The Month of Love and Integration
At Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU), February is not only the month of love, but, already for the second year now, the Integration Month, organised by the RSU Student Union and International Student Association, of which the main goal is to unite local and foreign students.
For four weeks, students had the opportunity to explore four different topics in the context of different cultures to cover the diversity of RSU students. As one of the weeks' theme was Valentine's Day, the annual Valentine's Day event organised by the Student Union was held bilingually to involve foreign students as much as possible.
This year's Valentine's Day event had the goal of securing a traditionally romantic atmosphere in a pleasant and informal setting with a focus on different perspectives of love- for example, self love.
From February 7-11, the event was held online- participants were paired together and performed a variety of thematic tasks; playing a self-love bingo, making pictures with affirmations, translating songs, writing recipes for ideal dates, etc. Several pairs consisted of one Latvian and one foreign student.
The closing event took place on February 12. It was the first event in a while that had happened on-site. Students arrived at the club Piens, where the hosts, Elīza Marta Stangaine and Hussaina Musaji, entertained participants with a variety of activities. The guest of the evening was Comedy Latvia stand-up comedian Rūdolfs Kugrēns.
The participants of the event themselves evaluate the event with great positivity. For example, participant Ksenija Gorelova on the event-
Students finally had the chance to meet and relax in person at the Valentine's Day event. Despite the restrictions, participants were able to meet new people, connect with foreign students and laugh during the Kurgēns stand-up show. Thank you to the hosts for providing a great atmosphere, and, of course, to the organizers!
The event took place in the green regime and the number of applications was very high, which showed that students truly miss on-site events. Unfortunately, due to epidemiological safety restrictions, not everyone could participate in the event.
See you at the next events, which promise to be in person!
