The Hungarian Vera Kalocsai, a Master student of Innovation Management, still cannot help laughing. She overheard another student asking whether the Sports Center also provided curling lessons. And it definitely was not her, by the way. Although that would have been obvious, as she herself is one of the members of the Hungarian national curling team.

These are busy days for Kalocsai, who has to prepare for the the European Championship together with her team. Once the Olympics' season is over, she will stop and continue her study. Now she is continuously traveling up and down. “Whether I’m also going to go in for sports here? Not for the time being, that would be too much, but I rather like field hockey.” And who knows, curling in Eindhoven may still come off the ground. “We are looking at the possibilities, for instance by using the ice on which ice hockey is played.”

It is not very busy in hall 3 of the Sports Center, where the cultural and sports associations present themselves. Some students are still being shown round the building, while others are undergoing a tuberculosis test, the organization informs us.

Martien Verhoeven and Max van Luyken are doing the tour together. They both have the same story. So when we want to ask Max some questions, he says: “Well, everything is actually the same as for Martien.” They have completed the top program at Avans Institute of Higher Professional Education and are now going to study Innovation Management.

They are really enjoying themselves at the Master Kick-off. Martien: “Although I had expected more parties, working on the cases is also interesting and it’s fun to see so many international students here as well.” They are going to buy a sports card at any rate, though they have not decided yet which sport they will go in for. Martien: “I do fitness and I play volleyball and I’ve also played against Hajraa several times already.”

Panagiotis Stratidis is holding a folder of Alpine Sports Club ESAC. “I’ve always done a lot of climbing in Greece, but to be honest I had not expected there would be a climbing association here – in a country as flat as the Netherlands.”

This year was a first for the Master Kick-off. It started on Monday and yesterday was the final day. Some four hundred students took part altogether.