How I learned my first PREMIUM lesson

For me, the real premium experience began with the Mix- and Match event. After
having gone through the application procedure, that can be quite demanding, this is the
absolute crown on the whole process of applying. It is both a dense and nerve-wrecking
evening, as well as real fun. You are together with the entire PREMIUM group for the
first time which means meeting a lot of new people, and as if this isn’t enough, you have
to ‘compete’ with them for a place at your desired project.

Logically, this is the outset for an exciting evening, and before arriving I was quite
nervous. I knew I had to introduce myself to new people and several projects, and
convince them of my qualities. However, it could also be that I wouldn’t really like
the project I preferred initially and that I had to look for something else on the evening. I
did prepare for the event, as I read all project descriptions again and prepared a brief
introduction about myself.

However, once I had arrived, there was no time to be nervous. You introduce
yourself to all fellow PREMIUM students and some nice conversations were started. I
talked to friends, as well as complete strangers and thus, met new people. The nice
thing about PREMIUM is that you are surrounded by people who have the same
ambitions and ideals, and thus it becomes easy to connect to your fellow participants.

After this introduction, that went easily, the actual Mix- and Match followed, where
we met even more people. Something which surprised me, as I visited the projects that I initially
preferred, was that I wanted to drop two of them. I visited all three, talked to the people representing
the organisations and asked some questions about the projects. However, two of the
three projects did not appeal to me that much, and thus I went on to consider other
options, to eventually arrive at Cube.

The Cube people explained their project, told me about their expectations and
their museum in general. I really liked it, and felt we had a good conversation so I listed
them. That Friday, we got the mail about our eventual project, and indeed I was
assigned to project Cube. So far, I am very happy with that. Moreover, I learned my first
PREMIUM lesson as the evening taught me the importance of being flexible, as I just
admitted I didn’t like my initial project that much and dared to make a change!

Written by Guy Renet
PREMIUM student 2016-2017