Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another Q-Lips Community Update episode.
This is your update for October 2025.
And joining me as always, as my co-host for the Q-Lips Community Update is Alina.
Hey there, Alina.
How's it going?
Hi, Andrew.
I'm doing great.
Thank you.
How are you?
I'm doing pretty well.
I'm a little bit hungry, to be honest, but I'm okay.
It's just before dinner time here, so I'm looking forward to recording this episode and then eating something delicious for dinner.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
We have some important things to talk about and to update all of our listeners about here.
There are some big things happening on the community side of things at Q-Lips for October.
And Alina.
The first one maybe that we'll talk about is meetup number two, Europe.
Meetup number two.
This is very exciting news for all of our listeners in Europe, or really for anyone who would like to travel to Europe.
I mean, that's an option for you as well if you're willing to travel to Europe.
But maybe you could share the details with everyone about Qloop's meetup, Euro edition, fall 2025.
Sure.
So we are going to meet in Germany this time and we have everything ready for you right now.
I'm very excited.
I found the place.
It looks great.
So the city is Hamburg and the date is October 18th.
And we are meeting a little bit earlier this time because I've learned my lesson well.
Last time it was kind of like peak time, you know, crowds.
So we're going to meet at 4 p.m. this time, obviously local time in Germany.
So check that, please, in case you're traveling.
And we are going to... Actually, I have already posted everything on Discord.
But, of course, we're going to say it here as well.
The place is called People's Place Cafe, which, if you like, is such a nice name as well.
I was thinking that, you know, if everything goes super well like last time, hopefully we can kind of continue on, because around this area there are a lot of other places.
So we could definitely, you know, take it somewhere else if we feel like, you know, maybe grabbing dinner, maybe something else.
So yeah, we'll see.
As always.
You know, it's hard to predict, even though we are.
I would like for you guys to please, you know, fill out the Google form.
So far, we only have one response.
And we're going to post the link for sure, just so in case you missed it.
We got to spread the word.
Once we spread the word, we'll get some more people who will join us for the meetup, hopefully.
But that sounds really fun.
What day of the week is that, October 18th?
Saturday.
So hopefully it's going to help.
Most people are going to be, you know, it's the weekend.
Hopefully, you know, if you want to travel as well, you'll have the Sunday next day to kind of be able to get back to wherever you came from.
So yeah, Saturday feels like a good day for something like that.
Yeah, yeah, of course.
Now, what could someone expect?
What, like, if I were on the fence, I'm like, should I go to the meetup?
Should I not go to the meetup?
What kind of things are you going to do?
What can people expect at the meetup?
So yeah, I mean to be honest with you.
There's absolutely no requirements, no pressure, like it's free.
Some people actually contacted me asking like if you have to be a Q-Lips member, if you have to be some kind of a special you know?
No, you don't have to be any, you know anything.
You just can be anybody who just, you know, enjoys Q-Lips and wants to meet some people.
And I think the other common concern is like if I am going to be able to communicate, because you know Some people are slightly maybe unsure if their skills are, you know, good enough.
And what I have to say, for you know this kind of concern, especially if you're from Germany.
I can guarantee you that you can be fine, because there's going to be at least one German person there who speaks great English and German.
So you're going to be fine.
In my experience, the last one, everybody felt very comfortable.
Even though I'm sure we were on slightly different levels, you know, it was still, yeah, nice chat.
So essentially, it's just a nice, friendly, relaxed, you know, chat.
Nothing special, you know, just a friendly meetup.
Right.
Just to hang out and yeah, to maybe meet some other Cubelips listeners, make a new friend or just enjoy the afternoon and the evening.
Right.
So, yeah, I unfortunately, again, I'm not going to be able to make it.
It's a little bit too far for me to travel on a weekend all the way to Hamburg.
So I'm sorry, guys, I won't be there myself.
But yeah, I still hope that many of you are able to participate.
And thanks, Alina, for organizing this.
I think this is really great opportunity for all of the Q-Lips listeners in Europe.
So yeah, enjoy.
And we'll have to hear from you next month in November about how it went.
You'll have to give us an update about what you got up to, what you chatted about, how it went.
Yeah, and take many pictures for us too.
Yeah.
Okay, so we'll put the link to the RSVP reservation form in the description for this episode.
And yeah, like Alina said, guys, this is totally free.
You don't have to be a Q-Lips member.
It's just an opportunity to meet some like-minded English learners just like you who also enjoy listening to Q-Lips.
So if you want to join, fill out the RSVP form, and then, yeah, we'll see you at the meetup.
Okay Alina, why don't we move on to the second item on our itinerary here, which is to introduce the monthly challenge for October?
And we got a doozy, a good one, lined up for everyone.
Tell us all about it.
What's the October challenge?
Yeah, this time we're going to talk about, or explore, linking words, or you could call them connectors which essentially, you know, are the words that help you connect your thoughts, your ideas.
You know how, when you start learning the language, you probably just like speak very short sentences, right?
You're just like snappy kind of.
And these words are actually going to help you connect all of these thoughts together.
So your speech flows more naturally.
You sound more clear, more confident, easier to follow as well, especially if it's something like long, you know, if you want to express some kind of a complicated idea.
So words like, you know, therefore, despite, besides, nevertheless.
Yeah, usually we learn in the beginner and intermediate stages connectors like and, but or, however.
But there are a whole host of them, right?
There are many in English.
And so it's a great way to learn.
These is through the challenge, but also by knowing them and seeing how they work and practicing with them, you'll be able to make longer, more complicated sentences.
And, to be honest with you, I'm a really big fan of simplicity and keeping it simple and not trying to overcomplicate things when we don't really need to.
But, that being said still, it's nice to know how to make longer sentences and more complicated sentences and express ourselves more fully, right?
That's the ultimate goal of why we're learning English is to express ourselves the way that we want to express ourselves.
And so I think these linking words or connecting words, whatever you want to call them, They're really handy, really useful.
Alina, is it the same structure this month, the same format that we've had in previous months, where there's a task to do on the Discord server every second day, where participants can either leave a sentence that they've written or spoken with an audio message or audio voice clip, and that's how they participate in the challenge?
It's the same sort of format, right?
Yes absolutely, it's exactly what you said, and this time each assignment is going to look like a skeleton sentence and, you know, with the linking word obviously each day is going to be a different word and the idea is that learners will need to fill in the gaps, essentially just add some flesh, you know, onto those bones of the sentence, and they might also have to, you know, maybe kind of expand it to a couple of more sentences, just so it all makes sense.
So that, you know, I could see that they understand exactly how to use that LinkedIn word.
And if they need help, of course I'll be there to you know explain, maybe suggest some improvements.
And about the format in terms of text or voice messages.
I actually wanted to definitely give a shout out to everybody who is brave enough to send voice messages, because they're weak.
We've heard of you this month.
I'm definitely very proud of you guys.
And I would encourage you know, every month I should simply send more voice messages because you know it's stepping outside of your comfort zone, but then you feel so good for doing that.
Yeah, sure, whatever you can do.
So there you have it, everyone the October challenge connecting words, and we'll be able to make longer better, more complicated sentences after completing the October challenge, I'm sure.
So yeah, again, I hope many of you participate.
Alina is so awesome to run these challenges for us every month and to give us the feedback and help us guide us through the challenges.
So thank you so much, Alina, on behalf of everyone who participates.
I'm sure they feel the same way as I do.
And guys, it's totally free, again, to participate in these challenges.
If you're a QLips member, of course, awesome.
We really do appreciate your support.
But if you're not a Q-Lips member, hey, we understand, and that's fine.
You can join for free and participate for free, and that's cool too.
So if you would like to participate, just follow the instructions that we'll put in the description for this episode.
You do have to download the Discord app and become a Discord member.
If you aren't already, of course, that's free as well.
And then join our Q-Lips Discord server.
And then you just have to click a few places.
And yeah, we'll put the instructions in the Discord so that you can do that.
But if you do have an issue or need some help, just send me a message, or Alina a message, and we'll be sure to help you out so that you can participate in the challenge as well.
And I think, as always, if you complete the challenge, then you will get a nice DM and completion certificate from Alina.
So there's a huge reward, a very nice prize at the end waiting for you if you can complete every day of the challenge.
So yeah, it's going to be awesome.
Thanks, Alina, for organizing it once again.
Sure, of course.
My pleasure.
Okay, perfect.
So European listeners, enjoy the meetup.
And everyone else, enjoy the challenge.
And we'll catch you next month for the November Q-Lips community update.
Until then, take care and bye-bye.
See you, bye.
