On the 15th, 16th, and 17th of March, the participants and committee had a preparatory weekend for the study tour, filled with activities and good times.

On the 15th of March, the committee started early in the morning by picking up a van and making sure all of the necessities and bags prepared by the participants were dropped off at the location in Mariahout. Right after the end of university, all of the participants joined three committee members who led them towards this location, to be immediately met by food made by the committee. After dinner, the participants joined together for an evening filled with joy through some amazing Karaoke that was sung together!

While for some, the night was short, everyone got up early in the morning for breakfast and three groups left the location on an organized treasure hunt, where participants had to find the right way based on cryptic hints on a single A4 sheet of paper. Luckily, everyone eventually made it to the lunch location, where energy was replenished.

After a little more cycling and following the hints, everyone arrived at the next activity, which was climbing at a climbing park in Uden. Everyone strapped in and started flying through the courses, sometimes a little more literally than at other times.

After more than two hours of climbing, the participants enjoyed a beverage together on location and started cycling back shortly afterwards. The committee had already left earlier to start the work on everyone’s dinner. Shortly after everyone arrived back in Mariahout the group enjoyed a meal together. After dinner and cleanup, it was time for a short update on the tour planning and etiquette rules during the trip.

Right after, the second evening activity took place, which was an organized Mario Kraat (Beerio) tournament, with Trek a Bak Mania, beer pong, and board games set up for all of the participants to play. While for some, once again, the night was short, once more it was an early awakening on Sunday for the last morning of everyone together.

The committee had organized a set of sporting games outside and groups were divided to play these. At the same time, some committee members were busy in the kitchen preparing a whole bunch of pancakes for everyone’s lunch. So that they were all ready to go back home later in the afternoon.

After lunch, everyone still had just enough energy to help clean up the whole place after the hurricane came through that was the study tour 2024 participants. I think we left it cleaner than we arrived, and I’m proud of that! Let’s hope this weekend was a good indication of the amount of fun we’d have on the trip itself, as we can’t wait to leave in only a few more months of waiting!

Thanks to everyone for joining and making it an amazing time. On to the last preparatory activity!