Way back on a hot, bright Sunday in September of 2012, I was standing somewhere in the vicinity of where you probably are now, Frosh kit and t-shirt in hand, wondering what the next seven days were going to be like. I was scared, excited, and more than a little unsure of myself. Though in the back of my mind I knew that there was going to be so much more to undergrad than that one little week, I was terrified of potentially missing out, not getting the most out of my experience, and (admittedly this was a little silly) somehow completely screwing up my entire undergrad experience.
Now, looking back on that week almost three years later, with the bulk of my undergrad behind me and two years of Frosh Leader experience under my belt, I have a lot more insight into how Frosh Week does and does not impact your university experience. Truthfully, in most respects, Frosh Week is just a cool rite of passage during which you can have equal amounts of fun by participating in the scheduled events and by doing your own thing. In thinking back on my own experiences, however, I’ve learned that there are definitely a few things you can do to help yourself get the most out of this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
1.The Clubs Fairs actually will help you find your niche. There are two for you to explore throughout the week—the UTSU Clubs Fair at Hart House Circle on Wednesday, and the Vic College Clubs Fair at Old Vic on Friday. The former will showcase all the university-wide clubs, unions, teams, and associations you can join, while the latter will introduce you to Vic-specific groups. The seemingly endless rows of tables operated by over-enthusiastic upper-years who are hell-bent on getting your name and email address regardless of your personal feelings on the matter might seem daunting, but it’s definitely worth it to put in the time necessary to look through them thoroughly (a lot of them give out free stuff, too!). Look for anything that catches your interest and put your name on the email list. You definitely won’t have time to do everything, but you can comb through your inbox later and pick out the ones you really want to go to. Extra-curricular activities have the power to shape your undergrad into something really amazing, and getting involved early can give you much needed fun and stability to help balance out the stress of school. I found out about The Strand at the Vic Clubs Fair during my Frosh Week, and since then it’s been a hugely important part of my life.
2. Your floor mates are your best friends. This one really only applies to res kids, but it’s an important one. Spend Frosh Week getting to know the people you live with, not hanging out with people from another residence. When Frosh Week ends and actual school sets in, you’ll be glad to know (and hopefully love!) your neighbours. Residence provides the opportunity for an amazing community and surrogate family. Having people to sit with in the common room while you stay up all night finishing that term project you left until the last minute, knowing exactly whose door you’ll knock on for a late-night McDonald’s run, or being able to lie on someone’s floor while venting to them about how much your essay that’s due tomorrow is going to suck can help make the scariness of living alone for the first time so much less daunting.
3. Romance can wait. And I say that with as much love as possible for all you romantics out there. Significant others are great and can give you so many amazing experiences, but Frosh Week is a time for making friends and making the most of all the exciting opportunities that will be available to you, not for settling down. Your first year of university will be one of the most chaotic, exciting, and difficult times of your life, and you will have to undergo a lot of learning, personal growth, and self-discovery along the way. Romantic relationships are exciting and fun, but they take a lot of work and personal commitment, and trying to devote so much of your being to someone else can make it hard to spend the necessary time on yourself. Though I know there are definitely some of you who dream of meeting your soul mate at university, keep your options open and resist the temptation to spend Frosh Week searching for them.
4. The Frosh Dance is a lot of fun (and doesn’t go away). Don’t think you’ll be able to forget about it after orientation is over. It’s gonna come up again and again and again. And again. Just when you think you’ve seen the last of it, you’ll find everyone around you breaking out into grapevines and box steps because former Frosh Leaders have hi-jacked the speakers in the Cat’s Eye. It might be hot, the steps might seem complicated, and you might feel silly flailing around to overplayed pop songs, but once you’ve got the moves down, there are few things more fun and uniting than bursting out into dance along with hundreds of other people whenever the Frosh song starts playing (and trust me, they’ll be playing it a lot). And not to brag, but Vic has a long history of great Frosh dances. Even if dancing isn’t your thing, watching the whole thing come together, learning to belt out the words to a ridiculous mash-up of several of this year’s greatest hits, and generally just enjoying being immensely silly with your fellow Frosh is seriously invigorating. If you want to get a taste of the enthusiastic, welcoming, and inclusive atmosphere espoused by the Victoria College community, learning the Frosh Dance is a good way to do it.
5. People come and go, and that’s okay. That might seem obvious, but in all the excitement, magic, and all-around fun of Frosh Week, it can be easy to forget that it’s just one short week that’s not indicative of what university is actually like. People often say that the friends you make in university are friends you’ll have for life, but that’s often just not true. With the shift in the dynamic between Frosh Week and actual school, you might find that you start to lose touch with people as the year gets busier and more stressful. Some of the friendships I started in Frosh Week have endured, but others have slowly faded as time has passed. Most people I know still know a mixture of people they met in Frosh Week and people they met later, but some don’t keep in touch with anyone they hung out with at orientation. Again, all that is okay, and there’s nothing wrong with allowing it to happen naturally. You’ll make new friends as you go through undergrad, and although everyone in your life has probably hyped the shit out of Frosh Week for you, it honestly doesn’t make or break your experience.
There’s no right way to do Frosh Week, but I hope that these tips help you out in some way. Hopefully you’re feeling calm, collected, and excited to have a really awesome week. Even if you don’t have a really awesome week, that’s okay. Just relax, have as much fun as you can without injuring yourself, and make sure to get involved with as many things you’re passionate about as possible.
My Frosh Week was by no means perfect, but as you can see from the extremely flattering photo above, I turned out pretty okay! Like I said, university is so much more than just these first seven days. You’ll have new opportunities every day to make the most of your undergrad experience. You’re only just getting started!
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