Interview Joey

I am Joey, this year’s Weekend Committee commissioner. This is my third year at Flow, actually. In my first year, I was the commissioner of the Party Committee and last year I did a board year as the External Affairs. So, I've been enjoying my time at Flow.  

Very active!

Yeah! So this year I'm doing the Weekend Committee, and we always have two activities, which are the City Trip and the Association Weekend. We have already had the City Trip, which was in November. We organized the weekend to Leuven, Belgium, which was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it, and I heard from other attendees that they also had a great time, which is good to hear. Then in May, we'll have our second activity, which is the Association Weekend. It is also a weekend in a way, but it's more compact. So, we stay at one location, and we usually do some sports activities, games and host a party.  

So the focus is more on being together rather than exploring a new city?

Exactly like that. It is still a pretty long time away, but we're already making small preparations. I am really looking forward to it.  

Well, like I said before, you can say I'm a seasoned Flow'er. So, I really liked the Weekend Committee's activities last year and I wanted to do something different from what I had done before. Over the past years I joined committees that had multiple activities spread out over the year and not just one or two big activities. That is why I chose the Weekend Committee, as it is more focused on single activities. I'm excited for it, because I love organizing weekends for my friends or other people and also really enjoy exploring other cities, which is how we got to the City Trip to Leuven. However, I also enjoy informal activities and sports activities too, which are a part of the Association Weekend we're organizing.  

Yeah. I actually wanted to do this last year, but I really, really, really want to introduce a new type of Flow merch. We already have Flow dice, we have Flow bottles, we have Flow socks. I really want to introduce something new, but I'm not going to tell you what yet.  

We'll keep it as a surprise?  

It is going to be announced fairly soon, and it is going to be part of the Association Weekend. So, it's a special deal! If you are coming to the Association Weekend, you can also get this special piece of Flow merch.  

So, it's going to be exclusive to the event?

Yes, for now, it's going to be exclusively for members attending the activity! If there is really high demand, maybe they could be sold in the Flow merch store as well.  

That's a really cool idea!  

That's what I really wanted.  

Yes, I already have a lot of practical knowledge about how the association works and what I need to do. I noticed that in my first year as a commissioner, which was my first year at Flow as well, I was a bit puzzled sometimes. Occasionally, I also had a bit of trouble actually leading the committee. We got distracted during meetings, and went on ranting about other things. Now, we also do that, but more in a controlled way. I have become pretty good at finding the balance in that.  

My committee is very passionate about winning the Flowmission, Flow's yearly competition between committees. I have not won the Flowmission yet, and I really want to. We are also all passionate about the activities, but we have a flaming passion for the Flowmission right now. Like, we need to win. I like the competition, it motivates me.  

Do you know the movie Dumb and Dumber? It's not necessarily that we're dumb, but we are very goofy. The thing is, we are goofy, but we get things done. It's kind of the same in the movie, but we also love to make jokes. We get things done, but it doesn't feel like work. It really feels like a friend group! 

I would book flights for the City Trip. We would find a fun city and just book a whole hotel; I don't care. We could invite maybe fifty people, and organize classic City Trip activities like our visit to the brewery in Leuven, except we would go to the biggest one in Europe! We could go to a funhouse or a carnival, do lasergaming in the hotel; the options are endless.

For the Association Weekend, I would buy a villa or a mansion somewhere. It would have a separate pool and we could go to the spa with everyone. Those exclusive Flow merch items I was talking about before? Everyone would just get them for free, but they would stay exclusive to the trip.

The activity will go fully off the rails, I'm hearing!

Exactly. Now that you mention that, we can buy a train and build our own tracks. A direct train from the Tilburg University station to the Flow mansion with on-board laser gaming.