Her name suggests Dutch roots, but she is not sure about that. “Although my parents did speak Dutch at home, that's changed over the years,” says the South African Marinda Boshoff (18). The first-year student of Sustainable Innovation, who has been living on the eighth floor of Luna for the past few months, got off to a flying start on the TU/e campus.

In fact, she landed at Eindhoven Airport just one day before her study program started. “Yes, it was pretty hectic,” admits Marinda laughing. All her things were already here; she had left them in storage when she came for entrance exams, which did not turn out as she had hoped. “To be admitted to the Electrical Engineering program, I needed a pass in both mathematics and physics. I didn't manage the physics. Then I chose to do Sustainable Innovation instead, and so far I am really enjoying it. But perhaps I will still switch to my first choice, because I like working with both hardware and software, and I can see good career opportunities for myself in that field.”

She chose Eindhoven because the idea of studying in new surroundings appealed to her. “Not only is the Netherlands a foreign country to me, but this is also the first time I have lived on my own. At home, someone else does my washing and cooks my meals, and now I have to do all that myself. But I’m quickly getting used to it. Although I sometimes really miss my parents and younger sister, I love living in my own place. What is great about this campus is that everything is so nice and compact and it’s easy to find your way around.”

Some people she has not yet seen are her neighbors, mainly men. “That is probably because the communal rooms aren’t yet ready. But I know a lot of people through my study program, and they also live in this building. And I’ve met a great girl, one of about eight who are also studying Sustainable Innovation. But we have not yet done much together. I first want to get through to the end of the year, get a bit more used to things, and I also have a lot of studying to do.”

Marinda is amazed by the public transport in her new home city. “You can take a bus or train to anywhere. You can’t in South Africa, there you really need a car. I also find it remarkable that everyone leaves their possessions here unguarded and they aren’t stolen in the first five minutes. And recently we had a bizarre experience in a restaurant. When we wanted to settle the bill, our bank cards didn’t work. To which the waitress said that we should just come back tomorrow and pay in cash. That was really amazing.”