intrans december 2008

Visiting address:Visiting address:Visiting address:Visiting address:

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Room H12-05

Burgemeester Oudlaan 50

Postal address:Postal address:Postal address:Postal address:

Room H12-07

P.O. box 1738

3000 DR Rotterdam

Year 2008/2009 - Number 2– December, 2008

InTrans

City Marketing

The board of Transito 2008-2009

Rotterdam in our eyes

Evil truckers

page 2

page 6

page 9

How’re you doin’? page 8

Sinterklaas social drink page 11

Hans Visser, President Dear Reader, I’m honoured to be writing here. My name is

Hans Visser and I am the president of the board of Transito 2008-2009. First off all, I would like to thank the previous board for their tips and assis-tance in getting started. Secondly something about me. I am a master student of Urban, Port

and Transport Economics, to answer the ques-tion which of the three I like most: I like all! The new Transito board has been installed, sadly I missed this joyful event, I was ill. To introduce them to you all: Wai Jie Lung (Secretary) , Kirstin Klippel (Activities), Angeli-que Bosker (External affairs), Ewa Palusz-kiewicz (Treasurer). I think we will have an exciting year, with a lustrum, collaboration with other associations and a fresh new look on things. We are very excited that all comi-ties are positioned with enough persons and we look forward to the first events . I am looking forward to the coming year, I hope to meet you either during an activity or during a social drink. A final note: We are al-ways open to all suggestions, tips or general remarks regarding Transito. Kind regards, Hans Visser President Transito 2008-2009

Angelique Bosker, Commissioner of External Affairs I’m Angelique Bosker and I’m the commis-sioner of external affairs and the vice presi-

dent of the Transito board 2008 -2009. I’m 21 years old I’m studying Urban, Port and Transport Economics. I live in Hellevoetsluis. Last summer I finished my Bachelor. During my bachelor, I wrote several

lecture reports for the SIR and I’m tutor for Capita Selecta. Next to my studies, I worked for different companies, like the ECT and Van Esch Inter-national, both from the shipping industry. At this moment I’m working for Geodis. This is an international transport and logistics company, where I’m responsible for the Key Perform-ance Indicator (KPI) for the management. Because of my experience with different trans-

port companies, I have chosen to study this

master. Last year, I followed the course

‘introduction to urban economics’ and I saw a

presentation of Transito. So when I decided to

choose this master, I also decided to become

a member of the board, to get in touch with

companies. I think it’s good for students to

get to know different companies, so you know

what they offer new employees and what the

atmosphere in the company is. You can com-

pare this with your expectations.

The board of Transito 2008-2009

InTrans December 2008

Officially from 14th October 2008 Transito has the new board. During the Annual Members Meeting that took place on this day at the Erasmus Universi ty, with the blow of the hammer the previous Transito board: Heidi Mauritz (President), Lenneke Wester (Treasurer & Commissioner of External Affairs), Kasia Kurek (Commissioner Activities) and Ying Ying Li (Secretary) handed over their rights and responsibilities to their successors. Let’s meet them now!

Kirstin Kippel, Commissioner Activities Hello everyone! My name is Kirstin Klippel, I’m 23 years old and I’m the new Commissioner Activities of Transito.

Just like the rest of the board, I’m also following the Masters program of Urban, Port and Trans-port Economics at the Erasmus School of Eco-nomics. Before coming to Rotterdam, I studied at the Universiteit Maas-tricht. I received my Bachelor’s

degree in International Business with a major in Logistics and a minor in Marketing in August 2007. After that, I took a study break of one year to do two internships and hence gain some more work experience. I worked for Kraft Foods and Coca-Cola and got insights into their Marketing and Sales departments respectively. There are several reasons why I wanted to join Transito and become the Commissioner of Activities:

First of all, I wanted to become more actively involved in student life after having missed out on it while studying in Maastricht. At that time, I was always commuting between my hometown Cologne (Germany) and the univer-sity and never actually participated in any ac-tivities taking place in Maastricht. Looking back, I sometimes regret that I failed to truly integrate myself at the university. Thus, I want to do a better job in Rotterdam. Next, I aspire to successfully organize many exciting and educative activities for our mem-bers. My goal is to bring the Masters students more closely together by setting up social drinks, company visits and an enjoyable study trip. Since we are so few students, I would really like us to form one group or unity via the common activities and events, so that we all help each other to progress and have a good time during our study or maybe even afterwards in our job lives. Last but not least, I hope to profit from our

company contacts to get to know possible fu-

ture employers, hear about internship oppor-

tunities first hand or just to get insights into

different occupations in the fields of logistics

and urban studies and find out what they

entail.


Ewa Paluszkiewicz, Treasurer Hi everyone, My name is Ewa Palusz-kiewicz, I am 24 years old and in the new board of Transito I am the treas-urer. I’m also a member of the InTrans committee, so if you have a flair for writ-ing or you would like to

share some ideas with other students from time to time just let me now! I came to Rotterdam on the last day of August this year, which was a very beautiful, warm and sunny day, so I had a very nice welcome from the Dutch weather. In June I graduated from the University of Economics in Wrocław, Poland.

My field of studies was Spatial Economics. I was also working as a payroll specialist for the Hew-lett-Packard company in their Global BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) office in Wro-cław. That was a truly multinational environ-ment, what also made my move abroad easier. I joined Transito because I thought it is a good way to get to know new people, gain some valuable experience and contribute to our Mas-ter’s program. Personally I am a cat lover and a faithful reader of Terry Pratchett’s books. Good movie, lounge music and Indian cuisine are always good op-tions for a nice evening for me, especially for a cold, winter one. But I hope thanks to Transito I will spend them rather on some enjoyable ac-tivities with you dear Members!

Wai Jie Lung, Secretary Hi everyone! My name is Wai Jie Lung. I am 22 years old and I am a master stu-dent of Urban, Port and Transport Economics here at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. In the board of Transito

2008-2009 I hold the position of the secretary. I am very happy to be in the board of this study year, since I heard from many friends it’s a lot of fun to work in a team with fellow board members and to organize interesting events. My main responsibility is the admini-stration of Transito. I have chosen to be in the board of Transito because I want to gain some

experience that is related to my studies, to show my skills and to take up a new chal-lenge. That’s why I am also a member of the Education committee of the Chinese Study As-sociation at the Erasmus University of Rotter-dam. Organizing Chinese courses for all stu-dents who have affinity with the Chinese cul-ture and to meet new people from different cultures is really great! I will do my best together with my fellow board members Angelique, Ewa, Hans and Kirstin to organize nice and interesting Tran-sito events for you! For now, the first upcom-ing Transito activity is the ‘Sinterklaas’ party on the 5th of December in the Smitse student bar. I am sure we will have a lot of fun cele-brating Sinterklaas together! See you there!


Board of Transito

2007-2008

From left:

Ying Ying Li,

Kasia Kurek,

Heidi Mauritz,

Lenneke Wester

Board of Transito

2008-2009

From left:

Angelique Bosker,

Wai Jie Lung,

Hans Visser,

Kirstin Kippel,

Ewa Paluszkiewicz


Best wishes for a Happy Holiday Season Best wishes for a Happy Holiday Season Best wishes for a Happy Holiday Season Best wishes for a Happy Holiday Season

and the New Yearand the New Yearand the New Yearand the New Year

from

The board of Transito & InTrans redaction

May joy and happiness

snow on you,

may the bells jingle for you

and may Santa be

extra good to you!

The Annual Members Meeting, 14th October 2008

In 2004, the Rotterdam municipality decided to start a campaign to improve the image of the city: a bleak port city without anything to do. They hired a marketing expert who came up with the slogan ‘Rotterdam durft!’, what means ‘Rotterdam dares!’. The idea behind it was that Rotterdam dares to build special bridges, high buildings and dares to discuss problems of a big city, like multicultural prob-lems, racism and vagabonds. The city spent not less than 1.2 million EUR on it. But was the money worth it? There is no other way to find out then to ask people. And who can be more objective and critical than the foreign students? By filling in a short questionnaire they helped us to under-stand what people from other countries think about Rotterdam, what they find interesting and how they value their life here. Our participants: Dimitrios (Greece), Wilfred (United Kingdom), Kirstin (Germany), Kasia (Poland), Ewa (Poland), Kittiya (Thailand). What are the results?

For most of the people abroad Rotterdam = port. The city is not very well known for its attractions and the unique atmosphere is also rather not associated with it. It is something to work on in future. So let us next find out why actually foreign students decide to study in Rotterdam. If the city wants to attract talents, we need to know what draws them here. For the participants of our survey it was the reputation of the Erasmus University and the Master’s program offered here. So the quality of education in Rotterdam is considered as very good among different countries as UK, Germany, Greece, Poland and Thailand! Even though the city doesn’t have the Amster-dam’s image, it is still an attractive place and the educational offer is clearly its strength. Before reading the answers for the next ques-tion, first ask yourself: how can I describe Rotterdam in 5 words? What are the main characteristics of the city that make it what it is? The answers vary, but it means they are honest and not based on stereotypes.

Rotterdam in our eyes


Where do you come from and what reputation does Rotterdam have in your country?

Dimitrios: I come from Greece where Rotterdam has the reputation of being the largest European port.

Kirstin: Germany. Germans rather have a preset opinion about the Netherlands and Dutch people in general than

about the specific cities located in Holland. However, I think the only thing that strikingly comes to everyone’s mind

when hearing the word “Rotterdam” is the port. After all, I actually had to google what the attractions of Rotter-

dam are before coming here, since I had never heard of any myself.

Ewa: I come from Poland. Rotterdam is known there mainly as a big port. But I talked to some friends that were

here for the Erasmus Exchange and they told me that it is also a student’s city and that they spent a really nice year

here.

Wilfred: I come from London. Rotterdam has a reputation as a big port. The football club Feyenoord also rings a

bell.

What they have in common is: port, water, modern architecture, multinational. Doesn’t it sound nice? For sure better than just a port city. Water and interesting, state-of-the art buildings add to the quality of live, whereas multicultural mix makes a city liv-able and speaks for its openness. To further discover what contributes to city’s image we asked: Supposing your friends visit you in Rotterdam. What would you

show them first? According to the foreign students, most inter-esting landmarks are Blaak market with its cu-bic houses, Erasmus bridge and the old har-bor. Taking your friends for the Spido boat trip is also a good idea. And to feel the nice mood - Witte de Withstraat with its charming bars and restaurants. Once you found your way in the city and have your friends and favorite places here (and of course a place to live) – you are settled down. So did real life meet expectations about Rotterdam and living here? Most said yes. But life abroad is usually not that easy as in your home country. What problems do the in-ternational students face in Rotterdam? Hous-ing is probably the most serious one. Coming from warm countries, you should also be pre-pared for the Dutch weather. And it takes some time to get used to cycling (especially on the back of someone’s bike). But people in Rotterdam are friendly and willing to help. And as Kirstin rightfully pointed out, “it’s ultimately the people that make a place great or bad, not always the amenities.”

In the last part of our survey we asked inter-national students if they have ever heard o f t h e s l o g a n ‘ R o t t e r d a m durft!’ (Rotterdam dares!) and what is their opinion about it. The answers speak for themselves – six times no. The campaign worth 1.2 million EUR re-mained without the impact on the interna-tional image of Rotterdam. So how to make an attractive slogan that will catch on? It is the topic for another article.


Can you name 5 key-

words which describe

Rotterdam at best?

Dimitrios: modern, cold,

open minded, bicycle,

friendly people

Kirstin: Port city, dis-

persed center, grey, mod-

ern architecture, water

Ewa: Water, wind, cul-

tural mix, port, architec-

ture

Wil: Looks a bit like Lego-

land.

Kasia: Space, Multina-

tional, Accessible, Busi-

ness important, Centrality

What advice would you give to a person from your

country who would like to study in Rotterdam?

Dimitrios: don’t expect to see a typical, old European

city. You will find friendly people.

Ewa: Practice positive thinking. You will need that in the

beginning when everything goes wrong. You will face a

lot of difficulties.

Kittiya: Be prepared! It’s tough!

Wil: Sort out your accommodation before coming over.

Do NOT chance it.

Kirstin: If the person were to study what I study, I’d tell

him/her that the program is very interesting, but that

he/she will not find many German companions who are

also taking the Master and that the city itself is not that

exciting. However, as with many other places in the

world, to me it’s ultimately the people that make a

place great or bad, not always the amenities. So if the

person is thinking about truly integrating (e.g. via be-

coming a board member of Transito ;-)), then he will get

to know many new people and life in Rotterdam will be

ok.

Kasia: Travel a lot

Question: Have you ever heard of the slogan

‘Rotterdam durft!’ (Rotterdam dares!) and if so, does

this slogan make sense in your opinion?

Dimitrios: no I haven’t. All big cities dare in a way.

Kirstin: I would not know what to relate it to and this is

also the first time that I’ve heard of it or read it actually.

Wil: No, but it makes sense according to the murder

statistics.


Dear readers,

How time flies when you are working! Since my graduation in April this year, actually two weeks before, I have been working for Wilmar Edible Oils Europe BV, a company that refines edible oils in the port of Rotterdam. You can find more details on this company at www.wilmar-international.com. How did I get this job so quickly? Well, it’s ac-tually quite simple. During the Erasmus Re-cruitment Days (ERD) in February 2008, I was selected for a number of interviews with dif-ferent companies. One of them was Wilmar (then still known as KOG), a company in the heart of the port of Rotterdam near the Botlek bridge. Since the year I started doing the Ur-ban, Port & Transport Economics Bachelor and while managing the external affairs of Tran-sito, my interest for the port of Rotterdam had been growing and I began to realize its impor-tance for North Western Europe.

Within Wilmar I hold a financial position. My main tasks are coordinating the financial part of oil trade in a newly started office in Barce-lona, reporting these financial statements to our head office in Singapore, assisting in the monthly closings of financial accounts of the Rotterdam BV and controlling the budget of a new factory that we are building in the port of Rotterdam.

The working atmosphere at Wilmar is I think typically Rotterdam, although you notice the international setting every day. My boss is French, and we have several other nationali-ties ranging from Chinese, German and even Congolese. Because of this, I get the chance to learn different views from people that come from countries all over the world. For instance, they are used to a totally different working climate and/or government policy. It reminded

me of the master phase of UPT in, for exam-ple, the course Transport Economics and Pol-icy. People from Poland had a very different view of transport issues than people from Bra-zil.

Therefore, if you are in the bachelor or master phase of UPT and are looking for a job in that direction, I would advise you to visit as many companies as possible. Especially the activities of Transito offer you an excellent possibility to do so.

I hope you will be just as lucky as me in find-ing a good job soon!

Best regards,

Floris Geldof

How’re you doin’? In this part of the InTrans, we ask former Transito members to tell us something about their job. In this issue: Floris Geldof, Transito board member in 2005-2006.


Evil truckers By Maarten van der Westen

The European Committee has decided to change the law in order to allow so-called “truck runs” in the Netherlands.

Truck runs are happenings where a lot of truck drivers gather with their trucks, in order to give people with a mental handicap a great day. The mentally handicapped people ride along on the passenger seat of the trucks, and the truckers drive around in one big queue, of course with all their lights flashing and horns blazing.

Truck runs happen several times a year, all over the country, and are organized by local truck driver associations. The events are very popular: most of the time they have more drivers than handicapped passengers. The passengers have a great day too: not every day they can drive around in big trucks, with a lot of lights and noise.

But there was a problem. Trucks with digital tachographs cannot see the difference be-tween work and these pleasure runs. The driv-ing time is recorded, and the driver risks a fine for violating the resting time. The truck runs were in danger!

The matter was addressed to the European Committee, and it was decided to change the law in order to save the truck runs. Truck runs are no longer seen as work.

And that really is too bad. Another missed op-portunity by the European Committee. We are better off without the truck runs! What is it with all these truck drivers trying to be nice? Why are they pretending to be these nice peo-ple, and help their handicapped fellows?

Truck drivers should be tough and ruthless. They should drive in their huge fearsome trucks on the streets, preferably drunk, hitting everything that comes in their way. Trucks should be speeding, they should overtake each other on places where it is the least con-venient – and of course take a long time to

pass. Trucks should randomly fall over on their sides on the busiest roads right before rush hour, so Average Joe in his car never gets home on time.

We do not want truck drivers who pretend to be nice! We do not want some softy, only driving a truck for a living, who is a good hus-band and a good father in his spare time. We want to see a truck driving beast, with a long beard, his feet on the steering wheel, a ciga-rette in one hand and a cell phone in the other, barely able to pronounce one correct sentence.

Truck drivers that are social and nice people: it is just like a politician not working for his personal gain. Or like Frans Bauer singing a good song: it may be nice but it's just wrong. It upsets the universe. People should stick to their role.

If truck drivers are nice people, who do we shout at when driving on the highway? Who do we blame for all the accidents? And what to think about the traffic jams? We cannot blame truck drivers for the traffic jams any more if we see them as normal people like you and me! It just wouldn't make any sense!

Life is so easy when we see truck drivers as evil creatures. We can blame them for all the things that go wrong on the roads. Because who cares? They are only truck driving beasts.

But now, with the truck runs, the truck drivers look almost human. A social living creature that could be your neighbor. It is a lot harder to blame somebody for all bad things, if you know that they help out handicapped people in their spare time. It's just too hard! Who do we blame now?

So the European Committee made a big mis-take to change the law to save the truck runs. Okay, it may be better for the handicapped people, but does one day of fun for these peo-ple in a year really justify taking away the


scapegoat for the entire country? I think not.

People will not know who to blame any more. They will be completely puzzled when stand-ing in a traffic jam. Whose fault is it? Who can we blame? Could it be me? People will not be able to express their anger about traffic, they can't sleep at night and can't eat during the day. It will be a nightmare.

Fortunately there are still people who under-stand how it should be. Some months ago I was watching a truck run as a spectator, and next to me stood a police officer. He was writ-ing down all license plate numbers, and when I asked him why, he said: “These evil truckers

may be driving around handicapped people, but they are still not allowed to have all these flashing lights, and they certainly are not al-lowed to use their horns. They will all get a fine for that!”

It's good to know there is still some justice.

Herewith I wish you all a great holiday season, and I wish you all the best for 2009. Keep'm between the lines!

Maarten van der Westen

11 o’clock coffee break On the 25th November the board of

Transito had a pleasure to introduce

ourselves to the UPT teachers. It was

a good moment to talk about our

plans and ambitions for the coming

year. And to come up with some new

ideas as well. Erwin van Tuijl gave us

a challenging proposition – let’s play

football, students vs. teachers. We

picked up the gauntlet!


Hoor wie klopt daar kinderen … –

Sinterklaas social drink As we’ve been all very good students, Santa

with a little help from the Transito came to give

us a sweet surprise. Zwarte Piet, as usually

naughty, used his free drinks ticket as the first

one.

5th December, 16:00, In de Smitse Cafe

Colorful decorations on the walls, small bags

with sweets on the tables – everything ready.

The board of Transito is waiting for the guests.

And there they are!

Wai Jie, our secretary, is doing a great job –

she asks students to put their names on the

list, distributes tickets for the drinks and the

bags with presents. After an hour or so the bar

is full of UPT students. Thanks to Wai Jie we

know – 25 students came to our social drink!

We were more than happy to see also one of

our Alumni there. Nancy Addu Daaku who was

a board member of Transito 2004-2005 came to

say hallo to the new board and to meet the stu-

dents. We hope to see more of the Alumni in

the future, you are always welcome to come!

After the bar closed the last guests went back

home. It was a great chance not only to cele-

brate the Sinterklaas together, but also to meet

fellow students and to get to know each other

better. Many of us share this point of you – we

are such a small master group that we can

really become friends and get together more

often. Transito is working hard on making it

possible.

Thank you very much for coming guys, it was a

great party!


We’re on the web!We’re on the web!We’re on the web!We’re on the web!

Visit us @ www.transito.nuVisit us @ www.transito.nuVisit us @ www.transito.nuVisit us @ www.transito.nu

The editors of the InTrans are: Ewa Paluszkiewicz Katarzyna Kurek Heidi Mauritz

The next InTrans is coming out in February 2009 Would you like to write something for the InTrans? You are invited to send your input to [email protected]

The editors would like to thank for this issue: Maarten van der Westen Floris Geldof

Did you like the Sinterklaas drink and the football match with the teachers? Or maybe you didn’t

have a chance to attend? Many other events are coming, don’t worry! Not to miss the informa-

tion about it subscribe to the Transito SIN-Online channel and join the UPTE ’08-’09 Face-

book group. Let’s keep in touch!

Keep your finger on the pulse!

Transito is a study association for the students of Urban, Port and Transport Economics. Transito tries to bring the theory of the classes alive in practice. That can be by visiting companies and institutions ‘in the field’, but also via the articles in the InTrans. If you would like to be a member, please visit us at H12-05, or download the subscription form from the webpage www.transito.nu. If you would like more information about us, you can contact us at our addresses that are stated on the right.

Visitor address Room H12-5 Burgermeester Oudlaan 50 3062 PA Rotterdam T: 010 - 408 2070 F: 010 - 408 9156

Mail address Room H12-7

P.O. Box 1738 3000 DR Rotterdam

E: [email protected] www.transito.nu

intrans december 2008

Documents

board of transito

new transito board

previous transito board

new board

postal address

presentation of transito

previous board

hans visser president