Adrenaline May 2019

Hello beloved MaasSAC members,

We proudly present a brand-new edition of our newspaper to you with many amazing articles. This time we present all the submissions for our potential new logo, reintroduce our beloved MaasSAC song to you, tell you a little what was going on in April and much more. We hope you enjoy this month’s issue! As always, if you have any suggestions, contributions or feedback for the next edition, we are always happy to hear from you. ❤️

Love & knuddels,

Adrenaline

adrenaline@maassac.nl

Download here the PDF version

A couple of creative climbers followed our call in the March edition of Adrenaline and proposed some amazing designs for our new logo. Sadly, there can only be one logo. So, please let us know which design you like most!

Some designs have multiple options for some back-of-T-shirt ideas and most designs will still be refined in case they get chosen. The letters of the logo’s will probably be used for headings and on the site, the full image as a logo on clothes and expanded images could be enlarged on the back of clothes.

To vote click here and then follow the link in the facebookpost.

This link can also be found on the post on Facebook. Votes are anonymous.

By Cisca

Hey folks, we are Klimop. We are the climbing committee of MaasSAC and the most important committee within MaasSAC (according to ourselves).

We are Brechje, Celine, Charlotte, Nika and Nils. 4 climbing gals and 1 climbing guy. Currently a fun and loving group of 5 members. We also have an unofficial 6^th member who is also our main line to the board, Trijntje, our vice-president. We can all be found climbing and bouldering almost every week at Ivy and Radium. By coincidence most of us are in different years of med school, and one of us is doing econometrics & OR.

Klimop’s main responsibility are the IV-courses and the OV-course, besides that we are responsible for the Calanques trip that takes place every year in the carnival’s break. We’re the first line for everything climbing related for all members of MaasSAC. To make sure all of this goes well, we have 2 meetings a month on average. During these meetings we cook and eat dinner together and afterwards we discuss and decide what’s important for future or past events. But besides the serious meetings, we also tend to have quite some fun. Even outside official Klimop duties we meet up and hang out, play games, eat together and just have an all-around great time. We laugh a lot together in both serious and fun meetings.

If you ever feel the need to talk to us you can just approach any of us when you see us at Ivy, Radium or just in Maastricht. Or you can mail us at klimop@maassac.nl

Much love from Klimop

Remember when you yourself started climbing? Here is some footage of one of our lovely new members, how he experienced his first months after he started climbing. I am sure all of us, no matter if newbie ourselves or years-long enthusiast, can relate to this on a lot of levels.

Moving thousands of kilometres away from place I called for home the last 26 years and starting over in a new country is one of the most nerve wrecking yet exciting adventures I have set myself to. Life as you know it will change, as part of embracing the change I promised myself to try new things. So, that’s how I decided to give climbing a shot.

I remember being partly terrified and partly exhilarated the first time I clawed up the bouldering wall with my hand gripping each hold for dear life. Having made it to the top, there was sense of accomplishment fuelled by joy. The experience brought back memories of childhood where I would be interested in trying to climb anything I set my sight on – be it trees, small buildings and walls. This made me realise that climbing is an intuitive skill that brings out our inner child and satisfies our monkey brain.

Reflecting upon the last two of months of bouldering, here’s what I realised about the sport and how it has had an effect on me:

It’s an amazing full body workout that uses almost all muscle groups and most importantly the biggest muscle- The Brain! In addition to strengthening of the core, I feel like it helps with flexibility and improving body balance.
60% watching and 40% climbing.

Although I could climb the easy routes initially, I hit a roadblock when it came to the difficult one’s- From Pushing myself till my muscles got sore and then giving up to just sitting on the mat and observing different people climb, I realised how important it was to sit back and learn different holds and body movements from watching.

The activity stimulates the mind and activates the problem-solving side of our mind. Every route feels like a unique puzzle and every time we figure a root out, the brain gets a hit of dopamine and we pop a smile on the face! This very nature of the sport is what I feel makes it so addictive.
As someone who suffers from anxiety, climbing has been great outlet to tackle this issue personally for me. When I climb, all my self-doubt and overthinking vanish. The focus remains between me and the wall while all other thoughts get diluted into as background noise. It’s a form of dynamic meditation, where I use my breath to find balance and keep focus while ascending up the wall. One of the main factors of anxiety happens to be the feeling of worthless but while climbing, pushing yourself to do things you didn’t think possible works well to regain the sense of self-worth.
The biggest lesson it teaches is not to fear failing or falling but to embrace it to keep learning and growing.

Lastly, I realised climbing is for everybody – It doesn’t matter if you are old, young, a fitness freak or if you’re out of shape, tall or short as long as you just have FUN. The climbing community has been one of the friendliest and non-judgemental communities I have been a part of. From getting tips and high fives from strangers to holding an inclusive atmosphere, the culture was been nothing but encouraging for newbies like me.

By Sumanth

As we were gathered around the campfire at the last OV weekend, some of the instructors were shocked how few people knew the lines to our good, old MaasSAC song. Hence, we decided we wanted to reinstate the tradition of this song that got a little lost. The song is indeed very short and easy, so I think everybody of us – even the non-Dutch speaking people as I am myself – will be able to learn it quickly so we can sing it out as loud as possible on every occasion we get!

We klimmen en we hakken
Maassac gaat aan kop
We kletteren en boulderen
Tot boven aan de top

Om de gladste plaat te flashen
Met de zon in onze nek
De bergen overwinnen we
Want Maassac is te gek

Jalaaalalala – la – la, Jalaaalalalala – la – la

For the beat of the song see:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_8v3JR-Res

The ‘Jalaaalalala – la – la, Jalaaalalalala – la – la part is similar.

By Cisca & Ramona

What music do you associate with climbing(trips)? If I think about music and climbing, the first thing that comes to my mind is Ivy’s infinite repetitive playlist on Thursday nights. Much better is the music selection in Matthias’ car.

The board would love to know which music you associate with climbing & MaasSAC, so we founded a MaasSAC Spotify list. Every member is allowed to add one song.* I will ask Radium and Ivy if they can play our playlist during our climbing nights. Yes, I look as much forward to hearing other songs in Ivy as every other regular climber.

So, here’s the deal:

Think of a song that reminds you of climbing/MaasSAC/trips
Add the number to the Spotify list under this link (if the hyperlink does not work for you, try to search this URI in your Spotify app: spotify:user:matthias.mjm:playlist:48ZanZppasE4VbHRl5T1NY)
Tell us in the next Adrenalinehy you chose the song! (Just shoot an email to adrenaline@maassac.nl or contact one of the committee members through other means)

*With the following exceptions:

The current board
Honorary members of MaasSAC
Every member who comes up with a very good reason to add an extra song and publishes it in the next Adrenaline

Need some inspiration on how to choose the perfect MaasSAC-song? Here are the reasons why the board chose their songs:

Luke: “I chose them because I like the way they sound. I hope that’s helpful.”

Lynn: “I picked my songs randomly. Please don’t quote me on this in Adrenaline.”

Trijntje: “My first time in Graviton, Hannelieke drove me there. The moment she opened the door, everyone in Graviton came up to her for hugs or kisses (Miriam) and holiday talk. I felt very jealous and it made me even more determined to seek friendship within Maassac. One year later, I am blessed with not just one friend to rely on, but multiple very dear friends and a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious housemate. That’s why I chose the song ‘You’ve got a friend’. I also picked ‘Kom van dat dak af’, because of the best (MaasSAC) birthday and rooftop party last year May!”

Matthias: “I have no clue what I added. Bohemian rhapsody definitely because of Fontainebleau and the overall atmosphere around the campfire with everyone joking around and singing along. Parcels was the song during my first months in Bambi.”

By Trijntje

Every once in a blue moon an evening for the members of all the MaasSAC committees is organized to spend some nice hours together with way too much food, telling stories and numerous games of “Ninja”. One instance of this event was the Potluck dinner on the 10^th of April. Everyone brought a kind of food ranging from Hummus over Wraps to amazing vegan Chocolate cake. Of course, liquids of different variations of flavor and alcohol level were also present (later on there were less present 😉). After all bellies were filled (and the buffet was still much intact) a small game of “Ninja” was proposed. One game of ninja turned into about 7 and produced a new ninja-queen: Ramona. She managed to get to the final round lots of times defeating the weak opposition with swift actions and reckless movements (no backflips though).

By Kevin

With our bags packed, worries left behind and big smiles on our faces, the 10 us from MASSAC embarked on this hiking trip to Muller Thal trail over the Easter Break. The trip started with a quick stop at the local supermarket to buy some essentials < Read 3 Crates of BEER>. Now that we had prepared ourselves for any sort of potential disaster that may occur, we proceeded to the campsite. Post pitching our tents and taking over the best spots in the campsite, we decided to skinny dip at a lake nearby. To our disappointment, there were way too many kids near the lake and as responsible adults, we decided to jump in with our swimwear.

While some decided to play a game of cards, the others decided to play a game of Knocking Stick with Sticks (I have no idea what the game is called). The smell of barbeque from the neighbours got us moving back to our campsite and start cooking dinner. All was ready to cook a scrumptious meal except the fact that we couldn’t get to start a fire on the stove. Conversations varied from “How many calories does beer have?” , “ it’s enough to give us the energy to hike for 3 days” to “ Did you guys see any pizza places around?”. With teamwork and pure determination, we did manage to start the fire and cook some delicious filling burritos.

After a good night of rest (by camping and sleeping in a tent standard), post breakfast we headed out on the trial. The scenic landscape comprised of beautiful rock-formations, dark caves, massive cliffs, canyons lush mousy woods seemed to come straight out of Lord Of The Rings. The route covered with dry leaves alternates between forest and vast farmland. The tracks sometimes ran into tiny villages that had such picturesque houses – that looked like they were out of children’s colouring book. Some of us decided to cut short and head back to the campsite while a few brave warriors decided to not give up till the route is complete. The brave ones were rewarded with a view of the waterfall at the end of the trail and fries back the campsite. The night ended with some beers, marshmallows and music by the fire.

With most of us running of reserve energy, we took it easy the next day (like real easy). We ended up taking the car to the waterfall and hiking from there. The day comprised of grabbing lunch with a bunch of cows to taking mid-afternoon naps in open ground. Everyone was on the same page of -”We got nowhere to go, nowhere to be, let’s just keep walking till we get tired or find beer/ice cream”. The last part of the trail comprised of wooden tracks surrounded massive trees that stood strong and still with each having a story to tell. The day ended with a few headstands, handstands and flexibility challenges.

Packing up our tents and clearing our trash, we set our journey back after 3 days of waking up to the chirping of birds in the woods and immersing ourselves in nature. We decided to make a pitstop somewhere in Belgium to go kayaking. Rowing our kayaks along the river surrounded by forest was a cherry on top of the icing.

By Sumanth

Chapter 1: OV weekends

Ruth to Mona: hmm what’s your name again..
Celine: it’s also a Dutch desert.
Ruth: what, vla?!

Nooo! What are you doing! The Pink ones are the best! – Daphne to Chris about mentos

Celine: Your butt needs more oatmeal!
Mona: What?!
Celine: I mean look at that big but!
Janna: I am gonna feed my but oatmeal guys..

Things Cisca says on a first date:

You know, I wanna have kids by 29, so we gotta hurry up!

I will come through your window at night…

What Cisca thinks on a first date: Mhh, how would my babies look like with that guy… I think his head is too big.

Talking about Ciscas big head:

Cisca: I have a lot of cheek

Cisca: I think I am gonna have a really hard time to press the baby out.

Kevin: Because of the babies big head!

Janna: Ooh I thought because of your big head!

*looking at a picture of a guy on Tinder very enthusiastically eating a burger*

Cisca: Well, if you see that look you know how he’d look like while you know…

Kevin: While eating something else?

Cisca: Yes, exactly what I meant.

Kevin: … Eat me like one of your burgers.

Mona: Let’s go to the cat caffee!

Janna: Do they have cats there???

Mona: No, dogs.

MaasSACers singing: … in the end it doesn’t even matter

Cisca: This is a pokemon song, isn’t it?

Mona: … This is Linkin Park!

Cisca: Who is this Link?

Janna: Cisca you have the cleanest nose, you must pick it all day!

Cisca: Well, I had nothing to do today…

Janna: Lander and my babies would have such big bubble butts… They might be ass models some day

Chapter 2: Stories from Kevin’s kitchen…

Fitting people in Kevin’s and Lisa’s kitchen:
Justin: I got a hard one
Philipe: that’s why we had so little space
Other guy: that’s why we had so much space

Other Nora: no don’t start Kevin, you can never finish

Janna: Cornhub
Dude: It’s the vegan version
Janna: No meat?

Chapter 3: The committee evening

Conversations about which kind of cutlery everybody would be:

Somebody (wanting to be a spoon) ‘I think I wanna be round and soft.’

Somebody else (wanting to be a fork):‘I wanna be poky!’

Lisa(wanting to be a knife):‘I wanna stab everything!!!’

Janna: I want to be a cheese graiter! …But wait, then I have to rub down on everybody and everything

Nora: A fork seems a bit more aggressive when you first meet them, but they are actually quite multipurpose and just want to be helpful.

What about sporks? – Sporks are like the alpha males of the cutlery then!

Sumanth: Ok, so what is Easter about actually?

Brechje: Soo, 1 month before Christmas…

*15 minutes later Brechje finishes her story*

Sumanth: Until now I get it is about apples, candles and some kind of dragon sword – sounds pretty cool to me!

Sumanth: So, what do you do when you come across a bear?

Nora: Well, first of all you try to calm your father.

Simon: Calm him to not shoot the beer!

Mona: … You mean bear?

When eel want to produce offspring, they go on a big hike.

Chapter 4: Random stuff
Brechtje in the car: Lynn! I finally figured it out, this position is actually quite comfortable.

Oliver: money suckers
Emma: always women!

Ricarda *eating coffee chocolate and drinking red wine*: You know I am histamine intolerant, I shouldn’t eat chocolate… or coffee… or red wine… Oooops!

If you have any wise/ funny/ stupid things to share another MaasSACer (or you yourself) said, just send them to us so all of us can have a little laugh. 😉

By Cisca & Mona