Omdat Advanced Technology vanaf september 2010 een Engelstalige studie is, heb ik alvast een klein voorproefje over mijzelf in het Engels geschreven.

Hi, my name’s Monique Parfitt and I’m a second-year Advanced Technology student. I used to live in Heemstede, a town near Haarlem, but when I realised Advanced Technology was the perfect degree programme for me, I decided to move to Enschede. Now I live in a big student house on campus. Sixteen of us live together in the flat, all of us students of different ages and doing various degrees.

Maybe you’re wondering what made me choose Advanced Technology and not one of the other degree programmes in Enschede, or maybe even somewhere else! Well, I really couldn’t find the right programme for me when I was at secondary school. I ordered loads of different kinds of brochures of almost every programme you can imagine, but I just couldn’t find ‘the one’. I liked them all, but there was never that spark of recognition that made me think ‘this is it for me’. So I had to limit my demands, but I wasn’t capable of doing this on my own. So, my parents sent me off to do a test which would give me recommendations about what kind of studies would suit me, on the basis of my capabilities and interests. The test results indicated that there wasn’t anything specific that I really liked, but there were some things I disliked. The results recommended I do something technical, because apparently – even though my grades in secondary school didn’t reflect this – I’m technically-minded. So, I started to look at different technical degree programmes, but they all specialised right from the start…

So, then I went to a so-called ‘meeloopdag’ (orientation day) at Technical Medicine. I liked it, because I’d always been fascinated by the human body, but I still wasn’t entirely sure. I wanted to take another look at Twente University, but I decided to have a look at a different programme, in this case, Advanced Technology. And then it happened, the spark that ignited the flame! On the one hand, it’s a very technical degree, and almost every kind of technical aspect is covered. On the other hand, some technical issues are also presented from a social perspective. So, you learn about technologies and you get loads of maths and physics. But you also get courses which teach you how to implement technology in society, or even how to set up your own business if you develop a new technology! The combination of technical and social courses and the broad, yet consolidated approach to almost everything was perfect for me, because I just wanted to learn about everything!

So that’s how I ended up here. I absolutely love it and it’s exactly what I expected! Now then, what do my days look like…?

Every day, I get up in time for my lectures, sometimes they start at the nightmare time of 8.45 a.m., but if I’m lucky I get to sleep a little bit longer. Then at lunchtime, I either eat with my friends in the faculty cafeteria or I go home and have lunch with my housemates. In the afternoon, I either go to a lecture, or if I’m off that afternoon, I do something else. Sometimes, when exams are coming up, I just study until dinner and then get back to work after dinner again. But when the pressure isn’t on, there are loads of other things to do. Boring things like the laundry or clearing up your room, or fun things like watching movies, going shopping or playing sports.

After dinner, there’s still so much to do at the university! I have band practice on Monday night and a dancing-class on Thursday night. I’m in the band 'Ciska de Rat' and we play ska music. But there’s something for everybody: there are heavy metal bands, but there’s also an orchestra and a choir. And if your kind of music isn’t there yet, you just start your own band!

As for the dancing, I joined the association S.D.V. Chassé, where we do jazz- dance. Every Thursday night, we practise for an hour at the sports centre on campus. Chassé was only founded this year, because the girls in the Chassé board thought it was a pity there was no jazz-dance association yet. That’s what’s so amazing about the sporting facilities at the university: almost every sport you can imagine is already offered and if it isn’t yet, you can just set up an association yourself!