For almost 20 years a big welcome back to school party has gathered thousands of students in Aarhus every September. It goes by the name “Denmark’s biggest Friday bar”, and this year it will take place on the 9th of September. A day that consists of sport tournaments throughout the day and live performances at night. Obviously mixed with the most popular liquid amongst students in Denmark. Beers.
By Marie Louise Gimm
It may seem like a party with no deeper intentions. But project manager, Astrid Mark Nielsen, says otherwise. She has one aim.
“I care a lot about the city. I really love Aarhus. And I just want to give back” she says.
As a new thing Astrid Mark Nielsen has invited the LGBTQ-house to stand at the event together with Checkpoint who does STD-testing. Free and anonymous. At first, when Astrid Mark Nielsen tried hiring them, they were a bit skeptical saying that it didn’t seem like their normal crowd.
“That is exactly why I want them to come. To make it more embracing of everybody” she comments.
And at the same time, she wants to create a safe space for all the students in Aarhus.
“It is very important to me, because there have been so many things with sexual assaults and students having bad experiences” she adds.
Aarhus-culture is prioritized
The music program has also been influenced by the project manager’s fingerprints. The eleven bands playing throughout the night are local artists and upcoming bands from the nearby community. Astrid Mark Nielsen states that it is kind of her love letter to the city. She wants to make sure that we care.
“You moved to Aarhus so now you are getting Aarhus” she says.
In addition, this event shows off what separates the city of Aarhus from the capital city, Copenhagen. Astrid Mark Nielsen says that with this event you can feel that Aarhus is a student city, and Copenhagen is just a big city with a lot of people.
“It puts us on the map” she claims.
People are brought together, but one group is missing
Astrid Mark Nielsen says that the party is also about creating great experiences for students and caring about them. But it would not happen without the help from 500 volunteers.
“A lot of people just apply to be a volunteer and we mix them up, so they get to know a lot of people. And we have a volunteers tent where they can mingle” she says.
This party does a lot of good things to bring people together across studies, but one key point is missing.
“We need to embrace international students more. There simply isn’t enough effort” she mentions.
Astrid Mark Nielsen adds that everything that is posted on social media is in both danish and english, but it has not been prioritized to reach out to international students. She hopes that it will happen one day, so we embrace everyone studying in Aarhus.
However, until then the project manager is looking forward to seeing 8 months of hard work coming together.
