Intercultural Mentoring Program 2019/2020 started successfully: 250 students connected with their mentoring partners
At the Kick-off event of the Intercultural Mentoring Program at the University of Freiburg on the 17th of October, Thursday evening it was finally time for mentors and mentees to meet. An evening filled with positive vibes and exciting students: More than 100 mentors and 150 mentees met in person for the first time.
Many participants of the Intercultural Mentoring Program have long awaited for this day with great excitement: Will we find ourselves amongst the many students in the room? What will the first meeting be like? And above all, how will we understand each other? A few questions that could be probably asked all over in the room.
Mrs. Kerstin Steiger-Merx, Coordinator of the Intercultual Mentoring Program, opened the event and welcomed all the participants. In her speech, she pointed out: We would like to help international students in the beginning of their studies and make their start in Freiburg as smooth as possible. At the same time, we would like to offer them the opportunity to gain intercultural experience. For the students probably the most exciting part was the three presentations by former program participants about their positive experiences with the program: "We always had something to talk about, whether it was a problem, an experience or just a small question. In my experience, after a while we were not mentor and mentee anymore, just friends." explained the former mentee, who now supports international students as a mentor.
After the official part of the event, the long wait finally came to an end. At the get-together in the hall of KG II, mentors and mentees met for the first time and had the opportunity to meet and connect with other mentoring partners. How the further connection between the mentoring partners will develop is from now on up to the students. The Intercultural Mentoring Program accompanies the individual mentoring relationships and offers two Intercultural Trainings and several Socializing Events. What’s new in this year is that socializing events like a walk to Schlossberg, an Intercultural Dinner, Pub Crawl and visit to the Christmas Market are organized by mentors. On top of that, all participants are warmly welcomed to our Christmas Event on the 5th of December to celebrate together and get in touch with others from different faculties.
We wish all of you a good start in your Mentoring Journey!
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