Since students began classes in Vienna during the first week of February, program leaders have hosted weekly social events for all students staying at Das Millicanhaus (Das Mil) to come together in community. These events are planned by a student committee which oversees social events for the students in the Vienna study abroad program. This past week, Das Mil had a birthday celebration for three residents, and a “Mamma Mia” movie night in, with homemade molasses cookies made by Megan Huber.
Huber, a sophomore majoring in music at Lipscomb University, is a member of the social committee as assigned in the Cross Cultural Perspectives course which students take during their time in the Vienna program. There are four committees that students were able to join at the beginning of the semester which include spiritual, service, media, and social.
“We’ve got our spiritual committee that is in charge of our devos on Sunday nights, whether those look like a little Word or small groups or worship, they take care of all of that. We’ve got our service committee, they set up service projects for us all to do together. They just find ways to help us get involved in the city. We have our media team, which posts everything on social media. Then we’ve got our social committee, the best one, which plans weekly social events for everybody that’s in the house that are optional, but since they’re so great, everybody obviously wants to come. Also, part of what the social committee does is celebrate any birthdays for people who are in the house,” said Huber.
Each committee has a group of five to six students, with one advisor from the leadership team who helps guide students in achieving their vision for events or plans they have for the group. Huber talks about what she thinks the goal of the weekly social events is.
“I think the main point is honestly to tear down walls or barriers that people might have with people they don’t know as well, and just create a space where everyone can come together, get to know each other better, find even things that they have in common that they didn’t know they had in common before, and just really create a stronger bond and sense of community within the house. “I love just living in Das Mil, living with everyone in this community,” said Huber.
The birthday celebration and movie night was the third event planned by the social committee. Huber recalls the first social events in the program:
“Our first social event really helped us all get to know each other, everyone kind of bonded. We played the fishbowl game, so it was a lot of fun. We had two birthdays that day, and so we made a cake and celebrated them, and that was really sweet. We also had a powerpoint night, where people made funny presentations. And the snacks were great.” Huber said, “For snacks, we will usually go and get some drinks from the grocery store down the street. I made a cake one week, Isa made these really good chocolate chip cookies the next week, and then I made the cookies this last week, so we’ve kind of been just trading off. It’s nice to have something homemade.”
Jack Priebe, a freshman majoring in business and marketing management at Oklahoma Christian University, is another member of the social committee at the Vienna program.
“So far my experience in Vienna has been very good. I’ve learned a lot about the culture, a lot about community. I’ve made a lot of friends, found my footing within my community, and I’m really growing in my faith,” said Priebe.
The nature of the community at Das Mil has cultivated a very close knit relationship between students and the leadership team which creates an atmosphere that feels more like a family than a classroom environment. Priebe commented on the lighthearted nature of the community.
“I’m in the social committee. And the social committee is the one that organizes our social events and makes Vienna fun, because without the social committee, it would be boring,” said Priebe. “Movie Night was awesome. We watched Mamma Mia due to popular vote. I voted for Mama Mia. It was ‘bring your own snacks’. But then we also had cookies for some birthdays that were going on. And, yeah, it was a hit. My favorite social event that we’ve done has been the PowerPoint night, where we got to make various PowerPoints about our friends and really make fun of each other. And it was awesome,” Priebe said.
On the event selection and planning goals of the social committee, Priebe said:
“Week to week, events vary based on interest, but our goal is to find how we can serve the rest of our community through hosting fun events and having fun snacks and just giving everyone a good time to relax and make a lot of friends and socialize.”
As Oklahoma Christian and Lipscomb students continue to grow culturally and relationally during their time in the Vienna program at Das Mil, the strong community being built in the program has created a safe place for students to learn in a Christ-centered environment.
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