Meet Felix the Phoenix
As the car crept up Grey College’s hill in a queue of my peers, I knew I was starting uni with more knowledge about the place than many of them, having spent the previous week participating in Durham’s pre-season sailing. However, I was still flooded with those universal sensations of excitement and nervousness. Was it going to be everything I had hoped? Was I going to enjoy my course? Was the copious amount of fancy dress I had brought with me for my slew of Freshers’ events a bit excessive? (Answer: you can never have enough fancy dress!) Watching someone dance around your car in a massive phoenix costume to the blasting of pop hits from the past decade certainly takes your mind off these things.
The first day at Grey proved to be loud and friendly and fun. As Freps (Freshers’ Reps) guided me to my new home away from home, I really got a sense of what college life was going to be like. Even though the first day is arguably the easiest day to meet new people, living in college gives you this big group of people that you are going to bump into and make friends with throughout the years to come.
Sharing a room turned out to be a great experience
My room was the biggest one on the corridor as I was sharing, and as I opened the door decorated with sweets and a paper plate with my name on it, I wasn’t to know that it would be the place where all my new friends would gather, or that I would be sharing with my new best friend. Although I was feeling worried about sharing a room with a complete stranger, those fears disappeared as soon as we met and found out how alike we were. Sharing was an absolutely amazing experience for me and it made first term feel so much easier!
Everything felt like a whirlwind as I went from unpacking to playing ice breaker games and meeting everyone in my block (and instantly forgetting many of their names), then college dinner with them and a night of chatting and karaoke. By the end of the day I was absolutely exhausted but so looking forward to the rest of my Freshers’ events and the year to come.
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