Intro Week Was Great!

To sum up Intro week in one word: Interesting!

I was really confused about what Intro week was, whether you had to pay for it, what it was about. I went there completely blind. I didn't think it would be interesting. When I looked at the website before I came to University, it looked boring. I was so so wrong. It was probably made to look that way for parents who view the website.

The first night I was there, I found the building very quiet. It wasn't what I expected. I wanted to meet people and get right into university life. Instead, I ended up getting in my pajamas and watching TV. But then my neighbour knocked on the door and invited me to a party. So I got dressed, went out and met a whole bunch of people which was really cool. And that just kept on going on all week.

During the day there were activities organized for us by upper years. I'd heard that a few years ago, Intro Week had gotten out of hand; people got charged by the cops, and others ended up in hospital, mostly as a result of alcohol or drugs. So the University itself decided to get involved in Intro Week in order to control it a bit more. I don’t know if that’s true. But I do know that the activities were just what I needed even though I didn't know I needed them at the time.

The first day, there was a 6 am wake-up call – Dons marching through the halls banging pots and pans together. You could choose to ignore them, or you could get your butt out of bed and be part of the group. Although I really wanted to sleep in after crashing into bed at 4 am after the party, I didn't want to miss out on anything, so I got my butt out of bed and went to the introductory activity.

We were organized into groups and played countless mind-numbing games which dropped our defences, exhausted our minds, and relaxed everyone enough to get over being shy in order to get to know one another. Ice-breaker events and things like scavenger hunts that took us all over campus; we stayed up until we dropped from sheer exhaustion. That was the intent of the university actually: to keep everyone busy and overtired all the time, so people who participated had no time or energy left to get into trouble.

Still, to be honest, it was a drunkfest. You could meet someone and the next day they had no idea they even met you because they were too drunk, and the same went for you sometimes! But on the other hand, you could talk to absolutely anyone without it being awkward or weird. If you went up and struck a conversation with someone on Frosh week it was A-OK! And regardless of the fact that everyone was drunk, I met my best friends from school during that week.

But back to the first morning: everyone was given a shirt and a package with the week's calendar from which you could pick the activities you wanted to do. The activities were fun and were worth doing in order to meet all sorts of people. When you go to university, you meet people from all over. Coast to coast, everywhere in between, and even a few foreign students. So during the first week of school, Intro week activities and memories are an easy conversation thread! It is amazing what booze and big groups of people can do together!

I did read about a few sessions that I wasn't sure I wanted to go to. For example, there was a Venus Sexuality and Sensuality course on the second day. I had heard it was funny so I went with my roommates. It was an hour long course on sex toys, what they were, how to use them. Eye opening. I think the university did it for shock value but it brought us first years closer through participating in the same shocking things. And I now know how to do bondage. But that's another story.

You do need to be careful during Intro week though. Everyone is in such high spirits that it is almost like everyone's supposedly-good decision-making skills go down the drain. You are just so excited about this new life you are about to start that you have no problem spending that extra twenty dollars or drinking another drink. During your first week everyone usually drinks more than they thought they ever could and spends more then they would ever have wanted to. Not to say I would take any of that back...

As I said, Intro week sure was interesting!