International alumni reunite in Nottingham after 20 years
28 February 2020
We were recently contacted by Florent Rochepeau (BEng Hons Electrical & Electronic Engineering 1999) who attended a reunion of international students in Nottingham, to celebrate their 20 year anniversary of meeting at NTU:
I would like to share with you the story of our small group of international students from the year 1998-1999!
After we graduated in 1999, a number of us who were members of the NTU International Students Society kept in touch for a few years. We mostly spent new year's eve with each other across Europe, for example we gathered in Paris, Barcelona, Munich, Prague, Stockholm and Dublin.
After a few years we lost pace with those parties but we still kept in touch from time to time via email and phone, and some of us kept contact in smaller groups.
Last year was the 20th anniversary of our presence at NTU and we agreed to re-join in the UK to celebrate!
A weekend was chosen and while some of the friends could not make it, around ten of us managed to gather in Nottingham on Friday 1st November, and took an afternoon stroll around the City Campus.
We were positively surprised to see the changes to the buildings and had the luck to meet with a security officer who was also there 20 years ago!
We spent some time exchanging memories and it was very nice to see some pictures of the developments and changes over the years. We also had a look in Boots Library, where staff at the entrance were very kind and let us take a group picture - we also had the nice opportunity to chat with some students who were curious to see our group of old people in there, haha!
After a couple of drinks at the pub on Peel Street, we continued our tour in the city and went to have dinner at another familiar place still there after all those years, the Pitcher & Piano. The party then went on after dinner - back to student Friday fun!
The next day the nice weather allowed us to continue walking around the city and campus, going back to those places where we had been housed as well as the shopping streets in the city centre.
Most of us then returned to London for dinner with families and more friends who had not joined the trip to Nottingham.
As we departed, we made the promise not to wait another 20 years before gathering again!
If you are interested in organising a reunion, contact us on alumni@ntu.ac.uk to find out how we can help.