Orientation Week Day 1

Having to wake up for breakfast at 6:30am is painful, but not as painful as the breakfast not showing up until 8:30am. The flood of first year students arriving at the colour group HQ started around 8:45am, as they lined up patiently outside waiting to crawl through the 'maze' we constructed. They are so young - some even as young as 16. Sure makes me feel old amongst them!

The group started off relatively quiet, and it's totally understandable given the fact they barely knew each other. I felt the same way during my frosh week too. The leaders taught them a few cheers, and we mingled with them for a bit. The first activity was Meet EdCom - the Education Committee. I won't go into the details, but I can see that my group is getting pumped for the rest of the activities during the day!

At the department lunch, I took the first years that were in Electrical and Computer Engineering to the designated area. I feel that my department is the most.. economical. While other departments have pasta or outdoor barbecue, we were stuck with tiny sandwiches. Not only that, but there weren't enough to feed everybody there. So then there were about 30-40 first years without any lunch. *sigh*

The afternoon consists of Earn Your Hardhat, a tradition that's been passed down through generations of engineering students. The freshman will earn their hardhat by completing the tasks of the Five Principles of Engineering: Integrity, Teamwork, Communication, Organization, and Leadership. The most memorable event for any colour group leaders would be the Leadership event, and I shall expand a little more on that.

As leaders, the three of us had to kneel on the grass, wearing a hardhat with nails sticking out from them. The first years will line up, water-balloon in hand, and break them over our heads. After the water-balloon supply is depleted, sponges were soaked with water and thrown at us. When the group of first years finish drenching us in water, we had to crawl - on our stomachs - across a tunnel formed by the first years joining hands. At the end of the tunnel, we were to throw ourselves in a pool of mud water. We were then given our leader hardhats, of course, with mud water in them and poured right over our heads. Yum. I feel as though I have been finally accepted into the engineering fraternity, haha.

Showering after that was my favourite event of the day. :)