“As the Benelux National Week came to an end, we would like to thank all of you who have joined us in our journey for your enthusiasm, we appreciated it a lot. We truly hope that you enjoyed the handmade waffles, chocolates, Luxembourgish wine, Belgian beers, and Dutch bitterballen as much as we enjoyed your presence and your smiles!
It is true that we had to overcome some issues, not to say that all of our events had to be cancelled (“haha”): field hockey initiation cancelled due to bad weather, Belgian movie projection cancelled due to technical issue, and the Mr Magnette conference cancelled too. But we kept the faith, and managed to save the day with a memorable cantus night which will for sure enter the annals of the College; once again it was in great part possible due to your enthusiasm and good mood, so once again thank you guys, you’re legend.
This week made us realize that discovering a culture, is not only about typical foods, films, dances, songs or dresses, but it is also and mostly about meeting the people, about human relationships and friendships, which is priceless!
Let’s keep enjoying our incredible experience at the College in this way: in joy and happiness!
- Monday:
Along with the Phoenix Café we opened the Benelux National Week in the Verversdijk foyer with some handmade Brussels and Liège waffles made by the Belgian students, and also handmade chocolates from a local producer. It was a great atmosphere.
- Tuesday:
On the second day of our national week we were supposed to organise a field hockey initiation session, a really popular sport in Belgium and the Netherlands. Nevertheless, due to bad weather forecast we were obliged to turn it into a FIFA 16 tournament on PS4 in one of the residence. Participants had to choose their home country as a team; once again we had a really good time.
- Wednesday:
Degustation of typical Trappist and special Belgian beer and homemade speculoos in Oliebaan.
- Thursday:
The conference with Mr Paul Magnette was cancelled. Oranje Feest @the Liquidity Trap Bar
In honour of the Benelux Week, and of our Dutch friends' world-famous King's Day, the theme of the party was...ORANGE!
We expected the students to come in their orangest outfit (underwear counts as long as its fully visible), ready to dance the night away on our Beneluxian hits, sipping away one of the excellent Luxemburgish wines or orange drinks we had arranged for the night! Of course, there was an orange prize for the orangest outfit.
- Saturday:
Cantus @the Liquidity Trap Bar: As last activity of the Belgian National week, we organised one of the most traditional Belgian/Dutch Student activities: the Cantus.
A cantus is a game which mainly involves singing traditional songs and drinking beer. It is governed by strict traditional rules, which date back a few centuries and were inspired by German student organisations; however some of the songs that are sung date back to the Middle Ages. Instead of Middle Ages songs, we sang more recent or traditional national songs.
