It may be OWee, but there is no wild revelry: ‘It’s quite relaxing’

On Sunday evening, 30 people lay on yoga mats in the theatre hall at the X sports and culture centre on the TU Delft campus. They surround an imposing grand piano and are accompanied by dozens of flickering candles. Eyes closed, they are listening to the pianist’s peaceful music.

In a distant room, there are awkward sounds of people singing ‘oooh oooh ooh’. Twenty people taking part in the OWee stand in the warrior pose on their yoga mats and sing along with the lyrics on the screen behind the yoga teacher. The best known sentence from Neil Diamond’s karaoke classic is nevertheless sung with ease: ‘Sweeeeeeet Caroline, whoa-oh-oh-oh!’. It is quite a challenge singing while trying to hold your toes in this ‘kara yoga’ session.

Welcome to X. During this OWee it is the epicentre of the so-called ‘Slow-paced programme’, intended for anyone that wants to avoid the partying during the introduction week. The series of quiet evening activities returned this year after a successful experiment at the 2023 OWee.

The participants can come to the sports and culture centre every day for board games, sports, creative activities, a lie down piano concert, and yoga combined with karaoke or candlelight. Target group: the quieter, more introvert participants. Students with functional impairments can also benefit from the peaceful events, the then OWee Board Member Feline Kaaij told the NOS news broadcaster last year (in Dutch).

Quiet intermezzo

After the piano concert, Rick (22) walks outside with three others from his group. It was ‘quite relaxing’, he says, “I lost all track of time.” For the four of them, the concert was a quiet intermezzo before the Opening Party, which they are ‘now really looking forward to’. Fabiënne (18) too is ‘completely zen’. “We even stayed from the beginning right to the end!”

Not everything that happens at X this week involves yoga mats. Zeyd (17), Ties (18) and David (18) left the rest of their group on Monday evening to join the Board Game Night – which X also holds regularly outside the OWee. After Sunday’s Opening Party they ‘were a bit tired of partying’. Zeyd says that the three of them have three things in common. “We do not drink, we don’t enjoy partying that much, and we enjoy board games.”

The slow-paced programme was thought up by last year’s Board members, explains Suze Vernooij, the current Chair. In the questionnaire that the Board sends out after the OWee every year, they regularly saw feedback that not everybody feels comfortable partying. They thought that a quieter parallel programme would be a good idea and immediately thought about X as a partner. They ran one that same year which was successful, says Vernooij. “The slow-paced programme was judged to be in the top three last year.” The idea is that it will again feature on the OWee programme next year.

Inclusive surroundings

In terms of content, the OWee Board leaves the organisation to X. To be precise, to Evi Bulters, the Event Manager at the sports and culture centre. She was enthusiastic as soon as the Board members approached her. “The idea of the programme perfectly matches who we are and who we want to be – an inclusive space where we serve a wide range of needs,” says Bulters. This includes everyone who does not recognise themselves in the image of partying and drinking students.

She believes that this is always important, but especially so in the introduction week. “The emphasis of the OWee is on student association life, and this involves a lot of partying.” This is both not everyone’s preferred activity and is also very intense, says Bulters. “The OWee can be overwhelming. Everything changes. You only arrive here as a student once, so it is fine if you can experience things in your own way and at your own pace.”

The activities that are on the programme during the OWee are based on X’s regular programme. Games evenings are a regular feature of the programme, as are yoga and beach volleyball. And karaoke evenings. This is also a way to introduce first year students to the activities that X offers outside the OWee.

No beer

In any case, the programme of the introduction week seems to be popular. Twenty of the 25 mats are taken in the kara yoga on Sunday evening, and the piano concert can also count on an almost full audience. Café X is also full during the Board Game Night. While ‘regular’ alcohol is also available, many participants opt for a Coke.

One of them is David (18). It can be hard for him to be one of the few that does not drink alcohol, but he can let go of this at X. “You are surrounded by crazily wild people who have drunk a lot all week. But it’s perfectly fine to not drink alcohol here.”