Recap of the European Study Trip 2019

An entire week with business visits, culture, partying and friends make the European Study Trip a week to remember. Aureus takes a group of students to an international European destination and explores the city in all aspects. This year they took on Athens. Let’s take a look and see how this year’s EST was and how Sara, the chairwoman of the committee,  experienced it.

Day 1 – Saturday

The group arrived in Athens on Saturday evening. In typical Aureus fashion, they went out. Sara thought the club was so fun but did have to say that it had, “super strange music that was a mix of techno and 80s hits”. It was agreed that this was a nice introduction to the nightlife and going out vibe in Athens.

Day 2 – Sunday

To get oriented with the city, the group had a walking tour to see the highlights of Athens. They saw things like the Temple of Zeus and the National Park. In comparison to rainy Amsterdam, the weather in Athens was sunny and warm… resulting in sunburn for all!

Day 3 – Monday  

Sunny weather meant there was a need to spend time on the beach. A slight detour on the way was a challenge for those organizing the trip but was quickly recovered by thinking on their toes. The greeks were still all wearing their winter clothes this time of year but for these dutchies, it was summer weather. This was great because then, the group had a private beach!

Day 4 – Tuesday

On Tuesday, the group got down to business with the first in-house day at a digital marketing start-up. It was quite an interesting visit because it was actually in the owner’s apartment. Sara thought that this actually created a nice touch to the experience because it showed everyone what it could actually be like being a startup entrepreneur.

Additionally, they went to Randstad, a Dutch HR company, and participated in a case to make a marketing strategy to attract students from outside of Greece.

Later that evening, the Greek version of the iconic Hotshots was discovered and lots of fun and drinks were to be had.

Day 5 – Wednesday

Attempting to keep morale high on this hump day, the group toured Sap, a digital innovation company that assists other companies in digitizing their processes. After this, everyone had some much needed free time where some went to the beach, walked around city, or took a nap at the hostel. Sara noted that one of the really nice parts about going to Athens is that things were a bit cheaper overall, so they were able to secure a really central hostel with a rooftop bar that was perfect for pre-drinks!

Day 6 – Thursday

With almost a full week of fun behind them, an early morning bike tour was exactly what was needed to kick a hangover. Sara loved the bike tour because the tour guides were very engaged and it was a great way to see the city from a different perspective. After this, they went to the Orange Grove, a startup incubator from the Dutch embassy. The incubator provides the workshops and tools to help greek startups succeed

This night ended in the famous club, Lohan. If the name sounds familiar, it is from the well-known celebrity Lindsay Lohan. According to Sara, this club was everything you would expect from a celebrity own club, with everything over the top and spectacular!

Day 7 – Friday

After many fun nights out, this trip ended with a bang at the renowned Acropolis. The walk up the hill to the top was all worth it when you were standing underneath these ancient artifacts. An early flight the next day never should stop a night of going out and it did not on EST!

Sara said that this was an amazing trip both to plan and participate in. She was able to grow and learn a lot while also getting to experience an exotic new city. We would suggest for everyone to go on an EST trip, but if not, make sure to check out the other Aureus events you can take part in on our events page!