Merlijn Series 03: Welcoming Party
Hi Everyone, it’s me again welcome to Merlijn Series 03: Welcoming Party. Last Saturday, September 1, 2018, the IOSBC(International Office Student Buddy Club) organized a welcoming party for all the international students, 26 students in total attended the event, some of which are here for a student exchange program where others are here for study or an internship. The party was held inside the international dormitory (L Building). It was a blast.
Waiting for others to arrive, I sat down with my friends and we played card games. After everyone had arrived, we sat down on the ground and listened to Pooja(Host of the event) who opened the party with a little speech. After a great speech we all stood up in a circle, you had to stand in between two people whom you did not yet know, this was done so everybody would meet new people instantly. We went around the circle and everyone introduced themselves very shortly, just their name and which country they are from.
After this little introduction, three groups were formed. These groups would compete in two challenges that were set up by the IOSBC. Before these challenges, Aldi(member of IOSBC) gave a presentation about the club that he was in, some do’s and dont’s and about different kinds of food in Indonesia.
The first challenge was called ‘’makan kerupuk’’. In this challenge, a piece of kerupuk(Prawn Crackers) is hung from a string. Players have to place their hands behind their backs and try to eat the kerupuk that is dangling in front of them. The first one to finish his or her kerupuk is the winner! It was a lot of fun to watch all the students struggle to bite off pieces of the kerupuk. Everybody was constantly laughing at how silly it looked.
The second challenge was a taste challenge. Players were blindfolded and were given a spoonful of the food they had to guess. All of the foods that were up for tasting were discussed in the presentation that was given earlier. Each player had to say what he or she thought was in their mouth. I played in the first round and my mystery food was Nasi Goreng, I guessed correctly! This was once again fun to watch but also fun to play. It is a strange feeling to be blindfolded not knowing what you are about to eat. Especially while there are so many students looking at you.
After the taste challenge, we all had to stand up and make sure we had enough space to move. Since Indonesia hosts the Asian Games this year, we were going to do a little dance. The first try went a little rough, many people did not know how the dance went and this provided with some silly looking dancing. On the second try it already went a lot better, everyone was having a lot of fun.
Once we finished dancing we had a lunch break. Lunch was provided by the club, it consisted of rice, chicken, noodles, vegetables and some things I still do not know the name from, but it tasted great. Having finished our lunch, we once again sat down in a circle. We were all asked to bring a little present to the welcoming party and we were about to get a random present that someone else brought. All the presents were numbered, we all took a little piece of paper from a cup and the number written on that note indicated the present you would get. I got a mirror and some chocolate, thanks to whoever brought this present .
My thanks go to the IOSBC for organizing this eventthe Welcoming Party, you did a great job! I got to know the students that live in my dormitory a bit better and it was a lot of fun.
