About three decades ago our lovely study association F.D.L. Gibalaux was founded by a handful of French language and culture students. They wanted to have people loving anything French come together by means of activities related to the language and culture.
However, Gibalaux is quite an unknown and mysterious name. The name knows an amazing story: continuez à lire!
In 1993 our association was founded by students who were looking for more fraternité within the study programme. Now, 27 years later, this remains Gibalaux’s main goal. We are the connection between the French language and culture students and together with them we organise weekly activities aimed at education and fun. A Gibalaux membership means beautiful encounters, interesting experiences and unforgettable memories.
Why the name <<Gibalaux>>? To give our association a name, the founders held a cycling competition. In groups, they had to cycle as far as possible into France within a certain timeframe. The group having cycled the most kilometres at the end of the ride were rewarded with the ability to name the association. The winning group ended up in Gibalaux Le Bas, around 1380 kilometres away from the Leiden University Library (LUL). To honour this gorgeous village between Toulouse and Perpignan, they baptised the association “Frans Dispuut Leiden Gibalaux”. The rest is history.
Our association knows all the advantages of a small study association, such as tight individual contacts and short lines with professors and teachers. Being so small does not mean we lose our spark in the shadow of the bigger associations! Every year, we organise a wonderful voyage to a French destination, we have drinks whenever we can, and we enjoy our usual grilled cheese hours in our free time. Members can furthermore profit from our small but precious library, follow a wine tasting organised by members and alumni-members of the association and join our mini weekend-trip during springtime. Gibalaux is noticeably founded by and for lovers of the French language and culture: everyone gets along very well, and the social cohesion is very strong. We are so proud of this!
This year it is the XXVIII board of F.D.L. Gibalaux’s turn to prove themselves. We do this under the name “Avant-Garde”, also to be understood as the frontrunners. This means that this year, we will put effort into renewal and striding into the unknown, all of this without forgetting our tradition and making sure that we keep giving our everything for the connectivity between our members. We organise heaps of activities by means of which the members get to know each other, and we try to do the same during our online activities.
Psssshhh… Did you know that you can notice a small dot in our logo in France’s map? This is where Gibalaux Le Bas is located.
Gibasong
The connection between Gibalaux’s members becomes a little bit stronger every time we sing our association’s song together. The song was invented a long time ago and was recovered in 2018 by the board of said academic year. Ever since, members and non-members have gotten to know the song.
We proudly present it on our website. Please, do join us whenever we sing it!
Allons enfants de notre faculté
Les fêtes peuvent commencer
Gibalaux est plein de surprise
Nous allons bien nous amuser (2x)
Inscrivez-vous sur toutes les listes
Et ainsi ne serez pas trop tard
On part peut-être pour Paris
S’on veut se faire beaucoup de plaisir
On est fou de Gibalaux
On n’y boit que du Bordeaux
Buvons, buvons, comme des cons
Que la tête tourne en rond!