That Girl from Derwent dwells on the value of religion this Christmas.
That Girl from Derwent has learned a few more things about prejudice since moving up North.
That Girl From Derwent reckons if you're going to be offensive, you should find a better reason.
That Girl from Derwent considers why it is that some words have wider implications than others.
Becoming a fresher means a hundred things at once. But most importantly, and probably applicable as a catch-all heading, it means liberation.
Freedom to eat what you choose, go where you want, snog who you like. Reinvent yourself. Freshers’ Week is the start of the golden new horizon of a perfect new life, at least in theory.
But actually, you may well find, you are given very little opportunity for self-determination during Freshers’ Week. You’ll be herded like lambs though the whole process, from collecting your keys on the first morning, to having your hair held back while you vom on the first night.
The shepherds (or “STYCs”, Second or Third Year Contacts) are not there to poop the party by any means. They’re largely there solely to party. Which is fine, as long as you also want to party.
I don’t want to disparage any freshers who really fancy getting messy with the lads every night in order to be able to share their supreme banter in the following morning’s welcome lecture with a group of people they barely know and who couldn’t care less. Nor do I wish to dishearten any who are really psyched for pre-drinking their faces off with the girls before stumbling out onto the cold hard cobbles of York’s beautiful streets wearing nothing but a ripped-up, scrawled-on freshers’ t-shirt and some cheeky knickers, squealing and honking like the campus geese they’ve recently discovered.
There are those who want to go out and party and, genuinely, good luck to them.
But there are also those of us here at York who actively chose the city for its alternative evening life of pubs, bars and restaurants. Some who rather liked the idea of these infinitely more sociable possibilities. But does this reasonable and, from what I heard from my fellows during my first year, fairly sizeable group get a look in during Freshers’ Week? Not so much, unfortunately.
Colleges give a vague nod to those who don’t want to drink. A game of bowling shoved hastily onto the timetable here, a few slices of soggy pizza and a jam-packed night of watching other people play the communal Wii there. But it doesn’t seem right, that in a city chock full of entertainment treasures, the colleges draw so stark a divide between non-alcohol partakers, and clubbers.
What about us middlemen, who don’t mind drinking, but instead of going out and getting unpleasantly dizzy on alcopops and the cha-cha slide, might also like to eat, and talk, and take in a show, or an art exhibition, or a film at the Picturehouse cinema? And which alcohol decliners ever put their hands up and cheerfully admitted they were content to be thoroughly bored all week anyway? None, because they’re not.
And sure, for those freshers who do want a party every night, the provisions are made, and that at least is great. But there’s more to starting university than making a few fast friends during the Spice Girls at (the club which is) Mansion. What about buying, preparing and cooking your own food? I am not suggesting every fresher is a kitchen virgin, but I am saying a lot of freshers could definitely do with a few simple tips to make sure everyone has at least some sense of where the pasta should go, and where the mouldy pans should not.
A recent UGM proposal was made for an alternative Freshers’ Week, which would have been run by societies alongside the week run by the colleges. It was defeated in the vote. I’m still not sure why. It seems to me Freshers’ Week could do with a refreshing.
But fear not, if you’re reading this with sinking heart and wondering if it’s possible to swap your accepted offer from York to somewhere nice and remote where, although you wouldn’t even have the opportunity for a companionable cosy pub night, at least you won’t have the option on your doorstep but flatly denied to you by the brutal party powers that be.
No, don’t despair. Because York is filled with alternative things you could do when you’ve found some people you like, and have sampled the delights of one or two clubs, and are ready to see the really good side of York.
Absolutely agree. Sadly though, we're both quieter and less likely to spend exorbitant sums than those going out clubbing every evening, so at the end of the day we're going to be marginalised. Putting on the Wii isn't going to make the college or JCRC money, Club D is...
Very true. I think it's a total imaginative failure that Fresher's week isn't more well-rounded. I'm sure many people would like to do something different, and aren't averse to having a drink but would prefer to do it in a more relaxed environment than Ziggy's or wherever the kids go these days.
I also like the idea about kitchen classes and whatnot in your first week. A lot of people are absolutely clueless when they first arrive (myself included).
Shame the UGM motion for an Alternative Freshers' Week didn't get the votes.
Most of the normal Freshers' Week events are crap anyway. To my memory we just did stuff that we fancied, not necessarily all the events. So what stops you more civilised lot doing the same?
I suppose people just like moaning and pretending they're marginalised.
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