European Championship Waterpolo - Eindhoven

Yesterday the first matches in the European Championship Waterpolo have been played. This tournament is extra interesting for me, because I have three good friends playing for the Dutch national team. They have been training full time for years now. One of them actually plays for a Croatian team.

So yesterday they played Greece. Overall a pretty good game for the young Dutch team. The game resulted in a 12 -14 win for Greece, which actually is not too bad. This does mean that they will have to win again Turkey and their fourth game to be able to play in the Olympics this summer. It would be amazing to see my friends play during the biggest tournament in the world!

To watch the games live visit: http://nos.nl/dossier/327686-waterpolo-ek-2012/tab/341/live/
Games will always be played around 7pm.

Tonight at 7, Holland - Hungary (Olympic Champion)

Word of advice to next year students

The most important fact that a new student has to take in account is that this course is about academic English, using the business world as subject of interest. So the English learned during your secondary school forms the basic knowledge that you need to have to successfully pass the course. So my advice would be: don't think this course is unnecessary just because you can find your way in English abroad or being able to watch movies without subtitles. This is not enough. This course will take steps towards academic English, which is a whole new level. So again, my advice would be to take the course seriously and don't be a slacker, because this course can really help you with other courses and the level of conversation.

Graded presentation reflection

On wednesday the 11th of January, I had to give my graded presentation for English 1. Together with Thijs Benedek, we presented a new web design and a new marketing strategy for a fictional company named Audio Wire. The audio wire case was not new to us. It had occurred earlier during class, so it was not a big challenge. We basically used the earlier knowledge, created a powerpoint of this knowledge and presented this. We added a couple of things, for instance the website design itself. Thijs and I both never created lines to say to prepare a presentation. We just say what comes out naturally. There was an obstacle to use this tactic, because we had to use specific words from the academic word list. I believe I got sort of stuck during the presentation, because I knew I needed to say a couple of words but I could not find the right timing to actually use them. It all worked out well eventually, but better preparation could have prevented this problem. Besides this little problem, I think we did fine. It could have been better, but for that we should have put more time in the project. There were not questions coming from the class, the fictional board of audio wire, so I think everything we explained was clear. So to wrap this feedback up; The presentation could have been way better, but looking at the effort we put in I believe we did fine.

SF 49'ers to Superbowl XLVI??

It might come as a surprise to some that instead of water polo, american football is my favorite sport. My trip to California changed my view on the sport. At first, I saw the sport as a rugby rip-off for sissies, because of all the gear the players wear. Only after I started to understand the sport and started watching games more often( not that I had a choice, I was forced to watch) I started to really like the sport. I even joined one practice, which completely changed my view on the gear. A ball was rocketed at me and hit me in the face. If I wasn't wearing that helmet, I would have been knocked out for sure.
   I lived close to San Francisco, which automatically made me a SF 49'ers fan. This season they have been playing amazing and became the champions of the  NFC WEST, which gained them access to the playoff's. This means that they will get a shot to play in the Superbowl if they keep winning. Who's got it better than us?

The Superbowl will be played on February third. I know I will be staying up all night to watch! 

Max

Press Release Hazel

In this post you will find my first press release I've ever written. It was on a case study in our English text book named Hazel cosmetics. The objective was to write a press release on a new product from Hazel. The product I created is named; Hazelmax. Enjoy reading my, first, press release. 

Max van Hilten
s2185288
group 09
press release

                                                            Press information
Groningen, The Netherlands, November 27^th, 2011

New revolutionary product from Hazel

Hazel changes the face of cosmetics

Hazel has announced the launch of their new product Hazelmax, which will revolutionize the cosmetic marketplace. Hazelmax uses the newest, cutting edge technologies that will change people’s view on skin creams. Hazel will launch Hazelmax around Sinterklaas with a unique  ‘Sinterklaas’ beauty gift set. 

“Hazelmax absolutely lives up to the promise of being revolutionary,” says Mike Smith, Hazel’s Marketing Manager. “We have been perfecting Hazelmax for several years to create a totally new skin care experience for our customers, a new natural body formula that revitalizes the skin for an amazing period of time.”

What makes Hazelmax different from any other skin cream is that it not really a cream nor a foundation. Hazelmax is a natural formula that can be apply anywhere on the body, giving the skin a long-lasting revitalizing effect. Hazelmax will make your skin younger, decrease your flaws and will smooth out your skin to make you more beautifull than ever. Hazelmax improves all layers of the skin and is very easy to apply anywhere on the body. A second feature is that Hazelmax adapts itself to the user’s natural skin colour, so that everyone can use Hazelmax. Hazel’s Sinterklaas gift set will include a special 150 ml Hazelmax flacon together with other Hazel natural beauty products.

Hazel’s ground-breaking product Hazelmax can be pre-ordered online which will come with a gift set at www.hazelcostemtics.com. Hazelmax will be also become available in all cosmetics retail stores as of November 30th.

END
(254 words)

About hazel

Founded in 1972, Hazel is one of the world’s largest direct sellers of cosmetics and beauty products. Recently Hazel has appointed Angela Lang as Hazel’s new CEO. Recently graduated from Harvard business school, Angela Lang sees Hazel as her first opportunity in her career.
Hazel cosmetics is a worldwide active company, bringing beauty to every culture. We continue to look for new opportunities to bring the world new products.
Complete FAQ at www.hazelcosmetics.com

As a pioneer in the world of cosmetics, Hazel is committed to innovate and revolutionize the world of beauty. Our mission is to innovate and create the newest and best technologies on the market. Hazel brings the costumer the beauty they have been looking for.

Contact info:

HAZEL COSMETICS
Phone: 01 30 48 60 00
13 Place de la République

Paris
www.hazelcosmetics.com
info@hazelcosmetics.com


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Hazels mission statement: 
Hazel’s mission is to give every men and women the opportunity to look more beautiful and confident.

More personal language learning history

I can’t remember when I was first able to actually communicate in English, but I do know I was around 12 years old. Always hearing my father speaking English on the phone made me getting used to the language. I remember getting annoyed by subtitles in movies around the age of 14, while everybody else still needed them. I guess I was confronted with a different language earlier in life than most kids. At secondary school English was considered an important subject. It was noticeable, because of the workshops we got and several trips, including one to London. This stopped in 4^th grade. From a more informal way of learning English, suddenly we started learning from reading and listening assignments. I thought these assignments were quite boring, but again I think my level at that time was higher than most kids. When I was 18 I stopped attending the classes and this was a good choice since I still easily passed the class. The more serious way of learning English in high school did not suit me. That was definitely a negative point, but it was entirely personal. What was being thought, I already knew. One negative point that has resulted from this is that I can’t explain grammar. I don’t know what the past continuous is and I can’t explain it. When writing in English, I don’t think about grammar. I just write what feels right and this usually works out fine. This is a positive and a negative point at the same time.
   When going to the University of Groningen, I did not expect to have an English learning class. The reason I did not expect this, is because of the program I followed last year. I studies Economics and Business Economics in Utrecht, which is an English program as well. There was no English learning program at that program, which is the only reason I did not expect one in Groningen. I do like the English learning program. I know I can speak English properly, especially informal conversations, but when entering the business world I know the English is going to be very different. Sometimes when I read or hear my dad’s work I have no clue what it is about. There are so many words I still don’t know, but the biggest problem is the Business language. An expression like p2p businesses (peer to peer business) is an example.
   The things I really like about this English class are the cases. It’s a good interactive way to learn the proper vocabulary and improving teamwork at the same time. A negative point on that is that you don’t learn to interact with the newly learned vocabulary, since nobody is using them.
   When I moved to the USA, I had to do the TOEFL (test of English as a foreign language) test to get into college as an international student. My score came close to the maximum score, which was 120. I scored 107. I did not reach the maximum score because of some stupid mistakes, but it was clear was not performing well on the reading area. And I still notice that today, for example the intermediate test I had a couple of weeks ago. I did not score well on the reading part. Its something I really do need to improve since I’m studying IB&M. Its not that I don’t understand the things I’m reading, it’s the part when I have to look up information. I’m not good at that.
   After college I would love to work for a big international firm. I’m really into other cultures and working abroad. The next three years are going to be hard. I underestimated the amount of time I would have to spend studying when I first started. IBM consumes a lot of my time, and I’m still working on how to be more efficient when it comes to time. I have no doubt I will figure it out. So my advice would be, don’t underestimate the amount of work that has to be done. 

Looking back at interesting first months

It's been a few weeks since my last post. I have been very busy with exams, settling in a new city and making new friends. I have to say, studying at the RUG has been a delight. Definitely one of the greater decisions I've made. The last couple of months I've had several wake up calls that my english still is not as good as it should be. There is no problem reading my textbooks, but when I am giving presentations I tend to make grammar mistakes. I actually do notice them at that time, but it just happens. Of course, all of my classes create english spoken group discussions so I have no doubt this tiny problem will be forever lasting. I also still encounter words I've never heard of and probably will never use. I don't see this as a problem that is out of the ordinary. I asked some of my American friends if they knew any of the words I presented them, and they had no clue whatsoever.
   Tomorrow I start two new subjects. Financial accounting is one of them, and it scares the living hell out of me. Last year I had this subject as well and it was a nightmare. I just never seemed to get what was going on. So that will be very time consuming for the coming months.
   Enough about school, I've done more than just go to school. I actually joined the water polo club, De Walvis, but I'm not sure if I will continue to practice with them and play for that team. Maybe arrogant, but as a ex-intercollegiate water polo athlete I believe they lack experience and talent. But I'm going to have to look into that and find a substitute sport. I was thinking, maybe american football? The greatest game invented!
   More on that next time. This is all for now, hope you have enjoyed reading.

Max