Yi Wu, our Dublin Business School Ambassador was born and raised in China and has never been abroad before. She has experienced plenty of different things since arriving to study abroad, including lots of social events and parties that she had never been exposed to back home. Read about her experience through three events and find out how she overcame shyness, embraced Ireland’s social scene and made new friends…
Welcome to Ireland…
“Our destiny offers not the cup of despair, but the chalice of opportunity.”
The DBS welcome party is normally held in a club that has business relations with colleges, which allows us to entry freely and drink discounts. Because of the extremely bad definition of club in China, this is the first time I’ve ever been into a club and I felt really awkward that night. I had no idea what to wear. I know how to dance but I was too shy to dance in the crowd. I did not know how to make new friends, especially with foreigners. That night, most Chinese stick together and foreigners also only hang out with friends in their own circle. And it seems like I could not enjoy the party like others did and got bored easily.
Society open day…
“Man struggles upwards.”
The welcome party experience made me determined to not always feel invisible at parties and drove me to make more new friends from various backgrounds. So, I ran in the election for the student head of Chinese students of DBS. At the society open day, I introduced plenty of traditional Chinese culture and history, and recruited at least 20 foreign new members for the community.
At that day, I realised that almost everyone have the curiosity about other countries and desire to make new friends. Sometimes, people are just too shy to say the first word, and there is no harm to be the proactive one.
Halloween party…
“The world is like a mirror.”
Halloween is celebrated a lot in Ireland, I think it’s because Ireland is the origin of Halloween. Honestly speaking, I saw no difference between the Halloween party and ordinary party, except people were wearing costumes. After couple of drinks, people started gathering in the largest dance floor and dancing together.
This time, I started to fit in because I realised that no one actually know how to dance and more importantly, no one cares. Thus, we should throw our caution into the wind and just dance!
Christmas formal ball…
“The world is his who enjoys it.”
The DBS Christmas formal ball is usually held in a five-star restaurant, and people should show up in fancy clothes. In the first one hour, people were chatting in the lobby with champagne. Then in the next few hours, we sat around the table and tasted some Irish traditional Christmas dinner. But after that people were getting bored. This time, I was the icebreaker and started to organize people to play games first. Then people were gathering around our table and more and more foreigners kept joining us. At the end of the ball, we all danced with the awesome music of the live band until we were exhausted. This Christmas ball was amazing and we really had fun that night!
Some extra party tips:
- Chinese girls might find it hard to buy a proper dress with a considerable price abroad.
- At more formal parties, there are using lots of girls wearing black dresses, so try to pick another colour.
- If you want to be unique at a formal ball or event, why not bring a traditional clothes of your country, such as Chinese cheongsam.
Find out more about DBS social events throughout the year
If you are interested in studying in Ireland, visit the Education in Ireland website.