Every month, we used to gather at our regular pub Café Maxim for some refreshing drinks and chill talks. It was a moment to catch up on each other’s lives and have a laugh together. It was always gezellig, made possible in part by the cozy atmosphere in Café Maxim, the Dondrite discount on drinks, and the free nachos. Having a recurring event like these borrels made it easy for everyone to come by whenever they wanted and to enjoy a fun evening (sometimes extended into the night or early morning…) during which they could focus on something else than their studies.
Some of our borrels were dedicated to celebrate a special occasion. The graduation borrel, for instance, created the opportunity for all students who finished their master’s to talk to their fellow students one more time in this student setting before they continued their journal all over the world. And in November, during the Halloween-themed borrel, everyone showed up in scary costumes. Screams faded, blood flowed, and spider web were spun all over the place. Of course, free drinks were gifted to the best dressed students.
Since (almost) exactly a year ago, these monthly drinks have not been possible anymore, unfortunately. We know that many people miss this type of accessible face-to-face social gatherings and so do we. Nevertheless, during this corona crisis we discovered new ways to interact and have fun together. To replace the monthly borrels, we set up two recurring online activities. Every first Tuesday of the month at 20:00 we organize a board game night. Each time we choose a couple of online games everyone can play during the evening and everybody can join whenever they want, at whatever time they want. It makes us very happy to see that this has led people to ask each other to play games on other days as well. On top of this, we set up weekly coffee breaks (aka bitch breaks) to create an accessible setting where people can see a few fellow students and blow off some steam. Currently, these coffee breaks take place every Tuesday at 12:30 (unless we accidentally forget about it like last Tuesday…).
With these activities, we really try to fulfill the needs of everyone who longs for corona proof social interaction. Hopefully, people can create friendships or find people they can talk to. If you have any feedback about these activities or suggestions for additional events we could look into, please let us know! We sincerely hope to see you in one of our recurring or other future activities.
– The Activity Committee
