On regular occasions Nora and Loek have a cozy chat. They meet in the corridors of Vertigo or during drinks on Thursdays in the Skybar in the basement of the department of Architecture, Building and Planning. Their talks are about a film they have seen, about their studies, about each other’s backgrounds or about what they have on their minds.

The idea is that the ‘buddy’ picks up the exchange student at the station or at the airport, gives the newcomer a tour of the department building and visits the STU student desk. Also, the student of Architecture, Building and Planning takes the foreign student to the room where he or she will be living and shows them some of the places they need to know about in the city, such as a supermarket and City Hall.

The idea for a buddy system was launched during the debate on internationalization that was held last November by student association CHEOPS. It emerged that the integration of foreign students is not up to scratch. CHEOPS has linked some twenty foreign newcomers to Dutch buddies since then./.