International Project Week in Eindhoven: A Journey of Learning and Cultural Exchange

From May 7th to May 12th, 2023, a group of enthusiastic students embarked on an international adventure to Eindhoven, Netherlands. This exciting journey was part of an international school project designed to foster cross-cultural collaboration and hands-on learning experiences.

Our week began with a warm welcome at the Blue Collar Hotel, where we met fellow participants from diverse backgrounds. This initial encounter was a perfect prelude to a week filled with innovative projects, insightful lectures, and rich cultural exchanges.

Over the course of six days, we delved into various challenges, from the Smombie Run Challenge to game design workshops, each designed to push our creative and technical boundaries. We explored the charming city of Eindhoven, soaked in its history, and enjoyed its vibrant local culture.

Join us as we recount our incredible week in Eindhoven, filled with hard work, learning, and unforgettable memories. Each day brought new experiences and opportunities, culminating in final presentations and heartfelt goodbyes, leaving us with newfound skills and lasting friendships.

Sunday - Arrival

As part of an exciting international school project, we arrived on Sunday evening at around 8 pm. We were excited about the adventure to come. After checking into the Blue Collar Hotel and unpacking our baggage, we had the chance of meeting our other project members. It was a nice experience to learn more about their backgrounds and cultures. We talked a lot about how our countries and mentalities differ.

We wanted to explore Eindhoven, so we decided to take a walk to the city center. It was a 30-minute walk, but there were lots of nice sightings along the way. As we reached the city, we decided to visit a local bar and grab some drinks. While drinking our beers, we discussed our project goals and plans for the rest of the week. We were all excited about to work together. After all, it was an nice start to our international project. We are all looking forward to seeing what the rest of the week has to offer.

Monday - A Promising Start

Today was the official start of the international project. We were all excited to meet our new teachers. After a brief introduction, we dove right into a challenge called the 'Smombie Run Challenge.' It was a fun way to start the day. Next, we received an introduction to the project and met our team members. We spent some time brainstorming ideas and getting to know each other's programming skills. It was good to see some different perspectives and ideas.

During lunch, we ate a variety of delicious sandwiches. This give us energy for the rest of the day. We had a guest lecture on future technologies, the lecture was about the impact of computing power. It was eye-opening to think about how technology will shape our future. After the lecture, we had the opportunity to talk about our ideas for the Smombie Run Challenge. We shared our unique ideas on how to approach the challenge. It was amazing to see everyone's ideas. Later in the day, we had the chance to present and pitch our ideas to the group. It was nerve-wracking, but also a great learning experience. After that, we had a cultural tasting, we were able to try some of the local cuisine and learn more about the culture.

In the evening, we decided to eat in the hotel and relax after a busy day. Some of us ventured out to explore the city, while others just staid at the hotel. It was a great way to end the day, and we're excited to see what the rest of the trip has in store for us.

Tuesday - Concept Development and Game Design

On the second day of our international week, we started the day by going over the program. We were excited to dive into another day of learning. Around 10 o'clock we had our first lecture and workshop about concepting. We learned about the most important aspects of developing a unique concept. One of the aspects was having a unique selling point, another one was finding a way to satisfy our users. Additionally, we discovered the need of doing user testing to verify our hypotheses and the benefit of role-playing when pitching ideas to stakeholders.

After the lecture, we had an hour to work on and improve our concept ideas with the knowledge we learned and discussed earlier, after that we had another interesting lecture. The second lecture was about game design and game dynamics. We learned that you don't necessarily need a game design to design a great game, but that I can be very helpful. They taught us some game design lingo like setting, theme, magic circle... During the lecture, they also told us how to design a game. How you start with a one-pager that grows into a 10-pager and beyond. After the lecture about game design, we had the opportunity to work on the game design document with our group. We made a one-pager document about our concept, and after lunch we developed our concept further.

Wednesday - Concept Refinement and Inspiring Demonstrations

On the third day of the international week, we started the day with a kick-off meeting at 9am. The first thing we did was pitching the concept to our teacher Rens. We were excited to share our ideas with him and curious about the feedback.

With the feedback from Rens we refined and improved our ideas. We were dedicated to make our concepts the best they could be. For lunch, we had wraps and couscous with the whole group of the international week. After lunch, we did a small wrap-up presentation where we could show a small demo of what our app would look like.

To end the day, we were treated to tasty French fries from a food truck. We gathered around and enjoyed our fries while reflecting on the progress we made so far.

Thursday - Feedback, and Exploring Eindhoven

Day 4 of our international project week in Eindhoven was busy. We had been working hard on our projects for the past few days and it was time to finalize and test everything before presenting it to the jury. We focused on putting the final touches on our projects and we got to go outside to test our applications and see how it influenced our behavior.

It was a critical step to ensure that our projects were functioning correctly and met our client's requirements. At 11 am, we had our final and last wrap-up presentation. We presented our projects to our fellow participants and received valuable feedback from them. After the presentation, we took a lunch break and enjoyed a variety of delicious sandwiches. In the afternoon, we had the chance to explore the city of Eindhoven with a guided tour. We learned about the city's history, culture, and architecture. We also had the opportunity to see some of Eindhoven's famous landmarks and museums, such as the Van Abbemuseum, the Philips Museum, and the Strijp-S area.

The tour was a great way to take a break from our projects and bond with our fellow participants. Overall we were able to finalize our projects, receive feedback and explore the beautiful city of Eindhoven.

Friday - Final Presentations and Farewell

Our last day of our international project week in Eindhoven. We started the day with our usual daily start at 9 am, but this time it was focused on finalizing our projects. At 10:30, it was time for us to present our projects to the jury. We're all nervous but excited to share our ideas with them. Each group presented their project, showcasing their unique selling point and how they had addressed their users' needs. It was impressive to see how much progress we had made.

After the presentations, we had a well-deserved lunch break to relax and enjoy some food together. It was a great opportunity to talk with our teams and reflect on the past week's experiences. At 1 pm, we gathered for the award ceremony and received our certificates. It was a proud moment for all of us to see our hard work pay off and be recognized by the experts and our peers. The day ended with goodbyes. It was a bit sad to say goodbye to our new friends and colleagues, but we were grateful for the opportunity to have worked together and learned from each other.

We left Eindhoven with new skills, experiences, and memories that we will cherish forever. Overall, the international project week in Eindhoven was a fantastic experience that pushed us out of our comfort zones and allowed us to grow both personally and professionally. We were grateful for the opportunity to participate and are excited to see where our newfound knowledge and skills will take us in the future.