Nederlands
Quite often, I get asked by my friends and colleagues about what I do with my day now that I am a member of the University Council. I find this question difficult to answer in just a sentence or two, since often I have to do a wide variety of activities within the same day, and any brief explanation inevitably becomes abstract. This is why I decided to take the waking hours of a single day from my agenda, and describe the highlights with a few sentences each. Enjoy!
It is 08:15 on a Wednesday morning. I am on my bike on the way to Albert Heijn to buy breakfast for the whole faction. In half an hour we will all be in our office, and before we start our 4-hour long meeting, we always take 15 minutes to talk about our everyday, and to get in the right mindset for work. All this while enjoying a warm cup of coffee with our breakfast.
At 09:00 sharp, the actual meeting begins. The agenda is long, since this is the Wednesday before the University Council meeting with the Board of Directors (to learn about the cycle of the meetings, check the story Rowanne wrote about a day of her life a year ago: http://tinyurl.com/jazhm5a). We make sure that everyone has completed their tasks since our previous meeting by going through them one by one.
Once this is done, we go through the documents that stand on the agenda of the University Council for the next day. Everyone has read these carefully, and has written down their remarks for each document. We are discussing things ranging from the University’s policy towards refugee students, to the Strategic Plan of the UG over the next 5 years!
It is around 11:30, and the discussion is heated. We need to be coherent, and unanimous when we state our position in the meeting tomorrow. The press will be there, and they are most likely going to write about what we are currently discussing. Our whiteboard is full with graphs, describing possible scenarios, and two of us are calling their contacts in different faculties to ask for their opinion. After all, our role is to represent the members of their associations. In the next 30 minutes, the storm has passed, and we have reached a conclusion which everyone is happy with.
I have to leave now, because at 13:00 I have a meeting together with Celiné – one of the board members of ESN, and Jort – the Student Assessor of the University Board. We are discussing the final stages of a plan, supposed to help international students coming to Groningen have a more positive experience during their first weeks in the city. The meeting is short, and efficient. Soon we have finalized the documents, and we have sent them to the responsible parties.
Every Wednesday from 14:00 until 15:30 Lijst Calimero organizes an Open Hour, where any student is welcome do drop by and share ideas or problems with us over a warm cup of coffee or tea. This week, it is my turn to be present at the office. I always like being in the office during the Open Hours, because it is a very useful way to hear the problems of students, and think together with them for possible solutions.
It is 15:11 in the afternoon. One of my responsibilities in Calimero is to keep up the Facebook page interesting and useful for all our followers. I used few of the spare minutes during the Open Hour to let everyone know that we are organizing a special edition of our Think Tank – this time for international students. I created a Facebook event, made a cover photo for it, and posted it on our wall. It later turned out to be a great success!
It is half past 3, and I actually have some free time! Whenever this happens, I get the stack of articles out of my backpack and I pick the one which sounds the most interesting. After all, I am trying to graduate this year, and this means I have to keep up with my courses besides working with Lijst Calimero.
Time flies, and before I know it is already nearing 7 PM. The University Council is not only about work, it is also about having fun with the people you meet there. Tonight we are having a dinner with the whole Faculty Council of the GMW – my own faculty! After a delicious meal (and a few beers) in one of Groningen’s restaurants, we are making jokes, and having a silly talk about the future of student politics at the RUG.
It is after 10 o’clock in the evening, and the temptation to go to the city for a night out is high, but we have to be responsible. After all, the University Council meeting takes place the next day, and we have to stay sharp for many hours straight. It has been fun, but it is time to go home…