For the past few weeks, we have been decorating the Christmas tree at home. This did not go without a hitch. We didn't like all the baubles anymore and the lights and baubles went in the wrong order so we had to do that over again. And we also had to reach out to get the Christmas tree topper on. But at the same time, we did look forward to Christmas and the New Year and it still became a fun activity in between all the other activities. And in the end, we were also quite happy with our tree.
Decorating a Christmas tree is a bit like decorating a new study programme. You seize the opportunity to make some changes to your curriculum but everything has to fit into how you roughly envisioned it. Moreover, we all do other things besides starting up a secondary location, so for most of us it has to fit in as well.
In the process, it is incredible to see how decisions fit together and flow from each other. Now that we know what the first six months will roughly look like in Twente and Amsterdam, we also know when the students will be in Twente, so when the log cabins have to be available, so when to roster for the log cabins, so when the lecture halls have to be available at both locations, so when we need student assistants at which location...so...so....
This makes the project exciting every time. Because suppose there is a killjoy somewhere in the whole chain after all? At that point, we do need to have a plan B for that situation.
But...we're just going to succeed and this tree is also going to be quite a nice one. Maybe a little different from what we had previously envisaged, but at least a CreaTe-worthy tree.
Many thanks to everyone who thinks out of the box to understand each other again and again. So incredibly essential in this process of working together. I wish you all a very happy New Year’s Eve and all the best for 2023. Together we CreaTe.
