Eindhoven University of Technology: Experiences like these are worth more than gold

No long-dreamed-of high school prom. No hangover cocktail of exhaustion and satisfaction after an intense Introweek. No first lectures in big imposing halls, surrounded by others finding their feet in this new phase of their lives. Just you try it, in the midst of a pandemic, swapping your life as a high schooler for student life and facing the – quite literally – remote possibility of finding your way under such difficult circumstances. Three first-years tell us about the start of their TU/e university careers.

Originally, she thought she was looking at a couple of months of online lessons. Then, better late than never, she would be allowed onto the campus and start meeting new people. “But clearly that didn’t happen,” says first-year Laure Vissers, looking back. Her feeling of regret is shared by another first-year, Sarp Değer. “Even the best online education is still online education.” And so he prefers to come to campus as often as possible. “If I had wanted to study at home, I would have stayed in Turkey.”

Colin Claessen, who de-enrolled as a TU/e student midway through his first year, has found a silver lining to even the doubts and setbacks of the corona crisis. “Experiences like these are worth more than gold. At any rate, I wouldn’t trade them for anything.”