Koninginnedag or Queen’s Day is a national holiday in the Netherlands on 30 April or on 29 April if the 30th is a Sunday. Queen’s Day celebrates the birthday of the Queen of the Netherlands and is supposed to be a day of national unity and “togetherness” (Dutch: saamhorigheid). The tradition started on 31 August 1885, on the birthday of Princess Wilhelmina, later Queen Wilhelmina. Since 1949, after the ascension of Queen Juliana, Queen’s Day is Queen Juliana’s birthday on 30 April. Although Queen Beatrix’s birthday is on 31 January, she officially celebrates her birthday on 30 April.Queen’s Day is known for its “freemarket” (Dutch: vrijmarkt) all over the country, where everybody is allowed to sell things in the streets. Other activities during Queen’s Day are children’s games, individual musical performances, and music concerts. The night before Queen’s Day is celebrated too in some cities, and this is called Queen’s Night (Dutch: Koninginnenacht). The largest celebration of Queen’s Day is in Amsterdam, Queen’s Night in The Hague and Queen’s Dance (Dutch: Koninginnedans) in Rotterdam. During the celebrations as reference to the colours of the House of Orange-Nassau, people dress in the colour orange, which is sometimes called “orange craze” (Dutch: oranjegekte). (Source: Wikipedia)

FReC-tradition on Queen’s Day is to make a daytrip to Amsterdam, where we’ll celebrate the whole day in order to return to Leeuwarden with the (second-)last train.

Activities, Parties Amsterdam, live music, party

One of the FReC highlights of the semester is our trip to one of the 5 beautiful Dutch islands - Ameland. We will leave on Friday in the afternoon and return Sunday afternoon. This trip involves a campfire on the beach, an island tour by bike, walking on the bottom of the sea and, of course, party! Join the trip and find out the beauty and fun of the Wadden islands.

Every FReC-student is allowed to bring one introducee to the island. If you want to bring a friend, please send us an email before registering your introducee.

Included:

• Transfer from Leeuwarden to the boat and back
• Boat-transfer (both ways)
• 2 nights at the camp-farm
• 2 x breakfast
• 2 x lunch
• 2 x dinner
• Rent-bycicle for the weekend
• Wad-walking tour
• Campfire
• A memorable weekend

All you’ll have to pay for your self are the (alcoholic) beverages you want to drink on the Island.Talking about value-for-money right?!

Registrations close on April 2nd.

REGISTER HERE!

Activities ameland, Friesland, fun, party

On Saturday 6th February we’ll have a little “Welcome Exchange Students Party” in Hestia Student Lounge. All you have to do is let us know if you’re planning to come and bring your own booze!

REGISTER HERE

Activities, Introduction, Parties

You’re living in the Dutch province of Friesland, but did you see anything of this unique province during your stay, apart from Leeuwarden and Ameland? …That’s why we are organizing the Friesland Tour, a tour trough the province with various stops where we will show you some nice spots in Friesland. We are planning to go to these places:

· Windmill “De Zwaluw” in Birdaard

· Museum Ruurd Wiersma Hûs in Birdaard

· Terp “Hegebeintum” + information centre in Birdaard

· Open-air museum “De Spitkeet” in Harkema

· Eise Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker

· The mummies of Wiuwert

· Sonnema Beerenburg distillery in Bolsward

The Friesland Tour will take place on Saturday, the 12th of December. The price for this activity will be announced as soon as possible, but since we had to cancel the Utrecht weekend, we will be able to keep it really affordable.

We’re going to rent minivans for the tour, meaning that we need to know the exact number of people coming. When you sign-in on the website, you’ll have to come. If you sign-in without coming, you will have to pay anyway, because renting cars is not exactly cheap.

There is a maximum number of places, so sign-up quick!

SUBSCRIBE HERE!

Activities Friesland

On Wednesday the 7th of October the fifth edition of the intercultural Music event International Student Night LIVE will take place in Poppodium Romein. Reboot, Yorn & the Heat Machine and the Pepper and Salt DJ-team guarantee a very variable program where standing still does not belong to the options.

Reboot plays soul- and funk covers wrapped in an energetic show where you cannot stand still. Soul and funk are central elements, but don’t be surprised when suddenly a raw blues pops up. For this event the 6-person band formation will be expanded with Tollak Ollestad, a very talented musician and besides a teacher at the Leeuwarden Music Academy. Ollestad has a fenomenal singing voice, is a gifted keyboardist and guitarist and if that were not enough, he is also one of the greatest harmonica players ever to have walked this earth.

The Heat Machine is a unique rock association emerged from the head of Yorn Overwijk. Their ecstatic pop with a rock ‘n roll soul creates an irresistible urge to dance. This sextet found the ideal line-up in March this year and brings somewhat unusual music in an unusual occupation. Their music is best described as a combination of Queens of the Stone Age rock and the rock ‘n roll of our own Dutch legend Herman Brood.

To ensure that there is no time to recover, The Pepper and Salt DJ-Team offers a varied DJ-set before, after and in between the acts. It’s time to dance!

Reboot:

The Heatmachine:

Activities, Parties esn, leeuwarden, Leeuwarden Studiestad, live, live music, party, Romein, studiestad

One of the highlights of the semester is our trip to one of the 5 beautiful Dutch islands – Ameland. We will leave on Friday in the afternoon and return Sunday afternoon. We will sing songs around the campfire on the beach, go wad-walking and do a little dance. We’ll be staying in camping farm ‘De Boekanier‘ in Nes, the main village of the island.

Date: September 18-20, 2009.

Costs: € 60

The price of this weekend is € 60,-, including:

• Transfer from Leeuwarden to the boat and back
• Boat-transfer (both ways)
• 2 nights at the camp-farm
• 2 x breakfast
• 2 x lunch
• 2 x dinner
• Rent-bycicle for the weekend
• Wad-walking tour
• Campfire
• A memorable weekend

All you’ll have to pay for your self are the (alcoholic) beverages you want to drink on the Island.Talking about value-for-money right?!

Registration Closed

Activities ameland, fun, party, video

On Wednesday the 26th of August it’s time for the 4th edition of International Student Night LIVE in Poppodium Romein! This time there will be a performance by the allround cover / partyband Gratis Bier (Free Beer) and the local bluesrock sensation Barry Nice and the Nice Guys. In between the live bands, DJ Ruiz will make the hall vibrate and sweat with his famous ‘drive & groove’. The entrance fee is only 3 euros.Hand-in the coupon from Poppodium Romein Magazine for a 50% discount on the entrance fee!

For all Stenden exchange students it’s included in the FReC introduction programme, so you can come in for free!

Activities, Parties esn, fun, intro, live, live music, party, Romein

On Wednesday the 27^th of May the international student associations of Leeuwarden, ESN Leeuwarden and FReC, organize the third edition of the intercultural music event “International Student Night LIVE” in Poppodium Romein. This time the Swedish folk-punk sisters of Baskery, the Groningen based funkband Growlin’ Love & Pain around the Italian singer/guitar player Marco Cinelli, the Bolsward based roots/reggae & dub band Riddim X and the all-girl rock band Six Senses will perform. Pepper & Salt DJ-Team will supply the world’s spiciest & hottest tunes before, in between and after the acts. The doors will open at 20.00 (8 p.m.) and the entrance fee will be only 4 Euros. Despite the name the event is also accessible for non-students.

Baskery consists of three beautiful sisters from Stockholm, Sweden. The girls call their own music “High Voltage” and use terms like “Killbilly”, “Banjo-Punk” and “Mud-Country” rather than traditional ones, since they are certainly not bound to any specific genre. On stage they show distinctive character and a reckless, unafraid punk attitude. The girls already toured successfully trough Ireland, Sweden, France, Canada, the United States, Denmark and Norway and lately they got confirmed for the famous Lowlands Festival, one of the biggest and most popular music festivals in the Netherlands. The only show they will give in Holland before the Lowlands Festival will be in Leeuwarden on “International Student night LIVE”.

http://www.myspace.com/baskery
http://www.baskery.com/

Growlin’ Love and Pain originated out of an idea of the Italian singer/guitar player Marco Cinelli. His goal was to mix black music with white southern rock in order to create a band that embraces all musical genres that he played and loved during his life. Inspired by the music of Hendrix, Parliament Funkadelic, Sly Stone and the Rolling Stones the band creates a completely new sound. Growlin’ Love & Pain is ready to prove live what they stand for.
http://www.myspace.com/growlinlovepain

The Bolsward-based roots, reggae and dub band Riddim X brings a warm mix of Roots, Dancehall and Dub. From their first promo cd the songs “The Park” and “Guesthouse” reached the number 1 and number 2 position in the Dutch Reggae Chart. Following this promo Riddimx made several appearances with Eek-a mouse and on the stage of various festivals and clubs in the Netherlands. The responses to these shows were very positive and Riddim X quickly became a strong live band. Reggae of Frisian soil with real horns, keys, guitars, percussion and a fat groovin’ riddim section.

http://www.myspace.com/riddimxband

Six Senses is a Dutch 6-person girlband with mainly a pop and rock repertoire. They play mainly sing-along-songs of Anouk, Stevie Wonder, Alanis Morrissette and many others.

http://www.six-senses.nl/

Activities, Parties esn, fun, live, live music, party, Romein

Date: April 22, 2009

Tickets: € 3,-

Location: Poppodium Romein

International Student Night LIVE is an initiative of the three international student associations of Leeuwarden ESN, FReC and Hestia. By organizing a music event targeted at international students the involved organizations hope to give the internationals an accessible way to get involved with the cultural life of Leeuwarden. Moreover, the organizations hope to create an atmosphere in which cultural interaction between students of different origins and different cultures is made easily and accessibly, stimulating cultural exchange.  After a very successful first edition now it’s time for the second one with again a very various and surprising line-up

Citizen Erased was started in 2008 as a Muse Tribute band by Bonne van der Wal and Arjen Kramer. With Oane Jansen (Spijcker ) on guitar, Bonne van der Wal (Royal Scum ) on bass, Klaas Dijkstra (Wise Man of Gotham ) on drums and Arjen Kramer singing, Citizen Erased brings a tribute to the band that was awarded as the best live act multiple times, Muse.

Kissmekillme is the soulful eight-piece band, brought together by the two Popma brothers. Their do-it-yourself-cut-and-paste-funk could be placed between Benny Sings, Prince and Jamie Lidell, with the uplifting attitude of Sly and the Family Stone and the originality of … Kissmekillme. A highly danceable sound, as uncommon as easy to get in to. In a short time the band build up a strong live reputation and released their debut album ‘Making life’ in the summer of 2008. A studio album made to carry the energetic Kissmekillme tracks to your house, car or headphones, and bring a smile to your face, each time you hear them. On stage, in the night time, the songs found a different way to express themselves and seduce the people into lifting their feet off the dance floor. And when you’re there, you’ll witness the eight men pushing their instruments to the fullest, and show the world what Kissmekillme is all about.

Aart Lus & Ed Lip are two real ‘Leeuwarders’, born and bred in Leeuwarden. They are also two real slackers. Their daily life consists of lying on the couch, drinking beer and bothering women. Two years ago was the last time these guys exchanged their favorite training suits for a different outfit, when they had to appear for the judge concerning peeing in public. Ed and Aart hate rules, hobbies and public broadcasting companies. Their musical career started March 2008, when Ed exchanged 400 kilos of scrap metal for a second hand drum computer. Aart appeared to be a natural talent and had a cool beat ready in an hour. After secretly recording Ed’s voice he put it on the beat and a new hit song was created: Ik Bin Su Eil. Now it’s a whole project in a die-hard dialect: dialectro!

Activities, Parties esn, hestia, live, live music, music, party, Romein

On Wednesday the 28th of January, the first edition of the international student event “International Stucent Night LIVE” took place in Poppodium Romein. With over 250 visitors with very diverse nationalities and a good relaxed atmosphere this first edition was a great success. International Student Night LIVE was initiated by the three international student organizations in Leeuwarden (Erasmus Student Network, Foreign Relations Committee en Hestia). With this musical event with an international character the foreign students get the chance to get in touch with Leeuwarden’s cultural live in an easy and accessible way.

The opening act of the night Barefoot, consisting of international students from different countries around the world was a great hit with the audience. People were singing loudly with the 90’s rock covers and the bands own songs were also received with great enthusiasm. The second act We Be Naked from Amsterdam, was welcomed less warmly. Technically they made good music, but in the front of the hall it was remarkably quiet during this performance. The audience seemed more interested in a dancing party than a rock concert. When the closing act Sawed Off started, the party was really on again, there was exuberant dancing and there even was a long polonaise that went round the entire hall. After the concerts the party was continued enthusiastically thanks to the cheerful music played by DJ Anne-Willem. At closing time, the staff of Romein had some trouble with convincing the last party people to continue the party elsewhere.

All in all the event was a great success and the next edition of this unique initiative has therefore already been planned. The second International Student Night LIVE will take place in Poppodium Romein on Wednesday, April 22 this year.

Activities live, live music, music, party, Romein