Today we get to interview another member for the 6th Get To Know (Me)mbers and we chose to interview Jesper van der Meer! Jesper has been a member of EOS for quite some time and is currently a general member of the Communication Congress Committee. We were curious about all his experiences with EOS. Read along to get to know Jesper a little bit better!
So, Jasper… Communication Congress Committee, that is pretty nice, but can you tell us; How long have you been a member at EOS?
“From 2018.”
That’s five years already, wow! So what do you think is so special about EOS? Why do you keep coming back?
“Firstly, it is a nice space to sit at the VU, because there is a lot of room always and the people are nice, always open, and always cozy. I have a lot of friends there so that is why I keep coming back. This year I did a committee with Berend, he is a friend of mine from last year from the Sports Committee and then Daniel is also a friend of mine. We wanted to be in a committee and because this is a new committee we thought it would be great to join.”
That sounds great! Do you feel like EOS as an association has implemented any new values for you or did you learn any new skills?
“Yeah, organizing events. I had no experience with that before, so I would say that is a skill I learned. Also to keep up with everything and keep everything in mind. Also, the social thing, to get to know people, in my Introduction Week, almost all the people from Communication Science went to EOS so we just had a great group of people, we would go to all the EOS events and later I would see them in the lecture halls so it was already a big friend group in the first week. That was great and they’re still my friends until now.”
That’s amazing. You said you were doing your second Master right now?
“Yeah, I am writing my thesis.”
You’re seeing the finish line?
“Well yeah, I’m a bit far still but yeah.”
How does it feel? All of this coming to an end?
“Well, I have done it before, I already finished my Masters and then I thought I was not sure what to do nor where to work, I don’t really like working haha. I didn’t feel I had enough practical knowledge so first I studied Communication Science and Marketing and now I am doing Communication Information, which is basically writing and translating. I don’t follow any translating courses though so it’s more every sort of communication, like writing things in an easy way like putting it on blogs, etc. I think that will help me in the future with my work so that is why did not just start working right after the previous Master. But I’m glad I’m almost finished, I feel like I’ve studies long enough now hahaha.
You had enough? Any plans for the future?
“First, I want to go on a road trip and after I would like to continue with other wild trips, my main hobby is traveling so I want to get all of Europe done. So hopefully having traveled to every country and then I will work.”
How many countries have you already traveled to?
“42… no 43 I think.”
43 countries out of the whole world? That is insane… Which one was your favorite?
That is a very hard question since you can’t really compare them and of course, I haven’t been to everything. But so far, the biggest cultural difference was Japan and I really like the country and the people as well… maybe food-wise Vietnam or Greece, but I think my overall favorite is Japan.”
Greek food is amazing I agree with that. Coming back to studies, what challenges have you encountered after your long education?
“I’m not someone who really has a lot of challenges, in the way that everything goes quite easy. I’m pretty lucky with everything. Not only study-wise, but also the support from my parents, friends, and my education before so I think that I did not have many challenges actually. I am quite a procrastinator with my studies and my thesis; I should be working on it right now, but I think I will always manage a way to get a 7 or 8 haha. So, I don’t think im the person you can talk to about challenges, I think.”
Do you have any advice as a senior student?
“Relax, relax sometimes, because you will get there, and if you don’t get there then what? You can do it next year. Being stressed is not great for you, so just chill sometimes, free time is the best time.”
That’s great advice. Let’s come back to EOS for a little bit… you’re in the Communication Congress Committee right now, but what other committees have you ben a part of within EOS?
“So, first I started in the Media Committee, and Yearbook. We made the Instagram posts, the Facebook posts, and then we made a great yearbook, it was called “EOScars” based on the film prices. Then, the year after I was in the Bachelor Committee with Daniel as a chair, we planned trips, but we couldn’t do them due to Covid but we had nice things planned. Then, last year I was in the Sports Committee so we went ice skating, curling, paddling, and then this year CoCoCo, so quite some committees.”
A lot indeed! How do you choose committees? Based on what?
“Well, mainly based on my friends, in the first one I was with Joep, the second one with Daniel, then the Sports Committee wasn’t with anyone I knew but it was a new committee and I like sports so I thought I could put my ideas to see how we could form the whole committee. And this one was also because of my friends and because I wanted to do something with the association and it’s a new one as well.”
What is cool about Communication Congress Committee? What is nice about it?
“It’s nice to work with the UvA, they are pretty invested. The cool thing for me is that we began with nothing and now we are working towards half a day full of interesting lectures and some extra things. The theme will be “The Art of Persuasion” which I think will be really interesting. So yeah, I think is cool we work together with another association, but we try to make something that is EOS-worthy as well. Just a big event with everything planned right, hopefully.”
Ok, final question. We always ask what is your favorite memory at EOS?
“That’s hard. I do remember one time after a borrel we went to explore the building, first we went to an Aula, some friends of mine and me did some dance moves on the red carpet in the Aula and it was just really funny. Later on while exploring, someone made an altar for a dead mouse and I think we also got stuck in the wheelchair lift, yeah it was all just funny things one after another. Or maybe the Gala from 2019, Joep and I had to take the pictures but before the Gala we took some drinks (a little bit to much) so all the photos ended up blurry so we couldn’t use them. Luckily there were some other members that took some pictures. Yeah, I think those would be some of my favorite.”
Those sound really fun indeed. That was the interview Jesper, thank you so much!
Do you feel like being the next EOS superstar and can’t wait to be interviewed?
Send an email to: publicrelations@eosvu.nl and we will get back to you!
Featured member: Jesper van der Meer, General Member of the Communication Congress Committee 2022-2023
Interview done by: Laura Bubelytė, General Member of the Media Committee
