Student Linx Helps Calm The Nerves of Exchange Students

Going overseas to study can be a daunting experience, especially when it is to a country where English isn't the main language spoken. Concerns about learning a foreign language, living in an unfamiliar culture and adjusting to new types of food and intimidating transport systems can all add to pre-departure stress. So, on the 19th and 20th of May Student Linx hosted two networking dinners on the Nathan and Gold Coast campuses respectively. The point of these dinners was to give imminent exchange students from Griffith University the opportunity to seek advice from students who know the countries they will be going to best.

Crystal, who is soon to leave on a Study Abroad Program in South Korea had this to say after attending the Nathan event "this trip will put me well out of my comfort zone. I've never done anything like this before. However, meeting all these new people has shown me how lovely they are and that I have nothing to worry about. It has also provided me with invaluable information that is difficult to find in texts or online regarding cultural differences."

The event took a lot of behind-the-scenes planning from the Student Linx team of event management students currently undertaking their industry experience placements. Danielle, the Nathan Coordinator, and Jessica, the Gold Coast Coordinator both found organising this event helped to develop skills sought after in the event management industry. Danielle found that the opportunity of being involved in each aspect of event coordination provided the Student Linx event management team with a "level of responsibility and industry insight seldom offered when volunteering for larger-scale events".

Both the Nathan and Gold Coast events exceeded expectations, particularly given it was the first time we had organised these particular events. The soon-to-be exchange students were flooded by international students who sought through students' name tags to find someone leaving for their country. The next hour gave all students the chance to meet, enjoy a free meal, chat and scribble down as many contact details as possible. Seeing students interacting with those from countries other than where they were going was an unexpected, but very satisfying result.

Student Linx would like to thank the night's guest speakers, who entertained and inspired their audience. Thanks must also go to Camilla Graham and Katie Rennick from the Study Abroad and Exchange office for their help in making these events possible and importantly a huge thank you to everyone who turned up to both of these events. We hope you got a lot out of this event and keep us informed of your adventures overseas via our facebook page!

World Trivia Competition Brings Griffith Students Together

After the success of the Gold Coast Scavenger Hunt and the Race Around Brisbane, the team at Student Linx returned to the drawing board to put together another event which would help to maintain the forward momentum during the early stages of the semester. Given the diversity of Griffith University's student population, the aim was for a social activity that took all cultural backgrounds in mind. At Student Linx it is our goal for every event or program put together, to appeal to, challenge and involve both local and international Griffith University students. Andrew Monaghan - Student Linx Coordinator stated that "we needed to put on an event which made the benefits of engaging with local or international students obvious to all those who took part, and which gave all students their own chance to shine."

From this the Student Linx World Trivia Competition was organised on both the Nathan and Gold Coast campus with questions sourced from both local and international history, geography, sport, music, politics and current affairs and were designed to favor teams made up of students from a wide mix of cultural backgrounds. 

Planning for this event began even before students started arriving on campus for Orientation Week. Third year event management students Haley Meer on the Gold Coast and June Christensen at Nathan coordinated the World Trivia Nights at their respective campuses. Preperation for the trivia nights began at the end of February as part of their Work Integrated Learning (WIL) placements with Student Linx. With the venue of the Uni Bar previously organised the team's tasks included marketing and organising questions for the rounds. The biggest challenge found by Haley on the Gold Coast campus was getting the word out to students by means of print advertising used around campus in addition to utilising the Student Linx and Griffith University Village facebook pages to encourage students to attend. Ties with the Griffith University Village further helped inform students living there about the event. As the event was run in collaboration with the Student Guild, all necessary equipment was provided with the great help of Joel McInnes and Ben, the bar manager. June found that developing rounds and questions was the biggest challenge in organising the Nathan event. During O-Week the Nathan team found a venue for the Trivia Night on campus at the Eco-Centre. 

All of the hard work paid off for both Student Linx teams with both having different experiences in running the trivia nights. The Gold Coast event was made up of ten full teams of four students with an incredible mix of nationalities, ranging from French and Australian to Chinese! Haley thought "it was amazing to see everyone come together and work together to try and answer all the questions - especially since some questions were quite difficult - Barry Lee from the Griffith University Village even joined in on the fun!". Although June and the team at Nathan had a slow and anxious start, with not knowing how many students would attend, the Trivia Night was a great success. Three teams of five students with a wide mix of nationalities were formed and students in each group introuduced themselves and from which country they were from and then the challenge began! 

All in all, Student Linx is very proud of the Trivia Competitions organised by it's members, especially given that it was a first attempt at a trivia night. In running the events each teams learnt of some strengths and weaknesses and look forward to continuing to work on future events. "There are definitely things we can improve on and we look forward to making this a more inclusive and most importantly enjoyable experience for all students next semester" said June.

The individual and team winners of both trivia nights took away Coles/Myer and iTunes vouchers for their efforts, but most importantly, all the students who particpated and had a great time, learnt something new about other countires and left the Trivia Night with new found friends.

Race Around Brisbane Comes First

“A great day, nice people, fun activities and lots of action.” "It was legen... wait for it... dary!"

This is how two of thirty six participants summed up the Griffith University Student Linx inaugural Race Around Brisbane, held Saturday 13^th March. Eight teams of international and domestic students set off from South Bank at 9am with a map in one hand and a list of challenges in the other. The goal? To earn enough points to win a share of the $500 worth of prizes on offer.

But getting to this stage was no small feat. Student Linx Coordinator Andrew Monaghan and his team of event management students began planning the Race Around Brisbane in early February. Promotion, itinerary planning, registration and scoring all had to be considered. Developing this new event allowed for some great creative brainstorming, but also made it difficult to know what would and wouldn’t work. The aim was not only to provide a fun social event, but to give new students the opportunity to explore locations useful for their study and social life. So the team spent many trial-and-error sessions – including a practice race in torrential rain – to improve the way they would deliver it. It could well have turned into a logistical nightmare!

When race day arrived, the enthusiasm of participants was clear, with some turning up at the meeting point forty minutes before the official race start!

Posing with policemen in Queen Street Mall, swimming at Streets Beach and giving group hugs in the Botanical Gardens were just some of the challenges teams completed during the two and a half hour race. The Green Earth Festival and St. Patrick’s celebrations added to the excitement and made for some fantastic photos, with one team even managing to get onto a parade float!

It was certainly never meant to be a marathon, but some teams ran to the Nathan campus finish line all the way from Garden City. It was no wonder the free BBQ lunch disappeared quickly! While the participants mingled, the event team was hard at work scoring photos, collected items and written answers to determine the winners. There were prizes for first, second and last teams as well as a most creative photo award, with Tim Tams all round to finish off.

A survey at the end of the day gave an indication of what students thought. 90% of respondents said they would participate in the race again, whilst 80% were likely to keep in touch with their team mates – most of whom they didn’t know before. To top it off, all respondents said they would attend another Student Linx event.

The Race Around Brisbane started the semester on a great note, so if you want to be part of Student Linx’s next event, check out their Facebook page.

Written by Danielle Van Geest