The ghost(s) of FASoS
It was 17.30 on a Tuesday evening, Sathya Fixe, social media coordinator, and Tonita Perea Y Monsuwe, student recruiter, were doing their dishes in the little kitchen on the first floor of GG90-92. As they were chatting about what they were going to have for dinner, they suddenly felt a cold wind and noticed their hair was lifted by something. As they looked at each other, their hair fell back down.
“What was that?” Sathya asked Tonita. “Let’s hope it’s not the ghost of FASoS,” Tonita replied.
Bart Kerckhoffs: your go-to hospitality expert
Bart Kerckhoffs, HR adviser at FASoS, lives and breathes the hospitality sector. “Hospitality is in your DNA,” he is often told. Studying at the hotel school, among others, was therefore a logical choice at the time.
In his free time, Bart loves to travel with his partner Dennis to various (from basic to luxurious) destinations (and he likes also camping … when the weather’s good) and going to restaurants for bib gourmand dinners.
Shopaholic Luana Russo
“I have 76 pairs of shoes,” Luana Russo, Assistant Professor in Quantitative Methods, tells me.
“In our search for a house a couple of years ago, it was of pivotal importance to me that we bought a spacious home so we could have 2 separate studies – one for me and one for my husband -, 2 bedrooms for the kids, and that there was a dressing room.”
Female football coach Sanne Winkens
Sanne Winkens, Financial Controller at FASoS, loves sports.
“As a child I did it all; I took ballet classes, went swimming, tried out judo, played tennis, and was part of the football team. Especially football has a special place in my heart. My mom is from Amsterdam and is fan of Ajax; after every game, she would call my grandpa to discuss the highs and lows. On top of that, I played football until I was 16.”
It therefore does not come as a surprise that she was the first in line to volunteer when her son’s football club was looking for extra coaches.
Imogen Liu: leaving New Zealand behind
Imogen Liu, PhD Candidate on the SWFsEUROPE project, is very close to finishing her PhD.
The incentive to wrap things up as soon as possible? She’s pregnant and wants to go on maternity leave stress free. Imogen is excited to welcome her baby girl and is happy to be raising her in the Netherlands instead of in New Zealand, where she is originally from. “I love that everything here is so close by. In New Zealand, you need to take the car to go everywhere, and I hate the idea of being stuck in traffic.”
Esther Versluis: “the only academic staff member with too few holiday hours”
Esther Versluis, professor of European Regulatory Governance, has been at FASoS even longer than Elissaveta Radulova has. Esther studied Cultuurwetenschappen, and wrote her thesis with Tannelie Blom. After graduation, she went to Utrecht to do a PhD.
She got in touch again with Tannelie when she was finishing up her dissertation. He told her about the plans to start a new BA at FASoS. And so Esther returned 20 years ago, and helped Tannelie set up the BA European Studies.
Claartje Rasterhoff’s farmhouse
Claartje Rasterhoff, Assistant Professor Cultural Policy & Management, was born and raised in de ‘Randstad’. While working in our nation’s capital, Claartje increasingly started feeling the need for peace and quiet, away from busy Amsterdam.
Two years ago, she decided to apply for a job in Maastricht.
Kevin Fuchs’s coincidental life choices (that turned out great)
Kevin Fuchs, Field Work Coordinator for Global Studies, has always been an impulsive person. He has taken most life choices with his heart. To start off with his study choice, he did not spent too much time thinking about which programme to choose. “I knew that studying European Studies at Hogeschool Zuyd felt good, so I went with that one.”
His consequent course of life has been one that has been coincidental, and sometimes even random, as well, but that does not make it any less special.
Jordy Friedrich: looking ahead
I meet Jordy Friedrich, HR adviser at FASoS, in the Bandito garden. He just returned from a stay in Marrakech.
The reason for the short trip was relaxation, because Jordy has had a turbulent 2 years, to say the least.
Lutz Krebs and the World Food Programme
Lutz Krebs, Programme Director of the BSc Global Studies, has lived all over the world. From Germany to New Zealand and from Switzerland to Ireland.
The place that made the biggest impact on him? “Definitely Zambia.”
