If you are new to Delft, it can be hard to find your way in the city. TU Delft, the Municipality of Delft and ACCESS organised the first ‘Welcome to Delft’ event last Friday where international employees could meet each other and get a lot of useful information.
"I will miss the mountains," says Janis Erdmans. (Photos: Roos van Tongeren)
The foyer in the old city hall fills with all kinds of people. More than half of the 45 internationals work for TU Delft. After a welcome speech by the deputy mayor, Ferrie Förster, and president of the executive board of TU Delft, Tim van der Hagen, there are a few presentations that give information about living in the Netherlands. The morning ends with a guided walk through the city centre and a cup of coffee.
“I am very happy with the result of this morning,” says Sara Veldhorst from TU Delft’s Coming to Delft Services. “We advertised via social media like LinkedIn and Twitter; put flyers at the city hall office; posted it on the websites of Delft, ACCESS and TU Delft; and we told the people in the employment interviews that this was happening. This is how we got a good attendance today. The speeches also went well. I think that there will be more events like this in the future.”
Janis Erdmans from Latvia
“I’m here for my PhD in Quantum Nano Science. I arrived on 1 August. It is nice to see people riding their bikes and how the city is planned – in Latvia we use cars a lot. Most of the food is nice, but the meat is really bad, that is way better in Latvia. I enjoy working here. My colleagues are nice and do interesting jobs which is very inspiring. In Latvia there is a lot more nature, like forests. I don’t know if I will stay longer after my PhD, I like mountains a lot and I think I will miss them too much.”
Julián Urbano from Spain
“I have lived in Delft since April. I work as assistant professor in Computer Science. The reason I came to Delft? I knew people here, I got a job here, and I like it here. Something I really like is the culture of equality, that a CEO talks to a cleaner. There are two big differences with Spain, and these are the food and the weather. Spain has a real food culture – I miss that a lot. The weather is not the best, but I thought it would be worse. You can have four seasons in one day: rain in the morning, sun in the afternoon and snow in the evening. From my office I can see beautiful clouds passing by.”
Dustin and Meg Laur from the USA
“We came to the Netherlands in January, and it snowed. January is not the best time to come and live in Delft from a foreign country. Everything starts in September. We thought we were well prepared, but when we came here, some things like arranging a bank account took more time than needed. We would like to stay in the Netherlands. It is nice that everything is very accessible, you can walk almost everywhere. Also, a lot of things are very old. In the States, a building from the 1800s is old, while in the Netherlands it can be from the 1200s!”
Heb je een vraag of opmerking over dit artikel?
delta@tudelft.nl
Comments are closed.