...is the reason why I am blogging at 6.15am in the morning.

Day 4 is the most important day for freshman (theoretically) since we are supposed to be matriculated and registered and have our student pass done. So the day began with mass dance session and some cheering sessions. After which we had lunch and attended a "academic talk" in which seniors briefed us on some must-know things in NUS.

We headed off for matriculation and the matric fair after that, well of course since I had been matriculated yesterday I just went for the fair to check out the Singtel booth again and bought the NUSSU shirt. The whole afternoon we were sort of given the day off to settle the important stuff.

At night, we played the "disabilities" game. We were led to a pre-determined place and we were told that we had to make our way to Sheares Hall. Easy? Of course not. We were each given a disability: blindness, mute, limp, amputated, etc. Or you are tied with another OG-mate to form "Siamese twins". So in this manner we had to move our way to the destination, the blind and the mute helping to carry the lame and the amputated trying to give directions. To make things worse there are a lot of safety guidelines to follow such as no piggybacking, wheelbarrowing etc. In the course of the game the roles kept changing and at one point you may even have more than one disability. I was assigned to be limp at first (sorry to those who had to carry me), and later mute, then Siamese twin, then mute again.

Its almost like physical induction all over again. We spent almost 3 hours I think, but in the end we didnt make it to Sheares Hall, which was quite some distance from our starting point and we had quite a lot of people to carry (4 in total but we had lesser limbs) but I think its just a bonus if you can make it there because the seniors in-charge obviously have some other things in their mind. So when we were halfway there they stopped us and told us we have reached the "destination". And the game ends. Whew.We were then told to sit down and reflect on what we did just now.

After showering and resting, we had to follow another tradition of Raffles Hall: to sleep overnight in the air-conditioned communal hall. So we are told to bring our pillows and blankets there and mattresses are provided. If you are thinking one mattress per person, well, haha, how can things be easy like that? We had to sleep immediately next to each other in 4 rows (somewhat like sardine), as in there is no space in between pillows. Thankfully we are able to sleep.

The thing is, by sleeping in this way, we are giving them the chance to wake us up in any hour they want. So it was no surprise when the "siren" rang at 5am and we were told to wake up. Being blurr blurr and sleepy we of course don't know what to expect. In the end, it turned out to be some welcome ceremony for the freshmen where all the seniors, including those who are not in the orientation committee were there to "pat our backs". They stood in two opposing lines, holding the person opposite's hand and continuously did the "welcome chant" while we crawl underneath their hands (like London Bridge, but an awfully long one) and they whacked us on our backs. After that we were told that we are officially part of their family and we celebrated the birthday of the Master of Raffles Hall.

We were allowed to go back to our rooms and sleep until noon if we wanted. So I shall go get some more sleep now. :P

Labels: NUS, Raffles Hall