Fresher's week
Door: Samantha de Bruijn
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Samantha
08 Oktober 2010 | Verenigd Koninkrijk, Glasgow
Monday 13th of September was the beginning of the Fresher's week. This is an introduction week organized by a lot of Glasgow University unions and societies for all students that are new to the university (first year and international students). Mathilde and I both hesitated whether to buy a Fresher's pass or not since it was 35 pounds and you only need it for the parties in the evening. We decided to get one any way and after sleeping in, the three of us went to the university to collect our Fresher's pass. Before we collected the pass, we had ourselves officially registered to the Glasgow University (including student card).
In the evening there would be a concert of Pendulum (electronic rock/ drum&base band; like the Prodigy) which Leoni absolutely wanted to see. Even though the concert wouldn't start before 23:00, we were advised to be there when the doors would open (19:00) because they expected a lot of people. So to kill the time between collecting our passes and the opening of the doors, we went to the Pub quiz in the QMU building. When we arrived, we were already too late to participate, but it was ok to just sit and watch.
We were quite in front of the queue when the doors opened at seven, so we were able to get in and even see the acts before Pendulum. At about 8 o'clock a band from Glasgow started to play. At least, we think they're from Glasgow, because we couldn't understand a word of what the singer told us between the songs. We were not a big fan of the singing, but the music itself was quite good. After that the semi-finalist of the fifth season of the UK X-factor series: *drumbeats please* Diana Vickers. I didn't think she was that special, but it was better than no music at all until 11. When I thought Pendulum was finally coming on stage, it turned out that there was a DJ set. They started off with a DJ playing some Pendulum(- like) music to dance on. After a while the MC of Pendulum joined. It was not the complete band, but we had a really good time. Except for the volume of the music. They seemed to turn it up every now and then and my ears really started to hurt. Mathilde had the same problem, so we went to sit just outside of the room they played in.
We really had a good time! We could hear the music, have a seat and the most fun part: watch the freshers (the Scottish first year students). Oh my! I think my dad would have killed me if I'd tried to leave the house like that! It looks like they try to dress decently, but they don't. Let's say that they are dressed like it's 35 degrees Celsius outside. Their skirts are rather short, their heels are too high (they can't walk on them properly) and they seem to want to show their (new?) bra to everyone in the room. Other girls are only wearing a legging. A legging is absolutely fine as long as you wear a dress or a long T-shirt on top of it and not only a very short T-shirt. The guys on the other hand are quite well dressed. They wear normal jeans (although we sometimes feel the need to pull them up from their knees, but that's the same in the Netherlands) and they often wear a checked shirt We really had some good laughs.
Tuesday we attended a cocktail master class. We kind of expected to make some cocktails ourselves, but it turned out that they just showed us how to make them, although they raffled the drinks afterwards. Fortunately, two girls at our table were the lucky winners of a cocktail, so we did get to try them.
After the cocktail class we did what we are supposed to do as freshers: go to the fair and try to collect as many pens, mugs and freebies as possible. We ended up by having quite a big bag full of mostly flyers, a candy bar, a teddy bear, plastic bottles, some lanyards (keycords) and a few buttons. While we were there, we signed up for our sports card as well.
We wanted to be back at university at 17:15 and since it wasn't worth walking to Firhill Court and back, we tried to sort out our 'goodies bags' while drinking a cup of tea in the Fraser building. The Christian Union had organized a 'grub crawl' (Dutch: diner rouler) for everyone, which means you have your starter, dinner and dessert at different places (student flats). We had to walk quite a while before we were at the student flat where we would get our starter, but it was all worth it when I saw the amount and range of all kind of yummy desserts.
By Wednesday Mathilde and I were having a bit of the 'Fresher's Flu'. During the Fresher's Week a lot of people from all over the world gather, bringing their own germs with them and as your immune system is already a bit low (go to bed late), you easily catch a cold.
We didn't do any Fresher's events that morning, so we could sleep in. In the evening there was a show of the hypnotist Alan Bates. I didn't know what to expect from it and I was a bit sceptic about it, but whether you believe in it or not: it was a fantastic show! It really was! I had such a great time and we laughed a lot.
He started off by talking in a very deep and slow voice, while soft music was playing in the background. We had to lock our hands together, close our eyes and try to send our energy into our hands to tighten them more. Once he was finished talking and you couldn't separate your hands any more, you were welcomed on stage. None of us had our hands still locked together when he was finished, so we could just watch the show.
He let the people on stage do all kinds of thing under hypnosis, but (I think that was very good of him) he kept it neat and didn't let them do anything too embarrassing. At one part of the show there was a lottery and he was the host (of course). Under hypnosis he told the people on stage how they should react when they were 'awake' and the lottery numbers were known. Some didn't win anything, others won like 10 pounds and thought it was the greatest thing ever, others had the right numbers, but in order to get the price (1.000.000 pounds) you have to get up from your chair and they couldn't, because they were 'glued' to their chairs. Another person had a ticket with the right numbers when he sat down, but when he stood up the numbers had changed and he hadn't won the lottery. When he sat down again, his ticket showed the right numbers and so on. There was one person who actually 'won' the lottery and he wouldn't believe it. He would buy everyone a car and a drink that evening. I'll put a YouTube link of the show at the end of this entry, although this one was made at his Fresher's show in 2008 at Glasgow University.
Another funny thing was the iShoe, where they used their shoe to call with a celebrity of their choice. During the 15 minutes break in the show, every could get a drink, but the people on stage had a job to do. One of them was Tinkerbell (including magic wand) and wanted to make every wish come true. Two other persons had to give everyone who would drink an alcoholic drink during that break a speech about the dangers of alcohol. Yet another one was looking for his sheep. That was quite sad, because whenever you made a 'baahhhh' sound, he thought he found his sheep, but of course he kept looking and couldn't find them, until someone at the other side of the room would go 'baaaahh' as well and he would be looking for that sheep. There was also a guy who was Santa's little helper and needed to right down everyone’s wishes for Christmas. But not any neat ones, although he didn't seem to notice. He took his job really serious and didn't want to give the wish list to Alan Bates, because he had to give it to Santa. A really fun one was a girl who thought she was the Queen. She didn't want to sit on her chair after the break, because she wasn't sure it was save enough and demanded a royal box. She also said she had a sniper up on the balcony (there was a little balcony) and that he had caught a bullet for her five years ago. We were totally surprised when she actually gave a speech to people in the room and knighted another guy at the stage, just like a Queen could do. She even used similar sentences! She just made it up, right there on stage! We just couldn't stop laughing.
He also did some other sketches, like that everyone on stage thought he and all the people in the audience were naked and one that they thought he took his head off and they totally freaked out. He also married two guys. Without the kissing! He had put them back to sleep, before it could happen. And the people on stage thought they were very good lap-dancers and gave someone of the audience a lab dance. Like I said: we really had a good time. He was fantastic!
Leoni went to the headphone disco later that evening. A headphone disco is also called a silent disco. You wear a headphone and there are two DJs playing music and you can switch your headphone to the one you like the most. Apparently is it quite funny when you take your headphone off, because there would be no music and you will be able to talk to each other in a normal voice. Of course you will also hear different people sing along to different songs. Too bad Mathilde and I didn't feel very well, but I'm sure there will be another silent disco in the future.
When we met our study advisor, she told us to collect our time-table on Thursday the 16th of September. When we arrived there was nobody to be found. No students or teachers at all. Apparently, she had made a mistake and we would not get our time-table until the next day. We did buy University of Glasgow hoodies. I bought a 'cranberry red' one: http://www.universityofglasgowshops.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_7_27&products_id=149
That Friday we were finally able to see what our time-table would look like and whether there was any time for making trips. Our time-table is quite full, but we will manage to schedule some trips anyway. We found out that the 3-level Biochemistry class only has about 25 people! That's quite small, compared to what we're used to at 'Moleculaire Levenswetenschappen', although we do have some lectures in common with Geneticists and students from Molecular Biochemistry. We were already given homework! Even before the information lecture started! They were calculations that would be similar to the ones you have to do in laboratory class (concentrations in molar terms or g/L and dilutions of stock solutions). Not that hard, but you have to see them again after summer holiday, before you need to use them during the class.
After the 'lecture', there were some snacks and drinks and we were able to meet some of our teachers and fellow students, although we couldn’t find a lot of other Biochemistry students.
Speak to you soon about our trip to Edinburgh Castle!
Love, Samantha
-------------------------------------
Photos: http://s1046.photobucket.com/home/MathildeCastelijns/allalbums
Pendulum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogMNV33AhCY
Hypnotist Alan Bates: http://www.hypnotistalanbates.com/
Alan Bates lottery: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7XCyQQYsHY
Alan Bates parts of older show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4U9GFdhT2o
In the evening there would be a concert of Pendulum (electronic rock/ drum&base band; like the Prodigy) which Leoni absolutely wanted to see. Even though the concert wouldn't start before 23:00, we were advised to be there when the doors would open (19:00) because they expected a lot of people. So to kill the time between collecting our passes and the opening of the doors, we went to the Pub quiz in the QMU building. When we arrived, we were already too late to participate, but it was ok to just sit and watch.
We were quite in front of the queue when the doors opened at seven, so we were able to get in and even see the acts before Pendulum. At about 8 o'clock a band from Glasgow started to play. At least, we think they're from Glasgow, because we couldn't understand a word of what the singer told us between the songs. We were not a big fan of the singing, but the music itself was quite good. After that the semi-finalist of the fifth season of the UK X-factor series: *drumbeats please* Diana Vickers. I didn't think she was that special, but it was better than no music at all until 11. When I thought Pendulum was finally coming on stage, it turned out that there was a DJ set. They started off with a DJ playing some Pendulum(- like) music to dance on. After a while the MC of Pendulum joined. It was not the complete band, but we had a really good time. Except for the volume of the music. They seemed to turn it up every now and then and my ears really started to hurt. Mathilde had the same problem, so we went to sit just outside of the room they played in.
We really had a good time! We could hear the music, have a seat and the most fun part: watch the freshers (the Scottish first year students). Oh my! I think my dad would have killed me if I'd tried to leave the house like that! It looks like they try to dress decently, but they don't. Let's say that they are dressed like it's 35 degrees Celsius outside. Their skirts are rather short, their heels are too high (they can't walk on them properly) and they seem to want to show their (new?) bra to everyone in the room. Other girls are only wearing a legging. A legging is absolutely fine as long as you wear a dress or a long T-shirt on top of it and not only a very short T-shirt. The guys on the other hand are quite well dressed. They wear normal jeans (although we sometimes feel the need to pull them up from their knees, but that's the same in the Netherlands) and they often wear a checked shirt We really had some good laughs.
Tuesday we attended a cocktail master class. We kind of expected to make some cocktails ourselves, but it turned out that they just showed us how to make them, although they raffled the drinks afterwards. Fortunately, two girls at our table were the lucky winners of a cocktail, so we did get to try them.
After the cocktail class we did what we are supposed to do as freshers: go to the fair and try to collect as many pens, mugs and freebies as possible. We ended up by having quite a big bag full of mostly flyers, a candy bar, a teddy bear, plastic bottles, some lanyards (keycords) and a few buttons. While we were there, we signed up for our sports card as well.
We wanted to be back at university at 17:15 and since it wasn't worth walking to Firhill Court and back, we tried to sort out our 'goodies bags' while drinking a cup of tea in the Fraser building. The Christian Union had organized a 'grub crawl' (Dutch: diner rouler) for everyone, which means you have your starter, dinner and dessert at different places (student flats). We had to walk quite a while before we were at the student flat where we would get our starter, but it was all worth it when I saw the amount and range of all kind of yummy desserts.
By Wednesday Mathilde and I were having a bit of the 'Fresher's Flu'. During the Fresher's Week a lot of people from all over the world gather, bringing their own germs with them and as your immune system is already a bit low (go to bed late), you easily catch a cold.
We didn't do any Fresher's events that morning, so we could sleep in. In the evening there was a show of the hypnotist Alan Bates. I didn't know what to expect from it and I was a bit sceptic about it, but whether you believe in it or not: it was a fantastic show! It really was! I had such a great time and we laughed a lot.
He started off by talking in a very deep and slow voice, while soft music was playing in the background. We had to lock our hands together, close our eyes and try to send our energy into our hands to tighten them more. Once he was finished talking and you couldn't separate your hands any more, you were welcomed on stage. None of us had our hands still locked together when he was finished, so we could just watch the show.
He let the people on stage do all kinds of thing under hypnosis, but (I think that was very good of him) he kept it neat and didn't let them do anything too embarrassing. At one part of the show there was a lottery and he was the host (of course). Under hypnosis he told the people on stage how they should react when they were 'awake' and the lottery numbers were known. Some didn't win anything, others won like 10 pounds and thought it was the greatest thing ever, others had the right numbers, but in order to get the price (1.000.000 pounds) you have to get up from your chair and they couldn't, because they were 'glued' to their chairs. Another person had a ticket with the right numbers when he sat down, but when he stood up the numbers had changed and he hadn't won the lottery. When he sat down again, his ticket showed the right numbers and so on. There was one person who actually 'won' the lottery and he wouldn't believe it. He would buy everyone a car and a drink that evening. I'll put a YouTube link of the show at the end of this entry, although this one was made at his Fresher's show in 2008 at Glasgow University.
Another funny thing was the iShoe, where they used their shoe to call with a celebrity of their choice. During the 15 minutes break in the show, every could get a drink, but the people on stage had a job to do. One of them was Tinkerbell (including magic wand) and wanted to make every wish come true. Two other persons had to give everyone who would drink an alcoholic drink during that break a speech about the dangers of alcohol. Yet another one was looking for his sheep. That was quite sad, because whenever you made a 'baahhhh' sound, he thought he found his sheep, but of course he kept looking and couldn't find them, until someone at the other side of the room would go 'baaaahh' as well and he would be looking for that sheep. There was also a guy who was Santa's little helper and needed to right down everyone’s wishes for Christmas. But not any neat ones, although he didn't seem to notice. He took his job really serious and didn't want to give the wish list to Alan Bates, because he had to give it to Santa. A really fun one was a girl who thought she was the Queen. She didn't want to sit on her chair after the break, because she wasn't sure it was save enough and demanded a royal box. She also said she had a sniper up on the balcony (there was a little balcony) and that he had caught a bullet for her five years ago. We were totally surprised when she actually gave a speech to people in the room and knighted another guy at the stage, just like a Queen could do. She even used similar sentences! She just made it up, right there on stage! We just couldn't stop laughing.
He also did some other sketches, like that everyone on stage thought he and all the people in the audience were naked and one that they thought he took his head off and they totally freaked out. He also married two guys. Without the kissing! He had put them back to sleep, before it could happen. And the people on stage thought they were very good lap-dancers and gave someone of the audience a lab dance. Like I said: we really had a good time. He was fantastic!
Leoni went to the headphone disco later that evening. A headphone disco is also called a silent disco. You wear a headphone and there are two DJs playing music and you can switch your headphone to the one you like the most. Apparently is it quite funny when you take your headphone off, because there would be no music and you will be able to talk to each other in a normal voice. Of course you will also hear different people sing along to different songs. Too bad Mathilde and I didn't feel very well, but I'm sure there will be another silent disco in the future.
When we met our study advisor, she told us to collect our time-table on Thursday the 16th of September. When we arrived there was nobody to be found. No students or teachers at all. Apparently, she had made a mistake and we would not get our time-table until the next day. We did buy University of Glasgow hoodies. I bought a 'cranberry red' one: http://www.universityofglasgowshops.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_7_27&products_id=149
That Friday we were finally able to see what our time-table would look like and whether there was any time for making trips. Our time-table is quite full, but we will manage to schedule some trips anyway. We found out that the 3-level Biochemistry class only has about 25 people! That's quite small, compared to what we're used to at 'Moleculaire Levenswetenschappen', although we do have some lectures in common with Geneticists and students from Molecular Biochemistry. We were already given homework! Even before the information lecture started! They were calculations that would be similar to the ones you have to do in laboratory class (concentrations in molar terms or g/L and dilutions of stock solutions). Not that hard, but you have to see them again after summer holiday, before you need to use them during the class.
After the 'lecture', there were some snacks and drinks and we were able to meet some of our teachers and fellow students, although we couldn’t find a lot of other Biochemistry students.
Speak to you soon about our trip to Edinburgh Castle!
Love, Samantha
-------------------------------------
Photos: http://s1046.photobucket.com/home/MathildeCastelijns/allalbums
Pendulum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogMNV33AhCY
Hypnotist Alan Bates: http://www.hypnotistalanbates.com/
Alan Bates lottery: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7XCyQQYsHY
Alan Bates parts of older show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4U9GFdhT2o
Reageer op dit reisverslag
Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
