"Hello, who are you?"
"Where are you from?"
"What are you studying?"
"What A Level grades did you get?"
Behold, the classic four questions that everyone asks you, and you ask everyone, during those first terrifying days of your university career. It can usually be followed up with bonus questions like:
"Are you drunk?"
"Can I have your phone number?"
"Where do you live? ... Where do I live??"
Last night, sitting around chewing the fat with a few students, it was interesting to see the different reactions they all had to freshers week. Some had had far too much to drink. Others hadn't touched a drop. Some of them thought it was great, and others hated every moment. I can't remember much of my own freshers week. Not because I spent the time drunk, but because it was so long ago now! *sniff* I do remember my first night, creeping around the bar and attempting to strike up conversations with anyone who failed to escape my stumbling advances. The night concluded, if memory serves me correctly, with a series of relay races in trolleys around a supermarket car park. Most of the people that I met in the first week, I never saw again.
It can be a very intimidating environment at the best of times, university, and freshers week seems to be both a blessing and a curse. Yes, it's a great idea to have an induction week that's fun and memorable, but a pressured atmosphere of booze-riddled hedonism is not everyone's cup of tea. Some students would literally prefer a cup of tea. There's a campaign, growing in momentum, to abolish freshers week all together. So, is this a good plan, or a bad one? What's the best way to welcome students to a new city whilst making sure that everyone enjoys themselves? I personally have no idea.
Oh well, here's to students everywhere, and their empty bank balances! Cheers.
