No, there was no rest. The New Year’s event of AEGEE-Leiden was pure adrenaline. From 28th of December 2017 to 3rd of January 2018 the 22 participants explored four cities, did lots of crazy games, took a swim in the freezing sea, got lost, were found – in short: they grabbed the life by the balls. No wonder that the Dutch-English title of the event was: “Grab Life by the Uiers!” Jeroen Willemsen, part of the organising team, Secretary & Internal Affairs Officer of AEGEE-Leiden, revealed the details.
Golden Times: How many participants did you have?
Jeroen Willemsen: We had 22 amazing participants.
GT: Did your New Year’s event have a theme?
Jeroen: The theme was “grab life by the uiers”. This probably does not make sense without an explanation. It is about Dutch culture and adventure combined. During the event we showed the group what Dutch culture is about, while at the same time enjoying all the crazy stuff there is to do in Leiden, Rotterdam, The Hague and Amsterdam.
GT: How was your new year’s party?
Jeroen: It was the best! We celebrated New Year’s eve in Amsterdam at an industrial club with its own beach next to the river. So we had an amazing view of the fireworks above Amsterdam while there was live music playing. The night ended with a mix of kissing people, lost people – some ended up in the wrong city – and drunk people. But all good memories!
GT: What were the other programme highlights?
Jeroen: Everybody liked something different the most, but I think the top three would be: participating in a Dutch style Cantus, doing the new year’s dive at the beach of The Hague, and of course all the city tours in four different cities.
GT: What were the funniest or most exciting moments?
Jeroen: The funniest moments might have been during the city game in Rotterdam. The participants did all kind of crazy stuff during a crazy 88. It was really funny to be asked to marry someone. The most exciting moment was definitely the counting from 10 till 0 at new year’s eve! That is a moment I thinks no one will forget.
GT: How was the group of participants?
Jeroen: Absolutely madly crazy! We had a group of participants from all over Europe, which not only meant a really diverse European Night, but also the fun of all different kind of cultures. The Italians just took over the kitchen when we said we were going to cook Pasta for everyone, The Spanish people talked about all good stories until everyone was deaf, the Eastern Europeans cured stomach pain with vodka, and everyone was so nice! Even though we woke them up really early sometimes, they gave us all the energy they had. That is why the goodbye was one of the hardest ever. I really hope to see everyone again soon!
