By Kirsten Kapteijns
The last day of a great, but also exhausting IntRoweek had come. Families had gathered in Toorenvliedt Park to commence the final battle for medals. The gods decided to make the last day count and the sun was shining bright. Ontbijtkoek was hanging from rope, ready to be eaten, helmets were laying on the ground, ready for the helmet-race to follow, and an enormous inflatable crash course stood on the far end of the park, ready for the students to race each other as fast as possible.
Not much later the trial started and the families were giving it their all. Battle cries were heard all over the park and the trial seemed to raise the competitiveness in everyone. Amongst these clashes one game stood out: ‘Hututututut.’ In this game you didn’t solely compete for you own family. Whenever a player, yelling ‘hututututut’ as long as possible without taking a breath, tagged a member of the other family, that member had to switch teams and help them. Not only the end result counted, the willingness to help other families as your own counted as much. On this final day families were merged, and laughter surrounded the game, indicating that despite the rivalry, this new group of students could get along with a lot of fun. Another one of the games that stood out was the traditional Dutch ‘koekhappen’, where families bonded over accidentally licking each other’s faces.
Amongst all the races and hysterics in the trial there was also the break stand. Here people got a well deserved drink and could catch a breath. Many of the groups took this break as an opportunity to try out the zip line that was present in the park and discuss the games they had played.
After 10 rounds of running around in the bright sun, the trial ended. Slightly out of breath everyone gathered to walk back to UCR together. Although a little tired from all the activities and little sleep, the group excitingly went on their way, facing the next surprise activity of their IntRoweek that was almost over.
Kirsten Kapteijns, Class of 2017, is a science major from Lage Mierde, the Netherlands.
