The 13th of January, we all got on the bus towards Val-Thorens to go skiing for three days with over 30 students of the association! Some of us managed to get some sleep in the bus (luckily), and the next morning everyone put on their gear to hit the slopes.

While some of us were already experienced, some of us had never skied before, and they had to take some lessons. After three days, some had seen the entire area, while others just skied their first blue piste, we were very proud of everyone! After each day on the slopes, we had some drinks together and had the chance to share our stories of that day.

Beside skiing and having drinks, we went out for dinner with the entire group both evenings. The first night, the committee arranged a “tour de chambre”. Every room had prepared their own drink, and a game to play with. Unfortunately, most rooms were too small to fit all 30 people in, so we made our own party in the hallway of the hostel! The second evening, we built a party in the center of Val Thorens, where we partied and drank some beers with other Dutchies!
Save to say, it was a very successful ski trip!

We were a bit insecure about the Lustrum Trip at first, because of COVID restrictions. But fortunately, on the 12th of March, we managed to leave Rotterdam, and visit Sofia, Thessaloniki and Athens with 35 SHARE members. Unfortunately, only 34 members got on the plane, not everyone managed to bring the right documents, but around 01:00, we were complete again!

The first evening, we started off with a traditional Bulgarian meal, after a day of travelling, we were all very hungry! In Sofia we had so many fun activities, including a city tour, a hike, and even skiing in the Vitosha mountains, we had a lunch with the medical faculty of Sofia, we went karting, and lastly, we explored the Sofia Ring Mall. Some of us went to visit the public-Health department of the university of Sofia, while the rest of us had a meeting with Alexander Hirstov, of the National Patients Organization of Bulgaria.

After two successful days in Sofia, we took the bus to Thessaloniki. We were impressed by our beautiful hostel, and happy to get a good night sleep after a long drive. Some of us, however, found the energy to go out for a round of drinks. The next morning, almost everyone, was fresh again for a City Exploring walk with our guide Sjoerd. Afterwards we all had some lunch, and then we went for an exhausting hike to Seych Sou. Since some of us were so deprived of sleep, and so hungover, we went there, non-complete. After the hike we all met at a traditional Greek diner, were we had some lovely food, and ended up partying in the city center of Thessaloniki. The next day we visited the Medical Volunteers International – office, which was very impressing. The people who did not go there, went on a city tour through Ana Poli.

We would have loved to stay a bit longer in Thessaloniki, but it was time to pack our bags and catch the train to Athens. After the train ride, where lots of beer was consumed, we arrived in Athens, and it was time for our President to have her ‘Rosé adt’, which she took like a champ. After checking in at the hostel we had dinner with a stunning view on the Acropolis by night, and some of us went out to have some drinks in Pláka. The next day some of us visited the Medical Intervention Athens while the rest enjoyed a ‘free’ morning, which they probably filled with sleeping in. When everybody came back, we enjoyed a beautiful city tour through old Athens and got to take some beautiful pictures. After this city tour everybody got to explore the city on their own and get some dinner before the ‘orange party’. Everybody dressed up in our national color and enjoyed a pub crawl together which ended very early in the morning.

The next day it was time to go back to the Netherlands but not before we had the time to do some shopping and visit a museum if you wanted to. Just before leaving to the airport, we had a meeting with professor Athena Linos from the medical school, University of Athens and the director of the Public Health Institute (PROLEPSIS). After this educational meeting we left to the airport and flew back to Schiphol Airport. We all had a really nice time so a big thanks to the Lustum Trip committee who made this all possible!