Toppers May!

Dear Members,

Our Topper of the month May is Tika van Bennekum! Tika will first introduce herself and then we will do a round of This or That. Have fun reading!

Hi, I am Tika. I study Computer Science and my favorite courses are maths courses. In the future I would like to do my minor abroad, preferably in Miami. Besides my studies I do freerunning. I often do this in the city and choose a roof to climb with my friends, after which we have a drink on top of it. Flips are my favorite part, but I don't dare to do them without a mat yet. I also do Korean archery at USC, which I started earlier this year with someone from my intreeweek group.

Winter sports or sun holidays?
I think there is more variety in a sun vacation and I think swimming is very cool. My favorite place for a sun vacation is Greece because you have history everywhere there. When I walk around there I imagine the ancient Greeks still walking there. Maybe my experience with winter sports is not very representative either, because the last time I went I got food poisoning halfway through the trip.
Now Tika, we will then improve this experience in early 2022 on the via winter sports trip!

Pizza or sushi?
Sushi is really delicious and besides that it makes me feel super healthy. So what's not to like?

starting right away or procrastinating?
In the beginning of the year I was doing super well and started right away, but this last period I really postponed everything. I prefer to start right away, so that I don't have to stress anymore about what I still have to do. At the moment I still have to study for a resit, but that will be fine.

Lecture hall or Zoom?
For lectures, I prefer Zoom, but that's more because I don't experience many lectures at all. Currently I don't follow them very much, maybe I would if they were on location. But, at 9:00 I don't have to go to Science Park. Now I would go anyway, but that's more because I don't see many people from my studies.

Early morning lecture or late evening lecture?
Late evening, in the morning I turn on the lecture and go back to sleep after only about 10 minutes. In the evening I might eat something while watching, then my concentration is a little better too.

Organizing or participating?
Participating is what I like best, as a participant everything is a surprise. You can have fun and everything is arranged for you. I think it is very cool to be able to organize things with a group. Then you can give the experience back to people. I am not on a committee yet, but the travel committees seem like a lot of fun. The party committee seems funny to me too. One activity that I think would be really fun to organize would be a big game at Science Park, using classrooms. Sort of a mega hide and seek game.
What a great idea! Are there any committees that would be interested?

GetMiBo or Gather?
I had at GetMiBo that someone started standing in front of my screen all the time, by accident. I did think it was funny to be able to look around as a real person, but it was awkward at times. I did like how the sound got softer when you walked away from the group. In Gather you can walk away easier than in Zoom, in a breakout room that was pretty awkward. It did take me really 1.5 hours to get up on Gather, because I was on Firefox.

Oerknal or Maslow?
I still choose the Oerknal. There is more space, I always sat at the picnic tables and I found it a very chill place. At a corona drink, I sat at the Maslow on a high stool two feet away from everyone and couldn't really join in on a conversation. Maybe it will turn out to be more fun next year, right now I have mostly fun memories of the Oerknal. I did get chocolate cake in the Maslow from a friend, I had to taste it.

Thanks Tika for this fun interview! Do you know who our Topper of June should be? Send an email to toppers@svia.nl!