Serendipity in science is great and all, but serendipity in love is even better. In the run-up to the Week of Chance, four students and staff explain how a series of fortuitous events helped them meet their soul mates.

Diede Sars, student of English

‘About eight years ago, Lisa and I participated in a multi-day theatre programme in Zevenaar as part of a secondary school project. We became friends that first day. During dinner that night, we found out how much we had in common: personality traits, hobbies – we even had the same sweater from H&M.

We saw each other off and on in the years that followed, but it never occurred to us that we may have real feelings for each other; it’s just not something you think about if you don’t know you like girls. That is, until I started a relationship with a girl. When that relationship started to fizzle out, Lisa and I started talking again.

I consider myself pretty down-to-earth, but I really believe that fate brought us together: we feel the same about each other now as when we first met. We complement each other and have the same interests. We also share a love of theatre. We’re currently working on a play about homosexuality. We hope to perform it at schools to show people how theatre can be an accessible way to talk about issues like these.’

Maarten van Gestel, philosophy student and Vox employee

‘After secondary school, Lara planned to study curatorship at Central Saint Martins, the prestigious University of the Arts in London. She passed the strict entry requirements and was accepted. But for whatever reason, she decided not to go to England after all.

I always wanted to study at the Netherlands Film Academy in Amsterdam. The entry process was tough, but I was accepted. I stuck it out for a year before realising that the programme was too practical and too ‘active’ for my liking. So I switched to philosophy. My decision to study in Nijmegen was partly influenced by my then-girlfriend, who also studied here.

We broke up in January 2015 and a month later I spotted Lara in my class. She had to start a programme quickly so she wouldn’t lose her student loan and my faculty offered mid-year entry. With Lara it was love at first sight. As for my much-anticipated bachelorhood: I haven’t looked back since.’

 

Fleur Weijers, law student

‘In the autumn, I went to visit a friend of mine who was studying in Bangor, Wales for a year. We went out dancing at a pub and I was so happy to see her again, I didn’t even notice the people around us.

Until I headed towards the bathroom, which was at the end of a narrow hallway. There was a long queue and as I made my way down the step, I stumbled and almost fell. I grabbed onto the guy in front of me, trying to break my fall. We spent the rest of the night talking and when I came back to the Netherlands two days later, I really missed him.

It was a complete coincidence that he was there that night: Lewis had just started his master’s programme in Bangor. He didn’t really feel like going, but decided to head to Wales at the last minute. He had to arrange everything his first day.

Lewis didn’t seem like my type at first, but I quickly realised that we really complement each other in terms of personality. We’re very alike and we fly back and forth to see each other often. I’ve realised how much we’re influenced by our preconceptions. I never would have met Lewis if I didn’t literally fall for him.’

Klaar Vernaillen, student advisor at the Faculty of Arts

‘It started ten years ago. It was the middle of June and my colleague and I had nothing to do that day at the student desk. We joked around a bit and squirted each other with water guns. The handful of students who stopped by to pick up their diplomas happily joined in. While my colleague was outside smoking, one of the graduates told me that he would ask me out one day.

I didn’t think he would, but he did. Being born and raised in Flanders, I’d joked that Dutch men can’t cook. Ronnie – although I didn’t know his name at the time – took this as a challenge and came back a few weeks later. It was crazy busy at that point, so he tore off the corner of a poster, jotted down his e-mail address and added: ‘Dear Ms Student Desk, I’d like to prove to you that Dutch men can cook.’

I quickly realised that this wasn’t some young 23-year-old, but someone my own age. When we finally met after several weeks of e-mailing back and forth, he must have been a little disappointed: Ronnie, who had a weakness for tall redheads, found himself face-to-face with a short brunette. Apparently he didn’t know about the fifteen-centimetre platform behind the desk.’

 

Read the special Vox article about chance.