nut free nerd

Freshers’ Week: that infamous transition period after everyone is on campus but term hasn’t yet officially begun. I had heard many things about it before coming here but I wasn’t sure which rumors had merit and which were false. Did people actually just go out and get drunk every night? (Yes.) Was that all there was to do? (No.) Would I still have course work to do? (Absolutely.) Does freshers’ flu exist? (YES.)

Freshers’ Week is essentially seven days of orientation for first year students during which they learn how to be students both academically and socially. I’m not going to lie: it was a strange, strange week. I’m a third year college student back in the States, which means that I’ve already been through the standard discussions about racial diversity, asking consent, and fire safety. Everyone in the room felt so young and it felt weird to be constantly asked if I was a freshman as well. The students in my particular program are in a unique position: we know how to be students, just not how to be students at Oxford. There’s a fine line there that’s hard to describe, but it’s definitely there. 

Even stranger than this phantom fresher feeling was the fact that the college itself sanctioned events relating to and centering around alcohol. Back home that would be illegal because the drinking age is 21, but here it is obviously not a problem because the drinking age is 18. The college led pub crawls, organized club nights, and had a fully stocked bar at our bop. Perhaps this has just been my experience, but here it feels like there’s less pressure to drink to get drunk; instead, people drink to have a good time or to be social at relaxed pubs.

Speaking of bops, they’re basically my new favorite thing. A bop is a party that a college will host, usually in their Junior Common Room. Each one has a different theme that dictates what kind of costume you decide to where. The goal is make the best costume by spending the least amount of money on it, so you can imagine the chaos and fun that ensues. Our theme was to dress up as something that starts with the first letter of your first name. Naturally, I dressed up as Hermione. The bop was a great event to end Freshers’ Week with, especially because the name-centric theme helped me learn more people’s’ names!

Last but not least, we come to the dreadful part of Freshers’ Week: what is fondly called the freshers’ flu. Lectures this week were a sea of sick, coughing students all chugging water and as much Vitamin C as they possibly could. The lack of sleep coupled with mountains of course work certainly doesn’t help– but we push through!

Whether or not you’ve experienced a Freshers’ Week of your own, I hope you’ve enjoyed this little jaunt into mine! It’s certainly a week I won’t forget.

Click here to check out other posts in my Holly Goes Abroad series!

Have you ever experienced a Freshers’ Week? Been to a bop? What would you have dressed up as according to my bop’s theme? Let me know in the comments section below!

Yours,

HOLLY