We recently received an email from Sjors Keijzer (European Parliament, Liaison bureau in Nederland) that we would like to share:

“Dear Oxford and Cambridge Society of the Netherlands,

The European elections will take place between 23-26 May 2019; the elections in the Netherlands will be on 23 May. Non-Dutch EU citizens, such as expats, living in the Netherlands are able to vote in their own country or in the Netherlands.

In order to vote in the Netherlands, you have to register at your local municipality with the Y-32 form. The Y-32 form is available at your local municipality between 26 February 2019 and 9 April 2019. It is important that you register through this form before 9 April 2019. When registered correctly, you automatically will receive a voting pass a few days before the elections. If you are excluded from voting in your home country or in the Netherlands, you cannot participate in the elections.

How you can vote depends on the rules in your home country. You can use the website How to vote for more information or you can ask for more information about the voting progress at the government in your home country.

Maybe you think, “I already knew all of this, but my European colleague never votes, I have to tell him.” That´s great! Five years ago, the average turnout in the EU was only 42.6% and in the Netherlands even lower 37.3%. With the website thistimeimvoting.eu, the European Parliament wants to motivate people to go to vote and help them to motivate others to do the same in order to reach a higher voting turnout. Check it out!

The European Parliament Office in The Hague organises an event on 3 December. At this event, you can share your ideas on how to increase the voter turnout and we would like to hear how we could help you! There will of course be drinks afterwards. You can register here. We hope to see you there!”

Dear Alumni, We proudly invite you to come to the annual Christmas dinner organised jointly with the Harvard Society.

When: Saturday, December 15th
Time: Doors open at 18:00 (there’s a bar for meeting up), dinner starts at 19:00
Where: The Lobby Hotel V, Fizeaustraat 2, 1097 SC Amsterdam
Price: €65 for for a three-course meal, two drinks and tea/coffee

Looking forward to seeing you there! For more information and registration click [here].

Please join alumni of MIT, Harvard, Columbia, Fulbright, McGill and many others! For our new annual tradition: Instead of Halloween or Thanksgiving we will celebrate the “Day of the Dead”, a Mexican tradition that invites the loved ones who passed away to become part of the festivities. With altars full of colors, candles, food and drinks, we dance the night away. Dress Code: Customes suggested! Just wear what you can find in your closet, something colourful!

Date: Saturday 3 Nov, 5pm-9pm
Place: Terragon
Price: €29 euros including full dinner (for vegetarian option please tell us in advance), 2 drinks, coffee, tea and free parking.
What: 17:00 Drinks and tour of the Terragon forrest with the Altars. (There is a bar if you want to start drinks early.)
18:30 Full dinner (for vegetarian option please tell us in advance), drinks, coffee and tea.

Please register HERE so we know the numbers. Information on payment can be found on the site as well.

Picture by Eneas de Troya – http://www.flickr.com/photos/eneas/4072192627/, CC BY 2.0, Link

You are invited to the drinks party of the Startup Commons.

As you may be aware the Startup Commons is the largest annual town-hall meeting for the leaders of the NL startup scene.

At the Commons drinks you can network with senior management of NL’s leading startups (e.g. Catawiki, PicNic, Camptoo, Leapfunder, IkBenFrits, NightBalance, etc.) You can meet senior management of all the major Accelerators nationally (e.g. Brightlands, HighTechXL, PnP, Rockstart, SBC, PnP, NLC, etc.). And of course you can connect with the VCs and Informals that are backing them behind the curtains. Also, there will be opportunity to meet the listening ears from the government (Constantijn van Oranje, Wethouder Kock, etc.)

It should be a great evening for those of you thinking about starting your own company.

The drinks go from 21:00. It’s Oct 5 in the attic of Magna Plaza, rent 24, 139F Spuistraat, Amsterdam.

You need to RSVP. Number are limited and first-come first-serve.

Yours, MIT Netherlands