Written by Tamara Bruketta
Participant New Europe Program Fall 2010
An evening full of music, food, good company and yes even some dancing; the AIB welcome party was an evening to remember for all in attendance! With 300 participants in all, including students and host families it was an excellent chance to mingle and get some delicious food!
The evening began with a few brief speech from AIB Managing Director, Dr. Rainer Zäck, and even a special presentation by the Deputy Mayor of the City of Bonn, Angelica Kappel. Ms. Kappel gave everyone a short history and welcome into the culture of Bonn and its inhabitants. After which the group proceeded to let the party begin with drinks and appetizers including a delicious juice bar for all to enjoy. The atmosphere was incredible as host families met other host families and students met the families of their fellow peers. Even though there has been a shortage of good weather in Bonn for the past few days we were lucky to have flawless weather and the have the event outside in the garden area which buzzed with friendly conversations, introductions, and vast efforts to overcome language barriers.
Included in the event were students from each program taking place here in Bonn, Germany. As an introduction to all of these programs each group did a short presentation representing their time here in Germany. First up was the LMU Film Program who gave everybody a quick lesson on the functions of their favorite object, which they will be seeing a lot of here in Germany: the camera. There are a total of 17 students in the LMU film program that will be residing here in Bonn until they each head off to begin their documentaries in their city of choice all led by the accompanying LMU faculty Professor Art Namura. Next up was the LMU Engineering students. 16 students in total led by Professor Jeremy Pal who performed a short skit about the benefits of good engineering using the illustrious story of the three little pigs. Followed by this was a performance from the Texas A&M Architectural Design students, 27 in total led by Professor Changshan Huang, who gave everybody a little taste of their school spirit with some traditional Texas A&M football game cheers. Last, but definitely not least was the LMU New Europe Program, 44 students in total and led by Professor John Reilly, performing a short sketch presented by two representatives about the “Do's and Don'ts” of Europe and Los Angeles. After all of the skits were finished, the night resumed with even more delicious food, and some live music performed by a cover band made up of a few of the host parents.
In all, the evening was a complete success! Everything, weather included, went off without a hitch and all involved had an excellent time dancing, laughing, being merry and enjoying each others company. It was an terrific beginning to what is sure to be a terrific semester here in Bonn...
