Dearest SIBlings,
In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I hope you all had a week full of love, especially with the addition of the fantastic Valentine’s surprises, organised by lovely KEIcie! If you didn’t have such a loving week here’s a nice song that always makes me feel better. The board has also linked some of their favourite love-related songs a bit further down if you need some music inspo!
Last Monday, the 13th of February, we will have a lecture organised by the lovely dipsuut Mancala! Drs. Arjan van Houwelingen discussed the development of board games and his experience in the field. He even showcased his new game GRUNN, where players can build their own Groningen! Dr Arjan was even kind enough to donate one of his games to the SIB and even taught our members how to play! It was great seeing so many of you play together and get so invested in the game.
This week we also had Accie’s first lecture! Taking place at Land van Kokanje, the Accie invited the wonderful Darja Stomatová to speak on her experiences in Kharkiv and her perspective on the war as a journalist. This interactive lecture was incredibly informative and moving and we are very grateful to her for sharing. It was lovely that so many of you stayed afterwards to have a drink to speak with her further.
This week we are officially starting the hunt for our successors. If you are interested in applying for the 77th Board of SIB-Groningen, there are many opportunities to help you prepare! The first of which will be taking place this afternoon, as we will have extended open office hours. If you are curious about what we get up to on the lead-up to a Monday night or what being on the board entails (or just to capitalise on the free snacks and hot chocolate ;)), be sure to come down. For the rest of that week, office hours will return to normal, but you are more than welcome to come by and ask us whatever you please about board life. This is only the first board interest day so if you cannot come then, we will organise further opportunities for you to express your interest.
Later on today (Monday the 20th of February), we will be having a lecture by Julian Bushof, a local from Groningen who will be discussing this experience as a young politician and how he manages to be a student on top of being active in the political sphere, he is open to debating topics that interest students so be sure to come on down for a drink! Following this lecture dispuut Bebo will be having their Lustrum party! To celebrate 5 years of Bebo, Bebo is celebrating with a 5th birthday party, so come dressed up however you would go to a 5-year-old’s birthday party (pirate, unicorn, cat, clown, MILF, etc). There will be minigames. There will be candy. There might even be a face-painting station! It is sure to be a good time so come on down and support Bebo!
Next week we will be having a lecture called “Ukraine: World’s Testing Ground for Military Robots by Wim Zwijnenburg and Dr Kristian Gustafson who will will contextualize the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The focus of this lecture will be the implications of robotics usage within such modern warfare. With a historic view, the rise of the technologies are taken into account, delving into the impacts on various actors (national and international), international rights and more.
Additionally, as you may know, we recently announced the destination of this year’s SIB trip! I hope you are all as excited as we are to visit beautiful Bulgaria and the terrific Türkiye for 12 days. If you would like the chance to go on this fantastic trip, a coveted position has opened up so act fast and you can sign up here!
We also have SIB merch available for sale! We offer hoodies, sweaters, ties, pins and caps. They are very stylish and suitable for any occasion (especially SIB trips) so be sure to check them out!
Did you know the SIB exists in four cities in the Netherlands? If you’d like to learn more about SIB across the Netherlands and our lovely sister associations, click here to check out SIB-NL’s Website.
Furthermore, we are heartbroken to hear about the devastating impact of the earthquakes that took place in Türkiye and Syria earlier this week. If you would like to support these people in need, please consider donating by clicking here, or here
Looking forward to seeing you on Monday
Lots of love