Semester Two O-week is underway, and the Mystique Week Welcome Village has seen huge numbers of students participating in Guild-run activities and clearing out the free giveaways.

The first of two Friend Speed Dating events during O-week has also proved a success with Guild Councillor Tahni Rowe declaring the Tuesday session an absolute hit.

“We were struggling to get people to be quiet while we gave out instructions. People couldn’t wait for the event to end so they could add others on social media and go and do something,” she says.

Aleena (left) and Tahni (right) helped co-host the event on Tuesday. Photo: Andrew Williams.

The free event ran overtime due to the engagement the students were having with each other, as they broke into groups and were asked icebreakers to encourage discussion.

Tahni, originally from the Northern Territory, thinks that O-week mostly appeals to interstate and international students as it can be very hard being new to the country and state.

“As an interstate student, I remember my first day and wanting to get involved because it can be very isolating. You don’t have your high school friends to rely on and you need to start from scratch,” she says.

The Guild’s Women’s Officer Aleena Shaji co-hosted the event with Tahni and agrees that it was a success.

The students were rotated between groups so that everyone had a chance to meet. Photo: Andrew Williams.

Aleena, a second year Theatre and Accounting student, has hosted Friend Speed Dating events before and believes it can go either way but thought “this one was just so good because I could see people really making an effort to get to know each other.”

Weijie is a first-year student studying a Bachelor of Arts and Commerce who came on his own but happened to already know a couple of other students that were attending, and ended up leaving in a big group after they all shared their socials.

“I found it fun. You get to know people better and make a few friends,” he says.

An international student from Singapore, Weijie confirms he will also be going to the second Friend Speed Dating event, being held this Friday from 10am to 11am, and encourages anyone who may be struggling to make friends to come down.

“I’m an extrovert so it hasn’t been that hard for me to make new friends coming to study at Curtin but for people who are introverts I think events like this are very helpful,” he says.

The Welcome Village will remain for the duration of O-Week. Photo: Andrew Williams.

Aleena agrees and believes Guild-run events, like this semester’s Mystique Week Welcome Village, are less formal and that’s what draws people in, especially when other students are running these activities instead of teachers or university staff.

“If I was a new student and I saw this area I definitely would come and try out all the activities. I’m kind of speechless right now, it’s just so cool!” she says.