Oh Hi there…

So it’s 11.55 am on a SATURDAY and I am watching thousands of perspective students and their parents walk around the SU from my desk (I have cleverly disguised myself in my duvet which also helps when I want to take a cheeky nap… something I have missed a lot recently!)

So Freshers’ week… what have you done to me?

I started at 8am on Saturday and in spectacular fashion set the SU intruder alarm off! After panicking about how to prove I did in fact work here to campus security and frantic phone calls to everyone in my phone book the alarm was off and I made tea and collected food and trotted off to Founders to meet some of Team Liger!!

Team Liger were incredible during in the move-in weekend some started at 8. 30am and others didn’t finish until gone 7pm! Not only did they walk international students and their kilo ton of luggage to their halls but they also helped to man the four help points based around Campus- so a BIG BIG thank you to all them! HUGEMUNGUS thank you to my drivers on both days too- Chris Pull & Jake Wells!

I also spoke at quite a few halls inductions including Founders West (is the best) I hope I wasn’t too boring or talk for too long- some college staff teased me about it but I just got so excited to actually have students here!! And I did the Post Grad talk on the Sunday and took full advantage of the free food (thank you Sarah Tattam!)

So that was my Saturday and Sunday, Then Monday I sorted out Team Liger with their help point outside the SU, biked around campus in my little red and blue bike, checked out the media fayre and got myself a cheeky interview on Insanity Radio,  did a talk to International Students (Iheartyou) and probably talked too much about Japan! Stood in amazement at the cheerleaders and their incredible stunts, did another talk to Postgrad students where I had to load the presentation from my emails and accidently showed the entire auditorium my sent items!

Then that evening and every other SU night this week I was out in force with my Water Warriors (Wednesday & Friday we were also joined by the amazing Club Mission), we were the sober ones giving you water throughout the night and as you left- again, I must thank each and every one of them for being truly amazing throughout the week and managing to stay so excited and passionate about H20!!! You were wonderful!

SO after getting to my little bed at 4am, I was then back up and functioning at 9am for more (you guessed it) Help points, wall planners, guidebooks, maps, poster stamping, bike riding, cheerleading watching, Orbital reading, induction talks, mini napping, dancing dance and Water Warriors! *Repeat for Wednesday but switch bike riding for mourning the loss of my bike and add attending a BBQ in Medicine (again thank you S & A) and you’ve got my day!

Thursday was spent in a Sumo suit down in Medicine where RAG were selling their ‘I love RAG’ and ‘I survived Freshers’ week’ t-shirts, Insanity radio were playing live (I have fallen in love with many many groups this week, Insanity and Cheer reigning at the top) and as per usual I took full advantage of the free ‘taster’ food available and it was sooooo yummy!! I promised not to embarrass anyone but I did win all my Sumo fights and I was definitely the underdog …

Friday I had more talks, more Freshers’ fayre (made sure everyone was getting tested for sti’s and getting free condoms), bumping into old friends and making new ones, wearing my ‘I love RAG’ t-shirt with pride and then the final night of Freshers’ in the SU and the ceremonial removal of our Executive Officers t-shirts (I had something on underneath!) at midnight to celebrate surviving the longest week ever!

All that’s left to say is a HUGE GINORMOUS THANK YOU to everyone involved this week, from each and every student who attended any day or night time event to the students who helped run it, all bar, security and technical staff who coped with some unexpected challenges throughout the week, the managers and the everyone behind the scenes who have been planning for weeks to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible, all the college staff who have fed me, told me to sleep, funded my water,  made me smile and worked just as hard as us here at the SU this week, all the volunteers who have always been on call to do tasks, and finally to the wonderful wonderful exec… Carl, David, Georgia, Joe, Dedar, Craig, Andrej, Ed, Ines, Dan & Singh, our fabulous student trustee Doug, and last but not means least, my fellow Sabbaticals- Sarah, Dan & Jake… We did it! and we’ve survived and we’ve got the t-shirt to prove it!

I am now off to watch our very own Andy Steadman play in his American Football final at Crystal Palace..

If you’re partying hard, make sure you’re playing safe!

 (Ps- if you 'long term borrowed' my bike from outside the SU on Tuesday night, please return him- he's red and blue, small and has rubbish brakes! I won't be angry,... I just want him baaaaaaack!'