Just two days after the official start of the semester abroad at the orientation days, it was time to celebrate this great moment also unofficially.
Like in the last semesters, the Pro Surf surfing school in Kuta provided the perfect location for the Asia Exchange Ice Breaking Party, which usually is one of the highlights in the beginning of every semester.
The students were welcomed with a tasty PitStop burger (one of the most delicious burgers in Bali) and a free Bintang, what is always a good basis for an awesome party night in Bali. Ice Breaking Party is probably not the appropriate wording for this party, as most of the students knew each other already from the Get-Together, which was one week earlier. The thinner the ice, the easier it is to break and at the latest after the short speech of Harri, Reetta and me, the ice was broken and the spacious pool got crowded very quickly. It was great to see all the people having fun, doing some fancy jumps in the pool from the balcony, dancing, chatting and of course, as the night moved on, the dancefloor got pretty hot and I could see quite a few people flirting. 😉
Most of the students were still keen to keep on partying after the Pro Surf school closed its doors around 12 o´clock, so we went on to the next night club, called La Favela. To sum up, it was a truly memorable night, with awesome people and a befitting party to welcome the new semester.
Of course, the main purpose of the Asia Exchange students is not partying. The Ice Breaking Party was just a perfect opportunity to make new friends so far away from back home. The real student life began the week after, when the first lectures were taking place at the Jimbaran campus. Everything went smoothly during the first days and it was good to see that the campus got busy again, since the last semester successfully finished their studies here. Besides important academic matters is the BIPAS Program designed to bring the students closer to the culture and traditions of Bali and Indonesia. Therefore, the lecturers organize weekly workshops with different subjects. Perfectly fitting to the upcoming Balinese holidays “Galungan” and “Kuningan”, Mr. Rajeg taught the students how to do traditional offerings and decorations out of palm leaves, in honour to these holy occasions. The classroom was full of people, although it was no mandatory workshop. Everybody seemed to have a great time and after a few difficulties to work with the fragile material in the beginning, everything worked out pretty well. The students learned how to do “Paku Pipit and Tulang Lindung”, which are decorative knots and swords, made of young coconut leaves for Galungan. As pictures are worth a thousand words, here are some impressions of this cultural experience.
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Asia Exchange is a Finnish company providing study abroad opportunities in Asia Pacific for students from all around the world. Want to get travel tips and new blog posts straight to your inbox? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter! If you have any questions about studying abroad, feel free to contact us! We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
