Over 100 students signed up for the annual Go Wild Week, according to Beatrice Zemelyte, an event coordinator for the Northwestern University in Qatar Student Union. Go Wild Week took place between Sunday, March 21 and Thursday, March 25 and included various events scheduled for each day. All events were planned and executed following COVID regulations and expectations. 

 Only 10-12 spots for each session were available for all activities, added Zemelyte. The new COVID regulations announced by the Ministry of Public Health at the time advised that all outside gatherings can only have 15 people, which was an abrupt change that the NUQSU had to adapt to. 

On the first day of the festivities, the NUQSU organized two sessions called “Breakfast for Dinner” and “Primal Scream,” which were held in NU-Q’s courtyard. In the first, students spent the event bonding with one another through sharing their thoughts by drawing on posters. Later, students performed Northwestern’s traditional “Primal Scream,” where, on the home campus, students can be heard screaming across campus at 9 p.m. on the Sunday before finals week.

“The bonding experience that we got to have by getting to know others, writing our feelings down or drawing them on the poster, and the primal scream which is a Northwestern tradition (that helped us relieve our stress) all made yesterday’s event special,” said Alaa Lami, a freshman.

On the second day, two sessions were held in NU-Q’s courtyard, organized in collaboration with the Media Majlis, where students created posters for the Media Majlis Exhibition. 

“The fact that I went to the building was amazing. I miss going to campus and going there made me feel very happy as if our lives were slightly back to normal,” said Mariana Araujo, a sophomore. Araujo added that everything was provided, and all the materials needed were available and that the only issue was the heat. “Besides that, it was nice to see my friends and I realize I’m not that bad at art,” she said.  

On the third day, students participated in two sessions of “Karak at Katara,” where they got a chance to meet and greet with their peers from different years. The first session was a picnic at the Katara Cultural Village and the second session was at the Chapati and Karak cafe. 

“I got to spend time with the freshmen, which I haven’t really gotten the opportunity to do before and I had some great bonding time with them,” said Mary Kurian, a communications sophomore.  

On the last day, “Art Therapy and Picnic” was held at Oxygen Park. There were two sessions involving arts and crafts activities were planned, such as notebook cover decorating.

“What was special about this event was that it’s the first time I’ve done an in-person event with people in like a really, really long time, like, probably last year. So that was really nice to just see people and kind of be involved in student life again,” said Maryam Gamar, a journalism junior.

“We were organizing this event from the beginning of the semester [but] at the last minute, the new regulations from the Ministry were announced,” explained Zemelyte. “So instead of canceling the entire event, we had to improvise and come up with an entirely new plan, which was obviously a bit devastating.” 

Zemelyte added that she hopes more events and small gatherings will be allowed to take place as real-life interaction is an aspect that the NU-Q community needs at the moment. 

“I think people had a great time, at least those who joined. Just seeing each other after one year, it’s weird and many people feel like there was something needed for our community,” Zemelyte said.