Orientation week, or ‘o-week’, is quite possibly what every freshman has anticipated since prom ended; and understandably so. This is the first week of the rest of your new university life. Free of high school, and your parent’s rules, o-week seems like the time where anything is possible – and it is. However, the worst thing that you can do is use this time as a free – for – all. Here are a few things that you should consider before entering your first week of university.
1. Respect your don/ soph/ residence staff
You might be quick to think that all of the rules that dragged you down drove away with your parents when they dropped you off. While you are gaining more independence than you’ve ever dreamed of, if you are living in residence, Western has hired staff to ensure that you don’t misuse all of your newly found freedom. Dons and sophs are older students who have been hand selected to take care of you. Since they’ve survived first year, they are able to advise you on how to do this as well. However, there are rules that they need to enforce, that are created by the university. After they make sure that you understand them all, they will expect you to follow them. If you don’t, they will have to enforce the appropriate punishment. This isn’t because they dislike you, or because they want to treat you like a child. If you are caught breaking the rules by someone else, and it becomes known that another member of staff had knowledge of what you doing, they will face serious repercussions.
Respect is key. The entire staff has gone though a rigorous process to be selected to help you. The more you get to know them, the more they will be able to help you throughout the entire year – with homework, relationships, and homesickness. Don’t ruin this key relationship just for the chance to play a game of beer pong (which by the way – is a big residence no – no).
2. Get to know your floor
I know that you probably made a pact with your high school best friends – while crying over ice cream and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants – that you would Skype daily and never replace each other. While you shouldn’t forget about these bonds, you need to expand your social circle. Chances are, most of your friends are at other schools that are hours away. Don’t let your friendships with them ruin your chances at making new ones.
The first people that you will likely bond with are your floor-mates. Just like you can’t pick your family, you can’t pick your floor. Even though you probably won’t mesh perfectly with everyone, you will be living in very close proximity while sharing very similar experiences. I can assure you that your floor will become your second family – the people that you come to every night. O-week is the crucial time when you will get to know everyone, that being said…
3. Don’t make a clique
… Really, this isn’t high school anymore. Although at the time, it seems tempting to stick with the first people you become comfortable with (roommates, the first people you saw after your parents dropped your off), university is all about moving outside of your comfort zone and not limiting yourself. Everyone else coming to Western is in the exact same situation as you – knowing no one, but desperately wanting to find friends to share the experience with. Introduce yourself to people during different events; chances are they’ll be just as relieved talking to someone as you are.
4. Explore campus
Nothing screams ‘FROSH’ more than walking around with the campus map (TIP – if you download it onto your phone, it becomes a lot more subtle). To prevent yourself from showing up to the wrong class on the first day, associate yourself with campus first. Chances are you already have a rough idea of the campus layout from tours that you did during SAO or high school. Now, the most important thing that you will learn is where all of your classes are. Look at your class schedule and just write down the names of the building. Then, while you are being guided through campus for o-week, keep an eye out for building signs. If this doesn’t help, find someone who has similar classes to you, and go for a walk together. While it make seem tedious now, there’s nothing worse than walking into a lecture hall late, and halving 800 pairs of eyes turn to stare at you.
5. Know your limit
‘O-week is dry’ is something that you will hear a lot during the first week, and while your parents might wholeheartedly believe this, in reality, most students don’t, nor do they respect it. Whether you choose to abstain or not, this is completely OK; however, if you do chose to drink, start slowly. Even if you have had drinks in high school, you always had to worry about your parents, who you would return to at the end of the night. With university life comes freedom, and no one to report to at the end of the night. This being said, you need to drink slowly in order to ensure that you don’t end up drinking too much. Aside from the dangers of it, you don’t want to be ‘that girl during o-week.’ That girl who got too drunk and did something stupid. Your first impression – whether you like it or not – will stick with you for longer than you might expect it to. With everyone meeting so many new people, they will not remember everyone’s name, however, they will remember the girl they saw passed out in the middle of the cafeteria.
6. Lock your door
Literally, you should definitely always lock your door. It’s a smart thing to do to ensure that you don’t come back one night and find your room as empty as it was when you moved it. Metaphorically, be wary of who you let into your room for the first few weeks of school. From my experience, there is always one ‘party room’ on the floor – and unless you want to wake up with all of your textbooks covered in sticky beer and with mysterious stains on the floor, you should ensure that this room is anyone but yours. This isn’t advice to be antisocial, but if people start showing up with speakers and a Costco sized stack of red solo cups, be cautious.
7. See your floor as ‘off limits’
Convenience is nice. ‘Floorcest’ is not. In your head, potentially with impaired judgment at the time, it might seem perfect to hook up with someone on your floor. Since your floor-mates are generally the first people that you get to know at university, it makes sense that one of them might peak your interest. However, what seems great in the moment will make you want to kick yourself for the rest of the year. Chances are, you and your new ‘snuggle buddy’ will realistically not go riding off into the sunset together, as you’ve only known each other for a couple of days. Regardless of this, the two of you will be forced to see each other almost every day. While at the moment you are probably still putting a lot of effort into picking the perfect outfit, makeup, and even bothering to wash your hair, there will come a point in the next year will you will not, and, unfortunately, they will be there to see it. The two of you will stay in close, awkward, contact for the rest of the year. Unless you are ready for them to see you at your worst (and trust me, by the end of the year, every single floor member has seen each other in their worst sweatpants, greasy hair, shoveling food into their mouths – it happens to everyone), then start scouting for loooovers in your next boring lecture instead.