back). ‘And?’ Well then, the best thing about being an intern? You can royally screw up. Like seriously, it does not matter whether you actually have a clue on what you are doing or not – you are the intern. They simply expect you to screw up - sometimes they even want you to screw up. ‘So tell me, Boris, how is that $25k deal coming along?’ Yeah about that boss, the deal kind of did not come along.. ‘That’s fine man, they weren’t worth it anyways. Now go get me some coffee.’ See? Absolute paradise. If you manage to not screw up, they’ll look at you like you’re some kind of genius and it’s a win-win situation for everyone. ‘Meh.’ Still not convinced? Well, I’m afraid I can’t help you any further then. You probably also reuse your tea bags four times you ignorant piece of sh- ahem, thanks for reading!

The City of Istanbul by Ruta Ziabkute

100 Euro Experiment

"The Best Things in Life are Free” or “How to Live on €100 a Month” By Margarita (Daisy) Kovalchuk

Day 1 Have just split the budget into 4 equal parts of 25 Euro a week and already started to miss the good times when I was lugging heavy bags full of goods and going out to all of the trendy places in R- and A- dam Day 6 Have been eating the same soup for a week. It is time to look for a plan B- find a way to live a full life with empty pockets! Oh God, I am literally hypnotizing the calendar, begging it to change the date faster Day 10 Even though I have a veeery tight budget, I don‘t want to feed my tummy turn with extra cheap junk food this month- only healthy food! Now, I go to the open market and make friends with the grocery mafia“ and get discounts for fresh veggies and fruits, yeaay!

Day 12 Someone once said that “life is not only about parsimony and humility.” I thought and tempted fate by going to Amsterdam by train for free (got a HUGE fine on the way back!). I also printed out a free-entranc e ticket to the Van Gogh Museum for visitors less than 17 years old, which actually worked well for a girl who still looked like a high school student :) Day 14 To make experiment days feel shorter (a.k.a. to have less thoughts about spending the money I do not possess), I fill my timetable with various activities that were

Most student guides say that 350 euros (excluding housing) is a modest budget that assumes various menu and a decent degree of going-out spending for a month. But I dared to challenge this statement: by at least trying and maybe even enjoying an experiment… to survive the twenty-eight days of February with only 100 Euros in my pocket! BEWARE: think twice before replicating this experiment. Side effects: hungry look by the end, a habit of coming forward when you hear “free” as if it is your last name, hands-bound feeling, and helplessness when facing the calendar that doesn’t change dates faster no matter how much you beg it.

absolu tely free: salsa trial-le ssons and Dutch langua ge course s (http:/ /yousingrc cg.weebly.com /free-d utch-le ssons. html)! Day 16 Here has come the day when an empty fridge is no longer a surpris e. Friend s are sharin g meals with me, and roomie s keep wonde ring who advise d me such a severe diet.. :) Day 18 After 1.5 hours of completing survey s (5 euro reward for each) in the Erasmus Behavi oral Lab I see a 20 euro reward on my bank account! Day 19 My wallet is the most aband oned thing in the world ‘cause I do not even look into it when it’s not urgent . No joke-10 ,42 euro left and 8 days to go! Day 20 For a coffee- and chocoh olic with no budget for these guilty pleasu res, the experime nt turned into suffering. But I manag ed to find alternatives: free trial of luxurio us Nespre sso coffee in Bijenkorf and Media markt, and unlimit ed amount of milk chocolate offered in Douwe Egberts (Rotte rdam Centra l, NOT Blaak! ) Day 28 Feel thrilled when I hear the long-a waited noise of the cash machine countin g my money for a new month! The experiment is over, and I am a free man again!

Carnival, Alaaf! by Anne van Rozendaal

From the second until the fourth of March this year – the cities in the south of The Netherlands were not what they usually are… Under different names; filled with hundreds of people in costumes; typical music; parades; colours and festivities – the region celebrated its annual ‘Carnival’. Initially, Carnival is a Catholic celebration, taking place before the abstention period, which lasts until Easter. Nevertheless, nowadays many non-religious enthusiastics also celebrate Carnival. These included some of our IBCoMmers too!

Smilla Balletto Have you ever celebrated Carnival before? Yes, I have, though not in the Netherlands. Most of my life, I celebrated it in Panama. This year I went to Roosendaal and Breda and I was really surprised by the joyful vibe and the crazy costumes, especially because when I was leaving Rotterdam, my friends and I were basically the only ones in the city who were dressed up in a costume! How did you experience the festivities this year? The people we encountered were in a cheerful and happy mood, always open to strike a conversation. I dressed up as Minnie Mouse and did my make-up accordingly. At the beginning I was a little worried that I might be silly, but as I arrived I was happy to see that people really go all out for this occasion. The cities are really different during this festivity. I noticed that the South is much more into it, but it stopped before Rotterdam, to my surprise. My favourite thing about Carnival is definitely the light and easy mood that exists and I also really like that there were people of all ages basically behaving the same way and enjoying this colourful holiday!

Hannah Ohm Thomas Have you ever celebrated Carnival before? This is the second time. Last year, the girls and I went to Germany. Both this year and last year, we went to both Cologne and Dusseldorf. These cities take Carnival very seriously; it’s an important celebration! How did you experience the festivities this year? I have never seen so many drunk people out in a city all my life. Still, everyone is happy, everybody is singing and having a lot of fun! This year, I dressed up as a Grecian! I love the fact that everyone dresses up and puts so much effort into the celebration. There aren’t many other countries that have something similar.

Jeroen Keij

Have you ever celebrated Carnival before? I’ve been celebrating carnival for about 5 years now. At first, I really wasn’t into it but once I just tried and went for it and really liked it! Since then I celebrate carnival in Eindhoven every year. Carnaval is not celeberated on fixed dates every year; it changes every year based on when Easter is celebrated. This year it fell early in March, which is actually quite late. Actually I enjoy it more when its later because the weather is better and the days last longer. This year I could celebrate outside without being cold. Also, good weather creates a good vibe; everyone has nicer costumes and is way more happy!

How did you dress up? I dressed up as Fred Flinstone. It’s a very easy costume as it is mainly a bearskin but everybody recognises it and likes it. I also brought a big foam-bone with me and somehow everyone around me ended up taking bites out of it, and it was entirely consumed after three days. That’s also the nice part of Carnival. You don’t know how it is going to end. On a normal night out, people party in groups, going somewhere based on their interests and music taste. During Carnival, everybody mixes and you can party all night with people whom you would not even talk to on a regular night out. Everybody is equal and everyone enjoys!

Fanny Batmale

Have you ever celebrated Carnival before? No, this year was my first time. I expected it to be a big party with people drinking and partying four days long. I wanted to celebrate my first time properly, so I went to Den Bosch, which is called ‘Oeteldonk’ during carnival. In the train to Den Bosch, we were the only ones that were dressed up. Clearly, Carnival is not so much a Rotterdam thing but more something of the South. How did you experience Carnival? I really liked it! Of course it is difficult to know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a lot of fun to see all people going crazy. I dressed up as an Albert Heijn employee and I received a lot of positive comments! Nobody dressed up like this and everybody recognised the uniform. During the day we celebrated Carnival on the streets and at night we went to several bars.

Smartphones: the end of civilization? By Stijn van VenrooiJ

Imagine an average tutorial break. What is the first thing you do? Exactly, you reach out for your phone to see if there are any new emails, WhatsApp messages, tweets or freshly posted status updates. Apparently, it is socially accepted, because everyone does it. However, more and more people claim we are ‘addicted’ to our electronic devices. Is this true, and should we start freaking out? And what options do we have for going into smartphone-rehab?

Stop Phubbing (stopphubbing.com) According to the Stop Phubbing campaign, we are all guilty of ignoring people because they are far less interesting than our phones. The campaign paints quite a dystopian picture of the future (‘the night was dark, the wolves were howling and inside… there was a couple that only spoke through Snapchats’ – the horror!) and calls for action: vote against phubbing celebrities, stage an intervention, or shame a notorious phubber by uploading an embarrassing picture. The website sure looks cool, but is the campaign really effective? Nah, by claiming our current behaviour could be ‘the end of civilization’, they lose some credibility. But judging Justin Bieber as being a bad role model because he ditches Selena to focus on his phone is always fun.

Retreived from: http://stopphubbing.com/

Mobielloze Zondag (www.mobiellozezondag.nl) On the 23rd of February, mobile provider Ben decided to coin Mobielloze Zondag, or cell phone free Sunday. By having all of us turn off our smartphones, Ben wanted to make us aware of our phone usage. Nice try, but the fact that the masterminds behind this are dependent on us using our phones is a bit contradictory, and therefore it was clearly only a publicity stunt. And maybe for next year, it is a good idea for the founder of this project to not pick up her phone when she gets a call from a Dutch radio station on Mobielloze Zondag. You know, credibility-wise and such.

Unicef Tap Project (uniceftapproject.org) Okay, so maybe we tend to get less social because of our phones. But is that really the biggest problem the world is dealing with right now? The answer is, of course, no. To experience what it is like to miss something you need, Unicef asked us to do without our phones and think about children in third world countries that also really need something: water. For every ten minutes that you did not touch your phone, a child got clean water for one day. Unfortunately, the actual project ended already, but you can still donate support by ignoring your phone. And, if you want to cheat: the website also works on tablets.

Cold turkey So it appears there arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really any good options at the moment to detox from those little addictive things with thousands of apps and selfie cams. But then what? Just going cold turkey â&#x20AC;&#x201C; switching it off? Sounds impossible, but I tried and it is actually not that bad. Sure, at first you get a minor heart attack every time you reach for your pocket and notice something is missing. But after a while, you get used to that. Admittedly, it was not like I was completely socially isolated since I still had my computer. But still, when the clock struck midnight, meaning I was allowed back into the world of WhatsApp and Snapchat again, I barely felt the urge to. In fact, I quite enjoyed the tranquillity of this little experiment.

So what is the moral of the story? Maybe we are indeed slightly addicted to our smartphones. Fortunately, it is not too late for us to save civilization. Use that off-switch every now and then. But wait, not too often. Perks of being a media and communication student: you are allowed to be on Facebook all day long.

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and see you next year!

ÂŠ2013/2014