Scroll down for pictures...

Alumni Day a Blast

The first ever UCU alumni reunion took place this month as part of the lustrum festivities. University College Utrecht is quite a young institution, but sooner or later it had to happen: the first alumni are passing the thirty mark, which calls for a reconnection and reliving your youth, if only for a brief few hours.

The day started off with some welcoming piano sounds performed by Colijn Buis (’02), followed by a speech from current dean #4. The organizing team was initially taken aback by the meager turnout of only around 50% of people who took the effort of signing up. But, our flexibility kicked in right on time and we simply cancelled a few of the afternoon workshops; news which we were pleasantly surprised to see the workshop leaders take quite contently.

Among the afternoon attractions were body painting, drama improv, meditation, kendo (martial arts), poker, nude sketching, sushi making and the definite favorite – cocktail mixing. It seems that alcohol keeps running through our veins even after we leave UC and are all ‘grown up’. It may be a disillusionment to you youngsters to hear that grown-up decency was sometimes left at the door when alumni were trying to get to the booze without having one of the specially printed cocktail tickets. Sadly, we failed to anticipate such a potatory glitch in our sign-up system.

At the buffet dinner there was opportunity for all the alumni from the workshops and the newcomers to mingle among the bar tables. The ensuing pub quiz was another spectacular highlight, as it brought everyone together in racking their brains on the chewy if not tough questions. Judging from the endless list of teams, there couldn’t have been many people not in the game. A nice touch of the quiz masters was welcoming bribes. Soon enough two long-coiffed barely post-teen maidens sprinted onto the stage ready to sink their agile fingers into the young men’s quiz-tensed shoulders. Unfortunately this proved to be a bad investment for the girls when the quiz masters explained that of course bribes would not be taken into account in the final scores. One can only hope this experience will serve as a lesson in their future careers.

With a little individual encouragement the alumni helped put away the bar tables and the party could begin. Former UC DJ Kiran Coleman (’05) offered us some swinging tunes in the first half of the evening and the current DJ’s took over for the rest of the night. People were mingling, catching up on the post-UC years and enjoying a few cocktails. Or, for that matter, a field of 40 beers; a curious phenomenon spotted across the bar. There was an abundance of smiling faces and no reported incidents.

All in all the first alumni reunion can be and has been called a success. We’ve heard many positive sounds from participants as well as volunteers. It was good to see old friends again, and the activities were fun to do together. We hope this event has been an inspiring kick-off for many reunions to come; and at least to me it has proven a great experience to engage in organizing this day. Anyone up for the challenge of surpassing this alumni team’s accomplishment in another event should check out the UCAA website on UCUniverse.

Zuzanna van Iersel (’04)

Photos taken by:
Marnix Warren
Edward Dunkley
Rebecca Goerres
Iulia Colescu