We spent our summer holiday in Indonesia, on Bali. One of our Dutch friends lives on Bali and instead of she coming to Europe in summer, we thought it a good idea to visit her on Bali. This was not our first stay on Bali. In 1988 we visited Bali for the first time and as could be expected in 2009, Bali has become more crowded and more touristic. But being half Indonesian myself and considering Australia as my second home country, I felt very much @ home in Bali with the Indonesian culture mixed with lots of Australian influences. But we must not exaggerate because as soon as you leave the coastal part of Bali the Indonesian character returns, in particular in the mountain area. For me it was striking to notice that the level of English has increased enormously. I discussed this with my friend and she confirmed that this holds for large parts of Indonesia because the government has been investing quite some money in education. I would love to start some partnerships in Indonesia but unfortunately, in the past hardly any student wanted to study abroad in Indonesia. I think that this is a missed opportunity as there are some good universities in Jakarta and in Yogyakarta. I think I’ll try again. Back from Bali I went to Nyenrode Business University to teach a summer course in economics. The Nyenrode campus is beautiful and the facilities are excellent. But for me, every time I go to Nyenrode I am impressed by the way they brand “Nyenrode”. The brand “Nyenrode” is everywhere on campus, in the campus hotel, in the buildings. Unlike our economics building which could also be any ordinary office of any organization, in the Nyenrode buildings it is always clear where you are: this is Nyenrode Business University. After I finished this summer course I went to Barcelona to attend the yearly conference of the European Economic Association which was partly held in the buildings of Pompeu Fabra University, one of our partners. So I used the opportunity to discuss further co-operation with Pompeu Fabra. Although Maastricht is in close competition with Amsterdam for the most popular Dutch destination, I am confident that we can develop closer cooperation with this excellent partner. The university is good, the city is great and student life is fantastic in Barcelona.