ZOE NGOMBANE
The first week of university, no matter how unofficial it may seem in terms of lectures, is where the crunch time actually begins. You are far away from home and your mother’s good food. Now you have to learn to stand on your own feet. That’s what orientation week is for. Orientation is one of the most important and fun experiences in a first year’s life. Quite literally it is the first day of the rest of one’s varsity life. With orientation week underway, followed by other things that are tailor-made for the first year res student such as Ienkmielodienk, you can look forward to an eventful first month.
Orientation week is the meet and greet of tertiary educution and is all about getting acquainted with your surroundings. During this week, tours of the campus are given with little information bits here and there about what’s what, what’s where and, because the place is so complicated at first, what it’s about. The rest of the week is all fun and games there on out.
In res, first year orientation means getting to know your HK and house traditions. It will involve waking the HK up at 06:00 in the morning with coffee and a song. You will socialise with a variety of residences and in the morning you will hear the men’s residences jogging around campus.
Ienkmelodienk unites all first years in a fiesta of competition. First years from all the different residences participate in this experience which is guaranteed to be one of a lifetime. This event is exclusively for all the first year resident students to showcase their talent, or whatever it is that might serve the purpose of entertaining the crowd. The whole first week is spent sweating it out and practising for the big day. First years learn the routines and eventually give their performances in the Amphitheatre wearing the theme costumes. Singing, dancing, reciting poetry, maybe even throwing in a laugh or two: Ienk is where it all happens.
Then there is the grand finale: Rag Week and the Rag Festival. The Reach Out and Give committee hosts a number of fundraising events. Rag Week is all about students working together to reach out and give to the less fortunate by raising funds while having fun. The residences together with the day houses are all teamed up, male and female, and follow a given theme to create their own big beautiful float. These floats are later paraded through the streets of Hatfield on the day of the Rag Festival. Then in the evening, bands, DJ’s and performers of all kinds provide entertainment in the Square. The first years will have to find somewhere else to party though, because the Square is off limits! So although you are far away from home, take this opportunity to make new friends, learn new things and above all, enjoy yourselves.
