From Feb. 11 to Feb. 15, REACH and the Health Promotion Office hosted Love Your Body Week for the student body. The purpose of the week was not only for students to love their bodies, but also for them to appreciate the little things that their bodies are capable of. REACH and HPO hosted daily events such as Perfect, As Is, Understanding Plate Portions and a LYBW Spin Class for students to participate in. They also provided free merchandise including tote bags filled with t-shirts and phone card holders. Post-Its with reaffirmations and body compliments could also be found on mirrors of various bathrooms across campus.

“Events like Perfect, As Is were very nice because we forget to love our bodies sometimes. They served as nice reminders that we have to cherish our bodies. Your body is a temple and we should take care of ourselves more,” said Irina Trusina, Class of 2021.

“I think the Post-It notes made me realize how little we tell ourselves these days. We all know the importance of body positivity, but sometimes, it’s almost as if we subconsciously ignore it. So the Post-Its worked as a good reminder,” explained Anita Shishani, Class of 2021.

Holi approximately translates to festival of colors. On Feb. 16, TASHAN invited the student body to celebrate Holi above the West Dining Hall. Holi is a religious spring festival celebrated in the Indian subcontinent, during which participants throw colored powder and water balloons at one another. There were ample amounts of colored powder, as well as Indian food provided. Members of TASHAN advised the students to wear old clothes and put moisturizer on their faces before attending the event, as the color would temporarily stain their clothes and skin.

“Holi at NYUAD is always so much fun! I get to show my affection to my friends by attacking them with colored powder and turning them into walking rainbows — what's not to love about that?” exclaimed Isabella Peralta, Class of 2018.

“I loved Holi. I didn't get to go during my first year and I'm really happy I got to go this time around. It was a lot of fun, I recommend everyone to go next year,” advised Guillermo Schlamp, Class of 2020.

On Feb. 13, Simran Parwani, Lubnah Ansari, Aasna Sijapati, Anushka Upadhyay, Gabrielle Branche, Nandini Kochar and Anna Thor, all Class of 2021, organized and hosted an event to commemorate V-Day. V-Day is a part of an international activist movement with the purpose of stopping, “gender-based violence through attacking the silence — public and private — that allows violence against women to continue.” The group of girls, along with Shalini Corea, Class of 2021, performed a series of monologues titled the V Monologues at 7:30 p.m. at the amphitheater.

“We probably had around 35 people show up, some of which were faculty members and some who came when they heard the monologues. We performed the traditional Vagina Monologues and Nandini performed a beautiful personal poem. We had candles and rose petals that led up to the ampitheatre and it felt intimate, warm and beautiful. I think everyone had a good time,” said Thor.