During the official opening of the Intro the TU/e student federations were given the opportunity to present themselves. In a tearing rush the intro attendants were informed about everything that the Federation of Study Associations Eindhoven, Eindhoven Students Sports Federation, Compositum, Scala and the student teams have to offer them for the coming years.

This week is seeing altogether some 2,200 first-year students reconnoitering the campus and Eindhoven’s city center, including some 460 foreign Bachelor and Master students who started their Intro a week earlier. There is no lack of guides either: they number some 470.

The opening night was presented enthusiastically by the British stand-up comedian Adam Fields. All speakers had a very clear message: choose to have an active student life.

After this PhD student Robbie Willems, who is taking a PhD at Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, demonstrated six chemical tests on the stage. This resulted among other things in an explosion of ping-pong balls, he made snow, and by means of metal salts he changed the color of flames. He managed to hold the attention of a part of the audience, while others took it for granted as background noise to their own conversations.

Alderwoman Mary-Ann Schreurs did get everybody’s attention from the moment when she accepted a beer from an intro daddy. “Adje, adje”, the audience clamored. “In a minute”, she reacted, “first two more things. One: you create the future. And two: Don’t forget to party”. After this it took her three gulps to empty the plastic cup. Adam Fields: “Ha, this was not beer. This was the final experiment. Now Mary-Ann is going to explode.”

Then Stella arrives in the market square. The dean of the Bachelor College, Lex Lemmens, gets out and walks up to the microphone. “Even cooler than appearing on the scene in Stella, is a student who builds a car like it.” Which is another call for more activity than just attend lectures. And then, finally, after a report from the inevitable confetti cannon, nobody needs to listen anymore. The Cookies and Cream band gets the students to dance and Morello Twins concludes the opening.