Student Well Being - Lunar New Year event
On the 9th of February, students from many different programmes gathered in the Beehive to celebrate the coming new year according to the Chinese lunar calendar. The Faculty of Humanities, Study Advisers of Urban Studies and International Studies (BA), the Student Counsellor and the University China advisor and coordinator organized this event to commemorate the Chinese Lunar New Year and address the well-being of international students at Leiden University. This event was primarily intended to foster inclusivity and a sense of community among the international students while also celebrating Chinese culture.
What is Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year?
Normally, the Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival, is a 15-day festival typically celebrated in China and other Asian countries that recognizes the start of the new year. The Lunar New Year celebrates the arrival of spring and, as the most important holiday in China, it is a time of year for reuniting with loved ones.
The event at The Beehive was set up to be an opportunity for students to come together and participate in activities that promote cultural exchange, socialization, and personal growth. It was also intended to provide a platform for students to discuss and address any concerns that they may have regarding their well-being at the University.
Traditionally, typical Lunar New Year food includes dumplings made together by the family members and contain for instance fish. Eating fish originates from the idiom 年年有余 (nián nián yǒu yú) wishing for abundance year after year and the last character meaning abundance has the exact same pronunciation as the word for fish 鱼 (yú).
Participants of the event also cooked dumplings together and to get to know each other better at the same time. Also, the game “What’s your story” was played. It is a card game meant to address the well-being of students, and their experiences relating to diversity, belonging and inclusion. experiences they had and how they could improve their mental health. Effectively, the game enabled an exchange and connection between students in similar situations. More about the card game, an initiative by Leiden University Lecturer Tingting Hui can be found here.
Based on the feedback received from the participants, students had a fun time cooking and enjoyed the event. They found it to be an excellent opportunity to meet people who share the same background. Furthermore, some students expressed their desire for organizing more events like this, featuring different cultures.
Connection and wellbeing at Campus The Hague
What other well-being resources are there in Leiden University? Check out this page, which contains an overview. It also has a handy roadmap placed on the righthand side of the site.
Another initiative that is worthwhile to highlight is the:
Campus Covey Programme - Leiden University (universiteitleiden.nl): The Covey programme connects you to a group 4-5 of like-minded students. You can sign up to become a Covey buddy, which means initiating the group activities, or to find a group.