Literaire Studentenvereniging Flanor

Dear all, as the title already states: welcome to the blog posts. We as the candidate board have decided to upload a new blog post every Tuesday of the week to keep you updated about everything that is going on within the association. We will talk about the activities and will give you an insight into the behind the scenes of the board. On top of that, we may occasionally have a guest writer as well! We hope you like it and have fun reading!

As some of you may not know us that well yet, this first post will naturally be an introduction of ourselves!

Merel (Chair)

Hello dear reader, my name is Merel and I’m the chair of the candidate board 2021-2022. I did my BA English Language and Culture in Groningen and am now working towards my MA degree in Writing, Editing and Mediating. I hope to start working at a publisher once I have finished this MA! As I’m a language and literature student and a member of Flanor, you can safely assume that I love reading. I especially enjoy science fiction, children’s literature, weird books, magical realism, fantasy and books about identity. I also love lots of books that belong to different categories than the ones I just mentioned, by the way. I generally just really like reading, I guess. However, there’s more to me than books. I really like rowing and doing sports (I was a member of the rowing association Gyas for seven years), I love walking/hiking in nature, listening to music and I am very fond of bugs. Grasshoppers, ladybugs, isopods, beetles, butterflies, and heteroptera are a few of my favourite ones. I also really like to work together with others, especially when working towards a certain goal. Over the past few years, I’ve done lots of work for committees and a board year of a national society that focuses on studying nature (hence my love for bugs). I became a member of Flanor only a year ago, but it seemed like a good idea to do a board year. I’m very excited for the upcoming year and I hope to see all of you soon at an activity, during the monthly drinks or when you pop by in our office in the USVA building.

Jessay (Secretary & (official) Treasurer)

Hi! My name is Jessay and I hope to become your secretary this year. If we are voted in as the new board, I’ll also become the treasurer in name. In practice though, I share the treasurer tasks with Merel, Kato and Iris (fortunately). I think a lot of Flanorians don’t know me that well yet, so I’ll tell you a bit about myself. I study Dutch Language & Culture and last year I started studying Information Science as well. Not surprisingly, my interests can be summarised as language and computers; from literature to video games and from programming to rhetoric. I also like singing, writing, not doing the dishes and being late for my train. The latter killed a lot of my time, honestly. I often take the train to my siblings. Together we build Harry Potter Legos and play video games like Animal Crossing, The Last of Us and The Witcher. Anyway, I hope everyone has a clearer image of who I am now, though if you truly want to get to know me or any other candidate board member, you should go to Flanor activities and spend some time with us! 

Kato (Commissioner of Internal Affairs & Vice-Chair)

Hi everyone! I’m Kato and I am the candidate Commissioner of Internal Affairs and candidate Vice-Chair for 2021-2022. I finished my BA in English Language and Culture last year here in Groningen and I just started my MA in Multilingualism. Even though I decided to pursue the linguistics side of my studies, I initially chose my BA because I wanted to do literature. I soon found out, however, that literature works better for me as a hobby. I really do love reading and can safely say that out of all the hobbies I have, which are quite a lot, reading will always be my favourite. I mainly read fantasy novels, but I can enjoy reading all kinds of different genres! Some of my other hobbies are: embroidery, painting and drawing, ballroom and salsa dancing, book binding, stamp and print carving, and listening to music. I’ve even dabbled a bit in playing the guitar (sadly, I’m not very good) but I have decided that I want to learn violin instead, so I started following classes this year. They say that you are never too old to learn a new skill and I certainly hope that is true. That said, I am certain that I will learn a lot this year by doing a board year! If you had told me three years ago when I joined Flanor that I would eventually become a board member, I would probably have laughed, but I am glad I decided to do it and I am really looking forward to it! I hope to see you all soon and don’t hesitate to send me a message or swing by if you ever want to have a chat!

Iris (Commissioner of External Affairs)

Greetings! My name is Iris and I’m your candidate Commissioner of External Affairs. I’m in my fourth year of studying European Languages and Cultures where I major in French, German and European literature. This year, I only have to do my thesis, so plenty of time for a board year! If you know me a bit, you’ve probably noticed that I love writing. That’s one of the reasons why I want to do the MA degree in journalism after I’ve finished my BA. Another thing about me is that I can get obsessed with things very easily, like the Eurovision Song Contest or Animal Crossing. I also love music. As a lot of you probably know, I’m obsessed with Måneskin and their music these days (another obsession!). I’ve listened to their songs so many times, I can even sing along with the Italian songs even though I have no clue what they are saying. Like most of us here with Flanor, I love reading. My go-to genre is (Young Adult) Fantasy, but I like exploring other genres. The reading groups helped me a lot with that. I’ve been with Flanor for only a year and I have been thinking about doing a board year with Flanor, however I did not expect doing it so soon. Oh well, life can take unexpected turns sometimes. So, now I’m here and I’m looking forward to being your Commissioner of External Affairs. I hope to meet everyone soon and like Kato said, feel free to text me or swing by if you ever feel like chatting!