“We call it love thy neighbor,” says one of the meat cooks turning the sausages on the barbecue outside Flux. “This dinner for MKO has been organized by the boards of Thor and Van der Waals for the master's students of Applied Physics, Electrical Engineering, and the new master's program in Artificial Intelligence and Engineering Systems. A grand total of 120."

One of whom is the Chinese student Yihui Luo. In his pale gray dress with a neat white collar he strolls over to the barbecue smiling, returning for a second helping. The future electrical engineer tells us happily that he is enjoying himself here in Eindhoven: “Everyone is so friendly and this university is so incredibly small. I did my bachelor's at one of China's biggest universities. There were six thousand students in my year group.”

Compact city

Behind him, over at the pond, are sitting four students of Computer Science. Three already know each other from the TU/e Intro back when they started their bachelor's, and one is a new arrival from Albania. He is Fjord Llagami (on the right in the main photo). He chose TU/e for his master's because four friends from Tirana had already paved the way. “Over the past couple of years, Eindhoven has become a popular destination for Albanians,” he says. This, he thinks, is because the entry requirements at TU/e are not so high. “Completing this master's is going to be harder than starting it.” For the time being, Llagami is still confident and pleased that he has come to Eindhoven. Through Vestide, he found himself a room on Hemelrijken and realizes he's been lucky. “For me, the city too is perfect; I can find everything here that I need, and I can get everywhere by bike.”

Read on below the photo.

This compactness prompts Elina Papastamou to call Eindhoven a ’15-minute city’. “Work, stores, everything is reachable within a quarter of an hour, thanks to the good infrastructure here,” she says on the Koeveld, with a view of Vertigo. “One of the stunning buildings on this campus,” says Papastamou. The built environment student is still trying to find a secondhand bike that isn't too big for her. But she's very enthusiastic about the buses in Eindhoven. “In the Netherlands I can build on my Greek training as an architectural engineer. I didn't choose TU Delft because I heard it's more difficult to get into and that studying there is more stressful.”

The internationals Luo, Llagami and Papastamou all have the same answer when asked what their career plan is. “I may follow this up with a PhD or look for work here.” Llagami has an alternative: “I can also go back to Tirana and teach computer science.”

Read on below the photo.

Pre-master's

Seated between the pond and MetaForum are six Dutch students enjoying the barbecue provided by GEWIS. They are all pre-master's students, on the four programs at Computer Science, who have come along to MKO today. “I heard that some students are giving this MKO a miss because of the train strike,” says Chiem Stevens. He himself has come by car from Breda and he feels it's a shame he couldn't come by train. “I'm not drinking any beer now, but that would have added to the fun.” At any rate, he thinks this first MKO day is a success. “There are a lot more different sorts of people here than at the Avans in Breda. It's great to meet lots of internationals.”

With him in the group is Ties Tienhoven, from the same university of applied sciences. “This university seems so big to me. A single building here is bigger than all the five buildings there in Breda.” Lars Versteeg, who did his preparatory training in Utrecht, adds: “Compared with the Uithof it's so green here. Even now with the grass yellow from the drought.”

Pizza party

The study association attached to Industrial Design did not choose to throw a barbecue. Their forty participants were served pizza in the Lucid bar in Atlas. Afterwards, seven Chinese, two Dutch and a Greek are sitting in a group, playing with a pack of cards specially designed for Lucid members. They call the game ‘liegen’ (lying) and it isn't a typically Chinese game, nor a typically Lucid game, but it is fun.