The committees of ESN

Maybe you’re thinking about applying for an ESN committee, but aren’t sure about what to pick yet. To help your decision we’ve put together description of the committees, written by committee members themselves to give you a proper insight into their works.
We hope this helps you become active in ESN and make your decision for applying easier.

Party and pubquiz committee

The PPC organizes the amazing theme parties at Kokomo every three weeks on Wednesdays. This entails coming up with the themes, finding and buying fitting decorations, and decorating Kokomo before the party.

Depending on what is arranged with the board, the committee also sometimes comes up with themes and corresponding ideas for the weekly student nights.

On Thursdays every three weeks the PPC hosts a pub quiz at Het Heerenhuis. For these gezellige nights the committee has to get creative and prepare fun categories and questions to ask the ~100 participants. At the location we assure that everything is set up, present the quiz once everyone has arrived, and, of course, assess groups’ answers and add up their scores.

Culture committee

We are the culture committee! Groningen is a vibrant cultural city, and our goal is to bring international and Dutch students together for cultural events. We organize original activities or try to bring you to events that one might not notice when being new in town and not being able to speak the language (yet).  We try to cover all kinds of things from visual arts to music to theatre.

There are movie nights in the Groningen Forum, art expositions in one of Groningen’s museums, dance and music events in the Oosterpoort and performances in the theater. Our biggest event is the ESN Live Music Night, held every semester.

Excursion committee

We are the excursion committee! We organize monthly day or weekend excursions for everyone who wants to get to know their host country a bit more. From going to Dutch amusement parks, canoeing in Giethoorn to visiting the Dutch parliament in The Hague – there’s a fitting destination for everyone. But that’s not all! We also go abroad to visit cities like Copenhagen or Ghent.

Apart from showing international students a lot of unique places, our goal is to help them integrate and find new friends to share their travel experiences with.

Sports committee

The sports committee organizes fun, active events such as beach volleyball, visiting FC Groningen throughout the year, self-defense classes, paintball, or water-skiing. Our aim is to offer sporty activities to international and Dutch students in Groningen. We did some great cooperations with Dutch clubs this year and hope the sports committee can continue with this in the future. Because nothing brings people and nations together like sports!

Social Erasmus committee

The social Erasmus committee gives internationals the opportunity to enrich their stay abroad by giving something back to the local community. Our committee is unique from the others in the sense that it tries to foster intercultural exchange and let students contribute to more “serious” matters in a fun, interpersonal and social way. Our main emphasis is on cultural exchanges and trying to make the world a better place to live in. Our events usually involve internationals actively by interacting directly with locals. For example, we organized a dinner for the local homeless, visited a refugee camp and even a clothes swap. We truly believe if every individual makes a small effort, the world will be a much better place to live in and that is one of our main goals.

Buddy and integration committee

The Buddy & Integration has the responsibility of not only organising fun activities for its ESN members, but also matching incoming international students with local students from Groningen. With this program we intend to help students who are new to Groningen and allow them to have the best possible experience! Activities we organize include a crazy 88, lasertag, unlimited Dutch pancakes, and a sunset boat tour around the city. Being part of the BIC gives you both the proud responsibility of taking care of new students, and allows a lot of freedom in organizing fun activities that attract both Dutch and international students.

PR and graphics committee

The PR Committee is responsible for writing the blog you are reading right now. Of course we do much more than that, the committee is very flexible, all ideas are welcome and we are always willing to try out new things to promote ESN better. This is our main job after all!
We are in charge of ESN’s instagram, we started something called the “Weekly” just recently this year, maybe you’ve seen it on instagram story. We also write and design the ESN magazine twice a year, which is given to all the incoming international students during the Introduction weeks (in September and February). 
The PR committee is a lot of fun . You will meet amazing people and make great memories with them. What stands out the most about PR from the other committees is the freedom we have to try out new promotional ideas 🙂

Network committee

The network committee focuses on career oriented events such as company visits and career workshops. International students have the opportunity to network with companies and each other through drinks and dinners. The committee currently consists of Shreya, Nikhil, Alan, Karan, Anton, and Kaylie. We look forward to you joining!

International Dinner committee

As a member of the International Dinner Committee you get to experience the culture of the different international students in Groningen. At every event, which happens every four weeks, we highlight the cuisine of a different country. Your task as a committee member includes finding people from the international community who are willing to cook at the event, plan the dinner as well as manage the actual event, which takes place on Sunday afternoons. Overall, the event does not require an excessive amount of work, but you need to be available on a Sunday afternoon each month. This committee is a lot of fun as you once a month get to experience a new culture, and a free meal of course, as well as you get so social with all the 40 guests who come to the events. Events which generally take place each semester are the Dutch Dinner and the Running Dinner. Apart from that, you can use your imagination to come up with other countries to focus on for the dinners. The committee this year had four positions: President, Secretary, Treasurer and Evaluator. Don’t hesitate to apply if you enjoy food and meeting new people!