Rowing is a very typical sport for students in the Netherlands. In a relative short period of time, it is possible to train excellent rowing skills. For example, three of our rowers started the Olympic Games in Rio without even stepping in a rowing boat before their college time. Two of them even won a medal! Whether you want to train every day of would rather enjoy a beer on our terrace as much as a light peddle in the sun, rowing is what connects our ambitious association! Besides rowing there are multiple other ways to broaden your college experience at Proteus like parties, festival weeks, a wintersport trip. All events are organised by our own members, so even organizing one of the biggest rowing competitions in the Netherlands or one of our festival weeks!. At Proteus you make friends for the rest of your life to make Delft your new home as soon as possible. Even though Dutch is the official language, there are some international students that join Proteus every year! Read the stories of 3 foreign Proteus members below!
Bogdan
Being a member is a lot more than just rowing. You can get involved in anything from organizing events, parties, races, ‘tafelvoetbal’ tournaments or even the Proteus OWee. You could also become part of committees that make the club life possible, like the Bixy (they cook food twice a week) or the IRC (introduction committee). I do think that the rowing is the best part though. I finished my second year of competitive rowing now, and in that time I had fun with stuff like datedinners, chirstmasdinners, trainings, races, vacations and other things I don’t remember right now. Last year I rowed in the heavyweight freshman 8 and this year I rowed in MGM (something like an intermediate group) and besides I’m part of teamtank (one of the five fleets of Proteus).
On a serious note, rowing is a meaningful experience because it forces you to develop some core, deep rooted values if your ambition to succeed is big enough and leads to lasting, meaningful relationships with the people you train and race with along the way.
Emre
I'm Emre Karaosmanoglu, I come from Turkey and I have a
French background. I am doing my Mechanical engineering
bachelor at the TU Delft. But since the bachelor of
Mechanical engineering is in Dutch, I had first to learn
Dutch in 6 months in 2018-19 then start my studies in 2019.
Apart from this I was a youth rower for 4 years and I
was determined to row in the Netherlands. I heard a lot
about Proteus-Eretes since when I was in Turkey. And during
my OWee I registered myself for this team. Everyone was
incredibly nice. And I had one goal, to row with the best
ones of this team. Then my first year started as my rowing
career with Proteus. From the beginning I did the selection
for the professional Proteus Heavyweight team. We were
training 6-7 times a week. I was at the same time worried
about my BSA and also the intense racing season that was
about to start. But everything went so well for my studies
and at Proteus thanks to everyone I know. They never made me
feel like a foreigner. We quickly became a family and
everyone helped me either with my studies or with my rowing
career. And I also started DJing for parties at Proteus
(which are absolutely amazing). In short, Proteus-Eretes is
for everyone and it doesn`t matter if you want to row at top
level or just have fun with your teammates at parties.
Natalia
As an international student, I stepped foot into Proteus knowing nothing about Dutch student culture, but with a burning desire to learn, make new friends and integrate into a new environment. Now when I say I knew nothing about it, I mean it. I didn’t speak a word of Dutch, I didn’t know anyone, and to be frank, the main reason I even joined was because I knew I wanted to join a sports association and Proteus was the first one I thought looked fun. And fun it has turned out to be. The first five weeks, during the time we call IRT, I met a whole bunch of new people, and I made friends, both with the girls in my team (“ploeg”), and with other members from mine and older years. I started learning how to row, and realised how much I enjoy it. For me, it’s the perfect blend between sport and community, whether you’re in the boat getting wet, or in the bar, being splashed with beer, because we’re students so of course that’s what always happens. This made me go through selection to become a competitive rower, and even though I didn’t make the team, it was an amazing experience, where I got stronger, made close friends, and started speaking a little bit of Dutch. I then went on to become part of this year’s topc4 dames ploeg, which was challenging, yet very fun. The whole year has been very rewarding, and I’ve found myself at home in this new community. I’m still trying to learn Dutch, as even though everyone speaks English, I still want to try my best to be able to speak the language. I won’t lie, sometimes it is a bit isolating being the only one who doesn’t speak it, but the good outweighs this issue. All in all, I’m the fittest I’ve ever been (which is saying a lot, I’ve always been in shape), I have great friends, and I’d do it all over if given the opportunity to.