Welkom To Mangaluru! 14 Member ‘Olivaint’ Team from Belgium Explore St Aloysius College & City
Welkom To Mangaluru! 14 Member ‘Olivaint’ Team from Belgium Explore St Aloysius College & City
Mangaluru : “Welkom to Mangaluru!” (“Welcome to Mangaluru”), “Aangenaam kennis te maken! ( “Nice to Meet You”), “Hoe gaat het”( How are You?”) – these are three sentences I learned prior to meeting this 14 Member ‘Olivaint’ Team who have come from Belgium, hailing from various Universities there to St Aloysius College (Autonomous) Mangaluru Mangaluru on a week long tour (July 8 to July 14. They will attend Sessions on various topics delivered by St Aloysius Staff, and will also see the campus facilities and visit nearby companies and industries. Consul General of Belgium Van de Vreken Mark from the Embassy at Chennai had joined the team for day couple of days ago, and had also attended a Mass at St Aloysius Chapel. The entire event is co-ordinated by the Dean of Foreign Collaboration Cell of St Aloysius College, Dr Vincent Mascarenhas.
Now let’s meet the ‘Olivaint’Team comprising of students, namely-Ms Achour Lina – Law BA3; Ms Casterman Olivia Gaëtane M. – Management MA1; Ms Jentges Louise – Law MA1; Amory Louis Marie P. – Law MA2; Crombrugghe de Picquendaele (Baron) Charles-Antoine Paul A. – Business engineer. MA2; Spoelberch Paul Nicolas Kyril – Law MA2; Hawinkel Maarten Pieter-Jan L. – Business engineering MA2; Jacques Pierre Dominique – Engineering MA2; Kervyn de Marcke ten Driessche Cyrille Nicolas Didier – Engineering BA; and Vander Putten Norman Hubert – Economics BA and Law MA. And the Directors/Mentors in the Team are- Lambrecht Philippe Josette J – MSc Economics (Team Lead); Ms Kerckhofs Anita – Pharmacist – MSc Psychology; Ms Stammeyer Marie Theresia Agnes Paulina – Languages; Van Maele Bernard Marie A. – MSc Master of business administration
Since their arrival in Mangaluru on 8 July, the Team members have already interacted with the District Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada and the CEO of Dakshina Kannada. A number of guest lectures are also been organized from History, Culture, Public Health, to information sessions on Information Technology, Law, Economics and talks on Public Administration. The team will also be visiting the Chamber of Commerce, Mangalore Port, and will have interaction with the fisherman community, along with visits to cultural and Yoga centres in Dharmasthala, Karkala, Moodibidri and other places.
About the ‘Olivaint Team’-it is a debating society founded to offer the student members of all universities in Belgium the opportunity to improve their oral and disputation skills of the Higher Education, among other things – competition of eloquence, articles, conference-debate, exercises of the public word, residential weekend. The shared values of the group are within the Belgian context: pluralism, participation, multidisciplinary approach, and multilingualism. The students come from Science, Law, Economy, Engineering, and Medicine. The study sessions/trips traditionally take place under the high auspices of the Belgian Foreign affairs.
The Eleventh Conference of Belgium works in close relationship with the Belgian Ministry of foreign affairs, from where it gets its intellectual and moral support. Most of the time, the ministry takes advantage of Olivaint trips to meet relevant persons and in enhancing its perception/knowledge of the country the members visit. Olivaint community publishes and distributes to their National Library, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alumni and others. And while on exchange tour, exchange students will benefit from a multitude of unique life experiences which they might not have had in their native countries – to put that simply, exchange is eternally awesome!
Going on exchange is a worthwhile life experience- and for that matter, these 14 members from Belgium who are on a week-long tour to St Aloysius College (Autonomous) Mangaluru and in and around Mangaluru are already having a blast and enjoying every bit of their stay by exploring what St Aloysius College and Mangaluru City has to offer, and all of them are grateful for the kind hospitality and friendship shown by Mangalureans in the last three days of their stay in this education City.
While on exchange, one typically has the chance to thoroughly experience the culture of their host country and the City. Most exchange students will find themselves completely immersed within a different culture once they have arrived in their host countries, due to differences in the cuisine, architecture, familial tradition, and even the ways in which people carry out conversation! After having spent a significant amount of time within the host country, most exchange students will find that they have become accustomed to the culture of their host country and will find themselves essentially able to behave in the manner of a local.
This excellent learning opportunity typically leaves an exchange student with better understanding for people of all sorts, and can really make young people feel as though they have become “citizens of the world.” After the return to one’s native country, an exchange student will likely enjoy sharing his or her new culture with those around them. In addition to learning of the culture of the host country, many exchange students become familiar with the ways of life of people all around the world through meeting other exchange students. This is guaranteed to be amusing, and very interesting! And that’s exactly what this ‘Olivaint Team’ has been doing for the last three days, and will continue to do it in the remaining days here.
And while on a exchange student programme, they will meet friends from all around the world, and this Team has already made bunch of Friends at the College and outside. And its always much fun when exchange students get together because they have so much in common, which may end having a close relationship with for the rest of your life. Team Mangalorean did enjoy the company of this fun-filled Team of Young and Old, and the friendship that was created between Team Mangalorean and the ‘Olivaint Team’ could end up with very long-lasting – and studded with great memories!
Today, the Team visited the Bio-Tech Lab at st Aloysius Post Graduate dept, where Dr Shreelalitha- HoD of the Dept and Sreejesh-Associate professor briefed the Team about the various instruments and projects undertaken at the Lab. The next visit was to the Lab of applied Biology, where Fr Leo D’souza SJ, the Director of the Lab, and Dr (Ms) Shashi Kiran, the Research Coordinator briefed the Team through a audio video presentation, and the Belgians enjoyed every bit of the documentary, especially the topic on Cashew Nut. Then it was time to take a tour of the famous St Aloysius Chapel, where the Olivaint Team were amazed at the marvellous paintings inside the Chapel- and clicked a bunch of photos and selfies. And of course, there was a “Selfie with Alfie” during my interaction with the group?.
And while the Belgium local food comprises of sweet and savory waffles, fries, and various kinds of cheese, including Mussels & beef savoured in local food dishes, and some of Belgian food like Belgian fries, Belgian Waffles, Moules Frites, Stoemp, Grey shrimp croquettes, Speculaas, Waterzooi, Sirop de Liege, Tomates aux crevettes grises etc- but for these ‘Olivaint Team’ being in Mangaluru, they had to take a break from all their favorite Belgian delicaies, and savour our Kudla delicacies like Rice and Chicken Curry, Tandoori items, Anjal and Kane Fry, Chicken Sukka, Kori Rotti etc- and they all liked the food here, except for the heartburn from the spicy flavour. They are yet to try some Catholic Mangalorean Pork Bafat/Sorpotel/Indad, if at all the Botler (chef) at the Jesuit Fathers residence cooks for them? Bon Apetit!
When asked what they have to say about their three days stay here in Mangaluru since 8 July, bunch of the Team members said, “We already have felt the warmth and gesture of the Mangalureans, their hospitality and freindship has been great and we are extremely thankful for that. In the alst three days we have already learnt variosu cultures and traditions, and savoured the authentic local cuisine, which is amazing. We also learned the different way how the teachers interact with trhe students, and tehir method of taeching. In Belgium, we concentrate on only one course, but here students opt for various courses, which is good. We are confident that the rest of the days here in Mangaluru will be fruitful, funful and cheerful- and in anticipation we say “Thank You St Aloysius College and the Jesuit priests for their hospitality and invitation. Vaarwel! (Goodbye).
Website of Olivaint Conference of Belgium : http://olivaint.be/fr/
