‘We wanted to organize something that was exciting, preferably something that we had never done before’, explains Roos Goedhart, student Molecular life science and member of Alchimica. Like hitchhiking for example, a mostly extinct phenomenon out of the time before the ov-card, when Wageningen students were lining up along the Mansholtlaan near Hoevestein on the Friday afternoons.
‘People are not used to it anymore, so the question is if we are picked up quickly’, says Roos. ‘But on internet we have found a few tips of hitchhikers. For example, they advise to start up a conversation at a petrol station and ask for a lift. Apparently that works well.’
Fourteen Alchimica members have signed up and it might increase. They will leave on Saturday the 7th of November in groups of two or three students. Every group needs to have at least one student ‘with a penis’, is what the signup form dictates. Roos: ‘Hitchhiking is fun, but of course there are risks. For us it seemed that it would be safer if there was a guy in every team.’
In ‘the always lively Belgium’ where people ‘talk so sweetly’ the students will enjoy the Leuven student life – if they arrive. After a night in the hostel they will go to the brewery of Stella Artois. Roos: ‘Brewing beer is strongly related to molecular science.’ At the end of the afternoon they will take the train back home. Train?! Yes, train. ‘We understood that hitchhiking on a Sunday is difficult. There is less traffic and many families are out. They do not have any space left in the car.’