Lord Mayor’s Student Welcome Part 2: The Main Hall - August 2, 2014

For the first time ever the semi-annual event, the Lord Mayor’s Student Welcome, was held at The Couch. The event was so massive, that we need to split it up into three parts by three different authors!

Katumba

Our second article is by Ying Yu Li, who was mostly based upstairs in the main hall where the performances were held.

Rangladesh Punjab

The Lord Mayor's Student Welcome is a special event that recognises and celebrates students' contributions to the cultural life and diversity of the city. This free event, produced by young people for young people, gives students an opportunity to meet each other, find out what services are available and enjoy different performances and interactive activities.

There were lots of volunteers who come to help on that day, and all of us were enthusiastically joining in on the activities such as face painting, balloon twisting, dancing and the roaming reptiles.

The Lord Mayor's Student Welcome is normally held outdoors, but due to the threat of cold and wet weather, it was decided to be help indoors at The Couch. As well as providing shelter from the cold weather, The Couch also provided the free coffee to the attendees, setting up the coffee van out the front.

Nuholani Entertainment

As well as the nice coffee, we also had lots of different performances - from traditional dance to hip hop. One of my favourites was the Michael Jackson impersonator, TJ. TJ imitated Michael Jackson’s dance moves really well and with a lot of passion. At that moment, I felt like the real Michael Jackson was in front of me.

After his performance, TJ himself tried another exciting feature of the Lord Mayor’s Student Welcome - the Roaming Reptiles! You were able to hold two their stars: a snake and a crocodile. Even though they may look a bit scary, after you hold them, you can feel they are actually quite docile*. I put the snake around my neck and I could feel its slow movement; it’s really rather heavy.

There are other great dance performances that day such as Nuholani Entertainment, Rangladesh Punjab, and Katumba. And of course there was the always popular fashion show. So many students came to the event that The Couch had to open the upper level to be able to fit everyone in!

Once again, I had a really fun day at The Lord Mayor's Student Welcome!

*Editor’s Note: The Crocodiles mouth was bound shut, and I was informed if this wasn't the case, he’d be nipping everyone. The snake however, was truly docile.

More photos in the album.