Welcome Week is a strange thing.
During these first 168 hours of your university career, you will make a new home for yourself, find a niche, and form friendships that will last a lifetime.
The STU brochure explains this with large colour photographs of smiling kids in matching T-shirts, parents unloading microwaves and desk lamps from minivans, and new students cheering for their new home, their residence.
But there is a dark side to Welcome Week, one that the brochure doesn’t prepare you for.
And that, of course, is why I’m here. First years, I present to you lessons from a Welcome Week survivor.
1 . Everyone looks terrible.
Face the facts. You will be a sweaty mess in an ugly green T-shirt for this entire week. You won’t have time to shower or do your hair and this is okay because everyone else is in the same boat and also looks like crap.
Everyone except for the one pretty girl who will actually look good in the shirt and have perfect hair and makeup at all times. You will learn to complain about this girl with your housemates. Hating on the pretty girl will make the bond between you and the other sweaty girls strong. This will be your basis for friendship.
2 . The Bookstore is a trap.
It is a horrible, horrible place where your time and money will be taken from you, often in huge increments. The most evil aspect of this experience is that when you have finally found the books you need and paid for them, you’ll still need to make the trek back up the UNB hill to campus.
These will be the most embarrassing 10 minutes of your first semester. You will huff, pant and sweat whilst happy UNB students walk down the hill past you, obviously unaware of the 35 degree heat (with humidity).
When you make it to the St. Thomas University sign you will feel like a sweaty monster.
Breathe and take comfort in the fact that you are not alone.
3 . You don’t need to remember any of the “getting to know you” trivia.
You will have played so many “get-to-know-you” games and met so many people that by the end of the week everything will become a blur.
Here is a helpful tip: you will never need to know my middle name (Mary), if I have a twin or not (yes, a sister) or a fun fact about me (I used to be ranked fourth in the province for darts).
It’s my personal opinion that stumbling upon these facts while getting to know each other is half the fun of forming new friendships.
For example, while showing my friend Sara around my hometown she quietly mentioned that she is actually a Portuguese citizen. Dumbfounded, I slammed on the brakes and put ourselves in great danger of getting into a car accident.
This snappy little anecdote wouldn’t have been possible had we played Two Truths and a Lie together.
All I’m saying is that you shouldn’t feel worried if your Welcome Week didn’t look exactly like the STU brochure. You’ll make plenty of friends and memories regardless.
And you’ll also realize that there’s nothing like a good embarrassing story to break the ice and meet new people.
