BuddyAbroad: an application for international students to meet other students!

Each year more and more international students arrive in the Netherlands to follow a master program at one of the universities. These students want to have a nice and fun students’ life and want to meet a lot of new people, but the truth is less fun. The international students feel isolated and they find it hard to meet other students with the same interests. Another difficulty for them is that they find it hard to make friends because when they arrive in the Netherlands, most students have already formed peer groups. To solve the problems of the international students we have developed an application called BuddyAbroad for an iPhone. With BuddyAbroad it is possible to meet other students and to share experiences.  BuddyAbroad is divided into two sections, namely: ‘Before studying abroad’ and ‘During studying abroad’. This division is necessary because international students who are in their country of origin have other needs than international students who are already in the Netherlands. A student who is in his or her country of origin can use BuddyAbroad to find other students to travel together, or ask questions to share experiences so the student is prepared well. The international student who is already in the Netherlands can use BuddyAbroad to meet other students in his or her student city. Another feature of BuddyAbroad is adding spots. With spots it is possible to add your current spot in you student city, another student who has logged in on BuddyAbroad can see that you are at that spot and he or she can meet you at that spot.

With BuddyAbroad the problems of the international students have to be solved and their students’ life is fun!

Be careful with what you tweet! It’s not smart to share everything!

Apparently, it is still difficult for many people to not use Twitter for writing about stupid things. That’s hard if you want to be as fun and interesting as possible on Twitter. Jose Enrique of Newcastle United could not keep his mouth and let people on Twitter know that he would not play against rival opponent Tottenham Hotspur. Not a smart move by Mr. Jose because the coach wanted to keep the news from the public for as long as possible. Thanks to this smart action, each Newcastle player got a free Twitter course: “what can I do and say on Twitter”.

In the Netherlands there were also a few things with Twitter which did not make people happy. Following the Tweet of a senior police officer from the southwest of Drenthe (in the Netherlands) which stated some negative things about the PVV (political party), this time the head of another police force in the Netherlands crossed the line. He could not restrain himself to be out negative about the PVV on Twitter. That was the drop that spilled the bucket and all police officers now get a free course: “what I can and cannot say on Twitter”. Maybe they can ask for the signatures of the Newcastle squad.

But if that wasn’t even bad enough, there is a Dutch teenager who was apparently looking for some attention on the Internet. She thought it was fun to Twitter about committing a bombing at her high school. She thought she would be so funny. But afterwards, she was arrested and interrogated by the police. It’s a lesson to learn for her because she is also temporary suspended from school. Now she has plenty of time to think about what is funny and what is not…. 

One positive thing though, is that a new industry is born thanks to these people: courses in Twittering!


Telegraaf - Newcastle

Telegraaf - Police 

Telegraaf - Student