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AI* of the month December: Janne Peeters!

Mon, 8 May 2023

written by Carmen te Wechel

Interviewed and written by Carmen te Wechel

Welcome Janne, congratulations on becoming AI* of December! Could you introduce yourself to us?

*Janne and I instantly start giggling since we cannot take each other seriously.*

My name is Janne and I recently turned 20 years old. I was born in Baarlo, in Limburg, we love Limburg. I like doing all sorts of stuff, I like dancing being creative, hanging out with my friends. I’m in my third year right now, hoping to finish my bachelor’s. Yeah, how much more do you want to know?

What do you think about becoming AI* of the month?

I have to say I never would have expected to become AI* of the month, so it was a big big surprise. It was probably also the second CognAC Evening I have ever been to and then.. “Surprise! You are AI*!” But it was really nice and everyone was enthusiastic, we had a nice time and I remember drinking lots of Glühwein.

It really was a CognAC Evening which really suited you, with all the wine.

Yes definitely, red wine is my passion.

How did you become active within CognAC?

I had a very active mentor group and orientation group, and many people in those groups were like “Oh I’m going to join that committee and that committee and that committee!”. They had a long list of committees they wanted to join and then finally in my second year I gave in too, and I joined the WkC.

*Whoo, WkC best committee!*

We organised the weekend and then we cancelled the weekend and then we organised another weekend and then we cancelled that weekend, I think that happened a few times. Eventually, we organised our first weekend last year in May and then summer went by and we organised another weekend. The first weekend was really fun but it was also nice to organise a weekend not located in Nijmegen.

Did you like being in the WkC?

How could I not broooo! All my friends are in the WkC, I mean WkC is the best, WkC is Life, WkC is love, smash WkC!

You mentioned that you are very creative and like to do creative stuff, can you tell a bit more about that?

I have been painting and drawing on everything as long as I can remember, like on the walls but also just on paper, ever since I could hold a pencil. I also like doing stuff with clay and painting.

Do you also like music?

I played the blokfluit (EN: recorder) when I was really little. I wanted to play the violin and they told me you have to play the blokfluit before you can do violin and then I did that for like 70 years and then I never even touched a violin.

Do you ever want to touch a violin?

I would like to touch a violin, if anyone has a violin hit me up!

*We shortly discuss that it would be nice if people would let Janne know whether they have a violin which she can touch, she doesn’t even have to play it, just touch it.*

So in your free time you like to be creative, are there other things you like to do in your free time?

I wish I had more free time, even the creative stuff is kind of on the side right now. Besides that, I’m a really big movie and series fan. I love a good binge. That’s what I mostly do in the evenings when I’m just chilling. I have really nice housemates, so I chill with them a lot. I live in Hoogeveldt, so there are like one billion people there who I like to chill with. I also like chilling with my CognAC friends. I also go home quite a lot, back to Limburg, back to my roots haha. I work there, I would consider that my hobby as well since it’s very gezellig. Specifically the drinks after work.

You mentioned that you will hopefully finish your bachelor’s this year, but how did you get to AI, why did you choose this study?

*Janne mocks me for this question saying it’s super creative!*

Let me answer this for you! I have always been a very indecisive person, so when I had to choose my bachelor I went to probably 50 billion different open days. I was looking into doing something more technical. I have also looked at art schools, but I also like languages. Then I visited the open day at Radboud and went to the AI talk. I thought it was very nice because of the combination of different things I liked and it had good career prospects, so that’s why I chose it. And Nijmegen is really nice!

Would you describe Nijmegen to be a better place to live than Baarlo or is that something you can’t get out of your mouth?

That is confidential information haha.

*At this point Lasse starts laughing at us from the board room*

Lets talk about Lasse for a bit.

Yes let’s do that! You have seen Huis Anubis right? Don’t you think that if he had long hair, Lasse would resemble Graaf Rohan from Pad der Zeven Zonden?

Now that you say so! I can see it!

*Janne and I find ourselves way too funny at this point*

Talking about Lasse…

Ohh, this is going in a bad direction.

Lasse, Janne and I were in the APS group together in our first year, how do you look back on these days?

It were COVID-times then, so we saw each other maximum once a week, but we bonded quite well. Still, most of the people from the APS group are still my friends. We had some highlights, and also some low lights. Maybe we shouldn’t talk about the low lights. I had a great time!

Let’s just keep it at that the low lights were tequila related.

It indeed was tequila related, it still is tequila related for me, it still hurts. I was a mentor during the orientation last summer. My introkiddos loved tequila, my fellow parents loved tequila, so every time we were at BeestFeest or something they were like “Oh let’s do a shot!”. Then I always told them “No tequila!!” And then they of course get me…. Tequila!

Would you say tequila is your favourite karaoke song?

*Janne takes a long time before answering this, contemplating life.*

Well, I can say the word, and of course in the song they only sing the word tequila, so that’s good. I don’t think I would survive any more singing about tequila than that. I am kinda nauseous as we speak.

Yeah, it brings back some not-so-good memories…

Talking about memories! And I’m really proud of this bridge (if that’s what you call it in English), what is your favourite CognAC memory?

Hmmm, would I be a proud WkC member if I didn’t say last weekend? I really liked that. I also really liked living monopoly, the edition in Nijmegen in my first year. That was a great day. Oh and! Cantus.

Which cantus?

Any cantus. But maybe the one during the orientation this year at the NEC stadium. It was the first time I dared to request a song and that was probably because I had a little too much to drink. But it was really good for my confidence.

*At this point we remembered that Janne bribed me during the cantus so that I would give her the word, since I was procantor.*

What did you bribe me with again?

I think it was an anytimer and a kiss? For both you and Aline? But I don’t think you have used it yet, so that’s nice.

*Lasse suddenly turns on really loud techno music.*

Ohh Lasse just keeps on giving us bridges to other questions! Janne what do you think about techno music?

I love techno music! I like going to festivals and parties where they play it.

Like Subcultuur?

Subcultuur was maybe a bit too mellow for me. I like the real “beuk techno” (aka, really hard techno).

*Lasse now demonstrates how to beuk*

Lasse is such a raveteef.

Going back to the more CognAC related questions, are there any other committees which you would still like to join?

I think the PaparaC would be nice, since it’s a bit more of a creative committee. I really like taking pictures. I had an analogue camera once, but then it died. But it was really nice to have it. I really like taking pictures of people and capturing moments. Otherwise, maybeeee the AlmanaC.

Those are indeed very creative committees! How nice. Would you maybe consider joining the Food Committee? Since I know you also like to cook.

Oooooooh yes! I completely forgot about my passion for cooking!!! I really love cooking! I have been brought up by parents who can cook really well, so I probably got it from them. I really like improvising my recipes, I don’t really like following a set recipe, I just mostly throw a lot of stuff together and hope it tastes good. Most of the time it does so that’s pretty nice. So yeah the Food Committee would definitely be on the list!

What would you say is your signature dish?

Uhmmm, It’s really simple, but I really like ravioli with sage butter sauce and then I make a salad with it. It’s really simple but it always does the trick! I always make my own ravioli, not store-bought. It is a nice day activity for when it’s summer, put on some music, make your ravioli in the sun, it’s great. I’ll make it someday for you! If you let me touch your violin I’ll make it for you!

It’s funny, because one of the reasons why you were elected as AI* of December was because of your cooking skills at the weekend! Can you tell a bit about what went on in the kitchen at the CognAC weekend?

It was very steamy and hot. It was not as chaotic as I would have thought, but that was probably because we did a lot of preparing. I went to the Makro with Lasse and I had a car with me so we could put the groceries in there. Then we had two big carts full of stuff and then we had to get that in the car. We puzzled for probably an hour to get everything in. In the end, I had like 15 marshmallow bags on my lap and Lasse was next to me completely built-in with stuff. Among those things was probably 15kg of onions, which we had to cut of course. There was an activity on Saturday morning of the weekend and during the entire activity I was cutting onions, a lot of crying went on. Eventually, I think I got immune because the crying stopped. But at first I really couldn't see because my eyes were so blurry.

I remember sometimes you came out of the kitchen with a red face, runny nose, teary eyes.

It was really traumatic. Every time I see an onion now, I start crying.

I have two more questions for you to round things up.

What would you say is your life motto?

I know this! I have a sticker on WhatsApp which says it, I’ll send it to you. “Gaslight, gatekeep, girl boss.” That’s how you should go through your life. Don’t compromise yourself too much, enjoy your life and slay!

And then lastly, do you have any shoutouts?

Shoutout to Graaf Rohan *Lasse starts shouting “Nooooo”*, Cameron (which is Carmen), Vriepje (my APS group), TKB-Inessa *Inessa starts singing from the board room*, Baarlo, WkC, Siena because she nominated me, tequila, Carmini04 (which is also Carmen), Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari. Oh, going back to my hobbies! Cars. I really like cars and motors.

If you want to use a good pickup line on Janne you just have to ask “Is that free practice?” And then a beautiful friendship will be born.

Yesss!!! That’s probably one of my top five moments in life.

Then I want to make one more comment about Janne which I think everyone should know. In her first year, Janne thought Nijmegen was part of Brabant and I think we should close off with that. Thank you, Janne for this interview!

I’ve changed okay! I’ve changed…