❤️ AM love stories ❤️
We often hear that many lifelong friendships are formed during one's studies at UT. It's not just friendships, but also relationships that start at UT. In this Valentine's Day post, you can read how Tineke and Oebele, Sietske and Floris, and Lavina and Jorg found each other.
Tineke Wiersma (AM'89) and Oebele Korvemaker (AM'91)
Tineke started her Applied Mathematics studies in 1984 and Oebele in 1985. After two years, Tineke chose the specialisation in Systems and Control Theory, while Oebele opted for the Economic Mathematics track, so they never actually sat in the same lectures. The connection arose through Abacus and the various activities organised within Applied Mathematics. Tineke was a member of the Abacus boards in 1986–1987 and 1987–1988 (red. Did you know that Tineke was the very first female chairperson of Abacus? Yes, indeed, in the 20th Board of '87-'88), and Oebele joined the Abacus board in 1988–1989. Through Abacus and Applied Mathematics activities, they got to know each other. From 1988 onwards, a shared group of friends formed, with more joint parties and activities. However, the spark really ignited in 1990, when Tineke had already graduated and started working at the University of Nijmegen, but still returned to Enschede regularly and received visits from friends in Nijmegen.
In 1991, Oebele graduated and moved in with Tineke. After Tineke accepted a position at TNO in Apeldoorn they moved there. A little later, Oebele also found a job in this city at Centraal Beheer. They got married in 1997 and in the same year their daughter was born. In 1999, their son was born as well, completing the family.
Since then, they have moved house a few times within Apeldoorn and changed jobs, and now they both work in Utrecht: Tineke at Rijkswaterstaat and Oebele at a.s.r. and they still party with their Applied Mathematics friends almost every year.
Sietske van der Honing (AM'17) and Floris Broekema (AM'15)
Floris started his studies in Applied Mathematics in 2009. In 2012 he was working as a Super Activist during the Kick-In, and he is convinced he handed Sietske her entrance bracelet. Sietske doesn't remember that part, but enjoyed the Kick-In and started her studies of Applied Mathematics.
During one night she was talking with her friend from the same year about the potential partners walking around Campus, and she mentioned that this one guy, Floris, had really amazing eyelashes. The next day, there was a poker tournament at Abacus, and after losing, Floris went to talk to Sietske and ended up on her lap. That evening ended at Sietske's doorstep trying to exchange numbers, however Floris just got a new (smart)phone so he didn’t know his number and couldn't save Sietske's either. All however turned out fine and they shared numbers later. Floris did convince one of his friends that the smartphone was the reason he landed a girlfriend. The truth is that Sietske didn't have one at that time either.
Floris and Sietske stayed together throughout their time at the UT, going long distance (Floris living in Amsterdam and Sietske in Enschede, but Japan (Sietske) was even further from Amsterdam (Floris)) and eventually ended up in Maarssen together. They got married in 2021 and are now expecting their first child this April! (Diana just found out about this when she got this message). Those friends we talked about in this message, Sietske still regularly enjoys a nice hike with her and Floris takes an annual ski trip with him. Love isn't only made romantically at the UT Applied Mathematics but also friendships are created that are made to last. We hope you'll enjoy all your relationships this Valentines day.
Lavinia Lanting (AM'25/EBW'25) and Jorg Gortemaker (AM'25)
Both Lavinia and Jorg started their studies in Applied Mathematics in 2018. Jorg had started at the University of Twente in 2017 to initially study Chemical Science and Engineering, but luckily switched to Applied Mathematics the year after, making meeting each other possible. Despite attending the same programme, it took a while for Lavinia and Jorg to meet, mostly because Jorg was not attending lectures and tutorials to begin with. Thankfully, destiny had plans of its own by placing them in the same project group. Lavina: “We officially met during our first project meeting, and I clocked Jorg instantly. As nerdy as they come, but also really funny. He was cute, and I could appreciate that he did not take himself overly seriously.” Jorg: “When I first met Lavinia, I never would have expected her to be interested in me at all. So romantically there was no immediate spark, but I liked spending time with her from day one.”
The spark was by no means instant. The two worked well together, but hardly hung out beyond that. A true friendship only started to form once the two discovered a shared passion for cinema. “The very first film we ever watched together was The Grand Budapest Hotel. That was the start of a beautiful friendship, crowned by many more films that flourished into hours of non-stop chatting.” Even still, it would take a while before either of them considered a relationship with the other. “The shift from a great friendship to having feelings for one another was very gradual and subtle. We didn’t really even realise it was happening until much later on.”
At the end of their first year, just before Lavinia left to go back to Italy for the holiday, both confessed their love for one another. The two were reunited as soon as Lavinia came back to Enschede, and have been together ever since. Throughout these 6.5 years together, Jorg and Lavinia have grown ever closer together. They now live happily together with their two cats, Wolf and Storm, sharing still their passion for cinema and their love for one another.
